Given the current state of the world, many of us feel an inner tug to do something to help others in our own individual way. Maybe we want to be social workers. Maybe we have toyed with running for office. Maybe we just know we have some gift to give but are not sure what it is yet. Perhaps we…
Noticing a lack of of access to yoga, mindfulness, and other holistic forms of self-care in their Baltimore neighborhood, brothers Ali and Atman Smith and Andres Gonzalez started the Holistic Life Foundation (HLF) in 2001 with a mission to bring these kinds of practices to people in underserved communities. In an upcoming retreat at the Garrison Institute, “People Who Care for…
“To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture.” -Frantz Fanon Last month I wrote about how the modern West has lost its connection to the land and to nature. The challenge is to find ways to reestablish this critical relationship that we once had but lost with the rise of materialism, science, and industry. This disconnection is…
In the wake of last night’s election results, many of us are experiencing feelings of confusion, sadness, doubt, anger, and fear. Whatever we’re feeling, though, it’s important to allow ourselves to fully experience our emotions. As meditation teacher and author Ethan Nichtern says, “The point of meditation is not to suppress your feelings. It is to make friends with yourself.”…
Welcome to episode eight of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice and human behavior. Pauly Denetclaw is a Native American journalist born and raised in Manuelito, New Mexico. Interested in writing from a young age, she began her first book at eight years old. Today she is studying mass…
Despite a strong practice of meditation and reflection, I admit to struggling with my own sense of what to do and with how to be with the wide variety of spirit-killing realities that arose all around us, almost daily, this summer. The raft of shootings by police and then shootings of police. The nearly unfathomable tragedy in Nice. And, of…
As part of our “Garrison Talks at the JCC” event series, teachers and authors Sharon Salzberg and Rev. angel Kyodo williams recently discussed ways to bridge spiritual practice and social activism. Some of the key questions explored: Does spiritual practice require that we love everyone? Does being happy mean that we avoid conflict? How can we speak differently about spiritual practice and…
Welcome to episode six of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice and human behavior. Piya Macliing Malayao is the 27-year-old Secretary General of Katribu, a national alliance of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines. She’s also the Land is Life Regional Coordinator for South Asia and the Pacific. Land is…