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Contemplative psychotherapy for individuals, couples, and groups in New York City.
Meditation |
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Meditation Month: Day 6
The Monday blues have hit meditation month—at least they have for me. I spent the weekend researching Milarepa, the famous Tibetan poet-yogi, because of a journalism assignment. You know, this Milarepa... ...the one who went through agony just to receive basic Buddhist teachings from Marpa, and then, when he got them, stayed in solitary meditation for years. When his food ran out, he ate nothing but the nettles that grew outside his cave (which is why he is often portrayed with green skin) until he became fully awakened. More » -
Meditation Month: Day 2
Last weekend, my 20-year old brother and I meditated together in my studio apartment in Brooklyn. We sat down, side by side, on cushions that have seen better days. To get started, I read aloud from the "Breathing Meditation" chapter of Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness, and then we listened to the first track of the book's accompanying CD. We crossed our legs, closed our eyes, and sat there breathing. It was my brother's first time meditating."I could get into that," my brother said afterwards. "I've always been hyper-aware of my thoughts, but the non-judgmental awareness is a whole other thing."My brother would appreciate today's Daily Dharma, which offers advice on non-judgmental awareness. It comes from "The Refuge of Sitting" by Narayan Liebenson Grady: More » -
Meditation Month begins today!
At the beginning of 2012 I committed to reinvigorating my meditation practice. But we're only a few weeks into the new year and I've already let myself off the hook. I feel as though I have a million things to do and as a result I've put finding time for practice on the back burner. There just doesn't seem to be space in my day for meditation. But this morning, as I read through the meditation tips that Zen teacher Brad Warner offers in the new issue of Tricycle, I found some simple advice on how to make space in my day for meditation: More » -
Video: Unlearning Meditation
We're currently reading Jason Siff's Unlearning Meditation: What to Do When the Instructions Get In the Way at the Tricycle Book Club. For the next four weeks, Siff will be providing you with articles, meditation instructions, and most significantly, an opportunity for you to journal your meditation sittings and look more closely at what happens in meditation. Below are Siff's basic meditation instructions for “recollective awareness meditation.” Pick up a copy and join the discussion. More » -
Street Mantras
The title ‘Grand Central Station’ should be enough to understand why avoiding such a place in one of the largest cities in the world, not to mention during the holiday season at rush hour, is sound advice. Unfortunately, I did not take such advice and found myself amidst a slew of clacking feet, all walking with determined faces and a gait of unrelenting momentum. Grand Central’s corridors receive an ‘A’ for creating echo, and in addition to the thousands of high-heels entering my ear canals, the noise of several bands tucked away in their little niches at the station, took the sensory-experience past its peak of endurance. I zigzagged in and out of on-coming human traffic, trying to find pockets of space to squeeze my body and my Spiderman book bag into, and made it out into the street…but that didn’t really help. Did I mention it was pouring down rain outside? More » -
Impasses in meditation
We're currently reading Jason Siff's Unlearning Meditation: What to Do When the Instructions Get In the Way at the Tricycle Book Club. For the next four weeks, Siff will be providing you with articles, meditation instructions, and most significantly, an opportunity for you to journal your meditation sittings and look more closely at what happens in meditation. Below are Siff's basic meditation instructions for “recollective awareness meditation.” Pick up a copy and join the discussion.Impasses in meditation More »
