Leaving

Just as the sun peeps over the horizon, the light bounces off the water and hits the Paw Paw trees.  Details and colors from the decaying leaves jump out. Here are a few 'leaf portraits.' The equipment has a lot to do with the detail and color saturation.  For the geeks, these are shot with a Canon T1i with a 70-200mm 1:2.8L series lens and a 1.4x teleplus pro extender, the latter a new addition with thanks and gratitude to Kevin McDonough, my photography benefactor and dharma buddy.

fall leaves1

fall leaves2

fall leaves3

Buddha's Brain

I've just started Rick Hanson's book, Buddha's Brain:  The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. The book is about effective, research driven ways to light up the circuits in your brain that will bring you more joy, fulfilling relationships and inner peace.

I did the Community Dharma Leadership training at Spirit Rock with Rick and am impressed with his training as well as his sincere desire to get the word out on the fantastic research demonstrating how meditation impacts so many aspects of our lives.

As Rick writes in the book, "If you can change your brain, you can change your life."

More on the book here.

Buddha' Brain

Back from Retreat

The gardens at Seven Oaks. I'm just back from the IMCW week-long retreat at Seven Oaks.  Seven days of silent practice.  I'm a bit bleary, but inspired.  I was up at 5:45 to lead morning yoga and each day I was fully engaged.  Mornings were filled with back to back interviews and I did a dharma talk, led a metta meditation and afternoon yoga. I'd fall into bed each night pretty spent.

I'll have links to the talks and possibly a number of my movement classes available in the near future.

We had 67 yogis for the weekend and 43 who stayed on for the whole week.  It takes a special kind of maniac to sit for a week of silent practice.  I have to say this was an inspiring collection of maniacs.

We had over 30 people turned away for this retreat so if you're interested in the five-day New Year's Retreat coming up at the end of December, you might want to register now.  We'll have a repeat gathering of the teachers:  Tara Brach, Pat Coffey, Hugh Byrne and myself.

One of My Homies: Father Thomas Keating

I had the opportunity to meet Father Thomas Keating at the Garrison Institute at a conference a few years ago on inter-disciplinary traditions where I was leading yoga and meditation and could take part in the sessions. He was teaching about "Contemplative Prayer." I loved his explanation of how he got started into this.  Someone asked if they could use a room to teach meditation in their church.  Attendance was so high he got alarmed and starting attending.  From his own practice he has managed to articulate what is essentially 'mantra' meditation into a format that has made it accessible for countless people.

He has a wonderful transmission.  When he taught at the conference it was clear he was giving a talk he's given thousands of times, but he used that as a way to personally connect with each person through eye contact.  I was touched and inspired by his friendly and caring nature.

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(Thanks, George!)

Good Mornings

My morning ritual is pretty simple.  Roll out of bed, get dressed, use the bathroom, grab my camera and paraphernalia, roust the dogs and head out into the woods.  I'm either in pitch darkness or with some light from the moon. The dogs are in full bliss state and it's easy to tap into their alertness, joy and enthusiasm.

Whatever route I take through the woods and fields to the water, I'm almost always there to catch the sunrise.  My dear Uncle Dave, who taught creative writing most of his life, used to often gripe about how our language doesn't reflect reality.

"It's not sunrise," he would often say, "It's actually earthturn."

So here are some choice EarthTurn photos from the past ten days:

sunrise rosy

sunrise salmon

sunrise grey

sunrise moody

orange

What Christians Can Learn From Buddhists About Suffering

I did a two and a half year Community Dharma Leadership Training through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Califorina a number of years ago and one of the best things that happened to me was making a friend of Gordon Peerman. blessed relief full cover

As an Episcopal priest he has served  for many years within the framework on the church and as a psychotherapist, consultant, deep practitioner and teacher who encourages mindfulness practices, he is a true 'dharma bum.'  He writes with clarity, selflessness and wonderful humor.

He has a very-well received book out called Blessed Relief:  What Christians Can Learn from Buddhists About Suffering.  I had the opportunity to read this in one of it's first drafts and feel this book is a contribution that over the years will just keep on giving.

You can read more about it here.

A Way Cool Mindfulness Aid: Nick Chang's Online Meditation Bell

Med bell In the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh's communities, a random bell sounds during the day.

When you hear the bell you are invited to pause, take a breath and reconnect with the Here and Now.

Many years ago I got inspired by this practice and set my digital wrist watch to go off every half hour.  To be honest, much of the time I was annoyed, but other times it served as a powerful moment of waking up out of whatever trance I was in.

My friend Nick Chang has designed a website that provides this service for you.  You can choose your bell, how often it sounds and whether or not you'd like it at random intervals.

You can access the meditation bell here.

Thanks, Nick!  Awesome!

An Interview with Yours Truly on Mindfulness and Focusing

You know that 'tangled up' feeling?

You may know I am trained as a trainer in the art of Focusing, a mind/body discipline that is intimately related (in my opinion) to the art of meditation.

You can listen to a half hour interview with moi on this topic interviewed by Serge Prengel, who conducts Focusing-related interviews for the Focusing Institute.

If you are interested, you can read more about Focusing on my site.

I love this work.

With any gnarly issue, whether it be physical pain, emotional turmoil, obsessive thinking or a general sense of malaise, this approach has a potent way of getting under the story to where it lives inside and can help cultivate a fundamental shift as to how it feels and how you relate to it.

As you'll hear me say, my experience of Focusing is that it is not only intensely therapeutic, but ultimately I view it as a training in how we pay attention.

Just as in meditation we learn, over time, to shift our attention from the world of thought and story to the direct and immediate compassionate inquiry into present embodied experience.