Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. He has been teaching since 1990.
Gil has practiced Zen and Vipassana since 1975 and has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford.
He has trained in both the Japanese Soto Zen tradition and the Insight Meditation lineage of Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia. Gil was trained as a Vipassana teacher by Jack Kornfield and is part of the Vipassana teachers’ collective at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 he received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center.
He has been the primary teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California since 1990. He is a husband and father of two boys.
He is the author of The Issue at Hand, co-editor of Teachings of the Buddha, editor of Voices From Spirit Rock, and has published an acclaimed new translation of The Dhammapada.
Gil Fronsdal’s Mindfulness Meditations
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Is That So? He tells a story about a priest who did not get wrapped up about what people think about him.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: What’s Not Wrong. Some people are oriented to noticing what’s wrong, searching for the problem to fix it.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Resolution to Present Details. In Mindfulness, to be resolved, to be present attentively for details.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Choosing the Long Path of Practice. The idea of a fast way to enlightenment is saddening. Is it motivated by greed?
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Windless Days. Walking in a windy day it’s almost second nature to be leaning towards the wind.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Knowing Noting and Calm. Thich Nat Hanh said if challenging sea conditions if one person remains calm…
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation The Space Between. In meditation practice sometimes we discover space can be inspiring, physically or in thoughts.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Space. The idea of making space for things to appear, some people are afraid when they are approached.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Relating to It. There’re only two things over going on, there’s what’s happening & the relationship to it.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Clear Seeing. Sometimes the word “Vipassana” is translated as Clear Seeing. The “passana” part is to see.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Nothing at Stake. When you discover what’s not needed, maybe you can let go of that and become much simpler.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: A short instruction being mindful, Abide Conscious not Self Conscious. Be Conscious, not Self Conscious.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Responses vs Reactions. It’s useful to consider, the only thing we ever really possess is our responses.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Noticing. He starts with a story about an extraordinarily ordinary person and how practical noticing is.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Beautyful. Someone skilled in meditation is someone who is skilled with the beauty of meditation. Goodness, virtue.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Resolve/Allow Learning How to Know which is Skillful In The Moment. Resolve is a beautiful quality.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Don’t Pick it Up and Don’t Reject it. How to apply Buddhist practice for particular suffering?
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Drink Your Joy. In meditation, there are positive states that can come along, sense of peace, well-being, joy.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Be Still & Gaze Upon Everything Kindly. Buddha represents being still, tranquil in body & mind, eyes gazing kindly.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette: Practicing with Imagination. Yes can be called an attitude to being present and being open, being there.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Journey of 3 Breaths. Sometimes it’s useful to be very modest with your meditation. Small steps can be easier.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette Tenderness. It’s a feeling of the preciousness of our lives. The specialness of being present. A tender heart.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Dharmette Doing Nothing. A big part of learning mindfulness meditation is learning to do nothing. For some it’s hard.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Attention Focused Narrow. There’s a saying, in doing mindfulness practice, we look at reality but don’t stare at it.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation Pausing. To practice generosity to the people you’re with and if you’re alone to be generous with yourself.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Impermanence Fading Away and Letting Go. Check-in with your body how are you feeling right now. Check-in with your mind.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Relaxing Mental Formations by Being Present and Letting Go. In a very open way just notice how you are.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Reassurance of the Breath. There’s a saying- to breath at ease is closely related to the feeling of reassurance.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Knowing the Breath. Your breathing has been your companion for your whole life. In all circumstances, it’s there with you.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Noticing Absence & Little Cessations. It’s always useful to refamiliarize yourself with yourself as if everything is new.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Peripheral Awareness and Fading Away. Tuning in to your breathing refamiliarize yourself what it’s like to be breathing.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Cultivating Well Being. Take a moment to really know & feel. Your body is always in the present moment, the mind is not.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Noticing Ease and Effortlessness. Settle in your body, put it at ease. Put your mind at ease as you exhale.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Relating to the Breath. Take a couple of minutes to have a conversation with yourself, how you are today?
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Exploring the Breath. What is your relationship with your breathing? Very broadly, is it a positive, negative or neutral?
