The contemplative life is often depicted as a solo and introspective one, featuring a lone monk meditating on a mountain, a robed ascetic...

"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...

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...

Meditators attend to conditions that affect their practice, and sleep is one of the most impactful. You can skip to the tips listed...

Since my youth, I've taken refuge in music. Music quieted my troubled, adolescent soul. I could express and evoke powerful emotions...

The Indian teacher Ramana Maharshi recommended the technique of self-enquiry to discover the unreality or illusory nature of the proxy-i,...

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....

I am the son, nephew, and grandson of Pentecostal and Protestant ministers. I meditate religiously. Within the Judeo-Christian tradition,...

"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...

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself (I am large, I contain multitudes). -Walt Whitman War/peace, happy/sad,...

I sit. I see. Light falls. It reflects off objects and enters the eyes. The retina converts photons of light into electrical impulses...

In my 19 years of schooling, I was never explicitly taught how to maintain equanimity; but I did learn that an equilateral triangle was...

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...

This post is a compilation of past essays on exercise, fitness, and movement. I started the day with an hour of meditation and breath...