Six Tips For Relaxing Well
by Jessica Graham I have a long history of not being relaxed. I was one of those little kids with knots in her shoulders and chewed down nails. In my teens my only real relaxation… Read More »Six Tips For Relaxing Well
shinzen young
Mindful Sex: The Threesome
by Jessica Graham My first threesome involved a lot of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum and a mattress on the floor. It was fun, sloppy, and we all had a good time. After that my triad… Read More »Mindful Sex: The Threesome
Dying with Dad, Part 7
by Jessica Graham One of the perks of meditation is that it instills compassion in the practitioner. True compassion comes from a place free of expectation, need, or neuroses. It isn’t personal in the sense… Read More »Dying with Dad, Part 7
Shinzen Young Defines Enlightenment in Under Two Minutes
In this super-short video, meditation master Shinzen Young defines enlightenment (very accurately) in under two minutes. Tl;dr summary: You realize that there’s nothing inside you called a self. The activity of the ego is present,… Read More »Shinzen Young Defines Enlightenment in Under Two Minutes
Terror On The Cushion
by Jessica Graham When we talk about meditation, it’s often in the context of relaxation and stress relief. These have certainly been a wonderful benefit of my own practice. There is, however, another word that… Read More »Terror On The Cushion
5 Goals You Should Shoot For With A Mindfulness Practice
by Julianna Raye It always amazes me how quick people are to judge themselves if they’ve tried meditating and didn’t drop into ecstatic transcendence on the first go. People seem to believe meditation shouldn’t require… Read More »5 Goals You Should Shoot For With A Mindfulness Practice
Loving Lovingkindness
by Jessica Graham I’ve recently become of big fan of lovingkindness meditation, or as Shinzen Young calls it, “Focus on Positive.” From the beginning of my practice I have been pretty hard-core about going into… Read More »Loving Lovingkindness
Dying with Dad, Part 6
By Jessica Graham In this series, I have been exploring my relationship with my dad and the experience of caring for him in his final months. It’s been an amazing process of revisiting that time… Read More »Dying with Dad, Part 6
Dying with Dad, Part 5
By Jessica Graham Last month my dad would have been 55 years old. With his birthday coming up I thought it was high time I got back to my Dying with Dad series. It’s been… Read More »Dying with Dad, Part 5
The Body as the Direct Path, Part 2
Welcome to the second installment of Mike Zittel’s amazing graphic mindfulness instruction series. In this part he starts right up where he left off in Part One, talking about various ways of meditating on sensory… Read More »The Body as the Direct Path, Part 2
The Body as the Direct Path
I first encountered the work of Mike Zittel through his cartoons in an early instruction manual by Shinzen Young. Later I met him and his beautiful wife Marta at a Shinzen retreat, sitting with them… Read More »The Body as the Direct Path
Practicing Non-Buddhist
by Jessica Graham The seven-day retreat had just ended and I was sitting with my boyfriend and a small group of fellow meditators. We were eating lunch and speaking our first words since coming out… Read More »Practicing Non-Buddhist
Pleasure Gets a Bad Rap
or Pleasure the Overlooked Vehicle By Stephanie Nash Most people are motivated to check out meditation or delve into a regular practice by wanting to work skillfully with (or get some relief from) some unpleasant… Read More »Pleasure Gets a Bad Rap