In this seventeenth installment of the ongoing live series with Wendy Nash inquiring into meditation practice on and off the cushion we talk meditative environments and spaces — mostly external via showing images of them — for one’s “personal” (formal) meditation space, group spaces, etc
References and related links:
- https://www.originalbuddhas.com/about-us
- https://integratingpresence.com/2024/01/20/meditation-spaces
(Ways to) join these Q & A’s when they happen live:
- via downloading the free Wisdom app in your app store or via: https://wisdom.audio where I’m @integratingpresence or https://joinwisdom.audio/integratingpresence
- watch on my YouTube channel
*There’s naturally an ongoing open call for meditation (related) questions for the (roughly) monthly “Meditation Q & A” either by the various social media means listed; integratingpresence[at]protonmail.com or just showing to type/ask live.*
Background
Regular, current and past visitors to Integrating Presence may recall the monthly series “Ask Us Anything” I did with Denny K Miu from August 2020 until January 2022 — partially including and continuing on with Lydia Grace as co-host for awhile until March 2022.
For a few months thereafter I did various Insight Timer live events exploring potential new directions and/or a continuation of the Ask Us Anything format while weaving in other related teachings to these events.
Then, after chats with meditation coach Wendy Nash, it became clear to start a new collaboration similar to “Ask Us Anything” simply and clearly called “Meditation Q & A” especially due to the original intent of the Ask Us Anything’s being “discussions about meditation and related topics.”
Past chats with Wendy:
Audio: Meditation Spaces | January 23, 2024 “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #17
Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)
The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
17th meditation Q&A with Wendy Nash and I Wendy what’s going on oh well I’m here on gubby Gabby
country in Queensland and while you have got you we were just talking and you’ve had black ice yesterday we were sweating
actually yesterday I don’t think was too bad but boy it has been so so hot here
so we moved slightly closer to the Sun and I think you moved further out
towards the other end of the G Galaxy it’s pretty wild this cold snap and then
these extreme temperatures uh more and more that recently but well today’s
we’re entitling this meditation space meditation spaces so last time we talked
about nomadic meditation about all the different places we meditate and all the different topics surrounding that and
today I thought we’d actually do something different and show um like physical meditation
spaces sorry I just got a bit distracted there with the YouTube you did yes and so I plan to
show some spaces for you know inspiration creativity you know we’ll
just comment on some of these spaces and I just wanted to give a disclaimer up front here that I don’t we don’t own the
copyright to any of these images nor are we claiming them we’re not going to make any money off of this you know we uh so
please you know if you’re really interested in a particular space uh use like reverse image search find out who
the copyright holder is contact them and give them money and uh and get in it
that way because I didn’t keep track of any of these and we’ll try to keep them brief uh in order for fair use yada yada
disclaimer y so I think you get you sent me a couple of links and we can certainly say the name of the URL in
case people want to to do that but again we have no commercial or any other affiliation with any of these places
we’ve just you know been ordinary boring citizens who have just just searched on the on Google and gone oh look at that
actually Josh did Josh did all the work I’ve done no work so well you’ve showed
up here and and add your lovely presence and helpfulness as well Wendy so okay so
this is the the link for this just go to integrating presence.com and today is
the 23rd of January 2024 so it was the post right before this one so right
around there you’ll see a post that includes all these images without any further Ado um let’s see here so while you
bringing up the image so you and I can see it and and probably our person can see it uh just a heads up we go on to
Deco decoist uh so it’s decoist.com D
i.com editation hyphen rooms hyphen spaces and
I guess I get oh whoa oh no well whoa hang on let’s see no so Wendy uh
something happened with the screen share does is it working now we’ve got screen share definitely but did you get that
image from that URL I just said or is that I I I did Pro more than likely yes
but it’s I don’t know if it’s going to be feasible to give all the URLs there to find them no I just thought I just
thought if that’s where you got them then that’s that’s sort of where where it is that’s as good a place as any to
start and maybe found them from somewhere else I can’t see them anywhere else on here but geez some of these ones
are pretty cool I have to say you did some good work there Josh well I
appreciate it so yeah if you want to find out the these images are like I said on the the they’re all collected
there’s a few links where more than one of the images came from so you can find them that way um or some of them anyway
so okay so starting off here this just looks like somebody’s you know space here I don’t know if that’s a mirror on
the screen um yeah I think so what I I’ve got I think you’re sitting you’re
sitting in your car looking at your tiny little phone I’ve got a I’m on a website
so how about I describe it because I can see see it quite well sure okay so it does look like someone’s got a white
it’s a white little uh room like slightly larger than a broom closet and
some bookshelves on either side a stool on one side and two what’s called zafus
and zafus are those meditation C that look like I don’t
know just flat little cushions that are quite heavy and hard and there’s clearly
a mirror on one side round mirror and some some
Greenery there is yeah I think the maybe the greenery is is reflected in the mirror there and it looks like a
radiator too so it looks like a nice warm cozy spot ah it is a so it must be in the northern hemisphere I missed that
one CU we don’t have radiators here like that and then we’ve got it looks like a
couple lights up top but anyway yeah we we’re both of us are good at giving verbal descriptions so yeah if this is
some ideas for converting one space uh a little Nook for uh meditation now this
next one here I this is actually I think from a Manger newspaper and I think this is someplace in New York city so pretty
wild looking um space there with um gu sacred geometry top or ceiling and the
lighting is just wild so we’ll go into things like uh meditation Halls caves
Huts uh pods chairs you know spaces indoor and outdoor have you just that
previous one cuz that’s in New York have you ever been to I’ve never been to New York I I have it was like 2005 though so
