Practice

Practice is how the teachings take form in our lives. Through meditation, inquiry, and the way we respond to others, we deepen our understanding and develop trust in our capacity to meet life with generosity, kindness, and compassion.

You may be learning to meditate, drawn to Dzogchen, or wondering how to live more fully from what you have begun to understand. Explore these three entrances into practice, and follow the questions that bring you here.

Foundations of Meditation

Meditation gives us a way to become familiar with our own experience. We learn to settle, notice when attention wanders, and look more closely at the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that shape our lives.

Here you will find guidance on beginning and sustaining meditation, including shamatha, or calm abiding, and vipashyana, or insight. Explore how to establish a session, work with distraction, and continue through periods of uncertainty or discouragement.

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A place to begin

1. Guidance on posture, intention, and becoming familiar with your mind:

Beginner's meditation advice.

To say that you meditate is like saying that you play sports, there are many types of meditation and each has its own place and purpose. As a beginner, the most important thing is to get comfortable with the technique, rely on some key principles, and build a foundation for

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2. A guided practice in settling attention and returning when the mind wanders.

Guided meditation: With an object.

Take your seat. Sit comfortably in the seven-point Vairocana posture [https://www.lifes.work/beginners-meditation/]. Relax your body, your breath, your mind. Relax your shoulders, neck and jaw. Take a moment to close your eyes and slowly scan the body from the crown of the head to the

A Life's WorkGreg Patenaude

Dzogchen

Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, points to the nature of mind: empty, lucid, and spontaneously present. Its teachings invite us to recognize this nature, become familiar with it through meditation, and give that understanding expression in how we live.

Explore the view and path of Dzogchen, its history and lineages, and the relationship between teacher, instruction, and practice. The guide brings together an overview of the path, guidance on beginning, and explanations of meditation and conduct.

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A place to begin

An introduction to approaching meditation within the Dzogchen tradition.

Beginner's Dzogchen Practice

A beginner’s guide to Dzogchen practice. How to sit, breathe, and rest in awareness as it is. Simple methods to recognize the nature of mind.

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Daily Life

Our relationships, work, and responsibilities give us continual opportunities to practice. We encounter uncertainty, find ourselves caught in familiar reactions, and discover moments when we can listen, offer help, or acknowledge that we have caused harm.

These writings explore how understanding can inform our conduct. What does compassion ask of us when someone is difficult to love? How do we remain available when we feel afraid? How can we respond within our capacity and take responsibility for the way we affect others?

Formal meditation and daily life support one another. What we learn in meditation can shape how we respond, while the difficulties we encounter reveal where our understanding needs to deepen.

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A place to begin

1. An inquiry into how the Buddhist path takes expression through the way we live.

How are you showing up?

The Buddhist path is about answering a simple question through our lived experience: how are you showing up?

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2. Explore the possibility of deepening practice within the life and responsibilities you already have.

How to Deepen Your Practice Without Becoming a Monk

Feel stuck in your practice? You don’t need to quit your job or renounce the world. Here’s how to go deeper, right where you are.

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Read more blog posts related to Practice.

Meditation

What does meditation mean to you? You might think of peaceful monks meditating, or maybe the popular mindfulness movement that is sweeping through our culture. You might think of single-pointed concentration, a blissful state free from all thought. You might think of loving-kindness meditation, or maybe even meditation on a

A Life's WorkGreg Patenaude

Three pillars of your practice

The importance of discipline, meditation, and wisdom in your practice.

A Life's WorkGreg Patenaude

Retreat Practice

Retreat gives us the chance to step outside habit and see clearly what guides our life.

The importance of regular retreats.

A retreat forms an integral part of the cycle of a practitioner’s life. To retreat means to step out of the deep ruts of our normal daily life and encounter the world anew. Imagine skiing in the mountains after a fresh snowfall, where we are no longer conditioned by the

A Life's WorkGreg Patenaude

What’s stopping you?

Rather than endlessly planning for the retreat of a lifetime, why not consider a lifetime of retreats?

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Read more on Retreat Practice

Practice is not something you “do” to become someone else. It is how you live, here and now, with presence.

“The heart of practice is simple: whatever you are doing, be fully aware you are doing it.”

Study and practice together

Instruction, conversation, and shared practice give us support for continuing. Courses offer a structured way to explore a subject. Life’s Work Inner Circle offers an ongoing relationship with teaching, practice, and community.

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