About: Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity)
Posts by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity):
Meditation Instructions: One of the Simplest but Hardest Things to Do.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Sep 26, 2012 Become breathing. 2,510 views |
How Not to Take Things So Personally.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Aug 25, 2012 The Heart Sutra is saying: it’s not your fault. Give yourself a break. 2,709 views |
Welcome to Nirvana: How to really love & get burned & keep going.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jul 31, 2012 Sometimes we don’t recognize we’re on fire, or sometimes situations are giving off a lot of heat and we’re just trying not to get burned. How to really love and get burned and keep going? To be grateful for the fact that we’re still alive. 781 views |
Sit Buddha!by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jul 27, 2012 Integration and the Heart Sutra 129 views |
Why Yoga is Not a Self-Improvement Project.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jul 3, 2012 … 1,039 views |
The video that changed everything I thought I knew about non-attachment.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jun 14, 2012 Think you know what non-attachment is? This stunning video might just surprise you. 5,693 views |
Buddhism & Social Action. {Video}by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jun 11, 2012 … 284 views |
Our Tears Belong to Everyone.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jun 4, 2012 Your tears flow down every drain, into the St. Lawrence River, back into the ocean and the mouth of a whale. 125 views |
You know how you go to parties sometimes & there’s someone demonstrating yoga poses?by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jun 1, 2012 When there’s energy and enthusiasm (virya) in your practice you can practice smrti (memory) – to remember what’s important. 537 views |
Kindness is the New Black Dress.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on May 28, 2012 The inhale never happens the same way twice. How can we continue to follow the breath, to follow the pulse of what it means to be alive? If the ground is groundless because our experience is always shifting, how can we walk on it? 279 views |
How the Occupy Movement Can Deal with Conflict.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on May 22, 2012 When you are angry—don’t do anything, don’t say anything. Find your breath, practice yoga and find out what you feel. Underneath what you feel is creativity. But don’t put up the invisible, idealistic Ghandi shield—which when it is only philosophical, gets nothing done. Anger is not bad. 65 views |
Redefining the Present Moment. {Video}by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on May 13, 2012 Here is a new 5 minute video Ian Mackenzie shot with me in Tokyo last week offering a more precise definition of being in “the present moment” than the cliche we read about so often. 347 views |
How Meditation Takes us into the Wilderness.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on May 9, 2012 How do we willingly let the bottom of our lives drop out so that we can be wild again? 380 views |
Why I’m on My Way to Hiroshima. {Video}by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Apr 28, 2012 I went to the the Nuclear Research Facility and met scientist Dr. Imanaka who has studied Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima said, “Japan must stop Nuclear Power. I have been a nuclear scientist all my life. It is NOT safe.” 63 views |
Michael Talks About Having a Yoga Crisis.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Apr 23, 2012 Yogic-MATERIALISM: Yoga doesn’t get deeper by adding more and more poses. That’s like buying more and more shoes. 1,307 views |
How Schizophrenia & The Beatles Brought Me to the Bhagavad Gita.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Apr 18, 2012 How schizophrenia and The Beatles brought Michael Stone to the Bhagavad Gita. “What’s the music all about” PART 2. 564 views |
Japan’s Nuclear Reawakening. {Video}by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Apr 10, 2012 A short film about the reawakening of the Boddhisattva in the wake of the Japanese nuclear disaster. 66 views |
The Building Blocks of “Your” Personality. {Video}by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Apr 9, 2012 With guest appearances by Angelina Jolie, Maggie Chung, Tony Leung, Faye Dunaway, Brad Pitt and Darth Vader. 582 views |
Abortion from a Buddhist Perspective. {Video}by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Apr 3, 2012 Pat Smith is a physician who has worked as an abortion provider for the past 20 years. She has had a meditation practice for many years and is particularly interested in Buddhist ethics as it applies to her work and the integration of ethical life with the demands and expectations of work, family and relationships. 820 views |
A Sneak Peek from Shambhala Sun: What’s the Music All About?by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Mar 26, 2012 A sneak peak of Michael’s article “Uncle Ian sat so still listening to records, reading, drinking water. When nine-year-old Michael Stone was with Ian, he had enough space to think about the world in new ways.” 118 views |
How to Take a Workshop for Free.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Mar 26, 2012 How you can turn anything into a practice, even a bike lock. Michael teaches during a one-day introduction to meditation workshop. 277 views |
