A very easy way to try meditation out for yourself — When you think of meditation what do you think of? * Is it someone sitting alone on a mountaintop with their eyes closed? * Is it a group of people sitting in a room on pillows saying, “Oooommm”? * Do the people meditating have robes on? * Are they bald…

The day I shared a serene session with a sea turtle, a baby dolphin, and a gentleman wave rider — Nothing compares to riding a wave. One of the greatest joys in my life has been surfing. It’s the most difficult and rewarding thing I ever learned to do. I learned to surf late in life at the age of 25. Because I was living in San Francisco, I taught…

How I went from being an award-winning child pianist to a burned-out almost-rock star to a chilled-out producer, writer, and creative agency owner — I’ve been playing piano since I was about four years old. My grandparents, who lived in Nebraska, had an upright piano in their den. I used to climb up onto the piano bench and make up music. …

Meditating when you’re having physical, mental, or emotional pain is an opportunity for discovery. — I’m in my backyard meditating on a gorgeous, early autumn morning in New Orleans. Green and lush but not too hot or humid. The heat of the bayou in the summer has cooled and a slight breeze blows across my body. I sit in a half-lotus pose, with one leg…

My winter living at the crossroads of Moravia and Bohemia in Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic — On my final day living in the Czech Highlands, yellow light from the train station hovered over the snow falling on the tracks. It was a cold December night, and my friends had kept me out drinking until the last train left Havlíčkův Brod at midnight. I found a car…

How to take breaks from media, messaging, and the digital world — This morning, I woke up, put on my robe, climbed slowly down the stairs, had my vitamins, and put a pot of coffee on. …

A curvaceous bartender in the Nevada desert has a confession — Continue from part 5: Rock ’n’ Roll Meltdown — or dive in! Numbed and on edge after surviving the drive through a night of torrential rain, with lightning piercing through the dark like a strobe light in a throbbing dance club, Jarette had arrived in Middlegate, Nevada. …

I survived the Holidays in the beautiful underbelly of the Emerald City — It was Christmas Eve in Seattle in 1992, I had pneumonia, and I invited Boner and Rat Boy over to my apartment to drink Jack Daniels. The sun had sunk hours before, but you could still see the city lights reflecting off the thick clouds that hung low over the…

Driving through a dangerous storm in the desert causes flashbacks to a bigger disaster performing on stage — The distant clouds rose up like snarling beasts curling and black. Bursts of lightning streaked across them. Electric eels swirling and dancing against the demonic darkness. It was as if the deepest depths of the ocean had become the sky and Jarette drove toward it. Into it. The desert around…