This practice is not a self-improvement project, and it's not about harnessing willpower, fixing ourselves, or getting rid of parts of ourselves. Rather, it’s about really getting to know this mind, this body, and to be with it—to know the light and the shadow, the wholesome and the unwholesome, the clarity and the confusion. Because freedom and transformation don't come from trying to fix ourselves. Freedom and transformation come when we can really be with what's arising and learn from it. Because if nothing inside of us scares us, then we are fearless, and every mind state is workable.
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Spirit Rock Residential Teacher
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage and a vipassanā teacher. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, drawing inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her father’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr.