My beloved cousin Myra, whom some of you know from our teaching together, wrote about her new grandson’s birth. Most women – even when there is access to good prenatal medical care and birthing – don’t have the opportunity to birth their babies surrounded by both spiritual wisdom and expert care. I wish this for… Continue reading
Valentine’s Day Dharma Talk, 2/14/21
This morning I found myself weeping for our beautiful, heartbreaking world. We’re on the cusp of inaugurating a new president and a historic Black, female vice president. This is a hopeful and exciting moment for our nation. The Presidential Inauguration Committee is launching a national Day of Service to help everyone suffering during the pandemic… Continue reading
This past week, I went north of San Rafael to Terra Linda at sunset to stand in an empty parking lot, looking for starlings. As the light fades, huge flocks of the glossy, black birds swirl high above the trees, streaming and swooping in unison above their communal roosting place in the oak and eucalyptus… Continue reading
This is a time to remember vastness and mystery. The year is ending with a cosmic conjunction unseen on Earth for 800 years. InsightLA held an important community gathering and ritual for letting-go of our Olympic and Melrose centers and envisioning the future. We had a stellar and joyous Christmas Eve meditation and singing concert…. Continue reading
This virtual community gathering honors and celebrates the spaces that have supported our practice over the last several years. InsightLA will be closing our East Hollywood center this month and the Santa Monica center in January, but will be keeping the Benedict Canyon location. When it is safe to meet in person again, we will… Continue reading
I would call Metta World Peace an alchemist, except there was nothing magical about the hard work he did to transform his troubles into triumph with the help of therapy, meditation, yoga. He stepped out of where he came from into where he truly wanted to go without abandoning his roots and his friends. Metta… Continue reading
Yesterday I received a message written by one of the world’s great epidemiologists Dr. Larry Brilliant urging us to “please, please consider everything we do in light of how dangerous this pandemic is right now”. He and other public health colleagues believe we are entering the most dangerous moments in our public health history. And… Continue reading
Jaune Evans is a senior priest practicing with Everyday Zen Foundation, leader of Heart of Compassion Sangha in Pt. Reyes, CA. She is a student of Zen teacher and poet Zoketsu Norman Fischer, and the Executive Director of the Tamapais Trust, supporting Indigenous-led initiatives worldwide. I met Jaune for the first time in 1991 when she was… Continue reading
What a tense, roller-coaster of an election week this has been! And what a vivid illustration of how the mind reacts wildly to what it wants – and doesn’t want. However you voted, for me, it was a Tuesday night of tears from not getting what I wanted, followed by elation – time to get… Continue reading