We’ll continue our monthly mindfulness meditation support group meeting at the Tri-Cities Cancer Center in August. The Cancer Center is located at 7350 West Deschutes Avenue, Kennewick and the next meeting will be Thursday,8/21/2025. The sessions, which are held on the third Thursday of each month, are meant for cancer patients, cancer survivors, and their caregivers. The session will begin at 12:00 pm at… Continue reading
Author: Jon Swanson
Sangha News 8/12/25
Thursday evening info: Over the next month or so we’ll explore the Buddha’s teachings on four qualities of the heart that support us in our lives and practice, and can help us to cultivate an open heart. These four qualities, lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, are usually known as the Brahmaviharas or the four immeasurables.… Continue reading
Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Christine Feldman provides a good introduction to the role of joy in meditation and spiritual practice. Much of the article is about effort and Feldman defines skillful effort as effort that brings a sense of joy, so it’s not grim effort. You can find her article here: Making a Joyful Effort Jack Kornfield has a… Continue reading
Quote for the Week
It is really important that there be a sense of joy in our practice. Joy doesn’t mean that we just have pleasant sensations, blissful experiences, or happy thoughts. It is something much deeper than that. If we are going to be able to really sustain a vital and deepening spiritual practice in our lives, that… Continue reading
Sangha News 7/29/25
Thursday evening info: Over the next month or so we’ll explore the Buddha’s teachings on four qualities of the heart that support us in our lives and practice, and can help us to cultivate an open heart. These four qualities, lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, are usually known as the Brahmaviharas or the four immeasurables.… Continue reading
Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Christiane Wolf provides a good introduction to appreciative joy or mudita. She also discusses some of the obstacles that can arise when we try to practice it. You can find her article here: How to Multiply Joy in Your Life The University of Nebraska has a website for their employees on fostering well-being that includes… Continue reading
Quote for the Week
Sympathetic joy or being happy for another’s happiness (Pali: mudita) is one of the four brahmaviharas, the four highest qualities of the heart. In recent years, the other three—loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity—have received quite a lot of attention from practitioners, researchers, and the press alike. But sympathetic joy has gotten little attention. How can that… Continue reading
Meditation Retreat with Chris Murray on 8/23/25
Chris Murray will lead an Insight Meditation retreat on Saturday, August 23, 2025, from 9:00 am until 4:30 pm. Registration is now open for the retreat. To register for the retreat, please send an email to Tim Barbour. The retreat will be conducted at All Saints Episcopal Church, 1322 Kimball Avenue, Richland, in the Parish… Continue reading
Sangha News 7/15/25
Thursday evening info: Over the next month or so we’ll explore the Buddha’s teachings on four qualities of the heart that support us in our lives and practice, and can help us to cultivate an open heart. These four qualities, lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, are usually known as the Brahmaviharas or the four immeasurables.… Continue reading
Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Sharon Salzberg explores compassion and compares it to several other ways of relating to suffering, both suffering in the world and our own suffering. Those include anger, fear and grief among others. She emphasizes that compassion is a practice that reminds us of our intention to respond with kindness, compassion, and wisdom in the presence… Continue reading