Podcasts about vipassana

Joseph Goldstein reveals how Nibbana differs from blissful meditation states and why true liberation lies beyond every conditioned experience.Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:How Nibbana has made its way into Western cultureExpectation and striving versus having a healthy goalHaving an aspiration and direction for our practice Using equanimity to differentiate beautiful experiences from true glimpses of NibbanaThe Abhidhamma and understanding the factors of mind which color our consciousnessThe experience of Nibbana as the experience of zero, the stilling of all formationsHow Nibbana uproots the defilements in stages Check out this episode's companion essay, Reflections on Nibbana, by Joseph Goldstein“Even exalted states of mind or great powers of mind do not imply purification of mind. That is the particular power of Nibbana.” –Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Raja Yoga is the path of willpower — Patanjali's 8 limbs that lead from a restless mind to stillness. Akshay Bhat maps the whole way. What if real peace isn't found on a mountaintop, but in the stillness already inside you?This episode explores Raja Yoga, the king of yoga: the path of willpower that Patanjali lays out in his eight limbs (ashtanga). The guest, who has studied these teachings since childhood, walks through the whole journey in plain language.Raja Yoga isn't about escaping life. It starts with how we live (the yamas and niyamas), then works through the body and breath, slowly clearing the old patterns, the samskaras, that keep the mind restless.From there the conversation moves inward, deeper into Raja Yoga, through the limbs: asana as steady ease, pranayama as the art of watching the breath, and pratyahara, drawing the senses back from a noisy world. Everyday examples make it real: a turtle pulling in its limbs, the calm after a hard pose, why coffee at night keeps the mind racing.Then come the three most people blur together: dharana (focus), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (absorption). You'll hear why most "meditation" is really only the first of these, and how deep sleep already gives us a taste of samadhi, a joy that comes from within rather than from anything outside.The episode closes on a simple, powerful idea: the highest practice in Raja Yoga may not be doing anything at all, but being fully present. If your mind feels like a restless lion, this is the path to taming it, and this conversation is your map.Continues the previous episode on the Yoga Sutras and the five kleshas.Episode Chapters:00:00:00 Introduction00:00:43 Recap: Kriyas & the 5 Kleshas00:02:38 What Is Raja Yoga?00:03:46 Ashtanga: The 8 Limbs (Not the Asana Series)00:05:21 Yamas & Niyamas: The Foundation00:06:08 Clearing the Samskaras00:07:56 Prakriti & Purusha: Energy vs Stillness00:12:15 Om / Pranava: Tapping Into Consciousness00:19:35 Asana: Steadiness & Ease00:23:13 When Effort Becomes Effortless00:28:59 Pranayama: Patanjali's Definition00:34:13 Pratyahara: Withdrawing the Senses00:38:46 The 3 Gunas & Diet00:46:23 Ramakrishna & Yoga Beyond Religion00:50:56 Dharana: One-Pointed Focus00:57:59 Dhyana: Becoming the Flower01:00:35 The Mind Tamer & Chitta Vritti Nirodha01:02:39 Samadhi: Deep Sleep & Inner Joy01:07:13 Surrender & Endless Bliss01:10:27 Presence: The Highest Teaching01:13:09 Recap & Closing MantraMentions & Resources:Michael Henri's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelyoga.pt/ Akshay Bhat's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akshaybhatyoga/The IN Movement Instagram: https://www.instagram/com/the_in_movement/Texts & philosophy: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali; Samkhya (Prakriti and Purusha)Teachers: Ramana Maharshi (Arunachala; years of silent meditation); Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (devotion beyond religion — the Kali story)Other paths referenced: Bhakti Yoga (devotion); Jnana Yoga (self-enquiry)Concepts: the eight limbs (ashtanga); chitta vritti nirodha; the three gunas (sattvic, rajasic, tamasic); pranava (Om); Ekadashi fasting; Vipassana; polyvagal theory (modern nervous-system parallel); the Patanjali invocation mantra (closing)

Episode #580: Professor P. L. Dhar, a longtime Vipassana teacher in the S.N. Goenka tradition, reflects on his life-long spiritual journey. A decade immersed in Vedanta and other Indian traditions, along with a meditative and devotional practice, helped him develop deep concentration. Yet he gradually became dissatisfied, wondering whether these practices investigated reality deeply enough.Then a series of crises transformed his spiritual search. Political violence in India, the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Bhopal disaster, and most importantly the death of his young son in 1985 pushed him into profound grief and self-doubt. These events moved him to enroll in one of Goenka's ten-day Vipassana courses, where he discovered a form of practice that seemed to reach levels of suffering he had not previously been able to address.Over the next several years he devoted himself intensely to Vipassana, completing long retreats, becoming a teacher, and eventually helping introduce meditation programs into Delhi's Tihar Jail, one of India's largest and most notorious prisons. He regards the Tihar project as a remarkable demonstration of meditation's transformative potential. Yet it was connected to an issue that concerned Professor Dhar. He had always been troubled by Goenka's frequent criticisms of other spiritual traditions, and indeed, some Tihar inmates were very angry when they heard them. Goenka responded by removing the offending parts and adding in more positive messaging, which were very well received in Tihar. Yet for whatever reason, these revised Hindi versions were not used other than at the Tihar courses. Later, as Dhar gained more responsibilities within the organization, he also became concerned that institutional growth, hierarchy, and status were receiving more attention than deeper questions about liberation.His most significant concern was around anattā, the Buddhist doctrine of not-self. Professor Dhar explains that while years of practice gave him a deep experiential appreciation of impermanence, he eventually concluded that neither the Goenka technique nor the culture surrounding it sufficiently examined how the sense of self is constructed, nor was there much enthusiasm within the organization for doing so. While he remains forever grateful to Goenka, these concerns led to his departure from the organization in 2010. Since then, his investigationsinto non-self have led him to believe it is the key link between meditation practice and liberation.

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O Franco Fanti esteve aqui no Coffee & Cigacasts. A gente começou falando sobre café que a gente nem gosta tanto e sobre a loucura burocrática de ter que justificar um centavo em editais de cinema.Mas a conversa foi para um lugar bem diferente.Ele me contou uma história sobre regressão e alienígenas que me pegou completamente desprevenido. É o tipo de relato que você não espera ouvir, mas que faz sentido quando alguém conta com honestidade.Falamos também sobre coisas muito mais pesadas. Sobre o irmão dele, o Fausto. Sobre o meu pai. Sobre o que a gente faz com as ausências e como seguimos carregando as lembranças de quem já foi.No fim, eu acabei dividindo com ele a minha experiência com meditação Vipassana. Aquele momento em que eu estava tentando encontrar silêncio absoluto e tudo simplesmente borrou de olho aberto.Foi uma conversa vulnerável, estranha em alguns momentos e muito humana.O episódio está inteiro aí.Espero que esse papo faça algum sentido para vocês.

Dr. Cristine Hull is an integrative mental health practitioner, author, and developer of the Zero Point Meridian technique. With a Master's in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Natural Medicine, she brings over two decades of experience as a substance abuse counselor, school psychologist, and private practitioner. Drawing from her own journey through depression, anxiety, addiction, and a profound spiritual awakening, Cristine works at the intersection of brain chemistry, energy medicine, and the quantum field. She is the creator of the Four Bodies model and trains practitioners in tools that address the physical, vital, mental, and quantum levels of healing. Based in northern Utah, she continues to teach, write, and guide people toward deeper wholeness through her work at Health, Healing & Wholeness.In this episode, Cristine and I cover a wide-ranging conversation that moves from brain chemistry and addiction into spiritual awakening, energy medicine, and what real healing actually requires.Cristine shares her personal journey through severe depression, anxiety, and substance use, and how those experiences led her into decades of work as a counselor and integrative practitioner. She introduces her Four Bodies model (physical, vital, mental, and quantum) and explains why most lasting change has to address more than just the physical level. The conversation explores sugar as part of the narcotic continuum, the difference between dopamine and endorphin addiction, the spiral of recovery she developed while teaching in a jail, and the powerful spiritual experience she had on Yom Kippur that shifted everything. We also dig into entities and generational energy, the development of her Zero Point Meridian technique, the “neutral game” for quieting the mental body, and why conventional mental health often falls short with personality disorders and chronic pain. Cristine closes by pointing back to the deeper truth underneath the endorphin chase: capital-L Love.Timestamps0:00 – Elevator pitch / “junkyard love” framing and four bodies intro1:30 – Four Bodies for Medicines ebook and physical vs. vital/mental/quantum3:00 – Wind analogy for spirit/effects on the physical body4:30 – Personal history: chemical imbalance, depression, anxiety, substances6:30 – First career in substance-abuse counseling; self-medication insight8:00 – Serotonin, carbs, Potatoes Not Prozac, wheat sensitivity discovery9:30 – Endorphins as “inner orphan” / morphine parallel; sugar as narcotic continuum11:00 – Dopamine vs. endorphins; cocaine, bipolar diagnosis, mastering the middle path13:00 – Love addiction, romantic craving, spiral model (abstinence → moderation → attainment)15:00 – Jail curriculum development; 20 years clean vs. relationship patterns still unresolved16:30 – Yom Kippur night/boyfriend breakup; Day of Atonement context18:00 – Light shaft experience through the crown/spine; “whole and complete through divine connection”19:30 – Kundalini as vital-body tool (chakras, meridians, aura)21:00 – Growing up Christian, leaving religion, seeking freedom from guilt and pain22:30 – Cocaine phase; friend returning from overdose funeral; entity/attachment theory24:30 – “Perverse energy” (Quantum University language); generational clearing26:00 – First Kundalini session clearing grandfather's heavy emotion27:30 – EFT training (2002–2003, Gary Craig); shift to private practice29:00 – Zero Point Meridian (ZPM) development; claimed superiority data vs. EMDR31:00 – Mental body chaos of positive/negative thinking; neutrality / “neutral game”34:00 – Yoga entry via client accountability + Baron Baptiste Journey into Power36:00 – Gap between stimulus and response; mind-body necessity of yoga37:30 – TM interest; Vipassana documentary (Doing Time, Doing Vipassana)39:00 – Mahasati movement meditation; fear that stillness = non-existence / black hole41:00 – Moving through zero; zero-point field → unified field; John Hagelin / Frank Kinslow52:00 – Limits of conventional mental health on personality disorders (narcissism, borderline, ego structures)54:00 – Spiritual/quantum solution as transformative where pills and talk therapy fall short56:00 – Quantum Solutions Masterclass / ego-structure component57:30 – Chronic pain and the pain body (Eckhart Tolle); noticing pain-free body parts as anchors59:00 – Endorphins at quantum level = capital-L Love; closing gratitudeKEYWORDS:Four bodies model, Zero Point Meridian, ZPM technique, quantum body, vital body, endorphin continuum, sugar addiction recovery, love addiction spiral, attainment model, perverse energy, generational clearing, Yom Kippur awakening, Kundalini vital body, neutral game mindfulness, Quantum Wholeness Meditation, Love Solve Method, Frequency Formulas, personality disorder spiritual solution, pain body Eckhart Tolle, brain chemistry natural balance, EFT to ZPM evolution, Cache Valley healer, integrative mental health Utah.Checkout more Cristine here! :Website: Cristine HullYoutube - Health, Healing, & Wholeness - YouTubeInstagram - Author Cristine Hull (@cristine.author)LinkedIn - Cristine Hull PhD LinkedinFaceBook - Author Cristine Hull • FacebookQuotes from Cristine in the episode:“Love is an answer. It's a solution for sure.”“The wind is actually the spirit. The effects are the physical body.”“Endorphins… stands for inner orphan, which like morphine… highly addictive… sugar.”“The trick was not to try to change it and stay up. The trick was to realize when I was down, there was some work to do…”“Really, all that matters is that you are whole and complete through a divine connection. And you bring your whole self to it.”“I believe the person who overdosed came with her and walked through the door… this entity… attached to me.”“If we try to use the mind to correct the mind, we can get just a lot of chaos… the solution… is neutrality.”“There's not a lot in mental health and psychology to solve personality disorders… the problem is because there's not really a spiritual solution in the mental health field.”“Notice where you're not in pain - tune into even if it's your hair… their hair doesn't hurt, the tip of their nose probably doesn't hurt…”“What people are looking for in the endorphin experience is love. And it's a capital L-O-V-E…”If you enjoyed our conversation - please like, subscribe, and we'll see ya next on the next episode!

