Special PODCAST:
This talk explores ways you can stay more present (and sane) in your heart during this election cycle.
You’ll learn how 'the shadow' in your psyche expresses itself because of unmet needs and how, as we evolve as a species, you can meet the shadow with empathy, befriend that which you have declared the enemy, and learn to look toward the good.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores the essential practices that develop your capacity to see clearly.
You’ll learn the fundamental importance of concentration and willful effort, how you can cultivate your capacity for non-judging awareness and the conditions that support your ability to 'accept what is and let it be.'
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how, once you know what you want, how to sustain focus on your goals. You're also invited to take on a practice for thirty days of 'one observation and one restraint.'
You'll learn the importance of knowing what is most important, how to discern the best practices to help you get there, how to sustain attention and how to course correct along the way.
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.
This month Tara and I spent much of the month on a working sabbatical at the ancestral Brach home on Cape Cod.
Tara is working on a book proposal. I was grinding on some writing projects and taking a deep dive into photography projects.
Unstructured space has advantages and disadvantages. I love being able to wake up naturally and spontaneously go for walks and swim when it "feels right."
I struggled, though, when it came time to strap myself in for serious writing. You may be familiar with the term, 'monkey mind', which describes the essential scattered quality of the mind. I had monkey mind on caffeine. With all excuses removed, I had to churn and burn in the creative process.
I finally hit my stride and got more comfortable locking myself in for the grunt work but making sure I had time to play. I realized eventually it all comes down to balance, as in all things. Not too tight, not too loose.
I'm excited about the creative process and what is coming forth.
I hope your life is both in balance and in full expression.
Upcoming Events
October 3:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
I’m hooked. It’s among the first things I think of when I wake up. I look forward to the upsurge in clarity and pay a price for it later in the day. I don’t like being that dependent on a substance.
To counter balance something I want to let go of, I’ve got something I want to do. I have rehab exercises for some damage I did to my foot I know they are good for me. But I never seem to get to them. I’m perpetually feeling guilty about that.
It’s perfect timing for One Observation / One Restraint!
If you're looking to reboot, kickstart a new habit or make a change, this is a great practice. Perhaps you’d like to join me this month.
The rules for One Observation / One Restraint are simple:
1. Choose one activity you intend to do every day for thirty days.
2. Choose one activity you intend to refrain from every day for thirty days.
3. Get a calendar and mark each day you complete. Your goal is to keep the visual chain going.
Fall is a perfect time to refresh your focus. If you’d like to join me, you can listen to the Podcast here, and you can download a Handout here and a Calendar here.
Here’s what I’m committing to:My observation: 20 minutes of these rehab exercises each day.My restraint: No coffee. Tea is OK, but no java for 30 days.
Some additional tips:
1. Keep it simple. One observation / One restraint
2. Try the Seinfeld Method. Put a calendar in a visible location and mark each day when you complete it. You keep the visual chain going. (Link to a calendar below.)
3. Get a practice partner. Very important! You’ll have ups and downs and you’ll receive incalculable benefits from someone there who is not only your cheerleader, but holds you accountable.
I will be offering a talk at the beginning of the month on my podcast (link) if you’d like some inspiration. And if you’re coming to Monday night at UUCA, we’ll have some support groups after class.
What’s one thing you could commit to this month?
What’s one thing from which you’d benefit from restraint?
Water. Heat. Bugs.
Sometimes sunsets are drab, sometimes they are like this."They are not sunsets," my uncle used to say. "They are earth-turns."Cormorants stop by on migration.A full moon set.The next day. A super-low tide.An untouched photo with real-life color.The Zen of sunset.
Video: Meditation on Letting Be
I’ve been sittin’ on the dock on the bay.
OK, not a dock, but on the bay.
I love the feeling of sitting under a big sky with an uninterrupted horizon. When perception gets so big, a natural sense of effortlessness arises.
I put together a little meditation with some video clips you might enjoy. This is a meditation that emphasizes your capacity to let it be.
Events with Jonathan and the Insight Meditation Community of Washington
I’ve got a few daylong retreats coming up in the near future.