I I was only there for a few days was a completely different person at that time you know and I I’m just in New York City
you could probably I could probably spend like days on just a single block and not see everything if I could go to
all the buildings you it’s just so compressed around this it looks like a
seating around it yeah sitting around the outside it’s a wooden floor it’s got
this crisscross pattern from a bloom above I guess it’s quite nice it looks like maybe it’s a y or it’s got a tent
or it’s some kind of fabric covering and some pretty groovy 1960s lighting I
guess I would say that um and yeah I think it’s a and just a guy sitting
there in the middle of the room I’m I would have to say for me that’s not a place that I’d be so Keen to sit on it
looks a bit hard and comfortable you’d want some cushions and some zafus and things like that um but if it was set up
so that it was you would be physically comfortable probably yeah kind of interesting yeah cuz definitely the
space that you sit in does make a difference in terms of uh the experience you have if if
you’re physically comfortable then definitely it makes it it better for sure well right on and just maybe this
will be a little awkward because I can’t get the visual cues from Wendy but we can hear each other and I think the
verbal descriptions are great for those just listening on the podcast or the audio version course if you are still go
and check out uh the visual version you’ll like this or at least go to the website and and flip through these real
quick you have to spend as much time again Rel listening um also these metal this these look like can poles uh you
know the um wooden rods or something that are all interwoven or behind each
other and whatnot making the design holding up if it’s a tint or not all
right now this next one looks like a maybe a loft space so it looks like there’s um yeah you can if you’d like to
give the description Wendy sure just in case you can hear a little bit of a tinkle here my cat is
sitting right here on her little own special Zen cushion otherwise known as a
chair a chair cushion but um so she’s doing her thing uh so what have we got
it’s again so clearly beige is the color of Zen because pretty much everything seems to be like that wooden floor oh no
it’s it’s got a dark floor and then it’s got a couple of rugs one is a sort of a wooden kind of maybe bamboo matting and
then another one which is more of a cloth matting uh it’s at the top of a stairwell a little looks like it’s got a
stool on one side as a bit of a a shrine with some pots or stones or something
maybe a candle and then the person presumably sits in a beige uh chair like
a lounge chair with a cushion and they’ve got a wooden stool and a cushion I don’t know maybe
when your legs get tired and then on one side it’s got a bookshelf but everything is very beige so I think it’s Architects
or interior designer Zen space yes yes and it’s kind of like a slope right so
this is up and near the ceiling of the building I guess now we’ve got about 80 I think some images to get through and
some of these I wouldn’t say are just uh places just for meditation but they’re
meditative like spaces and while some of them are more formal now we look at this one and this almost looks like something
out of a tiki um uh I don’t know my lights went off here um uh but it doesn’t matter we’re
looking at the screen I think for now and um Tiki like a tiki bar almost uh
there’s a lot going on on this it might take quite a while to describe this I’ll just say this looks little more like a
group meditative space um maybe there’s a sand like a Zen um rock Gardener sand
thing in the Middle with candles uh tables with more candles um some other t
laes with more candles and this is like a wooden Hut that looks like it’s partially covered from the elements a
wall Beyond it that’s maybe another kind of structure or maybe that’s a wall protecting the outdoors so I’m not quite
sure and something in the middle hanging down almost looks like a pendulum or
something but I don’t I don’t know and there’s some Stones um you have any other things to
add to this Wy I would say it looks like a um a meditation space in Asia that was
designed for westers to go on nice expensive meditation Retreats yes when you go to to sort of Buddhist Meditation
places they don’t look like that that’s for sure they this looks like you know a sort of
a fashionable nice they do would they would do yoga retreats and maybe uh
feminist Awakening embodiment and it looks like one of those sorts of places
very beautiful very beautiful so not to be yeah so yeah just different than what
Wendy and I are used to and yes okay so the next one just looks
like a corner of one’s apartment or um you know interesting yeah yeah so just
looking at that I’d have to say that one is not a place where I would want to meditate cuz it’s got a rather lumpy a
sort of very stylish interesting not I guess aernal knot cushion um in in the
in the middle of the room and then it’s got a sort of 1950s mid-century chair which has got
something on it which means you couldn’t probably sit on it nothing looks it looks like it’s there for the look but
rather rather than the you know comfort for sure yes exactly so this isn’t a
formal meditation space the way it is it’s maybe a little bit of a quiet area meditative like space but not something
for formal regular sitting practice it looks like to to be honest it looks like
something that uh has been done has been created to make a photo because I can still see the rug in the middle as a
fold Mark in the middle of it yeah so I think it’s one of those you know images
which is there for yeah hey we’re really to be part of the In Crowd or whatever
so to promote I don’t know that’s not a useful one to me that’s what I think and look at all the uh massive
amount of detail that we’re we’re picking out of these this is great and Wendy’s only seen these for the first time I think or maybe she looked at them
earlier I’m not sure I didn’t have a chance you know you sent them through this morning and I’ve just had a flat chat day so no none of that I’m seeing
so we get we get fresh eyes here and uh all the detail she’s pointed out already
now this one looks fairly inviting um with um I don’t know about that wicker chair for but the kind of Ikea like um
reclining chair I think those are comfortable every once in a while I mean if you’re looking to support your own
weight uh of course the chair is not the best thing um some chairs are better where you can sit on towards the edge
and use your back to support all your weight but a chair like uh chairs like
like these are made to use the back um lots of carpet the Natural Stone if it’s
not a facade looks nice uh the
and there is a meditation cushion there or something like a z a zafu but then the zebon is the thing that offers
support for the legs the like matted cushion that goes below the zafu but I
don’t see one of those there well it does have a a rug or a carpet underneath
