In this episode of RAW, Anouk speaks with Lama Tilmann Lhundrup, a Buddhist teacher, former monk, medical doctor, and meditation teacher whose work brings together Buddhist practice, psychotherapy, and trauma healing.
Tilmann spent years in retreat with his Tibetan teacher, Gendun Rinpoche, and later taught long retreats for many years. He now lives in Germany, where he runs a retreat center in the Black Forest and co-founded the Institute for Essential Psychotherapy.
In this conversation, Tilmann reflects on what meditation can and cannot do, why Buddhist mind training is not always enough for deep trauma, and how psychotherapy and meditation can support one another.
The conversation also turns toward Israel and Palestine. Tilmann has been coming to Israel to support meditation teachers and practitioners, and has also begun working with Palestinian practitioners. He speaks about identity, victimhood, aggression, listening, and the way pressure can make us contract more tightly around our stories.
At the heart of the conversation is a simple but radical invitation: meditation begins with doing nothing. Not correcting ourselves. Not forcing calm. Not trying to become someone else. But creating enough warmth and space for whatever is here.
A conversation for anyone trying to remain human in times of fear, exhaustion, uncertainty, and division.
