Make Space Meditation + Care

Hello and good evening, friends. I’ve had a hard time finding words today. There’s so much going on in the world, in our collective and separate lives. It’s hard to know where to begin. I know there’s a lot to do in our day to day lives and also with the wider issues at hand. It can be exhausting to simply keep up with the news. So what do we do when that’s the case? I think we have to find oursel...

Hello and good morning. How are you? We are spending time this morning with possibility. In the rush of Monday (or any day), sometimes it feels hard to not just be with what we expect. Maybe we’re expecting it to be a Monday sort of day. Maybe we’re expecting work to be this or an appointment to be like that. What if we let go of the expectation and let what’s possible unfold? To me, that feels mo...

Hi, friends. To say it’s been a week is perhaps the understatement of the year thus far. If you’re feeling the stress of the news, work, life, whatever it might be, I hope this meditation helps you to find a way to breathe a little freer. There’s no way to attend to any of the things that are going on in this world if we can’t find ourselves where we are. So let’s take some breaths, find our exhal...

Hello and good morning, friends. Our meditation today is a short one, intended to be able to fit into the smallest of time windows if you need. I know many folks are returning to their “usual” Mondays and usual weeks after the haze of the holidays. I hope this meditation can give you a foundation for the day, a chance to find center and your breath. Thank you for being here. 💗 Take care. ✨ Sessi...

Hello and good morning! As we wrap up the holidays, I thought perhaps a little something to help us land might be nice. Today’s invitation is to find a soft place in this meditation that holds something you might need. Maybe it’s just some quiet space, some stillness, something else that might arise while we’re here together… I hope you find what you need for your day. Daily subscribers, I suspect...

Hello friends. We’ve made it. 2026. How wild. I never would have expected this year. I have a hard time imagining what the future holds, so it never fails to amaze me where I land. How about you? How do you feel today, at this start of something new? Our meditation to start the year is one from the archive, as my voice is not yet ready to create. While I’m not grateful to have been sick this past...

Hello and good morning, friends. We are in that liminal space at the end of the year where I feel as if no one quite knows what day it is and if it is the day you think it is, it’s still not your usual day. Perhaps this is not your usual Monday. I have found myself in both that weird end of year feeling and also the time dictated by an end of the year cold. I don’t know what time it is. I’m waking...

Hello, friends. I hope your day yesterday was a good one and that maybe you’ve been able to find some rest, away from the usual things on your schedule and with more of the folks and animals who are special to you. Our meditation tonight is a short one to help you find some quiet from the last couple of days, whatever they may have held for you. Thank you for being here. 💗 Take care. (This medita...

Hello and good morning, friends. We’ve made it. Today starts the return of the sun, each day a little brighter. I’m thinking today about what we’re bringing with us into the light, what we’re planting. How can we hold those things gently and with the space they need to grow? We’re practicing a little bit of that with the breath today, not getting too caught up in our distractions, but letting them...

Hello, friends. How are you? How has your week been? Whether you’re feeling that push and rush of the end of the year and the holidays or you’re feeling chill about it all, I invite you to these few moments to breathe and take a rest. Sometimes it’s hard to find the time or hard to give ourselves the permission to rest, but I hope you’ll take these moments and know that you don’t have to be anywhe...

Hello and good morning. How has your week been? Our meditation today invites you to tune into the breath and let it out. Maybe there are things in your life that also need that feeling of letting go, moving through, shifting… something like the exhale. Maybe you feel like you’re waiting for the new year or the holidays… Let’s come back to now and see what’s here if we just take a breath. Thank you...

Hello hello. Good morning! Today, we find ourselves together on a most auspicious day. In the Zen tradition, this is Bodhi Day, or the day we recognize as when the Buddha became enlightened. Meditation existed before the Buddha, but his enlightenment was something new. It is said that he sat all through the night, as many practitioners do on this day and then… “At dawn, looking at the morning star...