it so you wouldn’t necessarily need it uh CU that it does look quite thick and
Lush um plush I guess I I would prefer to sit in the wicker chair on that one
and I tend to I’m a bit nauy cuz I actually sit in bed I meditate in bed in
the mornings after my first cup of tea I must say um because I have a kettle by my bedside table so I just make my it’s
do that first thing in the morning I think of so far this one feels the most inviting and warm but I get the more the
sense that it’s a bit contrived it’s done a little bit to the image of the of the photo rather than it being someone’s
real experience I I totally agree you know and then the the the plants are really
nice too now this is really uh interesting oh the fireplace back there too now this is supposedly this is some
kind of meditation pod chair chamber and I guess I didn’t read much about it or
look much about it but I guess one of the ideas is you put the lid down and I don’t know about the lighting situation
if you can choose different lighting methods or something like this and also I think they play like binaural bead or
a sound system around it I’m not exactly sure what goes on with these things but you could probably look that up and find
out more about it unfortunately I don’t feel like I’m uh anything I said is with 100% accuracy so if you look at up like
meditation chair pod I I personally am not into like the artificial means but some people find that can accelerate
practice or at least for a little bit but then I hear things like well people have to undo what they’ve done with
those things and these frequencies and things so I don’t think the verdict is still out what uh if I could recommend
anything like that or not I haven’t used one so I would definitely want to use one first I I didn’t know about all that
we’ll pick that up in another episode actually that would be a great topic for maybe next episode we could do you know
uh sort of wave Alpha wave and binaural beats and and maybe have a bit of a
discussion about whether we think that’s helpful that’s a really good ide actually yeah this looks like it’s part
of a a chair show uh because I can see just to the right there’s other chairs
and it’s a different space so it looks like it’s actually part of a sales thing could I don’t know I would feel a bit
weird by that one cuz I just don’t want to feel I don’t like to feel trapped so that would freak me out being in that to
beest another thing maybe we could talk about to um the isolation Chambers or oh
yeah like the U what do they call it uh float tanks I don’t know if Wendy’s ever done one of those or we can talk about
these artificial meditation methods or something like that and you
know the the our next show though we we do have titled how time meditates just a
little teaser there the title is a little bit uh kind of um provocative
maybe mysterious but we’ll we’ll that’s the next one and then we’ll we’ll look into maybe doing one of these ones on
other meditation methods that are more artificial okay so another internal one
this looks a little bit like a thrown together thing but you know there’s a I’ve never seen a medit zafu like that
it looks almost hand knitted what do you think about this when yeah it looks like that the thing is if you had it like
that it would be quite um it would probably I don’t know if you sat on that
it would just be a bit riged on you know under your backside it would just probably hurt after a while I don’t know
how much you could really attend to attend to it you know I I don’t have a
sense that that would be a you know a a useful
H yeah yeah I I think these ones are a lot of them are for look and and sort of
the Pinterest thing I don’t know that you could ever really get into the enjoyment of it that’s my that’s my
thing well I don’t know I’ve never seen my take is I wonder though if it’s just a cover like a uh you know a regular
zafu cover doesn’t have anything like that but what if it’s just a regular zafu on the inside um but it’s just has
a special cover on the outside and it you know just a little bit rougher on the the texture of the outside but
actually it’s just a regular zafu on the inside I don’t know I’ve never seen anything like that I wonder if somebody knitted just a cover to go around a
standard zapu thing too who knows maybe maybe maybe maybe I
just I realized I didn’t have our because if we if we have our listener it would be very nice for somebody to say
hello we often do have em Reed joins us but today it doesn’t look like she’s she’s here and I realized I just didn’t
have so I apologies if you have been on the YouTube and I ignored your chat so I do apologize okay here we are this looks
more like an ordinary meditation place this is the sort of thing that you might see on larger scale in a in a Buddhist
center that sort of thing it looks quite familiar uh but without the fancy
candles and lights and mirrors and things like that but definitely has a much more familiar tone to it definitely
and it’s got that rug underneath the knees and a little clo I think that looks that actually looks uh sensible to
me and it do out the window yeah it does the one prior to that this one looks like a little you know efficiency
apartment see through the window there’s tall building so sometimes people only have so much space to work with and so
they’ve got to make do with what little space they have and this one that we’re talking about yeah it does look like
it’s uh at a bigger space because we’ve got all these mats and cushions and rugs
there’s a pile of um zapus on the left I do see some of these salt lamps in the
middle there that’s interesting and maybe a couple candles that are unlit in the middle but still yeah in a plant but
yeah very taste very practical and more open space okay now this one um there is
a pillow there and it looks like a smudging of sage there in a journal so this looks like some kind someone’s kind
of Sacred Space well they they just might spend some time looks like there’s um
oh I don’t know just different objects on the altar like plants and candles and and um crystals and looks like there’s a
pyramid there plants books so yeah yeah I did hear by the way somebody
said don’t use the word alter because that’s where you they used to sacrifice animals so I don’t know if that’s true
but that’s something to think about so I’ve always tried to use the word shrine I’ve got no idea whether the atmology or
the uses is correct so if our listener would like to correct me feel free what’s the next photo because a lot of
these I feel are a bit I don’t know they feel very contrived there we are here we are we’ve got 20 people meditating this
is more like it this is a Zen one for sure yes looks like a zendo I don’t know where this is if anyone knows uh chime
in on the comments and yeah with the this the sliding walls I haven’t really been to too many huge zenos it just um
the one I Zen space I went to um Soo Zen was just in a house and you know in a
neighborhood so nothing like this now this The Listener so I’m someone