A Meditative Journey: Dynamic Meditation
Saturday, October 29
Bethesda, MD
Created in 1970 by the teacher, Osho, Dynamic Meditation is a powerful method of releasing deep-seated tensions and cultivating a state prime for meditation. I offer a variation of the technique consisting of five phases:
Phase 1: Energetic movement
Phase 2: Free flow movement
Phase 3: Chanting
Phase 4: Sitting meditation
Phase 5: Deep relaxation
Dynamic Meditation is safe, fun and deeply engaging. No prior experience in yoga or meditation required. The afternoon session is more classical, with both seated and lying down meditations.
Click the Banner to Learn More
The Inquiry Intensive: Exploring the Questions that Can Transform Your Life
Saturday, December 3
Bethesda, MD
"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 and solve problems and most importantly, point your attention toward your true nature.
Click the Banner to Learn More
Right livelihood is when what you do aligns with your core values.
Lise Metzger has a passion for photography, writing and agriculture. She does beautiful profiles of ‘grounded women’ who feel called to the farming lifestyle.
I highly recommend you check out her images and prose.
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Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how you can jumpstart your practice.
You’ll learn about the call to practice, where to start, what happens when you practice and all about the power of taking on a discipline for 30 days focusing on one ‘observance’ and one ‘restraint.
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how generosity can not only free up your heart, but can reveal your true nature.
You’ll learn how you create a false sense of a separate self and how to recognize and heal that sense of separation by cultivating altruism as a spiritual practice.
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!
To be reminded of change all I have to do is wander around outside.
Larger flocks of geese just started moving through. It’s been hot and the water is quite warm now, supporting moss, mold, algae and everything that feeds on them.
Mornings are filled with clouds of bugs that ramp up their activity this time of year as if they know their time is limited. Spiders are weaving more and more webs.
A fisherman I often see at sunrise told me he hung out with some baby river otters last week.
I hope, in the midst of all that is changing around you, you are finding some peace and presence.
I had just inflated my Paddleboard with a 12-volt pump. I hook up the cables to the battery terminals for power.
I usually just drop the open hood and it clicks into place. But this time it was different.
I dropped it again. No familiar click.
I dropped it and pushed down. No luck.
Irritated now, I dropped it and put some weight behind it. No way.
Angry now, I tried again. I smashed the hood down. Nothing.
Hmm. Maybe something was in the way?
I found the culprit. My iPhone!
Dread turned to relief as the iPhone case saved it from being destroyed.
When things don’t go our way, we have some pretty predictable reactions. They usually fall into these categories:
* Aversion: Anger, judgement and blame
* Craving: Planning, Fantasy and mental disassociation
* Worry: Anxiety, Restlessness
* Sloth and Torpor: Losing energy
* Doubt: Self-Judgement and the ruthless critic
In this case, I defaulted to anger.
All of this could have been averted with a little more awareness.
When something challenging arises, the RAIN acronym comes in handy.
(R) Recognize what’s happening
(A) Allow it if you can
(I) Investigate and be intimate with what’s happening
(N) Nourish what is there with awareness and compassion
This month I’ve given a bunch of talks on "Strategies." While the RAIN acronym lies at the heart of working with challenges, I’ve got other tips there as well.
Water. Heat. Bugs.
A gang of cormorants at morning meditation.Swallows take a short break from feasting on clouds of bugs.The Stockbridge Bowl, pre-morning swim.A storm brewing on the Potomac.Summer foliage on the river.Geese on the move.One of thousands of webs in the meadow.
Video: Five Breaths: August on the River
This short video invites you into slow, full deep breathing with images from the Potomac from this last month.
The Energy Intensive: Meditation, Yoga and Breathwork at Kripalu Centers
September 29 - October 2
If youre looking for a three-day weekend intensive dedicated to slowing down, de-stressing and enlivening your practice, you might like to join me and my co-leader Shobhan Richard Faulds at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, MA.
This weekend is highly experiential, mostly in silence and designed to raise and stabilize energy and awareness.
