In early 2020, before any of us had heard anything about a lethal virus emerging from Wuhan Province, China, I attended a life changing 8-day Mahamudra meditation retreat with Harvard neuropsychologist and Vajrayana master Daniel P. Brown PHd.
After a nine year pause on spiritual retreats, this was my first extended in-person retreat with a living teacher.
I did also attend a 10-day silent Vipassana Retreat in summer 2019, but that was accompanied by recordings from S.N. Goenka. That was a powerful experience in its own right, but we weren’t receiving teachings from a living, breathing, responsive human being.
It’s a totally different thing and, in my experience, they don’t really compare.
I am no stranger to retreats. In my years living at the ashram, I did countless 10 and 21-day silent meditation retreats. Some directly guided by my teacher, and others completely solo.
I know how powerful they can be.
And this experience was no exception. In fact, it was healing and heart opening in ways I couldn’t have anticipated.
In this episode, I share my experience of going on a Mahamudra meditation retreat with Daniel P. Brown.
I encourage you to pair this podcast with my interview with Dan Brown and his former student, John Churchill. All three links are listed below.
You have got me interested in Andrew Cohen. I found out that there is a three episode documentary about him called “How I created a cult”. It was made around 2016-17, but then it disappeared. I’m not a conspiracy minded person, but it is suspicious. After searching as far as I could for information, it appears that the person who made this documentary sold it to an Australian company that is in the process of giving it a make over, and presumably they will release it again. However, they have been working on it for five years. Strange. Do you know how to get this documentary? I’m a documentary lover.
Hi Chris, That’s interesting. I watched a 6-episode of that documentary several years ago and I can’t find it either. I reckon you’re right. Someone probably purchased the rights and is updating it. It’s well worth watching. There are several interviews with Andrew Cohen, former students, critics, advocates, etc.
I finally received information about that 6 part documentary:
“Thanks for writing in. The series was removed from the site at the beginning of 2017. We had some exciting developments with the series and are still unfortunately unable to discuss them, but the docu-series has had to be removed from Conscious Life as we sort out the details. We hope to have more information about it very soon. Unfortunately, these things take a long time.
Our contract with the production company we’re working with required that we remove the original series in its entirety to start the new project – and we cannot make any version of the previous series available in any way. We hope we’ll have some news about the new series in the coming months.
It’s very incredibly rare that something has to be removed from Conscious Life so we hope that you’ll check back for updates as we go.
Hey that’s pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing Chris. Sounds like they’re turning it into something more substantive. I definitely saw the original 6-part series.
FYI The trailer for the revised doc is out. https://beyondrights.tv/programme/how_i_created_a_cult_
However, I think we will need to wait for netflix or such a streaming service to buy the rights before we get to see it.
Hi Chris, I saw that the new version is now available on BBC Select which you can get through Prime and Apple TV with a free trial. They edited down the original 6 episodes into 3 episodes. From what I gather, it’s a sensationalized account which doesn’t give a full picture but rather picks up and emphasizes all the worst parts of our time with Andrew. It’s pretty skewed in that way to make it more enticing for a widespread audience. Oh well…that’s what you get. I’m no apologist for AC but the way the media presents it is to grab as many eyeballs as possible.
Yes, I found it by chance on BBC Select last night. Starting it now. I’m saddened to hear about what they have done to it.