The Power of Meditation

Sharon Salzberg experienced a childhood filled with considerable loss and turmoil. An early realization of the power of meditation to help overcome personal suffering determined the direction of her life. Her teaching and writing now communicates that power to a worldwide audience of practitioners.

Sharon first encountered Buddhism in 1969, in an Asian philosophy course at the State University of New York, Buffalo. The course sparked an interest that, in 1970, took her to India, for an independent study program. Sharon traveled motivated by “an intuition that the methods of meditation would bring me some clarity and peace.”

In 1971, in Bodh Gaya, India, Sharon attended her first intensive meditation course. She spent the next years engaged in intensive study with highly respected Buddhist teachers. She returned to America in 1974 and began teaching vipassana (insight) meditation. Today she leads intensive retreats worldwide as well as a variety of non-residential programs, workshops, and classes.I

n 1976, she established, together with Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts, which now ranks as one of the most prominent and active meditation centers in the Western world. Sharon has also emerged as a featured speaker and teacher at a wide variety of events. She served as a panelist with the Dalai Lama and leading scientists at the 2005 Mind and Life Investigating the Mind Conference in Washington, DC.The written word is central to Sharon Salzberg’s teaching and studies. She is a regular contributor the the Huffington Post, and was a contributing editor of Oprah’s O Magazine for several years. She has appeared in Time Magazine, Yoga Journal, msnbc.com, Tricycle, Real Simple, Body & Soul, Mirabella, Good Housekeeping, Self, Buddhadharma, More and Shambhala Sun, as well as on a variety of radio programs.

Sharon talked with me recently about her new book Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

Sharon suggested the following 10 ways to deepen your meditation practice:

1.)THINK OF KINDNESS AS A STRENGTH NOT A WEAKNESS
2.)LOOK FOR THE GOOD IN YOURSELF
3.)REMEMBER THAT EVERYONE WANTS TO BE HAPPY
4.)RECOLLECT THOSE WHO HAVE HELPED AND INSPIRED US
5.)PRACTICE AT LEAST ONE ACT OF GENEROSITY A DAY
6.)DO LOVINGKINDNESS MEDITATION
7.)LISTEN
8.)INCLUDE THOSE WHO SEEM LEFT OUT
9.)REFRAIN FROM SPEAKING ILL OF OTHERS
10.)WALK A MILE IN ANOTHER PERSON’S SHOE BEFORE PASSING JUDGEMENT