Practice Circle
Practice Circle: Jason Siff and Recollective Awareness Meditation
Happy New Year! We’re excited to be starting 2015 with our first guest-led Practice Circle featuring Jason Siff, the author of “Unlearning Meditation” and “Thoughts are Not the Enemy.” Over the next two Practice Circle sessions, Jason will be teaching us the technique he calls Recollective Awareness Meditation, which involves open awareness practice, journaling, and…
Read MorePractice Circle: Resolution and Intention
The Western calendar is preparing to turn over to another year, and as a glance at any advertising medium will confirm, it’s time for New Years Resolutions. Time to promise one’s self to lose weight, quit smoking, perhaps even start a meditation practice. And we know the punch line, too; the health club that’s full…
Read MorePractice Circle: Transforming Suffering with Compassion
As I sit down to write this, the late afternoon shadows have deepened nearly to evening, reminding me that the longest nights of the year will soon be upon us. The news is full of the angry protests over police violence and the systematic atrocities committed by the United States government in its program of…
Read MoreThich Nhat Hanh, Secular Buddhist
Those of us who gathered for Social Circle last Friday evening spent a fair amount of time talking about Thich Nhat Hanh, whose recent hospitalization made headlines after rumors of his death had circulated online. The way the Internet lit up with expressions of concern and well wishes for the Vietnamese Zen monk, known to…
Read MorePractice Circle: Finding Your Benefactors
For the last several months, the mindfulness group I practice with has been learning a set of meditation practices adapted by John Makransky from Tibetan dzogchen and mahamudra methods. Although these techniques have much in common with the mindfulness practices adapted from Theravada Buddhism, such as vipassana and loving kindness meditation, there are some differences in emphasis…
Read MorePractice Circle Turns Two!
The Sunday evening of October 15, 2012 marked the first gathering of the SBA Practice Circle. When we get together this Sunday at 8 PM CST, it will be our 47th meeting, a number that shocks me when I see it written down. In a lot of ways, every Practice Circle session still feels like…
Read MorePractice Circle: Mindfulness of Sound
Stop what you’re doing right now, and just listen. Were you surprised by all you heard? Before you stopped to listen, you may have been completely unaware of all of the sounds going on. As soon as you directed your attention to them, there they were, loud and soft, far and near, pleasant, unpleasant and…
Read MorePractice Circle: Forgiveness
“He abused me, attacked me, Defeated me, robbed me!” For those carrying on like this Hatred does not end. “She abused me, attacked me, Defeated me, robbed me!” For those not carrying on like this, Hatred ends. Hatred never ends through hatred. By non-hate alone does it end. This is an ancient truth. (Dhp 3-5,…
Read MoreFinding Your Mindfulness Bells
One of the meanings of sati, the Pali word usually translated as “mindfulness”, is to remember. With a little practice, it’s not hard to learn how to concentrate and focus your awareness. The big challenge is remembering to do it. We forget even when we’re sitting on a cushion for the express purpose of meditating! …
Read MorePractice Circle: Mindfulness of the Body
Even as one who encompasses with his mind the mighty ocean includes thereby all the rivulets that run into the ocean; just so, O monks, whoever develops and cultivates mindfulness directed to the body includes thereby all the wholesome states that partake of supreme knowledge. One thing, O monks, if developed and cultivated, leads to…
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