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Exploring Impermanence and Awareness. If you take a long exhale, something special happens at the end of it- stillness.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Relaxing the Mental Formation. Allowing the peripheral awareness, become aware of what’s happening in the mind.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Relaxing & Cultivating Joy & Ease. Taking 3 deep breaths to settle in to connect. Take a few minutes to appreciate yourself.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati Breath and Peripheral Awareness. Taking an upright alert posture. There’s a connection between posture & alertness.
Gil Fronsdal leads an Anapanasati 4 Forms of Mindfulness of Breathing. There are different kinds of awareness and here are 4 different approaches.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation. To be attentive in what goes on inside of you. To be a witness to the breath, the feelings, emotions, thoughts.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Meditation on the Breath. There are 2 general ways of being with the breath in mindfulness meditation. To choose a home base.
Gil Fronsdal leads a Guided Forgiveness meditation. In preparation for a Loving-kindness practice is a practice of forgiveness. Forgiving is difficult.
Guided Metta meditation led by Gil Fronsdal. Metta is Loving-Kindness, is one of the cornerstones of Buddhist Practice and a companion of Mindfulness.
Gil Fronsdal instructs the alert posture before starting the guided body scan meditation. Taking long slow in-breaths to connect with the body and relaxing.
Gil Fronsdal leads a guided meditation on the breath as a fundamental practice for mindfulness and to familiarize the self to breathing, then to the body.
Gil talks about intention and karma. Part of the core of mindfulness is the appreciation of the present moment with intentions causing the choices we make.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Acharias- women who have become gurus of the Buddhism teachings. He said the path of the Buddha leads to liberation.
Gil Fronsdal talks about the seven factors of awakening. They are mindfulness, investigation, energy or engagement, joy, calmness, concentration, and equanimity.
Listen to Guided Meditation on Contentment audio by Gil Fronsdal. Gil Fronsdal is the primary teacher for the “Insight Meditation Center” in Redwood City.
Gil Fronsdal leads a guided meditation on Emptiness. To experience calmness and stillness, and letting go of everything what you know is existing around.
Gil Fronsdal leads a guided meditation on Emptying the Mind. He explains the power of here. Here is the present. Here is awareness. Here is stillness.
Gil Fronsdal talks about In the Flow. A river flows continuously as does our life, thoughts, impressions, and breath. Being in the present moment is to flow.
Gil Fronsdal talks about How To Build Confidence. Confidence is a personal quality and how we relate, to show up, to be present and be honest and expressive.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Settle the Heart First. Rest in the calm of peace first and settle the heart before speaking or letting go of regretful words.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Relaxing the Eyes. One of the important aspects of meditation is to have a relaxed mind. Sometimes the eyes have tension while trying to focus.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Entering Into Difficulty. One of the important areas of life is what we know and what we don’t know. How do we go through changes?
One of the important qualities of Mindfulness Practice that supports us tremendously is that of Patience. Gil Fronsdal talks about Patience.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Power and Worthiness. Strength, dignity, value, power, and confidence all these happen within you.
Gil Fronsdal talks about To Care & Not To Care. In Buddhist practice, both are important. Don’t measure yourself by the outcome. Measure with how you cared.
Gil Fronsdal talks about How To Be Amazed, Wow! There just so many things to be amazed in nature. The cosmos, the mind, consciousness, events.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Mindfulness as Strength. Being careful and paying attention to what’s happening in the present. Otherwise, there’s confusion and judgment.
Gil Fronsdal is a world-renowned Buddhist teacher and scholar. In this free mindfulness talk, he discusses the importance of Gratitude.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Being and Trusting in the Body. If you find yourself trying to solve your life and the only thing you use are thoughts, watch out!
Gil Fronsdal talks about Contentment. There’s absolutely a lot of things in life to be content with. In mindfulness, contentment leads to a mind in peace.
Gil Fronsdal talks about It’s OK. In saying OK, you can release the self from a lot of traps. To untangle the entanglements, and make a stance without judgment.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Every Moment is a Chance to Restart. Every moment things start anew is a useful perspective that can be used in Mindfulness.
Gil Fronsdal talks about Still Quiet Place Within. As the mind turn inwards for meditation, the still quiet place within helps us to draw peace and stillness.