The program culminates with a morning session of powerful breathwork using a technique that for many, provides deep release and insights.
For more information and to register.
Two-Minute Meditation: Move from Thought to Sensation
In a recent talk on Strategies for Changing Your Relationship with Anxiety, I shared a quick technique for moving from obsessing thinking to the here and now.
It only takes a few minutes and can be quite dramatic.
To listen, check this out:
Itunes podcast: Listen Here
Youtube: Watch hereThe technique:
1. Take in a long slow deep breath and for a moment, hold the breath. Exhale slowly.
2. Again, take a long slow deep breath and for a moment, hold the breath and exhale slowly.
3. Let your eyes open and take in the three distinct separate images. Notice the color, shape, quality of light and texture.
4. Close your eyes.
5. Open your attention to sounds. Notice three distinct separate sources of sound.
6. Turn your attention to feeling. Notice three distinct separate sources of sensation.
7. Notice what may have shifted in this exercise.
I find this practice to be deceptively simple. Consciously shifting awareness away from thought to direct experience can sometimes dramatically help you move out of strong, pervasive and challenging mental states.
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Special PODCAST:
This talk explores how you can find freedom and peace in the midst of patterns of addictive actions and thoughts.
You’ll learn how transforming addiction is all about seeing clearly, recognizing pain, the 'unmet need' and learning how to open to compassion and kindness.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special VIDEO:
This short video invites you into slow, full deep breathing with images from the Potomac from this last month.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special PODCAST:
This short meditation helps you shift from thinking to sensing, particularly images, sounds and sensation.
This can be a helpful tool when you find your mind caught in strong mental states.
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 shift your relationship with anxiety, worry and restlessness.
You’ll learn how anxiety can be an ally, how to look for the cause of anxiety and some approaches as to how to be with it or let it go.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores some fundamental ways you can work with anger when it arises.
You’ll learn how anger arises, how to identify the cause and strategies for releasing anger and opening to new possibilities.
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 bring non-judging awareness to the experience of physical pain.
You'll learn some essential teachings of Buddhist psychology as well as strategies that draw on the power of present-moment awareness including your capacity to 'zoom in' on sensation as well as how to 'zoom out' to a more expanded sense of the space that surrounds and infuses unpleasant sensations.
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!
Here in the mid-Atlantic it’s been hot.
Beyond hot.
With the heat index over 100 for much of this month, I get out on the river as early as I can and still come back soaked in sweat. It's a bit disconcerting to be paddling in water that feels not just tepid, but alarmingly hot.
Our ecosystems and environment feel so fragile right now. It seems more than ever, given the drama of heat, weather and the upheavals in our society, it's on us to pause, find our center and respond from presence.
Best wishes to you in your practice and in your life.
Upcoming Events
August 1:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
August 7:
The Still, Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training at Kripalu Center (5 days)
Learn More
August 8:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Guest Teacher
Learn More
August 15:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
August 29:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
Some Recent Dharma Talks
I sent out a survey awhile back asking for topics I might explore in an evening talk on Monday night in Arlington. If you're in the mood to listen to a talk, you might find one of these three recent ones of interest.
On Non-Attachment to Non-Attachment
Who doesn't want to feel free, spacious and at peace?
Its a most worthy goal. We have all experienced moments when we are deeply at peace, aware of the vastness of it all and the mystery of this life.
Spiritual practice gets tricky, though, when you get attached to that state of freedom and bliss.
This talk explores the states that get in the way of presence and how to recognize them. You will also explore the importance of tracing back your desires to ensure they are in alignment with your deepest intentions.
How to Embrace Challenge as a Spiritual Practice
Recent studies indicate that stress is not necessarily what kills you. Its your attitude toward the stress. If you think the stress is good for, it will be good for you.
This talk explores not just the power of clarifying what you really want, but looking closely at how you can change your attitude toward your challenges. You will also explore some strategies that can help you embrace the obstacles that make you more resilient.
How to Stay Focused on What is Most Important
Have you noticed how hard it is stay focused with so much information coming at you all the time?
