Awake in the World Podcast

Describing the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th limbs of yoga, Michael offers a very clear talk on the self, the ego and the emptiness of what we cling to. At the core of the personality we are trying to create permanence because we’re trying to come to terms with how fluid things really are. Recorded in Stockholm on September 9, 2016.

Michael lectures on the end of 2nd chapter of the Yoga-Sutra and then gets into a very precise mapping of what happens to the ego when you get into deeper states of calm and how to practice without dissociating. Recorded in Stockholm, September 8, 2016.

Based on a Zen story, Michael talks about wholehearted activity, compassion, and throwing yourself to the ground when someone falls. He ties this into the refugee situation in Europe, racism, and how to take compassionate action when we have no idea what to do. Recorded in Stockholm, September 7, 2016.

Caitlin Lambstrom gives a dharma talk on silent retreat about avoiding burnout, using effort wisely, getting rest, and being inspired by something greater than yourself. Salt Spring Island, Canada. 40 min. Recorded August 26, 2016.

Michael speaks about the ways that being mindful of the body helps us make ethical choices and how our hostility and poor conduct only happen when we have lost track of the body. An interesting exploration at the nexus of ethics and breathing. Recorded at the Eight-day Silent Meditation Retreat on Salt Spring Island, August 24, 2016.

Michael speaks about composure, waiting 5 breaths when we are aggravated, and how patience is not about waiting for something, it’s really a matter of being where you are. The talk begins with a story about his young son and ends with a sing-along. Salt Spring Island, Canada. 50 min. Recorded August 25, 2016.

Michael suggests that you need to get deeper than cognition and stories, in order to heal trauma. It’s what we have created in the wake of painful events, that need healing. Knowing when to name our symptoms and then when to drop the pathology. Meditation Facilitation Program, London, 40 min. Recorded on July 31, 2016. Listen to Part 1, Symptoms of Trauma: http://bit.ly/2lhkCDI

Michael details fear, dissociation, and shame, and how they impact the body, mind, and relationships. Very clear talk about the strategies we use to protect ourselves and create recognizable symptoms. Michael ends with a story about generational trauma. Meditation Facilitation Program, London. Recorded on July 30, 2016. Listen to Part 2, Healing Trauma Through the Body: http://bit.ly/2kke4WB

How to work with your thoughts through labeling practice. Recorded at the Meditation Facilitation Program 2016 in London, UK.

Using mindfulness of thinking to hold mental states more lightly. Meditation Facilitation Program, London, 50 min. michaelstoneteaching.com

**BONUS** A tender and personal talk Michael gives during silent retreat about his father, forgiveness, and how we need to practice forgiveness all the time. He talks about how, and why. He talks about the painter Hellen Frankenthaller's death and practicing in good times and bad. This podcast episode is from our archive and was recorded Dec 29, 2011.

An hour before New Year's Michael gives a quiet talk on the Heart Sutra and Forgiveness. "When I hold someone's hand as they are dying I chant the Heart Sutra. Or when I watch my son sleeping." A tender and quiet talk on silent retreat. This podcast episode is from our archive and was recorded on Dec 31, 2011.

Michael gives a talk on New Year's Silent Retreat on Dogen and how to practice meditation without memory and imagination. Learn to step back and turn your light inwards. Living in your small grass hut, covered in weeds. This podcast episode is from our archive and was recorded on Dec 30, 2012.

**BONUS** Michael Stone talks on silent retreat about how meditation works over the long-haul, how to practice with a teacher that encourages independence, and how to live without gain. This is the second last talk of the year and the group was in deep silent practice, and it was snowing. This podcast is from our archive and was recorded Dec 30, 2013, at Sugar Ridge Retreat Centre in Midland, Onta...

Michael Stone talks during the New Year's Silent Meditation Retreat about the depth of meditation, an old koan about bowing, Zen master Dogen, and Edward Snowden. This powerful talk wraps up 2013. This podcast episode is from our archive and was recorded Dec 31, 2013, at Sugar Ridge Retreat Centre in Midland, Ontario.

Michael begins teaching concentration technique by aligning attention and the body. Recognizing expectations we have for ourselves and others and how grasping creates suffering. Not allowing others to change. The more you seek enlightenment the further it goes away. Meditation Facilitation Program, London, 50 min. michaelstoneteaching.com

A community talk at Tassajara Monastery with Michael Stone & Zen teacher Paul Haller. They each share some of their biography and field questions about practice. Paul shares from his 40 years of Zen practice. Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery, California.

Followed by a talk on how meditation unfolds, and how to use the space of meditation to investigate experience. Recorded on retreat co-taught with Michael Stone, Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery, California. 60 min.

Michael talks about feeling the breath; the limits of Jung's ideas of images; how to go beyond internal dialogue and how Jung falls apart for 2 years and how he deals with it. Recorded on September 25, 2012.

Michael explores happiness; how the Buddha saw a "self" as creative and not destined by fate or individuation. Become who you are. As we drop into practice, happiness is a by-product, not a goal. Recorded on September 18, 2012.

Michael explores what it's like to feel like two people; how Jung felt alone as a kid; the place of religious images in life as a child; how do we relate to the vastness of the unconscious and memory; the gods are on the inside now. This dharma talk is from our archive and was recorded September 11, 2012.

Michael talks about Jung and Freud's split, dreams, work, the unconscious as a process of compensation, madness and meditation, and what it's like going into cellars. This dharma talk is from our archive and was recorded September 4, 2012.

Zen teacher Paul Haller guides a gentle and clear meditation on noticing what it is to attend to experience. Recorded on retreat co-taught with Michael Stone, Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery, California in June 2016.

Because the Self is absent when we are awake, we cannot know if we are awake because we are one with our activity. So how do we know when someone is awake? Isn't it all projection? This is the final talk in our Diamond Sutra series recorded at Spirit Loft in Toronto in June 2016.

**BONUS** Love and compassion are necessities for basic sustainability. Norman Fischer gives a lecture to a packed house in Toronto on the importance of love, care, and ordinary suffering. This episode is from our archive and was recorded March 16, 2014.