Episodes

his reflection considers the strengthening qualities of joy, love, and happiness in the face of very challenging times. I draw heavily from a beautiful short talk and meditation by one of my favorite teachers, Yongey Mingur Rinpoche, on Insight Timer. From the Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byron: Live in joy, in love , even among those who hate. Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted. Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled. Look within. Be still. Free from fear and atta...

This meditation draws heavily from a short talk and guided meditation by Yongey Mingur Rinpoche: “Looking for happiness is love. Looking to not have a problem is compassion. Self love, self compassion are right here right now— please appreciate that.”

“Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to heal yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather, do it as an act of love, of deep warm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guilt of not doing enough. It offers the possibility of an end to the ceaseless round of trying so hard that wraps so many people’s lives in a knot. Instead there is now meditation as an act of love. How endlessly delightful and encour...

I took five weeks away from CCM for “family need.” What I quickly learned was that I needed the time out of my usual pace of life just as much as anyone in my family. Today’s sharing is reflections on what time and space can open.

There is a normal ebb and flow in all parts of life, including our meditation practice. We can learn to move with the naturalness of opening and closing by allowing body, breath, and senses to be a home anchor as needed.

This talk explores the Buddhist concept of citta and draws heavily from the beautiful talk available on Dharmaseed, Making a Suitable Home for the Heart, by Chas DiCapua.

This meditation uses a phrase for practice from Thich Nhat Hanh: May I have compassion and understanding for myself just as I am.

In this sharing, we explore one of the poems from the beautiful book, The First Free Women: Original Poems Inspired by the Early Buddhist Nuns, by Matty Weingast. When used as practice for examining our own relationship with our mind, life and practice, these poems are powerful possibilities for insight. This sharing involves an inquiry practice with the poem: Victor: When everyone else was meditating, I’d be outside circling in the hall. Finally I went to confess. I’m hopeless, I said. The ...

This meditation includes the poem Victor, from the beautiful book, The First Free Women: Original Poems Inspired by the Early Buddhist Nuns, by Matty Weingast: Victor: When everyone else was meditating, I’d be outside circling in the hall. Finally I went to confess. I’m hopeless, I said. The elder nun smiled. Just keep going, she said. Nothing stays in orbit forever. If this circling is all you have, why not make this circling your home? I did as she told me, and went on circling in the h...

How mosquitos move through a raindrop is a powerful metaphor for the attunement of mindfulness. The Mosquito Among the Raindrops byTeddy Macker The mosquito among the raindrops… It’s equivalent to getting hit, says the scientist, by a falling school bus. And hit every 20 seconds. And the mosquito lives. In fact she doesn’t even try to avoid the drops. No zigzagging, no ducking. No hiding under the eaves. How does she do it? No resistance to the force. She hitches a ride on the blow, a stowaway...

“Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to heal yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather, do it as an act of love, of deep warm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guilt of not doing enough. It offers the possibility of an end to the ceaseless round of trying so hard that wraps so many people’s lives in a knot. Instead there is now meditation as an act of love. How endlessly delightful and encour...

Noticing how the mind can confuse a stick for a copperhead can teach much about three basic truths of reality as named by Buddhist psychology.

This is a meditation in using noting practice, skillfully to acknowledge validate and return home again as needed.

When we don’t pause long enough to really know what’s here, the mind will fill in the holes with its own information from its stores– and it often does this with the worst case scenario, or in a way that covers up what we might not want to see… So this is one more reason that practicing moment to moment mindfulness with what’s here is so important in our lives.

This practice explores how noting helps us get more clear as to what’s really here. What one takes in by contemplation, one pours out in love. –Meister Eckhart The Way It Is, Lynn Ungar One morning you might wake up to realize that the knot in your stomach had loosened itself and slipped away, and that the pit of unfulfilled longing in your heart had gradually, and without your really noticing, been filled in—patched like a pothole, not quite the same as it was, but good enough. And in...

Once there was a wise old sage, and people would travel a long ways to receive his teachings. He always taught one thing, a mantra to say to everything in life: Thank you, I am grateful for everything. One time a man received this teaching and said it with everything for a year. At the end of the year, he was still irritable, impatient, frustrated and tired. So he traveled back to the wise old sage, shared his story and asked what to do now. The sage said, “Thank you, I am grateful for everythi...

How we meet the moment of waking back up, makes all the difference in our practice. This city meditation is an opportunity to deeply explore that moment of re-awakening.

Today we continue to look at how re-anchoring in moment to moment awareness is a powerful practice in finding a better way to navigate any day. This talk draws from Tara Brach’s practice of Four Remembrances: Pausing, Yes to Life, Turning toward love, and Resting in Awareness.

This meditation draws from Tara Brach, teaching on four remembrances for practice: Pausing, saying yes to life, turning towards love, resting in awareness. What It Is It is nonsense says reason It is what it is says love It is calamity says calculation It is nothing but pain says fear It is hopeless says insight It is what it is says love It is ludicrous says pride It is foolish says caution It is impossible says experience It is what it is says love Erich Fried

This talk explores how bringing moment to moment mindfulness into daily life has nothing to do with “being good!” and everything instead to do with “being sane”.

in this practice, we explore opening to the wholeness of what’s here, the gratitude and release as well as the contracted and reactionary.

We were grateful this week to have David Viafora and Jessie Raye from Greatwoods Zen Retreat Center guest lead again this week. Unfortunately we were not able to record their first visit, but this week’s sharing works fine as a stand alone. They shared from Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching called the Seven Mantras of Love. These are: Darling, I am here for you. Darling, I know you are there and it makes me happy. Darling, I know you suffer. Darling, I suffer, please help. This is a Happy Moment. ...

How a brutal motorcycle trail race teaches us all about being alive and using our practice to wake up.

This meditation again draws from the Somatics work of Amanda Blake and Embright Organization, and is offers a strong way to use the body as a rooting anchor of support.