On a train ride down the East Coast I noticed the individuals stepping outside for smoke breaks and read an article judging obesity. It remember judging people and thinking, "You should really change your life habits." I had this idea that it was a simple choice like turning a light switch on or off. I …
Category: Personal Experiences
Dogs and Doubt
A family gathers around after their dog passes away. They begin to discuss life and death and why animals have shorter lifespans than humans. The little boy, who loved his dog, speaks up to the others' surprise. He says, "I know why." They wait. "People have to learn to be kind and good people right? …
The Riches of Service
Giving service has always felt like a luxury only the rich and healthy can afford. While most people are grinding away at their jobs to provide the needs of life, a select population can volunteer time and resources to aid one cause or another. Kind people use this surplus of resources to serve while others use …
S. N. Goenka: Notes – Day 3 Discourse
So much attachment towards this I. What is this I? At the apparent level, yes, there is this solid body, but at the actual level, just subatomic particles, constantly changing. Arising and passing at such rapidity, like a light bulb. You take a dip in the river. Is it the same river? What same river? …
In communication. In understanding. In balance.
I am writing after a long hiatus. Travel is just one excuse. So is the excuse of hectic work schedule with back to back teaching in classrooms and workshops. But truth be told, I was not ready to share and write my stories. Growing up hearing stories from my dad and grandmother, I remember one such …
Continue reading In communication. In understanding. In balance.
Commit
The word seems violent. Short and sharp, like so many crimes. It harkens suicide and mental hospitals. Electroshock therapy. Urgent test answers rammed into shallow grooves of my cortex. I've been consciously thinking of the word in softer terms, lately: Beneath the whole gamut of negative cultural connotations, it means to entrust or pledge fully …
S. N. Goenka: Notes – Day 1 Discourse
S. N. Goenka: Notes - Day 1 Discourse You will get the best results of your stay here, the better you work. You must work. The art of living is missing. This will teach you the art of living. Someone goes to the other bank of the river and comes back and says, it's so …
Space
The stars soften this world. Seeing them illuminates the darker parts of my life that feel so hard, so permanent. It loosens the tightness in my chest and allows me to inhale with conscious awareness. I see from a further perspective just how essential breath is, how pure it is, and how nothing else is …
As I Go
Every sensation 'holds' energy. It stores it, and depending on our equanimity to it, it affects us this or that much. You may have heard of Chakras. They are considered to be stronger points of energy holds in the body. I say that all sensations are energy holds in the body, and what they contain is creative …
In Meditation. Being meditative.
I was contemplating on writing my blog this week while in travel mode and I was also observing how planning for travel can be meditative. I also had a little chat with my dear friend who hosted me in Barcelona about continuing our meditation practice. Indeed, travel can be so meditative. I'm sure we all …
Living Vipassana 