Mindfulness Meditation

A meditation session led by Tracy Cochran.

Himalayan practitioners have, for centuries, used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase one’s ability to focus. Now, western scientists, business leaders, and the secular world have embraced meditation as a vital tool for brain health.

Whether you’re a brand-new beginner, a dabbler, or a skilled meditator seeking the company of others, join expert teachers in a 45-minute weekly program designed to fit into your lunch break. Each session will be inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection, and will include an opening talk, a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion. Chairs will be provided.

Presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and the New York Insight Meditation Center.

Related Artwork

 

 

Theme: Karma

This 17th century sculpture from Tibet depicts the great Mahasiddha Virupa. The Mahasiddhas were a group of Medieval Indian Buddhists who exemplify the ideal Tantric practitioners. These great masters would purposely cross taboos by actively participating in traditionally impure acts in order to break down their habitual thought patterns. By putting themselves in these extreme situations, the process of enlightenment would become incredibly hastened leading them to understand reality on such a fundamental level that they could actually manipulate natural forces. For example, Virupa sits with his arm raised because he is holding the sun in place particularly so he can drink his fill of wine before the sun goes down.

About the Teacher

Tracy Cochran is editorial director of Parabola, a quarterly magazine that for forty years has drawn on the world’s cultural and wisdom traditions to explore the questions that all humans share. She has been a student of meditation and spiritual practices for decades and teaches mindfulness meditation and mindful writing at New York Insight Meditation Center and throughout the greater New York area. In addition to Parabola, her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Psychology Today, O Magazine, New York Magazine, the Boston Review, and many other publications and anthologies. For more information please visit tracycochran.org.