Dear Friends, Over the past days, we have explored the water element as flow, connection, and responsiveness. Today’s reflection invites us to look more closely at how water can help loosen the sense of ownership we often bring to experience. In reflecting on the elements, the teachings sometimes point to a simple reorientation: recognizing that what we experience… Read More »
Dear Friends, As we continue with the water element, we are invited today to look more closely at how water responds, and what it can teach us about relating to experience. In the teachings, the elements are described not as things we own, but as natural properties that function according to conditions. Reflecting on the elements sometimes involves… Read More »
Dear Friends, After several days exploring the water element, we turn today to cultivate compassion. Water responds. It moves toward what is dry. It flows around obstacles. It adjusts to conditions without argument. In this way, the water element offers a natural bridge into compassion – not as something we manufacture, but as a response that arises when… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today we bring our exploration of the water element into direct practice. Over the past two days, we have been getting familiar with the water element as qualities of cohesion and flow – what allows things to bind together while remaining changeable. The practice today offers a way to experience these qualities directly, through embodied awareness.… Read More »
Dear Friends, Yesterday we explored what the water element refers to – qualities of cohesion and flow that allow form to hold together while remaining changeable. Today is an invitation to reflect on how these qualities show up in your own experience. For example, you might begin by noticing the water element in the body, in very ordinary… Read More »
Dear Friends, Over the past days, we have explored the earth element – qualities of solidity, structure, and support. Earth gives form. As we turn now to the water element, we begin to explore what allows that form to hold together and adapt. In the teachings, the water element refers to qualities of cohesion and fluidity. It includes… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today we continue our exploration of the earth element through a guided meditation that emphasizes steadiness and non-reactivity. In an early teaching, the Buddha encourages developing the mind “in tune with the earth” – learning from the earth’s capacity to receive what comes without being pushed or pulled by it. Today’s practice takes up that invitation,… Read More »
Dear Friends, Yesterday’s teaching invited us to notice the steadiness of the earth – its ability to receive what comes without pushing away or holding on. Today is a chance to reflect on how that quality shows up in your own experience. This is not about trying to be non-reactive, or holding yourself to an ideal of calm.… Read More »
Dear Friends, As we continue with the earth element, today’s teaching invites us to learn from the earth itself. In a teaching to his son, Rahula, the Buddha offers an analogy of the earth as steadiness. The earth receives everything that comes to it – what is clean and what is unclean, what is wanted and what is… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today we pause our exploration of the elements to cultivate kindness, a quality that can steady and support everything else we are exploring this month. This a way of staying grounded and resourced, so investigation is balanced by care. Insight Meditation teacher Rachel Lewis will sometimes start a meditation with this reminder: “Gravity is the earth’s… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today we bring our exploration of the earth element into direct practice. Over the past few days, we have been reflecting on the earth element as solidity, stability, and support, and noticing how these qualities flow through the body as part of the natural world. The practice suggested offers a way to experience this directly, through… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today is an invitation to reflect on how the earth element shows up in your own experience – not as an idea, but as something directly felt. Reflection does not require special conditions or long periods of time. You might pause for a few moments, or let these questions accompany you as you move through the… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation, one practice invitation is that the body be known in a very simple way: as made up of elements. Today we begin with the earth element – the qualities of solidity, structure, and support. The earth element includes everything in the body that feels solid or resistant: bones, teeth,… Read More »
Dear Friends, Today we begin by setting an intention for the month ahead. At this time of year, we are often encouraged to make New Year’s resolutions – goals about what to change, improve, or fix. Resolutions tend to be future-focused and outcome-oriented. They can be useful, but they can also carry pressure: succeed or fail, keep up… Read More »
Dear friends, Thank you for choosing to be part of this monthly offering. This marks the eleventh year of this shared practice, and I continue to be grateful – both for these teachings and for the presence of everyone who joins in this month of exploration. This month, we will be exploring the elements – earth, water, fire,… Read More »
