Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Mindfulness Cultivates Equanimity

Meditation Monday with Sayadaw Vivekananda

What does it mean to have a “balanced mind”, and how can mindfulness meditation help to cultivate it? Mindfulness-based meditation practice has very positive effects on the mind that are experienced as temporary states. A long term committed practice will transform these temporary, positive states into permanent traits… into new a way of being. Buddhism lists these beneficial qualities as “The 7 Factors Of Awakening”, with the culmination in that list of “equanimity”, an exquisitely balanced mind. In the below interview excerpt Vipassana meditation teacher Sayadaw Vivekananda speaks about how “mindfulness cultivates equanimity”.

Ven. Sayadaw Vivekananda
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Embracing Conflict As Path

Diane Musho Hamilton & Miles Kessler [Encore Post]

What is your relationship to conflict? Is it something you prefer to avoid? Or do you like to lean into a good fight? Recently, Diane Musho Hamilton and I held our 3rd Community Call in our “Dharma & The Evolution Of Conflict” 3-part series. In this call, together with the global sangha, Diane & I dove into this very topic as we explored “Embracing Conflict As Path.”

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Mindfulness Sinks

Dharma Bite w/ Miles Kessler

In this short “Dharma Bite” Miles Kessler describes the basic characteristic of Mindfulness according to Buddhist Psychology. Namely, the characteristic of “non-superficiality.” In other words, Mindfulness “sinks.”

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Online Meditation Course w/ Miles Kessler

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The Classic Benefits Of Mindfulness

Meditation Monday w/ Sayadaw Vivekananda

Welcome to meditation Monday! Modern science has proven that mindfulness and meditation bring countless benefits to your life. These include greater emotional & psychological well-being, physical health, mental performance, and even greater functionality in relationships. But way back in the beginning, when the Buddha first taught meditation in the Satipatthana Sutta, he laid out 7 benefits of meditation. In the text and video below the Ven. Sayadaw Vivekananda shares The Classic Benefits Of Mindfulness.

Ven. Sayadaw Vivekananda
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THE BUDDHA’S ADVICE TO AN AIKIDO SENSEI [ENCORE POST]

5 Qualities Of A Spiritually Mature Teacher

The early Buddhist term for a teacher is a  “Kalyanamitta” – which means a “Noble Friend.” I love this phrase because it reframes the role of the teacher and student, and how this holy relationship impacts your life. In this blog post, I will share with you the advice the Buddha gave in his teaching on the 5 qualities of a “Nobel Friend.” As Aikido is a higher path of practice, I think that these guidelines are especially relevant to Aikido teachers. This is the Buddha’s advice to an Aikido Sensei.

Miles Kessler Sensei
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LEARN AIKIDO LIKE A PRO, CREATE AIKIDO AS AN ARTIST

Aikido & Teaching Series

Aikido is a paradoxical art. Fully grasping Aikido requires you to develop a relatively complex understanding of its technical curriculum, while at the same time having direct access to the universal principles that are the spiritual core of the art. Another way to look at it is, to fully master the art of Aikido you need to “learn Aikido like a pro, create Aikido as an artist.”  

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Mindfulness Between Stimulus & Response

Facebook Live replay w/ Miles Kessler

The late Austrian psychotherapist and  Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl famously said “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Not only is this brilliant quote profoundly true, but it is also a very powerful description of how mindfulness actually works. I invite you to join me in the below Facebook Live replay as I unpack the profound meaning of the “Mindfulness Between Stimulus & Response”. 

Facebook Live Replay w/ Miles Kessler
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3 Ways To Be A Better Aikido Teacher (And Student!)

Aikido & Teaching Series

In one way or another, we are all teachers, and we are all students. Surely from time to time, you find yourself helping another, or getting another’s help in understanding something new. At the very least it is safe to say that we are all learners.  It is in this spirit that I’m sharing my latest post on 3 Ways To Be A Better Aikido Teacher (And Student!).

Miles Kessler Sensei
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Meditation, Narcissism, & The “I”

Dr. Dominique Cassidy & Miles Kessler

Are you a narcissist? Or have you overcome your narcissist tendencies with meditation? Well, if you were raised in our highly individualized western culture, then there’s a good chance that at least a little narcissism drives your life. Your professional life, your personal life, and perhaps even your spiritual life. This is the topic I dive into in the “Dharma Bite” I had with Aikido Sensei, meditation teacher, and psychiatrist Dr. Dominique Cassidy about “Meditation, Narcissism, & The “I.“

Meditation, Narcissism, & The "I" | "Dharma Bite" w/ Dr. Dominique Cassidy & Miles Kessler