Buddhist Teacher: No One Is Talking About This Hidden Epidemic! The Western Lie Behind Depression and Anxiety

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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Gelong Thubten (0:33)

We're all at the mercy of our own minds. But the problem is, is that in modern life, we're constantly made to feel we're not good enough. Something's always missing, and I will be happy or unhappy if this or that happens to me. So we become prisoners of life.

Steven Bartlett (0:45)

And you went this the hard way?

Gelong Thubten (0:46)

Yes, when I was in a long retreat, cut off from the world for four years. And memories were coming up from the past that would build into horrific amounts of depression, anxiety, pain. And I jumped over the wall and tried to escape because of what happened to me when I was 14

Steven Bartlett (1:00)

Are you comfortable talking about this?

SPEAKER_1 (1:02)

Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk who spent over 30 years helping Hollywood stars, CEOs and corporations stay in control within a world overloaded with stress, addiction, anxiety and burnout.

Gelong Thubten (1:14)

Here we go. I became controlled by distraction, controlled by negative thinking. What is life going to do to me next? How will I handle it? And things only changed when I hit rock bottom. I had spent so much effort trying to push that suffering away because it's so disgusting and so shameful, but it was just making it worse.

Steven Bartlett (1:32)

So many of us run away from pain, though.

Gelong Thubten (1:34)

But the reality is you can run to the end of the earth and that thing that has been tormenting you will always trip you up. And so I went back into that retreat knowing the methods are there. I just need to know how to use them and I could learn to conquer this. And that's where meditation comes in.

Steven Bartlett (1:49)

Do you think you can teach me? Because I very much feel like I'm on the receiving end of life.

Gelong Thubten (1:53)

First of all, chuck all those things away. There's a lot of spiritual tat, isn't there?

Steven Bartlett (1:57)

I mean, I've said it.

Gelong Thubten (1:59)

I actually hated meditation when I first did it. Because there's a lot of misconceptions. And actually all you're doing is these three things, to be less controlled by negative thinking. And the beauty of this is that they can show in brain scans, there'll be visible changes in your brain. So let's try this.

Steven Bartlett (2:15)

Quick one before we get back to this episode. Just give me 30 seconds of your time. Two things I wanted to say. The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning in to the show week after week. Means the world to all of us. And this really is a dream that we absolutely never had and couldn't have imagined getting to this place. But secondly, it's a dream where we feel like we're only just getting started. And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24% of people that listen to this podcast regularly and follow us on this app. Here's a promise I'm going to make to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future. We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to and we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about this show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Back to the episode. Gelong Thubten, why is your work more important now than ever before? Why is your message more important now than ever before?

Gelong Thubten (3:13)

I think because we're now living in times where we need meditation more than ever because of the speeding up of life. Obviously, with technology and the way we live. And also, I think because meditation has become more widespread, there are loads of misconceptions about it. So I do try to put some effort into kind of clarifying some of those misconceptions.

Steven Bartlett (3:35)

When you look out into the world and you perform your sort of own analysis on what the world, the Western world is getting right and getting wrong, what are some of your sort of big picture feelings, thoughts and concerns?