commented um I would just really quickly I I totally agree with that there’s a lot of you know abrahamic religions and
other things that you know they nothing per se against them but there was you know in certain times there were blood
sacrifices on altars and all kinds of interesting things going so I think Shrine I I would agree with that
uh have to be mindful of my speech here and I do agree that’s a more helpful term just going back to the previous one
the Zen Zeno I’m the F the first Retreat I did which was eight days and with almost no experience don’t do that by
the way it’s too much in your beginning I should have definitely not done that but um that one it was a Zeno and then
it looked out onto a uh it was in the middle of a field and uh and it was
great because I looked at out and I got to see this beautiful lovely Green
Landscape it was divine and it was very interesting to see how my mind changed over the course of the week and and that
that experience has never left me so I that was that was very nice so I have
fun memories of that I remember you mentioning this on the on the last one and actually go back and listen to that
if you haven’t listened to that uh whoever is listening to this because Wendy goes into more details about that experience and I I find it fascinating
uh getting and I’ve heard people going into the 10day goink Retreats not even knowing what uh having ever even heard
of meditation before I mean that’s pretty wild that’s pretty intense I hear uh something like that okay so this
looks like a room that somebody’s converted um a space or I guess just a
regular room in the house although it’s not a standard um Square room right it are the
walls angled or something either way there’s a shrine there go ahead yeah you take I think it I think it’s an ordinary
room but it’s got some Panorama um Vision set on the camera uh it it looks
it it has a shrine at one end underneath the window and a and a lovely mat it
does look like there might be some cushions and rugs or something in one corner it does look like the sort of
space a person might use but for some weird reason all these rooms have to be beige or wooden I don’t know what that’s
about I haven’t seen one which looks anything like what people actually have at home I mean this is a very nice
attractive space but have you ever has your meditation space ever looked like that Josh I I haven’t seen so much Bays
recently I don’t know what’s going on with this but yeah so yeah this is another thing that comes up because our
the meditation space can be a multi-use space right it doesn’t have to have the cushion layout there all the time so I
like this one where it can be tucked away and then and brought out each time we meditate and then like there looks like a a desk on the side there so it
can be multi-purpose if if we only have so much room to work with um now this
one um there’s some nice soft cushions there this looks a little bit uh I don’t
know but then there’s there’s some of these shingles on the left hand side I think this is right before you go
outside it it’s hard to tell because there’s like a veil there I don’t know if it’s partially open to the elements it kind of looks like I don’t know if
there’s there or whatever I don’t know what else to say about this one Wendy I think they’ve got some sheer drapes
coming down and it looks like again one of those places you might find in Asia
where people wealthy westerners go go there on Retreat and have a particular
Asian Western Retreat it’s completely nothing like if you were sort of more
into the Buddhist Meditation stuff that is a Buddhist Meditation thing nothing like that and even what I’ve been to is
more Western than what most locals would have in Asia and in fact Asians it’s not
part of their cult Buddhist cultural practice is to meditate so yeah often uh that’s a Western in very strong
Western thing to be meditating I think yeah I think well it depends on where
you’re at and what kind of practitioners are but yes I would definitely say there’s more devotional practices in
Asia than there are hardcore medit although I don’t know I I think in Burma
I haven’t been to Burma but I think there’s a lot of um fairly serious lay
practitioners there too um but I don’t know now this it’s hard for me to tell
it looks like a reflection in a mirror uh actually several mirrors this looks like a little bitty tint or meditation
pod and some of these actually just have different geometries that some people say will they’ll experience different
feelings or Sensations or activity or or oh I don’t know how to say this uh
you’ll see some pyramids later uh about people experience different things while meditating in them just like some people
might experience uh certain I don’t know mystical States or something when they
uh are just different Inspirations when they’re meditating at holy sites but I
don’t know enough of the I think some of the science has been done on these things some of it might be considered
pseudo science so I’ll just say is an interesting shape I don’t know exactly what it is but I think once you’re
inside of it you can meditate yeah just a just a heads up about the word Burma
the name the country changed oh Myanmar Burma yeah I like to say I I mean sort
of maybe you know 20 years 20 30 years ago I think it changed from Burma to myar so or myar myar so just a heads up
on that I appreciate that too I like to use both of the names because I know there’s a loaded political situation
that I know nothing about and I have no interest really to get into it so I kind of just say both of the names when I’m
when I’m more conscious uh in order to not um to not stir up anything because I
know if you use one or the other one Camp might get offended so I I use both of them um so so I I I have no I don’t
know what’s going on there you know I don’t so thank you for that I I forgot to say mean more thank you it’s all right okay so yeah that looks like it’s
trying to do some space AG Intergalactic travel or something all
right so yeah again you know you’re in the dark on this one aren’t you it’s got
a Spacey kind of so here are the here are the options you can have beige you
can have Wier and tree wood flower gr you know plant or you can have
Intergalactic these are our options which this this is wild this
looks like a really uh a lot of money went into this you know this space or maybe not but these these looks like
huge wood pillars and rafters and then a lot more wood and then lighting lots of
very Specialty Lighting yeah so this is interesting I don’t know what else to say about it now this looks like a
traditional meditation um haul you know yeah this is this is the one that I’ve
seen 500,000 times this is so let’s explain this one cuz this is actually quite interesting
it is uh it has sort of a a dark cream color so not quite that white you know
Zen look that we’ve seen on the previous ones it’s got a lovely Parry floor a
Parry roof ceiling I would say with some little down lights it looks like a
