Gratitude: We All Built That

  September 6th, 1984 is etched deep in my cells. I remember exactly where I was sitting (in my kitchen), and what I was reading (The Vegetarian Epicure) when the phone rang. Back then there was no caller ID, but when I picked up the phone, the brief silence at the other end of the […]

Metta: The Practice of Kindness

    “If only it were all so simple. If only there were evil people somewhere else insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, and who among […]

Mudita: Empathetic Joy

    So still. How can she sit so still? Here I am on a meditation retreat, supposedly cultivating peace of mind, but instead I’m agitated, spinning unhappy thoughts. And there she is, a beacon of peace and light. She’s the picture of enlightenment. If only she’d fidget a little. Oh well, at least I’m […]

Teacher, Know Yourself

  It is wisdom to know others; it is enlightenment to know oneself. ~ Lao Tzu I’ve been fortunate to learn from so many knowledgeable yoga teachers over the past 30 years. My first teachers, Olivia Cita Mason and David Riley, as a physical therapist and doctor, planted a seed of curiosity about anatomy in […]