This talk will explore the cultivation of inner happiness through meditation practice. Life in the modern world has grown increasingly busy and pressurised, and the search for happiness from material things has become more intense than ever – and yet as a society we seem more dissatisfied. Perhaps we have been looking in the wrong places.
Meditation helps us connect with our inner capacity for genuine, stable happiness as well as greater compassion for ourselves and others.

Thubten will explain the brain chemistry of stress and how that affects our lives. Studies have shown that meditation regulates the brain’s amygdala (which creates the ‘fight or flight’ response) thus reducing the over-production of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. This creates greater balance in our brain and body chemistry, thus leading to a more stable inner happiness.

Gelong Thubten is a Tibetan Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and author from the UK. He became a monk 30 years ago and has spent over six years in isolated retreats, including one which lasted for four years. He is regarded as one of the UK’s most influential meditation teachers, working with corporations, schools, hospitals, prisons and rehab centres. He has lectured at Oxford University and for large organisations such as Google and The United Nations. He is also a director of several meditation centres as well as the humanitarian aid charity ROKPA International. Thubten is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling book ‘A Monk’s Guide to Happiness’, which is now published in 13 countries including Romania. His latest book ‘Handbook for Hard Times’ was published in 2023.