Michael Stone: on Samskaras & the Bodhisattva Vow.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Mar 5, 2012 The process of reaching into the physical, psychological and other interdependent sheaths of the postures wakes us up to the intelligence of life. 264 views |
Locked in by your body?by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Feb 17, 2012 When we soften the breath, the body becomes softer. When the body becomes softer it offers less resistance to whatever we’re feeling and whatever we’re feeling has a chance to arise and express itself without being locked in by the hardness of the body. So we breathe soft. And the harder our reality gets the [...] 581 views |
Why Buddhism isn’t Passivity.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Feb 6, 2012 “Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate, means that we need to be passive, to allow others to abuse us, to smile and let anyone do what they want with us. Yet this is not what is meant by compassion. Quite the contrary. Compassion is not [...] 542 views |
Michael Stone on the Question, How Do I Enter My Life?by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Feb 2, 2012 After six years of intense asana practice I traveled around the United States asking various teachers how I could truly deepen my practice to undo the momentum of physical and emotional habits that kept me going around in circles. I phrased the questions as: How do I truly enter the practice? Over time I realized [...] 731 views |
On Anger by Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jan 15, 2012 When we begin sitting, we are often immediately relieved that we’ve finally sat down and started to practice. We settle into the quiet and we bliss out for a while. 236 views |
Warming Butternut Soup (Recipe)by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Jan 7, 2012 The Buddha taught that mindfulness meditation should include sitting still, walking and also eating. Mindful eating draws substantially on the use of mindfulness meditation and Buddhist Psychology. Mindfulness helps focus our attention and awareness on the present moment, which in turn, helps us disengage from habitual, unsatisfying and unskillful habits and behaviors. For a taste [...] 142 views |
The most stunning video on yoga and buddhism I have ever seen.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Dec 15, 2011 In his book ‘Awake in the World’, Michael Stone teaches the essentials of mindfulness and yoga practice, combining simplicity with the notion of interdependence of all beings. 905 views |
The Buddha Occupies Wall Street: Shrink Rap Radio PODCAST.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Nov 28, 2011 Podcast. 94 views |
Lululemon, Ayn Rand, and Yoga.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Nov 26, 2011 Michael is “far too buddhist” discussing yoga, Lululemon, and Ayn Rand on CTV. 1,309 views |
Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind: Connecting Yoga and Buddhismby Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Nov 20, 2011 How can we use the body to study the mind, and work with the mind through the body? Over the years, I’ve found it increasingly frustrating that Yoga is continually reduced to “a body practice” and Buddhism “a mind practice.” This makes no sense to me. Anyone who has practiced deeply in both traditions knows [...] 925 views |
An Open Letter from Buddhist and Yoga Teachers and Leaders in Support of the Occupy Movementby Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Nov 14, 2011 If you are a Yoga Teacher please sign on to support: www.occupysamsara.org As teachers and leaders of communities that promote the development of compassion and mindfulness, we are writing to express our solidarity with the Occupy movement now active in over 1,900 cities worldwide. We are particularly inspired by the nonviolent tactics of this movement, [...] 254 views |
Love & Shadow in the Occupy Movement: OCCUPY LOVE.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Nov 13, 2011 Video. 2,580 views |
Awake in the World: Yoga and the Occupy Movement.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Nov 3, 2011 What does yoga have to offer? How can you serve your community while rooted in the values of non-violence, wakefulness and interdependence? 585 views |
Buddhism and the Occupy Movement: Taking Care of Our Angerby Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Oct 28, 2011 A talk given by Michael Stone at Occupy Montreal on October 23, 2011 675 views |
Yoga Sutra 0: Judy Rebick on the Occupy Movement.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Oct 27, 2011 Today, the gap between rich and poor in Canada is the fastest growing in the so-called developed world. The present day inequities are the largest since the great depression, an economic calamity that led to a huge upsurge of working class radicalism. 366 views |
Yoga Psychology 101: Michael Stone and Yoga-Sutra Translator Chip Hartranft in conversationby Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Oct 21, 2011 Enlightenment is engagement. The yogi doesn’t run away from the world to realize this. The yogi becomes completely integrated in the world and the world’s right there, in every moment. The whole point of dharma-megha-samādhi is that the yogi is becoming free in things as they are. It’s not that the yogi is abandoning the world and it’s certainly not the case that the yogi, upon attaining cessation, is dying and becoming resorbed into the world as some have claimed. 956 views |