A yoga teacher who's guided thousands of students almost quit everything after motherhood shattered the identity she'd spent years building. In this raw conversation, Greesha Dhingra opens up about postpartum depression, spiritual burnout, and the midnight breakdown that changed how she teaches and how she sees herself.Most people assume that once you find peace, you keep it. Greesha shatters that assumption in the first few minutes. She reveals how she spent years building an identity around being "the strong one," the go-getter who needed no one, who could handle any storm, only to discover, after motherhood, that this identity was never really her. Her hormones were disrupted, her carefully built sadhana routine collapsed overnight, and the peaceful version of herself she'd spent years cultivating vanished along with it. What followed wasn't clarity; it was conflict. "Oh, but I thought I was calm. Where is that calm now?" This, she explains, is exactly where postpartum depression quietly takes root, not from weakness, but from the gap between who you believed you were for years and who you suddenly are not.The conversation goes even deeper when Greesha admits that spirituality itself became her next trap. The very practices that gave her insight into herself eventually calcified into a new identity, "spiritual Greesha," and when life took that away too, she found herself questioning whether any of it had been real or just another mask. She describes nights of breakdowns with her husband, moments of wanting to quit teaching entirely, and a health crisis rooted in years of anger, poor eating, and intoxication that manifested as severe IBS and sleepless nights until Ayurveda and mindful eating slowly rebuilt her body from the ground up. She shares the story of a woman who found one of her Instagram reels on the edge of ending her life, and how that single moment of connection changed everything. And she teaches a breath-awareness practice rooted in the same principles behind Vipassana and Yoga Nidra that creates the one thing she says matters most: space between you and your mind.This conversation isn't just about yoga or spiritual practice. It's about the universal trap of building an identity around anything: strength, calm, achievement, even enlightenment itself, and the quiet courage it takes to keep letting go of who you thought you were. Greesha's honesty here is rare: most teachers perform certainty. She performs the opposite, and that's exactly why this conversation matters.Ask yourself whether there is an identity you're clinging to right now that you built to survive something, but never actually chose?Time Stamps:(0:00) – Introduction(1:55) – What Yoga Revealed That Made Her Deeply Uncomfortable(3:31) – Why Slowing Down Felt Impossible at First(4:09) – How Motherhood Shattered Her "Strong Woman" Identity(7:05) – When Spirituality Itself Becomes Your Identity(10:02) – "Why Am I Even Teaching?" — Wanting to Quit Everything(16:34) – Why Life Is Not a Straight Line (And Why That's the Point)(19:56) – "I Am Growing With This Hardship" — Redefining What Yoga Is Doing for Her(22:16) – Severe IBS, Sleepless Nights, and the Poem That Came Out of It(25:20) – The Ayurvedic Reset That Rebuilt Her Digestion and Sleep(30:59) – Why We Get Attached to Being Angry or Sad(39:14) – The Most Powerful (and Simplest) Practice She Teaches(42:14) – Why the Space Between You and Your Mind Is the Real Goal(49:07) – How to Know If You're Actually Doing Yoga Right(51:03) – Why 91% of People Value Yoga But Almost No One Practices It(52:22) – How Westernization Quietly Erased India's Own Confidence in Its Traditions(54:20) – "I Am Not a Yogi" — The Humbling Distinction She Makes About Herself(59:19) – Her Final Message: Don't Let Your Life Become One Identity#Yoga #Postpartum #Mindfulness #SelfHealing #SpiritualityAndMotherhood

This week, Thomas sits down with Dharma teacher and author Kaira Jewel Lingo to explore how we can heal our deeply fractured relationship with the Earth and break out of the modern digital trance.Kaira shares her unique experience of transitioning out of monastic life as a nun and back into a fast-paced digital world. This experience gave her a unique perspective on how technology consumes our attention, and what's needed to reconnect to our relationships, ourselves, our spirituality, and the earth.She and Thomas discuss how face-to-face connection can help us reclaim our presence, why our global crises stem from our disconnection with nature, and what's needed for a collective re-awakening into an interconnected and embodied life that's defined by care and curiosity instead of an isolated existence fueled by exploitation and inattention.✨ Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube:

We were honored to welcome Isa Salman as our July Satsang guest. Her conversation with Rev. Cyndi Krupp was both inspiring and insightful, offering profound reflections that resonated deeply with our community.About IsaI am a traveler on the path of presence. I was a child with many questions, and that curiosity has followed me through life. My mother introduced me to a simple form of meditation when I was young, long before I knew what meditation was. Later, this curiosity developed into a deeper exploration through mindfulness practice, self-inquiry, and Enlightenment Intensives.My life has included many worlds — studying business, working internationally, traveling, exploring different cultures, and meeting people in many different circumstances. These experiences have continually brought me back to a simple question: what happens when we truly meet ourselves and one another?I've practiced Vipassana meditation in the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition and spent many years exploring mindfulness and self-inquiry, including dyads and Enlightenment Intensives. I have also led retreats and shared these practices with others, supporting spaces where people can meet themselves more directly and honestly. Over time, I have come to appreciate the simplicity and depth of direct experience. I see this work less as teaching something new, and more as creating a space where something already present can reveal itself.What continues to interest me is not ideas about awakening or truth, but the immediacy of experience itself — what is here when we slow down and look closely. I don't see this as something fixed or complete. It is an ongoing inquiry and a living exploration. I forget, I return, I look again. And in that returning, something simple and quietly reliable keeps revealing itself. I'm interested in meeting people in that same spirit — through presence, sincerity, and direct contact meeting what is true in the moment.The invitation is simple: to look honestly, to listen deeply, and to discover what is true in our own experiences.Love podcasts? You might also enjoy one of the programs listed here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://awakening-together.org/interact/podcasts/

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop speaks with Aaron Neyer, founder of Parachute and community organizer in Boulder, about knowledge management, extended minds, and the intersection of AI with human consciousness. They explore how Parachute functions as a digital brain tool for organizing thoughts and information across fragmented systems, discuss the dangers of AI psychosis and over-reliance on technology, and debate open source AI development versus controlled releases by companies like Anthropic. The conversation weaves through topics including the limitations of metrics-driven business thinking, consciousness and relevance realization, the value of technological sabbaths, and Aaron's hope for locally-run open source models that protect personal data while still accessing more powerful gated models when needed. You can find Aaron's writing at unforced.org and unforced.substack.com, and learn more about Parachute at parachute.computer and parachute.computer/blog.Timestamps00:00 Stewart welcomes Aaron Neyer, founder of Parachute and Boulder community organizer, discussing the origin of Parachute's name from Frank Zappa's quote about open minds.05:00 Aaron explains Parachute as an extended mind tool for organizing notes, contacts and information across multiple platforms, emphasizing the distinction between primary mind and extended mind as interconnected systems.10:00 Discussion shifts to metrics-driven business culture and the limitations of pure rationality, exploring how Google's data-driven approach misses subjective experience and the whole picture of relationships.15:00 Aaron discusses AI's ability to help identify relevant variables across different domains and the dangers of AI psychosis, comparing it to cult dynamics and belief systems.20:00 The conversation covers AI sabbaths and nineties retreats as intentional breaks from technology, plus Aaron's experiences with electrical engineering and using AI to design circuits with Arduinos.25:00 Exploring forbidden knowledge and open source AI, Aaron discusses Anthropic's guardrails around powerful models while arguing for distributed access to prevent concentration of power.30:00 Deep dive into open source AI strategy, with Aaron highlighting NVIDIA's approach and the potential for running capable models locally while reserving ultra-intelligent models for complex research tasks.35:00 Aaron shares his vision for local Sonnet-class models handling personal data while accessing Fable-class models for deep research, and directs listeners to unforced.org and parachute.computer for his writing.Key Insights1. The philosophy behind Parachute stems from Frank Zappa's quote that the mind is like a parachute and doesn't work if it isn't open. Aaron Neyer explains that having an open mind is valuable, but it must be balanced with deep roots to avoid becoming untethered. He has experienced periods in his life where excessive openness led him to feel disconnected, teaching him that creativity and expansion need to be grounded in something substantial. This same principle applies to how we organize information digitally, where openness and interoperability allow our extended minds to become more connected and coherent, which in turn helps our primary minds think more clearly.2. Parachute is designed as an extended mind tool that addresses the fragmentation problem in how we currently manage information. Most people use multiple disconnected tools like Obsidian, Notion, Apple Notes, Google Keep, and various CRMs to organize their thoughts, notes, and relationships. These systems don't communicate well with each other, creating inefficiency and confusion. Parachute aims to create a simple, intuitive system where all this information can be organized in one place with true interoperability, allowing users to own their data and have it speak effectively with other tools, ultimately making our entire extended mind more functional.3. Understanding ourselves as unified body mind organisms rather than fragmented parts is essential for effectiveness. Living systems theory shows that any living system is three things: a membrane bound dissipative structure, a self regulating autopoietic network, and a cognitive process actively knowing the world. Western civilization since Descartes and Galileo has created artificial separation between body and mind, and between subjective and objective experience, which limits our effectiveness. The same fragmentation affects our digital technology, and recognizing both our biological and digital systems as coherent wholes rather than disconnected parts makes us vastly more capable.4. The relationship between data driven approaches and holistic thinking reveals important limitations in modern business and science. While working at Google, Aaron observed how data driven decision making can be powerful, but over reliance on metrics like ROI creates blindness to crucial unmeasurable factors like goodwill and relationship quality. This reflects a broader Western tendency to exclude subjective experience because it's difficult for objective science to measure. However, emotions, relationships, and other subjective elements are essential parts of reality, and focusing only on quantifiable metrics means missing the whole picture and ultimately becoming less effective despite appearing more rational.5. AI accelerates the ability to work with technical complexity by helping with relevance realization across domains where we lack expertise. In any specialized field, experts develop intuitive senses for which variables matter and can quickly identify problems, whether in computer troubleshooting, music, or cooking. AI's ability to generalize allows it to point people toward relevant solutions in areas where they haven't developed that intuitive expertise, effectively democratizing technical capability. This means people can direct their creativity more effectively across more domains, though it also raises concerns about giving powerful capabilities to those who may lack the wisdom to use them responsibly.6. The question of open source AI versus gated access involves complex tradeoffs between democratizing power and preventing harm. Aaron respects Anthropic's approach of creating guardrails around powerful models like Mythos, which would likely have caused significant system hacks if released without restrictions. However, this creates concerning power dynamics where only wealthy companies, governments, and their allies have access to the most powerful tools. NVIDIA offers hope through their truly open source approach including full training pipelines, and there may be a viable path where open source models at the Sonnet capability level handle most tasks locally while more powerful Fable class models remain gated for the most demanding work.7. Creating intentional breaks from AI and technology is essential for maintaining clear independent thinking. Aaron practices an AI Sabbath at least one day per week when he doesn't interact with AI, and he finds these are the days when he does his best thinking and journaling. Without these breaks, he finds himself constantly jumping between journaling and prompting AI rather than giving himself space for deep reflection. This pattern mirrors broader concerns about AI consistency creating cult like dynamics similar to organized religion, where constant immersion in a belief system or technology can lead to losing the ability to think independently, making periodic disconnection crucial for maintaining cognitive autonomy and clarity.

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With compassion and presence, Trudy Goodman teaches listeners how to bear the unbearable through our own willingness to hold it. 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.https://youtu.be/TwYZlCsBKncIn this episode, Trudy Goodman offers her perspective on:Learning to be present and okay with our strong emotionsRecognizing our emotions as the first step in working with themAllowing difficult emotions without being swept awaySurrounding our pain with compassion Noticing the bodily sensations that arise with strong emotionsSelf-regulation and soothing the startled heartThe powerful statement “it's like this”Merging with the world of intuitive wisdom This was recorded at Spirit Rock and was originally published on DharmaseedAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy's flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com “By allowing reality to be as it is, since it is that way anyways, we're making a relationship with it that's based on clarity. It is a paradox that I think most therapists know: that by allowing something and accepting something and even by positively connoting what needs to change, not struggling with it, surrounding it with metta and compassion, we actually stop our war with reality. When we stop resisting what's true, we aren't fixating on it, and it's free to move and change. This is called radical acceptance.” –Trudy GoodmanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sharing meaningful stories from a life of practice, Gil Fronsdal chats about the impact of spiritual community, simplicity, and generosity. 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 week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal outlines:Honesty, communication, and understanding as an alternative to LSDThe impact of reading Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and going to the San Francisco Zen CenterThe importance of doing spiritual practice with other people and finding communityFinding freedom within simplicity and generosity The practice of working through fear and becoming relaxedGil's mindful founding of the Insight Meditation Center, balancing the commercial forces of societyHow growing up in wartime inspired Gil's interest in nonviolence and civil disobedience 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.This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed “When I went to the Zen center, people didn't participate; they didn't pick up the cues and act accordingly. They became a mirror for me, and I said, ‘This is fantastic', to be able to see myself clearly through other people. I wanted that mirroring to be seen. In that time of living at Zen Center, I am very confident that I couldn't have practiced as much as I have done over the years without the support of the community that I was with.” –Gil FronsdalSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After my last episode, where I shared my experience of returning to a 10-day Vipassana retreat for the second time, I felt drawn to share something different. This comes from episode #267, when I first discovered Vipassana meditation. I shared the teaching behind it: why we react the way we do to life's difficulties, why the usual ways we try to find relief don't fully work, and what really does.This explanation is based on the teachings of S.N. Goenka, the teacher who established these non-commercial Vipassana meditation centres around the world. I felt this piece deserved to stand on its own, so here it is, exactly as I shared it back then.If you want the fuller story, my own personal experience of that first retreat, you will find it in episode #267:https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/267Send us a textSupport the showSubscribe to our weekly email: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/email---A personal development podcast for midlife professionals, offering mindset tips and practical tools for personal growth, self mastery, personal mastery, and purposeful living. Discover psychology tips for emotional intelligence and growth mindset, including overcoming impostor syndrome and building self mastery.Personal Development Mastery features personal development interviews and solo episodes empowering professionals, entrepreneurs, and seekers to cultivate self mastery and create a meaningful, fulfilling life aligned with who they truly are.To support the show, click here.

