Stress

Phakchok Rinpoche teaches how to create space to feel more calm and lose fear, as well as slow down the loop of negative thoughts.

Guru Padmasambhava as the guru we can all call out and supplicate in times of freaking out.

Anxiety arises for almost all sentient beings in certain situations.  And there are times when worry can be useful or productive. A little stress can make us sharper, or enhance our performance at times. Yet humans, and particularly modern humans, now often seem to experience constant or chronic low-level anxiety.

The Buddhist tradition offers a number of antidotes to loneliness. Because the Buddha taught dependent origination– that everything arises dependently, connection matters.

When we hear the word “meditation” we may think that we can’t keep still for an hour and be calm.  But, as Tulku Migmar as explains here, the point of meditation is the process itself.   When we meditate we are cultivating new habits bit by bit in short periods. 

Our minds are full of thoughts, full of afflictive emotions, and full of unhappiness. This is why dharma practice is really indispensable to us all. We can’t really do without it. It is better when we practice because right now our minds are completely under the control of our afflictive emotions. If we apply ourselves to the practice of dharma, it becomes the antidote that we need for our afflictive emotions.

Neil Roberts shares an ancient breathing technique to reduce stress and blood pressure.

In this video instruction, Phakchok Rinpoche responds to a student’s question about thoughts arising during four foundations practice sessions. Rinpoche advises the student to look at the thought as it arises: look at the thought and then rest. Always try to be gentle with yourself.

A key teaching of Buddhism is contentment. To understand what this means, we need to see our own experience. Contentment is a state…