The Exquisite Mind Studio in downtown Burlington opened its doors in the summer of 2002, but the beginning of this story can be traced to a summer afternoon in 1983 when I heard a strange sound emanating from a tape recorder. It was a group of people chanting an ancient Sanskrit mantra. I was curiously compelled by that sound and that interest eventually propelled me to travel to India to find the root source of that primordial vibration.

I started practicing yoga and meditation that summer of 1983. At first my practice was from the Siddha Yoga tradition. I’ve received wisdom and blessings from many teachers over the years. On this journey, I had the great fortune to receive teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Many people had gathered for a special ceremony called the Kalachakra Tantra. In assembly were approximately 1000 Westerners, 10,000 monks, and 250,000 Tibetans in exile (or one lakh as the Indians would say). The first days were spent studying Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva way of Life. Upon the conclusion of these studies everyone was invited to take the Bodhisattva vows, wherein there is a pledge to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Then followed the Kalachakra Tantra ceremony filled with spectacular mandalas and colorful deities. This was about as far into Tibetan Buddhism that I ventured. In 1989 a friend invited me to attend a silent 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat. Having heard about Vipassana and its prodigious daily meditation schedule while in India, I said yes without hesitation. That experience, as I tell my students, was the single most difficult and valuable experience of my life. For the past 20 years, I have committed myself to a daily mindfulness meditation practice.

For many years as I underwent my clinical training in psychology, I used my meditation skills to help me be more present in the clinical encounter. It was not until 1996 that I started to introduce meditation techniques into my psychotherapy practice. Over the years, the role of mindfulness has taken on increasing importance and centrality to the work that I do. In 2000, after having taught mindfulness in my individual psychotherapy practice I went to Worcester Massachusetts to participate in the Center for Mindfulness Professional Internship Program. Founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the Internship program prepares practitioners from around the world to practice mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Walking down St. Paul Street Burlington in the spring of 2002, I stumbled across a vacant storefront with a “for rent” sign on it. Intrigued, I made an inquiry and a few months later the Exquisite Mind Studio opened for business with a unique storefront meditation teaching and practice studio and a private consultation room. The rest, as they say, is history! The publication of my first book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness, marks the transition of Exquisite Mind from a local to a national phenomenon with upcoming workshops at Kripalu, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and teaching to the world through the online virtual classroom at eMindful.com.