Posts by Ted Meissner
Episode 299 :: Gary Gach :: Pause Breathe Smile: Awakening Mindfulness When Meditation Is Not Enough
Gary Gach Gary Gach returns to the podcast to speak about his new book Pause Breathe Smile: Awakening Mindfulness When Meditation Is Not Enough. Meditation is sometimes thought of as a passive relaxation technique. And I’ll admit, those three words together rub me the wrong way. Meditation is, to me, an active, alive way of…
Read MoreEpisode 298 :: Sara Rahmani :: Understanding Unbelief: Mindfulness Meditation Project
Sara Rahmani Dr. Sara Rahmani speaks with us about her work Understanding Unbelief: Mindfulness Meditation project. What is it like to be faced with adopting a religious belief system that’s not part of your personal background? Or perhaps it is, and once there, you find an increasing cognitive dissonance with what’s overtly or subtley encouraged…
Read MoreEpisode 297 :: Jeff Eisenberg :: Buddha’s Bodyguard: How to Protect Your Inner V.I.P.
Jeff Eisenberg Jeff Eisenberg returns to the podcast to speak about his book Buddha’s Bodyguard: How to Protect Your Inner V.I.P. Though there are differing opinions, the dhamma, like other teachings, has some wiggle room in how it may be interpreted. Some may be very minor nuances of view, others may be wildly off base,…
Read MoreTuwhiri: An Educational Resource For Secular Buddhists
The following article is from Ramsey Margolis of Secular Buddhism New Zealand. Towards the end of 2014, Stephen Batchelor sent proofs of his unpublished book After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age to Winton Higgins, a secular Buddhist teacher in Sydney, Australia, asking him to critically examine the text. Having provided the required…
Read MoreEpisode 296 :: Susan Piver :: The Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships
Susan Piver Susan Piver speaks with us today about The Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships. If you ask a Buddhist, secular or otherwise, what it’s about, the answer will often be something along the lines of suffering, or suffering and the extinguishing of it. Gotama made it clear that is…
Read MoreEpisode 295 :: Brad Warner :: It Came From Beyond Zen!
Brad Warner Zen teacher and author Brad Warner joins us to speak about his new book, It Came from Beyond Zen!: More Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan’s Greatest Zen Master. The Shobogenzo is one of Zen’s most treasured volumes from Dogen, written in the thirteenth century. But don’t let that timeframe fool you, the wisdom…
Read MoreEpisode 294 :: Joan and Anne Watts :: The Collected Letters of Alan Watts
Joan Watts Philosopher, author, and lecturer Alan Watts (1915–1973) popularized Zen Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies for the counterculture of the 1960s. Today, new generations are finding his writings and lectures online, while faithful followers worldwide continue to be enlightened by his teachings. The Collected Letters of Alan Watts reveals the remarkable arc of Watts’s…
Read MoreEpisode 293 :: Bonnie Sumana Ryan-Fisher :: Mindful Moment: 52 Weeks of Mindfulness
Bonnie Sumana Ryan-Fisher Bonnie Sumana Ryan-Fisher joins us to speak about her new book Mindful Moment: 52 Weeks of Mindfulness, Exercises and Reflections. When I first heard about secular mindfulness programs like MBSR, I had a judgmental reaction. This isn’t Sati, you can’t condense mindfulness into eight weeks, this is a watering down… all of…
Read More5/13 Practice Circle: Trust
When Practice Circle meets again this Sunday, May 13th, at 6 p.m. Pacific, 8 Central and 9 Eastern, we’ll explore one of the Attitudes of Mindfulness described by Jon Kabat-Zinn for the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. The attitude we’ll be discussing is that of Trust, and how it plays a role in contemplative practice.…
Read MoreEpisode 292 :: David Wilmore :: Pranna Timer, Incense Meditation Timers
David Wilmore David Wilmore speaks with us today about Pranna Timers, combining incense, art, and meditation. A long time ago I happened upon my favorite timer for meditation, and it’s never been replaced. In fact, I’ve bought a few more for myself and given others as gifts over the years. What’s unique about this is…
Read More