“I can’t breathe.” George Floyd pleaded with his captors; a voice now heard around the world. Protesters and reporters struggling to breathe, running from pepper spray and tear gas. Covid-19 patients – struggling to breathe. How is your breath? These times can leave us breathless and anxious as we contend with a personal and collective […]
As this pandemic continues, we are all reacting in different ways. Some are adjusting well to staying at home and living simply. Others are climbing the walls. Regardless of which end of the spectrum you’re on, now more than ever is a time for self-care and care for others. There’s plenty you can do for […]
These recent weeks have been rife with uncertainty and the inevitable fear and anxiety that accompany it. The ambient stress we’re experiencing is like the steady growl of a motor, occupying our attention in a disturbing way as we recognize our own lack of control and vulnerability. We’re wondering if we’re doing enough to stay […]
It’s that time of year again! Our mailbox is filling with catalogs … tempting pictures of small appliances to make my life easier, holiday clothing to help me look good, fruits, nuts, and cheeses to gift to friends. One catalog’s cover even boldly announced “PEARS, LOVE and JOY.” Today’s pile of catalogs arrived along with […]
Have you ever tried to meditate? Maybe you’ve downloaded some apps, tuned in and benefited from taking this time for yourself. If so, congratulations on taking this important step! I started meditation (many years before apps) by reading about it in the one book I could find, and then trying to implement what I had […]
Why do so many people worldwide practice mindfulness meditation? Because of its proven physical and mental health benefits! Mindfulness helps relieve stress, treats heart disease, lowers blood pressures, reduces chronic pain and insomnia, alleviates gastrointestinal difficulties, is used in treatment of depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, couples’ conflicts, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Overall, it […]
As I inspected my backyard garden on a late March afternoon, a mallard duck unexpectedly bolted from underneath a rosebush and landed in the adjacent bay. Quacking angrily, her message was clear. Curious, I peeked under the bush. To my utter delight, I discovered a nest with five large eggs! I paused just long enough […]
My son had a piano teacher who lives and breathes music. While to me it was great accomplishment that a 10 year old could play a complicated sonata with only a few mistakes, this teacher cared less about wrong notes and much more about the emotion expressed by the passage. “This phrase is the voice […]
Trungpa Rinpoche, Pema Chodren’s Buddhist teacher, observed in his visit to the United States that “Most people don’t feel themselves properly.” This leads to a lot of ‘over-efforting’ in daily life which results in a lot of unnecessary tension and work being done by the body. This ‘compulsive’ efforting is not without cost. Many of our […]
Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. Though written in 1992, Leonard Cohen’s counsel is appropriate during our country’s dark period of uncertainty, prejudice, polarization and increasingly frequent random acts of mass murder and gun violence. I […]
