Breathe! Delight in Meditation
Most of us live in cultures that are super busy and goal directed. In our meditation life, that same goal-directed energy is always searching for a special experience that’s higher, better, different from what’s...
Blog
Reflections from our teachers
Uncovering Our Natural Awareness
These days as I teach natural awareness practice, I’m encouraging meditators to relax the amount of effort they make in their meditation to access a more natural, spacious, effortless awareness. A common concern of...
Love in the Time of Extinction: Dharma Practice and the Climate Emergency
Yanai writes: “I know there are many in our worldwide sangha, who like myself have engaged with, or are considering engaging with Extinction Rebellion, or have questions about it. As a young, but quickly...
Confidence in the Dhamma, Confidence in Yourself
I often recall a time many years ago when my grandmother was dying. I was with her during her final days, and sat at the foot of her bed during her last few breaths....
You are Not Alone: Healing the Myth of Separation
The dharma invites us to face ourselves fully. But through fear, we sometimes distract ourselves, over-fill ourselves, and hold onto external attachments, in order to avoid.…what? The illusion that we are separate and isolated...
Who Am I?
The self (‘I’ and ‘my’) lands on objects, voluntarily or involuntarily. Primary objects of interest include forms, feelings, perceptions, formations of mind/speech/body and consciousness (mindfulness, awareness, concentration and meditation). The self also grasps onto...
A Relational Dhamma Integrates the Arahat and Bodhisattva Visions of the Buddhist Path (and why this matters to our living Dhamma path)
It’s a simple question: Do you sense your own relatedness and does this feel like an important part of your life? The question is not whether your relatedness IS an important part of your...
The Paradox of Being: Alive and Aware
Sometimes I forget that I’m alive –– I mean, I know I’m alive conceptually but I haven’t tuned into it experientially. My meditation practice is to be aware of body, heart, mind, and the...
The First Duty of Love is to Listen
What is meditation and everyday life mindfulness practice but listening? Listening to our bodies, feelings, emotions, thoughts and different voices in us. Listening to the music of life around us: melodies and sounds, images,...
The Art of Being: Cultivating Presence in Troubled Times
I recently returned from a family visit to Tennessee. While I was there, I spent precious time with my three month old nephew. Since he cannot yet speak or walk, we all spent a...