Webinar: “Steps to Real Peace” with Dawa Tarchin Phillips

In this webinar, mindfulness and meditation expert Dawa Tarchin Phillips shared five steps to cultivate peace, heal the mind, and transform the heart. These steps can help us nurture and sustain ourselves during these difficult times, equipping us to be a source of love and support for others. He began by acknowledging the challenges of this moment, ranging from COVID-19…

Awake in Nature

This past weekend I was at a wedding in Vermont.  The groom has been a friend for over two decades.  And like all the rest of his friends, I was so happy that he had found love, especially after the pain and loss of his first wife’s illness and passing.  It was bittersweet; the ache and grief were still there,…

The Great Silence Amid the Roar: A Meditation Coming Out of Holy Week 2019

On Being, Becoming Like the rings on a tree, once again, Holy Week came upon us, marking another cycle of remembrance and entering into the Life that culminated in the mysterious events that shook the world 2000 years ago in a small, out-of-way province of the Roman empire. The reverberations continue to be felt down to and, doubtless, way beyond…

Is Mindfulness Inherently Contextualizing?

Vishvapani Blomfield has taught meditation, in secular and Buddhist contexts, for over eighteen years. He also writes and broadcasts on mindfulness, meditation and Buddhism, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’. Dan Nixon: Vishvapani, we’re here to talk about the wide range of contexts that we find ourselves in as human beings – and…

Breathe

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” -Amit Ray It sounds so simple, childlike even, to say “just breathe.” You would think in the territory of suffering that our first best move might be something extraordinary, a momentous act, like “dial this number to directly reach the appropriate divine being,” or…

How Does Chanting Work?

They say that every repetition of every one of these Names (Divine Names) is a seed that we plant in our life stream. Sri Ramakrishna, who was a great Indian saint in the 1800’s, talked about how this practice of the repetition of the Name works. He said that every Name is a seed, and just like a little tiny…

The Winds of Love

Years ago, in Arizona, scientists embarked on an experiment to learn how to replicate the Earth’s ecosystems in a closed ecological system. In the Biosphere experiment, a huge glass dome was constructed with everything needed to sustain life within the structure. The scientists lived inside the Bio-dome for two years and, for a number of reasons, the experiment didn’t work…

How Mindfulness Matures into Wisdom

I first began meditating at the age of 17, at a time when mindfulness was not mainstream and meditation was not touted as the burgeoning business opportunity or “wellness” trend that it is today. I remember being relieved and energized by my first experiences of intentional mindful attention. I say “intentional” because, of course, every human being has the potential…