ha'Mind Muar

The Mind Illuminated

An International Meditation Group for Training the Mind and Ending Suffering

About the Meditation Group

ha'Mind Muar (pronounced: moo-ARE) is an international group dedicated to meditating and training the mind, inspired by the book "The Mind Illuminated" - a comprehensive meditation guide that teaches, step by step, how to reach the ultimate goal of meditative practice - liberation from all suffering, also called "Awakening" or "Enlightenment."

The book was written by an American neuroscience professor named Culadasa (John Yates, PhD.), who practiced and taught meditation for over four decades. It integrates Buddhist wisdom with brain science, providing practical and straightforward instructions for making progress, alongside comprehensive explanations about the nature of the human mind.

Whether you’re a beginner who wishes to master the technique or an experienced meditator striving for a breakthrough in your practice, we offer custom-tailored support. Enjoy personal one-on-one consultations, the benefits of belonging to a Sangha, or both. The group meets every week to learn and meditate, hosted by Oded Raz - an experienced teacher who received direct guidance from Culadasa himself. The meetings are Dāna-based, held using the Zoom platform, recorded, uploaded to our YouTube channel, and available for listening at any time.


If you value peace of mind, and you'd like to be harmonious, well-balanced, and liberated from all suffering - we'd be happy to have you with us.

About the Meditation GroupAbout the Meditation GroupAbout the Meditation Group

Meditation from a Scientific and Buddhist Perspective

 

Meditation for Groups and Individuals

Personal Consultations

Schedule a private, one-on-one meeting with the teacher to receive guidance and support according to the exact state of your meditative practice.

Group Meetings

Join our group meetings, where dedicated meditators from all over the globe learn, share, and practice together.

The Elephant Path

"The Elephant Path" is a central tool in The Mind Illuminated.
It is a detailed map, dividing the process of training the mind into ten distinct stages, starting from the point of never having meditated before, all the way to awakening and the complete liberation from suffering. Each step has its unique characteristics, challenges to overcome, and specific techniques for addressing them. Climbing up the stages represents the gradual improvement of our meditative abilities, like milestones marking progress.

The map makes it easy to orient in the mind's activities, realize its workings, identify our current location, and understand how it's best to move forward. Instead of getting lost in the jungles of consciousness, we're following a clear route, with a campus, a professional guide, GPS, a satellite phone, and all the gear we need to reach our final destination safe and sound.

Illustration: enthusbuddhist
The Elephant Path

The Practical Path

The Practical Path adds structure and insight to The Elephant Path, alongside a clear separation between actions we need to perform and mental states we wish to cultivate. Originally developed by Oded Raz, it builds upon the core instructions of The Mind Illuminated and expands them, offering a straightforward plan for an effective and efficient meditative practice.

On The Practical Path, we perform a series of simple tasks that develop the various mental skills necessary for Awakening. Each task has well-defined objective indicators for success, allowing us to know when we're ready to move on, or instead, continue to strengthen our current skills.

We also receive precision tools for overcoming meditation's most common challenges, such as mind-wandering, physical or emotional discomfort, dullness and drowsiness, agitation, ideas, desires and aversions, worries, regrets, doubts, and more.

By providing a comprehensive description of the training process as a whole, The Practical Path ensures we're always making the most out of the time and energy we invest in meditation.


Additional Activities

Supporting Content

Group members may access written, recorded, and filmed content from previous meetings, as well as recommendations for relevant content from other sources.

Joint Retreats

The group holds a retreat three times a year (3-12 days long), including silent meditation, personal interviews, walking meditation, Dharma talks, and more.

Telegram Group

A private forum for receiving updates, sharing content, asking questions, and keeping in touch with fellow members between sessions.

The Teacher

Oded Raz

Meditation Teacher

Founder of the meditation group ha'Mind Muar and a student of Culadasa. Has been teaching and developing training programs for groups and individuals professionally for over two decades.

The Meeting's Structure

The English meeting reoccurs every Sunday and is comprised of four separate sessions:

18:00
Introductions, Sharings, and Questions - (1st Session)

The opening hour is dedicated to introducing newcomers, sharing experiences from the meditative practice, Q&A, and explanations about the various aspects of the meditation technique.

19:00
Silent Meditation - (2nd Session)

The evening's main meditation session (60 minutes long).
New meditators may meditate for 20 or 40 minutes should they choose to, guided by a repeating bell.

20:15
The Evening Discourse - (3rd Session)

An orderly explanation of the various stages of the meditation technique; the workings of the mind; and the path leading to enlightenment and liberation from all suffering.

21:15
Open Discussion - (4th Session)

An opportunity to ask questions, hear answers, and share your personal experiences. The meeting ends after the last question is answered, or by the end of this last hour.

You can choose and join the sessions you wish to participate in and leave upon their completion.

Face-to-face meditation meetings are held every Tuesday. Should you visit Israel, come and say hello. :-)

Meeting Times

The group holds online meetings for English speakers every Sunday, and meetings for Hebrew speakers every Tuesday (physically) or Wednesday (online). Both meetings are open for meditators worldwide, follow the same structure, and revise the very same content. You may join both meetings or a single one of them, of your choosing.