Remaining Human: A Buddhist Perspective on Occupy Wall Street.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Oct 12, 2011 Instead we are seeing a blossoming of creativity and hope. We need a language now that allows us to reimagine what a flourishing society looks like. 7,432 views |
 Bernie Glassman 1: Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, Loving Actionby Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Oct 11, 2011 Monday, May 16, 2011 | Mike Hoolboom (From a talk given at Hart House Theatre in Toronto, Sept. 9, 2011, 340 attending) Bernie Glassman: “The way we can see how deeply one has let go of attachments and realizes the interconnectedness and oneness of life… is how much that person is serving others. If the [...] 510 views |
Sandokai 1: Soft & Hard.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Oct 5, 2011 At that deepest level you don’t exist in the way you think you do. 557 views |
Yoga = Not Closing Our Eyes.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on May 19, 2011 I felt my body was going to explode, but I had nowhere to go. Absorbed by this past-present pain, I sat and sat until I could feel the floor, the ground, and the breath. 1,248 views |
Beyond Pleasure and Pain.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Apr 16, 2011 The teachings all point to the same thing: of being one with your life. Not one with what you like, but one even with pain, with anxiety, with hurt, and one with joy. Being one with the whole of life. This allows a sense of ease, a sense of gratitude, and a sense of joy to show up in our hearts. 2,050 views |
 Connecting Your Yoga Practice to What Really Matters.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Feb 15, 2011 How is our awakening going to contribute to the world at large? Why is our spiritual path important for the great rivers, the butterflies, and the architecture of our cities? 780 views |
 G20 Dharma: a Yoga & Buddhist teacher & psychotherapist on nonviolence & engaged living.by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Dec 1, 2010 When I search for an image to describe the core of my spiritual practice, the one that presses up through the other narratives of my life is this one: June 26, 2010, carrying my six year old son away from a burning police car in front of a bank tower on Bay Street in downtown [...] 1,749 views |
Popular Lately
Your Mind & Body Are Not Separate. 9,241 views
"Korea's plastic surgery mayhem is finally converging on the same face. Here are the Miss Korea 2013 contestants." (Photos) 4,950 views
Eight things I Learned from 50 Naked People. 3,127 views
Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius: Clearing the Debris. ~ Kelly Lydick 2,951 views
50 Paulo Coelho Quotes for the Soul. ~ Dusty Ranft 2,647 views
Playboy Yoga: Full Video with Sara Underwood. {Nude} 1,727 views
Your Ugly Vagina Is Normal & Gorgeous. (Adult) 1,565 views
What is Love? {Video} 1,432 views
Urban Outfitters is a Commie-Loving Republican-owned USA Flag Desecrator, and So are We. 1,373 views
Monsanto: the most Evil Company in the Universe. {Here's Why} 1,148 views
My Favorite Buddhist Quote By Someone I'll Bet You Never Realized Was Buddhist. 1,141 views
10 Reasons I love Monsanto. 1,116 views
Balancing Life as a Yogi Mom. ~ Jessa Baxter Voos 999 views
Why Enlightenment Might Be Bad For You. ~ G. S. Bobroff 972 views
Your Inner Guru & the Full-Body Yes. ~ Sofiah Thom 870 views
Popular This Week
- Playboy Yoga: Full Video with Sara Underwood. {Nude} 98,156 views
Butter, Salt & a Side of Poison: How to Protect your Family from Monsanto & Genetically Modified Foods. ~ Marylee Fairbanks 31,784 views- Your Ugly Vagina Is Normal & Gorgeous. (Adult) 30,543 views
Katy Perry Rolling Stone Photoshop: when Beauty isn't Perfect enough. 30,074 views
The 10 things you’ll do once you start yoga (that have nothing to do with yoga). ~ Lee Anne Finfinger 29,640 views- Eight things I Learned from 50 Naked People. 21,963 views
How I lost 30 pounds through yoga & never saw them again, with embarrassing “before” picture. 19,369 views
"Be the Change you wish to see in the World." ~ (Not) Gandhi 17,204 views
Rockstar / Yoga fanman Adam Levine of Maroon 5 gets sexy for prostate & testicular cancer prevention. 16,645 views
How to Love a Girl who Writes. 14,495 views
Popular All-Time
- Playboy Yoga: Full Video with Sara Underwood. {Nude} 975,483 views
Skip Your Morning Meditation & Watch this Instead. 515,875 views
Someone asked the Dalai Lama (?) what surprises him most. This was his response. 438,921 views- Your Ugly Vagina Is Normal & Gorgeous. (Adult) 373,448 views
Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea. ~ Julie (JC) Peters 262,571 views- Eight things I Learned from 50 Naked People. 214,941 views
- Rockstar / Yoga fanman Adam Levine of Maroon 5 gets sexy for prostate & testicular cancer prevention. 208,225 views
Shake the dust – this one is for you. 150,891 views- The 10 things you’ll do once you start yoga (that have nothing to do with yoga). ~ Lee Anne Finfinger 147,970 views
- "Be the Change you wish to see in the World." ~ (Not) Gandhi 129,037 views
A Meeting In Central Park With The Oldest Living Yoga Teacher In The World. ~ Photographed by Robert Sturman 110,315 views
This Poster Might Just Change Your Life. ~ Nicole Duncan 101,120 views
