An Opening Invitation For decades, a prayer has circulated in the background of my daily life. May I trust my own goodness. May I see the goodness in others. This longing emerged from a deep place of suffering I went through as a young adult. During that dark time, I felt anxious and depressed, separate from the world around me. I was continually judging myself... June 24, 2021By Tara Brach event, teachings
IMCW All-Sangha Picnic Help us kick off our re-opening to in-person events with an All-Sangha Picnic! Come spend some relaxed down time and lunch with sangha members from across the DMV. We’ll introduce you to our board members and teachers, but there will be no formal program. June 23, 2021By Editor event
Training the Squirrel-Chasing Mind Sometimes training the mind in meditation is compared to training a dog to “stay.” While there’s some appeal to this image, I’m not sure that it holds up when examined closely. Yes, there is the quality of coming back to the breath that is similar to a dog coming back to its master. But does the mind really respond like a pet? June 17, 2021By Kevin Griffin event, teachings
The Invisible Majority The vast majority of American Buddhists are of Asian heritage, yet they are too often ignored, mispresented, and even looked down upon. Chenxing Han offers five ways we can start to heal the great divide in American Buddhism.... March 11, 2021By Editor event, teachings
The Enneagram - a Tool for Mindfulness and Insight Most of us come to a meditation practice out of a longing to free ourselves from the repeated experience of being caught in familiar, often painful, emotional experiences within ourselves or in our relationships. We may meditate for hours, days, even years, become more and more aware of these difficult patterns and increasingly long to be free of them. But, at some point, it may seem like we’ve hit a wall, where sitting in individual meditation practice just doesn’t seem enough to penetrate through these more difficult blind spots. We may reach a stage where it’s hard to really see and recognize what’s happening by just continuing to sit with it. The Enneagram is a tool that can help when we encounter these more difficult blind spots.... October 29, 2020By Rob Creekmore, Sarah Keely event