U Tejaniya mind-watching

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines · Sayadaw U Tejaniya · Yangon, Myanmar

What it is

This is a contemplative practice of a living Buddhist tradition, not a psychotherapy. U Tejaniya trained as a young teenager under Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw (1913–2002), worked in business (the textile trade, per his publisher) and lived as a householder, and became a permanent monk in 1996. His teaching…

Format

• The tradition does not publish a staged protocol, session count or graded curriculum for this practice. What it does publish is a set of attitude guidelines, formal sitting and walking practice inside a retreat schedule, and continuous daily-life awareness. The phases below are an organising frame…
• Format in the tradition: individual practice with periodic interviews or Dhamma discussion with the teacher, at the Yangon centre or on retreats abroad; recordings from retreats in many countries from 2011 to 2023 are published on his site. The centre's site stated that from 22 June 2021 it was not…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• reassurance-seeking from therapist or teacher.
• see item 16 (screening before intensive retreats).
• the client feeling their tradition is being replaced.
• sleep loss, grandiosity, persecutory ideas, inability to function.
• idealisation of the teacher or therapist; religious trauma after leaving a group.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.