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Every time Sunada watches Bobby McFerrin or Yo-yo Ma perform, she’s left in awe. It’s not just their amazing musicianship, she says. What uniquely comes through in their music is their generosity of spirit and totally engaging way of expressing their individuality. As a musician herself, she muses on what it takes to cultivate that kind of open-hearted spontaneity and creativity.

A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.

C4Chaos heaps praise upon B. Alan Wallace, who he describes as a “kick-ass Dharma teacher,” as well as a “hardcore dharma practitioner, well-versed in both Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist tradition … [and] a prolific author, translator, and researcher whose primary interest is to integrate Buddhism with Western science.”

Anna Narvid has a piece titled Mindfulness for children, with three simple meditation exercises broken down into a … Click to read more »

A new book offers help to those caught up in the painful compulsion to over-shop, from advice on how to untangle the financial mess that results from living beyond one’s means, to exercises for uncovering the unmet needs that drive the addiction to over-consume.

“For every Imelda Marcos — who fled the Philippines leaving behind more than three thousand pairs of shoes — there are countless unknown … Click to read more »

As a pragmatic Buddhist, I felt a lot of skepticism when I first encountered the Law of Attraction (LOA). Many things I’ve seen really stretch my credulity. But the more I think about it, the more I see nuggets underneath the hype that make sense to me, if reformulated a bit. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say the Buddha was a Law of Attraction proponent, I do think there is … Click to read more »

A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.

Justin Whitaker, Buddhist scholar and blogger, has a nice review of Bodhipaksa’s latest audiobook, Still The Mind. Justin was a student of Bodhipaksa’s many years ago, but he’s the very soul of integrity and we don’t think his review is hyped in any way.

Via Shambhala Sun Space comes this delightfully quirky story of the launch of the “Buddha phone” in Japan; a single tap … Click to read more »

Finding contentment in a materialistic world, or, how our author didn’t buy an iPhone, and then did, and then didn’t again.

I admit I struggle with an attraction to shiny objects, and in my mind nothing shines with quite the seductive luster of a latest-model iPhone. When I first heard that the iPhone was in the works, about three years ago, I was filled with what can only be called technolust — a … Click to read more »

Vancouver Sun: The practice of transcendental meditation may help children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder manage their symptoms, research suggests.

In a pilot study, researchers found that lessons in transcendental meditation, or TM, appeared to calm the anxiety of children with ADHD, and improve their behavior and ability to think and concentrate. Read more here.

Bodhipaksa points out that you “don’t have to believe everything you think.”

I was talking to a friend the other day who’d found that recently he just wasn’t interested in his meditation practice. He’d found that he was watching the breath, but his mind was constantly telling him there were other, more interesting, things that he could be doing. The mind is always doing things like this — making up plausible stories that … Click to read more »

A new book aims to describe the art of child-rearing in Tibetan culture, in order to help Tibetans hold onto their traditions and as a teaching for the wider world.

A pilgrimage earlier this year took me to Northern India and Sikkhim where I visited Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries and witnessed a little of the spiritual practice which is so integral to the ordinary everyday life of the people there, … Click to read more »

A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.

Meditation Zeitgeist (our round-up of interesting blog posts illustrating how meditation is being practiced in the modern world) was on hold for a few weeks while the Zeitgeist-Meister (Bodhipaksa) was in Ethiopia adopting a baby boy, and the break has encouraged the emergence of some changes on the layout of these brief articles. Yes, we’re still going to keep them short, but instead of having just a … Click to read more »

Web MD: Changing bad sleep habits and clearing the mind with meditation may offer drug-free alternatives to traditional insomnia treatments. Two new studies suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy to change people’s attitudes and actions about sleep and using meditation to encourage relaxation can help insomniacs get a better night’s sleep without pills. Read more here.

USA Today: Challenges are landing fast and furious on Capitol Hill. So Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, feels he has to arrive at the top of his game every day. And Ryan says he has found a way to do that: He meditates for at least 45 minutes before leaving home. Read more here.

Thich Nhat Hanh can be a brilliant communicator, finding fresh and direct ways of reaching the heart. Can be. Find out why Gloria Chadwick was less than thrilled by his latest book.

When Bodhipaksa asked me to review Thich Nhat Hanh’s new book, Answers from the Heart: Practical Responses to Life’s Burning Questions, I immediately said yes. I’ve read many of his books and found them to be loving … Click to read more »

Wildmind offers four online courses on meditation.

Starting June 1, 2009:

• The Path of Mindfulness and Love (4 weeks)
• Change Your Mind (4 weeks)
• Awakening the Heart (4 weeks)
• Entering the Path of Insight (4 weeks)

More information about all of our courses is available on Wildmind.

National Public Radio: “More than half of adult Americans report they have had a spiritual experience that changed their lives. Now, scientists from universities like Harvard, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual — from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to have had near-death experiences. Hear what they have discovered in this controversial field, as the science of spirituality … Click to read more »

When Reginald Ray speaks of “touching enlightenment with the body”, he isn’t just saying that we can touch enlightenment with our bodies. What he really means is that there is no other way to do so. Sunada just finished her first pass through his 20-disc meditation CD series, Your Breathing Body, and gives it her ringing endorsement.

I first encountered Reginald Ray’s approach to meditation when I read his most recent book, Touching … Click to read more »

Gloria Chadwick, author of the book and website, Zen Coffee, has written a very complimentary review of Bodhipaksa’s latest audiobook, “Still the Mind: Simple Breathing Practices for Inner Peace,” published by Sounds True.

Here’s a brief extract:

I totally loved Still the Mind. I felt as if I was listening to a very kind, gentle teacher who was speaking with me, a teacher who truly wanted to share the peace … Click to read more »

Peter Clothier, a regular columnist on the well-known news and opinion site, The Huffington Post, has reviewed Bodhipaksa’s latest audiobook, “Still the Mind: Simple Breathing Practices for Inner Peace,” published by Sounds True.

Peter writes:

Those who have taken any interest in Buddhist teachings will already know that there are many different approaches to the dharma. For those who also enjoy the listening experience there is a pleasure in store in … Click to read more »

ScienceDaily — Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers — people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain? Meditate.

That’s the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of people who meditate. In a study published in the journal NeuroImage and currently available online (by subscription), the researchers report that certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators … Click to read more »

A new book by Gaylon Ferguson argues that the biggest obstacle to natural wakefulness is the materialism that has us all in its grip, and that meditation and spiritual community are the antidotes Pam Dodd is our guest reviewer.

Gaylon Ferguson, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, has studied and taught meditation for over 30 years. During that time, he has probably met all kinds of people from all walks of life … Click to read more »