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How Meditation Makes You Fearless

January 4, 2012   |   11 Comments

In the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, we say that meditation trains us to be warriors in our lives—fearless, open hearted, and genuine. Today I want to talk about fearlessness and its connection to meditation practice and I’ll start out by relating a story I heard Pema Chodron tell in one of her books. It is about her teacher, the founder of Shambhala... READ MORE

Day One: Reflecting together into 2012

December 26, 2011   |   9 Comments

As we move into a new year, I want to offer you a few personal reflections, some suggestions for your own process of reflecting, and opportunities to practice together into 2012. For me, this week provides the perfect circumstances for turning within and asking myself honestly, how did I do in 2011? What do I hope for in 2012? How... READ MORE

Special Seth Godin post

December 15, 2011   |   16 Comments

OK, you know from my book review of We Are All Weird that I love Seth. I even got to share the stage with him briefly last week when he invited me to say a few words at The Medicine Ball Session about meditation and getting to know how your mind works. (Which is very important when you’re trying to... READ MORE

The essence of loving kindness.

December 13, 2011   |   3 Comments

I’m sure you have felt gentleness time and again for those you love or admire: your child, lover, a hero of music or politics, even your pet. You think of this creature and your heart melts. You feel how deeply you wish for their ease, and not because they “deserve” it. There actually is no reason at all for this... READ MORE

Yoga teachers: enough with the invitations. TEACH! (A rant.)

December 4, 2011   |   28 Comments

I love yoga. I’ve been a half-assed student (which might be an asana, I’m not sure) for close to twenty years. I remember the moment I fell in love with the practice. It was at Kripalu. The teacher was Stephen (Kaviraj) Cope. The pose was trikonasana/triangle. Following Kavi’s precise verbal instruction and watching him model the pose with his beautiful... READ MORE

Choose Love

November 28, 2011   |   5 Comments

This is a wonderful project featuring women helping women to love their bodies, heal their relationship with food, and sidestep the cultural urgings to find ourselves inadequate in the looks department. The important message of this project is that we can always choose to love ourselves. 30+ women writers (including me, Julie Daley, Marianne Elliot, Anna Guest-Jelley, Angela Kelsey, my... READ MORE

Too agitated to meditate? 3 suggestions.

October 3, 2011   |   10 Comments

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/29967823[/vimeo] Sometimes we are just too agitated to meditate. It’s not even that we can’t find 10 minutes–it’s that when we do, it just feels too uncomfortable to sit. All the things on our to do list come up. The heart starts racing. The mind flips out. The more we sit, the more we freak ourselves out. Sound familiar? This... READ MORE

Mindfulness doesn't mean peacefulness

September 28, 2011   |   4 Comments

From a participant in The Open Heart Project: Q: “How can I increase my mindfulness when all the stressors of my life come into play at once?” A: I really appreciate your question about becoming more mindful when you are experiencing moments of particular stress. This is totally doable. However–if by becoming more mindful, you mean ceasing to feel stress,... READ MORE

Someone sent me this poem today–

June 20, 2011   |   Leave a reply

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and/self-contained I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and whine about their condition They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God Not one is dissatisfied,... READ MORE

Surgery this morning

May 15, 2011   |   34 Comments

8a EST. Having my gallbladder removed for reasons I can explain later. In fact, getting to the point of having this prosaic medical procedure (the most common surgical procedure in the US, I’m told) has been anything but prosaic and might actually make a decent story. (Which I suppose is true for everyone who has it.) For reasons relating to... READ MORE

On Compassion and Enemies

May 4, 2011   |   120 Comments

On Monday, I wrote a little about my response to Osama bin Laden’s killing. Upon hearing of his death, most people expressed heartfelt and understandable relief that our hunt for one who wished to destroy us was over. Others participated in “celebrations” that seemed tinged with what could be described kindly as poor sportsmanship. The question I was trying to... READ MORE

How to be more disciplined about practice + a story wherein I drop the F-bomb

April 22, 2011   |   10 Comments

The practice of sitting meditation begins to shed some light on the Buddhist view of discipline. In meditation, you cultivate focus and awareness by placing your attention on your breath rather than your thoughts. PS It has nothing to do with emptying the mind of thought!! Almost impossible!! Stop trying!! Big hoax!! Instead, you take a different view of your... READ MORE

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