Ep375: Meditation Sickness - Dr Ben Joffe
Dr Ben Joffe is an anthropologist and scholar practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.
Available on Youtube, iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
Dr Joffe shares his recent research and publications on the topic of gegs sel, Tibetan writing about how to remedy the various obstacles and illnesses that can arise during meditation.
Dr Joffe draws on Tibetan gegs sel texts to describe three types of meditation problems and five categories of solution and explains the surprising technique that Taranatha emphasises as central to removing spiritual obstacles.
Dr Joffe also argues that although there has been increased interest in the negative effects of meditation, gegs sel literature remains understudied, and we reflect on the possible incompatibility between Tibetan medical and spiritual cures and modern psychological and psychiatric approaches to meditation injury.
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - Spiritual obstacles
02:53 - Ben’s research into meditation sickness
07:20 - Tibetan oral instructions for adverse yogic effects
11:47 - Taranatha on gegs sel
14:03 - Ben’s personal experience with gegs sel
16:26 - Why is gegs sel so understudied?
21:58 - Is intensive tantric practice dangerous?
24:06 - Practices should produce signs
28:22 - It is timely to talk about meditation sickness
31:47 - Differing medical and therapeutic models
36:33 - Catching lice in retreat
38:40 - Gegs sel literature is for committed practitioners
42:38 - Do tantric solutions make psychiatric symptoms worse?
48:40 - Dr Nida on psychosis in retreat
56:50 - Dza Paltrul on demons
01:01:28 - Ultimate vs relative
01:03:31 - Guru Yoga and a psychodynamic lens on gegs sel
01:09:42 - Night terrors and deity devotion
01:12:50 - Ben’s experience of devotion
01:17:29 - 3 categories of problems, 5 categories of solutions
01:31:55 - 5 fundamental gegs sel methods
01:33:55 - Dispelling demonic obstacles
01:38:56 - Warning to not ignore devotion
01:40:23 - Meditation experiences vs obstacles
01:44:09 - Simple visualisation methods
01:46:35 - Tsa, rlung, thig le
01:50:49 - Breathing techniques
01:54:37 - How common is meditation sickness?
02:11:22 - The most important thing
02:13:43 - PTSD and MDMA
02:23:16 - Where to read more
Previous episodes with Dr Ben Joffe:
Buy the book here: https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/meditation-sickness-a-sourcebook-on-the-dangers-of-buddhist-practice/ UHP has given us a checkout code MEDITATE30 for a 30% discount on Meditation Sickness up through Nov 15, 2026.
To find out more about Dr Ben Joffe, visit:
Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James.