Namchak Community Blog

How to Cope If You’re Feeling Ungrateful this Season

Feeling grateful can be difficult, especially since gratitude is often hyped up as the “thing” to do. How can we learn to accept ourselves as we are instead of being ashamed for feeling ungrateful? First things first. We need to acknowledge that our feelings are valid, and we’re allowed to feel how we feel. It can be overwhelming to see messages...

10 End of the Year Reflection Questions

Now that the year is ending, most people are trying to plan out their New Year’s Resolutions. Before we start that rush, let’s take a moment and appreciate and reflect on how this past year has gone for us personally. Ask yourself: 1. What would you consider to be a failure that offered the greatest takeaway? What was it you learned? 2. What do...

A Guide to Holiday Parties for the Socially Anxious Introvert

To an introvert, holiday parties sound amazing in theory, but not so much in practice. Does this scene sound familiar? You agree to attend a myriad of parties (ok, just two!) thinking it will be fun. The day of the party arrives and you’re getting ready at a snail’s pace. You wonder how long you’ll have to stay before you can politely leave to go...

What I Learned About Gratitude from Namchak Khen Rinpoche

I love the lightbulb moments at retreats. Ya’ know that moment where everyone nods together and starts writing down what the teacher said? If you’ve been to a Namchak retreat, or probably any type of class, you know that moment. The simultaneous group smile like, “That is exactly what we needed to hear!” I experienced a few of those moments at...

Sleep is Self-Care

Self-care and the holidays don’t seem to go together. Rather than trying to add a new activity to our schedules this month, let’s try to improve an already existing habit – sleep! One of the best things we can do for ourselves is get some good sleep. For most of us that is extra challenging during the holidays. Schedules are often packed with...

3 Reasons to Volunteer This Holiday Season

When the busyness of the holiday season comes around, it can be easy to get pulled into the “hurry up!” that it brings. From checking things off our to-do lists, prepping for the holidays and attending parties, we can lose sight of what’s important: spending time and creating memories with those closest to us. A meaningful way to create memories...

Mindfulness of Phenomena

We’ve covered the first three Foundations of Mindfulness: body, feelings, and mind. That leaves Mindfulness of Phenomena, the fourth and final Foundation of Mindfulness. The first three involve investigating within ourselves. Investigating phenomena asks us to shift our focus to the world around us. The word “phenomena” makes us think of...

Let Your Mind Wander

Lama Tsomo helps us understand what to do with our wandering “puppy” minds while meditating, but what about the mind-wandering that occurs in our everyday lives? In a recent conversation with Lama Tsomo, Dr. Richard Davidson, neuroscientist and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, talks about how...

The Neuroscience

Why meditate? Well, to put it simply, because it works. Neuroscience research shows that when the brain is trained with meditation practices that our habits become a little bit different—and for the better. See below for some recent and exciting meditation research developments in the scientific field. This New York Times article covers the study...

The Everyday Difference

Despite our efforts to keep life manageable, the world is overwhelming. The issues we deal with in our personal lives – health, relationships, work – are further compounded by those affecting the global community. War, poverty, injustice, and environmental degradation loom large in our immediate experience like undeniable clouds on the periphery...