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No Form – Just Thank You

I changed five nouns in this poem for us, for now: Thanks, from W. S. Merwin. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t mind a bit. It reminds me of Zen teacher Yvonne Rand’s last audible words before she passed away Wednesday evening: “No form - Just thank you” L... Read more

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Listening with the EAR

Perhaps like many of you, I grew up in a family that could have benefited from having an EAR Council to hear grievances, but did not. Our InsightLA family is fortunate to have a group of elders dedicated to listening with empathy and compassion, a... Read more

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Farewell, Yvonne

Monday I learned that Yvonne Rand, one of my teachers in this life, has entered hospice to do her dying. An accomplished Soto Zen priest, Yvonne came to teach with me at InsightLA in the early days. Yvonne has lived a life that has given so much to so... Read more

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A Treasure, Like Kelp

The ocean has been cold again this week, good weather for the kelp! Did you know that in in ideal conditions kelp can grow from 12 inches to 18 inches in one day? Did you know kelp stores carbon as efficiently as tropical rainforests? The kelp in the ... Read more

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The Dalai Lama’s Koan

Decades ago in the 70’s, before the Dalai Lama became famous, his smiling face was on the cover of a newspaper called The Snow Lion. The quote under his photo struck me so powerfully that I cut out the cover page and stuck it on a kitchen cupboard whe... Read more

Learning How to Be Together

When I was seven years old, I started an organization called the California Girls’ Club. The club’s vision was mainly that I would be President of it. I made my best friend Sarah VP, and promptly decided our three other friends had to apply to join. A... Read more

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Can this be an inflection point?

One quote that deeply comforted me when I visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. was, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  Inspiring words engra... Read more

Metta Prayers

This is a dynamic list of prayers that will never remain the same.  The prayers continuously change-evolve based on whatever is needed at the moment. I invite you to breath in, soften, marinate, consume, those prayers that feel right for you.  Praye... Read more

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Holding both, holding all

This week we celebrated Trudy’s 75th birthday online. With a 1000+ people from all over the world, including her long time friends Tara Brach, George Mumford, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Sandra Oh, Dan Siegel and Caroline Welch,... Read more

Where We Stand – A Message to Our Community

As the devastation surrounding the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade by police officers reverberates around the world and in our hearts, we want to reiterate our commitment to racial justice. This is an invit... Read more