Kathryn Nicolai is the creator and host of Nothing Much Happens, one of the most listened-to sleep podcasts in the world, where millions of listeners use her stories to calm anxiety, fall asleep, and feel more at ease in their bodies. With over 20 years of experience as a yoga and meditation teacher, Kathryn is a trusted voice in self-care, with a focus on sleep hygiene, nervous system regulation, mindfulness, and storytelling as medicine. She draws on lived experience and practices including Vipassana meditation, gentle movement, brain training, and bibliotherapy to support people navigating stress, anxiety, depression, and more. Through her work, Kathryn helps people cultivate rest, creativity, and emotional resilience in a culture shaped by overstimulation and burnout. Her new audio book, On The Street Where You Live, also comes out in July.Nothing Much Happens Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nothingmuchhappens/Website: https://www.nothingmuchhappens.com/Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nothing-much-happens-bedtime-stories-to-help-you-sleep/id1378040733Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-the-Street-Where-You-Live/Kathryn-Nicolai/9781668158272Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq0ReOdR2-ZrL3NzzLURgbgThis podcast is for you if you're looking to:Join a community for creatives, entrepreneurs, and anyone who thinks ‘out of the box.'Find conversations on Neurodivergence and difference.Learn how to use your unique wiring for a purposeful life.Visit Middle Earth Medicine to learn more and connect with Caroline.Your donations directly fuel the growth of this podcast! They allow Caroline to bring in even more wonderful and inspiring guests, expanding her reach to uplift even more listeners. Please show your support and become part of the magic! Donations of any amount are deeply appreciated. You can make a secure donation through PayPal using the link below.Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference! paypal.me/carolinecarey60 Thank you for your support in spreading the light of soul journeys.The views expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect my perspectives. My aim is to create a space for open enquiry, diverse experiences, and thoughtful conversation. As always, I invite you to reflect on what resonates, question what doesn't, and trust your own wisdom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Billion Dollar Babie, Tara sits down with Tash for a real conversation about confidence, ego, intuition, healing, and what it actually takes to trust yourself. They talk about the difference between being confident and being narcissistic, why some people block their own success, and how jealousy can reveal what you secretly want. Tosh opens up about sobriety, cannabis “downloads,” microdosing, healing family wounds, dating people who trigger your childhood wounds, and learning when to stop forcing the next move. This episode is for anyone who feels stuck between wanting more, overthinking every decision, and trying to figure out what their soul is actually calling them toward. Instagram https://www.instagram.com/billiondbabie https://www.instagram.com/taruhhh https://www.instagram.com/tash9pm Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@billiondbabie CHAPTERS: CHAPTERS: 0:00 — Cannabis Downloads & The Power Of Intuition 1:04 — Confidence vs. Being Cocky 2:32 — Why Successful People Seem Narcissistic 4:03 — Mirror Work, Affirmations & Self-Belief 5:46 — Too Many Ideas, Too Much Pressure 7:02 — The Non-Traditional Path To Success 8:51 — Decision Fatigue & Not Trusting Yourself 12:23 — Why Doing Everything Stops Working 13:06 — Starting Over & Following Alignment 16:37 — Constant Growth vs. Feeling Content 18:31 — Healing, Parents & Letting People Be 21:12 — Releasing Father Wounds 24:28 — Dating Someone Who Triggers Your Childhood Wounds 29:29 — Sobriety, Weed, Shrooms & Spiritual Downloads 34:16 — Meditation, Vipassana & Becoming Intuitive 37:16 — Authenticity, Ego & Outgrowing Old Strategies 38:30 — Judging Others Is A Mirror 41:55 — Jealousy, Money Blocks & Getting Comfortable With Wealth 44:37 — Daily Money Practices & Becoming Aligned #BillionDollarBabie #Confidence #Spirituality #HealingJourney #Sobriety #Intuition #MoneyMindset #PersonalGrowth #Manifestation #DatingWounds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sharon comes together with Mark Epstein to remember the life of dear friend and colleague, Robert AF Thurman, for episode 290 of the Metta Hour. Robert AF Thurman (August 3, 1941 – June 16, 2026) was an American Buddhist author and academic who wrote, edited, and translated books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics, and culture. He was the first Westerner to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University before retiring in 2019. He was the co-founder and president of Tibet House US in New York, New York, and Menla Retreat in Phoenicia, New York. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, there is a 49-day period of mourning after an individual dies, which is considered a transitional “bardo” time. This is a time to honor the individual and support them as they transition into their incarnation through ceremonies, offerings, and prayers. In that spirit, Sharon and Mark Epstein come together to share stories and reflections about Bob after his unexpected death. Mark Epstein, M.D., a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City, is the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including “Thoughts without a Thinker” and “Going to Pieces without Falling Apart.” His latest work, “The Zen of Therapy,” was published in 2022 by Penguin Press. He has been a student of Vipassana meditation since 1974.This episode also includes an excerpt of an archival recording of Sharon interviewing Bob from 2021. Originally aired on the Metta Hour in celebration of Bob's book “Wisdom is Bliss,” this recording includes some classic zesty-Bob-banter with Sharon, as well as some wonderful teachings. The recording closes with Bob leading a guided meditation."When we opened the Insight Meditation Society in 1976, we discovered we had a near neighbor, about 40 minutes away in Amherst, MA: Professor Bob Thurman. I've felt so lucky to know him as a friend, to have the chance to teach with him through the years, and to collaborate with him on a book, “Love Your Enemies.” Though he was widely known as a dedicated scholar, I was always most struck by Bob as a person of faith in the best sense of the word— faith in each of our potential, in the very real possibility of freedom, in the blessings of lineage and the enormous gifts of people like HH Dalai Lama to the world. Before the sudden, unexpected news of his passing, I noted how much content he was putting on his Substack, what seemed to me almost like a drive to help as many people as he could, to remind us all of hope in these very troubled times. His impact on so many people and the light he spread is so clear right now." - SharonPlease join us as we celebrate and honor a dear friend and dharma teacher who filled our lives with such joy, wisdom, and laughter.Additional ResourcesLearn more about Robert AF Thurman's life and work right here. Read some of the tributes for Bob right here and via Tricycle Magazine. Tune in to the weekly prayers for via the website for Tibet House US right here. Learn more about the book Bob and Sharon co-wrote, “Love Your Enemies” originally released in 2013 with a tenth anniversary edition release in 2023 in hardcover and ebook formats.Related Metta Hour EpisodesEpisode 107 Robert Thurman and Mark Epstein recorded live at Tibet House in 2018, released in the Metta Hour in 2019.Episode 164 Robert Thurman interview on the Metta Hour (partially included in today's episode), released in 2021.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 "I wish I could bottle that smile." That's what my partner said to me when the silence finally broke, after 10 days.This is the third chapter of a story that began in 2022. I just completed my second 10-day silent retreat. In this episode, I share with vulnerability the rollercoaster of those ten days: the resistance of day one, the release of day four, the wall I hit on day nine, and the realisation that changed how I see my own podcast, my own mission, and the gap between what we do and why we really do it.Whether or not you ever sit in silence for ten days yourself, this episode will ask you the same question it asked me: what is your true volition behind what you do?Press play now, and if something in you is leaning forward as you listen, don't wait. Explore Vipassana for yourself.˚Vipassana website: https://dhamma.org˚The previous episodes I discussed Vipassana:My first Vipassana retreat - episode #267: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/267The 3-day refresher course - episode #333: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/333˚˚KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - The “bottled smile” and opening reflection3:37 - New retreat setting and key differences from the first experience5:29 - Entering the retreat: expectations, resistance, and early adjustment7:01 - Emotional release and the unfolding inner “rollercoaster”9:33 - Physical discipline, fasting structure, and habit observations11:09 - Mental patterns of perception and projection13:14 - Teaching on mental, vocal, and physical action16:00 - Volition and the nature of action as intention19:30 - Integration: relationship reflection, return journey, and closing insights˚Send us a textSupport the showSubscribe to our weekly email: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/email---A personal development podcast for midlife professionals, offering mindset tips and practical tools for personal growth, self mastery, personal mastery, and purposeful living. Discover psychology tips for emotional intelligence and growth mindset, including overcoming impostor syndrome and building self mastery.Personal Development Mastery features personal development interviews and solo episodes empowering professionals, entrepreneurs, and seekers to cultivate self mastery and create a meaningful, fulfilling life aligned with who they truly are.To support the show, click here.

Episode #566: Daniel M. Stuart, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Carolina and a visiting scholar in Hamburg, examines the elusive historical figure Maung Po Thet—also known as Saya Thet Gyi—whose place in the lineage associated with S. N. Goenka reveals how modern Vipassana narratives often simplify a far more complicated past. Stuart explains that there is very little firm historical evidence about him, the available sources limited mainly to a colloquial Burmese meditation manual and a later biography written in the 1970s. While these texts preserve important memories, they also reflect the conventions of religious writing, elevating the teacher and blurring the line between devotion and documentation. As a result, Saya Thet Gyi remains historically important yet difficult to reconstruct with certainty. From those sources, Stuart presents a portrait that differs from the polished lineage figure often found in contemporary meditation accounts. He explains that Saya Thet Gyi was a lay farmer who turned to meditation after suffering painful, personal losses, connecting this to other important lineage figures for whom healing was an important part of their Vipassana story. He was also a practitioner whose authority came from disciplined practice and communal recognition rather than scholastic rank or monastic recognition. Saya Thet Gyi's importance also lies in his role as a lay person in the dissemination of the teachings, as the influential monk Ledi Sayadaw recognized his progress and encouraged him to teach. This moment opened the possibility that lay practitioners could become meditation teachers themselves, helping Burmese meditation spread through lay communities and eventually beyond Burma. Stuart also emphasizes that Saya Thet Gyi's training complicates simplified portrayals of Vipassana. Before becoming known for insight meditation, he intensively practiced samathā, or concentration meditation, a practice that many modern mindfulness iterations downplay vis-à-vis vipassana. Within traditional Buddhist cosmology, such concentration could involve experiences interpreted as encounters with spiritual beings, elements that the rational and scientific presentations of contemporary teachers often minimize. By restoring these dimensions, Stuart argues that Vipassana's history becomes more understandable as a tradition shaped by interpretation and change.

Touching into the selfless nature of experience, Joseph Goldstein explores uprooting the defilements through the clarity that comes from practice.Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein provides his perspective on:Engaging with mindfulnessThe radical uprooting of self and identification with experienceSeeing a glimpse of the deathless in our practice versus the transcendent moment of the unborn Slowly seeing clearly over time with dedicated practiceThe emptiness within the defilementsTaking all things as an invitation to explore rather than to believe A brief guided meditation with Joseph Moving our mental dialogue into a passive voice This episode is the 3rd and final part of a 3-part series. It was originally published on Dharmaseed and recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a non-profit organization founded by renowned meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg to integrate Buddhist study and practice. To start at the beginning, check out Ep. 261 – Gradual Cultivation in Buddhist Practice. “If you put your hand in fire, do you know that it burns? Do you have any doubt about it? In the genuine experience of things being uprooted, there is that quality of certainty. It is very different than what you were saying about ‘Yeah, it looks to me that the defilements are uprooted.' The experience that results in the uprooting, which is the experience of the unborn. It has that same immediacy and certainty as putting your hand in fire and knowing it burns.” –Joseph Goldstein See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Bev and Jan discuss:​Jan unique path into coaching​Spiritual perspective around money and breaking free of beliefs around money Thinking bigger about the value of our coachingKey Take-aways:​Assess your own money story​Connect with Jan if you need some support around your money storyABOUT JANI value contribution, freedom and autonomy.I've never had a traditional job.After I finished my physics degree, I co-founded a social startup. It was aligned and fun… until it wasn't.The biggest realization I had when I left because I got depressed: Happiness as fuel, not a reward.In 2018 I found my passion in coaching and dedicated myself fully to it.Since then I've worked with over 100 clients across the world, helping impact-driven founders build businesses that feel as good on the inside as they look on the outside.I've also coached actors, leaders of Fortune 500 companies and world-class AI educators.I continuously invest in my own development, learning from the best coaches in the world.I've done 2 Vipassana retreats, multiple plant medicine ceremonies, an 8-day darkness retreat and many other retreats and experiences that helped me heal past trauma and become more free.Connect with Jan:Virtual coffee chat invite: https://call.coliberate.ventures/virtual-coffeehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jantrautwein/https://www.instagram.com/jan_trautwein/If anyone is interested in speaking with me, they can contact me through my website https://jantrautwein.com/About Beverly:Beverly Sartain is the President of the Holistic Coach Training Institute, where she trains coaches on coaching skills and a holistic approach. The Holistic Coach Certification Programs are ICF Level 1 and Level 2 accredited that focuses on a holistic approach to coaching. We see clients as whole, complete and resourceful to create creative solutions to their challenges and dreams. During her ten-year career in nonprofits, she managed and developed domestic violence and co-occurring residential programs. Beverly is a Certified Addictions Professional. She has her PCC (Professional Certified Coach) from the ICF and loves developing human beings through coaching.Connect with HCTI:Sign-up for Holistic Coach Newsletter to get coaching skill and coaching business inspiration ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign-up for a Discovery Call ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ so you can join our Holistic Coach Certification Program or receive coaching.Check out our other offering on our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://holisticcoachtraininginstitute.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

