Meditation can be a respite, a place we can lay down our loads for a bit and offer a healing hospitality to our own beings.

One framing of mindfulness that I have always appreciated is mindfulness as a spiritual re-parenting of our own selves.  Drawing from a talk on parenting by Chris McKenna at Google, we explore how a foundational base for parenting is as important as a foundational base in our relationship with our own being.

In this Body Scan meditation, we explore how waking up to the present moment sensations in the body is a a compassionate act of care.

In this sharing, we explore traditional teachings from the Buddha 2,600 years ago on wise speech.

In this meditation, we practice opening to the felt energy in the body, below the storylines of what’s happening, to anchor, open to compassion and anchor back in the refuge of the breath.

In Buddhist psychology, ethical conduct is clearly understood as the path out of suffering, a gift for both for ourselves and others.  In this sharing, I explore Wise Speech and its relationship to this gift of freedom.

Wise Speech is a practice that supports all of our relationships.  We strengthen the foundation for this practice in our meditation by paying attention to our internal speech patterns going on all the time and noticing the possibility of bringing a compassionate wise response and care to this internal talk– instead of just buying into … Continue reading Sitting Meditation– Internal Wise Speech →

Today we explore the understanding of “not-self” that opens a natural doorway to compassion.  We end with the poem from Thich Nhat Hanh, Please Call Me by my True Names.

In this practice, we explore a samadhi, or concentration practice, using the breath as the object of focus.

Samadhi practice, sometimes translated as concentration practice, has been described as a gathering or unifying of the mind.  When cultivated, this kind of practice can bring a deep settling to the mind that is useful in all aspects of life.