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The Power of Sorrow

March 12, 2012   |   61 Comments

I don’t know if you have noticed this about your meditation practice, but one thing that many people report is a kind of softening—to your own experience, perhaps, but also to the world around you. There is a sense of permeability, of walking down the street and receiving input in a more direct way than before. When you see a... READ MORE

Problem #1 when it comes to meditation? Laziness. Luckily, there are 4 antidotes

March 5, 2012   |   6 Comments

We all have difficulty with committing to the meditation cushion. I totally understand. When you sit on the cushion, you’re agreeing to sit down with the unknown. Sometimes this feels terrifying, sometimes exciting but, mostly, it’s just kind of ordinary–and it’s this ordinariness that might make us think “nothing is happening” or “I must be doing this wrong.” And then... READ MORE

Relaxation, Meditation & The Self Help Demon

February 27, 2012   |   30 Comments

Every now and then, I see ads for meditation that describe things like short cuts and fast tracks, which are often numbered and qualified, as in: “Meditation: 5 Steps to Easy-Peasy Peace” or “Meditation: Bliss in Just 3 Minutes a Day” and such. I’ve been meditating for about 15 years. I’ve spent countless hours on the cushion and a significant... READ MORE

On Equanimity (and happy new year!)

February 22, 2012   |   13 Comments

Happy new year! Today is Tibetan new year and as I am a student in a Tibetan Buddhist new year, I say to you: Happy New Year!! Today is the day a new cycle begins. (And it’s the one year anniversary of The OHP—so, yay!!) Today marks the beginning of the year of the dragon, which basically means this: fasten... READ MORE

Can I practice Buddhist meditation and still be a Christian/Jew/Atheist/Etc?

February 6, 2012   |   32 Comments

I recently wrote about the benefit of choosing one meditation path and sticking with it. I received a lot of really interesting feedback from you, including this question from an Open Heart Project member: Will Buddhist meditation practice interfere with the commitment to my Christian faith? Meditation is making a very positive difference in my life and, to me, enhances... READ MORE

Choosing One Path

February 1, 2012   |   25 Comments

The other day, I received an email from a member of the OHP who was wondering about continuing to do shamatha meditation (the practice we do together) while also participating in a local Zen center’s introductory course. The Zen center had requested of its students to forego other practices during this training. But this student enjoys both practices. She loves... READ MORE

Question from a reader: Can I do more than one meditation practice?

January 31, 2012   |   13 Comments

I recently received this very excellent question from a member of The Open Heart Project: Q. This Shamatha meditation you are teaching is giving me good results (I become more compassionate to myself and to other people around me, and I become more objective with my feelings and thus not easily bruised). I have joined a Zen Meditation group (where... READ MORE

The Open Heart Project: A chance to meditate on life, love, and reality

January 26, 2012   |   2 Comments

What is it? Several years ago, I was wrapping up teaching a particularly moving week-long meditation and writing retreat. My small group (about 15 people) had committed to spending 7 days in the Rocky Mountains, learning to meditate and working on personal writing projects. There were no phones, no TVs, and no internet service. To cap off the sense of... READ MORE

Mindfulness-Awareness

January 25, 2012   |   13 Comments

mindfulness and awareness practice and study form and emptiness precision and letting go unconditionality and tenderness word and story voice and song concentration and intuition luminosity and emptiness What do these pairs of words have in common? As we practice shamatha meditation (sometimes translated as the practice of tranquility), we come to see that it is actually comprised of two... READ MORE

Finding a path. Or how I became a Buddhist.

January 18, 2012   |   31 Comments

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/35269526[/vimeo] Hello everyone. Yesterday a member of the Open Heart Project asked me how I became a Buddhist and I told her I would answer the question in a post. Each of us comes to our spiritual path in a unique way and, as the poet Rumi said, there are a million ways to kneel and kiss the ground. There... READ MORE

I have a dream. What is yours?

January 16, 2012   |   18 Comments

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/35166702[/vimeo] I have a dream. That one day, we will live in a world where we recognize all beings as one family. I have a dream that on that day, when any one of my brothers or sisters, be they known to me or unknown, seen or unseen, animal or human, finds themselves in sorrow for any reason, a dark... READ MORE

Meditation misconceptions revisited

January 11, 2012   |   14 Comments

Whether you’ve practiced meditation countless times or this is your very first time, it cannot hurt to review some of the biggest meditation misconceptions: 1. To meditate, you have to stop thinking. This is the big one. Somehow, people have the idea that to meditate, you must “clear the mind of thought.” What does that even mean? Please think about... READ MORE

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