Special PODCAST:
This talk explores who you are in the absence of desire and how to cultivate wholesome non-attachment.
You’ll learn about three mental states that make it impossible to be present, how desire drives suffering, how you can let go of attachment and how to trace back your desires to ensure they are in alignment with your deepest intentions.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Welcome!
It's lush here in Northern Virginia. We had rain 20 out of the last 24 days. It's an interesting visual experience.
Given the incessant rainfall and cool weather, I've been exploring variations of grey, brown and green.
No matter what's out there, even if it looks a lot like the day before, I strive to stay alert to the details and to expect the unexpected. I've enjoyed some pleasant surprises.
Canada geese have for some reason this year decided to collectively raise their goslings, resulting in groups of twenty or so little puffballs.
Pulling up behind a rock with the river just at flood stage to catch my breath, I came within inches of the largest Copperhead I've ever seen.
The wood thrush are back and this morning about thirty cormorants flew upriver just a few feet above the surface - and me.
May you be surprised with unexpected pleasures.
Upcoming Events
June 6:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
June 16:
Three-Day Meditation in the Netherlands
Learn More
June 20:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
June 27:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
The Key Elements to Practice
I was immersed in yoga way before it hit the mainstream.
I once told someone I was really into yoga and he responded, "Huh? You mean yogurt?"
These days if you tell someone you like yoga, many folks will ask you what kind. The range of styles is quite staggering.
This morning at the post office I was chatting with someone who told me they did meditation.
"What kind?" I asked.
He looked at me a bit befuddled and said, "You know, meditation!"
Zen teachers have been known to use phrases like "Meditate like your hair is on fire!" and "Die on the cushion!"
Some Tibetan and non-dual teachers have been known to say, "Happiness is only available through deep relaxation and letting go. It's your search that's screwing things up. Let go and relax! It's already here!"
How do we integrate these views?
As Ram Das said, "All traditions are fingers pointing at the moon." Though unique, they point to the same goal.
I find meditation practice summed up nicely in three elements: Focus, Flow and Let Go. There are schools and traditions that cultivate each of these disciplines, but they work together.
* Focus: A willful practice of arriving again and again in the here and now.
* Flow: The arising of the witness - your capacity to observe without judgment.
* Let Go: Your capacity to simply rest in awareness itself.
In our recent Spring Retreat I offered a talk called "The Key Elements of Practice". It explores these factors as well as your capacity to investigate what is present in a way that can open you to new possibilities.
Fresh Photos
This was month of heavy rain, clouds and a river in flood stage. This was also month of babies and new life.
Geese on the move before another front moves in.A rare sunset with color.Socialized childcare.Molting Copperhead. I didn't see it until I almost touched it.Everyone needs a little yoga.Conn's Meadow with a rainbow.
Happy for No Reason: A Dog and Her Fish
An eight second meditation on tuning into to joy. Featuring K.D. (which stands for Kute Dog.)
The Still, Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training
August 7-12 (Five nights)
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
Kripalu Center is a spectacular environment for immersing in natural beauty and health and wellness as well as being surrounded by like-minded people. If you are drawn to five days in August in the Berkshire Mountains to explore the relationship between mindfulness and intuition, this is one of my favorite retreats to lead.
You'll return home not only enlivened, but with a set of skills that can dramatically help you in your journey.
Click the Pic to Learn More.
Spacious Awareness and the Immeasurable Heart
You might enjoy this meditation I led at the IMCW Spring Retreat. This practice is intended to help you sense the infinite space of awareness as well as the immeasurable qualities of the heart.
You'll be guided through an 'open focus' meditation, sensing space inside and outside your body.
You'll then contemplate four qualities of the heart that are beyond measure: Your capacity for kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity.
To listen: http://jonathanfoust.com/spacious-awareness-and-the-immeasurable-heartNote: If you feel disoriented during this meditation, you might open your eyes or stop the meditation until you feel more grounded.
Insight Timer is a great little app that can not only help you time your sits, but also provides guided experiences and helps you network with other people around the planet by joining special interest groups.
One cool feature allows you to look at a map and see how many people around the planet are signed in and meditating with you.
Insight Timer now offers guided meditations. I've just uploaded a few and will be adding more soon.
insighttimer.com
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Special PODCAST:
You'll be guided through an 'open focus' meditation, sensing space inside and outside your body.
You'll then contemplate four qualities of the heart that are beyond measure: Your capacity for kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how you can naturally integrate the paradox of the 'doing' and 'surrender' practices in meditation.
