Touching What’s Wholesome Within
Each one of us carries within us beautiful, wholesome qualities that we can always be in touch with when we need them. I want to lift up four of them that have been incredibly...
Gradual and Sudden Paths of Awakening: A Complementary Practice Approach
If you are a committed meditator then you probably have one of two notions about your practice; either, 1) you are on a path that gradually develops towards awakening, or 2) awakening does not...
Meeting Experience: The Three S’s
Every moment in our lives is an invitation to know ourselves better. And there is no moment - however big or small - that couldn't benefit from slowing down, taking a breath, and feeling...
How to Stay Present: The Four R’s
Every moment in our lives is an invitation to know ourselves better. And there is no moment - however big or small - that couldn't benefit from slowing down, taking a breath, and feeling...
Letting Go of Thoughts that Won’t Let Go of You
We have all heard that letting go is the key to finding happiness and getting over pain, but it's rarely as easy as it sounds. When we are really deep in it - when...
What on Earth is Insight Dialogue?
When meditators ask me what I teach and I explain what Insight Dialogue is, there’s often a pause accompanied by a quizzical expression and sometimes some thinly veiled distaste. The idea of pairing up,...
The Buddha’s Raft
There is a lovely simile that the Buddha uses about someone needing to cross a large expanse of dangerous water because the current shore is dubious and risky, but the further shore is secure...
Reverence is the Nature of My Love: A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency
I recently learned that there are numerous accounts of recipients of organ transplants taking on the characteristics, talents, food cravings, emotions and even memories of their organ donors. I am interested in phenomena that...
Luminous Darkness: Restoring Our Undivided Self
It’s an unusually busy workday, a week before the release of a new book which has spent a long time in creative incubation. In the mirror of deadlines and an overwhelming inbox, I observe...
Community: “As-One-ity”
An excerpt from Martin Aylward’s book “Awake Where You Are: The Art of Embodied Awareness” (2021) – shared with permission. The Buddha talked about the Three Jewels of this practice being Buddha, Dharma, Sangha....