This talk explores the transformative power of a concentrated mind. It also explores how and why you lose focus.
When you really want something and you are committed to it, you are setting yourself up for both challenges and breakthroughs. Having a map and a sense of best practices can make the difference between staying stuck and opening to entirely new possibilities.
You can subscribe to my iTunes podcast here, check out talks on youtube here.
If you have suggestions for a talk, please do let me know. And if you have time or interest, please offer a review of the podcast on iTunes.
Thanks!
Fresh Photos
Cormorants and herons dominate the river this time of year. A few perspectives:
A cormorant heads up river at sunrise.An annoyed heron leaves its perch.Another annoyed heron. Something itches.Me flying at 3,000 feet. Banking toward Provincetown just above the clouds.A rock-solid vriksasanaa (tree pose).Four cormorants decide its time to roll.Stealth bomber cormorant.Ta-daaaa!
Video: My Paddleboard Set Up for Photography and Video
Here’s a quick and dirty video as to what I use and carry on my paddleboard.
I love the paddleboard as it’s so light and quite stable with a tripod. I love the zazen position that affords good power but great posture for meditation.
I have a list of the items I use on my site.Geek Alert: All video was shot with the iPhone 6s Plus with an 18mm Moment lens. (I gave up trying to edit the video on my iPad and put it together in Final Cut Pro.)
The Energy Intensive: Meditation, Yoga and Breathwork at Kripalu Centers
September 29 - October 2
For the past fifteen years or so Shobhan Richard Faulds and I offer up a highly experiential and frankly, a pretty intense retreat at Kripalu Center.
Some call it ‘classic Kripalu,’ in that much of what we do is highly experiential and draws on the core Kripalu teachings that explore how to develop greater awareness of the play of energy (prana) and awareness (chitta).
Though you don’t have to have extensive experience in yoga, the three-day retreat is intensive in nature and includes social silence. You’ll explore in-depth Kripalu Yoga with it’s roots in tantra and raja yoga.
You’ll learn how to open body, heart and mind through carefully sequenced guided experiences that take you deep inside as well as in relationship with fellow retreatants. Many participants take this retreat again and again and you’re welcome to join us.
To learn more and to register:Click Here
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program
My wife, Tara Brach, and Jack Kornfield will be offering a Mindfulness Meditation Certification Training in 2017.
This program has been years in the making, and promises to be a gold standard in secular programs for teaching awareness and compassion-based practices.
The two year professional training will include three 5-day residential retreats, a monthly mentoring session, monthly live q/a phone sessions, and a teaching practicum.
One of the prerequisites for this program is their 7-week online Power of Awareness training, next offered starting November 7, 2016 (you can register now).
Enrollment for the Teacher Certification Program is opening now. More information is available at: www.MindfulnessMeditationCertification.com.
If meditation has transformed your life, you may feel drawn to deepening your own practice and bringing these practices and teachings into the world.
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Most mornings I head to the Potomac for a morning adventure on my paddle board. I’ve refined my system over the years and have it pretty much down to this for warm weather paddling.
Inflatable Waterman Paddle Board
I bought my inflatable paddle board from Potomac Paddle Sports at the end of their rental season. These are wide and big boards which are great for first-timers, but also for large people and those heading out on rivers and oceans. Inflatables have so many advantages I can’t imagine wanting a fiberglass board. Lightweight, perfect for bouncing off rocks, they break down into a small bundle.
This is a monster board but what you give up in maneuverability you make for in comfort and confidence.
https://www.c4waterman.com/iSup.aspxPakpod Waterproof Tripod
Pakpod is recent Kickstarter release. Rugged, lightweight, adjustable and waterproof.
http://www.pakpod.comManfrotto 49ARC2 Tripod Head (discontinued)
The Pakpod would be quite frustrating if I couldn’t make micro adjustments and the Manfrotto ballhead allows that. They update their ball heads quite often. Mine is very simple and solid.
https://www.manfrotto.us/products/supports/tripod-heads?p=2Ribz Pack
What a great invention. Lots of trekkers use these and they are perfect on a boat. Large enough to carry big items and extremely convenient. I carry extra lenses and camera gear, lens cleaners, a windbreaker, my keys and an food bar.
http://www.ribzwear.comInflatable Belt Pack
Life vests are required and are usually awkward and restricting. Except for these.
https://www.amazon.com/Onyx-Manual-Inflatable-Jacket-Black/dp/B0032ALK72
Special PODCAST:
The talk explores how to sustain attention on what’s most important in your life.
