It’s all good and well to be able to sit cross-legged on a mountain top and feel at one with the universe — but how do you know if you are doing it right or not? For beginner meditators who aren’t sure how they are “meant” to feel in their bodies there’s Reflect’s Orb product, which was launched during this year’s virtual CES shenanigans. Entrapped in their home base of Israel, I spoke to the company from the bustling and — fittingly — far more laid back metropolis of Tel Aviv, rather than the one-armed-bandit-laden post-apocalyptic hellscape that is Las Vegas.

“We’re not targeting Zen Buddhist monks, or those who can sit cross-le…….

No app required. All you need are blue dots which are sold as color-coding labels.

If meditating is something you’ve wanted to try but it seems too intimidating and time-consuming. This one could be for you.  A trending blue dot meditation only takes a few seconds. The only thing you need are small dot stickers which are sold as color-coding labels.  Place the stickers throughout the house.  Stick one on a kitchen cabinet, by the light switch, the medicine cabinet or even your phone.  Whenever you see the blue dot, acknowledge whatever your thinking and feeling to pass through your mind without judgment and focus on your breathing.  Take as few or as many bre…….

I remember the first moment it all clicked for me. 

I was sitting in a small chapel, the lights down low, and the soft candlelight flickering against the walls. Along with about twenty friends and community members, we were engaged in meditation – whatever that word meant for each of us.

For me, with no formal training at the time in Centering Prayer or any specific form of meditation, it simply meant witnessing my thoughts. I would bring my posture to a resting position, my awareness to my breath, and simply pay attention to whatever thoughts came wandering through my head.

On this particular night, my thoughts were few and far between (a rarity for me)…….

Happy New Year, and welcome to Week 1 of Tricycle Meditation Month. Throughout January, we invite you to take our annual challenge to commit to a daily meditation practice. Anyone can do it, even if you can only set aside a few minutes. Each week, our Meditation Month teacher, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, will lead a free guided meditation video to help you weave your practice into your life while cultivating awareness, compassion, and wisdom. 

Mingyur Rinpoche is a master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the Tergar Meditation Community, a global network of Buddhist meditation c…….

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We tend to let go of pleasant emotions and cling to unpleasant ones. Ninety-nine per cent of the world does this. But when the consciousness becomes free and cultured with meditation, the tendency of holding on to negative emotions simply disappears. We start living in the moment and are able to let go of the past. Misunderstandings crop up in any relationship however good the people are.

Even a little misunderstanding can distort our emotions and lead to negativity. But if we are able to let go and focus on the ability of consciousness to revel in the glory of every moment, we are shielded from this. The truth that every moment is supportive to our growth dawns on us. Attaining hig…….

KEIZAN JOKIN’S ZAZEN YOJINKIWhat to be aware of in zazen, sitting meditation

Translated by Thomas ClearyTimeless Spring : A Soto Zen anthology. Weatherhill, Tokyo-New York, 1980, pp. 112-125.

(A couple of years ago I shared the translation of this text by the Venerable Reiho Masunaga. Possibly the most important early text on Zen meditation in the Soto school, here is the version by the American scholar Thomas Cleary.)

Zazen just lets people illumine the mind and rest easy intheir fundamental endowment. This is called showing theoriginal face and revealing the scenery of the basic ground.Mind and body drop off, detached whet…….

THERE would be a good reason to give up on new years, after all, what is there to it other than another bout of 365 days, just one more revolution of the earth around the sun? And that, in fact, is what philosophers of the absurd have started their reflections from: the seemingly pointless repetition of the same, the drudgery of the cycle that Qoheleth in the Old Testament moaned about: “A time to sow, a time to reap,” the abject meaninglessness of an unending loop! We welcome what we call “the new year” with revelry bordering on insanity, but what is it really that gives us reason for rejoicing? What is “happy” about a new year when all th…….

Most people start with mindfulness, because it’s so simple. John Purkiss, who  first turned to meditation 25 years ago when he was “stuck in Paris with no money and a relationship ending”, says “the principle of mindfulness is unbelievably simple: just return to the present. Eastern philosophy says that your mind is a stream of thoughts. Let them go past. A lot of people in the West are all over the place, always looking for solutions outside themselves. In the West we think that when we get stuck we need to sort things out and make them happen. Eastern traditions believe that the cosmos will show us: that a primal consciousness is running everything.”

But equally, Purk…….

And last but not least, if you’re looking for a more “heavy-hitting” ritual, it doesn’t get much heavier than shadow work. While it may be at times uncomfortable, shadow work is some of the best reflective work you can do. Here’s a simple exercise you can try if you’re just getting into the world of the shadow, from licensed therapist and co-founder of Viva Wellness Jor-El Caraballo, LMHC.

As he previously explained to mbg, “One way in which the shadow shows up for us is in what we find most distasteful or difficult in others. Often these images are a reflection of parts of ourselves that we find unlikable.”

So, for this exercise, think of someone who bothers yo…….