Walking today, I sent metta to my constant friends, the neighborhood trees, and noted their winter endurance with respect. Below is my reflection. I have been holding onto this first line since earlier this winter, and was finally able to Read More
Author Archive | Julia Travers
Taking Time to Feel
Julia Travers February 21, 2020
Today, our guided meditation focused on the changing nature of emotions. Calling up different emotions while sitting creates a very full practice. Feeling into joy and anger reveals a slew of other feelings and thoughts, and how fluidly they can Read More
Holding and Honoring the Breath
Julia Travers February 4, 2020
Meditating on the Breath: I place the breath forefront in my awareness; I feel it first, and I give myself permission to just breathe. I experience an inherent forgiveness in letting everything else go but the breath. There is a Read More
Settle Back: On Changing Emotions and Metta for Sharon
Julia Travers February 21, 2019
“Settle back,” Sharon says. Settling back into the body, the breath — a window opens, letting in light and fresh air. By experiencing emotional and psychological states in my body, I can let my stories go temporarily, as advised in Read More
Rowing a Boat: An Invitation to Notice and Breathe
Julia Travers February 15, 2019
Mental noticing and noting of experiences in meditation labels what happens. It’s not always easy to sum up experiences in this way — sometimes annoyance, anger, fear, hope, soreness and surprise stumble in together like a band of drunk friends. Read More
A Walking Meditation Between Seasons: Carrying Me Where I Want to Go
Julia Travers February 15, 2019
As I walk slowly, I pour my weight from one side of my body into the other, marveling at my balance. The ground grows hard against my soles in turn as each foot takes responsibility for my body, and I Read More
An Invitation, a Migration, a Cyclical Sangha
Julia Travers February 3, 2019
I’ve been reading and listening to Sharon Salzberg’s words for going on 23 years now, and starting the annual February meditation program has come to feel like a migration, a call to join a cyclical sangha. This call comes at Read More
Meditation on Daily Activities: Raking Reflections
Julia Travers February 28, 2018
Today, I raked a small section of the front yard as a reflective exercise, while listening to the guided meditation. I like to keep parts of the yard natural and un-raked and I don’t rake daily. But, it is a Read More
Sending Compassion to Anger and Pain
Julia Travers February 28, 2018
Feeling the pain that lies inside the difficult emotion of anger opens up the experience. I think anger is feared and judged in many cultures, and it is natural for many of us to have internalized those reactions. For me, Read More
Body Awareness: A Teacher and Her Class of Children
Julia Travers February 13, 2018
During a body scan, with voices from many internal locations, my body seems to ask, “Did you know that you live here? As a former teacher, it then occurs to me that the choir of bodily sensations is much like Read More
