Only go straight, don’t-know!

My first teacher Dae Soen Sa Nim taught us to practice mindfulness with simple Zen phrases: “Only go straight, don’t-know!” He encouraged us all to “Keep this don’t-know mind, try, try for 10,000 years, non-stop.” This was the beauty of his dedicati... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

Retreat to the Future

I’m about to enter a meditation retreat at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in rural central Massachusetts with one of my dharma heroes, Bhikkhu Analayo. Since 1975, the Insight Meditation Society, IMS, with its Retreat Center, the Study Center... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

A Powerful Week

This is a week of spiritual streams converging in the autumnal equinox and the Jewish New Year beginning Sunday eve. Monday was the time in the earth’s annual cycle around the sun when day and night are equal in length, a moment of perfect balance where... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

Restoring the Goodness of Our Hearts

This week, I’m in the beautiful high desert of Lucerne Valley, co-teaching our 7-night fall InsightLA meditation retreat at Royal Way ranch with Celeste Young, Lienchi Tran, and Justine Dawson, with Vince Perata as retreat manager. The ranch... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

Breakfast with Ram Dass

It’s my last day at Ram Dass’s house. There’s a little card table set on the balcony outside his room and a chair ready for me. As I sit down, Ram Dass sweeps his arm across the landscape in a gesture of welcome and appreciation. The balcony outsi... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

Mother of Thousands

For many years, I secretly identified with a plant in my Cambridge psychotherapy office called “Mother of Thousands”. This kalanchoe plant has the amazing capacity to generate countless babies – her offspring grow as a delicate fringe of baby plantlet... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

We Are Sisters and Brothers

The waves and currents at Venice Beach are wild today. The ocean is gleaming in the bright sunlight while the wind whips the water into whitecaps out to the horizon. After getting tossed around on the boogie board, my mouth feels full of sand. Like y... Read more

Towards A Wise and Caring Nation

This is a (slightly abbreviated) letter from the Clergy and Leadership at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. It was sent to us by Tara Brach, and posted by Jack Kornfield as well. The letter expresses ethical concerns that mirror the teachings o... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

Not Too Late

In the course of this long life that glides by so swiftly, I’ve learned from different traditions and practices. Last Saturday, insight and inspiration appeared at the Venice Beach Music Fest – Free! Outside! At the beach! where I went to hear the Ace o... Read more

Author: Trudy Goodman, PhD

What Will You Do With The Rest Of Your Life?

When I first came to LA to help my mother and daughter, I knew no one; it was a lonesome, sad time. I’d left my 30-year community of friends and colleagues. I said my farewells to my home at the Cambridge Buddhist Association, to our marriage and my was... Read more