When’s the best time to boost your mindfulness practice? How about next week? Our 8-week workshop begins Tuesday, January 24 at 6:30 pm, near Carnegie Hall.

Should I make a change in my life? What is my deepest desire? A brief meditation to help us go deeper, from complex thinking to the heart of deeper wisdom, as we seek answers.

This meditation helps us to reflect on how goodness is our birthright, and we envision how we might bring more goodness into the world.

Are there some acts so awful that they can’t be forgiven? Are are acts so terrible that amends are impossible?

Are they possible for people who cause harm? For people who get physical? For Russian soldiers even? Why? You might ask. It makes no sense you might conclude. Bad people deserve my anger.

But wasting my life-force on the energy of anger is a waste. Better I use my energy for good. Do you think?

Here’s one example of giving love to a person who did great harm.  It is offering love and forgiveness to a man who murdered 5 children.

A Vietnamese monk went so far as to extend his heart and help a former American soldier who killed  his own countrymen, Vietnamese children.

Learn Mindfulness for Relief and Ease. The Mindfulness Workshop starts January 24, meeting in-person near Carnegie Hall

In this meditation, we'll work with the breath in different ways - in movement, in breathing exercises, and by simply observing the breath - in order to observe the effects on our body-mind.

How do we counter "negativity bias," or the mind's tendency to focus on what's wrong about a situation rather than on what is positive? How can we train ourselves to acknowledge what might be hurting or broken, but not allow ourselves to spiral downward into resentment or depression?

This session, led by Michelle Morrison, focuses on "Stopping and Calming" - Thich Nhat Hahn's way of describing śamatha, which is an essential aspect of meditation practice. We will set down our projects and worries, and rest our bodies and minds, so that we can restore ourselves and gain insight into what is truly important.

Please join us Friday for 30-minute Friday Mindfulness at Noon.

We will practice with a Body Scan, evolved to include gentle movement.

Noticing one part of body. Then gently tightening nearby muscles, then releasing and noticing again. Noticing changes, enjoyment, and any wish for a different relationship to the body.

But nothing to achieve, just a new way on listening.... to the body.... who knows what stories it has to tell.