This week Olivia introduces a new series exploring mindfulness as a path to insight through Joseph Goldstein’s Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, grounding the practice in the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. It reframes mindfulness not as a relaxation technique, but as a systematic, ethical training of the mind that requires dedication, investigation, and clear knowing. Drawing from both modern science and ancient tradition, the talk highlights how mindfulness asks more of us than simple presence and leads beyond stress reduction toward wisdom and liberation. Ultimately, it reassures practitioners that their effort is not wasted, but is planting the conditions for greater clarity, freedom, and care in this very life.

Prompt: When was the seed of mindfulness planted for you and what planted it?

Talk segment that complements the sit portion on the Mindfulness as a Path to Insight

Group Date: 1/6/2026