Pema Chödrön on shenpa, or the urge, the hook, that triggers our habitual tendency to close down. We get hooked in that moment of tightening when we reach for relief. To get unhooked, we begin by recognizing that moment of unease and learn to relax in that moment. You're trying to make a point with a coworker or your partner. At one moment her face is open and she's [...]
Halloween Hatha
“Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears,” says Cyndi Lee, “but from getting to know them well.” Last Halloween, one of the teachers here at OM Yoga Center began his evening class by inviting the students to request the yoga poses they found scary. He was not surprised by fancy suggestions such as bending backward to touch the head to the floor, handstands, five-minute [...]
The Lama in the Lab: Neuroscience and Meditation
Daniel Goleman reports on the Dalai Lama and the dialog between science and Buddhism, especially on how neuroscientists are measuring the effects of meditation. Lama Oser strikes most anyone who meets him as resplendent—not because of his maroon and gold Tibetan monk’s robes, but because of his radiant smile. Oser, a European-born convert to Buddhism, has trained as a Tibetan [...]
Nine Stages of Training the Mind
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche presents a map of the meditative process. From a wild and busy mind to the perfection of equanimity, he lays out the nine stages of training the mind. As the lineage of meditators sat on their cushions and worked with their minds, they saw the same unfolding process: nine ways that the mind can be true to its inherent stability, clarity and strength. In [...]
All Fit One Size
The story of the Procrustean bed—making the customer fit the product—is a good way to look at how global corporations operate. Metaphors can come and go and never change your point of view. Every once in a while, though, a metaphor comes along that is powerful enough to color the way you look at things for awhile, which is what a metaphor is supposed to do: a metaphor helps [...]
In Defense of Western Medicine
At what time and place in history would you choose to be seriously ill? Docs get dissed a lot these days. Nothing makes headlines like a physician sawing off the wrong leg or dispensing medication later found to cause harm. Doctors are routinely criticized for not practicing preventive medicine, and it seems as if everyone has a story about a physician with the bedside manner [...]
Finding Hope in Hopelessness
If I have no belief that my vision can become real, asks Margaret Wheatley, where will I find the strength to persevere? As the world grows ever darker, I've been forcing myself to think about hope. I watch as the world and the people near me experience increased grief and suffering, as aggression and violence move into all relationships, personal and global, and as decisions [...]
No Worries
Sylvia Boorstein addresses a mental affliction we don’t often talk about in spiritual terms. It’s a big problem for her, and maybe for you—worrying. The second hour of a recent flight I took from Albuquerque to Oakland was the wildest ride I’d had in all my years of flying. As the plane lurched and bumped and vibrated through what the pilot described as "the normally unstable [...]