This is the first time I’ve been part of a virtual sangha, and it’s interesting! Long-time IMS meditation teacher and author Sharon Salzberg‘s clear and simple audio meditations are a fun way to connect with a larger community (even though I miss the special something that’s created when we bring our physical bodies to sit…
Dear Friends- I am so happy to announce that the little meditation book I wrote is available — with lots of short audio and video clips and tips! It’s 99 cents. Here’s the link for iBooks. If you buy it on iBooks, you can open it on multiple devices (e.g. I bought it on my iPhone,…
My mom, who grew up in the working class outskirts of Pittsburgh, wanted to rear me with ‘proper manners.’ Some kids called our small town Hicksville. Our state, Pennsyltucky. Nevertheless, thanks to my mom, I learned: -how to curtsy (still waiting for the Queen to invite me to tea to make use of this), -how…
I read a study on marital compatibility — apparently spouses who frequently roll their eyes about something their husband or wife has said or done are likelier to divorce. Yikes! After reading the article, I became hyper-aware of rolling my eyes — in impatience, exasperation, basically in some sort of silent low-level protest. Mindfulness, also…
This August is unusually cool and breezy, at least in NYC. It feels more like September, with just an occasional blast of heat. But maybe you’re reading this post from the Salton Sea or Jakarta or the Everglades, and long for a glacial retreat. I hope this video of elves sledding as the sun sets…
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” -Walt Whitman Last week I was “on vacation” in the majestic Smokey Mountains – “on vacation” with quotation marks because I was up every night, all week, with my darling youngest daughter, who had a nasty chest cough that reappeared every…
Movement might be the right path into meditation for you. Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind, said Patañjali (who compiled the yoga sutras thousands of years ago). Yoga to the People is a $5 totally excellent hot yoga studio, don’t knock it til you’ve tried it as it’s a very cheap thrill. And…
Funambulism is tightrope walking (from Latin ‘funis’ = rope + ‘ambulare’ = to walk). People have been doing it for a long time (though not for ‘eons’, because eon = 1 billion years & humans weren’t around that far back in geologic time). Walking through glorious Prospect Park, I notice a passel of people gathered…
This Spring, Kewei and I worked together on micromeditation.org and she was inspired to create a video for the site. Please watch Emptiness . In her words: We seek so many things, we desire so many things. And yet, we also share the desire for emptiness, the absence of wanting. And this tension can be…
Goodnight! and so long, summer. I love this video of the Lawrence Welk singers closing their 1970’s-era tv show in high style. It was one of the rare tv shows I was permitted to watch by my conservative parents. It was fun. Singing! Dancing! Witty repartee in foreign languages! Now, in hindsight, I notice other…
7:55 am commuting to work during rush hour. Jump onto the A train. There’s a coveted corner seat – yay! I nestle my foot through one strap of my backpack (for security) and put it on the floor behind my legs so that I can meditate. I close my eyes. I inhale. I exhale. As…
I’ve known Tina for years: we often practice side by side at the venerable Brooklyn Yoga School. I noticed her pretty ear rings and fierce yoga practice, as I’ve noticed many of our other regular classmates, but never spoken a word as I am rather shy. In exploring how to deepen my own meditation practice,…
