Episodes

In this version of a loving-kindness practice, we pay particular attention to how we meet our moments of distraction.

Night time worries, sleeplessness and morning “dread” are all prevalent as we deal anxiety in our changing world. In this sharing, we will explore a neuroscience based understanding of why this is so common and how mindfulness practice offers a clear antidote. Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the grou...

One useful way to settle into a practice is to use the breath to attune or “resonate” compassionately with whatever is present in the body/mind/heart.

This sharing invites a grounded reflection on the 2 basic fears of impermanence: that we can’t hold on to what we want and that what we don’t want will last forever. Through a meditative inquiry, we explore how insight into the naturalness and ever moving flow of change offers a path of release for working with these fears.

A mountain meditation is a beautiful opportunity to explore a sense of a calm abiding mountain strength unmoved by the the endless natural changes of passing seasons, years and eons of time. It helps teach us about tapping into that kind of mountain calm abiding strength for flowing with the endless natural changes of our own lives.

Wise understanding of the true nature of impermanence is akin to learning to swim in the ocean’s ever changing waves. *Please note: technical difficulties throughout this podcast. We are working on it.*

We tend to think of ourselves as solid separate entities but just a bit of investigation into our true nature we find we are part – physically, not metaphorically – of a flow of changing elements related to everything else around.

Last week we looked at Bhikkhu Analayo’s understanding of sati or mindfulness as a good friend always available to us. This week, we come back to this with a personal reflection or contemplation practice for examining– what do I do when seeking to be “mindful?” Right away from the moment of waking up in the morning our good friend sati can already be there, as if waiting for us. She is ready to accompany us throughout the rest of the day, encouraging us to stay receptive and soft, and open, sof...

Being aware of the physical elements of Earth, Air, Sun and Water in the body can be an opening to seeing into a more intimate relationship with ourselves and all around us that is naturally wise and compassionate.

This sharing draws from teachings of Andrew Olendzki’s lovely short article, What’s In A Word, Sati, from Tricycle and Bhikku Analayo’s book, Satipatthana Meditation, both of which make clear that our usual understanding of the word mindfulness is inadequate for opening the true radical transformative potential inherent in the opening of a “mindful” mind. (Please excuse my misnaming of Bhikku Analayo as Ajahn Analayo in the talk. thanks!)

Drawing from a teaching from Bhikku Analayo, respected Buddhist scholar and monk, on a feminine nature of mindfulness, this meditation is an opportunity to explore mindfulness as an open, understanding receptivity to whatever arises: Right away from the moment of waking up in the morning our good friend sati can already be there, as if waiting for us. She is ready to accompany us throughout the rest of the day, encouraging us to stay receptive and soft, and open, soft and understanding. She nev...

Drawing from the poem, What It Is, this meditation explores noticing the judgmental mind and its story, as well as the possibility of settling back into a radical wise accepting love. “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” -Eric...

“..To every grain that enters: ‘Welcome.’ To every parting mote: ‘Be blessed.'” From: Earthworms, poem by Lynn Ungar, www.lynnungar.com Please note: no accompanying talk.

Classical Zen Story shared by Tara Brach in Radical Acceptance: An old woman had supported a monk for twenty years, letting him live in a hut on her land. After all this time she figured the monk, now a man in the prime of life, must have attained some degree of enlightenment. So she decided to test him. Rather than taking his daily meal to him herself, she asked a beautiful young girl to deliver it. She instructed the girl to embrace the monk warmly—and then to report back to her how he respon...

What happens when we totally let go of an evaluation of our meditation as a “success or failure,” or it “working” for me or not “working” for me? In opening to the dance of energy in this human life, we can’t help but learn a wise compassion to what it means to be human and a spacious awareness that can hold it all.

Medical Sociologist Aaron Antonosvsky studied the relationship between stress, health and well-being focusing on people who had survived extreme stress with an intact sense of coherence. His work provides another beautiful lens into the resiliency building skillful of offering generosity and service in the world.

Working with insight into change as a means of freedom through a human heart.

Learning how to skillfully work with fear, anxiety, worry or any other difficult emotion is fundamental for resilience in challenging times. One way to do this is by exploring compassionate action, or what Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander call “Being a Contribution.“

The Buddha taught the Metta or LovingKindness Meditation as an antidote for fear. In this meditation we explore grounding in the elements of the body to turn with compassion to whatever needs to be met.

Generosity is considered a fundamental practice of mindfulness. How do we practice with a spirit of generosity towards our own selves in our meditation practice itself? Please note: no accompanying talk for this podcast.

This is a sharing of how mindfulness became an unexpected core part of my own spiritual journey and path into and out of practice as a physician.

This is a meditation on Fredrick Buechner‘s beautiful words. “…Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

The Tibetan teacher , Shabkar, said: To meditate without kindness is simply to inflict hardship on yourself. What does this mean for you in this practice, right now? Please Note: The meditation ends at 18:10 and starting 18:11 is a small talk regarding the quote above.

The softness of bamboo and water offer interesting teachings on strength and resilience. In this sharing we explore how bamboo houses and water can inform even the intensity of something like anger.