What if better management starts with seeing connections that were there all along? In this conversation, Balaji Reddie and Andrew Stotz unpack one of the most powerful and overlooked ideas in management: that everything is connected. Drawing on Dr. W. Edwards Deming's systems thinking, he explains why the problems we face today were set in motion long before we noticed them, and why the solutions are rarely where we think to look.    Along the way, a cup of coffee becomes a window into five years of invisible effort, hydrogen and oxygen defy everything we'd expect, and a classroom game reveals that cooperation isn't a soft ideal — it might just be human nature. Whether you run a team of two or a global organization, this episode will quietly shift the way you read a situation, ask a question, or respond to a problem. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.2 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussions with Balaji Reddie, an educator and trainer in the teachings of Dr. Deming and quality management generally. The topic for today is connectedness, which will help you see things you normally would not see. Balaji, how are you?   0:00:30.7 Balaji Reddie: I'm good, I'm fine.   0:00:32.5 Andrew Stotz: Nice to connect with you.   0:00:34.1 Balaji Reddie: Yes, same here.   0:00:35.3 Andrew Stotz: Connectedness day.   0:00:36.5 Balaji Reddie: Yeah, connectedness, absolutely. Yeah, we chose this term very carefully, right?   0:00:42.6 Andrew Stotz: I suspect you have, given your precision.   [laughter]   0:00:47.4 Balaji Reddie: Yeah, to see things that you normally would not see, let me attribute this to Henry Neave, who said that he heard Deming say this during his last three or four seminars in England, right? In Britain rather. Yeah, I think it was mostly in England. And he said, when he heard him say that, he said, "I am not here to teach you anything new. I'm here to make you see things that you normally would not see." And I would like to just expand on that and say when you see things differently, obviously, you observe, you record different things. And when you record different things, you ask different questions. When you ask different questions, you get different answers. And when you get different answers, you draw different conclusions. When you draw different conclusions, you take different decisions. And when you take different decisions, you get different results. It's insanity to expect different results by asking the same questions every single time. So management is not so much about giving the right answers as much as it is about asking the correct questions. And I think Dr. Deming helps you do that. He helps you ask the correct questions.   0:02:02.2 Balaji Reddie: Now coming to the word connectedness. We spoke about the System of Profound Knowledge, a unified theory of leadership and management, where Dr. Deming brings together four sciences. And the first one he says about systems thinking, or what he called as appreciation for a system, appreciation for a fact that everything is systemic. There's nothing that happens in isolation, right? And the second one, of course, he said was understanding variation, then understanding theory of knowledge and understanding psychology. But he said, all four are equally important, et cetera. And then comes the, I won't say contradictory, but a chapter before Profound Knowledge on systems especially. So that's where I decided to use the word connectedness, that all these are connected. What did he mean by that? So I believe he wanted people to learn about connectedness and systems first.   0:03:01.6 Balaji Reddie: So let's dive right there. What did he always say about systems, or connectedness as we say here? And let's get into his definition for system. And he says that "a system is a network," right, "of interdependent components that work together to achieve the aim of the system." And then he says "every system must have an aim. Without an aim, there is no system." And very well articulated throughout this book which he wrote, he always began with aim of the chapter. Even in Out of the Crisis, he always started with aim of a chapter. So network of interdependent components. So let's just break it down, because the three important words are network, interdependent, and aim. And he says aim comes first because without the aim, there is no system.   0:04:00.6 Balaji Reddie: Right. And he goes on to tell us what the aim of a system should be. Okay. He says here that the recommended aim should be for everybody to gain. Now, in one of the paragraphs there, management's job, where he says should be to make it clear, the first step is clarification. Everyone in the organization must understand the aim and how to direct their efforts towards the aim, right? And everyone must understand, okay, this is important. The danger and loss to the whole organization from a team that seeks to become a selfish, independent profit center. Right. So he says here we need to give both, why we need to do what we need to do. And he says the aim precedes the system. Now, I would like to leave this discussion right here. We will cover this in our 14 Points, our session on the 14 Points, because I believe the word aim and purpose are, they go hand in hand. Aim gives us a direction and purpose gives us the reason why we exist, right? And so the direction of all the efforts, you can see the development. He says here, he gives some examples that the system must create something of value. In other words, results. The intended results along with consideration of recipients and of cost mold the aim of the system. So he said it should be something that makes life better for everyone.   0:05:39.8 Balaji Reddie: Now, he was talking about a man-made system here. Remember, he wrote this for organizations, but I think I mentioned this before that this can equally be applied to natural systems, if you want to really study them in detail. I remember talking to Barbara Lawton about this, and I said, "Natural systems, they do have an aim. It's just that we've not understood it." The purpose and aim of, in fact, that was the basis for my paper, which I delivered at the Deming Research Seminar in 2002. And the title of my paper was Deming and Ecology. And I was trying to put together the thoughts of the physicist Fritjof Capra, who wrote some wonderful books like The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, The Web of Life, and The Hidden Connections. And The Systems View of Life is also one of the sub-books or booklets that he came out with. But these were his wonderful books. At the time, he had not yet written The Hidden Connections, right? So based on his three books that I had read up until then, of course, one was called Uncommon Wisdom, where he reproduced some of the interviews he had with some systems thinkers in the world, including people not from conventional systems thinking. For example, he also reproduced his interaction with the then Prime Minister or the ex-Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, and how he spent time with her, because he was over here in India for quite some time studying the language Sanskrit and studying the texts over here, because he learned about systems thinking even deeper.   0:07:25.1 Balaji Reddie: So over there, he wanted to, he raised a question, what is the purpose? So I wanted to use Dr. Deming's theories to understand the purpose of a natural system and what is the purpose of man [laughter] in this natural system. So that was my theory. And that's when this aim thing became more and more clear. And Barbara said, "No, you're right. There is an aim. It's just that we're trying to understand it. Without that, you won't have the system working so beautifully. There is something that is at work." Right. And he says here, management of a system. And then he says that a system includes the future. And now here's where, when you talk about system includes the future, he mentions Peter Senge in his book, if you know about The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. And that's where this fantastic statement comes in because he says delayed effects. So although, Deming never used these words directly, but here I am putting among the first principles of systems thinking is that cause and effect are not closely related in time or space. Right. And that gives a lot of frightening conclusions, or inferences that you can draw from this. If I say that, by the way, that cause and effect are not closely related in time or space, and if I ask you what you understand by this statement, your first knee-jerk reaction would be what I do today, the consequences would be felt in another time at another place. Absolutely right. That's exactly what this means. But the converse is also true. What we get to see in front of our eyes, the origins are at another time and another place.   0:09:15.9 Balaji Reddie: So we only see the event, but systems thinking teaches us there are no events in this world. There are only eventualities. Now, this comes into play when you start doing a study, typically when people learn about quality, and then the first thing they learn is to, okay, identify a problem and try to solve it, right? And then they start asking the question, "Why did this happen?" And then you draw a fishbone diagram, which is, you know, one of the most popular tools. But the problem there is you need to arrange the causes logically and not categorically. And you also need to take into account that these causes are also related to each other. You can't isolate them. And the fact that, there could be an element of time over here, right, that this is a delayed effect that you're seeing. So the effect comes much later. And sometimes it could be weeks and months. So you have to take that into account, right? So the cause and effect are not true, which means then the next corollary from this statement is that seemingly disconnected events turn out to be connected. And so when you are studying something that's happening in front of your eyes, very quickly you ask the question, "What else happened a month ago, a week ago, that we seem to have missed? Are we missing something here?" So that's one of those things that we need to get into, right? We need to go backwards in time and not look at the localized stuff here. We need to look in space all around and try to figure out where and how we need to change things.   0:11:06.1 Andrew Stotz: It's also interesting to think about all the things that have to have happened for an outcome to occur today the way you want it, that is the right outcome.   0:11:19.8 Balaji Reddie: Yes.   0:11:21.4 Andrew Stotz: And a good example I use for that, and I was just talking two different times this week with my team, is coffee. Coffee is a really interesting one, because when you go to a coffee shop, they make you a cup of coffee, they give you a cup of coffee, but what you don't realize is that there was a farmer, took him five years to grow that tree. And then they had to pick it at the right time. You pick it at the wrong time, it goes wrong.   0:11:47.4 Balaji Reddie: Oh, yeah.   0:11:48.3 Andrew Stotz: They put it into some water. They leave it in too long, it's fermented. They leave it in too short, it doesn't, the shell doesn't come off. And then if they, once they've worked on it, if they have their grinders that are getting off the mucilage off of it, if they're too tight, well, then you're going to get a little slice off the top of the bean. And then when that goes to the roasting machine, that's going to burn right there because there's no protection in that area. But they got to get all of those things right all the way to that barista. And if that barista just basically doesn't check the water temperature, it's done.   0:12:29.5 Balaji Reddie: It's done. [laughter]   0:12:29.9 Andrew Stotz: You throw it away. And when you think about it, I have another lesson that I give to young people about capitalism, that how all of these decisions are happening all along the way. And when that happens, there's waste in the system. And that waste goes back all the way back to the effort of the farmer five years ago when they planted that tree.   0:12:51.8 Balaji Reddie: That's right.   0:12:52.3 Andrew Stotz: And so reducing waste is not only good for you and good for costs in general, but it has a respect for the process, a respect for the system.   0:13:04.0 Balaji Reddie: Yes. Connectedness. Reconnected. [laughter]   0:13:07.6 Andrew Stotz: Well, and the other thing I tell them is I say, and here you have a coffee bean coming from this country that's then being shipped to this country. They never met.   0:13:16.8 Balaji Reddie: Yeah.   0:13:17.1 Andrew Stotz: And that's capitalism. You trade. In fact, they may not speak the same language.   0:13:23.1 Balaji Reddie: Absolutely.   0:13:23.5 Andrew Stotz: Or they may even be enemies. They may hate each other.   0:13:26.9 Balaji Reddie: Yeah.   0:13:27.4 Andrew Stotz: And yet they trade.   0:13:29.5 Balaji Reddie: Yeah.   0:13:31.1 Andrew Stotz: And so it's a voluntary connectedness that happens through capitalism. Anyways.   0:13:37.2 Balaji Reddie: Yeah. The right quality and uniformity are foundations for commerce, prosperity, and peace. [laughter] That's Deming for you.   0:13:46.1 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:13:46.3 Balaji Reddie: I think he chose that sentence so beautifully. It goes into the Deming Medal. He knew what he was talking about. So he was talking about systems, and I think profound knowledge came towards the end of his life, and rightly so. It came as a revelation, as a catharsis. I think he went through all of that, especially, I think it was between '88 and '89, if I'm not mistaken. Jaki Graham talks about this very, very funnily. She says that they were giving him pure oxygen and maybe that made his brain cells go alive. [laughter] And he could think so clearly. He was getting pure oxygen. And so his thought process...   0:14:31.0 Andrew Stotz: By the way, for the listeners out there, you may feel like I feel when I think about how Dr. Deming didn't really come out with the System of Profound Knowledge until he was, early '90s, let's say, '90s. You think to yourself, okay, I still have time to come up with my incredible insight on...   0:14:52.4 Balaji Reddie: Correct.   0:14:52.9 Andrew Stotz: Bringing together all my experience.   0:14:55.1 Balaji Reddie: Yeah. So because I think I shared this with you before that when you read Mary Walton's book and he says, "No, I don't think I'm ready to establish an institute," and he only did it one month before he passed. So I think by that time he was quite sure what he created was quite amazing, and it'll stand the test of time, right? And although, the title of the book is The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, I believe it is industry, government, education, and healthcare. Because when he was in Japan, he said Japan must see itself as a system. And when he got the Deming Medal, that's what he said. Oh, sorry, when he got the Emperor's Medal, the Second Order of the Sacred Treasure. And he was talking to the Japanese Prime Minister. And he said, "You all must see yourselves as a system." And the four sectors of industry, government, education, and healthcare must work together. So he meant it as in the broadest sense of the term, right? And that's why this word system. So the first thing, of course, cause and effect are not closely related. Seemingly disconnected events turn out to be connected. The third important thing here in systems thinking is the reductionist thinking that we have.   0:16:12.0 Balaji Reddie: We believe the word analysis means dissection. And if you look deeply and read the book Mind and the World Order, what is the purpose of analysis? The purpose of analysis is not dissection. That's just the act of breaking a system down. But the purpose of analysis is interrelationships, establishing the interrelationships or understanding the connectedness. And I find it quite funny because people say analysis is dissection, and so they came up with a new term, really not necessary, synthesis, bringing it all together. There was no need for that term. You're not engaging in what, tautology? [laughter] You didn't need that. Analysis itself means dissecting and understanding relationships, right?   0:17:02.2 Andrew Stotz: Hmm.   0:17:03.3 Balaji Reddie: And so he said here, we have that reductionist thinking, but we forget that in a system, you have what are called synergistic relationships. You cannot understand a system by breaking it down into its components and studying the components separately and then believing that the components and their attributes and what they do gives the output of what we see. No, you could be completely wrong here. It's not what they do separately. Okay, it's a good thing to understand the components of a system and study them and maybe even establish connectedness, but sometimes what the results you see are quite contrary to what they could be giving separately. I'll give you an example here. Take the case of water. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. You cannot study and draw conclusions about water by studying the attributes of hydrogen and oxygen separately. You'd be making a mistake, a grave error. Okay, let's do that. Hydrogen, a highly inflammable gas, catches fire like this. Oxygen feeds fire. But you put them together and they give you something that quenches fire. Hydrogen is not wet. Oxygen is not wet. But water is wet. [laughter] How do you explain this?   0:18:25.9 Balaji Reddie: All right. If you take the case of sugar, it's a hydrocarbon. Try tasting hydrogen. All right, try tasting carbon. Now put them together and see what you get. Now, can it not be then that you are studying a system and when you break things down and you're studying the components separately, you could be making the same error? It's not what they do separately, it's what they do together. It's the same with sections in a company, departments in a company, companies themselves. Today, we use this sophisticated term, supply chain, call it what you will. I love to use the word provider network. I don't like using the word supplier any longer. I like to use the word provider, because today we're living in a different world. We're getting activities done by someone else, and you can't say he's supplying me this activity. He's providing me this service, right? So provider is a better term to use than supplier. And it's no longer a chain. It's a network, right? It's more lateral. It's all over the place. It's not linear. You're doing a huge disservice by using the term supply chain, because it's not bringing out what exactly is happening right there.   0:19:38.3 Balaji Reddie: And today's supply chains or provider networks are globally dispersed. So you need to have something that connects them. You just said that, the farmer could be in a different country, speaking a different language, maybe he didn't even know where it is being used, and they could hate each other, but they have to work, [laughter] you need to work together. So there's some kind of connectedness that comes in once again. But here's where people make mistakes. So you're talking about synergistic relationships. So sometimes in a team, now here's where all that incentive pay and choosing employee of the month can destroy a system.   0:20:18.8 Balaji Reddie: It could have been the entire team that did well, and they did well because they worked as a team. And it was synergistic, where some components had to, I can't use the right word, but maybe had to underperform so that the system came out ahead. It's like the organs of the human body, right? That's an interconnected, interdependent system. You have a primary function of each of the organs, but there are many other functions we are still discovering, right? For example, if you take the case of ears, besides hearing, they're responsible for balance in our body, right? Eyes, besides sight, they are also responsible for balance in our body. If you try this yoga position, you know, there's a yoga, so to say, yeah, you stand on one leg. And then you lift one leg off the ground and put the ball of your heel on the knee, the other leg's knee. And then you hold your hands above your head to form like a namaste or a triangle. As long as your eyes are open, you stand upright. Shut your eyes, you fall. It's a system and we don't even realize it, right? So this is something we're still...   0:21:38.3 Andrew Stotz: You also fall in that posture when your teacher says, as mine did once, "Now you're in the position. Now raise your other leg."   [laughter]   0:21:54.5 Andrew Stotz: My yoga teacher didn't come yesterday, but I did my sessions every day. But I haven't been able to do that one yet.   0:22:03.6 Balaji Reddie: We had that joke in school. Why does the crane stand on one leg? [laughter] 'Cause if it raised the other leg, it'd fall. [laughter] So it continues standing on one leg. So yes. So you have the synergistic relationships which exist, all right? And it's so difficult then to establish these interrelationships. And sometimes they're visible, sometimes they're not, all right? And sometimes you get to see the results right up front. Sometimes you get to see them in time delay. And that is why Deming said continual improvement. It never stops. Continual learning. You can never say you have complete knowledge of a process or a system. You can never say that, right? And now comes the best part. When you say here that all these are interconnected and there's synergy and then there's cause and effect not closely related in time and space, the output of a system, that is why, is subject to variation. And that's why the study of variation becomes important, right?   0:23:16.2 Balaji Reddie: And when you draw a diagram saying, suppose you say this is a system and all the components are there and you draw the interconnectedness and you draw an arrow and you say, "Okay, you're getting the system is subject to variation," right? Can you with absolute certainty say that because here, because the funny thing is each of the component's performance is also subject to variation, right? So can you say that, this combination gave me this output? You can never say that. You can only say it's probable, might be somewhere here. And so I think Walter Shewhart's greatness was in recognizing that what is natural to a system and what is not natural. When do you start asking the question, "What do I know about this?" When you cannot predict. When you can predict with a certain amount of certainty that this is going to happen.   0:24:14.6 Balaji Reddie: It is between these two limits. Well, then that's when you say, "Okay, I think I know quite a bit about this, but I don't know much. I want to reduce those limits, because I want to be as certain as possible when I make a prediction." And that was what was continual learning. It was not so much about cost. It was as much as it had to do about understanding and predicting. I know what's going to happen next. To a certain extent, this will happen. This will happen, right? And that's where the understanding of variation comes in. Okay, and then he brought in the third, that in variation, you saw that there were what he called as random variation and assignable variation, or what Deming had common and special cause variation. Common causes belong to the system and special causes are alien to the system under study, right? And so say it's easier to identify the special causes because they tell you something is not right. And so you can say, "I know it happened." You can isolate and say, "This is the cause," right? It makes it easier for you then to isolate that, study it, but...   0:25:30.1 Andrew Stotz: I just had that happen this morning.   0:25:32.4 Balaji Reddie: Okay.   0:25:33.7 Andrew Stotz: I'll give you an example.   0:25:35.2 Balaji Reddie: Yeah, sure.   0:25:36.0 Andrew Stotz: I've been working with my accounting team and what we're trying to do is make sure we have on-time and accurate monthly financial statements. And I've chosen those words very, very carefully. And what I've done with the team is ask them, there's no pressure in this. All I'm asking you to do is pick a day that you think we will be able to have on-time and accurate monthly financial statements. And then they pick their days for each month to the end of the year, which pretty much certainty accounting is a repeating of a similar function. And so then as I was talking with them throughout that day, I said, "Why are these boxes piled up around here?" And they said, "Well, the room that we store them in is getting full." The paper, 'cause you have a regulation in Thailand, you have to have your accounting documents for up to six or eight years on premises in case the revenue department comes. So I said, "Well, show me that room." And we went to the room and it was an absolute mess. It's like people have been dumping boxes and papers in there for five years.   0:26:51.6 Balaji Reddie: Wow.   0:26:52.6 Andrew Stotz: And I said, "Okay. You got to clean up this room this month." They're like, "Ah, it's going to take us two months." I said, "Look, this is critical." And they agreed. And so they have now completed that task, but it consumed so much of their time to do that. And it looks beautiful now. But they're two days late on the on-time and accurate monthly financials. And if we were to look at that on a control chart, we would see that it's a big deviation from what they've been able to do. But that special cause is almost meaningless, just as meaningless as the random variation in the sense that this was just a simple situation where there was a trade-off, they made the trade-off, and it's an acceptable trade-off.   0:27:43.1 Balaji Reddie: Yeah, I'd like to put it this way. When you know why it has happened, it's not that harmful, right? As long as you can predict when we do something. It's the unpredictability that makes a special cause harmful. And that's why when I used the term that Deming's thinking was about reducing or eliminating harmful variation, that is things which get out of your hand and you usually don't know why it's happening. So once you get to know, I believe that this could be connected, yeah, that's a good place to start, right?   0:28:15.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. Now, someone that doesn't understand the situation and look back over time may not understand what that cause was, which I'm thinking that I want to develop kind of a note-taking system where we actually write down what was that so that we have a record and an understanding of it. But...   0:28:37.1 Balaji Reddie: Yeah. And so when you say here that there's so many, that complete knowledge is not possible, and that's where you start thinking that was Deming being a pessimist to say complete knowledge is not possible, unknown and unknowable. But no, he was just being realistic. But he did not leave us right there. He said the way you can make the unknown as known as possible is through the theory of knowledge. And that's how the whole thing is. It's beautifully done, what the theory of knowledge is. But he says here, very simply, one of those exercises which you see in the new edition of The New Economics on page 58. But if you go to the old edition, right? That's, I believe, on... Where would that be? Page 84. The example he gives there, effect, the plans and their effect, area A, B, and C, the matrix diagram, if you see that?   0:29:50.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:29:50.5 Balaji Reddie: That he says was devised by Henry. And then, of course, he picked on that and put it into his book. I got a chance to actually work on this in the form of a game. And the game, I would break up the audience into four or five groups of five people each and then say, "You're department A, department B, department C," and then have a host of projects lined up for them. And I say, "Now you're going to be ranked and rated based on how you do as a department." And so they would choose those projects where only they were benefiting, right? And obviously, that's what you see in the first table. A chooses three projects, and B chooses two projects, and C chooses three projects. And you see the plus signs there indicating that it's for them, for them alone. And then they are exposed to the fact that, wait a minute, now we're going to give you some extra information. You chose these projects because they were good for you, but now we're going to tell you that these were bad for the others, right? And only one of them was good.   0:30:59.9 Balaji Reddie: And I say, "Okay, now here's this extra information you've been given. Now what are you going to do?" All right. And I said, "I'm giving you five minutes to... Because the company is going to do badly, right? And even though you get a good rating, but the company does badly and eventually the company might have to shut down. So what would you want to do now? I'm giving you five minutes to rectify this." You know, Andrew, not even five minutes was necessary. They would come back within two or three minutes and say, "Let's just choose those projects where everyone gains." And I was surprised the first time that happened. And that's why Deming said cooperation is the key and it is natural. It's just that we have brought in this competition thing. So competition is not natural. He says cooperation is natural. [laughter]   0:31:53.9 Andrew Stotz: And that, in Asia, and I can speak to Thailand, what I like to tell people here in Thailand for managers and people running business is that the core strength of Thai people is that they want to work together. So when you break them up and you put them into groups and then you incentivize them either by group or by individual, you destroy one of their core strengths.   0:32:28.7 Balaji Reddie: Right.   0:32:29.1 Andrew Stotz: That's not a core strength of American. A lot of Americans don't want to work together. They just want to do their own thing. Right? They've been trained to be independent and they don't want that hassle. But in Asia, particularly in Thailand, where we're struggling to bring more and more value, what's happened is the KPI mentality of divide and conquer really is damaging. And it brings me to another point or question that I wanted to mention, and that is about the natural... My mom has a saying, and it's "inch by inch, it's a cinch, yard by yard, it's hard." And what she was telling me was to break things down into manageable parts and then work on the next right part, and then you will start to make progress. And we have studied under Adam Smith and the concept of how division of labor brings value, can increase output. And so there's a whole side of things. And then we're incentivized as individuals, particularly in the West, but let's say generally that, if it's to be, it's going to be up to you and you got to make yourself performance and your department's performance. I don't care about the others. I care about what you're doing with yours.   0:32:54.6 Andrew Stotz: So there's an accountability aspect and it all comes together to give people the perception that, hey, I need to break this down into smaller parts. And so there's just this natural inclination to do that. And if you were to say to people, you can't break it down into individual parts, that also doesn't work. You have to be able to understand the different parts and their interconnectedness, going back to what you're saying.   0:34:26.8 Balaji Reddie: Yes.   0:34:27.1 Andrew Stotz: But there's a lot of different things that I'm saying here. But I think the thing that I'm saying is that the pressure on most people is to divide and conquer, to say, "I'm going to go and look at this department and you and your performance." And what Deming was saying was, you've got to look wider than that if you're really going to be successful. Tell me where I'm right or wrong or give me some guidance.   0:34:53.5 Balaji Reddie: Yeah. I mean, that's exactly how it is. And I just told you that when I saw this happen, it was like an eye-opener. And then what happened after that was, okay, there were some other projects which where we were not going to do well, but the company's going to come out ahead. So why don't we choose those? And that's exactly what you see in the table, that they choose certain projects where they themselves are... Now that's real optimization, right? That's getting the best for everyone.   0:35:23.4 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:35:24.8 Balaji Reddie: And today it's become an overused and abused term. For anything they use the word optimize. I think Deming was way very clear about this 30 years ago when he came up with this idea. And he said it's for everybody to gain. It's not compromise, it's optimization. Right? So I, of course, have a different take on optimize and we'll see that next week when we come into four parts of profound knowledge. So I'd like to end here with talking about cooperation is the key and I think we realized why.   0:35:59.1 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:35:59.8 Balaji Reddie: Deming says it's not about each other, it's win-win. The system should... And he gives that lovely example in the same chapter, the last example, where he talks about the truck company, the two truckers who used to keep their establishment open. Alternately overnight so that both could gain and they would use each other's resources. He said, "I was surprised when I called the pickup truck and I saw that the truck was from his competitor. He sent his competitor's truck to pick up my car." That was a classic case of cooperation. So since he ends with that, he ends that chapter, I'd like to also speak about that. Cooperation is the key because we are dealing with something very complex, right? And none of us is as strong as all of us. It's not just about, like you said, because cause and effect are not closely related, it is imperative now that we need to work together. So that was with systems thinking. Cause and effect are not closely related. There exist synergistic relationships. Seemingly disconnected events turn out to be connected. And outputs are the result of a myriad of inputs. You can never say you know everything. So that was systems thinking for you as they apply to the elements of profound knowledge as well.   0:37:33.3 Andrew Stotz: Great.   0:37:33.7 Balaji Reddie: Next week, we'll get into profound knowledge.   0:37:37.1 Andrew Stotz: You know, I think my ending thought on this goes back to the concept of meditation.   0:37:45.4 Balaji Reddie: Okay.   0:37:45.9 Andrew Stotz: Concept of insight meditation or Vipassana or...   0:37:52.6 Balaji Reddie: Vipassana.   0:37:53.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. So part of what I understand about meditation is the idea of clearing our mind in this moment. It may also be just observing our mind and just observing all that's happening and going on, which is fine. And let's say that a meditation master may be able to clear their mind. But let's just say that what we're trying to do is come down to this instant, this moment. And I remember during COVID when a lot of pressures were on in my business and stuff, I used to meditate and focus on one saying, which is, "I'm okay right now at this moment."   0:38:36.7 Balaji Reddie: Right.   0:38:37.1 Andrew Stotz: And why this is interesting is because let's say this moment is time zero. What you've just explained is that there's about 50 million things before time zero that have been connected in one way or another that got you to time zero.   0:38:55.1 Balaji Reddie: Yes.   0:38:55.3 Andrew Stotz: And you also said that a system, as Deming said, is a system includes the future.   0:39:00.2 Balaji Reddie: Future.   0:39:01.2 Andrew Stotz: And that's going to be a function of all the different things that happen after time zero, the interconnected things. And it just made me realize, ah, so the value of meditation, I can see it even more now when I think about all the connections on both the future side and the past side. And so it just helped me think about it from that perspective, a little bit different, but anyways.   0:39:23.4 Balaji Reddie: Yep.   0:39:24.9 Andrew Stotz: So I just want to thank you for taking the time. And in fact, what I was thinking is that I need to do more interviews with our advisors and other board members of the Institute, including yourself, because they've all got a lot to say. And I've got some discussions going on with that right now. So I'm looking forward to that. And so I appreciate the discussion and the journey that you're taking us on. And just for the listeners out there, remember to go to deming.org and jump into DemingNEXT to continue your journey.   0:40:03.8 Balaji Reddie: Yes, absolutely.   0:40:05.3 Andrew Stotz: There's so much, so much to learn and explore. So I'm going to wrap it up there. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, and that is, "People are entitled," that includes you...   0:40:21.7 Balaji Reddie: Yes.   0:40:22.4 Andrew Stotz: Are entitled to joy in work.

