It's much easier to stand on your head, memorize some sutras, or learn a new movement form. But even yoga, meditation and qigong can become modes of. . . 

as a negative emotion. Emotions are currents of energy that arise through contact with sensory experience. Emotions, like all appearances, are part of life's great. . . 

Bring all of your doubts and hesitations to the practice with you. Pile them up in front of you, like so many treasures, as you sit down on your cushion to meditate. If you wait for certainty. . . 

This one simple question can break the invisible walls between us. It opens a lens into our shared human narrative. It reveals a clear view of our common ground, and dissolves the artificial separation we've created by upholding. . . 

Each changing phenomenon -- impermanent like a flash of light -- is pristine and perfect as it is. Arising without end, dissolving without beginning, the primordial stream of appearances is equaled only by luminous awareness itself. Perhaps that is why. . .

Stillness and movement are part of a singular continuum. They are a dyad; like teacher and student, dancer and audience. Each half of the duet finds meaning only in relationship with. . . 

Stillness and movement are part of a singular continuum. They are a dyad; like teacher and student, dancer and audience. Each half of the duet finds meaning only in relationship with. . . 

It is possible to be without the limiting constraints of self-obsession, anxiety, and claustrophobia. It is possible to be free of the feeling of separation that results from reactive identification with a finite personal reference point. Yet this freedom is not a. . . 

The practice of seated meditation holds special significance in Asian spiritual and artistic traditions.  An image of Gautama the Buddha, Shiva, or Guanyin seated in meditative equipoise evokes a powerful. . . 

It's a matter of applying the teachings in our own daily life and choosing to embody what we know to be true and virtuous. This is engaged spirituality. Everyday enlightenment. The conditions have never been more ideal for. . . 

The path of inner cultivation clears the dust of conditioning from the body-mind. As our practice unfolds, a type of clarity naturally dawns and we see the hidden lies in so many things. Religion. History. Politics. Academia. Science. Medicine. Spirituality. It becomes evident that. . . 

Newton explained gravity in a clean and tidy way: a force pulling toward the center of the Earth. Then Einstein came along and turned the Newtonian idea of gravity on its head. He explained that gravity is a product of the curvature of space. Bodies are not acted upon directly by a force exerted on them, but they are compelled to. . . 

A farmer returns to his home after a long day in the fields. Upon entering a dark room, he sees a snake coiled in the corner. He jumps back in fear, heart racing, and lights a lamp. As light fills the room, the man realizes. . . 

We can easily get caught in the trap of reading stacks of spiritual books, attending endless seminars, and otherwise accumulating a head-full of  theoretical knowledge. Getting stuck in the exposure phase is like never leaving the buffet line. We overeat and then suffer from. . . 

As we mature, we adopt certain beliefs based on what we deem advantageous. Maybe you are an optimist. A realist. A believer. A skeptic. A mystic. Maybe you have adopted science as your chosen mythology. Whatever the case may be, like a fish in water, your view is the medium you. . . 

Western culture has adopted meditation as another form of self-improvement. The cultural assumption is that meditation is about stilling the mind or entering altered states of consciousness. There is a common belief that the goal of meditation is to get rid of thoughts, kill the. . . 

Every cell in the body relies on the digestive system for its supply of essential minerals, nutrients and energy. These are derived mostly from the food we eat and the air we breathe. The cells of every tissue in the body also rely heavily on the digestive system for the. . . 

All methods of spiritual practice eventually lead to the same place: complete failure of the ego-driven search, disappointment with our ability to produce satisfactory results (fruition). This is because what we seek cannot be produced. Fulfillment is not the effect of a prior cause. It is not currently missing and later found. It is not originally flawed, then fixed by personal . . . 

A large portion of our population lives with a nagging feeling of chronic discomfort in the neck, shoulders and jaw. Ask any massage therapist, chiropractor or acupuncturist. Many people are in such pain that . . . 

The spiritual path is not a spiritual path. It is an integrated process of illuminating all Nine Spheres of life, of which the spiritual dimension is one. We use the term "spiritual practice," but this can be misleading. It often feeds the fantasy that. . .