western meditation hall probably given its Brown probably in one of the terada
Traditions potentially from you know a a Burmese one a myanma one uh that would
be my guess uh maybe Tai or from Leos anyway Cambodia one of those it’s got a
few chairs on the side for as one as in one’s Temple they one Asian Temple they
said yes we uh people with disabilities and westerners can use the chairs so I
thought that was kind of the statement of it um yes people with disabilities
old people and westerners use chairs we all the rest of us have to be lower than the teacher so that’s why they’re all
the cushions at the bottom uhuh and yeah so that looks like a very standard some
little of those little brown Square cushions and some
zafus and at the front there would be a shrine and a couple of Windows on either side is a nice space that it is and I
think this is actually from yeah obviously Buddhist Meditation Center I forget which tradition too um of course
it looks like they’re on an upper level because of the tree there I could be wrong though and of course the the budha
Rupa it’s hard to tell it does look like it’s made out of wood but the the it’s
kind of low res okay so now another now these are actual zafus here in assorted
colors this looks like it was set up just looks like somebody just threw some meditation cushions in a room that was
already there and called it a meditation space however uh you know it that that
rug the the legs might feel okay on that rug I don’t know but but uh yeah it’s a bit lumpy it’s it is a bit lumpy yeah it
looks a bit lumpy to me and it looks a bit yeah I don’t know what that space is anyway we’ll go on to the next one yeah
wood and it looks rustic now this looks um very maybe Oriental I’m not sure and
I don’t know if that’s an actual window I was thinking this yeah I don’t know if the the if that’s actually the
nature outside or if that’s um elaborate uh window or photoshop thing but either
way way uh yeah wood wood floors and
candles and yeah yeah I mean it’s very aesthetic it’s not beige which is quite
nice um and it’s not got the Wicker thing which is quite nice and it’s not got the weird space age thing so that it
actually looks I mean that looks like a space that I would quite enjoy to be and
I would how about you Josh yes looks very clean and uh simple uh not overly
done you know and if that is the actual view outside that would be amazing you know all about the nature now here we’ve
got a uh looks like um an upper apartment in or space in in a city or a
town um looks like there’s some green space outside plant here hardwood floors
an interesting Shelf with all kinds of knickknacks and sacred objects or you know meditative like objects and yeah
there’s actually a yoga mat in a cushion there so you know there it is
yeah I think that that looks like it might actually be some kind of space that a person might use like that looks
like something actually someone does use yes it looks like it could be a yoga studio maybe or something maybe
someone’s yoga space as well and this looks like somebody’s kind of in in their house right like um the
big emphasis on the shrine there um that’s lovely Buddha Ras and I forget
the devotional characters or maybe Arad or mon on the on the bottom with the a non Jolly mud uh mudra and another
Buddha Rupa uh yeah so that’s kind of inspiring and then of course more uh budha ropas
and other uh forms and statues in the shelves and of course you’ve got
probably dhab books um on the shelves below it it looks like some seats there
um on um maybe bamboo mat maybe it’s a reading space maybe that’s their Library
I I think this is I think this is going to be a room in a temple where people
medit that that looks to me like that that Gand so I don’t know if you you’re aware of this the Gandara Buddha do you
know what that general what I’m referring to with that um well gandahar yeah and actually that’s some of the
least stuff I’m familiar with uh I was at the British Museum and saw their gandahar um exhibition but no tell me
more Wendy so the Buddha for the first I don’t know thousand or what 2,000 years
was the was the image of that was a footprint or a Dharma wheel that’s all
you had it was the that that’s all you had which symbolized uh the Dharma or or
the Buddha and then Alexander the Great came across from uh well he was from
Macedonia and he gallivanted and murdered along the way and he was a bu
strapping buff kind of guy and it became very popular to be very buff and so
Buddha became buff at that time he became this toned dude who um
sat there in peace but that’s actually not when for the first 10,000 years or whatever that’s that was far far far
from how the Buddha was portrayed so there you go yeah it’s a really interesting point too I don’t I don’t
think the Buddha if I remember right he didn’t Advocate having um images of him
you know of a human form with like that and it wasn’t yeah until Alexander Great I do want to say there was a few other
symbolic ones they used like an empty throne and I don’t know the deer has also and has played a role there might
be a couple other ones but yeah like you’re saying the wheel and the footprints were the most predominant now we’ve got a stand I’m think the standing
Buddhas do you see them that’s um there’s a website called Original Buddhas or antique Buddhas a guy in the
Netherlands sells he goes all over Asia and to looking for antique older
high-end or higher-end Buddha ropas and he has a whole warehouse and he sells them online i’ I’ve got a couple um ones
ones from Nepal I think anyway they’re they can be quite inspiring to to see some of these things um it’s quite
controversial for that just as a heads up there’s a quite a lot of uh question
now about whether westerners have the right to yeah there’s a lot of a repatriation
of um so in Australia we have a lot of sacred objects that original people had
stolen from them when uh White Europeans came and they just took it and said this
is what it is and they put it in an object as an item of curiosity this is people’s lived experience and there’s
there’s quite a lot of that kind of uh so now many countries like France and
England are having to return those objects back to their rightful owners so
I caution against buying those just because you don’t know the ethics of how
that person can buy it whether it was stolen or you whether that was given generously or whether that was a an
stolen artifact so just be careful on that stuff totally so now this guy from
the Netherlands he’s um you have to some of the really old stuff I don’t know but uh the one I have is only from it’s not
even 100 years old so he would go to a shop you know and help support the people he has um um film of people doing
the molds of these things and he does new ones too now the super old ones yeah you have to go and and I’m sure he’s
I’ve communicated with him and so he’s very open about how he sources things like this so I would definitely
recommend going there and checking out the the ethical um sourcing of these so
