Meditation with Ashley Brown – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, I explore Vipassana meditation, one of the world’s most ancient and transformative mindfulness practices. You’ll learn its origins, core philosophy, what really happens in a 10-day silent meditation retreat, and why its teachings continue to influence my own practice.

Although Vipassana isn’t the technique I use daily, the Buddhist principles behind it, including the law of impermanence and the cultivation of equanimity, have deeply shaped my understanding of meditation.

What l cover in this episode:

1. What “Vipassana” means and its Buddhist meditation origins
2. How the Buddha taught Vipassana as an antidote to suffering and misery
3. The 3 pillars of Vipassana: Sila (ethics), Samadhi (mind mastery), and Punya (wisdom)
4. Why the breath and bodily sensation are the anchors of the practice
5. The difference between objective truth and subjective truth in meditation
6. A behind-the-scenes look at a 10-day Vipassana retreat — rules, schedule, and challenges
7. The Buddhist law of impermanence (Anicca) and why it’s life-changing
8. Equanimity as the antidote to craving and aversion
9. How contemplating death can help us embrace life fully
10. My personal challenges, breakthroughs, and takeaways from Vipassana in India
11. Why Vipassana works for some people — and why it might not suit everyone

Whether you’ve been curious about Vipassana or are considering a silent meditation retreat, hopefully you find this episode insightful in your own practise and experience of life. 

🙏 Stay Connected & Explore More:

📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

Here is a simple 20 minute timer to support your own self guided meditation practice.

No guidance, no ads, just a soothing timer to help you drop in and come back gently. 

Gentle gong bells will ring, at the beginning and at the end to create a clear container for practice.  Enjoy, the quiet space in between to explore any meditation technique you like.

Enjoy your practice!

Welcome to Part 3 of 3 in this mini series of episodes on Meditation and the Nervous System. 

In this episode, we explore the parasympathetic nervous system, the body’s built-in relaxation response, and why I call it the “meditation response.”

We’ll discover how meditation helps the nervous system reset, release stress, and return to its natural state of balance, joy, and connection.

We also explore the polyvagal theory, which reveals the two very different ways we can enter the parasympathetic state, and why understanding this is key to health, healing, and happiness.

Topics covered:

• The magical nature of the parasympathetic state and its role in healing
• The two different ways we can enter the parasympathetic state
• Ventral vagus vs. dorsal vagus: The difference between connection and shutdown
• How the body instinctively self-regulates when it feels safe
• Why chronic stress blocks access to joy, meaning, and connection
• How meditation creates the conditions of safety for nervous system reset
• Six practical cues that signal safety and shift you into rest & digest
• The unique role of mindfulness in disarming false stress triggers

So hopefully these last 3 episodes have helped you to:

• Understand your own relationship with stress a little better
• Become aware of the levels you may have normalised in your own system
• Illuminate the impact it might be having on your health and happiness

Ultimately, my hope is to highlight not just the stress, but the way back to balance, a clear path in meditation to restoring your health, vitality, and joy.

🙏 Stay Connected & Explore More: 📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

🎵 Intro music from Upbeat (free for Creators!):

Amazing Day by Iris Young → https://uppbeat.io/track/iros-young/amazing-day

Welcome to Part 2 of 3 in this mini series of episodes on Meditation and the Nervous System. 

In this episode, we dive deep into the anatomy of the stress response and explore why meditation is such a powerful antidote.

You’ll learn how this survival system was designed to protect us but how in modern life it often works against us.

Topics covered:

• What the stress response is and why nature designed it
• Your biological defence shield 
• Why imagined fears trigger the same reaction as real danger
• How chronic stress drains energy and relegates our health
• A lesson from the animal kingdom
• 5 ways stress physically reshapes the body (jaw, joints, digestion, nerves, tendons)
• Why meditation is a practical tool to reset the nervous system

Stress isn’t just “in your head”...  it’s in your body!

Through meditation we help our physical body guide shift the nervous system out of chronic sympathetic activation and into a restorative state where tissues, joints, and nerves can re-lengthen, decompress, and heal.

🙏 Stay Connected & Explore More: 📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

Intro music from Upbeat (free for Creators!):

Amazing Day by Iris Young https://uppbeat.io/track/iros-young/amazing-day

Welcome to Part 1 of 3 in this mini series of episodes on Meditation and the Nervous System. 

One of the most common reasons people come to meditation is the impact of too much stress...But!

Not all stress is bad.

In fact, stress is essential, it’s the overdose and poor recovery that harm us.

In this episode, I share how meditation helps us change our relationship with stress and why awareness is the first step to freedom.

Topics covered:

• Redefining stress: the difference between helpful stress and harmful stress

• Where stress lives

• Stress as an internal response

• Why the same event triggers different stress levels in different people

• How stress shrinks your “comfort zone” and makes you more reactive

• The radical shift of taking responsibility for your stress response

• How society conditions us to normalise high stress

• Why stress itself isn’t the problem, but unawareness and poor recovery are

• How self-awareness breaks the cycle of conditioning and restores balance

• Meditation as a daily tool: not just for enlightenment, but for stress management and resilience

So I hope this first episode was helpful in reminding you that stress isn’t the enemy, it’s simply a messenger and meditation helps us listen.