You’ll learn about the power of concentration, how and why you lose focus, how staying present to your goals sets you up for a transformational ride and some practical strategies for sustaining attention on the most important things in your life.
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 transform your life experience by embracing your deepest challenges.
You’ll learn the importance of remembering what is most important, the power of changing your attitude toward your challenges, the importance of testing yourself and how what you are seeking is truly 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!
This was a month of travel and adventure.
I spent a week in Paris with friends where we got to watch the record-breaking floods almost swamping the famous bridges on the Seine. Tara arrived later in the week after leading a retreat in London. She gave a talk at the Apollo Theater in the heart of Paris and we met with many of the local MBSR teachers.
Trains to Zurich and Grindewald, Switzerland set us up for eight days of hiking in the high alps. The heavy rains continued, but skies did break occasionally, revealing spectacular vistas and sodden, but fresh spring flowers.
Then we were on to the Netherlands where we led a retreat for 200 folks in central Holland, days filled with silence, warmth, tears and lots of laughter.
I think it rained 18 out of 21 days, but equanimity opens us to find joy in any moment.
Here's to a great summer ahead.
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Guest Teacher
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July 18:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
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July 25:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
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July 30:
Conscious Relationships: Daylong Retreat with Tara Brach
Learn More
August 1:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington
Learn More
August 7:
The Still, Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training at Kripalu Center (5 days)
Learn More
Intuition and Mindfulness
When people tell me their relationship is ending I can't help but ask, "When did you know it wasn't going to work?"
Quite often I hear this: "I knew in the beginning."
How can this be? What overrides our inner sense of knowing?
Your inner voice often speaks in a whisper, not as a shout. To hear this still, small voice within you need to quiet the mind and the forces of doubt and judgement.
Meditation can help. Over time you develop your capacity to observe without judgement and you begin to see more intimately into the internal mechanisms that shut off your intuition.
In addition to quieting the mind, it's helpful to formulate questions that call the voice of intuition forward.
The mind responds to questions, whether we like it or not.
As Tony Robbins says, 'We ask ourselves questions all the time and the question is usually, "Why does this crap always happen to me?'"
Fortunately, we have some control over these questions.
What are you most excited about in your life?
What do you love?
What is calling your forward?
In August (the best time to be in the Berkshires), I'll be leading a five-day retreat dedicated to calming the mind and turning attention to the questions most important to you.
Follow this link for more information and to register for The Still Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training.
Fresh Photos
A few visual highlights:
The banks of the Seine were dramatically challenged with record-setting rains.We stayed in the Marais arrondissement, the old Jewish ghetto and home to LBTQ communities and progressive happenings. Heading back to our apartment one day, we stumbled into a street carnival celebrating diversity.In Switzerland we slogged through mud and mist and enjoyed the contrast to Paris. The pipe and water trough in this image are made of wood.Grindewald, Switzerland. At the base of a glacier.At the top of Jungfrau, the set of numerous James Bond movies, the highest point in Europe. We blew off the touristy stuff and hiked two hours out on the glacier to the Mönchsjoch hut. We were so giddy we overlooked the fact we had no sunblock and both got badly burned.Waiting for hobbits in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. 27 waterfalls line this valley. When the clouds clear, base jumpers and paragliders leap off the edges.Tara hiking on Schynige Platte with a storm sweeping in.Mürren, Switzerland, right at the base of the high peaks.Trams and cog railroads get you up the highest elevations. In this case we hiked up and caught a tram back. Looking down on Mürren.Tara and I led a retreat in central Holland. The kindest, most sincere people imaginable.Upon returning back home I got a lovely escort down to the river from the locals.Geek Alert: As an experiment I did all photography on my iPhone 6s+ and mostly used an 18mm lens from Moment lenses. Except for time-lapse images, which were shot with the native iOS app, I did all stills and video with the ProCamera app at a 16:9 aspect ratio and in their highest allowable resolution, an uncompressed TIFF setting. In many cases, I used the native HDR setting. Post-processing was done on the iPhone with Snapseed and the native iOS app.
