“To be loved means first of all to be recognized as existing.” Thich Nhat Hanh By Jill MacCormack What does it mean to love and be loved? I cannot say for certain but I do know that what the great Vietnamese peace activist, poet and mindfulness meditation teacher, the late Thich Nhat Hanh said, th…

By Steve Staniek I spent 40 years in Health Physics, protecting workers and the public against nuclear risks, and by the time I retired I was a stressed-out wreck. We moved to the country where I began to study shamanism as a path to healing. I took a couple of basic shamanic courses from FSS, and b…

By Jill MacCormack There are certain autumn nights when the quality of air is of such utter perfection that no matter my exhaustion I must heed the call of a walk under the auspices of darkness. Tonight was one such night. A gentle rain had fallen early in the eve, just enough to deepen the damp sme…

Recently I told Debra Muzikar (editor of the Art of Autism blog) about the book I wrote on Buddha Shakyamuni’s life entitled “Symphony for India Buddha and Freedom.” In this book, Siddhartha behaves like a person on the autism spectrum since early childhood. Debra asked me to write an article on wh…

My year in pictures. And what a year it has been. By Christian Espicha I have gone from being a terrified wreck in fear for my health and very existence to a grateful and (mostly) peaceful being who has taken control of my health, faced the fear of death and have become healthy and well adjusted wit…

“Mindfulness has freed me from years of sadness and frustrations that I originally thought were because I was autistic but now I feel that those past experiences with sadness and frustration were because I did not know how to be mindful and create my own happiness,” Travis Breeding By Tr…

Tom visits Autsit in Lake Tahoe Tom Iland It feels great to get back into blogging again! I recently had one of the most enlightening and empowering experiences of my life and I want to tell YOU all about it so you might be enlightened and empowered, too! For the past three years, I’ve been attendin…

Buoyed by science behind neuroplasticity and how contemplative practice can alter the structure of one’s brain, I began to practice meditation religiously. By Tom Clements I was raised without religion. I don’t believe in a higher power. Throughout my life I have preferred to remain in doubt and to…

During my years, I had been stuck in a cycle of isolation and of desire. I’d wanted things I couldn’t have. I was invariably failing to search for things I couldn’t attain. But now, I had a means to break free from this habit. The key to liberation was within me and the first step was to accept who …

How Autistic people experience the world is still not well understood by many mental health clinicians. As many Autistic adults – and particularly women – are undiagnosed, mental health clinicians may assume they communicate and behave like a non-Autistic person would in the same situati…