Author Archive | Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community

Quite possibly the only thing I and the guy sitting at the end of the bench agree on is that we don’t like each other. We think the other is a jerk. We think the other is a puck hog, a Read More

Sharon encouraged us to seek a loving kindness phrase that is meaningful to each of us.  The phrases she presented are all useful but I do like the idea of exploring others. A couple of days a friend posted a Read More

I love the practice of metta. Several years ago, when facing health concerns, one of the teacher’s who comes fairly regularly the retreats at our sangha, suggested that I use metta for me as my primary practice. At first i Read More

Sharon’s teaching “Seeing the Good” on Day 22 tells us that This week’s meditations are based on our ability to nurture and grow an orientation of goodwill, inclusiveness, and connection. We will relate to ourselves in a different way, remembering our Read More

I always say the most important thing I’ve learned through meditation is that I don’t need to do anything to get through difficult emotions. The second most important thing I learned is that clinging to pleasant emotions serves only to Read More

“Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”  Samuel Johnson Watching strong emotions and compulsive thoughts are like studying the obvious changing flows in the turbulent water Read More

Sharon’s Day 16 message on cultivating positivity felt particularly meaningful for me today.  Our sangha does regular joy and gratitude exercises to help us cultivate those attitudes.  And in those moments, reflecting on the week or the day, I can Read More

It is hard to change a lifetime of patterns and yet little by little the change is happening. When I first started meditating, it was pretty easy to connect to the breath and even the body. The emotions were a Read More

Sharon’s tea meditation is very timely. In January, after visiting our daughter, she suggested that I try matcha tea. I liked the flavour and the part about using a bamboo whisk in the preparation — which fit with my intention to drink more Read More

It is not until attempting to bring mindfulness into my daily routines that I realized how often my mind is absent from my tasks. It is almost as if my body is on autopilot and my mind has it’s own Read More