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Pranayama
Pranayama is a practice of settling your attention on your breath. As attention becomes balanced, so too does the nervous system. Michael and guest teacher, Grant Hutchinson, teach the ways yogic breathing returns the nervous system to “factory settings.” Topics
Mountains & Rivers, Part 3
Michael continues discussing the teachings of Japanese Zen master Dōgen and his essay, Mountains and Rivers. Mountains are actually walking. If you can understand that mountains walk, you can understand impermanence. Nothing is as solid as you think. What, in
Mountains & Rivers, Part 2
Michael describes the way mountains and rivers influenced Dōgen and the way they can teach us about our lives. Mountains and water teach us about time, flow, and solidity. Everything is nothing but a moment in time.
Mountains & Rivers, Part 1
Who was Dōgen? What were his main teachings? Michael introduces the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Zen master Dōgen and his essay, Mountains and Rivers. Dōgen loses both his parents and wants to understand impermanence.
Basics of Buddhism, Part 2
Michael gives commentary on Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths in a series on the basic teachings of the Buddha — craving, suffering, enlightenment, and the Eightfold Path. Craving closes down the path.
Basics of Buddhism, Part 1
In this dharma talk, Michael aims to answer the question, “What did the Buddha teach?” by focusing on the Pāli Canon—the earliest known record of the Buddha’s teachings in India. The mind is like a tourist—taking pictures of the present
Yoga Sutra, Chapter 3: Devotion to Present Experience
Treat each movement of the mind as something we devote ourselves to, like the beloved, and then forgiveness happens naturally. Meditation is about going to the places deeper than ourselves, the place where forgiveness comes from. The final talk on
Guided Meditation
A guided meditation, recorded during the first night of year-end silent retreat, with a focus on the subtle body, breath, palette, tongue and skull.
Yoga Sutra, Chapter 3: The Silence Museum
Michael comes home from practice in Thailand and talks about travels, not buying things in plastic, and details about meditation techniques—some very good meditation instructions in this talk.
Yoga Sutra, Chapter 3: Compassion is a Superpower
It’s cool to be kind—it’s the new black dress. Loving-kindness is a ratio. If it’s about you, it’s about clinging. If it’s only about the other, you lose yourself. The best kind of love is actually conditional. At the core
Yoga Sutra, Chapter 3: Superpowers
Meditation opens us up to levels of experience that are non-human. Michael goes through Patanjali’s description of superpowers and how they happen in meditation practice. Then he talks about calmness and what can lead people into trouble if they don’t
Yoga Sutra, Chapter 3: A Moment in Time
Can you see each thing in your life—whether objects or the people around you—as a moment in time? The mind is like a tourist constantly taking photos; meditation allows for the coming and going of everything. What’s happening is really
About the Community Library
Michael was a great archivist and the Community Library was—and continues to be—a labour of love. Everything in the Community Library is available for free. Anyone, anywhere can have instant access to material that will help them deepen their practice and contribute to a culture of compassion and collaboration.
Libraries are places where we gather alone together. They are known to be places of refuge for seekers, as well as those who are marginalized. This library is no different. It helps us nourish our beautiful, international community without walls. Now, it will also help keep Michael’s legacy alive.