he he as far as I understand he cares very much about this no if so if uh that
one might be something to ask him too if anyone’s ever reached out and and and laid claim to some of the older ones you
know um so that’s a really good point now I I agree the most with Wendy when
we’re talking about things in a museum okay so that that uh those are yeah on
public um you know in things like this and things that have been yeah unethically sourced and unethically
gotten that’s that’s the thing so yes do do do do Dil
on do do your due diligence on where you might Source these things so from what I
understand he personally goes around to to Southeast Asia and acquires these so
yes I don’t know too much about it but the one I have is not that old so I’m I’m yeah yeah cool that I just think
it’s really important because people there there is a there is quite a lot of appropriation of Asian exoticness into
Western life and society and you know people aren’t will you know for us it’s
maybe just an object or a commodity but uh I think it is somebody’s religious
practice and his with historic and their own culture in the same way would you want somebody to come here and take
something that was super precious like a temple or something here like a church something was super precious here and
then say yeah this is ours and we’re going to put it on displayers look these weird westerners look what they do
they’re so exotic and you know it’s sort of got a slightly weird vibe to it so
there you go anyway we are on let’s look at this image yeah it is I I think it’s it’s also like how sincere one is in the
practice and like if if if someone were to claim that I would gladly give it back to them too you know and this is a
uh maybe we could do another show about this it’s what inspires one too and I I even question either wish we have even
though I have one I mean I like these Notions of not uh having a uh a human
form that I had give special significance to because the whole idea of the Buddha is this awake it’s not
necessarily of a certain human at a certain time which that’s might be part of it but how do we gain uh go towards
Awakening for the benefit of ourselves and others and for the the environment we live in too so having a um a form of
a human or or a human form when the you know the Buddha actually claimed that he Beyond Being Human right uh and the
whole part the whole point is to inspire Awakening and practice and heart qualities seeing reality for what it
truly is so I if there’s a statue that does that that helps Inspire and bring
about that to practice and maybe it might be helpful but it can also fall into worshiping and like Wendy says you
know being having exotic Tendencies are just for the art you know and this looks
cool people might think I’m cool you know know what’s the intent behind having these things you know why not
just Footprints or a wheel either so these are all good questions yeah so this room here that we’ve got that looks
actually looks it just looks like it pro probably Zen that would be my guess from
that one and and yeah it just looks like a very small Zen
space uh that yeah it probably is in Japan would be my guess uh yeah yeah
interesting interesting circle area there and kind of a double cross on the the bottom and candles singing bowl
cross hatch um ceiling drop ceiling maybe yeah I don’t know if it’s a facade or what but it’s interesting
space yeah and this one okay is it is there more beige here it’s a it’s a
beige one this one is there for look it’s got a hammock too so cool
space but I don’t know how practical for meditation I I think you would sit on the sofa on on the right hand side and
meditate there you know sit with cross-legged there and then just meditate got a boat coffee tap it has
got a boat coffee table maybe pretty cool coffee table I like the coffee table it is yeah kind of jealous of the
space so that’s why it’s actually a very nice space very nice aesthetic somebody the interior designer on that one did a
lovely space this I think’s cool just the because you can look outside nature this
would be a good place to have morning coffee I think uh minus the Buddha head there and that’s another thing I’m not
on board with the Buddha heads as much because it’s just like capitate the Buddha and then hold that like a trophy
you know so you you know the story about uh deash when he died he was a very tall
man and you know he was very much into the separation of Mind and Spirit mind
and body he said you know they don’t sort of meet and actually it turns out he’s so tall that when he died they
actually had to put his head like his head couldn’t fit in so they cut it off and it’s actually in one place and it’s
m it’s like in a whole different country from the body so there you go I wonder if he’s I wonder if he’s still thinking
and therefore he is wherever his head’s at or if his body’s doing it too or whatever but now this looks like a
treehouse uh I don’t know about the yingyang Sy symbol but that is an interesting space if it is actually
Treehouse I think that might just be um I don’t know but very earthy it’s a it’s a cool space it’s
again that kind of slightly wer you know plant space it looks like it’s probably
got um stained glass windows that are are green and with with trees and
branches and it’s got a yinyang at the bottom it it looks a bit you know created for the purposes I don’t know
whether anybody would actually use it maybe they would but it’s quite small
and you couldn’t have it as like a group experience and I I like to meditate not
on my own you know I like to meditate with at least one other person the whole thing is just that much easier cool well
I’m I’m on both um now I don’t I think this is one of the cave entrances so there’s not really much to say about
that and I think we’re going to have to pick it up here with um with our with our time um I can check here so this
looks like it’s partially outside here too um triangle windows are very interesting so maybe part of a a
geodesic dome this one looks like it’s a little bit neglected looks like they’re stain and wood rot on here too and yeah
it looks like it needs a little redo and of course there’s the um devotional
space over here it I mean it it looks very pretty I don’t it has got a you
know a meditation neing stool and they they can be quite comfortable um so yeah
that that looks like it actually might look like somebody this one is beige next one is we’re into the beige the
thiss like a NE Japanese or like an American Japanese or postmodern Japanese
or something western style uh wow this is kind of whitewashed this looks like maybe in an attic space
or something converted attic space of course contrived for the picture right yeah it doesn’t look like I mean you
could meditate at one end on in the sofa there that that would be quite a nice space but you’d be having your back to
the window and I think you’d want to look at the window so I think that’s just an image one more Japanese inspired
