To learn more about Namchak’s Shamata retreats and what to expect when you attend, we spoke with Alley Fontenot, Namchak Community Steward. How can I prepare for the workshop? "The event is very well supported, so there’s nothing you need to do to prepare. All you...
Namchak Community Blog
“Clearing the Lens”
Lama Tsomo often uses the phrase, "clearing the lens," or "cleaning your windshield," to describe focusing our thoughts and training our mind to see what is true. Ever wonder where that comes from? In Buddhism, the word for enlightenment is "sangye". "San" meaning...
Volunteering Can Make You a More Mindful Person
Volunteering is a fantastic way to become engaged with the community we live in – and even those we don’t! Below are a few ways volunteering can help us become more mindful. When we volunteer we tend to focus outwards on others which can help give us a sense of...
Meditation Can Save You from Regret
Regret can cause not only pain and grief, but it can negatively affect our mental and emotional health. When in the throes of regret, our tendency to shove it to the side or suppress it can be hard to resist. Instead, we can use meditation to keep us present and to...
How to Use Shamata in the Workplace
Shamata, or the practice of Calm Abiding, helps us cultivate a calmer and more centered life. It provides us tangible ways to embody compassion, joy, and courage to show up as our best selves in all areas of life. Shamata can benefit not only us, but our co-workers,...
Three Ways Meditation Can Help You Manage Stress
Stress gets to all of us and can build up over time, whether it’s work stress, life stress or just stress in general. Here are a few ways meditation can help with managing stress. Add movement. When we’re stressed, it can be hard to come to self on our cushion,...
Three Ways Meditation Can Make You a Better Partner
Relationships require us to grow, adapt and change. How can we use those aspects to develop our relationships into ones filled with a greater capacity for love and connection? One way is to use the tools that meditation teaches us to make our relationships flourish....
Why Retreat is Just What Your Practice Needs
Meditating solo can be daunting. It’s hard to know if we’re on the right path or who to ask if we have questions when we don’t understand a practice. That’s where the benefits of a meditation retreat can help! Retreat is a powerful tool to deeply develop our...
Privilege of a Lifetime
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” ― C.G. Jung We live in a fast-paced world where distractions abound and opportunities to overcommit are endless. Under the pressure to keep up and balance more, it can be easy to lose or never fully know...
Increase Your Joy and Destress this Holiday Season
Want to maximize your enjoyment of the holidays this year? Here are some resources for handling the diverse array of obstacles that can get in the way of that goal. H.E.A.L. yourself from the holiday blues: There are actions you can take to minimize the very real...
Recommended Articles
From Prince to Buddha
Did you know that prior to becoming the Buddha, he was a prince named Siddhartha? Read excerpt from Lama Tsomo’s recent book “Ancient Wisdom for Our Times: Tibetan Buddhist Practice: Why Bother? An Introduction”
Understanding the Four Immeasurables and Their Near and Far Enemies
The Four Immeasurables, also called the Four Boundless Qualities, and the Four Brahmaviharas are the Buddhist virtues of Equanimity, Loving Kindness, Compassion, and Sympathetic Joy.
How to Start Meditating
On the Buddhist path, Calm Abiding serves as the foundation for all other practices. It is a technique used to develop our power of attention and bring our coarse and subtle thoughts to a restful state. In other words, it is resting or abiding in that peaceful state.