A Clinician's Guide to Teaching Mindfulness: The Comprehensive Session-by-Session Program for Mental Health Professionals and Health Care Providers

Buddhism has an interesting expression for ethical behavior: “the bliss of blamelessness.” What this means is that whatever we think, say, or do (or don’t do) has an influence on our state of mind in meditations and in life in general—and how we progress on the path of insight. If we act against our values this will reverberate in how we feel. We m

A student asked the meditation master about the meaning of a text. And the master replied, “Truth has not much to do with words. Truth can be likened to the full moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger points to the moon’s location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaz

As the Zen master Suzuki Roshi says: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”

Ajahn Chah says, “If you believe that sitting motionless for long times brings you closer to enlightenment, I have to disappoint you. I’ve seen chickens sitting on their nests for days on end.”

Stand with your weight evenly distributed between both feet, with

Mindfulness entails uninvolved receptivity of experience in a non-doing mode. Loving-kindness and compassion, on the other hand, are actively directed practices: radiating out or embracing.

All the main mindfulness practices in this book can be categorized into these four foundations. Mindfulness of the body: Mindfulness of the body is the first foundation of mindfulness. It is our starting point and our anchor to the present moment. We practice this first foundation with the Body Scan, Mindful Eating, Mindfulness of Breathing, Mindfu

Dharma Teacher Perspective: On the Three Marks of Existence As a facilitator in a mindfulness class, you can train yourself to listen for the so-called Three Marks of Existence in the sharing of students. From a Buddhist tradition, the three marks can be summarized in the catchy phrase: “Shit happens. Everything changes. Don’t take it personally.”

While mindfulness is about directing and sustaining attention to the present-moment experience, it is not only about the fact that we are paying attention, but also about how we pay attention.