Charlotte Center For Mindfulness // Podcasts

In this short meditation, we give time for our eyes to rest and relax into spacious awareness

Compassion arises naturally as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, ours and another’s. True compassion is not limited by the separateness of pity, nor by the fear of being overwhelmed. When we come to rest in the great heart of compassion, we discover a capacity to bear witness to, suffer with, and hold dear with our own vulnerable heart the sorrows in beauties of the world. Jack Kornfield Loving compassion is like sunlight, awakening and bringing joy to beans. It’s beauty is like a rainbow, lifting the hearts of all who see it. Tarthang Tulka

Compassion arises naturally as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, ours and another’s. True compassion is not limited by the separateness of pity, nor by the fear of being overwhelmed. When we come to rest in the great heart of compassion, we discover a capacity to bear witness to, suffer with, and hold dear with our own vulnerable heart the sorrows in beauties of the world. Jack Kornfield

This week’s post is the first of three parts exploring bringing mindfulness into heart of our relationships.

Join us for guided movement practice followed by a short sitting practice. We explore the intention of goodwill, letting go and compassion through it all.

I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself. -Maya Angelou To be at home in a world where everything changes means to embrace a radical understanding of home. Join us for a short teaching and practice

In this sharing, I consider the art of pendulation, i.e. using pleasant and neutral sensations to resource us for meeting our challenges.

In this meditation, we practice the art of using pleasant and neutral sensations to resource us for meeting our challenges.

In this podcast I share a short reading from Jody Green on meeting the challenges of Zen Koan, “Every Day is a Good Day” and the lessons from our new cat, followed by a short meditation.

When things are challenging, we need strong skills to be with ourselves in the midst of the challenge. This is part 2 of last week’s podcast, but I include a small re-cap if you missed last week. Thanks!

In this body and heart practice, we allow space for our awareness to deeply settle in the body and then explore expanding circles of compassion from this grounded space.

This week we start an exploration of ways to be with ourselves in practice when it is just hard to be with ourselves. Learning to “track” is a very useful place to start.

Join us for this sitting meditation where we explore grounding in the body with gravity and breath. Thanks!

“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” -Kahlil Gibran In this short sharing and practice, we explore the attitudes or qualities of goodwill, compassion and letting go in support of a life well lived.

We need strong refuge points for our awareness in order to support ourselves in the midst of life. This meditation is about strengthening that knowing of refuge within ourselves.

In mindfulness meditation, we teach how to be aware of the breath as an anchor or refuge, and in our current world, to invite awareness into the breath is to invite again awareness of “I can’t breath…” That fact needs to be met with a lot of care and compassion. This week we open to an awareness of George Floyd’s plea for breath and how it can inform us through our practice how to come into a stronger, more compassionate and responsive relationship with ourselves and our world. Helpful resources are listed below.   From Rumi (translator?): I said: what about my eyes? He said: Keep them on the road. I said: What about my passion? He said: Keep it burning. I said: What about my heart? He said: Tell me what you hold inside it? I said: Pain and sorrow. He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.   Resmaa Menakem: www.resmaa.com, My Grandmother’s Hands, https://onbeing.org/programs/resmaa-menakem-notice-the-rage-notice-the-silence/ Ruth King: www.ruthking.net, Mindful of Race Tara Brach podcast: www.tarabrach.com/courageous-presence-racism/  

Join us for this short teaching and sitting practice. Today we continue the exploration of a quote from Abraham Heschel, “Self-respect is the fruit of discipline. A sense of dignity grows with an ability to say no to oneself.” In particular, we look at how “bite-sizing” the moment helps open a workable choice point for growing this fruit. Also from Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks): We are the mirror as well as the face in it. We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity. We are pain and what cures pain, both. We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.

I hope you enjoy this 13 minute sitting practice on awakening to and befriending the present moment.

Sometimes we are holding tension in the body that benefits from movement before sitting. Join us for this combined longer standing and sitting meditation on befriending the present moment.

This week we explore three short Nasruddin stories and how they are useful for understanding our practice. If you are not familiar with Nasruddin, he is a trickster or wise fool character from the Sufi tradition. These stories are much loved for the unexpected yet revealing “twist” always present.

For this short morning meditation, we explore the beautiful quote from Abraham Heschel: “Self-respect is the fruit of discipline. A sense of dignity grows with an ability to say no to oneself.”