Episode #562: “I thought there was something, but I didn't know there was a way to get there.” That sense of longing has shaped Eion Meades's spiritual life. His father abandoned the family when Meades was around ten years old, leaving his mother to raise six children while working long hours as a cleaner. He drifted toward crime and bad behavior before leaving home at fifteen. He hitchhiked across Australia and New Zealand, then traveled through Asia. Not finding a clear spiritual path on his travels, be returned to Australia to join Chenrezig Institute, a fledgling Tibetan Buddhist community there. Meades became one of the earliest residents and builders of what later grew into a major Tibetan Buddhist center. The Buddhist community gave him structure, intellectual clarity, and a disciplined path toward awakening. “I felt, ‘Ah, this is it, I'm home!'” The commitment of the community to building the center inspired him. Over time, however, he sought more meditative depth than he felt Chenrezig provided, and turned to Robert Hover, an American teacher from the U Ba Khin Vipassana lineage. Under Hover's guidance, Meades's practice became an intense confrontation with fear, emotion, and altered states of consciousness. He describes Hover as almost shamanic, representing a more personal and experimental form of Vipassana practice. Another decisive influence came through Mary, an older psychic medium connected to the Tibetan Buddhist community. Through her, Meades encountered trance mediumship, spirit guides, visions, and other experiences that defied “rational” explanation. Mary eventually led him away from the security of institutional Buddhism and into a more uncertain but deeply personal spiritual path. Later, another U Ba Khin lineage teacher, John Coleman, became important to Meades because he was willing to seriously discuss experiences that seemed to blur the boundary between deep meditation and psychic phenomena. Meades came away feeling that some advanced meditative states naturally opened unusual capacities, even if Buddhist traditions often hesitated to speak openly about them. Through all his experiences, Meades never lost sight of awakening as the central aim of spiritual life. Looking back, he describes spiritual growth as a long process of integration and transformation. By the end of his reflections, he speaks less about institutions or psychic abilities than about what spiritual practice ultimately leaves behind. As he puts it, “the wisdom and love you gain in this life will never be lost.”

