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The 4 Divine Abodes (brahmavihāra), plus gratitude
The 4 blessed healing states known as the Divine Abodes, or Divine Abidings (brahmavihāra) are among the most beloved practices in the Buddhist system. We spent a month on them this summer, looking at the power of heart practice on the Liberation process. The meditations use a simple form of the “radiating” style taught by…
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Karma, past lives, identity, and interconnection
A talk on the deep layers of identity and history we all are/experience. Reincarnation. Meditation: body & spine
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The Nervous System in Meditation & Yoga
Four weeks of investigation of the relationship of the trauma physiology and resilience teachings of Organic Intelligence to the practices of meditation and yoga. 1. Meditation: Orientation, Body Posture, Pleasure (6.6.17) Trauma Basics: Fight, Flight, Freeze (6.6.17) 2. Meditation: Mettā (Loving Kindness) for a Benefactor, with the breath (6.13.17) Trauma Basics: Activation-Deactivation (6.13.17) 3. Meditation: 3…
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On the “mind-body connection” in yoga & meditation
Talk given at Haas Business School on Valentine’s day. They asked me to talk about the “mind-body connection” in yoga so I talked about how there’s really no such thing. How Descartes was wrong, etc. They were great.
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Authentic Movement as Tandava
For many years, parallel with my training in Buddhism and Yoga, I practiced a contemporary contemplative discipline called Authentic Movement (AM). Developed by dancers and Jungian analysts in the 1970s, AM is rare in both its provenance as a contemplative art created and maintained almost entirely by women, and in its resistance to capitalism and…
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Hatha Yoga Sadhana: The Subtle Dance
Physical movement with the goal of cultivating energy is one of the most dynamic and creative types of liberation practice. It has been part of both Buddhist and Hindu-lineage contemplative work since the earliest centuries of Yoga and asceticism as formal paths in South Asian spiritual life. Resources for this practice: For an online intro to…
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The 5 Ethical Precepts (sīla)
Buddhism as a liberation path is a gradual purification of the heart that takes root as we see more clearly, stop clinging so much, and grow out of confusion about who we are into the maturity called wisdom. Wisdom is expressed partly as understanding: everything changes, and many things hurt, but there’s an openness, a…
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Chants: lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu
We do this chant at the end of the Satsang meditation period. It’s an ancient mantra beloved in both the Buddhist and Hindu Yoga traditions, and translates roughly as: May all beings be at ease. OM, Peace, peace, peace. If you want to use it as a mantra to repeat, you could omit the “oṃ…
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Mindfulness means intimacy
Talk: Mindfulness as intimacy with ourselves, with the world through our senses, in relationship with each moment. Given at Vajrapani yoga and meditation retreat with Pete Guinosso. (10.2.15)