• Home
    • 5-minute
    • 10-minute
    • 20-minute
    • 30-minute
  • Blog
    • coaching
    • Workshops
    • Online Classes
  • testimonials
    • Contact
    • Bios
    • Mission Statement
    • Mindfulness
    • calendar
Menu

SATI

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
SATI: (n) (1) mindfulness (2) present moment awareness

Your Custom Text Here

SATI

  • Home
  • Meditations
    • 5-minute
    • 10-minute
    • 20-minute
    • 30-minute
  • Blog
  • What we do
    • coaching
    • Workshops
    • Online Classes
  • testimonials
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Bios
    • Mission Statement
    • Mindfulness
    • calendar

Joan Halifax, Mindfulness, and the Most Important Thing

November 4, 2016 Craig Hase

A few years ago, Roshi Joan came to town. It was for a Mindful Leadership conference, a gig she held with Harvard business guru Bill George and the great UW-Madison neuroscientist, Richie Davidson. 

Things were going pretty well. Bill gave his spiel. Then Richie. Then Roshi Joan took the stage with her fireball energy, a light hot and bright, her feet planted, fingers crossed in a tent just in front of her chest as she asked the audience, "What is the most important thing?"

People pondered. I pondered. Seemed a safe enough question. A good question. 

But then she turned to me and said, "Craig, what's the most important thing?"

I was just a guy in the audience. Sitting in the fifth or sixth row. "Huh?" I said.

"What's the most important thing?"

I looked around. Two hundred faces seemed to pivot in my direction. "Um," I stumbled. "Kindness?"

"Not bad," she said, but it wasn't the answer she was looking for.

Roshi Joan Halifax has led a life at speeds fast and slow. As an anthropologist in the 60s, she worked with the famed ethnomusicologist, Alan Lomax. By the early 70s, she had moved on to a marriage to the psychiatrist and acid-adventurer, Stan Grof. Through the 80s she ran the Ojai Foundation, an interfaith center she founded, before accepting lineage transmission from Zen Master Bernie Glassman in the 90s (hence the title "Roshi," a moniker awarded Zen teachers) and kicking off the Upaya Zen Center, which has been thriving ever since. 

That's the high speed part. She also sits meditation several hours a day. That's the slow part.

I met Roshi Joan in the mid-2000s when I was living at a Zen Monastery in southern Colorado. My center was isolated, intense, traditional: we woke up at 3:30 in the morning, lived high in the mountains, stayed a bit solemn and a bit off the map.

At Upaya they were fully engaged, political, uncowed by the confrontation with secular western culture. Roshi Joan taught doctors and nurses and whoever else would listen about Being with Dying, her revolutionary book-turned-seminar. She led medical teams into the Himalayas. She pulled brilliant minds from across disciplines and denominations to dialogue about the brain, consciousness, social justice, interconnectedness.

I would go there whenever I had a chance. Roshi Joan was always a presence: welcoming, warm, with a Zen master's barely-contained electricity.

When I left the Zen Center she became a kind of benefactor for me, ready to step in at opportune moments to make an introduction or write me a letter of recommendation. 

Meanwhile, she was expanding her reach, extending her depth. She gave a TED talk that has gathered 1.3 million views (and counting). She developed GRACE, an acronym built to aid clinicians in the cultivation of compassionate presence. It stands for:

Gathering attention
Recalling intention
Attuning self/other
Considering
Engaging

As someone who works in the inpatient psychiatric unit at a major hospital, this acronym comes in handy. Whether I'm standing with a psychotic woman who's giving birth to a phantom baby or speaking with a young widower who sees no way forward in life, I can just come back to GRACE, gather my attention, return to my intention, attune with the human being in front of me, consider my training, and engage. 

I'm always grateful for the reminder. 

But back to that moment in Madison. After she asked me, she asked my friend Cort. Then a few more folks. "What is the most important thing?"

"This moment," she finally said. "This moment is the most important thing. This moment is all we have." She stood, feet still planted, for a long moment. "This," she said, "then this; then this." She took a breath. "This is the most important thing." 

Amen to that. 

*Note: This post is part 2 in a 5 part series on amazing people doing amazing things with mindfulness. 

← Rhonda Magee, Racial Justice, and the Future of MindfulnessJames Baraz, Mindfulness, and the Awakening of Joy →

Love what you're reading?

Get new posts delivered straight to your inbox.

You’ve been subscribed, thank you!