In this episode, Mikey Noechel explores the Buddhist principle of ehipassiko, often translated as "come and see for yourself." Rather than relying on blind belief, this teaching invites us to investigate our own experience with curiosity and wisdom. Enjoy this Dharma talk. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.orgDONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit:https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donateFollow Us on Socials!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartnashville/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildheartmeditation

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En este episodio converso con Dani Dowd, psicóloga, coach, meditadora Vipassana, cofundadora del Método del Año del Milagro y una gran amiga.

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Episode #554: Bruce Stewart, an early Western student and teacher in the S.N. Goenka Vipassana tradition, reflects on a lifelong search for spiritual meaning driven by curiosity, wonder, and a desire to understand life more deeply. The sudden death of his younger sister prompted early questions about life's meaning, while stories from traveling hippies kindled a desire to explore the wider world. Leaving New Zealand, Stewart worked his passage to Europe on a cargo ship and spent several adventurous years traveling through Europe and Africa and immersing himself in the hippie counterculture. Eventually Stewart found his way to a Sivananda ashram in Canada, where his spiritual interests were given structure. There he met his future wife, Maureen. Together they returned to New Zealand and founded one of the country's first yoga centers, creating a vibrant community centered on yoga, vegetarianism, retreats, and alternative culture. Later, Stewart took a vipassana course with John Coleman, a student of U Ba Khin; the experience was life-changing. Soon after, he and Maureen dissolved their yoga center and traveled to India to became involved with the fledgling Vipassana center at Dhamma Giri in Igatpuri, where they worked closely with S.N. Goenka. As the movement expanded, Stewart and Maureen were heavily involved in helping the tradition take root in the U.S. Yet over time, he became increasingly uneasy with organizational culture, leadership styles, and narratives of purity and authority. Historical study and deeper inquiry eventually led him to question long-held assumptions, and eventually his decision to broaden his practice and step down from his Senior Teacher responsibilities. Still, he remains grateful for the practice and its benefits, viewing his spiritual life as a series of valuable stages that collectively formed a rich, demanding, and deeply meaningful journey.

In this episode of Healthy Wealthy & Smart, Dr. Karen Litzy welcomes Kathryn Nicolai, the creator and host of Nothing Much Happens, one of the most listened-to sleep podcasts in the world. Discover how storytelling, nervous system regulation, and mindful routines can transform your sleep quality in this engaging episode. Kathryn shares practical strategies rooted in her background in yoga, neuroscience, and storytelling to help listeners foster calm, resilience, and restful nights. Key Topics: ·       The therapeutic power of storytelling in calming anxiety and promoting sleep ·       The neuroscience behind why safety and overstimulation block restful sleep ·       Practical tools like breathwork, joy, and routines to reset the nervous system ·       The concept of SIMS (Safety in Me) versus DIMS (Danger in Me) and how to shift balance ·       How to develop a personalized sleep ritual that feels pleasurable and sustainable ·       The importance of joy, predictability, and self-compassion in sleep hygiene ·       Mental models for reducing hypervigilance and promoting safety at night ·       Kathryn's process of creating comforting stories and building a connected universe for sleep ·       Techniques for integrating mindfulness and sensory awareness into everyday life ·       Encouragement to prioritize pleasure over perfection in self-care routines Timestamps: 00:00 - What makes storytelling a powerful tool for sleep 00:48 - Kathryn's journey from yoga teacher to sleep storyteller 02:12 - Why safety in the nervous system is key to restful sleep 03:22 - The role of overstimulation and how modern life hampers rest 04:45 - The magic of bedtime stories and their universal calming effect 06:00 - Understanding default mode network and the glazed eye of overthinking 07:14 - The principles of SIMS and DIMS in regulating nervous system safety 08:45 - How stories foster a reparative sense of witnessing and safety 10:05 - The art of building a nurturing, interconnected storytelling universe 11:41 - Creating a sensory-rich environment that promotes calm 13:03 - Kathryn's storytelling techniques: pacing, predictability, and authenticity 14:13 - The importance of intention and personal touch in story creation 15:33 - Making routine pleasurable — integrating joy into sleep rituals 17:04 - The calming power of familiar locations and recurring characters 18:28 - The significance of predictability and control in anxious times 20:14 - The myth of perfect sleep routines and focusing on what feels good 22:24 - Front-loading the day with joy as a resilience booster 24:24 - The uplifting impact of simple pleasures — music, a kind word, a moment of delight 26:22 - Breathing techniques and other accessible practices to turn down the nervous system dial 27:34 - The accessibility and free nature of mindfulness tools 28:34 - Building habits slowly and with pleasure, not perfection 30:23 - Letting go of rigidity: sustainability in self-care 31:17 - The importance of internal permission to enjoy and relax 32:41 - The secret ordinary moments that remind us of magic 33:44 - Choosing a story setting you'd love to live in 34:19 - Debunking myths in the wellness industry around "perfect rest" 35:16 - The transformational advice to younger selves: embrace imperfect progress 36:11 - Resources, books, and ways to connect with Kathryn 37:13 - Final words: cultivating a safe, restful, joyful sleep environment Resources & Links: ·       Nothing Much Happens – Website ·       Nothing Much Happens – Podcast ·       Nothing Much Happens - Instagram ·       On the Street Where You Live – Kathryn's upcoming book (search title for purchase info) ·       First This – Guided meditation show ·       Kathryn on YouTube More About Kathryn Nicolai: Kathryn Nicolai is the creator and host of Nothing Much Happens, one of the most listened-to sleep podcasts in the world, where millions of listeners use her stories to calm anxiety, fall asleep, and feel more at ease in their bodies. With over 20 years of experience as a yoga and meditation teacher, Kathryn is a trusted voice in self-care, with a focus on sleep hygiene, nervous system regulation, mindfulness, and storytelling as medicine. She draws on lived experience and practices including Vipassana meditation, gentle movement, brain training, and bibliotherapy to support people navigating stress, anxiety, depression, and more. Through her work, Kathryn helps people cultivate rest, creativity, and emotional resilience in a culture shaped by overstimulation and burnout. Her new audio book, On The Street Where You Live, also comes out in July. Jane Sponsorship Information: Book a one-on-one demo here Mention the code LITZY1MO for a free month   Follow Dr. Karen Litzy on Social Media: Karen's Instagram Karen's LinkedIn   Subscribe to Healthy, Wealthy & Smart: YouTube Website Apple Podcast Spotify SoundCloud Stitcher iHeart Radio

Joseph Goldstein investigates the not-so-obvious delight of seeing our own arrogance (Māna), and the balance of knowing ultimate truth while living with a functional sense of “I.”Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give here: BHNN 10th Birthday FundraiserToday's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:Realizing the truth of non-self while still having an underlying feeling of ‘I am”The Buddhist concept of Māna, which can be translated as "pride", "arrogance", or "conceit"Our tendency to project the past into the futureRecognizing Māna for what it is and letting the thoughts dissolveHow the residue of ‘I' and ‘self' can fall away during practiceEngaging the self just enough to live in the relative world This episode is the 2nd part of a 3-part series. It was originally published on Dharmaseed and recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a non-profit organization founded by renowned meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg to integrate Buddhist study and practice. To start at the beginning, check out Ep. 261 – Gradual Cultivation in Buddhist Practice “These days, I am totally delighted when I see Māna arise in my mind…one of the reasons I am delighted is that I would much rather see it than not see it to recognize 'that's Māna', instead of not recognizing it and being caught up and identified with that pattern. Just the seeing of it is freeing.” –Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

in this episode Andrew dives into an essential aspect of the Buddha's path to awakening, The 4 Great Efforts. Early in his life, the Buddha discovered that he can categorize his mental states into two baskets: wholesome and unwholesome. he saw that wholesome mind states led to his welfare and happiness and the welfare and happiness of others, and he became resolute to prevent and abandon the type of mind states that led to his suffering and the suffering of those around him. Here's a look at how to do it. Enjoy!  Last day to register for the WHMC retreat is TODAY! (6/10) - https://givebutter.com/summer26 Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.orgDONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit:https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donateFollow Us on Socials!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartnashville/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildheartmeditation

Ngày hôm nay, BV xin chia sẻ tới các bạn một cuốn sách mà mình tin rằng: nếu bạn đang có thôi thúc tìm cho bản thân một con đường để thay đổi, để thoát khỏi khổ đau, bạn nhất định cần đọc trong đời. Đó là cuốn “Nghệ thuật sống: Thiền Vipassana" (The Art of Living). Cuốn sách này giới thiệu về phương pháp Vipassana theo sự giảng dạy của Thiền sư S. N. Goenka.  S. N. Goenka là một trong những vị thầy về thiền Vipassana có ảnh hưởng lớn nhất trong thời hiện đại. Ông được thế giới ghi nhận là người phục hưng và phổ biến rộng rãi kỹ thuật thiền này trên toàn thế giới, giúp hàng triệu người đạt được sự bình an nội tâm và chuyển hoá đau khổ nơi thân tâm.  Cuốn sách này là một trong những tác phẩm nổi tiếng nhất của ông. Nó đặc biệt ở chỗ trình bày giáo lý Đức Phật một cách đơn giản, rõ ràng, nhưng rất logic, giúp bạn có sự hiểu biết về bản chất của phương pháp Vipassana. Từ đó, có thể thiết lập một lộ trình tu tập toàn diện cho bản thân, để từng bước giải thoát chính mình khỏi những đau khổ, tổn thương và vô minh. Mời bạn lắng nghe!-------------------------Nếu bạn muốn mua sách giấy để đọc, có thể ủng hộ Better Version bằng cách mua qua đường link này nhé, cám ơn các bạn! ❤️ Link tổng hợp các cuốn sách trong tất cả video: https://beacons.ai/betterversion.vn/books ❤️ ỦNG HỘ KÊNH TẠI: https://beacons.ai/betterversion.donate

Episode #550: “There was something inside of me that was calling me,” says Jerry Roy, a long-time Vipassana meditator and early student in the Goenka tradition. “Not a thought, but something pulling me.” He argues that liberation comes not from rigid adherence to technique or authority, but from direct understanding of the mind—especially craving and aversion. Raised in a Jewish household, Roy felt pressure to conform to a shared identity he experienced as restrictive. He rejected its religious element early, identifying instead as a “cultural Jew,” and developed a lasting determination not to live “in a box.” That impulse aligned with the 1960s counterculture, where he immersed himself in experimentation and activism. Psychedelics presented a spiritual potentiality, yet, as he later reflects, “It opened a door, but it didn't show me how to walk through the door.” Disillusionment with activism, along with the suicide of a housemate, pushed him toward a deeper inquiry into suffering. That search led him to India. He rejected both the hedonistic hippie scenes and guru-centered traditions he came across, but then discovered Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka. “I realized that I had found what I was looking for,” he says. He became deeply involved in the tradition, valuing its discipline and accessibility. Over time, however, he began to see increasing rigidity within the organization, especially after his divorce led to a feeling of being excluded from the community. His practice also continued to evolve beyond the strict technique of the Goenka tradition, towards more continuous awareness. “The practice is not a technique,” he explains. “The practice is being present in the moment.” Today, Roy emphasizes direct experience over doctrine. “All you need to do is understand the root cause of suffering, which is craving and aversion.”

