[email protected]

How Meditation Can Help in Times of Loss and Heartbreak

In grief and loss, the mind is powerfully affected. The way we think is changed. The content of our thoughts is altered. Particularly in early and traumatic grief, we forget things, we lose things, we are distracted and inattentive. Alternatively, we can be utterly...

How a Catbird Taught Me to Meditate

I awoke in the dark morning of early June to the lemony song of a catbird. My body lay heavy with sleep. But my mind began to prowl. As the catbird sang I tried to identify the bird calls he mimicked. My ears strained to classify the snippets he copied: the high...

Exploring Inner and Outer Space

During the Apollo 13 space mission to the moon, I was asked what I thought about going to the moon and the significance of such a mission. My immediate response was: I would like to go if they would take me! These explorations signify the restlessness and curiosity of...

What Really Happens in Meditation

In the real world, there are all kinds of things you hear about meditation if you listen to people who have busy, active lives as well a thriving meditation practice. When people grab a few minutes to meditate, the impulse toward action continues. There is an...

The Monkey Mind

Some of the great Yoga Masters have compared the mind to a drunken monkey that has been bitten by a scorpion! You have such a mind, but when you allow the mind to do whatever it wants, you don’t really notice how mischievous it is. It is only when you try to keep it...

Meditation: Getting Unstuck

In this interview, one of Buddhism’s most respected teachers in the West, shares her initial experiences with lovingkindness meditation, and the value of beginner’s mind. Sharon’s belief in the power of meditation as a conduit to happiness is the subject of her book,...