Taoist Cosmology and Five Element Theory
In Taoist cosmology, first there was the tai chi, the oneness or great source. This gave birth to the opposite principles of yin and yang which, when aligned in the body, are known as the tai chi axis. From the balanced duality of yin and yang arose the five elements:...
Understanding Fire in Five Element Theory
From the bursting forth of new growth and aliveness in spring comes the ripeness and fullness of summer. Observing summer helps us understand the fire element in five element theory. Fire is associated with passion and spirit. Fire is represented by the bright red...
Understanding Earth in Five Element Theory
After the passionate energy of the fire element we move to the earth element. Earth is the element related to late summer; the time after the growth of spring and productivity of summer when we harvest the abundance of produce and begin to rest, nourish ourselves, and...
Mindfulness and the Prefrontal Cortex
A lot of us have heard about mindfulness and its possible benefits. Recently I have learned a few interesting things about the brain that have made the benefits of mindfulness meditation even clearer to me. Meditation produces a thickening of the prefrontal cortex –...
Introducing Kum Nye – Moving Meditation
I have been a student of Kum Nye for over thirty years, and I still love the simplicity and effectiveness of this practice. It comes from Tibet and was brought to the west by Tarthang Tulku in the 1970s. It has never become widely popular, which is a mystery to me,...
The Four Noble Truths and Modern Life
The relevance of Buddha’s four noble truths in our modern lives The fundamental and most important teachings of the Buddha are disarmingly simple. There is suffering There is a cause of suffering There is an end of suffering There is a way to the end of suffering. It...
Mindfulness and Buddhist Psychology
Have we reduced Buddhist psychology to mindfulness training? What might have been lost in the translation? The core teaching of the Buddha has always about how to reduce human suffering. The freedom or liberation his teachings refer to is freedom from suffering. It...
The Body as an Intelligent, Sensitive, Living Organism
Somatics and somatic movement classes grew out of Feldenkrais, and developed alongside new research into neuromuscular reprogramming. Somatics is based on the principle of neuroplasticity – the understanding that the brain is continually remodelling itself in response...Volume One of the Anchors in An Open Sea trilogy
Volume Two of the Anchors in An Open Sea trilogy
Buddha and a Boat: What is this human life? Digging into the mystery when life gets sticky.
Volume Three of the Anchors in An Open Sea trilogy
