*from a talk at Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Sylvia Boorstein is an American author, psychotherapist, and Buddhist teacher.

Sylvia Boorstein, PhD, has been teaching Dharma and mindfulness meditation since 1985. She is a founding Spirit Rock teacher, a psychologist, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She is particularly interested in emphasizing daily life as mindfulness practice and including informed citizenship and social activism as integral to spiritual maturation.

Her books include: It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness; Don't Just Do Something, Sit There: A Mindfulness Retreat; That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist: On Being a Faithful Jew and a Passionate Buddhist; Pay Attention for Goodness' Sake: The Buddhist Path of Kindness and Happiness Is an Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life.

"There’s an evanescent quality to this life. It keeps on changing. And we know that—but we don't really know it. I think if we really knew it, we wouldn’t spend a moment angry. The more I go on, the more I think that the development of poise is the heart of practice: whatever is happening, that’s okay; this thought came up, that’s okay; this feeling came up, that’s okay; my back hurts a bit, that's okay. Then we do whatever we can to calm down our mind because it’s not about arm wrestling your mind to the ground, but reminding it of what’s true."

— Sylvia Boorstein  Listen to this talk ►

August 12, 2015 - Liberation is the Whole of the Dharma (the nature of reality regarded as a universal truth taught by the Buddha)

**my comment - Thought-provoking and entertaining. I had no idea how funny she is! Enjoy!

Karen