Teaching What Matters
On the Road to Truth
Dhamma is the Pali word for Truth. Dhara means Land. Dhamma Dhara is the name of a Vipassana meditation center I first attended in 2010....
The Beautiful Breath
The breath is a chord that connects us to this life. Meditators use the breath as a guide to awakening and approach it with reverence....
Community
The contemplative life is often depicted as a solo and introspective one, featuring a lone monk meditating on a mountain, a robed ascetic...
Mindfulness of death: reflections on the brevity and purpose of life
"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 20:12) My father often spoke of death as a homecoming and was as...
The Gift of Speech
Loafe with me on the grass, loose the stop from your throat, Not words, not music or rhyme I want, not custom or lecture, not even the...
Sleep
Meditators attend to conditions that affect their practice, and sleep is one of the most impactful. You can skip to the tips listed...
Interoception 1: Noting Temperature
Interoception is the perception of bodily sensations which can express as tingling, throbbing, heat, coldness, pulsing, swelling,...
On Music
Since my youth, I've taken refuge in music. Music quieted my troubled, adolescent soul. I could express and evoke powerful emotions...
Self-enquiry
The Indian teacher Ramana Maharshi recommended the technique of self-enquiry to discover the unreality or illusory nature of the proxy-i,...
The Sunday Service
I am the son, nephew, and grandson of Pentecostal and Protestant ministers. I meditate religiously. Within the Judeo-Christian tradition,...
Sober
"It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink." Proverbs 31:4 Abstaining from...
Holding Opposites
Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself (I am large, I contain multitudes). -Walt Whitman War/peace, happy/sad,...
Sight
I sit. I see. Light falls. It reflects off objects and enters the eyes. The retina converts photons of light into electrical impulses...
Teaching What Matters
In my 19 years of schooling, I was never explicitly taught how to maintain equanimity; but I did learn that an equilateral triangle was...
Boot Camp
I scheduled a meditation retreat on Saturday. No one signed up, so I gave myself the gift. My training is more rigorous and intense than...