How to Train a Happy Mind

What happens when you die? No one knows for sure. But the Tibetan Buddhist system describes a precise series of steps that our consciousness may experience as we die, which we can explore in a meditation to probe the boundary of life and death with curiosity and wonder. Episode 58. What Happens When You Die? Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California&...

The idea of past lives may not make make sense, and isn’t scientifically verifiable. But still, the question of what we might have been before our conception is one worth asking. Where did I come from? Episode 57. Where Did I Come From? Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE If you’d like to practice with o...

I want to tell you a story about birth and death and infinity. We’re all born and we’re all going to die, but I don’t know how many of you have ever felt a connection to infinity. I want to tell you about the time in my life when I felt this connection to infinity every day. And I also want to tell you about how I lost it, and whether it’s possible to get it back again. Episode 56: Birth, Death, a...

A short guided meditation on loving-kindness and compassion by Tibetan Buddhist lama, author, and abstract painter Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Episode 55. Meditation on Loving-Kindness and Compassion with Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE If you’d like to practice with others and...

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, renowned Tibetan Buddhist lama, author, and abstract expressionist painter talks about the mind, compassion, patience, and art. Episode 54. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on Patience, Compassion, and Art Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE If you’d like to practice with others and bri...

Our podcast producer finally steps in front of the mic! Stephen Butler, producer of Grammy-nominated Indigenous and Native American music on gentleness, openness, and the Buddhism of Mr. Rogers. Episode 53. Stephen Butler on Openness, Gentleness, and Mr. Rogers' Buddhism Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEA...

A 10-Minute guided meditation on love shows us how to expand our love for our partner and family to a loving-kindness that embraces all beings. 10 Minute Meditation on Love Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly medi...

If you want to know what love is, search beyond eighties songs to the wisdom of Buddhist loving-kindness that expands our love to all beings while also deepening our connection to our partner and family. This special Valentine's Day episode on love asks great Buddhist teachers the question of what love is, including Dr. Jan Willis, Ven. Kathleen McDonald, Dr. Rick Hanson, Geshe Tenzin Namdak,...

Part two of our mind expanding interview with Buddhist scholar and author Dr. Robert Thurman, who shares what is a healthy kind of ego, how to be a Buddhist without belief, and a powerful vision of enlightenment and Nirvana. Episode 51. Ten Questions for Dr. Robert Thurman (Part 2) Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–1...

Buddhist scholar Dr. Robert Thurman answers 10 profound questions: What is the nature of time? What is enlightenment? Why is there no evidence for "nothing?" What is a psychonaut? And why is it important to be skeptical of both Buddhism and science? Join us for this first half of a wonderful conversation with one of the world's greatest minds. Episode 50. Ten Questions for Dr. Rober...

Dr. Rick Hanson, best-selling author of Buddha’s Brain and Neurodharma, shares his "Five Breaths" neuroscience-based guided meditation. Dr. Rick Hanson's Five Breaths Meditation Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwoods August 13–16. LEARN MORE If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life,...

Dr. Rick Hanson, best-selling author of Buddha’s Brain, Hardwiring Happiness, and Neurodharma, shares insights from neuroscience on how to grow our extraordinary potential for inner happiness without denying any of our pain. Episode 48. Interview with Dr. Rick Hanson, Author of Neurodharma and Buddha’s Brain Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California&...

Our first episode of 2021 is a guided meditation on "purification": a healthy way to let go of regrets from the last year and make a realistic path to being our best self this year through forgiveness and self-acceptance. Episode 47: Beginning the New Year with a Purification Meditation Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat in California's redwo...

In this deep and fascinating interview with Dr. Jay Garfield on the connection between compassion and emptiness, he shows how, when we realize our interdependence on other beings, ideas, and the world around us, it helps us to dissolve our self-centered view and embrace the needs of all beings and the reality around us. Episode 46. Dr. Jay Garfield on Healthy Realities Join our third annual How to...

From the Buddhist, as well as the psychological and scientific perspectives, gratitude and dedication aren’t just polite bookends. The process of feeling gratitude and resolve creates the mental and neurological causes to actually become better people and to better serve the world. Episode 45: Meditation on Gratitude, Dedication, and Determination Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind th...

We’ve spent the better part of a year going step-by-step through a modern secular version of the major topics from Tibetan Buddhism’s Stages of the Path, what we call A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment. In Tibetan this sequence is called the lamrim . It’s a series of meditations that progressively move our mind to better understand itself, bring out our best qualities, and create the causes for a h...

Who am I? From the Buddhist perspective, there’s a systematic way of asking this question of who you are in the form of a meditation on the ultimate nature of the self, or "emptiness." This meditation is said to be the strongest antidote to our disturbing states of mind and a cause for greater self-awareness, happiness, and connection with others. Episode 43: Guided Meditation — The Inte...

Are you your body? Are you your mind? Are you a collection of thoughts, memories, and neural connections that could be uploaded into a computer to live forever? Or are you an old-fashioned soul? This episode probes the nature of the self using the Buddhist notion of emptiness, searching for the partless, independent, unchanging "I" that ordinarily appears to us, and finding a self that&a...

"Buddhism is not meant to make people Buddhist … but to generate happy minds." Western Tibetan Buddhist master Geshe Tenzin Namdak on the mind, disturbing emotions, and emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality. Episode 41. Geshe Tenzin Namdak on the Mind, Disturbing Emotions, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three-day in-person retreat i...

Meditating on the interdependent nature of reality, or emptiness, breaks down the illusion of independent, partless, and unchanging objects; instead we observe their parts, causes, and our mind that wraps these with a label like phone, home, or our delicious dinner. Episode 40. 20-Minute Guided Meditation on the Interdependent Nature of Reality Join our third annual How to Train a Happy Mind three...

The Buddhist understanding of how things exist breaks objects down into parts, causes, and a mind that bundles them into the illusion of a solid, singular, unchanging entity. When we apply this analysis to an iPhone, we see that it is made up of almost all the elements in the periodic table, and is connected to thousands of hours of hard labor and the entire history of our civilization, planet, an...

Objects around us ordinarily appear as if they are solid, singular, and separate from us. However, both science and the Buddhist understanding of reality show us that as we examine things more closely, they exist far more subtly and richly than they appear. This meditation focuses on an object most of us have strong feelings toward—our smartphone—breaking it apart into its myriad parts, and giving...

The Buddhist view on reality, called emptiness, combines the awe of scientific knowledge with the inner, experiential knowledge that comes from meditation and critical reasoning to arrive at a feeling of interconnectedness. The first in a seven-art series on Buddhism's view of dependent origination looks at how objects exist using the example of that most modern wonder and addiction, our smar...

A guided meditation by Ven. Sangye Khadro (Kathleen McDonald) on the natural goodness of our mind, or Buddha nature. In this meditation we let go of all our negative, disturbing states of mind like anger, anxiety, or fear; and cultivate our positive mental qualities of compassion, wisdom, and courage. Episode 36. Guided Meditation on the Natural Goodness of our Mind — Ven. Sangye Khadro (Kathleen...

Venerable Sangye Khadro (Kathleen McDonald), renowned author of How to Meditate and fully ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun, talks about the natural goodness of our mind, karma, and powerful analytical meditation mind training techniques for living a compassionate, meaningful life. Episode 35. Venerable Sangye Khadro (Kathleen McDonald) on The Natural Goodness of our Mind Join our third annual How to...