Today we’re exploring what it’s like to live with a kind of inner fire that refuses to stay quiet. Ziji + Spiritual Audacity. A deep, embodied courage that comes from being radically awake in our own lives. We’ll look at how this shows up personally and in the collective, and how choosing to live from our real nature, steady in love, committed to truth, and devoted to collective liberation. In this way, our practice becomes both a practice and a rebellion.
Continue readingEp. 288: Integrating Insights for the Real World – Off the Cushion Part 8
I know it can be fun + inspiring to listen to how to make progress on our path: open our hearts, be more patient, confident, have healthy boundaries, learn to forgive… AND the challenge can be knowing WTF to do with it all on a day-to-day basis. So today, we are wrapping up the off-the-cushion series with how to bring these wisdom teachings together into a daily practice that doesn’t feel overwhelming. We’ll jam on why integration can feel weird and how to find moments to practice in our everyday lives. And I’ll give you a few ideas to help you check in with yourself and your practice regularly.
Continue readingEp. 287: Greatest Hits Vol. 34 – The Risks of Lovingkindness
This week is a revisit of an episode exploring metta (the Buddhist practice of lovingkindness) and how when we hold back to protect our hearts, we can welcome in more vulnerability, re-opening ourselves to lovingkindness through vulnerability. We’ll jam on what to do when we hit a wall and why we might struggle to express lovingkindness toward ourselves and others.
Continue readingEp. 286: The Concept of No-Self (and Greater Intimacy) – Off the Cushion Part 7
When everything around us is changing, how do we stay grounded without shutting down?
In this week’s episode, we dive into The Three Marks of Existence. Qualities that are true for anything that exists. Yes, anything!
We’ll explore impermanence, suffering, and the concept of “not-self” and talk about how releasing clinging to our sense of Self can deepen connection and freedom and ease in our lives. This allows us to love AND ride the challenging times more freely.
Continue readingEp. 285: 5 Self-Sabotage Patterns ALL Brains Have – Off the Cushion Part 6
Ever notice how just when your practice starts to deepen, our mind gets loud as hell, distracted, unmotivated, or tired? Don’t worry – it’s totally normal. This week, we’re getting real about what’s known as the Five Hindrances; the craving, aversion, doubt, fear/worry, and existential MEH that keep us stuck. We also explore how to manage them so we can continue to become the little Rebel Buddhas we already are beneath it all.
Continue readingEp. 284: Greatest Hits Vol. 33 – Off the Cushion Into the World
This week’s episode is a special replay on how to step off the cushion and into the world, interweaving our spirituality with activism. We’ll be exploring compassion in action and how to take our practice from our internal work out into the world. Because our world IS what we are. It’s living through ALL of us.
Continue readingEp. 283: The Still Point: Where Freedom Begins – Off the Cushion Part 5
This week we wrap up our discussion of the Eightfold Path by talking about 3 components of Meditation/samādhi: Wise Effort, Wise Mindfulness, and Wise Concentration. We’ll talk about how our meditation practice isn’t just to calm the mind, and why we need it now more than ever. Plus I’ll give you some ways you can begin practicing samādhi in your own daily life.
Continue readingEp. 282: Remembering Our Humanity – A Lesson of the Ages
We can often think that very few ancient teachings could apply to these historic times, when things seem upended in ways the world has never seen (or so it seems;). This week, we explore lessons that are over 2600 years old that remind us of our humanity and what really matters, no matter the era, our job, our age, our nationality, our sexuality, our religion, or any other way we might identify. This is about getting clear about how we want to show up in the world, and committing to that for the benefit of our liberation – and others’.
Continue readingEp. 281: Wisdom In Action – Off the Cushion Part 3
This week’s episode continues our Off the Cushion and Into the World series. We’ll try to save ourselves some time and headache by starting to step onto the actual path the Buddha laid out for how to live with more freedom — the Noble Eightfold Path. Today, we focus on the first section: Wisdom, or Pañña — specifically, “Right” – or Wise – View and Right/Wise Intention. I’ll break down what each means, and why they help us make our mind more peaceful and kind – and bring less suffering into the world and more joy and freedom. Plus we’ll touch on some ways you can begin to practice these in your daily practice.
Continue readingEp. 280: Our Choices Are More Important Than Luck
This week we dive into something extra personal for me – snapshots of struggles in my own life story. We’ll explore the power of the choices we all make and why we often struggle to believe that we’re just as capable as anyone else to create the life we want. And I’ll give you some encouragement so you can go out and find your own freedom!
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