Hello! My name is Chad and I like many things, like painting and hammocks, but the relevant thing for you and me on this webpage is that I like meditation and I have been known to teach it on occasion. I studied Buddhist meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh in his monastery in France, where I lived for ten years.
I am a meditation teacher with a very lower-case “t.” I do not formally accept disciples and I do not teach under the endorsement of any religious institution. Although I am not Buddhist, I share Mr. Gautama Buddha’s assessment that meditation provides a way out of certain human troubles. I also believe that, to really get anything out of meditation, you have to have a rough overview of the process, and I don’t see that very much has been done to improve upon the framework provided by the Buddha. And so, despite not being Buddhist, it’s probably true to say that I teach Buddhist meditation.
Right now I facilitate online meditation groups, but when I say meditation, I mean life. The concern isn’t exactly with what you are going to do on a cushion. The concern is what you will do when something happens that makes you say to yourself, “this stinks.” Through meditation, you can recognize that classifying moments as stinky is only a habit of mind, and you can form new habits. If you follow the meditation process for any amount of time, you may be surprised by how many so-called facts of life turn out to be habits of mind.