There’s a song that’s been banging around in my head for a couple of weeks. It was recorded in 1966 by Buffalo Springfield. The opening lyrics go something like this: There’s something happening here/ what it is ain’t exactly clear. Sandwiched between images of street protests, there is this refrain: I think it’s time we…
Our marvelous mindfulness is a kind of marinating in the present moment. Seemingly solid things, like squash or zucchini, with fixed boundaries, when placed in a marinade of olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, and garlic, and left alone for a while, the solid shapes slowly lose their fixed outlines. As we marinate in the…
When I first started meditating, I thought I knew why meditation is important. It helps reduce stress, improves sleep, and reduces negative emotions–all aspects of my life that really needed an overhaul. But it took a few years for me to realize that although I knew why meditation is important, I had no idea how…
… when the mind complains it does NOT want to meditate, says the Buddhist monk U Tejaniya I’m going to assume that you are like most of us who are into meditation–you struggle maintaining a regular practice, right; you might even ask when is the best time to meditate. The instructions are so very simple—be…
Are you familiar with the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons? One of my favorites is when Calvin trips and falls down a flight of stairs, landing on his rear and looking confused. Then he stands up and throws his arms up in the air like a performer taking a bow and says, Ta da! I love…
One of the trickiest aspects of mindfulness meditation is the whole thing about letting go of goals. It seems to make no sense at all to not have any goal for our meditation practice. I mean, if there weren’t any real benefits to this practice, sure, there would be no reason to continue this odd…
Buddhist practice is not so much about answering the so-called big questions of life and death, but rather about dissolving the angst around the questions themselves. mindfulness is about appreciating the present moment Sure, when you try out something new, you have some expectations of what it will do for you. But meditation is really…
We live in uncertain times. Putin’s recent cold threat of a nuclear strike against Ukraine, and the real possibility of our mutual assured destruction, escalates our unease. How do we live with such insecurity? This is really the same question we looked at in a post two weeks ago. In light of the radical teachings…
Maybe right now as you are reading this, you feel a little overwhelmed, anxious or bored. There is well-being in this, too. Give this a try. Make yourself comfortable and become aware of how your breath breathes all by itself. How your chest rises ever so slightly on the inhale, and relaxes on the exhale.…
I was struck by a poem the other day while reading a new translation of the Therigatha, a small book of verse compiled in the beginning of the 6th century BC, by Buddhist nuns, chronicling their spiritual struggles and victories. It is also regarded as the earliest-known collection of women’s literature. Here is the voice…