New to Meditation

• Suggestions for Reading: Intro to Meditation Practice

  Editor posted on Mar 21 2011
  

  Welcome to Buddhist practice. These books, taken from the broader list of readings suggested by the teachers on a number of subjects, will help introduce you to meditation and Buddhist dharma (teachings).  We hope you find them useful. Please also look into our audio and video dharma offerings, and our classes and retreats.

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  Posted in: New to Meditation

• Meditation Etiquette

  Editor posted on Mar 19 2011
  The Buddhist principles of loving kindness (metta) and generosity (dana) call us to support a meditation experience beneficial for others as well as ourselves. Meditation gives us an opportunity to quiet our minds and focus our attention on what is happening to us right now. Silence and stillness ar... Read more
  Posted in: New to Meditation

• How to Meditate: A Guide to Formal Sitting Practice

  Tara Brach posted on Feb 26 2011
  You are traveling a path that has led to clarity, peace and deep realization for many people over thousands of years. May their awakening support and inspire you. And may the sincerity of your practice heal and free your spirit.  — Tara Brach Introduction What is Meditation? Meditati... Read more
  Posted in: New to Meditation

• Creating Peace by Letting Go of Blame

  Tara Brach posted on Dec 30 2010
  

  by Tara Brach (Editor's note: This article was originally published in The Awakening Mind, Fall 2003.) We’ve all been hurt, disappointed, betrayed, maybe even abused. Sometimes the perpetrator is someone we love; at other times it may be an institution such as our employer or our government;... Read more
  Posted in: New to Meditation

• Working with Desire

  Jonathan Foust posted on Nov 01 2009
  

  If I restrain from a habit I know is not life-enhancing and pay attention, I notice some kind of compulsion or need arise. When I pull myself away from getting lost in internet surfing, for example, I notice a restlessness … a desire for entertainment to satisfy a hungry, unsettled mind. Read more
  Posted in: Falling Petals, New to Meditation

• Dharma as Refuge

  Editor posted on May 18 2009
  

  How do we take refuge in the dhamma? We remember to come home to this moment. We pause long enough to come out of the fog of to do lists, newspapers stories and our own stories of how thing ought to be different than they are.... Read more
  Posted in: Falling Petals, New to Meditation

• The Sacred Pause

  Editor posted on Mar 18 2008

  Teachers Hugh Byrne and Rebecca Hines talk about simple ways to come home to yourself in everyday life: begin your life fresh in the moment by pausing, relaxing, and paying attention to your immediate experience using the sacred pause.

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  Posted in: Falling Petals, New to Meditation