Good morning everyone.
Bonjour.
Assalamualaikum.
Today I would like to begin by naming something that is happening right now in the world.
In this very moment,
Billions of Muslims have entered the month of Ramadan.
For 30 days,
They will refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to sunset.
They will interrupt habits,
They will wake up earlier,
They will slow down,
They will gather at night,
They will practice restraint.
Whether we are Muslim or not,
Practicing Ramadan or not,
Something powerful is unfolding collectively.
And I find it deeply interesting to look at Ramadan through the lenses of mindfulness,
And especially through the lens of MBSR.
Because what Ramadan is asking of people is not so different from what this program asks of us.
In MBSR,
Very early on,
We explore automatic pilot.
We notice how much of our life runs on habit.
Reaching for the phone,
Reaching for food,
Reacting to discomfort,
Feeling silence,
Avoiding unpleasant feelings.
Ramadan introduces a daily interruption.
You wake up before dawn to eat,
Then you stop eating,
And during the day,
Hunger comes.
Thirst comes.
Fatigue comes.
And what becomes visible very quickly is how reactive the mind is.
The mind says,
I need,
I can't,
This is too much.
Why am I doing this?
When will the sunset come?
This is not so different from sitting in meditation and noticing,
I don't like this,
This is boring.
My back hurts.
How long is left?
Ramadan becomes a laboratory of reactivity,
And mindfulness is also a laboratory of reactivity.
The difference is not the stimulus,
The difference is the awareness.
In Buddhist psychology,
Craving is seen as a root of suffering.
Not the desire itself,
But the compulsive desire.
The inability to stay with the experience as it is.
When fasting,
Hunger appears.
Hunger is a biological sensation,
But very quickly something else appears.
Stories,
Irritation,
Comparison,
Judgment,
Impatience.
This is what the Buddha called the second arrow.
The first arrow is the sensation,
The second arrow is the mental proliferation.
In MBSR,
We train ourselves to see this in real time.
Oh,
This is unpleasant.
Oh,
This is craving.
Oh,
This is resistance.
Ramadan,
In its deepest dimension,
Is not about food.
It's about noticing the space between sensation and reaction.
It's about discovering that hunger can be observed,
That thirst can be observed,
That anger can be observed,
That fatigue can be observed,
And that there is something in us that is larger than these waves.
This is pure mindfulness training.
One of the core elements of MBSR is intention.
Why am I practicing?
Not in a performance sense,
Not to become better,
Not to optimize,
But to align with something deeper.
Ramadan is built on intention.
If someone fasts accidentally,
It's not considered a fast.
The intention matters.
And in Buddhist teachings,
Renunciation is not punishment.
It's a simplification.
It's voluntary stepping back from excess.
Not because the word is bad,
But because clarity becomes possible when stimulation is reduced.
When we sit in silence on retreat,
We are also practicing renunciation.
Renunciation of distraction.
Renunciation of constant input.
Renunciation of productivity.
And what happens?
We begin to see more clearly.
Ramadan,
At its heart,
Is also a retreat in daily life.
You eat less.
You speak more carefully.
You attempt to reduce gossip,
Anger,
Impulsivity.
It becomes an ethical container.
And in MBSR,
Ethics are not imposed,
But awareness naturally reveals impact.
When we slow down,
We see,
Oh,
My words matter.
Oh,
My tone matters.
Oh,
My impatience has consequences.
Every fasting day has a rhythm.
Morning energy.
Midday fatigue.
Late afternoon heaviness.
Sunset relief.
You experience directly that no state lasts.
Anger speaks,
Then softens,
Then peaks again,
Then fades.
This is impermanence,
Not as philosophy,
But as embodied knowledge.
In Zen,
Impermanence is not tragic.
It's liberating.
If discomfort is impermanent,
We do not need to panic.
If pleasure is impermanent,
We do not need to cling.
In MBSR,
We practice riding waves.
Urge surfing.
We discover that sensations move.
Ramadan makes the visible in a very concrete way.
You can survive hunger.
You can survive discomfort.
You can survive not responding immediately.
And that realization builds confidence.
There is another dimension.
When you fast,
You feel hunger.
And for many people,
Hunger is not chosen.
It's structural.
It's political.
It's economic.
Ramadan traditionally includes increased charity.
Why?
Because direct experience of deprivation softens the heart.
In Buddhist practice,
Compassion arises naturally when awareness deepens.
When we are less absorbed in our own narratives,
We feel others more clearly.
And something shifts from self-centeredness to interdependence.
Mindfulness is not self-absorption.
It's clarity that opens the field.
Ramadan,
When practiced deeply,
Is not about spiritual heroism.
It's about humility.
And humility is central in contemplative practice.
And yet,
And this is important,
Both mindfulness and Ramadan can become performances.
I fasted perfectly.
I meditated every day.
I didn't break.
I stayed disciplined.
The ego can colonize anything.
Zen teachings constantly remind us,
Be careful of becoming the good meditator.
Ramadan teachings also remind,
The value is not in appearing righteous.
The value is in sincerity.
In MBSR,
We return again and again to non-judging.
Some days,
You feel calm.
Some days,
You feel irritable.
Some days,
Your practice feels spacious.
Some days,
It feels messy.
The invitation is the same.
Notice.
Allow.
Begin again.
Something deeply moving about Ramadan is its collective nature.
Millions wake at dawn together.
Millions break fast together.
There is a shared rhythm.
In retreat,
Even in silence,
Something similar happens.
We sit together.
We struggle together.
We soften together.
Even if we do not speak,
The field is shared.
And perhaps this reminds us that practice is never purely individual.
Awareness is personal,
But awakening,
If we use that word carefully,
Is relational.
How we live impacts others.
How we regulate impacts others.
How we speak impacts others.
Ramadan emphases community.
Buddhist practice emphases Sangha.
MBSR emphases group learning.
No one practices alone.
Even if we are not fasting,
Even if Ramadan is not our tradition,
We can ask,
Where in my life can I introduce conscious interruption?
Where can I pause before reacting?
What habit could I observe rather than immediately satisfy?
What discomfort could I allow without immediately fixing?
What would it mean to practice voluntary simplicity for a day?
Could I fast from my phone?
From complaint?
From rushing?
Mindfulness is not confined to the cushion.
Ramadan is not confined to the food.
Both are invitations to wake up inside ordinary life.
So perhaps this month can serve as a mirror,
A reminder that we are more than our impulses.
We are more than our cravings.
We are more than our moods.
There is awareness here.
Steady.
Capable.
Curious.
And every time we notice and do not react automatically,
Something happens.
Something opens.
Not through force,
But through understanding.
This is the heart of MBSR.
This is the heart of contemplative practice.
And in many ways,
This is also the heart of Ramadan.
Thank you.
