{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Bhavana Community of Coastal Carolina","home_page_url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org","description":"Bhavana Community of Coastal Carolina","author":{"name":"Bhavana Community of Coastal Carolina"},"items":[{"id":"buddha-as-role-model","html_content":"

One fundamental reason for the success of human beings is the ability of human groups to cooperate and learn from each other over generations, in short, to copy each other. Who, what and when we copy is an important ques...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/buddha-as-role-model","title":"Buddha as Role Model","date_modified":"2025-01-09T00:40:34Z"},{"id":"the-joy-of-figuring-things-out","html_content":"

There were always puzzles around the house as I grew up, jigsaw puzzles, string puzzles and real-life science puzzles. My mother was a scientist. She had earned a college degree in chemistry before she moved to Alaska to...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/the-joy-of-figuring-things-out","title":"The Joy of Figuring Things Out","date_modified":"2024-11-03T23:46:03Z"},{"id":"tranquility-the-fifth-flourishing-factor","html_content":"

Human evolutionary survival has depended on an active, vigilant mind. As humans came to have more control over our environment and had reliable sources of food and safety via a social network (the first three layers of M...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/tranquility-the-fifth-flourishing-factor","title":" Tranquility, the Fifth Flourishing Factor","date_modified":"2024-01-07T20:44:08Z"},{"id":"joy-and-happiness-the-fourth-flourishing-factor","html_content":"

“A well-trained mind brings happiness.” Dhp v. 35

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/joy-and-happiness-the-fourth-flourishing-factor","title":"Joy and Happiness: The Fourth Flourishing Factor","date_modified":"2023-12-20T16:15:29Z"},{"id":"energy-virya-the-third-flourishing-factor","html_content":"

“We work to be better people so we can make the world a better place.”

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/energy-virya-the-third-flourishing-factor","title":"Energy (Vīrya), the Third Flourishing Factor","date_modified":"2023-10-26T12:57:24Z"},{"id":"curiosity-and-flourishing","html_content":"

Curiosity is the second of the Five Flourishing Factors and there are two phrases we find in Buddha’s early discourses that suggest that curiosity was an essential element of the teachings. The first of these is dhamma v...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/curiosity-and-flourishing","title":"Curiosity and Flourishing","date_modified":"2023-09-15T13:00:00Z"},{"id":"mindfulness-as-the-foundation-for-human-flourishing","html_content":"

We find many similarities between the teachings of Positive Psychology and the pre-sectarian teachings of the Buddha. Both propose that we can intentionally cultivate attitudes that lead either to suffering and misery or...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/mindfulness-as-the-foundation-for-human-flourishing","title":"Mindfulness as the Foundation for Human Flourishing","date_modified":"2023-08-09T13:18:35Z"},{"id":"look-for-the-go","html_content":"

Historically, psychologists have been much more interested in psychopathology and negative emotional states than in flourishing. A new field of research, Positive Psychology, has been exploring factors that are character...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/look-for-the-go","title":"Look for the Good - Practices for Flourishing","date_modified":"2023-07-11T18:00:38Z"},{"id":"what%E2%80%99s-skillful-now","html_content":"

I have been a bit more overwhelmed and distracted than usual and I have been noticing how helpful it can be for me to keep coming back to this question. “What’s Skillful Now?” or “What’s the next right thing?” Many of ...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/what%E2%80%99s-skillful-now","title":"What’s Skillful Now?","date_modified":"2023-06-04T00:00:00Z"},{"id":"mindfulness-and-open-mindedness","html_content":"

“A disciplined mind brings happiness.” Buddha

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/mindfulness-and-open-mindedness","title":"Mindfulness and Open Mindedness","date_modified":"2023-05-11T16:58:01Z"},{"id":"mindful-of-distractions","html_content":"

An important task of everyday mindfulness is to recognize that we are becoming distracted before we actually get distracted, so we can respond more skillfully. Working with distractions is about remembering our intention...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/mindful-of-distractions","title":"Mindful of Distractions","date_modified":"2023-04-05T23:49:26Z"},{"id":"holiday-stress-vs-holiday-joy","html_content":"

Neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School suggest that the winter holidays, starting with Thanksgiving through New Year’s, can create more than the usual stress because they increase our need to multi-task which overdriv...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/holiday-stress-vs-holiday-joy","title":"Holiday stress vs Holiday Joy","date_modified":"2022-12-15T10:58:51Z"},{"id":"anicca-impermanence-and-reactivity","html_content":"

In the July reflection on impermanence, anicca, I talked about my sadness at letting go of the office that I had occupied for over 35 years. As circumstances change over time, we will inevitably lose loved ones and loved...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/anicca-impermanence-and-reactivity","title":"Anicca (impermanence) and Reactivity ","date_modified":"2022-11-01T14:04:33Z"},{"id":"impermanence","html_content":"

The last few months have given me an opportunity to practice with the reality of impermanence, the word anicca in Pali. The building that has been my private practice home for 37 years has been sold and we have all moved...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/impermanence","title":"Anicca (impermanence) and Sadness ","date_modified":"2022-07-06T23:00:55Z"},{"id":"dhammapada-guidance-for-a-changing-world","html_content":"

