I’m normally awake before my alarm goes off. My alarm is my iPhone which is stationed out of reach in the hallway so I have to get out of bed to turn if off. Some mornings I get up before my alarm. If I’ve slept well and gone to bed early, it’s easy. My goal … Continue reading
There’s a man on the subway at the moment doing the rounds. I’ve seen him several times this week. He pulls a suitcase on wheels and holds a stack of printed paper. His ginger hair hangs over his forehead and he speaks with a very high pitched voice, very fast. Almost as fast as his … Continue reading
Kirtana is the devotional singing of God’s name. Even if you don’t believe in a God with form you can select a name which represents whatever you do believe in and repeat it with devotion, allowing that force to enter and heal you. Kirtana, which helps us rectify our relationship with nature, is the best … Continue reading
When you go to a dinner party and someone asks you what you’ve been up to and you respond with “I’ve just come back from a silent retreat…” it can be a bit of a conversation stopper. I get it. I remember feeling unnerved at the thought of one too. Not sure what the point … Continue reading
The nature of Shamatha meditation is the path of refining one’s attention. We cultivate this by committing to stillness and quiet, by focusing on one object to the exclusion of all other phenomena. Shamatha means ‘calm abidance’ or ‘quiescence’. When we sit and practice, we anchor our attention relaxing deeply as we do this. When … Continue reading
who are you standing at the foot of my bed so beautiful your face smiles its soft joy reaching out to me are you an angel? do you have a message for me? – ‘going tomorrow’ you say ‘that’s good’ i reply just as quickly you’re gone down the septic corridor. i look up … Continue reading
In Yoga philosophy there are three qualities of prakriti, or primordial nature, which can be described as Rajas (passion), Tamas (dullness or inertia), or Sattva (serenity or balance). It’s akin to Yin/Yang in Taoist philosophy. A way of understanding and describing everything that is in form in the cosmos both in subtle essence (i.e. what is unseen but felt and perceived … Continue reading