You'll learn how concentration practice dramatically cultivates not only your capacity to observe all that changes without judgement, but also how you can intimately investigate challenges that arise and ultimately, how to surrender into effortless awareness.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores ways you can slow down in the middle of your fully engaged and wild life.
You’ll learn some tricks and tips for tuning into your body, how to use relationships as an opportunity to slow down, and suggested strategies on how to work with time and energy.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores forgiveness as a spiritual practice.
You'll learn about the consequences of an unhealed heart, the 'science' of forgiveness and how you can cultivate the 'immeasurable' qualities of an awakened heart.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores the art of navigating the changes in your life.
You’ll learn about how change happens no matter what your opinion of it may be, what can happen when you shift your attitude and what can happen when you actively embrace the transitions in your life.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Welcome!
I am entertaining the illusion that I have a personal relationship with some Bald Eagles.
I visit with them most every morning I get out on the river, either a pair who hang together or a younger one who just this year graduated to the white plumage.
They humor me. I think.
After our pre-sunrise visit I work my way further upriver then cross over to the east so I can float by an island just as the sun is rising. This way I can drift by the shoreline saturated with morning light and recently, Canada Geese nests every 50 feet.
The river is churning with life right now: baby geese, baby mergansers, blue herons, egrets, river snakes, otters and the constant traffic of birds up and down the waterway.
Above this scene of constant movement the eagles sit and watch. As beautiful as this is, it's clear why they are there.
Breakfast! Lunch! Dinner! Snacks!
This is the flow of things... We eat and are being eaten.
I wish you well in the flow of your life.
Upcoming Events
May 2:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
May 30:
NO CLASS / Memorial Day
500,000 downloads
My good friend Shobhan Richard Faulds once said that his personal mission was to "practice deeply and share freely." I immediately took those words to heart.
Monday night at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington is the perfect expression of that phrase.
We offer the Monday night class and podcast freely so no one is ever denied access to the teachings.
We're just passing 500,000 downloads of my talks and meditations through iTunes. I'm gratified to know they have been helpful for some and I'm equally grateful for the donations and support that help me continue to offer them.
Thank you.Some recent talks you might enjoy:
I just completed a eight week series on "The Path." Here's the final installment:
The Path: Skillful Concentration What happens when you develop your capacity to concentrate.
Last week's talk: "Beyond Sickness, Old Age and Death." How embracing the Heavenly Messengers can dramatically transform your life. (And a few mildly offensive jokes.)
Fresh Photos
This was a cool month which refrigerated many of the early flowers and held back the usual Spring explosion here. Chlorophyll is starting to have it's way, finally.
The month began with early Blue Bells filling the flood plain.Usually the Flox come in after the Bluebells depart, but with the cool weather they appeared simultaneously.Geese begin to pair off.Standing guard over the nest.The long vigil.A view upriver at first light.Close your eyes and you'll be eaten.Life! Pollen!
Five Breaths: April on the River
Here's a short video/slide show guiding you through five slow breaths and featuring some images from the river this month.
The Still, Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training
August 7 -10 (Five nights)
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
I am fascinated by the relationship between mindfulness and intuition and have offered a variation of this program for the last fifteen years or so.
Consider this retreat if you'd like to take a deep dive into developing both mindfulness and your capacity to "see clearly' as well as techniques that help you access what I consider to be the most reliable form of intuition: the 'felt sense' of your body.
Albert Einstein said, "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."
To climb out of any rut, resolve problems, or sense your path from a new perspective, you must shift your awareness. This retreat is designed to immerse you in practices that generate such a shift.
Vipassana (insight meditation) teaches you to pause and recognize what is present, allowing you to see with increasing clarity into the nature of things.
Focusing trains the mind to investigate what arises from the field of direct sensation, offering access to wisdom and compassion. Combined, these two techniques generate a unique in-depth experience of awakened heart and mind.
Through practice, talks, presentations, exercises, and discussion, you dive into self-inquiry and develop skills for the rest of your life.
Note: This retreat is intensive and may preclude other activities. Much of the retreat is held in social silence.Click the Pic to Learn More.
Johns Hopkins study on Psilocybin and Long-Term Meditators
My good friends at Johns Hopkins are still accepting applications for this amazing study on the effect of psilocybin and long term meditators.
Please check out Roland Griffiths, the lead on this study, in this TedMed talk.
If you're interested and qualify, I highly recommend you explore this possibility. I continue to be touched and inspired by both the intellectual rigor as well as the deep compassion of this team.
