Group sittings are critical for establishing your daily practice, creating a supportive community, and helping dhamma spread. So how do we help these group sittings get established and grow? While I've seen people working hard to develop and support the centers, and to provide outreach events for potential new students, I haven't observed many supports for …
What A Stress Relief!
Stress can be a major problem in our society. Traffic, exams, deadlines, finances, and family pressures cause tremendous mental anguish that can manifest into migraine headaches, eating disorders, sleep deprivation, and anxiety issues. The pharmaceutical industry has found one solution in selling drugs that can provide temporary relief but can a pill really take away …
Sleep Less, Really?
In one of Goenka's discourses he mentions that a meditator can easily cut out one hour of sleep each night. For a long time I couldn't relate to this because my experience was exactly the opposite. I found meditation to be exhausting and often after I meditated I wanted to take a nap. This new …
Diving Into Chaos
I'm impressed by leader like Mother Teresa and Gandhi who walked alongside the weak, sick, and poor communities of our planet and inspired change and love. It's one thing to be sitting in my apartment, driving my car, and attending graduate school in beautiful Chapel Hill, North Carolina while contributing to my community. It's a whole other thing to travel …
Love At First Sight
Every relationship is unique with its own story about how two people have come together. Frequently people are drawn into relationships with opposite personalities and attractions can range in sophistication from simply a physical attraction to a deep-rooted network of beliefs and shared experiences. So what is it that brings two people together into a friendship or relationship? …
How Quickly The Ego Can Return
Two weeks ago I started to notice a smile on my face while I was meditating. Several days later I found my intuition was becoming more clear. I felt good again. Good like the old days. I noticed a little bounce in my step as I adopted some of my strength from the past. But …
Evaluating Right And Wrong
The most powerful aspect of Vipassana for me is the ability to verify what is right or wholesome and what is wrong or unwholesome within my own body. I didn't grow up in a religious household so while my brother and I were taught the importance of morality it was never exactly clear what was moral …
Growing Out Of Hiding
The main difference between introverting and hiding is the smile on your face. Before my Dad got sick I was extroverted. After my Dad passed I was hiding. The first year I tried to take my practice seriously I was hiding. In the last few weeks I've started to introvert. In 2009 I was a …
Dreaming
I wonder if remembering dreams is correlated with how settled your conscious mind is. The only two times I consistently remember my dreams are when I'm at a Vipassana course and when I'm backpacking. When I'm at home I get wrapped up in my thoughts which might be distracting me from my sensations. When I'm on a course …
Risky Business
Taking risks has been a source of excitement for my life. When life gets to boring or stagnant I would create change in a spontaneous fashion. I once quit my job in Tennessee and while couch surfing up the east coast I convinced my friend to quit his job. We met in Cincinnati, drove cross-country to …
Living Vipassana 