During my week 2 of my current MBSR for Clinicians and Coaches class last week, I was reminded that the students are the ones who truly teach this class.It is by reflecting on what they share of their own moment-to-moment experience that we get to explore, together, what this thing we call mindfulness is. The reminder came during the inquiry following a body scan when I heard a question/reflection I’ve never heard before.The participant, who also shared that they are a regula

Time in meditation is more of an investment than a spend.

Nobody practices Mindfulness to get better at sitting on the cushion.

I hear it a lot - "I tried meditation, but it didn't work." Usually true - and not the end of the story. Maybe you say that to yourself, or maybe you hear it from your clients. Either way, that statement almost always points to a disconnect between what meditation actually is and does, and what you (or your client) expects meditation is and does. Like any disconnect between reality and expectations, it can leave you (and/or your clients) feeling frustrated and disappointed wi

Everyone should meditate for 30m a day. Unless you are very busy. In which case, you should meditate for an hour. ~anonymous

SMART Goals are not the only way to make progress When there is a well defined, straightforward "something" we want to achieve, setting a...

Can my ADHD, anxious brain practice Mindfulness... and will it help with the stress? The short answer is YES! And the standard response...

For the month of February, in honor of Valentine's Day and, frankly, my own need to meditate on LOVE, I've offered the lens of Buddhist...

Last week, in the spirit of Valentines Day, I introduced Love from the Buddhist perspective as having 4 facets - the first of which is a...

Love... a buddhist perspective It's February, where the holiday dedicated to LOVE resides, and I'm super delighted to get to dig into...

Is it overstating the obvious to say, that for love to be present, there must also be a sense of genuinely friendly goodwill? Or is it

As the pressures and stresses we all face in the wake of 2020 continue to mount, the mental health crisis that once lurked below the surface can no longer be denied. Nearly one quarter of adults in the US, roughly 50 million people are experiencing at least one mental illness (1) One of the more pernicious consequences of the increase mental health issues is the strait it puts on mental health professionals. There are simply not enough of them to handle the crisis and we're l

During the week of Thanksgiving, I had a number of conversations with dear ones close to me around working out the considerable and uncomfortable dissonance between my own equal but opposing desires to both cultivate gratitude, and honestly acknowledge the painful truths embedded in the myths of the holiday. For too many generations, in the name of giving thanks, we have pointed to and celebrated what was essentially the onslaught of genocide against the Native people who li

Do you have your digital devices, or do they have you? The algorithms that control what shows up in your feed, or the games you play on...

A retreat at home is, in many ways, just like any other retreat. Anytime you meditate, especially for longer periods, difficult energies...

When asked not to speak, most of us experience this as an admonishment. So why are more of us increasingly drawn to retreats where...

The Body Scan Mediation is a foundational cornerstone to just about any beginning mindfulness training, including MBSR. It’s easy to approach the Body Scan Meditation as a relaxation exercise, but really, it’s a powerful training and has many benefits; done regularly for just 8 weeks it has been shown to reduce not only the subjective experience of stress, but also the biological markers of stress, such as cortisol levels. On one level, we learn to manage what we pay attentio

In the ever ongoing, pretty much never ceasing search for self-improvement, satisfaction and joy, I’ve noticed a concerted focus on...

While there is more often than not a strong impulse to turn away from the very real and profound pain and discomfort we find all around us,

Last night I dreamt I was pregnant, and while I'm 52 and in no mood to actually be pregnant, I believe this to be an entirely auspicious...