As practitioners, we may have different motivations “to sit”. However, to sustain our practice, we need to clarify our intention… especially as “sitting” on a regular basis can offer both subtle and explicit challenges to our dedication and self-discipline. To overcome our difficulties in practice, our aspirations need to be honest, relevant, realistic, and purposeful. […]

Our minds are constantly engaged… thinking, planning, analyzing, ruminating, anticipating, reminiscing, etc. As the mind relentlessly runs our internal streams of thoughts, images & memories, our perspective reflexively seems to narrow and constrict. We feel ‘boxed’ in by the walls of an internal ‘dialogue’ that leaves little or no space for the unexpected or unanticipated […]

In our mindfulness practice, it is very important for us to cultivate and refine our sixth sense- or awareness of body. There are two sensing capacities of body recognized by science- (i). proprioception and (ii). interoception. Proprioception– ‘proprio’ meaning ‘self’- is the sense of knowing & feeling our body’s position in space- both at rest […]

This is a classic Gahan Wilson cartoon from the New Yorker in the 1980s. As beginners in the practice of meditation or contemplation, we often struggle with our expectations for what it is we will uncover, discover, or transform from our efforts “to sit” and to simply “be”. What’s fundamentally important to the practice is […]

Our “support” of mind is a stability of awareness. Steady even through the turbulent winds of the mind. Awareness of awareness is the “support” of the mind. Through our regular awareness training with shamatha or attending exercises, we practice again and again to cultivate this “support”- this capacity to remain unmoved by the events of […]

The technique of ‘noting‘ mental activities and/or physical sensations of the mind-body experience can be a very useful tool in focusing and sustaining attention during our meditative practice of self-observation. It can also give our ‘thinking minds’ something to do other than disrupting our concentration with the constant distraction of discursive thoughts. The words we […]

We tune in to tune out distraction… relaxed, settled, focused & clear. No matter what our age, young or old, we all have the inherent capacity to give our full attention, openly & compassionately, to know what we are sensing, thinking, or feeling… here and now… moment by moment. This is the Way of awareness. […]

Try this simple little practice for yourself every morning in front of the mirror. Keep it “light” and don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself as you and your smile train for a warmer, more gracious way of being especially when the inclination may not be present. Caveat… the act of smiling may turn into […]

Many beginning practitioners ask the question as to how can meditation benefit the novice- the amateur? Neuroscientists are increasingly turning their attention towards this question and finding surprising results. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin – Stout have investigated the effects of short periods of mindfulness on beginner meditators.  They looked at the electrical activity in […]

I smile as I greet this new day with gratitude, peace, and tranquility. May my mind be calm and steady. May my heart be open and true. May my presence be here and now, openly and compassionately attending.