Please join us for a guided sitting meditation on grounding and re-centering through body and 5 senses.

Today’s offering is a bit like a patchwork quilt of odd pieces that have been present in my heart over the last week that, at least to me, come together in an interesting pattern or whole. These include research about joy in babies, thoughts on what makes a good day in the midst of deep suffering, and a poem from Kabir– I Said to The Wanting-Creature Inside Me.

Please join us for this short teaching and guided meditation. Thanks!

Join us in this sitting meditation as we explore accessing the four foundational qualities of the heart: goodwill, appreciative joy, compassion and equanimity.  

Mindfulness teacher Christina Feldman says, when practicing with the heart qualities, “it’s not the feeling that matters most, but rather the intention.” This simple insight is freeing for practicing with strong heart even when we are not “feeling it.” This week we explore this beautiful insight.

Today I draw upon the wisdom of Darlene Cohen in her article, “One Button At a Time” about working with chronic physical pain and how beautifully those teachings apply to chronic emotional pain as well.

This body scan is a deep centering and grounding for the nervous system.

In this meditation, we take the time to acknowledge whatever pain and hurt might be present, and then to ground and re-center our own nervous systems in order to make ourselves more present in a healing way in our world .

For this week of so many layers of pain and hurt in our nation, we take the time to acknowledge the pain, to ground and re-center our own nervous systems, and to look at ways to help support healing in our world by not being part of the problem.

Please enjoy this sitting meditation that begins with grounding in body and breath, and then moves into insight questions contemplating agreements of care with ourselves. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel. (5-27-20)

This week is part 2 of the second agreement- Don’t Take Anything Personally- from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements. (5/22/20)

“I long as does every other human being to be at home wherever I find myself.” Maya Angelou Please enjoy this short teaching and body scan based on being at home within ourselves. (5/22/20)

Please enjoy this sitting meditation that begins with grounding in body and breath, and then moves into insight questions to contemplate around life. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel. (5/20/20)

Today we look at the 2nd Agreement from Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements– don’t take anything personally. (5/20/20)

Today we look at the first agreement from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, the Four Agreements and how it relates to a need for deep self-acceptance. (5/13/20)  

Please enjoy this sitting meditation exploring the physicality of the 4 elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water in the body, using this physical nature of body as a resource for grounding. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel. (5/13/20)  

Enjoy this sitting meditation from the Community Drop In Group on goodwill, empathy and letting go– three basic foundations for all of mindfulness practice. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel. (5/6/20)

Today we explore the archetypal story of Cinderella and how it relates to the basic attitudes of meditation of goodwill, empathy and letting go. (5/6/20)

Today’s teaching on the poem Birdwings from the poet Rumi, and knowing how to swim safely in riptides.

Please enjoy this guided mountain sitting meditation from our Wednesday Morning Community Mindfulness Drop In on 4-21-20. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel. (4/21/20)

This week we explored an Akido Story from Terry Dobson and how it relates to our own moment to moment life and practice. (4/14/20)

Today we are looking at the quality of curiosity as inspired by the Unwinding Anxiety app. This is a beautiful app for very practical mindfulness based skills for working with anxiety that can make a big difference. (4/1/20)

In this sharing, we explore the insights of the old Brothers’ Grimm story, The Water of Life, and how these insights relate directly to our lives. (2/11/20)

Sometimes you hear a voice through the door calling you, as fish out of water hear the waves, or a hunting falcon hears the drums. “Come back, come back.” This turning toward what you deeply love saves you. -Rumi In this podcast we explore re-invigorating our practice as a means of turning towards what we deeply love. (2/4/20)

Boundless joy, not to be mistaken for frenzied exultation, is delight in others’ happiness. It banishes jealousy and stabilizes our capacity for engagement. –Anne Klein Today’s sharing is about tapping into the joyous capacity of the heart in order to strengthen and ground ourselves in the midst of challenges. (1/20/20)

This week I share reflections on the 1st Women’s Summit at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, and the power of reclaiming our choice of how to orient in any moment. (12/21/20)

This is the last session related to our exploration of Non-violent Communication, a powerful means, from Marshall Rosenberg, for learning to listen and speak with clarity, wisdom and compassion in alignment with our values. (12/01/19)

“Allow your weakness to become your strength and you will be fine in your life.” This week I share a story and the Welcoming Prayer. (12/3/20)

A beautiful visit to my home church this week inspired deep contemplation on gratitude. (11/26/19)