Exploring the factors of enlightenment, Vipassana teacher Trudy Goodman offers listeners ‘the good news' of Buddhist Practice.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, Trudy Goodman explores:The balancing factor, energizing factors, and calming factors of enlightenmentManifesting metta through mindfulnessInvestigation into the truth of the dharma Offering compassion to the pain we feelThe beauty and profound stillness of a unified heart-mindBeing both the subject and object of experience Having faith in the strengthening of our mindfulness skillsThis episode was originally published on DharmaseedAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy's flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com “We can be both the subject and object of experience. We can drop the whole thing and be neither. We have this capacity when we are willing to focus our attention, and, to focus our attention somewhere besides here, we discover a whole world of empathy, love, and intimate connection.” –Trudy GoodmanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What if the same brain states people spend years chasing through psychedelics could be accessed through meditation alone, and in as little as seven days? In this fascinating solo episode, Darin Olien explores groundbreaking new research from University of California San Diego, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and University of Montreal suggesting that meditation may produce brain patterns remarkably similar to those observed during psychedelic experiences. From the suppression of the default mode network and increases in neural complexity to neuroplasticity, endogenous opioids, and measurable biological changes in the bloodstream, Darin unpacks the science behind one of the most powerful, and completely free tools available to human beings. He also walks listeners through a practical seven-day protocol combining focused-attention meditation, Vipassana, breathwork, walking meditation, and loving-kindness practices designed to help cultivate greater awareness, emotional resilience, cognitive flexibility, and inner peace. What You'll Learn The groundbreaking UC San Diego meditation study and its surprising findings Why meditation may create brain states similar to psilocybin What the default mode network is and how it shapes everyday thinking How meditation may reduce rumination, anxiety, and self-referential thought The concept of brain criticality and cognitive flexibility Why post-meditation blood samples stimulated neuronal growth How meditation influences neuroplasticity and whole-body biology The differences between Samatha and Vipassana meditation What advanced monks are teaching scientists about consciousness The limitations and caveats of current meditation research A practical seven-day meditation protocol anyone can begin Why meditation may be one of the most powerful health interventions available today Chapters 00:00:03 – Welcome to SuperLife 00:00:33 – Sponsor: Alkemis and the hidden toxicity of indoor air 00:00:57 – Conventional paints, petrochemicals, and endocrine disruptors 00:01:24 – Why VOCs and PFAS may be affecting your home environment 00:01:55 – Fire-resistant mineral paints and healthier living spaces 00:02:27 – Cradle to Cradle certification and sustainable design 00:03:23 – The meditation study Darin can't stop thinking about 00:03:33 – Scanning the brains and blood of meditators 00:03:44 – Brain activity resembling psilocybin experiences 00:04:09 – The promise of a seven-day meditation protocol 00:04:22 – Psychedelics, consciousness, and dissolving the sense of self 00:04:47 – Ancient practices and modern scientific validation 00:05:23 – Why meditation research is entering a renaissance 00:05:41 – Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, and advanced consciousness mapping 00:06:00 – University of Montreal's study of monks with 15,000+ hours of practice 00:06:16 – Why psychedelics and meditation are converging scientifically 00:06:37 – What listeners will learn in today's episode 00:06:54 – Breaking down the UC San Diego retreat study 00:07:18 – Thirty-three hours of meditation, breathwork, and group practice 00:07:42 – EEG scans, blood draws, and laboratory neuron testing 00:08:05 – Reduced activity in the default mode network 00:08:24 – The science of mental chatter and rumination 00:08:50 – Blood plasma stimulating new neuronal growth 00:09:02 – Neuroplasticity and new neural connections 00:09:29 – Increased cellular metabolism and endogenous opioids 00:10:13 – Samatha vs Vipassana meditation explained 00:10:42 – How different meditation styles reshape the brain 00:10:50 – Harvard's advanced meditation consciousness studies 00:11:18 – Mapping concentration states and consciousness cessation 00:11:46 – Ancient contemplative traditions meeting modern neuroscience 00:11:50 – Important limitations of the research 00:12:05 – Why advanced monks aren't average practitioners 00:12:20 – Correlation versus causation in psychedelic comparisons 00:12:48 – What may actually be happening inside the brain 00:13:03 – Understanding the default mode network 00:13:26 – Anxiety, depression, addiction, and overactive self-talk 00:13:53 – Why meditation and psilocybin share common neurological effects 00:14:10 – Beginner studies showing measurable brain changes 00:14:28 – Brain criticality and cognitive adaptability 00:14:48 – The most surprising finding: meditation changes the blood 00:15:05 – Meditation as a whole-body signaling event 00:15:18 – Better sleep, digestion, hormone balance, and recovery 00:15:39 – Neuroplasticity, immune function, metabolism, and pain regulation 00:15:56 – Why meditation may be the ultimate free medicine 00:16:10 – Introducing the seven-day meditation protocol 00:16:34 – Sponsor break: Alkemis Paint 00:19:02 – Building a research-backed at-home meditation practice 00:19:24 – Why consistency matters more than total hours 00:19:41 – Combining focused attention and open monitoring 00:19:53 – Days 1–3: Stabilizing attention 00:20:02 – Morning focused-attention meditation instructions 00:20:34 – Evening body scan practice 00:21:04 – Preparing the brain for deeper awareness 00:21:08 – Days 4–5: Opening awareness through Vipassana 00:21:31 – Letting thoughts, sensations, and sounds pass freely 00:21:39 – Evening box breathing for nervous system regulation 00:22:01 – Why days four and five often feel more challenging 00:22:11 – Days 6–7: Deepening and integrating the practice 00:22:27 – Walking meditation and embodied awareness 00:22:52 – Loving-kindness meditation and compassion training 00:23:02 – Vagal tone, heart rate regulation, and inflammation reduction 00:23:18 – Three rules that determine success 00:23:26 – Eliminating distractions and protecting attention 00:23:36 – Why you should never judge your meditation sessions 00:24:00 – Extending the practice beyond seven days 00:24:19 – Psychedelics, meditation, and the search for transformation 00:24:51 – What the medicine always teaches: sit with yourself 00:25:03 – The wellness industry's tendency to monetize stillness 00:25:20 – Why you don't need expensive tools to transform 00:25:36 – Meditation as radical self-reclamation 00:26:02 – Meeting yourself without distraction 00:26:17 – Final reflections and closing thoughts 00:26:29 – Outro and farewell Thank You to Our Sponsors Alkemis: Go to https://alkemispaint.com/ and use code DARIN10 for 10% off your order. Manna Vitality: Go to mannavitality.com/ and use code DARIN12 for 12% off your order. Join the SuperLife Patreon: This is where Darin now shares the deeper work: - weekly voice notes - ingredient trackers - wellness challenges - extended conversations - community accountability - sovereignty practices Join now for only $7.49/month at https://patreon.com/darinolien Find More from Darin Olien: Website: darinolien.com Instagram: @darinolien Book: Fatal Conveniences Platform & Products: superlife.com New Show: Roadmap to Happiness Key Takeaway "Perhaps one of the most profound discoveries emerging from modern neuroscience is that many of the states of awareness humans have sought through substances, rituals, and external interventions may already be available within us. Meditation is not simply a relaxation practice—it appears to be a biological, neurological, and consciousness-altering intervention capable of reshaping the brain, changing the body, and transforming how we experience reality. The question is not whether the door exists. The question is whether we are willing to sit still long enough to walk through it." Bibliography/Sources: Here is the fully formatted bibliography for the "Seven Days to a New Brain" episode. It is organized by category, formatted in strict APA Style (7th Edition), and includes a direct link for every single source : Primary Studies Brewer, J. A., Worhunsky, P. D., Gray, J. R., Tang, Y. Y., Weber, J., & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(50), 20254–20259 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112029108 Lieberman, J. M., Rahrig, H., Britton, W. B., et al. (2025). Toward a neuroscience of consciousness using advanced meditation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews . https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Lieberman_25_NeuroscienceAndBiobehavioralReviews.pdf Pascarella, A., Jerbi, K., et al. (2026). Meditation induces shifts in neural oscillations, brain complexity, and critical dynamics: Novel insights from MEG. Neuroscience of Consciousness . https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41287816/ Patel, H., et al. (2025). Intensive meditation retreat induces rapid changes in brain activity, blood-based biomarkers, and neurotrophic signaling. Communications Biology . https://today.ucsd.edu/story/meditation-retreat-rapidly-reprograms-body-and-mind Shinozuka, K., et al. (2025). Neuroelectrophysiological correlates of extended cessation of consciousness in advanced meditation [Preprint]. bioRxiv . https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Shinozuka_25_bioRxiv.pdf Van Lutterveld, R., et al. (2025). An intensively sampled electroencephalography case study of advanced concentration absorption meditation (jhana) [Preprint]. SSRN . https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/VanLutterveld_25_SSRN.pdf Supporting Press Coverage & Explainers Harvard Gazette. (2026, January). Your brain on advanced meditation . https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/01/your-brain-on-advanced-meditation/ Medical Xpress. (2026, February). Study of 12 monks finds meditation heightens brain activity, reshaping neural dynamics . https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-monks-meditation-heightens-brain-reshaping.html PsyPost. (2026). Brain scans of Buddhist monks reveal how different meditation styles alter consciousness . https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-of-buddhist-monks-reveal-how-different-meditation-styles-alter-consciousness/ ScienceDaily. (2026, April 6). Scientists say 7 days of meditation can rewire your brain . https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/04/260406192913.htm UC San Diego Today. (2026). Meditation retreat rapidly reprograms body and mind. UC San Diego News Center . https://today.ucsd.edu/story/meditation-retreat-rapidly-reprograms-body-and-mind Université de Montréal. (2026, January 5). Meditation doesn't rest the brain, it reshapes it. UdeMNouvelles . https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2026/01/05/meditation-doesn-t-rest-the-brain-it-reshapes-it  

in this talk, Andrew talks about the Wisdom of Boundaries. as a part of wise view, boundaries help us uphold our wisdom of relating to the world with clarity and sometimes, directness. enjoy! Last day to register for the WHMC retreat is TODAY! (6/10) - https://givebutter.com/summer26 Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.orgDONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit:https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donateFollow Us on Socials!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartnashville/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildheartmeditation

In this episode, Jeff Gross sits down with Madrid-born tennis standout turned Miami luxury real estate mogul and world-class ultra-endurance athlete, Alvaro Nuñez. Alvaro shares the incredible narrative arc of his life—from facing a sudden U.S. visa lottery rejection to pivoting immediately to launch an international high-net-worth hospitality empire, which eventually evolved into the Super Luxury Group. He candidly details the profound mental breakthroughs he achieved through a 10-day Vipassana meditation course, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, enduring a grueling seven-day total darkness cave retreat, and running six marathons across the Sahara Desert to raise mental health awareness. Alvaro and Jeff dive deep into regulating the nervous system, building luxury creator houses focused on clean community networking, and why the ultimate metric of elite success comes down to a deceptively simple standard: doing exactly what you say you will do. Chapters 00:00 - Intro & Wild Adventures with Dan "Jungle Man" Cates 02:21 - Finding Profound Clarity: Kilimanjaro, Everest Risks, and Vipassana Meditation 09:58 - The American Dream: Tennis Scholarships, Visa Setbacks, and Building a Luxury Real Estate Empire 16:26 - High-Flying Business: Helicopter Aviation, Confronting Signs, and Miami VIP Culture 22:54 - Extreme Challenges: 7 Marathons in 7 Days & Surviving a 7-Day Darkness Retreat 26:08 - Embracing the Misogi: Running the Sahara Desert for Mental Health Awareness 38:41 - Shifting the Focus: Presence Over Performance, Longevity, and Future Family Goals 46:49 - Disrupting Wellness: NASA-Backed Science, Inter Miami, and the Race Across America 54:22 - Activating Communities: Luxury Creator Houses & Stacking Daily Wins for Elite Success Links and Socials Alvaro Nuñez Instagram: https://instagram.com/alvaronunez Alvaro Nuñez X (Twitter): https://x.com/anunezofficial Alvaro Nuñez YouTube: https://youtube.com/@alvaronunezalfaro Super Luxury Group Instagram: https://instagram.com/superluxurygroup Super Luxury Group X (Twitter): https://x.com/superluxurygrp Super Luxury Group YouTube: https://youtube.com/@SuperLuxuryGroup Jeff Gross https://www.youtube.com/jeffgrosspoker https://www.youtube.com/jeffgrosspodcast http://twitch.com/jeffgrosspoker https://instagram.com/jeffgrosspoker https://x.com/jeffgrosspoker

Given after the Metta Vipassana Retreat thru Insight LA with Melissa McKay. This talk was given at the Center on Olympia in Santa Monica https://www.davesmithdharma.com/https://account.venmo.com/u/davesmithdharmaThank you for subscribing.

Send Us A Message or Ask Us A Question? TRE and the Power of Spontaneous Shaking: Richmond Heath on Somatic Stress RecoverySavia Rocks welcomes physiotherapist and TRE Australia founder Richmond Heath to season seven of The Us People Podcast to discuss spontaneous shaking/trembling as an overlooked, positive human recovery reflex. Richmond shares growing up on a farm in Victoria, later developing chronic pain and stress, and experiencing spontaneous movement during Vipassana meditation that shifted his understanding of tension and healing. He explains TRE (Tension/Trauma Release Exercises) as a trauma-informed method that uses simple muscle fatigue to deliberately evoke and regulate tremors, reframing shaking from a symptom of anxiety, shock, or weakness into a mechanism that discharges stress and adrenaline. The conversation covers somatics, polyvagal theory, trauma as immobilization, cultural suppression of shaking, examples from animals and traditional societies, and practical supports like breathwork, mindfulness, exercise, community, and purpose, plus Richmond's TRE online course (trecourse.com) and its global reach.00:00 Welcome to the Podcast02:27 Richmond Heath's Backstory03:35 Pain to Breakthrough10:01 Discovering TRE Purpose14:06 What Is TRE22:26 Shaking and Anxiety31:38 Somatic Explained39:10 Trauma Origins and Inheritance41:34 Practical Stress Tools44:39 Happiness Through Service46:47 Why TRE Calms Fast48:18 Beyond Mindfulness Limits49:40 COVID Shift to Online54:05 Polyvagal Science Basics56:22 Freeze Response Explained01:01:25 Everyday Trauma Example01:04:33 Why Adults Suppress Shaking01:06:54 Authenticity and Reawakening01:14:12 Key Takeaways and Utero Movement01:19:11 How to Learn TRE01:23:14 Closing Thanks and Outro01:25:51 End Credits and Final ReflectionThank you so much Richmond for teaching us that Trauma show be shown freely in order to heal ourselves - Savia RocksWebsite: https://www.treaustralia.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/TRE-Australia/100057615902736/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tre_australia/?hl=enLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richmond-heath-08719326/Support the show

No music version A deeply relaxing Vipassana Meditation for stress relief. This episode is a 25-minute Vipassana body scan meditation — one of the most powerful and time-honoured practices for deep stress reduction, grounding, and present-moment awareness. Rooted in the ancient Vipassana tradition, this session guides you gently through the entire body — from the crown of the head, through the face, neck, shoulders, chest, belly, and all the way down to the soles of the feet. No fixing. No forcing. Just pure, open observation. In 25 minutes you'll experience: ✦ A full head-to-toe body scan using Vipassana awareness ✦ Release of physical tension held in the face, shoulders, and back ✦ A deep settling of the nervous system ✦ Spacious, whole-body awareness — calm, grounded, and present This practice is suitable for complete beginners and experienced meditators alike. All you need is 25 minutes and a quiet place to sit or lie down. As you'll discover: when there are no problems to solve and nowhere to be — there is only peace. And that peace is always available to you.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paul Sheppard is a mindset coach and therapist with more than two decades of experience helping people break free from the limitations of the ego. A specialist in transformational thinking, he is known for his groundbreaking work in reframing anxiety and guiding clients toward lasting, meaningful change.  Contact, community, newsletter, substack.