Hello and good morning, friends. As I was trying to record for you today, I realized something that was happening: the sitting was getting to me. 😜 I’ve been talking a bit this week about Rohatsu, the time leading up to the Buddha’s enlightenment in the Zen tradition. Normally, I would be on retreat, but this year finds me at home and sitting with community online. It’s been quite a bit more medi...

Hello and good morning! How are you, friends? It is hard to believe that we are here at the beginning of December. What a wild year it’s been. I have been thinking a lot obver the last day or so about what I’d like the end of the year to hold, in feeling, in activity, etc. I started to put together the class schedule for this month and just really thought about what my heart wanted to do. I tried...

Hello and good morning, friends. How have you been? For many of us, yesterday may have held what felt like a lot. Even if we didn’t take part in the holiday or if it wasn’t hectic, there can be a lot of lead up. The collective energy has a way of impacting us whether we’re engaging in certain activities or not. Whatever your day might have held yesterday or what today might hold as well, we’re her...

Hello and good morning, friends. How are you? I thought that it might be nice to start this holiday week off with a little time to just find some quiet. Even if it feels like your mind is going going going, maybe there’s a little space there between the breaths or the thoughts. There’s no judgment here for how busy (or not) your mind or body might feel. I hope you’ll allow these moments together t...

Hello and good morning to you. How are you? We’re starting our day and our meditation off a little differently this morning. The invitation today is to find a little happiness before we settle in and to let that feeling be with us in this meditation. It’s easy to get sort of sucked up into the things that bring us down, especially in the world today. I know that my struggles with chronic migraine...

Hello and good morning, friends. When I received jukai in March of 2022 from Roshi Joan Halifax, she gave me the dharma name Joko. So much was happening in that moment that things feel fuzzy, but I remember so clearly the mental image as she described its meaning as a quiet lake. This morning, that image of the quiet lake is here with me. The calm waters, barely believable in their stillness. We’r...

Hello and good morning! I’m thinking this morning about what it is to find this idea of quiet or ease in our wild world. To me right now, it feels like letting my shoulders relax, taking a few minutes to breath. It’s breathing deeply and being with the breath. It’s taking a moment to notice the sky. Maybe these sound right to you too or maybe there’s something else that comes to mind that might he...

Hello hello. How are you, friends? In thinking about what to share with you this morning, I was reminded of this moment that I had while making coffee earlier. The little moments are always the one that get me the most, the ordinary and every day things. It’s the care with the water, the coffee, the filter. I felt like I was noticing the texture of the mug differently today. There was a bit of slo...

Hello and good morning. Welcome to Monday, friends. For our meditation today, we’re spending time being quiet, maybe finding a little calm. I know that Mondays can often bring a rush or maybe it’s a more subtle shift for you. Either way, I hope today’s meditation can begin the week ahead helping you to cultivate a quiet, calm space you can return to when you need it, whenver that might be. In this...

Hello and good morning, friends. How are you? Here we are at the start of November. It’s so hard to believe how the year has gone by. As we often do at the start of a new month, we’re talking about beginning again. Whether you’ve been away from meditation or you’re brand new, what a time to start fresh! Maybe you’ve felt too distracted or there’s something else that keeps you from sitting down to...

Hello and good morning, friends. Whenever I pull something from the archive for you, I like to write something new, bringing the meditation forward into what’s happening now. Today, as I was deciding what to share with you, I thought that what was already here feels applicable and worth sharing again. I hope you find what you need for your Monday… I know that to say it has been an eventful year so...

Hello and good morning, friends. Ah, Monday. Here we are again. Last night, this morning, and other times recently, I’ve been thinking about the feeling of tension and how we can find a space to let some of that go. I even recognized that I was tensing my shoulders while laying in bed last night, asking myself what is that even about? I have my suspicions. Maybe you feel something similar. Maybe j...

Hello and good morning, friends. Shoo. What a week. I’m not sure what yours has looked like, but mine has included a lot of unexpected things. Maybe yours as well? Today’s invitation is to find a soft place in this meditation that holds something you might need. Maybe it’s just some quiet space, some stillness, something else that might arise while we’re here together… I hope you find what you nee...