I spend a lot of time thinking about what people need from each other in order to feel connected, cohesive, and resilient. Buddhism, historically, has not taken a developmental view of how we reach a healthy baseline of functioning in work,...
Ordinarily when we can't handle powerful feelings such as pain or fear we avoid them because they overwhelm us or make us feel bad. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle of anxiety and avoidance, guilt and shame. What I call Behavioral Buddhism is...
Caroline Brett conducts a detailed inquiry into how practitioners of Vajrayana, Zen, and Hindu Tantra natively distinguish between mystical and psychotic states.
As various thinkers attempt to position Buddhism in relation to "Western Psychology," I thought IDP folks might benefit from understanding some of the movements that are lumped into the latter.
"I'M HEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!" Startled by the booming voice and clenching our bathrobes, we looked up to see Dennis Rodman march in with his hands in the air.
Meditation can change your life and your very sense of who you are. There is a reason it has been around for thousands of years and practiced by people from all walks of life and all parts of the globe. There is a common myth...
Tibetan monks and mystics lived in relative isolation for over a thousand years, living in a virtual laboratory for studying the mind. As a result, the insight that Tibetan Buddhism offers us into how the mind works is profound.
"...what does your friend who is a yogini, what can she reveal that will help you in your Buddhist practice? Or what does the meditator have that might be enlightening to their friend who studies yoga?..."
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to better understand depression, it’s causes, and how it can best be alleviated. It’s not that I’m depressed--in fact I’m happy to report that I’m rarely...
By Psychotherapist, Buddhist Teacher and Yoga Teacher, Michael Stone.
In ideas of suicide, beliefs become dangerously polarized. In fantasies of suicide, the world becomes “outside” and separate from “me.” The world...
By Psychotherapist, Buddhist teacher and Yoga teacher Michael Stone.
No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide.
—Cesare Pavese
Many of us who have suffered trauma, pain, or existential loneliness have struggled to find stories to make...
"By cultivating an attitude of friendship toward those who are happy, compassion toward those in distress; joy toward those who are virtuous, and equanimity toward those who are unvirtuous, lucidity arises in the mind." Yoga Sutra...
I've just read an article on LiveScience.com saying a researcher at Columbia University found evidence that strong emotions (in this case, breakups) can cause physical pain, validating what many of us knew intuitively.
From Vivian Diller in the Huffigton Post:
Beauty is in the "I" of the beholder. Mirrors reflect an image that tells us superficially what we look like. Gaze at yourself and go beyond, past your reflection, and perceive who you are as a...
