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16 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

One of the benefits of
practicing mindfulness is
that you develop the ability
to make wise distinctions in
both thoughts and actions.

Like many people who study
Cultivating Clear hatha yoga in the United States,
I practice a Buddhist form of
Comprehension meditation called vipassana, or
insight meditation. In this particular
practice you first learn to stabilize
By Phillip Moffitt
the mind by focusing on a single
object such as the breath. Once
concentration is strong, the mind
Phillip Moffitt is a Buddhist meditation teacher and writer based in
is allowed to move as it chooses
the San Francisco Bay Area in California. He has taught Theravada
while you stay mindful of what it is
Buddhism for over 25 years and served as co-guiding teacher at Spirit
doing, not getting lost in thought. Of
Rock Meditation Center from 2010 to 2018. Phillip is an honorary co- course, you do get lost in thoughts
founder and the creator of the practice method that is the focus of the as well as feelings and body
non-profit organization Dharma Ground, which offers online retreats sensations, over and over again, but
and classes integrating the Nine Bodies map of consciousness and the each time you return to awareness.
Theravada Insight Meditation tradition. Gradually the mind becomes
much more steady. You begin to
Phillip is also the founder and president of Life Balance Institute, a develop the capacity for choiceless
nonprofit organization devoted to supporting individuals in developing awareness in which all thoughts and
the skills to live a values-based life with an emphasis on how to skillfully feelings can be experienced without
make major life transitions. the mind contracting, and you get
a taste of the inner freedom that
He is the author of three books: Awakening through the Nine is available to you. When you keep
your mind awake and stable in this
Bodies, Emotional Chaos to Clarity, and Dancing with Life: Buddhist
manner, you are also able to see
Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering. He
yourself more clearly, and various
has written numerous articles about practicing the dharma in daily
insights about yourself arise. There
life for both Buddhist and yoga magazines. Many of these articles, is a sense of “seeing things as they
as well as recordings of Phillip’s dharma talks, can be found on his are,” as one of my teachers, Ajahn
website Dharma Wisdom. Sumedho, likes to say.

Vipassana meditation and hatha yoga
work well together because hatha
yoga helps you ground yourself in the