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More scrambling people seeking ‘mindfulness’
{From 20 Big Ideas} Avoid traffic jam on way to work. News says two more Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Forty-four e-mails in my inbox. Make that “To-go.” What was the score in the game? Send...
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Prayer versus meditation? They’re more alike than we realize
You could call it a religious war of words, with the West Coast serving as one of its most intense battlegrounds. The bid to win hearts and minds pits Buddhist meditation against Christian prayer, with...
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UPDATE: Can meditation be dangerous to your mental health?
UPDATE: Victoria Maxwell has responded to this posting. See below. A UBC psychiatrist told me on the weekend he has had six patients who had their first psychotic episodes while meditating. To say the...
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Simple meditation helps students concentrate: researcher
One of my fondest memories from a recent visit to Seymour elementary in Vancouver was joining the students in Carrie Gelson’s Grade 2 class in morning meditation. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, we...
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A “West Coast Meditation”
I came across this piece at the home of local artist Suzanne Starr. www.suzannestarr.com . I have long been a fan of her smoke fired vessels with unusual lines and sensuous touch, but this new piece...
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Braco: Would you pay $3 to look into his tender eyes?
Look into his eyes. Thousands are doing so. They’re signing up for “gazing” sessions. Braco the Gazer offers spiritual liberation by looking peacefully at you as you look at him. Braco the Gazer, a...
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Don’t live in ‘The Now.’ Include past and future
It may be dangerous to your health to live in only ‘the Now,’ as proposed by many Buddhist teachers and Eckhart Tolle, Vancouver-based author of the incredible best-seller, The Power of Now. A new...
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No wonder people call walk in forest ‘spiritual’
Science is giving support to West Coast Canadians who say they prefer walking in the forest to going to church, synagogue or temple. A new study shows that a stroll through the woods truly is good for...
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Can spiritual ‘detachment’ lead to complacency, or worse?
It’s popular these days to talk about seeking “detachment” from one’s desires, from “clinging” to the things of this tumultuous and difficult world. North Americans drawn to Buddhism and Hinduism and...
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Bullying, meditation and Laurence Freeman (in Vancouver)
One of the world’s foremost teachers of meditation, Brother Laurence Freeman, is coming to Metro Vancouver on Oct. 26, 27th and 28th. And his Vancouver adherents think he has a valuable message in this...
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Most popular posts since last fall: 21st to 30th
It’s been about a year since The Vancouver Sun began a new way of presenting blogs. The changeover in web technology was highly disruptive at the time, especially since it occurred while I was...
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Leonard Cohen and Thomas Merton together: Nov. 10 in North Van
Leonard Cohen the poet became a mystic. Thomas Merton the mystic became a poet. The two legendary poets, mystics (and visual artists) appear to make a perfect fit, which the Thomas Merton Society is...
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Charismatic Taize monk in Vancouver Thursday to Sunday
The Anglican, United and Roman Catholic churches have brought Brother Emile from the Taizé community to Metro Vancouver. He belongs to an increasingly popular ecumenical monastery in Burgundy, France,...
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Owning our Health: What Mayor Ford teaches about changes we must make in drug...
When Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, finally admitted to having smoked crack cocaine, the media erupted and a plethora of experts weighed in with opinions. The story has even been followed daily in US new...
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SFU offers first M.Ed. in ‘Contemplative Inquiry’
Drawn to meditation? Contemplation? The inner life? Mindfulness? Simon Fraser University has just given approval to North America’s first Master of Education Degree program in “Contemplative Inquiry.”...
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Prayer research opens fresh frontiers of spiritual practice
Ken Shigematsu is easily distracted. Especially at Christmas time. “It’s like a thousand chimpanzees jumping around in my head at any moment,” says the head pastor at Tenth Church, a large congregation...
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Challenge Twelve: Nurture the soul
A prison might not be the first place that comes to mind when considering the benefits of regular spiritual practice. Yet, the success of a meditation program offered to inmates at a high-risk prison...
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The art of living a meaningful life is to connect with something greater than...
Spirituality is the ultimate form of connection, and I wanted to discover what it can offer to someone who is not religious. So in the final challenge of the year, I decided to investigate a range of...
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Marketing McMindfulness
You suspect a trend has peaked when someone attaches to it the prefix, “Mc.” And it sticks. And that’s what has happened to the psycho-spiritual popularity of mindfulness, which has been a buzz word in...
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Spiritual narcissism works in subtle ways
Well, this cannot be about me. When it comes to the subject of spiritual narcissism, I want to think it applies only to others. You know, the kind of people who act superior because they believe they...
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