For many people who desire to learn meditation, it’s a struggle. Having a community of fellow practicioners can be essential, which is why sitting groups like the Meditation Circle of Charleston can be helpful. Yet it’s also highly helpful in this interconnected day and age to have regular support and reminders a click away. Which is why we encourage any beginning meditators or folks trying to revive and revitalize their sitting practice to join the online community around the Buddhist magazine Tricycle.
The month of February is Meditation Month at Tricycle.com, so we pass on the e-mail note we got in today’s e-mailbox and encourage you to consider signing up and bolstering your practice. You can do so at Tricycle.com — you can join for free but joining for $25 gets you access to all the premium offerings on the website and $30 gets you the print magazine at your home, too. And, no, we are not being slipped free meditation cushions to thump for Tricycle. The online site has been a help to both Thad and I and may be an aid to your own practice. | Douglas
A Message to All members of the Tricycle Community:
People often say to us, “I’d like to meditate, but I don’t know where to start.” We’ve heard this from college students, business people, passengers on the subway, and family members. Usually, we might offer some words of wisdom, such as the old meditator’s saw: Start where you are. Good advice, to be sure, but perhaps a bit too cryptic for a beginner looking for specifics. That’s why this month’s theme on tricycle.com is establishing and maintaining a meditation practice. With this quarter’s e-book, Tricycle Teachings: Meditation, we offer you heart advice and practical tips that will help you to stick with your practice. It’s not meant for hermits and yogis, but for lay people like us who aspire to apply Buddhist wisdom in their busy everyday lives. For the beginner, this e-book will help explain what meditation is about and why you should bother to try it at all (there are more benefits than you might guess!). Experienced meditators will appreciate the depth and nuance of the various techniques and traditions presented here.
In addition to the meditation e-book, we have meditation and yoga teacher Jill Satterfield leading an online retreat (“Meditation in Motion”), Zen teacher Brad Warner taking questions as the “Meditation Doctor,” as well as guided meditations from Tricycle’s wisdom collection and retreat archives.
