Meditating during Uncertain Times

BRN Academy

With the American election coming up, and the spike in COVID cases around the world, it is inevitable that many people may be experiencing PTSD, panic attacks, worry and concern. Many people ask how can meditation help when all you are doing is sitting on the cushion? Don't we have to get up, go outside...

Moving into Spaciousness

BRN Academy

In this talk Mary will talk about identifying those constricted and frightened parts of ourselves that we may not even be aware of. When we're caught in any type of addictive behavior, we're also often trapped in habits of mind that are driven by fear and an inability to be with reality. When we hold...

Eight Step Recovery

BRN Academy

This months teaching will take the form of an Eight Step Recovery meeting 

Watch Your Tone: Awareness of Feeling Tones

BRN Academy

With any experience, there is a felt sense that arises within us before the onslaught of stories and emotions. It often happens so quickly that we are unaware of it. These feeling tones set in motion the habitual reactions of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that we get caught up in.   The Buddha taught us...

Showing Up for Life As It Is

BRN Academy

So much of our lives can be driven by unconscious reactivity: the endless struggle to avoid painful or negative feelings. With mindfulness meditation, we can develop the skill of patience and presence, so that we can experience calm and contentment even in the midst of all of the challenges of our lives.

Relax the Body, Relax the Mind

BRN Academy

  Our bodies hold so much that we’re not aware of. Our shoulders are tight, our jaws are clenched. This tenseness is often a reaction to cravings, aversions, and other habits of mind that we’re also unaware of. In this meditation and talk, Mary will invite us to relax the body and mind which allows...

Changing Poison into Medicine

BRN Academy

 Myokei Caine-Barrett currently holds the position of Bishop of the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order of North America.  She is the first woman and the first American to hold this position.  She is also the first American woman and first person of African American-Japanese descent to be fully ordained, having completed this process in 2007 with ...

Cabbages and Condoms

BRN Academy

Life is naturally difficult and disappointing. All living creatures are programmed to seek security and safety, and as humans, we also seek certainty. As a result, we often live life as unconscious prisoners of fear.  Fear of this world and of a next world, fear of sickness and of death, fear of insecurity and of...