Blog: Notes on Healing and Awakening
Blog: Attention – The Most Basic Form of Love
On my son Narayan’s sixth birthday, I gave him an ant farm. He spent hours watching with fascination as the little creatures magically created their network of tunnels. He even...
Blog: Trance of “Unreal Other”
The truth is: without a genuine willingness to let in the suffering of others, our spiritual practice remains empty. Father Theophane, a Christian mystic, writes about an...
Blog: Reaching Out For Compassion
At a weekend workshop I led, one of the participants, Marian, shared her story about the shame and guilt that had tortured her. Marian’s daughter, Christy, in recovery for...
Blog: Decide On Love
Jeff was convinced he’d fallen out of love with his wife, Arlene, and that nothing could salvage their twenty-six-year marriage. He wanted relief from the oppressiveness of...
Blog: I realized I don’t have to believe my thoughts
Our mindfulness practice is not about vanquishing our thoughts. It’s about becoming aware of the process of thinking so that we are not in a trance—lost inside our thoughts....
Blog: It’s not what’s happening…it’s how you respond
One of my favorite stories took place a number of decades ago when the English had colonized India and they wanted to set up a golf course in Calcutta. Besides the fact that the...
Blog: The Sacred Art of Listening – Nourishing Loving Relationships
To listen is to lean in softly With a willingness to be changed By what we hear – Mark Nepo What happens when there’s a listening presence? When we’re fully in that listening...
Blog: Gift to the Soul: The Space of Presence
For many of us this is a season when it feels that we are going faster and faster. Everything’s racing, through school semesters, wrapping up work commitments, entering the...
Blog: Lessons from Kayaking: Finding a way to be with fear
Most of us spend a lot of our lives tensed up in fear, or pushing against fear. The fear might be fear of: Something going wrong Not being good enough Not being loved Losing...
Blog: Absolute Cooperation with the Inevitable – Tara Brach
The modern-day mystic and Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello once said: “Enlightenment is absolute cooperation with the inevitable.” This statement struck a deep chord within me. It...
Blog: A Gesture of Kindness
The next time you find yourself in a bad mood, take a moment to pause and ask yourself, “What is my attitude toward myself right now? Am I relating to myself with judgment … or...
Blog: From Self-judgment to Compassion
We were three days into a weeklong meditation retreat when one of my students, Daniel, came in to see me for his first interview. He plopped down in the chair across from me, and...
Blog: The Transforming Power of Mindful Prayer
Although not always highlighted in the West, prayer and devotion are a living stream in Buddhism. The earnest wishes expressed in the practices of lovingkindness and...
Blog: Can You Medicate Meditation?
The use of anti-depressants by those involved in meditation practice is a very hot topic. Students often ask me things like, “If I take Prozac, isn’t that as good as giving up?...
Blog: Joy
Not too long ago, my ex-husband, Alex, brought us a big batch of his homemade almond butter. It is such a really delicious treat. I took a bite, and as I tasted it, I thought,...
Blog: The Trance of Fear
All of us live with fear. Whenever fear takes over, we’re caught in what I call the trance of fear. As we tense in anticipation of what may go wrong, our heart and mind contract....
Blog: From Longing to Belonging
The great Tibetan yogi Milarepa spent many years living in isolation in a mountain cave. As part of his spiritual practice, he began to see the contents of his mind as visible...
Blog: Taking Refuge in the Buddha
As a teacher I’m often asked: What does it mean in Buddhist practice when you agree to “take refuge” in the Buddha? Does this mean I need to worship the Buddha? Or pray to the...
The Space Between the Logs
What makes a fire burn is the space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a...
Blog: Gift to the Soul: The Space of Presence
For many of us this is a season when it feels that we are going faster and faster. Everything’s racing, through school semesters, wrapping up work commitments, holidays; the...