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James A. Pearson's poem, "The Simplest of All Regrets" offers a lovely entry point to meditation. Meditation being nothing more than practicing presence -- not so that we get better at meditation, but so that we get better at life. In his weekly newsletter, Pearson also offered these simple instructions for presence, which were used as the instructions for these meditations: "In my experience it [becoming more present] has to do with settling into my body. With letting every

A garden story about autopilot—and choosing which patterns to tend. My family's garden is slowly dying back with autumn and I’ve been marveling at the tenaciousness of cherry tomatoes – they are ripe with metaphors. (Sorry. I love a pun, even a bad one.) Here’s the one I’m mostly thinking about: We planted cherry tomato seedlings a few years ago and they did great. So great that we couldn’t keep up with the harvest and many fell to the ground in squishy little red blobs, like

This meditation uses an old Buddhist story to explain the benefits of simply being with our breath for a few minutes a day. The meditation was recorded live on 10/23/26. Go to 2:00 to skip the story.

Loving-Kindness is a warm, open-heartedness. You can think of Mr. Rogers as the avatar. "Won't you be my neighbor." Everyone is welcome. When we practice Loving-Kindness, we benefit from this expansive open-heartedness by finding greater equanimity. But, we need to be careful to not fall into the trap of Loving-Kindness' far enemy, ill-will, or its near enemy, possessiveness. This meditation focuses particularly on overcoming the near-enemy, possessiveness -- the tricky, Lovi

Common humanity is a key component of compassion. It distinguishes compassion (I'm with you and I want to help) from pity (I'm so sorry for you, over there). This practice is designed to help us feel into our common humanity, so that we have greater compassion for others -- and also, importantly, for ourselves.

Saturday was the new moon, and in the spirit of adrienne maree brown’s poem, “late to the new moon,” this newsletter is also a little late. I aim to send the newsletters out each new and full moon, but this time around I was hung up on what to write. Honestly, I was frustrated. The news cycle has moved on – there is certainly plenty of news to fill the space. But, what happened at Cornell, and the underlying culture of sexual violence (because it isn’t just Cornell) hasn’t go

Karma is generally the concept that "we reap what we sow." But, the Buddhist understanding of this concept is a little different than how it gets interpreted in our Judeo-Christian culture. For one thing, Buddhism is non-theistic, so there is no accountant in the sky doling out karma. In addition, karma is hopeful - it is a way of creating the future we want. Go to 2:57 to skip the intro and get right into the meditation:

The "Yes and..." practice can be a tool for feeling our feelings without getting overwhelmed and bogged down. Try it and see how it works for you! (You can fast forward to 2:45 to skip the intro and get right into the practice.)

Gathas are short verses that can be used to bring mindfulness into mundane, everyday moments. Below are a sampling of gathas from Thich Nhat Hanh. As you read the first line of each gatha, breathe in. When you read the second line, breathe out. And, so on. If you like, you can place these around your house to remind you to come back to the moment - as you drink your tea (or coffee), brush your teeth, take out the garbage, etc. The meditation uses a gatha focused on the breath

Chakras can be a great framework for self-inquiry, for balancing energy, or simply for anchoring into this present moment. Go to 1:53 if you want to skip the intro.

I love my meditation community - I love being together, getting in a little chit-chat, and, of course, the power and camaraderie of meditating as a group. The icing on this cake is that all the money people pay for these meditations gets donated 100% to a climate change organization. So far, we’ve donated $6,928 to 15 different organizations, including the $600 we just sent to the Good Grief Network. A full accounting is below. Thank you to all who donate! ONE SMALL STONE C

Social convention is to ask "How are you?" and to answer "fine." From my not very scientific observations, I wonder how much we do that to ourselves. We are fine. But also we are complicated. Can we spend a little more time understanding ourselves -- offering that love that Thich Nhat Hanh talks about as "understanding is love's other name"? It's not to stir up trouble, but the more we know about ourselves, the more we can listen to our own sense of morality, the more we trus

Go to 1:00 to skip the intro and get right into this practice:

The Fall Equiniox was on September 22nd this year - but we can continue to listen to its invitation for many weeks. The equinoxes invite us into balance. What do we need to release? What do we need to call in? The two meditations below are both (very similar) contemplation practices for creating balance in our lives. Recorded Monday morning, September 23: Recorded Tuesday night, September 22:

I often feel that summer turning into fall is more like the start of a new year than flipping the calendar on January 1st. Admittedly, the sensation of life shifting underneath my feet might be especially pronounced for me right now. My oldest kid left for college a few weeks ago and my youngest is back into the swing of high school, with increasing independence. I’m feeling the openness of a new season of life stretching before me – which is both wonderful and terrifying, al

Fall is a "both/and" season: Leaves fall and we're invited to release We celebrate the harvest and are invited to count our blessings And, with the harvest, we are invited to prepare seeds for next spring All these options call for the wisdom of discernment. What do we want to release? What do we want to "water" and grow? Meditation helps us to cultivate clear seeing so that we can make wise choices. Go to 1:44 to skip the intro and get right into this meditation for acceptin

This meditation uses progressive muscle relaxation to settle the body into meditation. Go to 1:36 to skip the intor and start the practice.

This 10-minute practice is a little bit mindfulness, a little bit somatics, and a little bit therapuetic art. Thanks to Mor Keshet for the original practice. Written instructions for this practice were published in the January 2026 issue of Mamaroneck Living and can be found here. Let me know how this practice works for you by leaving a comment below or emailing me at katy@onesmallstone.net!

Babies belly breathe when they are born. As we get older, many of us unknowingly shift away from belly breathing and into chest and shoulder breathing -- our body's natural reaction to stress. Belly breathing (also sometimes called diaphragm breathing) lowers heart rates, blood pressure, and cortisol levels in the blood stream -- it moves us out of "fight or flight." But, as we get older and experience life's stresses, it is something that many of us need to practice - both

This article from January is feeling very apropos as the new (school) year starts. If you have 10-minutes, try this exercise. I know the doodling might feel silly and not "productive." But give it all a try! ...and then let me know how it goes! Thank you at Mamaroneck Living for publishing this article in their January 2026 issue: New Year’s Resolutions often feel like a whole lot of “shoulds” — like we need to tighten up, buckle down, and push harder. If your resolutions fe