The Archives

  • February 2019
    • Feb 14, 2019 Next Steps Feb 14, 2019
    • Feb 6, 2019 Trouble in Paradise Feb 6, 2019
  • January 2019
    • Jan 29, 2019 Shambhala Decides Jan 29, 2019
    • Jan 23, 2019 The Luncheon (Part 2 in the Book Chronicles) Jan 23, 2019
    • Jan 16, 2019 This Book Thing (Part 1 in the Book Chronicles) Jan 16, 2019
  • October 2018
    • Oct 7, 2018 Joy! Oct 7, 2018
    • Oct 4, 2018 Doubts (Continued) Oct 4, 2018
  • September 2018
    • Sep 30, 2018 Let's talk doubts (re: compassion) Sep 30, 2018
    • Sep 20, 2018 A few more thoughts on the topic of stable compassion Sep 20, 2018
    • Sep 10, 2018 Empathy v. Compassion. Yup, There's a Difference. Sep 10, 2018
  • August 2018
    • Aug 27, 2018 Remembering Cheri Maples Aug 27, 2018
  • July 2018
    • Jul 27, 2018 Resting is an act of service Jul 27, 2018
    • Jul 20, 2018 Could we do other things by donation too? Jul 20, 2018
    • Jul 15, 2018 On Why We Coach By Donation Jul 15, 2018
    • Jul 10, 2018 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to This Blog Post Jul 10, 2018
    • Jul 7, 2018 Mindfulness Is Boring Jul 7, 2018
  • April 2018
    • Apr 18, 2018 Some thoughts on all this stuff we’ve been doing Apr 18, 2018
    • Apr 10, 2018 On a More Personal Note Apr 10, 2018
    • Apr 3, 2018 Mindfulness, Iceland, and the Art of Transformational Travel (Take II) Apr 3, 2018
  • March 2018
    • Mar 28, 2018 Crazy Little Thing Called Love Mar 28, 2018
    • Mar 21, 2018 Listening to Mindfulness (The Depression & Anxiety Edition) Mar 21, 2018
    • Mar 13, 2018 I Heart Biomarkers (How Mindfulness Decreases Inflammation)  Mar 13, 2018
    • Mar 6, 2018 Just How Exactly Does Mindfulness Improve Our Mood? Mar 6, 2018
  • February 2018
    • Feb 27, 2018 Attention, the Key to Everything Feb 27, 2018
    • Feb 20, 2018 Let's talk about stress Feb 20, 2018
    • Feb 13, 2018 What We Really Know (About Mindfulness) Feb 13, 2018
  • August 2017
    • Aug 25, 2017 On the Curious Benefits of Long Meditation Retreat Aug 25, 2017
    • Aug 19, 2017 What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation? Aug 19, 2017
  • April 2017
    • Apr 26, 2017 Can Mindfulness Help Nurses? Apr 26, 2017
    • Apr 18, 2017 Richie Davidson Will Save the World (with Mindfulness) Apr 18, 2017
    • Apr 10, 2017 Every Month, More Mindfulness Research! Apr 10, 2017
  • March 2017
    • Mar 18, 2017 Key West, Mindfulness, and the Practice of Sustained Intimacy Mar 18, 2017
    • Mar 7, 2017 Mindfulness, Iceland, and Some Thoughts on Transformational Travel Mar 7, 2017
    • Mar 3, 2017 How Mindfulness Saved My A$# This Week Mar 3, 2017
  • February 2017
    • Feb 23, 2017 Mindfulness and a Few Closing Thoughts on the Problem of Whiteness (Entry VIII) Feb 23, 2017
    • Feb 19, 2017 Mindfulness and Promoting Equity and Inclusion (Entry VII) Feb 19, 2017
    • Feb 14, 2017 Mindfulness and Failures of Leadership Support for People of Color (Entry VI) Feb 14, 2017
    • Feb 10, 2017 Mindfulness and the Range of POC Experiences (Entry V) Feb 10, 2017
    • Feb 6, 2017 Mindfulness and Strategies for Coping with Racialized Exclusion (Entry IV) Feb 6, 2017
    • Feb 3, 2017 Mindfulness and Institutional Barriers to Full Participation (Entry III) Feb 3, 2017
  • January 2017
    • Jan 31, 2017 Mindfulness and Interpersonal Barriers to Full Participation (Entry II) Jan 31, 2017
    • Jan 24, 2017 Mindfulness and the Problem of Whiteness (Entry I) Jan 24, 2017
    • Jan 15, 2017 Mindfulness and Undoing Racism Jan 15, 2017
    • Jan 9, 2017 Mindfulness Will Not Save the World Jan 9, 2017
  • December 2016
    • Dec 30, 2016 Looking for the Best Synthesis of the Latest Mindfulness Research? Look Here. Dec 30, 2016
    • Dec 16, 2016 Simple Habit, Mindfulness, and the Golden Age of Meditation Apps Dec 16, 2016
    • Dec 9, 2016 Mindfulness and Pain Management Dec 9, 2016
    • Dec 3, 2016 La Sarmiento, Belonging, and a Challenge to the False Boundaries of the Mindfulness Movement Dec 3, 2016
  • November 2016
    • Nov 18, 2016 Rhonda Magee, Racial Justice, and the Future of Mindfulness Nov 18, 2016
    • Nov 4, 2016 Joan Halifax, Mindfulness, and the Most Important Thing Nov 4, 2016
  • October 2016
    • Oct 28, 2016 James Baraz, Mindfulness, and the Awakening of Joy Oct 28, 2016
    • Oct 21, 2016 Mindfulness: Authenticity, Non-reactivity, and the Curious Pleasures of Being Electrocuted for Science Oct 21, 2016
    • Oct 14, 2016 Mindfulness: Embrace the Awkward Oct 14, 2016
    • Oct 7, 2016 Mindfulness is about getting real with yourself Oct 7, 2016
  • September 2016
    • Sep 28, 2016 Mindfulness (Still) Works Sep 28, 2016
    • Sep 23, 2016 Can Mindfulness Cure Prejudice? Sep 23, 2016
    • Sep 16, 2016 Soma Stout, Radical Compassion, and Next Steps for the Mindfulness Movement Sep 16, 2016
    • Sep 9, 2016 Mindfulness and My Attention Mini-Miracle Sep 9, 2016
    • Sep 2, 2016 Mindfulness and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Fight Sep 2, 2016
  • August 2016
    • Aug 26, 2016 Mindfulness and Your Mood Aug 26, 2016

9 University Houses, Madison, WI 53705