Originally published in the Washington Post on the 5th March this interview with Sharon Salzberg, a New York Times best selling author, teacher of meditation and mindfulness and one of the co-founders of the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts is so elegant in its simplicity that it deserves a repost. The interview is on …
Lovely article on resistance by Peter Russell that appeared in my inbox courtesy of the team at Awakin.org. So good and clear in fact, that I thought I’d repost it here. The building where I used to run a meditation group was on the same street as a fire station; one could almost guarantee that …
“I’m bored.” Schoolchildren can be afflicted with it by the second day of summer; workers by the sixth month on the job; spouses by the seventh year of marriage; and readers by the tenth paragraph. Or before. Are you bored yet? Nowadays, boredom is considered a scourge. We blame boredom for the death of curiosity, …
I once met Roshi Philip Kapleau, the author of The Three Pillars of Zen. He was one of the first Westerners to go to Japan and do intense practice there. He was suffering from very advanced Parkinson’s disease and had terrible physical discomfort, along with the involuntary spasms that come from the disease. One thing …
Sharon Salzberg (born 1952) is a New York Times Best selling author and influential teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West.In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Her emphasis is on vipassanā (insight) and mettā (loving-kindness) methods, and has been leading meditation retreats around …
Ajahn Chah (1919–1992) was admired for the way he demystified the Buddhist teachings, presenting them in a remarkably simple and down-to-earth style for people of any background. He was a major influence and spiritual mentor for a generation of American Buddhist teachers, including Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield. Moreover, he was a master …
A poignant article exploring the differences between sadness and depression
Each person is born with an unencumbered spot, free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of fear and worry, an umbilical spot of grace where we were each first touched by God. It is this spot of grace that issues peace. Psychologists call this spot the Psyche, Theologists call it the …
Join me to get your weekly mindfulness practice every Sunday – starting 1st January 2012. Experience some new and creative ways of bringing mindfulness into your daily life.
Here’s a powerful mindfulness practice for the holiday season. It’s more difficult than you think….!
Once we start to develop a greater awareness of and sense of approach towards our experience, we will inevitably encounter feelings (in and out of meditation practice) that we are not so fond of:pain, fear, rejection, anger, sadness, jealousy to name a few of the usual suspects. When these less palatable experiences arise, the invitation …
However we sit, whenever we sit, the decision to take some time for ourselves, to soften with our own experience of being alive, deserves a measure of respect. Take some time, deliberation and care in the very act of taking your seat: settle into your posture, bringing awareness to the contact of your body with …