this is Japanese I think actually it looks like it might be in Japan it looks like a tea ceremony site or a tea spot
something like that bonsai tree on the right it does yeah another uh maybe
that’s a Brahma vihara head with the four um the four faces uh we’ve got like
the um what is the symbol there the symb I think yeah yeah and some hippie
looking um zafus I don’t know what I yeah yeah okay so wow lots of colors
there um more Zen or Japanese inspired and it looks like it opens to the outside there yeah it looks nice a nice
Bas this is I go to the next one that’s quite a nice I mean it’s quite nice to have triangles actually triangles are
actually they do make it nicer than than the sort of lots of you know very uh
Square lines yes and that one is to Showcase that triangular shelf which I would uh is very nice uh this is like a
really high-end space it looks like it opens out to a deck and it looks like it’s pretty high up with the tree there
and the great opening on the Skylight up there kind of more yeah Asian to
Japanese I would Saye Japanese yeah this looks more like a little bed Nook I
don’t know what this is but it may be Middle Eastern I’m not sure yeah it starts to go more towards
there does doesn’t it it’s sort of more um yeah I mean it does have I mean the
Buddha was in Afghanistan so there sticks sticks up top seeing that so
there are a lot of it might have been somewhere in sort of like Afghanistan area that that kind of area potentially
yeah got the Buddha eyes here Buddha image of gong it looks like somebody’s
Corner they converted a corner here yeah I don’t know why you’d Wonder to ring gong a small space like that
bur I think this is this might actually be somebody’s uh guest room like an Airbnb guest room or something we could
also double as a meditation room a Buddhist inspired uh room here very
Buddhist yes and then we’ve got a traditional meditation Hall it looks
like prna I see prajna which is wisdom I don’t know the other ones yeah so that’s
that would be Western inspired go back yeah so that’s some sort of Western inspired I can’t imagine any Tibetan
place looking like that this is a western inspired Buddhist space with the Lotus
there uh the lotus flower at the in the in the window at the end so circular
roof circular roof nice space nice space or should say half circular so here’s
one of these geometry things uh like hippie checking it out see if the sacred geometry does anything he doesn’t look
like he’s totally convinced as at the moment but yeah he looks yeah it does
look a bit he looks a bit silly in that I think I would I would feel a bit silly
in that I’m stuck in the garden or was up it just look there was a television
series an English television series in the 1980s I think and it was called the young ones and it looks like the sort of
thing Neil would have done if you knew the young ones this would make sense to anybody who knows yeah was there was a
friend of mine somehow got a hold of that in the states and I need to revisit that I I have heard lots of good things
about that show but okay another kind of more traditional meditation space here
right yeah that looks I think that looks like a nice place to go I I want to go there I want to can I go there yes well
yeah whoever whoever space that is please reach out to Wendy sooner rather than later you give it to me for free I
want sponsorship you can play for flights too so we’ve got a like a nice space yeah this is kind of a a pod I was
wondering about like pre-manufactured spaces so we’re just going to keep going here here’s a cave which is oh my good
go back go back to the Pod go back to the Pod I know we’re wrapping up I know we’re wrapping up but what I like about that because it doesn’t matter if we get
to the end it doesn’t matter if we get to the end you want to get to the end all right but I what I like about that
is you could sit in that and it would actually feel quite contained and look out so I think that you would feel quite
protected in that and it is at the same time not not not claustrophobic though so I’m just going to go through this is
some kind of strange prefabricated pod here this is I saw you were in a cave
you were in a cave go back go back so that one there that looks like is sort of yeah some guy in India looks slightly
uncomfortable actually sitting there crossle yeah that’s a rubbish one that’s a contrived
one I think these are some kind of um pods or tents for bigger spaces Pacific domes is actually the company so check
that company out this looks a little bit prefabricated this looks like some kind
of Temple uh another uh classic meditation space uh same here this is a cave go ahead
yeah no those ones look like the sort of places you would actually go to if you went to a meditation place this is what
would be exactly like a Buddhist Meditation Center yeah um now these are
this is just an outdoor space I don’t think those pods are functional um this is somebody’s room now this is an
outdoor space these kind of pavilions or something of course this has been converted into a room we’ve seen several
like this now this um is inside of I’ll show you later take note of this this is
the inside of a big metal Dome that looks interesting um this is uh partially
outside again another sacred geometry thing uh another home space this is a
geodesic dome now I actually been in this is as SIU Edwardsville I did a a sound bath a sound gong in this place so
Buckminster Fuller it’s actually the Buckminster Fuller though was a famous architect um he’s an interesting guy
actually Buckminster Fuller he’s a very interesting guy quite thoughtful I gather now here’s a place outside is
made of natural stones we don’t see the inside of it don’t know where it’s at again another um more traditional
meditation space uh another pyramid pod outside just a little Nook outside this
is um I don’t know you think you should be taking psychedelics by having that one that’s exactly it’s got some yeah
weird thing anyway yes now now this is the Dome I I mentioned of let me go back
real quick to the the internal space that that supposedly is inside you can see the top roof that kind of reflects
of um this I don’t know where this is maybe somewhere in India it’s pretty massively unique uh this is a yurt uh
and then I don’t know where that is looks more tradition pry stand Shrine room this is clearly a yoga space but
they do lots of exciting things they’re standing there being in contorted center
spaces and I think this is one of those uh tints that I said of the the name drop the company I Nam dropped a bigger
one of those that one can self assemble this is uh partially covered with Earth which is pretty cool I think but I don’t
know how moist and damp that would be in there and clean it would be but very earthy this one is partially inside I
think but it looks like it’s outside but I I I can’t tell with the it could just be a room another room yeah it very well
could be can’t see the ceiling or the other side but yeah pretty wild uh so again Pacific domes that’s the company
