Grief, fear and despair are part of the human condition. Each of these emotions is useful, says psychotherapist Miriam Greenspan, if we know how to listen to them. I was brought to the practice of mindfulness more than two decades ago by the death of my first child. Aaron died two months after he was born, never having left the hospital. Shortly after that, a friend [...]
Breathing Room
Pranayama is sometimes translated as "to release life energy from its bounds." When we can free the breath from both mental and physical constraints, it's as good as opening a tight belt after Thanksgiving dinner. Cyndi Lee, founder of the OM Yoga Center in New York, discusses our relationship to the breath and gives four poses that will help us recognize our “authentic [...]
How to work with the “Winter Blues”
"Perhaps," says Sylvia Boorstein, "these days of less sunlight are opportunities for more contemplative time, more looking deeply to see what can only be seen in the dark." These are especially hard days for people whose minds are burdened with the fatigue of depression, the grief of loss, even the relatively mild Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that seems directly related [...]
Becoming the Ally of All Beings
A teaching by Sharon Salzberg on the interconnectedness of all things. In the Buddhist tradition, bodhisattvas are those who, aspiring to enlightenment, make a resolve, "I vow to attain full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings." That is a pretty incredible vow! It means that we recognize our own liberation is intertwined with the liberation of all beings without [...]
The Great Spring
Best-selling author Natalie Goldberg moves to Minnesota in winter to search for her late teacher, Dainin Katagiri Roshi. Will she find him at the first sign of spring? I lived for a year and a half recently in St. Paul, Minnesota practicing Zen with one of Katagiri Roshi's dharma heirs. Roshi had been dead for a long time and still I missed him and did not know how to [...]
A Dive Into Emptiness
A talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi about the Buddhist idea of emptiness — and, an unusual sport. Everything is emptiness. That is a point that Buddhism always emphasizes. But it's very difficult to understand. Even if you understand it in an intellectual sense, it's very difficult to understand, with your whole body and mind, the truth that everything is emptiness. But this is [...]
So You Want To Be a Buddhist?
Daniel Menaker gives us a humorous look at the trendiness of Buddhism. Who doesn't? It's easy and also fun, especially if like me and most Americans who enjoy relaxing on the deck and talking about Buddhism you know very little about it. I mean the kind of people who when you get a little ticked at them for breaking the gears of the bicycle they borrowed from you [...]
To Love Abundantly: Sharon Salzberg’s Journey on the Path
How Sharon Salzberg found loving-kindness in the darkest of times. In 1971, a few days before eighteen-year-old Sharon Salzberg was meant to leave for India on an independent study project from State University at Buffalo where she was a student, she heard Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was giving a talk in town, and she went to see him. After his talk, [...]
Wabi-Sabi For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers
Lion's Roar presents an excerpt from Leonard Koren's gem, Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers, considered a class statement on this Japanese aesthetic. Like many of my contemporaries, I first learned of wabi-sabi during my youthful spiritual quest in the late 1960’s. At that time, the traditional culture of Japan beckoned with profound “answers” to life’s [...]
Healthy Thoughts
You might think being healthy puts you in a good state of mind, but Dr. Chris Stewart-Patterson argues that it’s the good state of mind that will keep you healthy in the long-term. When it comes to health, it may be our minds that matter most. Usually the message that wellness gurus and public health authorities give ad nauseam is that longevity and wellness are largely about [...]