Video: 1 Bag and 21 Days in Europe: Jonathan's Packing List
I put together this short video showing everything I packed for 21 days on the road in preparation for semi-formal city explorations, trekking through rain, mud and snow in the Alps and leading a meditation retreat.
All in one slightly-than smaller-carryon. (PS: It worked!)
Watch the Video and Check Out the Packing List.
Conscious Relationships
Years ago I told the resident guru I wanted to go to a long, intensive retreat that promised all kinds of spiritual insights and skills.
He listened and responded: "You can go into a cave and learn all kinds of techniques and cultivate special powers. But what happens if you leave your cave, someone insults you and you get upset? Perhaps it's also helpful to learn to live in the world and be skillful in your relationships."
A good point. I’ve found that I benefit from both times of retreat as well as times of looking closely at how I can bring more wisdom and compassion into how I relate to others.
For a few years now Tara and I have been offering retreats on how to use relationships as a vehicle for awakening.
Intimacy with others can be the ground for experiencing full aliveness and sacred communion. Yet as so many have experienced, our relationships are also often the source of insecurity, hurt and betrayal.
During this daylong workshop we will explore the beliefs and feelings that separate us from each other and the meditative practices that enable us to cultivate genuine bonds of trust, understanding, intimacy and love.
You are welcome to come on your own, or with a partner. Our time together will include short dharma talks, silent meditation, mindful movement, reflective inquiry and dyadic exercises.
To learn more and to register: Click Here
To read a post on Jonathan’s travel philosophy, check out Jared Gotlieb’s article on the National Geographic Intelligent Traveler blog: http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/10/how-to-pack-mindfully Jonathan’s Packing List
This is what I took on a 21-day trip to Europe, which included time in Paris and Amsterdam, trekking in the Alps and leading a four-day retreat in the Netherlands.
A few details:
* Everything I brought had to fit into one bag
* Merino wool is the perfect travel fabric as it does not pick up odor easily, insulates when wet and dries fast
* These are my favorite clothes and I didn’t miss anything wearing the few things I brought
* Doing laundry is easy when you make it a habit and use the right system (more below)
* As a creative challenge I elected to leave the big camera and lenses at home and shoot and edit photography and video with the iPhone and iPad Pro
The Bag: REI Trail 40
I’m a shameless pack geek. This is as satisfying a pack as I’ve ever owned. https://www.rei.com/product/880839/rei-trail-40-pack-mens
* Extremely comfortable for my frame.
* Opens fully for easy access
* Comes with it’s own waterproof cover, which I used a lot
The Clothes
* Packs so small there’s no reason not to have it with you all the time
* Get yours large enough to layer bulky stuff underneath
REI Rainpants
* The ones I was wearing are discontinued, but if I didn’t need extra tall ones, I’d go with the Outdoor Research Helium pants
* New materials are so light it’s easy to take them with you
* Take ‘em into the shower and wash ‘em, roll ‘em up in a towel and they dry so fast you are can almost wear them right away
Prana Zion Pantshttp://www.prana.com/stretch-zion-pant.html
* Possibly the perfect pants
* Rugged, comfortable, made for movement with gusset crotch
Special PODCAST:
This talk explores ways you can stay more present (and sane) in your heart during this election cycle.
You’ll learn how 'the shadow' in your psyche expresses itself because of unmet needs and how, as we evolve as a species, you can meet the shadow with empathy, befriend that which you have declared the enemy, and learn to look toward the good.
Subscribe to Jonathan's podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jonathan-foust/id455422434?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
