Podcasts about Spirit Rock Meditation Center

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

In this special December treat, featuring kirtan from Jai Uttal, Ram Dass speaks about opening to change and merging with the Beloved.The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox.This episode of Here and Now comes from an event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center on July 31, 2000. Ram Dass begins by exploring how Shiva is the aspect of God that rules over change. He talks about changing our self-concept from identification with our egos to identification with our souls. Devotional chanting, or kirtan, is one way to work on transforming ourselves. Speaking about merging with the Beloved, Ram Dass shares how his relationship with his guru evolved after Neem Karoli Baba left his body. He talks about the place of joy that exists inside all of us. That's the yum-yum place.Jai Uttal takes over and leads a rousing kirtan to connect us all to that yum-yum place. He begins by explaining the chant: “Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Jai Sita Ram. Sita, the infinite Goddess. Ram, the infinite God. Jai or Jaya, praise or victory.”About Jai Uttal:Jai Uttal is a Grammy-nominated sacred music composer, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist. Having traveled extensively in India, he met many great saints and singers, and Bhakti Yoga became his personal path. Jai has been leading, teaching, and performing kirtan around the world for nearly 50 years. He creates a safe environment for people to open their hearts and voices. Kirtan Camp with Jai Uttal starts on January 25, 2026. Nurture the seeds of love and take a journey into the healing power of sound. Sign up now.About Ram Dass:Ram Dass's spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org.“You know those cherries, chocolate-covered cherries? They're like hard on the outside, but they're soft and yum, yum, yum inside. We are just chocolate-covered cherries. That's all we are. And that yum, yum, yum, yum, that's the joy, that's the bhakti. Yum, yum, yum, yum. Because we meet each other in the yum-yum place.” – Ram DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

Celebrating the release of his new book of his favorite stories, All In This Together, Jack shares wise tales on living with integrity, presence, stillness, and generosity.Today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.Jack's new book is out now!: All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World“Whether you make art, write, tend a garden, or parent children—if you can share your dignity, generosity, understanding, integrity, vision, and make that come alive within you and others, your life becomes a blessed source of happiness.” –Jack Kornfield.In this episode Jack mindfully explores:Meaning and connectionThich Nhat Hanh's favorite Tolstoy storyAnswering the Empress's three life-changing questions: What is the best time to do things? Who are the best people to work with? What is the most important thing to be doing at all times?Living in the present moment and serving those around youCultivating happiness through giving our life meaningBeing a Bodhisattva and holding all life in compassionThe story of Abbott AnastasiusIntegrity and generosityWhat we teach others through our stillnessBeing a clear mirror for othersQuieting the mind, tending the heart, and remembering what mattersOpening to the vastness of life beyond the small selfYour birthright as loving awareness itself“We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather around us that they may see their own images and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps fiercer life because of our quiet.” –William Butler YeatsThis Dharma Talk originally took place in April 2019 for Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation. Stay up to date with Jack's upcoming livestreams and events here. About Jack Kornfield:Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack's entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.“Happiness comes when we have meaning in our life.” –Jack KornfieldStay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

Celebrating the release of his new book of his favorite stories, All In This Together, Jack shares why ‘sometimes we need a story more than food.' Today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.Jack's new book is out now!: All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World“Light the candle, make a sacred space, and talk about what it means to hold this life in compassion. And then invite people to tell the stories that they need for the healing of their own heart. That's why ‘sometimes you need a story more than food' (Barry Lopez)—sometimes to hear it, sometimes to tell it.” – Jack KornfieldIn this episode, Jack mindfully explores:The art of awakening through stories Barry Lopez and why ‘sometimes you need a story more than food'Stories that release the weight from our souls and unburden our heartsLighting candles, making sacred space, and sharing stories togetherOvercoming the world's conflict through the lens of storiesThe story of Terry Dobson and the compassion of Aikido The spiritual art of listening to stories—feeling the resonance and feeling into who you would beWhat can we learn from stories?Stories like storehouses—the true intelligence of a good storyRam Dass, the Dalai Lama, and inhabiting the difficulties of life with humor, honesty, and loveHow to hold conflict and that which causes suffering with compassionDelivering your special cargo, your beautiful gifts to this world “A really good story is something to mine, something to inhabit.” – Jack KornfieldThis Dharma Talk originally took place in April 2019 for Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation. Stay up to date with Jack's upcoming livestreams and events here. About Jack Kornfield:Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack's entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.“One of the things that's important when you listen to a story, is to feel where you are in that story. If you were in the story right now, where is the resonance, who would you be? Stories are like storehouses, they have intelligence in them that touches not just one channel, but our heart, memory, emotions, and our way of seeing and thinking.” – Jack Kornfield See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

