A real treat. Wait till you have about twenty minutes to enjoy. Benjamin Zander is a passionate, engaging speaker who transmits joy and possibility.
(Thanks, Sheila.)
October 20, 2009
October 19, 2009
Happy for No Reason: Home Alone
You never know what your dogs are up to when you’re away from home.
(Thanks, Sylvia!)
October 15, 2009
October 14, 2009
Good Mornings
My morning ritual is pretty simple. Roll out of bed, get dressed, use the bathroom, grab my camera and paraphernalia, roust the dogs and head out into the woods. I’m either in pitch darkness or with some light from the moon.
The dogs are in full bliss state and it’s easy to tap into their alertness, joy and enthusiasm.
Whatever route I take through the woods and fields to the water, I’m almost always there to catch the sunrise. My dear Uncle Dave, who taught creative writing most of his life, used to often gripe about how our language doesn’t reflect reality.
“It’s not sunrise,” he would often say, “It’s actually earthturn.”
So here are some choice Earth Turn photos from the past ten days:
October 12, 2009
Interview with Karen Armstrong
Here’s a link to an interview between Karen Armstrong and Tavis Smiley. As Don, who passed this on to me, said in his email, “Interestingly, she makes many of the same points the Dalai Lama spoke of in the compassion portion of his teaching Saturday.”
Here is the link to the PBS interview (video).
By the way, Karen Armstrong’s book “Buddha,” blew me away. Highly recommended.
(Thanks, Don!)
October 8, 2009
What Christians Can Learn From Buddhists About Suffering
I did a two and a half year Community Dharma Leadership Training through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Califorina a number of years ago and one of the best things that happened to me was making a friend of Gordon Peerman.
As an Episcopal priest he has served for many years within the framework on the church and as a psychotherapist, consultant, deep practitioner and teacher who encourages mindfulness practices, he is a true ‘dharma bum.’ He writes with clarity, selflessness and wonderful humor.
He has a very-well received book out called Blessed Relief: What Christians Can Learn from Buddhists About Suffering. I had the opportunity to read this in one of it’s first drafts and feel this book is a contribution that over the years will just keep on giving.
October 6, 2009
October 4, 2009
A Way Cool Mindfulness Aid: Nick Chang’s Online Meditation Bell
In the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh’s communities, a random bell sounds during the day.
When you hear the bell you are invited to pause, take a breath and reconnect with the Here and Now.
Many years ago I got inspired by this practice and set my digital wrist watch to go off every half hour. To be honest, much of the time I was annoyed, but other times it served as a powerful moment of waking up out of whatever trance I was in.
My friend Nick Chang has designed a website that provides this service for you. You can choose your bell, how often it sounds and whether or not you’d like it at random intervals.
You can access the meditation bell here.
Thanks, Nick! Awesome!
October 1, 2009
An Interview with Yours Truly on Mindfulness and Focusing
You know that 'tangled up' feeling?
You may know I am trained as a trainer in the art of Focusing, a mind/body discipline that is intimately related (in my opinion) to the art of meditation.
You can listen to a half hour interview with moi on this topic interviewed by Serge Prengel, who conducts Focusing-related interviews for the Focusing Institute.
If you are interested, you can read more about Focusing on my site.
I love this work.
With any gnarly issue, whether it be physical pain, emotional turmoil, obsessive thinking or a general sense of malaise, this approach has a potent way of getting under the story to where it lives inside and can help cultivate a fundamental shift as to how it feels and how you relate to it.
As you’ll hear me say, my experience of Focusing is that it is not only intensely therapeutic, but ultimately I view it as a training in how we pay attention.
Just as in meditation we learn, over time, to shift our attention from the world of thought and story to the direct and immediate compassionate inquiry into present embodied experience.
September 30, 2009
What is the Attitude in Your Mind Right Now?
When Joseph Goldstein was in DC this summer he shared an inquiry he’s found quite helpful in his meditation practice. I’ve noticed it helpful as well and have been sharing this when I guide meditation.
“What is the attitude in your mind right now?” Is there striving? Aversion? Grasping?
Somehow this question can help to ‘reset’ my awareness from being consumed by a reaction to what’s happening to an attitude of softening, noticing and being more present to whatever is there.
In class this week I mentioned the retreats led by Sayadaw U Tejaniya, who emphasizes focusing not as much on technique as on being intimately aware of the attitude in each moment – the relationship to this play of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations.
Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Tricycle Magazine recently featured an interview with U Tejaniya where he goes deeper into the practice of ‘mindfulness in everyday life.” He also has a few interesting things to say about his experience of depression and the practice of ‘noting,’ which I mentioned in class this week.
I hope you enjoy it.
