The Innercraft Podcast

In this episode, I'm joined by GuruViking aka Steve James, host of the Guru Viking Podcast and creator of the Movement Koan Method. Steve has extensive experience in elite athletic performance, contemplative and spiritual disciplines, extreme outdoor survival, the arts, and human behavior. In this conversation, Steve and I talk about life in general, and how meditation fits in it. We discuss his goals and learnings in The Guru Viking Podcast, Steve's upbringing and how he got started in meditation, his approach towards spiritual practice, the intersection between meditation, music and movement practices, The Movement Koan Method, and more.

In this workshop, Richard Lang guides us through different guided, unorthodox and simple pointing experiments aimed to remind us who we are, and who we are not. This session with Richard felt like a natural and consistent revisiting of our true nature. It was very practice-oriented, but at the same time, felt effortless and was very enjoyable. We recommend not only watching the recording, but actually following along and doing the experiments.

Knowing ourselves is the reason why we are here on Earth, and this is our first and main duty; to see the hindrance of our mechanical personality, the sequel of the idealized images we create of ourselves. Only then we can liberate the colorful naked and unique beauty of our real selves. Only then we can experience true freedom. - Shaykh Burhanuddin

In this episode, I'm speaking with Venerable Thubten Chodron. Ven. Chodron ordained as a Buddhist nun 40 years ago and since then has been studying, practicing, and teaching Tibetan Buddhism. In this conversation, we talk about Venerable Chodron's journey, her teaching method, her view on when one is ready to teach the dharma, qualities to look for in a teacher, the practical application of rebirth, similarities among Buddhist traditions, her view on tantric practice, and more.

In this talk, Tina provides an overview of the 7 Factors and how they can be used in our practice. She also describes in more detail the first factor of Mindfulness, which balances the other 6. Tina is a meditation teacher who leads retreats and offers spiritual guidance and mentoring to practitioners worldwide. Her mission as a teacher is to foster awakening and its embodiment in worldly life, through the application of authentic, rigorous Buddhist and modern practices. Tina learned to meditate in 1976, at age 13. In her late twenties, after many years of practice in Buddhist and modern non-dual traditions, she undertook an intensive year-long solo retreat during which a profound awakening to Reality occurred. Some years after that, Tina attended a retreat with Burmese meditation master Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, who ordained her as a Buddhist nun and later, authorized her to teach. During the retreat, Tina became the first Western woman to complete the entire Samatha path in this lineage. Tina also took refuge with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, a Tibetan Dzogchen teacher, and was initiated into the Nyingma lineage.

In this interview, Richard Lang talks about his journey prior to encountering the headless way, how his desire for awakening evolved over time, What The Headless Way is and how it works, and how we can incorporate frequent moments of seeing our true nature in the middle of daily life, the relationship between love, compassion and the headless way,  and more. He also conducts an experiment for the audience, in which he attempts to make us realize what our First-person experience is actually like. Message from Richard: My name is Richard Lang and I have been involved with the Headless Way for over fifty years. When I was a teenager I was interested in finding out who I really was and by chance one day found myself in a workshop with Douglas Harding, author of On Having No Head. Douglas took me and the other participants through some of his experiments and we all saw our True Nature. Douglas extended a hand of friendship to anyone interested in the Headless Way, so I began visiting him and over the years made many friends who value this direct method of Awakening. One of the things I have learned is that it is very helpful to have friends with whom I can share this Awareness, or Seeing as we call it. I recommend connecting up with other Seers. The Seeing is infectious. As well as practicing this Way, I was personally drawn to sharing it. So over the years, I have given many workshops. I also set up a charitable trust to help make available this modern method of seeing Who we really are. We offer many things on our website, on our YouTube channel, and publish practically all of Douglas Harding's books. We also offer zoom meetings where people can get to know other Seers. Our ambition is to make Seeing as widely available as possible. This is why we are happy to be part of Innercraft.

In this interview, Shaykh Burhanuddin talks about the main goals, principles, and practices of the Sufi path, his relationship with his master, what Sufi meditation retreats look like, and the importance of consistent spiritual practice. He also talks about some of the main challenges present in the spiritual path and gives advice on how to overcome them. Shaykh Burhanuddin is a contemporary mystic of ancient tradition, called onto the Sufi path at a young age. In his teaching, Shaykh Burhanuddin combines methods from his Sufi Tradition with contemporary knowledge of psychology. He started the practice at 10 with Yoga, and between the ages of 14-18 practiced meditation under the guidance of the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, within the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. At 18, Shaykh Burhanuddin met with the grandmaster of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, one of the most ancient and authoritative of the many existing Sufi Orders, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al Haqqani ar Rabbani, and went through the classic dervish training under the direct guidance of the Master. He received a direct transmission of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order. Shaykh Burhanuddin is the author of three books, a musician and the founder of the Dervish Orchestra.

In this talk, Meido Roshi discusses methods for integrating Zen meditation and the experience of meditative absorption (samadhi) in daily activities, through the use of the body, breath, and sense. Meido is the abbot of Korinji, a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monastery in Wisconsin, and the guiding teacher of the international Korinji Rinzai Zen Community. Meido Roshi began Zen practice in 1988 and trained under three teachers in the line of the great 20th century Rinzai master Omori Sogen Roshi. He has completed the koan curriculum of this lineage, and in 2008 received inka shomei: recognition as an 86th-generation Zen lineage holder empowered to transmit the full range of Rinzai Zen practices. Aside from Zen, Meido is also ordained in the Mt. Koshikidake tradition of Shugendo. He is the author of two books: The Rinzai Zen Way: A Guide to Practice and Hidden Zen: Practices for Sudden Awakening and Embodied Realization.

In this episode, we talk with Tina Rasmussen about the big picture, goals, and stages of more advanced stages of meditation and inner exploration journey; ways to advance our practice; navigation of a variety of traditions/methods; teacher selection; extension of practice into daily life, Tina's practice journey, and more.

In this episode, we talk with Meido Moore Roshi about the big picture, goals, and advanced stages of the meditation and inner exploration journey; ways to advance our practice; navigation of a variety of traditions/methods; teacher selection; extension of practice into daily life, Meido's own practice at his current stage, and more. Meido is the abbot of Korinji, a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monastery in Wisconsin, and the guiding teacher of the international Korinji Rinzai Zen Community. Meido Roshi began Zen practice in 1988 and trained under three teachers in the line of the great 20th century Rinzai master Omori Sogen Roshi. He has completed the koan curriculum of this lineage, and in 2008 received inka shomei: recognition as an 86th-generation Zen lineage holder empowered to transmit the full range of Rinzai Zen practices. Aside from Zen, Meido is also ordained in the Mt. Koshikidake tradition of Shugendo. He is the author of two books: The Rinzai Zen Way: A Guide to Practice and Hidden Zen: Practices for Sudden Awakening and Embodied Realization.