There are different kinds of realizations. They are not always lightening bolts but sometimes soft and slow, as if snow were quietly falling and settling. Softly and slowly, as we relax into our practice and our life, we can come to see and feel the way we habitually treat life as an enemy to beContinue reading “Snow Day Reflection”
Tag Archives: Letting Be
The Power of Stillness
This afternoon, I stood very still on the blue stone floor of my front porch, looking out the screen door at flowers and green and trees. Everything looked so still in the golden afternoon light, yet so much has changed—some of the flowers and even the slabs of blue stone I stood on were notContinue reading “The Power of Stillness”
The Art of Returning
Dear Noble Friends, I’ve been away a long time. Now it feels good and right to come home. Late yesterday afternoon, a group of us gathered to practice mindfulness meditation and do a bit of yoga and talk in a beautiful yoga studio in Tarrytown (Yogashivaya.com). The yoga studio was filled with the golden naturalContinue reading “The Art of Returning”
Including the Body
Parabola‘s upcoming “Embodiment” is being printed and packed for shipping as we speak. The frantic, last-minute push is over, and now a space opens, a time for collecting ourselves. It is now Passover and Holy Week, an especially rich time to contemplate being in a body. We invite you to try this gentle exercise, bestContinue reading “Including the Body”
Samadhi
Last Sunday evening, a group of us meditated and exchanged about what the Buddha meant by the word “samadhi” — a word usually translated as “concentration.” I don’t know about you, but I dreaded the word and the state that I thought went with it. I associated concentration the kind of grim mental effort IContinue reading “Samadhi”
Trick or Treating with Lou Reed
Days before Halloween, the rocker Lou Reed who urged us to take a walk on the wild side. The two were already mingled in my mind because years ago, I plucked my daughter from trick-or-treating in Brooklyn (and Hallloween is a very big deal in Carol Gardens and Cobble Hill) to perform in a “TransformationContinue reading “Trick or Treating with Lou Reed”
Tracy Cochran 