About Sunada
Hi, I’m Sunada.
I teach the online meditation courses here at Wildmind.
Although I was born in Japan, I’ve been living in the US since I was three. I’ve been an actively practicing Buddhist since 1995 and am a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order (former known as the Western Buddhist Order). Prior to joining Wildmind, I taught classes in meditation and Buddhism in the Boston area for about three years, and am currently involved with Aryaloka Buddhist Center in Newmarket NH and the Boston Triratna Buddhist Community in Somerville MA. I live in Cambridge MA with my husband.
Many people say that if you do what you love, everything else will fall into place around it. It’s so true. For 16 years I did what I thought I needed to in order to make a living — worked in high tech, managing software development projects and living under constant stress. It took some serious stress-related injuries to finally wake up to the fact that this was no way to live.
My career meandered around for several years until I landed at Wildmind in Jan 2006. I love teaching meditation and helping others grow and find their own inner wisdom. In addition my work with Wildmind, I also work with individual clients through my own coaching practice at Mindful Purpose Life Coaching, and teach classes in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in the Boston area.
Please feel free to contact me at any time using the comment form below or (if you want to write privately) using the contact form.
You can read some of Sunada’s writing or what students say about her.
KindleComments
Comment from sukh bains
Time: April 17, 2009, 10:19 pm
hi
my name is sukh, and i’m interested in meditation because i’m suffering with neck, head pain and anxiety.
Comment from Sunada
Time: April 21, 2009, 4:28 pm
Hi Sukh,
I think meditation can help you with all these things that you say are bothering you. You can pick up all the basics in all the free resources you’ll find here, and there’s always the online courses too, if you feel you’d like some help from a real person (that’s me).
Good luck and I hope you’re able to find a way through your difficulties.
Best wishes,
Sunada
http://www.mindfulpurpose.com
Comment from Jonathan
Time: April 29, 2009, 10:49 pm
Hi – I like your site and your teaching. I am practising Vipassana but pretty unevenly. It is a tough practise to stick to. I have done the 10-day retreat and am trying to sit 45 minutes in the morning and some time in the evening. But I fall off the schedule quite a bit. I feel I need to keep going but it is tough to stay on track!
Comment from Sunada
Time: May 1, 2009, 1:44 pm
Hi Jonathan,
That’s great that you feel so committed to your Vipassana practice. It sounds as though you’re struggling with it a bit, though. I’m assuming that on your retreat, you were taught that you need to sit as much as you are aiming for. It’s true that a full 1-2 hours of daily sitting would constitute a solid practice. But if it’s a struggle to fit that into your life, well, I personally feel that the struggle can negate a lot of the potential benefits. If we carry those sorts of feelings as we sit (or worry that about not sitting), it will no doubt carry that negativity and sense of failure into our practice and our life. So we’re always left feeling like we’re falling short, inadequate, disappointed in ourselves.
Wouldn’t it feel better to aim for something less, but what is realistically doable on a daily basis — and then be able to feel good about what you DO accomplish? As circumstances allow, you can then slowly build up your time in a way that accommodates more of this sense of kindness to oneself and ease. Or perhaps your life just doesn’t allow for that much sitting right now. If so, why fight with yourself to do what is perhaps unrealistic? If you are, like most people, trying to earn a living and perhaps also have other (e.g. family) obligations, there really aren’t enough hours in the day to fit everything in without driving oneself crazy. And meditation is definitely one thing that shouldn’t be driving you crazy.
I realize I may be directly contradicting what you were taught on your retreat, so I’ll leave it to you to decide what feels right to you. I am of the “be realistic and gentle with oneself” school of thought, and feel that learning and growing doesn’t need to be a struggle.
Best wishes,
Sunada
http://www.mindfulpurpose.com
Comment from linda
Time: March 5, 2010, 11:58 am
Looking for a support group in lakes region, NH. on heart mind meditation. Namaste. Linda
Comment from Sunada
Time: March 5, 2010, 1:08 pm
Hi Linda,
I’m afraid I personally don’t know of anything in your area – though I’m sure there must be something. The only thing I’d do is go search on the web, which you could do as easily as I could. Sorry I can’t be of much help here.
Best wishes,
Sunada
http://www.mindfulpurpose.com
Comment from Alan
Time: December 1, 2010, 6:50 am
Hi Sunada
Just reading the comments above – I liked your reply to Jonathan. I’ve also done the Vipassana retreat earlier this year – they do recommend a min. 1 hour in the morning and evening. I managed that for about two weeks after the momentum of the 10 day course, but it gradually faded out! I also practice tai chi and yoga, so I’ve been ‘struggling’ to establish a daily practice for years. I have thankfully finally come to the realisation that I need to be kind to myself above all else and that a gentle sustainable practice is much better than trying to put myself through spiritual boot camp!
Regards
Alan
Comment from Fred Midgley
Time: February 28, 2011, 11:03 am
Hi Sunada,
Thanks so much for a wonderful weekend at the retreat. My heart is still so full from the experience. I wanted to ask you to remind me of the salutation with the 3 jewels that we did at the beginning of each meditation. What I don’t remember is the suffixes at the end of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. I ordered your CD today. I hope you had a safe trip home. It was smooth sailing for me, getting home about 8:30.
Comment from Sunada
Time: February 28, 2011, 11:28 am
Fred, I’m still on a bit of a high myself. What a great weekend that was!
The salutation to the Three Jewels goes:
Namo Buddhaya
Namo Dharmaya
Namo Sanghaya
Namo Nama
Om Ah Hum
And thanks for buying the CD. Please stay in touch.
with much metta,
Sunada
http://www.mindfulpurpose.com
Leave a comment
Yay! You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic! Thanks for dropping by! Please note that we get lots of requests for advice about meditation. It's got to the point where it's not feasible to reply to them all, and if your question hasn't been published within 24 hours, there's a good chance we just don't have time to reply.