Shaila Catherine is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay. She has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than nine years of accumulated silent retreat experience.
She has taught since 1996 in the USA, and internationally. Shaila studied with several Asian masters in India, Thailand, and Nepal, including H. W. L. Poonja, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, in addition to the founders of several western meditation centers including Christopher Titmuss and Joseph Goldstein.
She completed a one-year intensive meditation retreat with the focus on concentration and jhana, and authored Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity. Shaila practiced under the guidance of Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw from 2006-2015, and authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana to help make this traditional approach to meditative training accessible to western practitioners.
In 2014, Shaila founded Bodhi Courses to develop and offer teachings in an online classroom.
Listen to an in-depth podcast interview with Shaila published on the Wisdom Publications website.
Learn more at https://www.imsb.org/about-us/founder-and-principal-teacher-shaila-catherine/
Shaila Catherine’s Mindfulness Meditations
Shaila Catherine talks about boredom as a hindrance to meditation. A hindering force that prevents us from being aware and awake from what is happening.
We don’t need to judge ourselves for being angry. In meditation practice, we see it and investigate it aversion or anger as suffering.
Shaila Catherine talks about Many Kinds of Thoughts. A liberated one will think what he wishes to and will not be controlled or seduced by various whims.
We all hunger for inner peace. Simple meditation practices can bring about a great depth of peace. Shaila guides you to look for deep peace within.
There are 3 great vehicles of Buddhism. Vajrayana is the form we find in Mongolia and Tibet; the Mahayana is the form we find in China, Korea or Japan.
Shaila Catherine leads a guided meditation with an emphasis on the mindfulness of the body. The body is a wonderful resource for bringing our attention to the present moment.
Shaila Catherine quotes the Buddha, “concentration is to understand things the way it is.” When the mind is steady, it enables us to know things thoroughly.