The Fall and Winter community meditation schedule for the Exquisite Mind Psychotherapy and Meditation Studio has been updated. We will now be sitting four days a week at the studio and conducting a half-day retreat the second Saturday of each month, starting on 8 October.

–Tuesday 2:00-2:45 (silent meditation)
–Wednesday 1:00-1:45 (silent meditation)
–Thursday 6 PM (introductory program)
–Friday 2:00-2:45 (silent meditation)

Retreat schedule: sitting and walking meditation the second Saturday of each month, from 1 to 5:

— 8 October 2011
— 12 November 2011
— 9 December 2011
— 14 January 2012
–11 February 2012
— 9 March 2012
— 14 April 2012

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Burlington, Vermont, you are invited to attend. All these programs are free and open to the public. The tradition, started with the Buddha 2600 years ago was not to charge a fee for his teachings, the dharma.

The Buddha devoted his life to finding a way to overcome the anguish of living in this world. He noticed that dissatisfaction, or even suffering, permeates every moment of being alive. He sought to understand this dissatisfaction and discover a way to transcend it.

The “dharma” he taught (a collection of teachings that point to the truth of existence) claimed that we self-induce much of our anguish. We do this through the perceptions we make, the attitudes we hold, and our relationship to experience. When we push and pull against what is happening we get anguish; when we accept what is happening, we find peace, resolve, and joy.

The principle way to discover this truth is to sit down and meditate. The Buddha’s dharma doesn’t need to be taken on faith; it’s available in any moment for your own discovery.

This is what we do when we gather together to practice mindfulness meditation. We notice how the mind generates stories of like and dislike and how we resist being fully in the present moment. When we notice this, we redirect attention to the simple movement of the breath and body sensations occurring right now. This is the practice — returning to the present moment over and over again.