Why Isn't Everyone Using Their Pleasure Consciously? with Jeremy Lipkowitz What if the thing quietly hijacking your focus, your relationships, and your capacity for joy isn't a character flaw, but a billion-dollar industry deliberately engineering your addiction? In this episode, Emily Fletcher sits down with Jeremy Lipkowitz, Duke-trained researcher, former Buddhist monk, and founder of Unhooked Academy, where he helps men break free from porn addiction and reclaim their inner freedom. Jeremy's story begins at age six and escalates through the rise of high-speed internet until, by college, the habit had become a one-to-two-hour nightly ritual - despite him being a high-achieving student with what looked, from the outside, like a genuinely good life. That gap between the outer and the inner is exactly what this conversation explores. They trace the neurological pathway from innocent curiosity to compulsive behavior, unpack the precise distinction between lust and desire, and name the Viktor Frankl principle at the heart of all addiction recovery. Emily offers the Ziva lens: why you cannot manifest from a nervous system still running on craving and lack, and how meditation is the prerequisite for desire that is truly intuitive rather than compulsive. In this episode, they explore: – The three A's of porn addiction: affordability, accessibility, and anonymity – How repeated porn use hardwires dissatisfaction and chronic lack into the brain – Lust vs. desire — and why you need a spiritual practice to tell them apart – "Pleasure is inevitable. Happiness is optional." What that reframe changes – The Viktor Frankl principle: between stimulus and response is where freedom lives – Why porn addiction is a microcosm of every modern addiction – The two-step exercise Jeremy uses with clients: default future vs. dream future – How the porn industry became bigger than all U.S. professional sports combined Key Moments: 02:08 — Introducing Jeremy Lipkowitz 09:00 — High-speed internet and the moment a habit became an addiction 12:20 — The walk that changed Jeremy's life 14:00 — Lust vs. desire: the distinction that changes everything 26:25 — Between stimulus and response lies your freedom 33:54 — Pleasure vs. happiness: the most important distinction Jeremy has ever learned 43:47 — Bliss is any feeling fully felt 57:00 — The two-step exercise for any addiction 01:00:00 — The billion-dollar industry engineering your addiction About Jeremy Lipkowitz Jeremy Lipkowitz is a Duke-trained researcher, former Buddhist monk, and founder of Unhooked Academy. After completing 20 Vipassana retreats and a monastic ordination in Myanmar, he built a platform to help men break free from compulsive behavior and reclaim their inner freedom. His work bridges neuroscience, Buddhist psychology, and practical recovery tools. Podcast: Unhooked Breaking Porn Addiction PodcastWebsite: unhookedacademy.com This episode is a perfect window into the work we've been building toward at Ziva. The craving, the longing, the thing pulling you toward what doesn't actually fill you — Jeremy calls it lust. We have a different name for it. And we have a practice for transmuting it into something that does. Something new is forming this summer. Get on the list to hear about it first.

A deeply relaxing Vipassana Meditation for stress relief. This episode is a 25-minute Vipassana body scan meditation — one of the most powerful and time-honoured practices for deep stress reduction, grounding, and present-moment awareness. Rooted in the ancient Vipassana tradition, this session guides you gently through the entire body — from the crown of the head, through the face, neck, shoulders, chest, belly, and all the way down to the soles of the feet. No fixing. No forcing. Just pure, open observation. In 25 minutes you'll experience: ✦ A full head-to-toe body scan using Vipassana awareness ✦ Release of physical tension held in the face, shoulders, and back ✦ A deep settling of the nervous system ✦ Spacious, whole-body awareness — calm, grounded, and present This practice is suitable for complete beginners and experienced meditators alike. All you need is 25 minutes and a quiet place to sit or lie down. As you'll discover: when there are no problems to solve and nowhere to be — there is only peace. And that peace is always available to you.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paul Sheppard is a mindset coach and therapist with more than two decades of experience helping people break free from the limitations of the ego. A specialist in transformational thinking, he is known for his groundbreaking work in reframing anxiety and guiding clients toward lasting, meaningful change.  Contact, community, newsletter, substack.

Recorded on May 9, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY This dharma offering by guest teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo addresses how grieving abides in the body and how taking refuge in ourselves offers healing and stability. Her offering includes a brief period of paired sharing, a guided meditation practice, a writing practice, a ceremony for holding grief together, and a dharma talk. The audio includes periods of unclear sound and silence. Time stamps are provided below. Kaira Jewel read the poem, “After I Fell in the Canyon of Grief,” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. The poem can be found here, on the the poet's poetry blog: The poet's website: https://www.wordwoman.com/ Time stamps 5:20 – 9:30: Paired sharing about “something tender or unfinished in your heart” 11:15 – 13:20: “After I Fell in the Canyon of Grief” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 14:15 – 21:25: Guided meditation practice on finding places of support and grief in the body 21:25 – 25:00: Writing exercise, a sentence or phrase conveying a present grief 25:00 – 32:07: Holding the Grief Together ceremony, with choral harmonic humming and reading of phrases 32:07 – 54:32: Dharma Talk Kaira Jewel Lingo is a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage and a Vipassana teacher, and a member of the Plum Village North American Dharma Teachers Council of Elders. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, drawing inspiration from her parents' lives of service and her father's work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh's monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen and Vipassana traditions, as well as in secular mindfulness contexts. Her teaching focuses on the intersection of racial, climate, and social justice, with particular care for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities, as well as activists, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring and is faculty in a Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy training, and one of the guiding teachers of One Earth Sangha. She is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption, and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation. More information about her teachings and events can be found at www.kairajewel.com The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited your life, please consider supporting the program with a donation (suggested $2-7/episode, or whatever feels right for you!). You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.' Thank you for your generosity!

In this episode, Josefina explores with you the distinctions between the masculine & feminine spiritual paths as a way for you to find which path feels more true to you. She's supporting you in focusing on reclaiming authenticity and aliveness rather than over-optimizing the body through traditional masculine-based practices, giving permission to your feminine light to shine bright through the feminine spiritual path, which is divinely designed differently for a female body and spirit.✧The Feminine vs. Masculine PathThe masculine path, often rooted in traditions like Vipassana, is a more rigid and strictly disciplined practice of stillness, non-reactivity, and observing reality to move beyond attachments and cravings.The feminine path, which is rooted more in both Tantric traditions and somatic-based practices. This path is directed towards "full contact" with reality, involving active participation and riding the edge of sensations rather than stepping back to observe them.Masculine practices focus on neutralizing energy and transcending desire, while the feminine path uses movement, breath-work, sound, and pleasure to activate energy and radiance.Many women feel exhausted because they try to follow masculine operating systems, schedules, and practices that may deplete their natural feminine vitality.✧Spiritual Polarity in RelationshipsJosefina addresses a common fear in relationships, that partners will grow apart if they follow different spiritual paths.Merging completely by adopting a partner's habits and abandoning personal interests is a "spiritual trap" that can lead to a flat, dull, and chargeless polarity in a romantic relationship.Relationship polarity requires two distinct energy fields; attraction is fueled by the meeting of different energies, such as masculine stillness and feminine fire.Intimacy is built through genuine curiosity about who the other person is becoming rather than achieving absolute sameness.✧Integration and PracticeMaintaining separate individual morning practices allows each partner to tend to their own inner life first, bringing more authenticity to the union.Vipassana can be integrated as a complementary tool for sharpening focus and mental faculties without replacing the movement-based feminine path.Shared language and discussing what is "alive" within each person create a deeper connection than simply matching practices.Abandoning one's path to mirror a partner is not true love and can lead to self-abandonment and an erosion of the connection.A woman rooted in her own feminine path is more present, magnetic, and alive within her relationship.The ultimate goal is for each partner to be fully on their own path while staying curious and supportive of the other's journey toward their highest potential.✧ Connect with Josefina:Follow on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@Josefinabashout⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apply for your free Pleasure blueprint session with Josefina https://lp.josefinabashout.com/booking

Joseph Goldstein explores gradual cultivation, highlighting that even if we are suddenly awakened, we still must have an ongoing practice to work with hindrances and ingrained habits.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:The areas of life where clinging shows up most How clinging to sensory pleasures is so embedded in our cultureLightening up for enlightenment and not taking ourselves so seriously How a sense of humor can benefit our practice Unhelpful attachment to view and opinionThe unity of clarity and emptiness (self-existing wakefulness)The Buddhist meaning of unborn/unformed Uprooting of the view of self with the understanding that there is still more work to doHaving an ongoing, gradual cultivation of skillful means This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed and recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a non-profit organization founded by renowned meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg to integrate Buddhist study and practice.“Very often, people can have genuine realization and have a really deep understanding, and then get attached to that as if everything is done. So very often these folks can get engaged in skillful behavior, thinking it's all coming from their deep realization, it's really coming from all the work that still needs to be done.” –Joseph Goldstein See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"The primary asset of any high-performance organization is not its capital, but the quality of the decisions made by its leaders. And quality decisions require a clear mind." — Ray DalioSunaina Sinha is Global Head of Private Capital Advisory at Raymond James, with $1.7 trillion in assets under management.In an industry where "red-lining" toward burnout is a badge of honor, Sunaina has spent 15 years honing a different weapon: radical stillness. Through a dedicated meditation practice, the finance executive has transformed mental fitness into a measurable business ROI, proving that composure is the ultimate competitive advantage in volatile markets.Sunaina has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones as one of the most influential figures in private equity. She is also dual-degree graduate of Stanford and Harvard, a certified sommelier, and mother of three.In this episode:• The secret to high-stakes presence and productivity.• How to balance career with family.• The #1 way to start any important meeting.• Why the long game is the only game worth playing.Before we begin, the right bit of inspiration can completely change the trajectory of someone's life, so if there's a friend or loved one who needs to hear this episode or could use some help to Win the Day, share it with them right now.Let's WIN THE DAY with Sunaina Sinha!_

Vipassana, also known as insight meditation, is training in bringing a clear mindful attention to our moment to moment experience. We begin by relaxing through the body and then resting attention with the breath - or some other sensory anchor - and allowing the mind to settle. Then we open to whatever is predominant or calling our attention - sensations, emotions, sounds - meeting each arising experience with a clear, kind attention. The gift of this process is discovering balance in the midst of the changing flow, and gaining deep insight into the nature of reality.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

The third talk in a weeklong meditation retreat, with Heidi Schuttenberg.   Our unwelcome visitors are guides to our freedom. This talk explores the Buddha's five hindrances and offers practical tools for meeting them with compassion, curiosity, and even gratitude.   With 25 years of Vipassana practice and a day job in international marine conservation, Heidi Schuttenberg, PhD brings both deep personal inquiry and real-world urgency to her teaching. She mentors in Jonathan Foust's Year of Living Mindfully and is dedicated to making applied mindfulness available to those on the front lines environmental conservation and social change. Learn more at   / heidi-schuttenberg-1114a658  . Dana: Venmo @Heidi-Schuttenberg

Episode DescriptionIn this From the Archive conversation, James talks with Yuval Noah Harari about the idea underneath Sapiens and Homo Deus: humans did not come to dominate the planet because they were the strongest animals, but because they learned to cooperate at scale through shared stories—religion, money, nations, and eventually data. The discussion moves from early human history to agriculture, war, terrorism, AI, and bioengineering, but the throughline stays the same: civilization runs on belief systems, and those belief systems shape what humans build next.What makes the episode useful is that Harari is not just offering sweeping history. He keeps tying big ideas back to practical questions: why modern war has changed, why terrorism works by hijacking imagination, how technology may widen inequality, and why meditation might be one of the few ways to separate reality from the stories people live inside.What You'll LearnWhy Harari argues that the real human superpower is the ability to believe in shared fictions—and how that enabled large-scale cooperation.Why the agricultural revolution may have strengthened humanity collectively while making everyday life harder for individuals.Why modern war has declined in some forms as economies shift from material assets to knowledge-based wealth. Source transcript:How terrorism operates by capturing attention and imagination more than by raw military strength.Why Harari thinks the next major divide may be biological inequality, where the rich can upgrade themselves in ways the poor cannot. Timestamped Chapters[02:00] Why Homo sapiens conquered the planet[02:18] The human superpower: fiction[02:39] Introducing Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens, and Homo Deus[04:25] Other human species and why sapiens were not obviously superior[06:00] What changed 70,000 years ago[07:20] From tribes to mass cooperation[08:39] Trade, trust, and imagined kinship[10:24] Money as the most successful shared story[11:35] How sapiens may have overtaken other human species[13:29] What changed in the human brain[15:29] The history of humanity as the history of stories[16:08] Why successful stories stay simple[17:29] Expansion, Australia, and the destruction of large animals[19:46] Violence and unification in human history[21:42] Why the agricultural revolution made life worse for many individuals[23:30] Hunter-gatherer intelligence versus modern specialization[24:53] Why modern war is changing[27:18] Terrorism as psychological warfare[29:07] Human enhancement, dataism, and the future of intelligence[33:18] Humanism versus data as the next source of authority[35:36] The danger of biological inequality[37:04] Longevity, wealth, and who gets to live longer[41:15] Engineering happiness and the danger of inner imbalance[43:48] Automation, uselessness, and the future job market[46:24] How Harari's ideas changed his own life[47:17] Vipassana meditation and separating reality from story[49:15] A practical test: can it suffer?Additional ResourcesSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiensHomo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow — https://www.ynharari.com/book/homo-deus/Yuval Noah Harari official site — https://www.ynharari.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.