Meditate with Ease and Skill
We come to meditation for many reasons: to ease stress, find focus, explore our inner life, or seek insight. Whatever draws us, meditation offers a refuge from the noise of the world—and a way to transform how we relate to our mind, heart, and life itself. With clear guidance, its benefits are available to anyone.
Meditation is both a discipline and a craft—an art of living that invites us to understand ourselves and life more deeply. As my first teacher, Anagarika Munindra-ji, often said, “If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it.” At its heart, meditation is a practice of learning: why we suffer, how to stop struggling, and how to live with greater freedom and compassion. Over time, it can transform your life, clarify your purpose, and support you in offering your gifts to the world.
These resources invite you to explore this path at your own pace—through articles, talks, and guided practices drawn from Buddhist Insight Meditation.
Start Here: How to Clear Your Mind
Learn why thoughts aren’t the problem in meditation, how to work with distraction, and practical tools to quiet the mind naturally.
Foundations of Meditation
These articles explore what meditation really is, how mindfulness works, and how to cultivate steady awareness in daily life.
The start of the calendar year offers the opportunity to begin anew and reorient our lives in line with our deeper intentions. It’s also a good time to return to the basics of mindfulness practice and lay a solid foundation.
Developing a natural ease in mindfulness practice helps us shift from viewing it as a special, separate activity to a foundation for the rest of our lives.
One key to strengthen mindfulness that's often overlooked is how to create a positive feedback loop in our practice
Finding Time to Practice
The benefits of meditation unfold over time, yet it can be hard to sustain a steady rhythm. These reflections offer insight and encouragement to keep returning to practice.
A primary challenge today for those interested in mindfulness is finding the time to practice. This can be especially true for educators.
If you’ve ever had a daily meditation practice, and ever stopped, chance are one of these things may be at play…
A three-step process for gaining momentum in meditation to receive the benefits of a steady, daily practice.
How can we protect mindfulness from becoming subsumed by the culture of doing, and use it to counter the effects of "high volume doing?"
Books and Pratice
Deepen your practice with study, retreats, and community.
Your Heart Was Made for This
About the Book: A practical guide to cultivating inner resources to meet a world in crisis with courage, integrity, and love. Drawing on Buddhism, psychology, and contemplative traditions, Oren offers reflections, practices, and guidance to bring wisdom and compassion to every aspect of life.
“This is the book we need right now to help heal the planet and care for one another.”
Clear Dharma Sangha
About the Group: A weekly online gathering for meditation, reflection, and conversation. Each session weaves together guided practice, Dharma teachings, and community dialogue around the themes of awareness, compassion, social transformation and wise action. Join from anywhere to nurture clarity, steadiness, and an engaged heart.
“Once there is seeing, there must be acting—otherwise, what is the point of seeing?”
Online Meditation Group: With guest teacher Matthew Brensilver
Drop in by donation, or join as a member for access to all live sessions, recordings, and an audio library of guided meditations and teachings. Meets Wednesdays (4–5:30pm PT) and 1st and 3rd Saturdays (8-9am PT).
Saturday Practice Session: (with Lily) Drop in by donation, or join as a member for access to all live sessions, recordings, and an audio library of guided meditations and teachings. Meets Wednesdays (4–5:30pm PT) and 1st and 3rd Saturdays (8-9am PT).
Online Meditation Group: Drop in by donation, or join as a member for access to all live sessions, recordings, and an audio library of guided meditations and teachings. Meets Wednesdays (4–5:30pm PT) and 1st and 3rd Saturdays (8-9am PT).
Online Meditation Group: Drop in by donation, or join as a member for access to all live sessions, recordings, and an audio library of guided meditations and teachings. Meets Wednesdays (4–5:30pm PT) and 1st and 3rd Saturdays (8-9am PT).
Hybrid Retreat: In this hybrid, silent meditation retreat, we will explore techniques for developing each of the four sublime states, as well as ways to release the obstacles that often get in the way of living with more ease, happiness and peace.
An Insight Meditation retreat offered over the winter solstice. Residential and remote/online options are available.
Talks and Guided Meditations
These talks and guided meditations draw from retreats and classes exploring mindfulness, compassion, courage, and the heart of Buddhist practice.
GUIDED MEDITATIONS
CORE TEACHINGS
DHARMA TALKS
More Articles on Meditation
Explore more essays on mindfulness, compassion, joy, and the spiritual path in daily life.
Five tools for transforming our relationship to pain—physical, emotional, and everything between.
A poem for these strange, tender, difficult days—and an invitation to keep tending the heart.
When the ground shifts, where do we turn—and how do we respond without losing our humanity?
Join me in a steady practice community and a new series on living the Buddhist path in everyday life.
A year-end reflection and meditation on forgiveness to soften the heart, give grace, and begin again.
Video: Finding our Ground in a Divided World, Keynote Address at Washington University of St. Louis
How do we keep our hearts open and balanced when so much is out of our hands? A reflection on equanimity and the small acts that help us stay grounded and connected.
Joanna Macy on the power of meditation, the communal roots of the Buddha’s path, and the need for collective action in a time of global crisis.
What does it mean to be patient when the world is on fire? We need patience now more than ever—not to wait, but to endure and act wisely.
The true depth of mindfulness is not mere stress relief, but a tool for liberation, wisdom, and engagement with the world.
In uncertain times, love becomes our greatest refuge and source of strength. Love is something we return to inwardly, again and again.
This reflection practice on beginning the new year offers a potent way to step back, nourish wisdom, and recommit to our values.
Orienting towards the good in life is a skill. Practicing it taps into a wellspring of healing, vitality, and strength.
How do we find steadiness and clarity in the midst of chaos and upheaval? The answer may be closer than you think.
Gratitude and grief may seem to be in tension with one another, but gratitude and loss are inseparable. Awareness of what is present calls forth what is absent. Grief embodies our humanity …
The attacks by Hamas on October 7th and the current war in the Middle East have stirred intense emotions: pain, fear, anger, grief, and despair. “Even the peace makers right now are in a state of shock and trauma.” How do we care for ourselves and one another in such times?
Why would anyone voluntarily choose to be stuck somewhere with no internet, no reading, or talking? An interview with Oren about the benefits of meditation retreats.
A short reflection on the life and legacy of modern Buddhist Meditation Master Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh.
Uncertainty is a part of life. How can we learn to find more balance when everything keeps changing?
It’s natural to feel exhausted after all that’s happened. There’s a deep need for healing and renewal. What is one to do when even meditation feels like a chore?
There are three common myths about meditation that can hinder your practice, or stop you from even starting.
Meditation practice is about discovering our true home, right here in this heart-body-mind, and learning how to “stay at home.”
Spiritual and emotional maturity doesn’t mean we never feel afraid. It means having enough balance…
An excerpt on the role of empathy in education from Oren’s book Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents.
Anxiety is one of the most prevalent forms of mental suffering in our society today. Here are a few simple mindful tools to help...
In an age of online connection, record numbers feel depressed and alienated. How can we bring more sanity to our news consumption?
Support the Teachings
These teachings are offered freely. If they’ve been meaningful to you, consider supporting Oren’s work through a donation.
There are three common myths about meditation that can hinder your practice, or stop you from even starting.