Slogans like “Look before you leap.” Or “A penny saved is a penny earned.” have been important self-regulation tools for as long as we have had language. One of the first things we can notice when we start meditating is ...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/dhammapada-guidance-for-a-changing-world","title":"Dhammapada: Guidance for a Changing World","date_modified":"2022-06-13T10:32:45Z"},{"id":"skills-for-cultivating-harmony","html_content":"

Today’s technology has made it difficult to avoid seeing conflict in our world. Images from the ravaged landscape and the distraught facial expressions of displaced people in Ukraine are almost everywhere. At home, we ha...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/skills-for-cultivating-harmony","title":"Skills for Cultivating Harmony","date_modified":"2022-04-22T10:54:10Z"},{"id":"community-and-spiritual-friendship","html_content":"

The Pali Canon presents a conversation between Buddha and his attendant Ananda. Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/community-and-spiritual-friendship","title":"Community and Spiritual Friendship","date_modified":"2022-03-05T22:42:00Z"},{"id":"living-in-harmony","html_content":"

This month's major holiday, Valentine’s Day, can feel like an occasion for wearing black if you are not in a romantic relationship or are in an unhappy one. I am glad for those of you who are in harmonious relationships,...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/living-in-harmony","title":"Living in Harmony","date_modified":"2022-02-01T12:29:35Z"},{"id":"relaxation-as-self-care","html_content":"

Like anything else, self-care is a balancing act. Too much self-care can become self-centered and indulgent. Not enough self-care can lead to the need to have others care for you. Neither are skillful. Mindfulness and me...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/relaxation-as-self-care","title":"Relaxation as Self-Care","date_modified":"2022-01-01T15:40:01Z"},{"id":"bhavana-community-a-brief-biography-of-our-first-10-years","html_content":"

Around ten years ago when the Bhavana Community was meeting in my living room, one of the students who is the CEO of a local non-profit said to me “We need a slogan.” The consensus was that the phrase that I was using, “...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/bhavana-community-a-brief-biography-of-our-first-10-years","title":"Bhavana Community: a Brief History of our first 10 years","date_modified":"2021-11-05T14:11:09Z"},{"id":"remembering-to-remember","html_content":"

Around 10 years ago, I developed a memory device, the Five R’s, to summarize what seemed to be the core components of how we cultivate personal changes that can lead to a healthier, happier life for ourselves and others....

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/remembering-to-remember","title":"Remembering to Remember","date_modified":"2021-10-03T19:25:21Z"},{"id":"seven-factors-of-awakening","html_content":"

Last month I introduced the word kusala, a Pali and Sanskrit word, which describes actions of body, speech, or mind as wholesome or skillful. At the conclusion, I noted that mindfulness was essential to our understanding...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/seven-factors-of-awakening","title":"Seven Factors of Awakening","date_modified":"2021-09-02T11:39:01Z"},{"id":"kusala-skillful-and-wholesome","html_content":"

“Bhavana Community: Practitioners of Mindfulness and Yoga Cultivating skills to live intentionally for the benefit of all beings,”

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/kusala-skillful-and-wholesome","title":"Kusala: skillful and wholesome","date_modified":"2021-08-01T23:00:00Z"},{"id":"yoga-wholesome-fun","html_content":"

I had been curious about yoga for many years before going to my first yoga class when I was almost 60 years old. It didn’t become a priority until I was desperate to find relief for a frozen shoulder. Once I understood t...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/yoga-wholesome-fun","title":"Yoga: Wholesome Fun","date_modified":"2021-07-01T12:00:00Z"},{"id":"anukampa","html_content":"

I discovered the word bhavana in the Yoga Sutras and slowly fell in love with it, if you can say that about words. I am now falling in love with another word from the early Indian tradition, anukampa. In February of this...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/anukampa","title":"Anukampa","date_modified":"2021-05-05T15:08:24Z"},{"id":"mindfulness-and-curiosity","html_content":"

Non-judgmental present moment awareness is a beginning level of mindfulness practice but mindfulness is much more complex and nuanced in the early Buddhist textual tradition. In all the various versions of the Satipatthā...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/mindfulness-and-curiosity","title":"Mindfulness and Curiosity","date_modified":"2021-04-01T15:00:00Z"},{"id":"curiosity","html_content":"

Abiding thus mindful, he investigates and examines that state with wisdom and embarks upon a full inquiry into it. Buddha MN 118

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/curiosity","title":"Curiosity: A Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness Practice","date_modified":"2021-03-01T14:00:00Z"},{"id":"beginners-mind","html_content":"

“In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/beginners-mind","title":"Beginners Mind","date_modified":"2021-02-01T11:00:00Z"},{"id":"equanimity-as-an-antidote-for-ignorance","html_content":"

“Equanimity is one of the most sublime emotions of Buddhist practice. It is the ground for wisdom and freedom and the protector of compassion and love.” Gil Fronsdal

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/equanimity-as-an-antidote-for-ignorance","title":"Equanimity as an antidote for Ignorance 1/1/21","date_modified":"2021-01-02T23:09:47Z"},{"id":"ignorance-12120","html_content":"

Ignorance is thinking you know something that you don’t know. As an adolescent, I knew I was smarter than most of my friends. I got good grades and I didn’t seem to have to try as hard at school as my friends. One day my...

","url":"https://bhavanacommunity.org/yoga-as-bhavana/f/ignorance-12120","title":"Ignorance","date_modified":"2020-12-01T22:00:00Z"}]}