Tel Aviv sets the meeting time, as described in the timetable. International times may vary due to Daylight Saving Time.
Meeting Times

Recommendations

Aly Thobani

 I've been a part of ha’Mind Muar for over a year, and it's been absolutely incredible. Oded is a very skilled teacher and has cultivated a wonderful Sangha where people feel safe playing, exploring, questioning, and learning together. Being part of this group has also made my understanding of TMI way clearer - I thought reading the book on my own would be enough, but having an experienced teacher (who's trained directly with Culadasa) has been huge for me.

Aly Thobani: Software Engineer, San Francisco, LinkedIn
Tracy Budd

 I highly recommend Oded as a teacher of the practices in The Mind Illuminated. While the book is excellent, there are pitfalls that can slow down one's practice and guidance that can help it progress faster. Oded's experiences on the path are invaluable towards the goal of awakening.

Tracy Budd: Satellite Systems Engineer, Washington
Erik Aellen

 Oded seems to read minds. Although I'm not a native English speaker, he understands what I am trying to communicate perfectly, and his answers are precisely what I need to hear. I received personal meditation consultations for over a year, which were very helpful for my practice. I am truly grateful to have met him and that he takes the time to provide this service for humanity.

Erik Aellen: Investor, Buenos Aires, Instagram
Daniel Sedaka

 Oded has been my meditation teacher for over two years. He endows the ability to communicate the content in TMI accurately, clearly, and comprehensively, detecting mental blocks in his students and helping them train their minds efficiently. Should you look for a meditation teacher and a supportive group of practitioners, I highly recommend ha'Mind Muar.

Daniel Sedaka: High Tech Professional, Israel
  

Contact Us

  • 17 Bloch St. Giv'atayim, Israel
  • a short walk from Kikar Noah (Noah's Square)

Questions and Answers

Yes - and so much more. "Mindfulness" allows us to achieve higher awareness of the mind's emotional and cognitive processes. We continuously develop this tool until it becomes as sharp, focused, and powerful as possible. It serves us for understanding the true nature of reality, purifying the mind of illusions and past traumas, and accumulating deep Insights, leading to the ultimate destination: A solid, continuous experience of deep contentment, true happiness, and profound inner peace, not subject to passing away by the turmoils of daily life.
The basis is Vipassana meditation, as taught by Gautama the Buddha. At the heart of its practical side is systematic cultivation of attention to the sensations of the breath (Anapanna), and bodily sensations. The practice is reinforced by detailed explanations, illuminating the workings of the mind, helping to identify the factors challenging continuous stable attention, and offering efficient solutions (both conceptual and practical) for dealing with them.
Definitely YES. There's no need to adopt a monastic lifestyle, nor isolating yourself from the world. The practical, focused, precise, and efficient character of the instructions, allows you to make the most out of the time you dedicate for meditation, even while working, studying, or having a family.
Just as lifting weights makes the muscles stronger and stretching increases flexibility, so does meditation trains the mind, making it sharp and peaceful. It's a natural process based on direct experience, whose efficiency has been proven by science. It doesn't require religious belief, nor does it contradicts it. Should they practice diligently and well, both the fervent believer and the skeptic atheist could succeed and enjoy the many benefits of meditation.
Your meditative experience is a wonderful, valuable asset. TMI's precise instructions could advance your practice rapidly and efficiently, clear hidden obstacles slowing you down, and allow you to reach high meditative states you've never experienced before. It's an opportunity to take a giant leap forward and discover the best of what meditation has to offer.
Meditation could complement psychological treatments but not replace them. If the challenges in your life are significant, the escort and assistance of professionals are of utmost importance. They'd be a supporting factor in processing the experiences, memories, and insights, which would arise during the purification taking place in meditative practice. It should be stressed that the meditation meetings aren't considered "treatment," nor is the teacher a therapist.
The choice of when to arrive and when to depart is entirely yours. You may join the meeting according to the sessions in which you'd like to participate, and leave once they're over. The door will open ten minutes before a session, and close once it begins. To become familiar with the method's fundamentals, arrive by 18:00. To practice joint meditation, arrive by 19:00. To learn about the workings of the mind and the meditation technique, be present at 20:00. To ask questions and listen to answers, remain at 21:00 as well. The meeting ends by 22:00 at the latest.
The meetings are divided between two groups; the first is a Hebrew speaking Israeli group, and the second is an English speaking international group. The instructions and explanations given in Hebrew are using key English terms from the book. It's possible to schedule personal meetings in your desired language, depending on the teacher's availability.
Beyond the weekly meetings, our group members keep in touch using a dedicated Telegram chat; enjoy access to written and recorded content from past lessons; and initiate independent practice meetings, both digitally and face to face. In addition, personal one-on-one consultations are available, where the teacher provides exact instructions for practicing meditation efficiently and effectively.

In the spirit of the Buddhist tradition, the group activities are Dāna-based. Donate as generously as your heart desires, according to the value you find in the meetings you attend, the guidance you receive, and the impact they have on your well-being. Joining the group does require a one-time Good Faith payment of $80 to confirm the intention of walking the path together. Click here For more information.

Off We Go!

In the future, this section will include a series of introductory videos about the meditation technique in English. Currently, these videos are available in Hebrew only.
Off We Go!

The Heart Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom

 

Recorded Sessions

All meetings of ha'Mind Muar are recorded and well documented. We gradually publish edited content on our Youtube channel, while the original recordings are accessible to group members only (for the sake of privacy).
Recorded Sessions