To learn more and to apply for this study:Long-Term Meditator Study
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Special VIDEO:
Here’s a short video/slide show guiding you through five slow breaths and featuring some images from the river this month.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how accepting sickness, old age and death can dramatically transform your life.
You’ll learn about how cooperating with the Three Characteristics of Reality can allow you to embrace and live your life to the fullest. You'll also learn a few mildly offensive jokes.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores what can happen as you develop concentration.
You’ll learn how each element of the path is interconnected, about the balance of concentration and mindfulness, more on the states of absorption (the jhanas) and where the path actually leads.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
The questions you ask yourself can dramatically shape your life.
At The Inquiry Intensive you’ll learn how the inquiry process works and explore questions that can change your state, help you solve problems and to explore non-dual awareness.
This is one of my favorite retreats.
Please know this will be a mix of inner-focused practices as well and practices explored with a partner. Some have asked if we’ll explore the same process as we have in former retreats of this nature. The answer is ‘yes, but not really.’ Some of the inquiry processes may be familiar if you’ve attended a retreat like this before, but we’ll be emphasizing more of the non-dual inquiry than before.
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores skillful means for being aware.
You’ll learn the core instructions that guide you how to be aware of four essential areas: the body, feeling tone, mind-states and in your moment-to-moment experience, what is true.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how to manage your energy as you pursue your aspirations.
You’ll learn about four guidelines: How to prevent unwholesome states before they arise, how to let go of unwholesome states when they have arisen, how to cultivate wholesome states that have not yet arisen and how to maintain wholesome states that are already here.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Welcome!
Spring is sort of here in Northern Virginia. The geese are pairing off on the islands on the Potomac and are now extra-vigilant when I paddle by.
Mom and Dad hanging by the nest. (Young Virginia Bluebells in the background.)
The Blue Bells, Trillium and Bloodroot are emerging and despite the calamities and cacophony blaring in the media, life continues on.
May you find peace in the midst of all that changes.
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
More on the Path
I continue to make my way through a series on The Eightfold Path, the guidelines for cultivating greater wisdom and compassion in your life as outlined by the Buddha.
Since last month's newsletter I've covered a few more topics:
The Path: Wise and Skillful Speech
You'll learn why not to use auto-correct on your phone, the impact and criteria for wise speech, questions you can ask yourself before speaking, a powerful communication model and what's possible when you pay attention to the relationship between your mind and what you say out loud.
The Path: Ethical Actions
You'll learn how you can use five precepts (guidelines) to deepen your life experience in a personal and nuanced approach rather than viewing them them through the lens of "Thou shalt not...".
The Path: Ethical Livelihood
You'll learn how Johnny Paycheck's classic country song "Take This Job and Shove It" ties into Buddhist psychology. You'll learn the importance of finding a form of livelihood that truly resonates for you, a model for changing your relationship to work and what can happen when you substitute the word 'work' with the word 'service.'
Fresh Photos
This was a month of contrasts with both snow and record-setting temperatures as well as a retreat in warmer waters.
Our pup keeps tabs on our local fox den in early March.Gulls come up river in early Spring to harvest the first hatching larvae.A break in the Grey. Spring sunrise on the Potomac.Geese on the move at sunrise.A tropical sunrise on St. John's.Free-diving.Underwater Namaste.For every great shot I end up with a good number of these.
The Clean Living Series
I'm doing an interview with Christine Waltermyer on meditation and intuition.
Christine is a buddy from my ashram days. She is an author, chef and wellness coach with a heart of gold.
She's offering a free series exploring meditation, food and nutrition, stress management and health.
Click here to register if you'd like to listen to this free series.
A Daylong Retreat on Saturday, April 30th
Exploring the Questions that Can Transform Your Life : The Inquiry Intensive
Saturday, April 30th, The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Arlington, VA
9:30-4:30
"What is the most important question in your life right now? Discover that, and your journey begins."
The right questions can help you change your perspective, make important decisions, solve problems and most importantly, point your attention toward your true nature.
In this highly experiential and interactive retreat, you'll learn:
* How to use intuitive inquiry as a tool for transformation
* Meditation techniques for calming and clear-seeing
* How to use writing as a tool for insight
* Mindful movement flows and guided relaxations that help shift your brainwave states
Click here for more information and to register online
I'm coming up on 500,000 downloads of my dharma talks and meditations.