🙏 Stay Connected & Explore More: 📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

Intro music from Upbeat (free for Creators!):

Amazing Day by Iris Young https://uppbeat.io/track/iros-young/amazing-day

In this episode, I sit down with renowned teacher and devoted Shiva Yogi, Nataraj, to explore the heart of Tantra: its philosophy, practices, and relevance today.

Nataraj began daily yoga and meditation at just 13, immersed himself in Tantra by 16, and has since dedicated his life to sharing this wisdom worldwide through retreats, workshops, kirtan, and teacher trainings.

We explore the essence of Tantric and Yogic philosophy, the dance of Shiva and Shakti, and what it means to live these teachings in the modern world.

Topics covered:

- What is meditation

- The Tantric Path

- The descent of consciousness 

- Consequence of limitation

- What is a Shiva Yogi

- The principles of shiva and sakti 

- Goddess Tradition

- What is the mind

- Greif & love

- What is freedom 

- Methods to find grace 

Perfect for anyone curious about Tantra, spirituality, meditation, and self-realisation — or anyone seeking to understand how these timeless teachings can illuminate our search for meaning today.

Connect with Nataraj 🌐 Website: natarajchaitanya.com 📷 Instagram: @nataraj.chaitanya

Upcoming 200-Hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training 📍 Melbourne | Online 📅 February – May 2026 👉 Learn more & register

Join Ash in a meditation practice to help you connect to presence through the miracle of your living body.

• Express - 20 mins
• Full - 29 mins

This meditation is designed to honour your body’s genius and innate intelligence.

Remember, the most valuable tool in any somatic practice is not technique, but the capacity to meet yourself with compassion and kindness. 

All you need is a comfortable space.

Sitting upright is recommended, but if it feels better to lie down, follow what allows your body to be at ease. 

So, with that being said... Sit back, relax and enjoy!

🙏 Stay Connected & Explore More: 📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

🎶 Music from Uppbeat: Shrine by Tranquilium – Listen here

Join Ash in a meditation practice to help you connect to presence through the miracle of your living body.

• Express - 20 mins
• Full - 29 mins

This meditation is designed to honour your body’s genius and innate intelligence.

Remember, the most valuable tool in any somatic practice is not technique, but the capacity to meet yourself with compassion and kindness. 

All you need is a comfortable space.

Sitting upright is recommended, but if it feels better to lie down, follow what allows your body to be at ease. 

So, with that being said... Sit back, relax and enjoy!

🙏 Stay Connected & Explore More: 📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

🎶 Music from Uppbeat: Shrine by Tranquilium – Listen here

This episode marks the second half of my deep conversation with Cirak.

Cirak is a renowned spiritual teacher, author, public speaker, and host of worldwide retreats. He has written four influential books on meditation, spirituality, God, and mindfulness, with more on the way, and his teachings have inspired thousands around the world.

✨ In Part 2, we explore:

1:00 - Overview 5 levels of awareness

2:00 - Presence as foreign to the mind

5:20 - Intuition as our guidance system

7:05 - Level 1 Awareness

9:45 - Level 2 Awareness

12:30 - Destruction within natural law

14:05 - What catches us when we let go

16:35 - Is life inherently meaningful 

17:40 - Level 3 awareness

20:20 - Our natural state

20:45  - Level 4 Awareness 

22:25 - What it means to be in your power 

24:50 - Level 5 Awareness

27:40 - Your vibration as your gift 

Cirak shares profound insights on meditation, awareness, surrender, and the journey of consciousness — offering practical wisdom for anyone ready to live with more clarity, love, and freedom.

I hope you enjoy!

Connect with Cirak:

📲 Instagram: @cirakteachings

🌐 Website: cirak.com

📖 Book: The Five Levels of Awareness: A Manual for Finding Purpose

🌊 Retreat: Ocean Retreat, Bali — Dec 7–14, 2025

🙏 Connect with Me & Explore More:

📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

Intro music from Upbeat (free for Creators!):

Amazing Day by Iris Young https://uppbeat.io/track/iros-young/amazing-day

Welcome to Part 2 of the Inner Voices Series where I shine a spotlight on the cast of characters living inside your head and explore how awareness can transform your relationship with them.

Topics covered:

• How to separate from your thoughts

• Using language as a tool for freedom

• Analogies that make the mind easier to understand

• The power of presence and awareness

• Disentangling the threads of “I” and “my”

• Practicing witness consciousness

• The inner voice to call forward

If you’ve ever felt controlled by your thoughts, this two-part series will help you see them differently; not as truths to obey, but as energies to observe, understand, and integrate.

🙏 Stay Connected & Explore More:

📸 Instagram: @ashleybrown412 📺 YouTube: Ash Brown Meditation 🎙 Spotify: Ash Brown Meditation Show 🌐 Website: ashbrownmeditation.com 📩 Email: ashleysarinebrown@gmail.com

Intro music from Upbeat (free for Creators!):

Amazing Day by Iris Young https://uppbeat.io/track/iros-young/amazing-day