Connecting to the timelessness of the present moment, Gil Fronsdal offers practical steps towards the only source of true happiness: contentment.Today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal explores:Seeing the timeless present through photographs Enjoying the preciousness of our limited time here on earth How corporate, capitalist America prefers people who are discontentWhat the Buddha said about the vital importance of contentment How many desires often dissipate on their own if you ride them outThe ways in which desire alienates us from ourselves The embodied quality of contentment and being in touch with ourselvesFreedom in the Buddhist sense: freedom ‘from' rather than freedom ‘to do'Cultivating contentment by valuing it and seeing it as an important part of lifeActivities which encourage contentment versus remaining franticFacing discontentment head-on so that it does not drive us This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed. “Contentment is a falling away of anxiety, restlessness, reaching forward, fear, being fragmented, and disconnected. It is a kind of settling. If we're driven by desires, fears, preoccupations, or fantasies, often our energy, our center of attention, is upwelling in an unhealthy way. As we are contented, we feel the settling down, settling down into the center of gravity.” –Gil Fronsdal About Gil Fronsdal:Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders' Council. In 2011 he founded IMC's Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil's talks on Audio Dharma.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jack Kornfield and Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi explore how facing suffering with love can awaken the courage to heal our world.Today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.Jack's new book hits shelves on 11/11: All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World – Preorder your copy today!“Love is this unbelievable, inexplicable force. When there's love it's almost that anything is possible. It's love that binds all things.” –Prof. Rajiv S. JoshiIn this episode, Jack and Rajiv mindfully explore:Living Fully in a Time of Change: Joanna Macy's funeral as a teaching on joy, love, and the beauty of a life well-lived.Facing Suffering with Courage: The two kinds of suffering—what we run from and what we open to with compassion.Meditation as Refuge: Expanding the heart's window of tolerance to hold fear, grief, and love all at once.The Sweet Way of the Dharma: Remembering peace, joy, and humor even in the midst of difficulty.Smiling as Practice: Softening the heart through simple, embodied gestures of kindness.The Great Regeneration: Redefining the pandemic as a moment to reimagine our world with wisdom and care.The Interbeing of All Things: Thich Nhat Hanh's Heart Sutra and the recognition that we already hold the solutions we seek.Love in Action: Ram Dass's reminder to feed people, love people, and organize from the heart.Sacred Reciprocity: Healing inequality and climate change through generosity, reverence, and balance.The Middle Way in a Polarized World: Meeting conflict with understanding, presence, and possibility.Inner Climate Change: Transforming the heart to transform the earth—awakening compassion as the root of renewal.“The world is as it is—it has suffering and beauty in unbelievable measure. So the real question is: how are you going to tend your heart?” –Jack KornfieldThis Dharma Talk originally took place on 9/8/25 for Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation.About Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi: Professor Joshi is the Founder of Bridging Ventures and former Associate Dean for Climate Action at Columbia University. He helped launch Columbia's Climate School with President Obama, and has led groundbreaking work in global collaboration, climate technology, and regenerative entrepreneurship.About Jack Kornfield:Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack's entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.“There are two kinds of suffering. The first is the kind you run away, and that follows you everywhere. The second is the kind you're willing to turn, face, and go through, and that becomes our gateway to liberation.” –Jack KornfieldSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

Jack Kornfield and Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi explore ‘inner climate change,' guiding us through meditation and reflection on transforming the world by becoming the Tree of Enlightenment.Today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.Jack's new book hits shelves on 11/11: All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World – Preorder your copy today!“As much as we want to transform the world, if we don't change ourselves, we might not inspire those around us and perhaps change the system.” –Prof. Rajiv S. JoshiIn this episode, Jack and Rajiv mindfully explore:Guided meditation: A journey into becoming the Tree of Enlightenment—rooted, steady, and open to the sky. Jack and Prof. Rajiv invite us to feel the deep stillness and sacred presence of the trees, reminding us that awakening is a natural unfolding within the web of life.Buddha and trees: The Buddha's life was interwoven with trees—born beneath one, meditating and awakening beneath another, and passing away surrounded by their quiet grace. Trees mirror the path of the awakened heart: grounded in the Earth, reaching toward the light.Trees as ancestors: They are our elders, silent teachers who breathe life into the world. Through their patience and generosity, they remind us of what it means to listen, to endure, and to belong.Collective healing: Our awakening is not only personal—it is collective. Through love across generations, we can heal the planet and one another, planting seeds of compassion that will grow long after us.Radical compassion: To live with an open heart requires both tenderness and courage. We learn to trust, to build bridges, to speak truth, and to act for justice with mindfulness and care.System change: True transformation begins within and extends outward. Each of us has a role to play in creating a world rooted in awareness, kindness, and right action.Spiritual community: Sangha becomes the living ground for our practice—a space to learn, to stumble, to grow, and to embody a new way of being together.Rajiv's story: After his accident, Rajiv discovered that spirituality is not apart from life—it is life. Every breath, every act, every moment becomes practice when the heart is awake.This Dharma Talk originally took place on 9/8/25 for Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation. Stay up to date with Jack's upcoming livestreams and events here. About Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi: Professor Joshi is the Founder of Bridging Ventures and former Associate Dean for Climate Action at Columbia University. He helped launch Columbia's Climate School with President Obama, and has led groundbreaking work in global collaboration, climate technology, and regenerative entrepreneurship.“With trust, we learn to build bridges, not walls. That skill—the capability to build bridges in the most difficult of contexts—requires the depth of compassion.” –Prof. Rajiv S. JoshiAbout Jack Kornfield:Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack's entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.“The Buddha was born under a tree, grew up under the trees, practiced under trees, got enlightened under the Bodhi Tree, taught under the trees, and died beneath two sal trees that immediately came into bloom when he died. He and the trees were one.” –Jack KornfieldSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.