Thank you for your support! A big thank you to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington for sponsoring our Monday Night class. What started with 15 people in the basement has grown into a thriving scene with an optional hour-long sit and yoga class before beforehand and fresh-baked cookies afterward.
Would you be willing to give me a little feedback via this survey? It should just take a minute or two.
Please click this link.
Thank you!
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores the importance of finding work that truly resonates for you.
You'll learn how Johnny Paycheck's classic country song "Take This Job and Shove It" ties into Buddhist psychology. You'll learn the importance of finding a form of livelihood that truly resonates for you, a model for changing your relationship to work and what can happen when you substitute the word 'work' with the word 'service.'
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores guidelines for wise and skillful speech.
You’ll learn why not to use auto-correct on your phone, the impact and criteria for wise speech, questions you can ask yourself before speaking, a powerful communication model and what’s possible when you pay attention to the relationship between your mind and what you say outloud.
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Welcome!
As I wrote this at Kripalu Center in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachussets where I was leading a teacher training, I was looking out on grassy fields while Washington DC braced for a snowstorm.
As one climate expert put it, "We shouldn't have called it 'Global Warming.' We should have called it 'Global Weirding.'"
Whatever weirdness you are experiencing, I hope this finds you well.
Graduation Day at Kripalu Center.
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
The Path
It's been said that a great teaching can be grasped by a child as well as hold great nuance and depth. The result of the Buddha's life-long quest was the realization of four insights:
1. The fact of suffering
2. The cause of suffering
3. The end of suffering
4. The path that leads to the end of suffering
That word 'suffering' can also be translated as "unsatisfactoriness," "unsteadiness" or "stress."
Whenever and wherever you have a complaint, there is a cause for it.
Wherever there is a cause, there is a remedy.
I'm launching into an eight-week series on 'The Eightfold Path,' the means by which you can not only lessen your stress, unsatisfactoriness and suffering, but according to these teachings, truly unleash your capacity for happiness, freedom and joy.
Two of the talks are already in the can (click the links below):
#1 The Path: Skillful Vision:
It's important to check out a map of the journey before you begin. When you look closely at the terrain and listen to others who've gone before you, you can avoid dead ends and follow the most efficient route.
#2 The Path: Skillful Intention:
Your intention determines your destiny. Along with goals, which are measurable and require effort, intention is about the quality of the journey.
Images from Last Month
Junco ButtMorning DoveHouse FinchGoldfinch and Two House FinchesTufted TitmouseTruck Stop Meditator
Guided Video Meditation: "The Stream" (two minutes)
This last month I was with a phenomenal group of yoga teachers exploring the art of teaching meditation. We spent a few hours exploring along "Shadowbrook," the stream that runs through the Kripalu grounds.
This two-minute meditation explore the fundamentals of the Kripalu approach to being with the stream of sensations, thoughtforms and states as they pass through. Breathing, Relaxing and Feeling open you to what is here and changing. Watching and Allowing turn your attention to spaciousness and presence.
Apologies for a few of the shaky shots. It was cold!
The Energy Intensive at Kripalu Center
March 24-27
If you feel drawn to three-day program designed to dramatically blow off stress and tension while cultivating greater insight and calm, you might enjoy the Energy Intensive at Kripalu Center.
Shobhan Richard Faulds and I have been leading this program for about 15 years. It's based on cultivating and balancing both prana (energy) and chitta (awareness) using both classical and some rather radical techniques.
You can learn more here.
Join Me for a Conversation with Christine Waltermyer
I've been hyper-focused on healthy living for decades and am always looking for the 'best practices.' If you're on the lookout for what experts have to share on health, you might like to check out this offering.
I've known Christine from back in my days at Kripalu Center. I will be joining her for a conversation about mindfulness and how to tune into the wisdom of your body to access your intuition. You're welcome to join in.
Christine is a Professional Chef, Certified Holistic Health Counselor, Author of The Natural Vegan Kitchen and a radiant person.
Her vision is to ask experts to share their best tips to recharge the mind, body and soul.
This offering is free and you can sign up here to claim your spot.
To receive a monthly newsletter, please signup here.
Special PODCAST:
This 2-minute meditation explores how to be with the stream of sensations, thoughts and different states.
The actual stream here is "Shadowbrook," on the Kripalu Center grounds in Western MA.
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores who you are in the absence of desire and how to cultivate wholesome non-attachment.
You’ll learn about three mental states that make it impossible to be present, how desire drives suffering, how you can let go of attachment and how to trace back your desires to ensure they are in alignment with your deepest intentions.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
