Episodes

There is a tradition beautiful Buddhist practice of taking refuge. In this practice I expand on that practice with a broadened understanding of taking refuge.

Join me for a sharing of an old Zen story about a head cook and his unexpected soup and how this story is so useful for being skillful with our mistakes, including those involving racial bias awareness.

There are many different flavors to “efforting” — some useful and some not so useful. What is it like to intention explore a balanced soft effort that allows you to stay engaged with your practice, without over-efforting and contracting.

A dream about engaging the right kind of effort inspired this exploration of different kinds of “efforting” — everything from not enough effort, to punishing grunt work effort, to a soft, open, trusting effortless effort.

So often we burden our meditation practice with loaded expectations of what it should look like and what should happen if I am a good meditator. But in reality every meditation is an open invitation to lay down those expectations and meet what is here. Just as it is. Without needed it to be any different. Without needing to change or fix anything. Maybe even with a sense of wonder and awe that we can even perceive what is here…

I share how our beloved cat, Ana, who has been in “hospice” care for a while, died sometime during the night, and how a serendipitous find of Licity Collins and her beautiful music and writing spoke to the tenor of my day and the mystery of letting go into the current of the universe. Here is the link to read her story and listen to her 22 min musical meditation called “Currents.” Note her generosity in freely offering this beautiful sharing and her link to donate in support of her work if you ...

In this meditation we explore a formal practice for strengthening a resource of “taking in the good.”

As our continuation of resourcing for challenging times, we examine “Taking in the Good” primarily through the teaching of Rick Hanson, PhD.

In this meditation we explore using an anchor of self-kindness for opening to what is here and now.

Watching my cats this week was a lesson in the practical grace of taking in the good. We explore this and end with the ABC Gratitude practice of Br. David Steindl-Rast.

We are often taught that we should follow an ethical code in order to “be good.” But there is a completely different way of approaching ethics, not as a “should,” but rather as a resource, a foundational strength for living in challenging times.

We start with a short body scan and then move into an exploration of life’s unfolding energy moment by moment

Today we continue an exploration of strengths and resources for meeting challenging times with a look at developing a compassionate way of understanding all behaviors, our own and others, in this world. Note: I’m working to improve the audio with our new set up. Thanks!

In this podcast, we look at when to let go through the lens of the 8 Worldy Winds, and how to let go through a radical re-framing of welcoming.

This meditation explores the interplay between goodwill, compassion, letting go and welcoming the moment just as it is.

Let go a little, get a little peace. Let go a lot, get a lot of peace. Let go completely, get complete peace. A. Chah Sounds good, but how do we really let go?

This week concludes our study of the foundational teaching of Buddhist psychology in the Four Noble Truths, as we study Wise Action– meaning learning to take a step, whether large or small, whether directed towards care for others or self-care, that is aligned with our deepest values and with what gives our lives a keen sense of meaning and purpose.

“Wise livelihood” has no easy answers, but that in no way means we give up. There is a moral complexity that is important that we wrestle with. We do this with a clear intention to do the best we can while knowing we won’t ever find perfect answers.

In this meditation we explore what is it like to when tension is present in the body/mind/heart and open in skillful ways right with what is here. Note: there are more than usual background sounds in this recording. I edited out as much as I could and apologize for the bits that remain… Thanks!

Meditation can be a respite, a place we can lay down our loads for a bit and offer a healing hospitality to our own beings.

One framing of mindfulness that I have always appreciated is mindfulness as a spiritual re-parenting of our own selves. Drawing from a talk on parenting by Chris McKenna at Google, we explore how a foundational base for parenting is as important as a foundational base in our relationship with our own being.

In this Body Scan meditation, we explore how waking up to the present moment sensations in the body is a a compassionate act of care.

In this sharing, we explore traditional teachings from the Buddha 2,600 years ago on wise speech.

In this meditation, we practice opening to the felt energy in the body, below the storylines of what’s happening, to anchor, open to compassion and anchor back in the refuge of the breath.