Category Archives: Meditation
Meditation Retreat with Kathy on the shores of Lake Tahoe April 8-11
Dear Friends, I am so happy to be co-teaching a short residential retreat with my good friend Amita Schmidt on the beautful shore of Lake Tahoe, our “third teacher.” (We’d just been swimming in Tahoe when this photo was taken.) … Continue reading
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A Heart as Wide as the World
To have a heart as wide as the world—a phrase I first heard from meditation teacher and author Sharon Salzberg—is my aspiration. In Buddhist psychology the heart is not separate from the mind, which is known as citta in Sanskrit. … Continue reading
Beginning Again
Beginnings lead to endings and endings to beginnings. Maybe that is part of the romance of sunsets—not only are they beautiful, but they end the day and begin the night. As a long-time meditator, I have trained in noticing the … Continue reading
Cat Consciousness
Calico arrived in my home almost eight years ago after living as a barn cat in central Nevada. Though too scared to allow herself to be touched, she used to follow the family around the ranch, so when they moved … Continue reading
Alert and Relaxed
When I hit menopause, I lost my excellent ability to nap—gone, gone, gone. I’d lie there totally alert, practicing breathing and relaxing to no avail. Recently I’ve had the luxury of more down time. Those who know me will know … Continue reading
Moving Meditation
At a meditation retreat years ago I mentioned to my teacher that I was taking a long walk every day. He didn’t see that as a distraction, but rather an opportunity to practice another form of meditation. When practicing concentration … Continue reading
Five Daily Recollections
Recently, inspired by the meditation retreat she had just attended, our beloved yoga teacher Angela recited the Five Daily Recollections given to us by the Buddha in one of his sermons. There were two typical types of responses: “wow, that’s … Continue reading
Perfections of the Heart
At a recent retreat, Kamala Masters, our teacher, would ask us after a meditation period to report on what we were experiencing. What were we aware of, and even more important, what was the attitude in the mind towards our … Continue reading
Mountain Solid
The third stanza in our gatha (practice poem) is: “Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain; breathing out, I feel solid.” As with the other images, we can shorten this to “mountain” as we breathe in, and “solid” … Continue reading
Hugging
In the 1960’s Thich Nhat Hanh came to the US to speak out against the war raging in his country. One of the people he influenced was Martin Luther King, who did go on to oppose the war. Dr. King … Continue reading
Mind
As you read this, I am on a week-long meditation retreat. On retreat we maintain Noble Silence—speaking only when necessary. We don’t read or write for the most part, and certainly don’t listen to music or the radio or even … Continue reading
Home Base
To continue with our theme of working with anxiety, sometimes we realize we are in the anxiety canyon, but we may be unsure of “where to go” if we “evaporate” out of the canyon. It can be helpful to have … Continue reading
The Soul (a guest post)
A guest post from my beloved friend Susan Juetten– The soul: what do I mean by “the soul”? Not a concept in Buddhism, but possibly contacted in the deeper realms of meditation. The term still represents something I feel inside … Continue reading
Happy New Year
Many years ago on a 10-day meditation retreat, our teacher pointed out that nothing actually happens at midnight on New Year’s Eve. One moment follows the next as usual; it’s people that give it significance. Nevertheless we decided to stay … Continue reading
Favorite
As I write, it was 10 years ago today that Davy and I first spoke. We had spent 80 days working side by side in silence, putting away breakfast food and condiments for 100 people. We had started our work … Continue reading
Lotus Flowers
Lotus flowers are beloved in Asia, in part for their beauty. Even more, they symbolize the purity that can come from muck. Lotuses are often found blooming in filthy ditches by the side of the road or in … Continue reading
A Wise Old Woman
On a crisp November day on the banks of the Sun Kosi River in Nepal, I had a life-changing conversation with a man about 15 years my senior, Payson Kennedy. Payson, the founder and director of the Nantahala Outdoor Center, … Continue reading