Within the process of Vipassana meditation, the meditator develops and rests within a capacity to remain calm and clear towards the entire display of visceral, cerebral and environmental content. – Josh Summers
Meditation
Basic Vipassana Instructions (Part 2): Dharma Talk
Just as sounds arise and cease naturally within the field of awareness, when attending to their body, the meditator begins to perceive the same impersonal display of sensations arising and ceasing within the stillness of the mind. – Josh Summers
Basic Vipassana Instructions (Part 1): Dharma Talk
When we shift into a vipassana lens of practice, there are no distractions. Each experience the meditator encounters becomes the practice, itself – an experience to see clearly and relate to with compassion. – Josh Summers
On Meditative Process and Experience: Dharma Talk
“The perch is the seed of stillness. Receptivity is the seed of awareness. And choice is the seed of surrender. In the beginning, these principles feel distinct, but with time, they become three facets of the same unified field of experience.” – Josh Summers
The Tao of Progress: Dharma Talk
“The yin-yang symbol is not, therefore, what we call a dualism, but rather an explicit duality expressing an implicit unity.” – Alan Watts
Loch Kelly: Neuroscience of Non-Dual Mindfulness
Loch Kelly explains the relationship between two distinct neural structures in the brain: The Default Mode Network and the Task Positive Network. Learn how non-dual mindfulness harmonizes these two networks, priming your mind for greater creativity and flow.
Loch Kelly: Self-Realization and Self-Detox
“Let’s introduce the solution before we tackle the problem. Let’s introduce what can bear what seems unbearable – then we can deal with what [seems] unbearable.” – Loch Kelly
Loch Kelly: Everywhere, Nowhere, and Here
“What shifts is not you the meditator, not you the doer, not you the seeker or the small self… the beginning is to invite your already awake awareness which is identified [with something] to separate itself out. Let awareness be aware of the space from the space.” – Loch Kelly
Loch Kelly: The Way of Effortless Mindfulness
“From the cloud [of egoic, thought-based identity] we can drop below it, we can shift above it, or behind it, or to the side of it, to discover that we are also the sky.” – Loch Kelly
Sebastian Pucelle: For the Love of Silence
Talking shop with Sebastian Pucelle, we roll up our sleeves and discuss potential interpretations of the Sanskrit word “nirodah” and what those interpretations mean for your practice.
Sebastian Pucelle: The Purification of Mind
Sebastian Pucelle describes meditation as a process of purifying the mind. Meditation isn’t so much about attaining anything in particular as much as it is a process of letting go of things that distort and disrupt one’s life.
Sebastian Pucelle: The Attitude of Stillness
Often in meditation, students can get frustrated by their mind’s difficulty in following the meditation instructions. Sebastian Pucelle, the wonderful French Yin Yoga teacher, suggests that the two most important aspects of a meditation practice are one’s intention and attitude, not the specific technique, per se.
Reflecting on a Winter’s Retreat
This retreat inspired me to try a few hacks with regards to my relationship to technology – to make my phone less of the pocket-sized slot-machine that it’s become, I’ve tried to restructure the design of my phone as well as my timeframe around using it. And I invite you to join me on these digital hacks for better well-being.
Yin vs. Yang Meditation
When we look at different mental qualities, Yin qualities of mind tend to include traits like receptivity, allowance, yielding, tolerance, quiescence, reflection, passivity, or non-manipulation. Yang qualities of mind tend to involve traits like doing, manipulating, directing, improving, achieving, controlling, or becoming. From a Chinese perspective, both Yin and Yang qualities are essential. And the value in better understanding the relationship between Yin and Yang qualities is to promote balance and harmony between them.
What is Meditation?
Simply put, meditation is mental training, and a way to know yourself better. Meditation develops certain qualities of your mind. For thousands of years, this mental training was practiced within spiritual and religious communities, often requiring a fair amount of faith, belief, and superstition on behalf of the student. But now, there is a renaissance underway, ushering in new ways of practicing and thinking about meditation.
