Activating The Virtuous Cycle: Work On The Cushion

This is a 5-part series showing practitioners how to take contemplative practices off the cushion and integrate them into their daily lives to better embody their inner values. Based on secular Buddhist principles and integral coaching, the Virtuous Cycle Method is a systematic way of transforming destructive emotions and negative mind states to more positive, beneficial ones. This Part II focuses on the first element of the Method - work on the cushion. During this formal practice, the aim is to generate a mind that opposes harmful mental states and cultivate positive or virtuous ones. We do this in a way that involves a meditative investigative process that uses awareness, reflection, analysis, absorption, and antidotes.