Zen teacher John Tarrant recently taught a retreat at the Garrison Institute on koans—teaching stories traditionally reserved for advanced Zen students—and creativity. Before the retreat started, Tarrant spoke with Garrison Institute Retreats Director Jane Kolleeny about how creative pursuits can support our contemplative practices. Tarrant is the author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros and The Light Inside the Dark and…
On November 3-6, 2016, the Garrison Institute and the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care (NYZCCC) are hosting the third Buddhist Contemplative Care Symposium. This groundbreaking gathering encourages leading researchers, physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual care providers and patient advocates to learn the tools and gain the insight to provide the most effective palliative and end-of-life care possible. The…
I’m drawn to the Jewish notion of the soul, Nephesh, which is not something pre-existent but emergent—forming in and through physicality and relational experience. This suggests that we need our bodies to claim our souls. The body is where every virtue lives or dies. But more: our bodies are access points to mystery. And in some way that barely makes…
Josh Korda is the presiding teacher at Dharma Punx NYC in New York. During the recent Lion’s Roar retreat at the Garrison Institute, he spoke with us about how to handle difficult emotions and the importance of creating a “spiritual container.”
Welcome to episode seven of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between climate change, resilience, contemplative practice and human behavior. Jonathan F. P. Rose works with cities and not-for-profits to plan and build affordable and mixed-income green housing, and cultural, health, and educational centers. Recognized for creating communities that literally heal both residents and…
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…
Join us for the Fourth Biennial Contemplative Care Symposium, Building a Community of Care, on November 8-11. This is a collaborative event that champions theories of contemplative healthcare, put on by New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and The Garrison Institute. Click here for info and to register. Leading up to the symposium, NYZCCC cofounders Koshin Paley Ellison and Robert…
We recently partnered with the New York Open Center to present a talk by renowned British spiritual teacher Rupert Spira. The title of the talk was “The Essence of Nonduality” and Spira explored the nondual understanding that lies at the heart of various spiritual traditions, such as Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Buddhism, mystical Christianity, Zen and Sufism. Spira emphasized that we can investigate the…