and then fir Mountain India I guess is where that particular one is this is a cave in Thailand I presume um this looks
very Zen or I mean um yeah the Japanese inspired with Koon
maybe yeah uh C cave some of there’s famous meditation caves another indoor
space more traditional classic one this is like an earn Hut or pod oh what do
they call the Earth Earth Ship yeah Earth Ship houses that’s another thing I’m maybe looking into this looks like
it’s um yeah maybe a prefab or or made small space this is what we saw at the
beginning I think that’s when it’s full of meditation cushions uh maybe the space in New York I’m not sure oh wow I
don’t remember where this says but this is interesting the uh the ceiling on that is
incredible yes another cave uh this is a uh one of the or something yeah a Coe at
a meditation space I think that maybe Beth Upton had recommended uh people can do long personal Retreats that I’m
blanking on the name of it now we actually showed this already uh these are some famous meditation capes I don’t
know where in China this is another one um of a space uh with um Beth epton Rec
mened again I’m sorry I’m blinking on it where it is this is a Mahar Rishi dome in um in
Iowa um big TM Center or I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that so just forget I
said that I don’t own the copyrights to that either um now this is a pod um a
meditation pod this is a zindo right traditional zindo uh this is some Temple somewhere
in India I presume um maybe a cave this is another cave that one’s in like in a
root the root system of a tree I know that’s pretty cool I know I isn’t it all the carvings I don’t know if those are
actual roots or not but it says meditation cave down there again another
cave um this is a pod this is real interesting that looks maybe Malaysian
no I don’t know where uh where that would be yeah I mean it it’s it definitely looks like it might be
Malaysian because it’s got looks very influenced by Islam and uh so and Indonesia is Muslim it’s
the largest I think largest Muslim country in the world Muslim highest most
population here’s an ancient Temple the website’s down there you can see on the screen and we had that one so I know
that’s a double sorry I forgot to take the doubles out and this is another interesting one I guess look I have the sand in the middle of the room and we
saw that one before and it would looked different like that or it might have been I know we do have we had a sand
thing in the middle but this might be diff yeah it might be different it might just be um a similar circle with sand on
it and they’ve got a loose budha hand there we’ve seen that before sorry about that I think I have double versions of
this I don’t know where that’s this is another Temple I guess um very uh
rudimentary Stone on the outside there but a really nice floor which is really interesting the concrete cinder blocks
but then it’s got a really nice floor this looks nice it looks partially um brick but then word on a
pond yeah maybe Korean or something that looks Tibetan definitely
I see this looks bizarre I don’t know what these this must be not Buddhist but some I don’t know I have no idea it
looks really interesting yeah don’t know yeah I like this I use this one for the um the the
main image for the post and it looks like there’s a nice sliding glass right to the elements there I don’t uh uh yeah
and some natural stones but it does look inside indor another little earn pod Hut
okay Josh so we’re coming up to the end have we got many more because let’s do a quick overview of sure basically what do
we reckon about what are we sort of what’s our sense about all these spaces
what works I mean I guess it’s everybody has their thing everyone can do what they want um you know the the main thing
is to find the thing that works for you and that’s yeah and western western
places differ from you know it’s culturally Western it looks Western and that differs from what you see in
Myanmar and India and Malaysia and other Japan other places so China so yeah I I
I I think there’s often quite a how would I say a contrived thing in the
because you can make a there’s a lot of people wanting to part with money these days so M I’m I’m not sure that yeah I
think be careful where your cat is for sure yeah you know this is this brings
up a lot of things uh one of the reasons I did this is because I wanted to find out uh and then we’re green sharing now
um if I were to get land and I wanted to build my own structure uh for myself and others what would I do you know how
would I do it and if I Inspire others you know to either make the space that
they have into something they can actually do a formal sitting practice at either alone or with another or in a
group you know and to just get inspired about a sitting and and uh and then with
people with a little bit more money I would encourage you to find and build a unique space and invite others and have
others access to others um that would that you would like to do that that’s where I was really come coming from with
this now that I I love Wendy’s analysis on each of these too and and we can go
in and um discern and use discernment on
you know what things are doing how we feel about them and ideas around them so I enjoyed that as well with this you
know the kind of the dos and don’ts of meditation spaces well kind of based on our preferences but you know maybe
there’s some more Universal aspects there too yeah I think you know if there’s a
place in your if there’s a meditation place in your area Lo close by then re
quent it go you know make it use it cuz then that that makes it better that
makes the space better it means it becomes bigger and more popular and if you live in a place like I do where
there ain’t none of that there’s nothing for a long way away I mean I’m in a
quite a poor area so there just not that and there’s a lot of people who are homeless so I it’s interesting would I
do that now the gym is going to have h a a bit of a space and I was thinking oh I
could just set up a little bit there a meditation place so yeah that’s that’s that do it and go on Retreat too um ask
people about where to go and Retreat uh suggest to your friends hey what you
ever thought about setting up a meditation space there or hey what do you think how do you think I should set up a space here you know maybe make it
social I don’t know I mean I I’ve got my place and I don’t have a meditation space I just have my bed and I sit in my
bed and I my pillows that works yes wherever however
you’ve got to do it all right absolutely all right and I think with that uh we’ll
see you back here we plan to see you um back here again and plan to see Wendy
back and be back here again next month uh where we do how time meditates and uh
maybe one after that on what we talked about earlier so until then take good care of yourselves yeah have fun yes bye
now bye by
Integrating Presence 
39 thoughts on “Meditation Spaces | January 23, 2024 “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #17”