Sharon Salzberg

When I first went to India in 1970, I went overland through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan before arriving in India.

Working with physical pain is also a template for working with emotional pain – we learn the skills in one and can apply them in the other.

Once on a meditation retreat in Burma, I was calmly eating lunch when I unexpectedly bit down on a whole chili pepper. My mouth caught on fire, and so did my mind.

The text below is an excerpt from 'Sit', an article I wrote some time ago for O Magazine. It provides some basic meditation instruction and answers many questions about the practice.

It has been so nice today reading your tweets, comments, postings; and sitting myself, feeling how many people were also dedicating themselves to practice.

Many years ago, when I had gone to Israel to teach, some friends and I went to the Old City section of Jerusalem, where there is a wonderful open-stall marketplace.