The season of limited light is also a season of ritual brightening. We string lights and hang shining ornaments on a Christmas evergreen standing tall in the living room; we reverently light the Hanukkah menorah, singing the blessing of the festival of miracles; we light the seven representational candles for Kwanzaa; or we sit by a backyard fire as it crackles and glows.
Read moreStay awhile
Last week, a group of dedicated practitioners had the great good fortune to go on silent retreat in the stunning lake region of Northern Italy, guided by the inspiring and gifted teachers Sarah and Ty Powers of the Insight Yoga Institute. Each day unfolded with extended periods of seated meditation, mindful walking, the yang energy of active yoga asana, and the deep quiet attentiveness of yin yoga.
Read moreRainy trees
It was like the trees were raining. Not a constant drizzle, and certainly not a steady downpour from gray clouds. The sky was pure blue and the air was crisp. But the previous night had scattered a few showers, and the trees were slow to release their newly caught raindrops, gently set free from sporadic rustles of a gentle breeze or a squirrel's chase.
What do we do when rain falls out of a clear blue sky? We get a little wet and walk on, marveling at nature’s insistence on paradox.
Read moreLovingkindness to keep the inner light on
Last night in our Fall Sits Meditation Series, we explored how the Buddhist practice of lovingkindness meditation (metta in Pali) can serve as a powerful remedy for our troubled hearts and minds. It may feel natural to send lovingkindness toward those who are easy to love, who have served as your benefactors, and who bring you peace and comfort. But when turning attention to those who spark in us feelings of anger, ill will, fear, or aggression, it can seem counterintuitive or risky to wish them well. This meditation invites a different perspective.
Read moreEquanimity at Equinox
The calendar says fall, but the temperature says summer. The backyard pool is still open, but the front yard is dressed up for Halloween. There's a new sweater waiting to be worn, but shorts are better for the morning dog walk. Shoulder season compels us to find the right balance between what lingers from last week and what we know awaits us next week, and could be a metaphor for finding the right balance between watching tension in the external world and tending to the peace within.
Polish your mind-sight
These mindful practices are like taking a soft cloth and wiping the smudges off the window of our busy brains. In this way, we polish our perspective, making room for extra wisdom, patience, and compassion.
Read moreThe sun, the moon, and us mere mortals
I've often wondered what early humans must have thought during a solar eclipse. Were they terrified? Did they fall to their knees in awe and wonder, begging the universe for mercy? Or dance wildly in the fields, abandoning their toil in the majesty of the moment?
Read moreCooking potatoes: Moving from grim to grace
Troubling emotions can be likened to raw potatoes, inedible in their current state, but subject to transformation when effort and intention are applied.
Read moreMeditation for Peace
Let's soften to the very real pain inside as we witness fellow human suffering across the world. And better yet, let's soften into that pain together and hold each other up with care.
Read moreA thought, or four
All we can do is recognize the precious opportunities we have right in front of us to celebrate joys and to hold space for pain, whether that pain is in our own hearts, in the hearts of friends and family, or halfway across the world among human hearts enduring devastating violence.
Read moreBe Micro-Amazed
It's a lot easier to be mindful for extraordinary moments - reading a captivating novel, or eating a delicious meal, or sitting with a dear friend in their heartache - than it is to be mindful while walking 20 steps from one place in our home to the next.
Read moreI can see for piles and piles
From the Buddhist viewpoint, as goes a stack of paper, so go I.
Read moreGetting in
Instead of having to remember a password to "get in" to a good place, we only need recall that we already are just where we need to be: right here in the present moment.
Read moreGiving Joyful
Consider joy as an active state of loving friendliness, compassionate presence, and generous spirit – envision it as the energy that you radiate, and not an energy you consume.
Read moreInsight Yoga Intensive with Sarah Powers This Summer
Sarah will guide us through three streams of study: the active stillness of yin yoga, the energizing mobility of yang asana practice, and the deep inquiry and insight that can come from meditation.
Read moreLaser focus yields big energy
This phenomenon of sharply focused attention yielding a surplus of energy is the opposite of our social programming, which tells us to divide attention in multi-tasked directions, to push beyond our comfort zones, to go big or go home, but all this external focus can leave us frustrated, anxious, and depleted, much like the state of Earth itself.
Read moreMaking Simple, Happy Habits
If we view meditation and contemplative practice as opportunities to turn the skill of thought-quieting into a reflexive habit that doesn't require much effort, like the mundane chores of daily life, we can become adept housekeepers of the heart and mind.
Read moreAre you busy?
What happens when we rest/breathe/contemplate is the grand and invisible work of a nervous system recalibrating our frail humanness, leaving us better in balance: strong enough to meet big moments of activity, soft enough to enjoy our own quiet company, compassionate and patient enough to tend relationships with full hearts.
Read moreWhat's the quality of your attention?
I now recognize the experience as awareness waking up to its full potential for expansive wonder, a lesson in how paying full attention is fundamental to mindfulness. It anchors us in the moment, it helps our nervous system distinguish between real and imagined threat, and it orients us to the realm where the breath is most available.
Read moreTexting, typos, and making connections
The beauty here is that our brains are programmed to put the pieces – or the letters – together. It's the same neurological mercy that prevents us from having to re-learn to brush our teeth each morning, or check a recipe every time we want to boil water to make tea. It frees up the mental and emotional space to learn and process the big stuff: how to live through a pandemic; how to know if we're in love; how to appropriately mourn losses and celebrate gains.
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