"Many African-American midwives in rural southeastern US of the 20th-century were proud that they could'“plow like men, and pick cotton...

from the Open Dharma newsletter, December 2016 On retreat sometimes people ask to hear “my story,” how it has been and how it is for me...

If a new human life depends on so much care, attention, energy, and skillfulness, then what may be needed for awakening in spiritual...

~ Nothing in the Way At the Delhi airport last week, I sat blurry with fatigue, and nursed a latte during the dark first hours of the...

~ Unwrapping Openness Walking a round shady block with my son Gyan when he was three, I answered his history questions under steady oak...

~ Nudge and Flow In my twenties, I neglected to practice meditation for several years. I was in a spiritual group, our entire lives...

~ Peace Upon Peace Some people think deep rest is taking a break from life. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of rest, meditation,...

Seeing: a dialog, commitment includes ancestors & questions, What do I need to do for you to be free? -Orland Bishop...

Monthly Theme for August and September Last week I was a super hero to my kids, for a few minutes. Visiting my mom, my kids and I...

~ The Head of the Thoughts A brother asked an old man: What shall I do? For many thoughts are bothering me, and I don’t know how to fight...

~ Instigating Freedom Last summer on retreat in the redwoods of California, someone new arrived with two books as gifts. For Gemma,...

~ Instigating Freedom Last summer on retreat in the redwoods of California, someone new arrived with two books as gifts. For Gemma,...

~ Blindness. Jaya read this poem by Ikkyu (translated by Blyth) on one of the retreats in Tiruvannamalai in January. "Apologies for not...

~ Pushed and Held Pressure. Usually retreat is where we learn how to live at ease without the "pressures of daily life." But we also find...

~ Opinions, communication, and finding ourselves bigger. Over the last year or so, I have noticed that many times when we human beings...

~ Beyond the Mirror Recently a scientific study accidentally found empathy in a monkey. The monkey's brain was all wired up for an...

~ Cellular Change In a video of human cells at the beginning of life--even before the cells are called "embryo"--nothing changes for what...

~ Happening Some days, it happens--maybe at a change of season. We feel light. There is a spacious sense of time because we are between...

~ Why I Have Lived in India All These Years Why I have lived in India all these years, or half of it, is the afternoons. The afternoon...

~ Soul Moments What is it like when, during the course of a day or a night, we happen to feel our deep ineradicable sweetness as human...