Causing No Harm

Causing No Harm

The mindstates behind violence–anger and fear–are universal and natural. If they possess us and drive our actions, we suffer. If we learn to meet them with a mindful awareness–if we step out of judgment and angry reactivity–we serve our own freedom and the possibility of peace on earth as well. (See “Causing No Harm” in Video.)

“I realized I don’t have to believe my thoughts”

“I realized I don’t have to believe my thoughts”

Our mindfulness practice is not about vanquishing our thoughts. It’s about becoming aware of the process of thinking so that we are not in a trance—lost inside our thoughts. That’s the big difference. To train in becoming mindful of thoughts can help us to notice when...
Blog: Pause and Deepen Your Attention

Blog: Pause and Deepen Your Attention

This is an excerpt from an article in the New York Times Magazine a few years ago: William C. Moyers, a recovery advocate (and the son of the journalist Bill Moyers) who for 12 years has been free of crack and alcohol, was invited to speak at the M.I.T. conference. In...
Finding the Juice Inside of Fear

Finding the Juice Inside of Fear

Learning to bring a mindful presence to fear is an intrinsic part of spiritual awakening. In this talk we look at the ways we get caught in the trance of fear, and how the two wings of presence–clear recognition and openheartedness–can free us. This process of facing unmet fears is necessary not only for our own healing, but for any possibility of peace and the healing of our planet.

Befriending Irene

Befriending Irene

Whether you face chronic anxiety or more violent storms of fear and anger, you can cultivate the wings of freedom–the mindfulness and compassion–that free you. This talk explores how the habit of being reactive causes us suffering and the ways these tools of meditation can be applied to the inner weather systems that most challenge us.

Blog: Learning to Respond, Not React

Blog: Learning to Respond, Not React

If we are to wake up out of our patterning, a key element of that is to be able to pause, recognize and open to a larger space than the cocoon that our mind is creating in thought. Our tendency is to get lost in a cycle of reactivity. In order to be able to step out...
Wholehearted Living

Wholehearted Living

What stops us from being wholehearted in our relationships and life? This talk explores the conditioning that keeps us from an engaged presence, and the key elements to manifesting heart and spirit in all that we do.

Blog: Integration of Buddhist Meditation and Psychotherapy

Blog: Integration of Buddhist Meditation and Psychotherapy

When I was in college, I went off to the mountains for a weekend of hiking with an older, wiser friend of twenty-two.  After we set up our tent, we sat by a stream, watching the water swirl around rocks and talking about our lives. At one point she described how she...
Meditation: Inner Space –  Gateway to Open Awareness (19:04)

Meditation: Inner Space – Gateway to Open Awareness (19:04)

This meditation is adapted from a meditation called “Open Focus.” Let whatever comes spontaneously to your awareness to be there as you follow along with the questions, which begin with, “Can you imagine…?” (adapted from Open Focus Meditations led by Les Fehmi,...