Dear Friends, I just returned from a week at Plum Village in southern France, where my main teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (known as “Thay” or teacher), lives and teaches. Plum Village offers retreats for people, like me, who want to stay in a mindfulness community, listen to Thay talk, and practice eating, walking, working, and [...]

Dear Friends, I hope that you are enjoying the slow pace of summer and the longer days… I really love when it stays light until 9pm, so I have more time to be outside with friends and family. This month I heard a talk by the former FDA commissioner, David Kessler. He was speaking about [...]

Dear Friends, Many of you know that I recently returned from a silent retreat in the beautiful mountains of Marin County, California. The center where I sat this retreat, Spirit Rock, is absolutely beautiful, both the facilities and the natural surroundings. It is operated by the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) founded in part by Jack [...]

Dear Friends, I really love May. When I grew up in Michigan, May was really the first month of spring. And in Washington, May is a beautiful month. It’s not too hot, not too cold, usually not too rainy, usually not too dry — like the momma bear’s oatmeal, it’s just right. In May, we [...]

Happy spring to all of you. I hope that you are having a chance to enjoy the beautiful warm sunny weather. I certainly am. This morning, during my sitting meditation, I had an interesting train of thoughts. The first thought was that my husband was away on business… this led to the thought about what [...]

Dear Friends, Recently I have been paying more attention to my belly. Not just doing plank pose to try to firm it up, but also practicing softening it. It may seem like a radical idea to think about softening our bellies, especially in the era of six-pack abs, but I don’t think it’s contradictory to [...]