Tom Glendinning - Practice Background
DETAILS - INFLUENCE - STUDY AREAS
I have been practicing meditation and studying wisdom teachings for over 10 years, daily yoga for nearly 20, with a more recent interest in QiGong.
My practice background is both secular and Buddhist, but my interests and study have spanned multiple schools and traditions.
This is principally Dzogchen, Theravada (inc. Vipassana) and Zen, as well as study in Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness, with further interest in Advaita and Vedanta.
Teachers and guides that have had a strong influence on me:
(In no particular order)
Nathan Glyde, Zohar Lavie (Gaia house / sangha seva), Alan Watts, James Lowe, Sam Harris, Loch Kelly, Henry Shuckman, Adyashanti, Jayasāra, Jitindriyā, Ram Daas, Brian Lesage (Flagstaff Insight), Sokuzan, (Sokukoji monestary), Mooji, Joseph Goldstein, Akincano Mark Weber, Yanai Postelnik, Devon Hase, Pascal Auclair (Insight Meditation Society), Ayya Anandabodhi, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (Lojong teachings), Joshua Skrei (The Emerald), Mark Colman, Caroline Jones, Jill Shepherd, Ayya Santacitta, Thom Knowles (Vedic World View), The Yawanawa and Huni Quin people (of Acre, Brazil), David Treleavan (Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness), Stanley Rosenberg and Stephen Porges (Vagus Nerve Healing), David Whyte, Ursula K. Le Guin... and many more.
I have a strong respect for indigenous cultures and practices, myriad worldviews usually bundled together as 'animism' or 'shamanism' by outside commentary. I am deeply interest in how modern cultures might might re-discover their indigineity and find wiser ways to collectively live in the world.
In particular I am privileged to have had some connection with native peoples of Amazonia & Aboriginal Australia.
WHY I DON’T FOLLOW A SINGLE LINEAGE
Whilst I see tremendous value and clarity in lineage traditions, due to my circumstances and character I never became immersed within a single path of practice. I have found life's challenges can be one's clearest teacher, yet I have great respect for those people and traditions that have guided me.
I am of the opinion that everyone has a unique personal path, but that for some there isn’t the scope within a single tradition or teacher to provide what is needed, or it may well exist yet isn’t available to them.
A clear lineage can indeed provide support and teaching to both guide and safeguard inquiry into spiritual / mindfulness practices. For many this is essential, and I myself am the beneficiary of teachers from many lineages.
Whilst the roles of teacher and student can be present anywhere, I do not label myself a 'teacher', since I do not feel I 'teach' a spiritual path in any formal capacity, nor have I been qualified to do so by any school or institution. I facilitate and guide, following my own practice and experience, where it is invited and welcomed.
I undertake the precept to do no harm to my best ability and present my offerings with humility. I shall always remain a student of wisdom in all its forms.
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