Jonathan Foust

How has your meditation practice shifted and changed since you first took it up?   Please join this conversation with Stephen Josephs, who shares how his mediation has evolved over 60 years of daily practice.   As one of the leaders in the Kundalini Yoga tradition at it's peak in the west, Stephen was a devoted practitioner in what he calls the 'fire practices,' willful and powerful practices that...

This talk explores the culminating factor of the Eightfold Path—Right Concentration—and the profound power of a steady, unified mind. In a world of constant distraction and fragmented attention, we investigate how deep focus becomes a gateway to inner stillness, clarity, and freedom. Drawing from classical Buddhist teachings and lived experience, this talk reveals how training attention is not jus...

This talk explores the movement from doing to being—from the disciplined application of effort to the natural ease of presence. After training attention, stabilizing the mind, and refining investigation, there comes a threshold where practice no longer adds anything, but begins to let go of itself. Through stories, humor, and classical teachings, we'll examine how effort serves us and how clinging...

This talk explores what remains when we stop circling around the edges of practice and face the deepest truths directly. With humor, candor, and a willingness to take the red pill, we'll look at the three characteristics the Buddha pointed to—impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self—and how they shape every human life whether we like it or not. We'll explore how the heart breaks open in the...

The best meditation hall has no walls.   This talk explores how nature cultivates focus, non-judgment, and belonging, and how mindfulness can help us stay engaged with the world's pain without burning out.   Bio: With 25 years of Vipassana practice and a day job in international marine conservation, Heidi Schuttenberg, PhD brings both deep personal inquiry and real-world urgency to her teaching. S...

This talk explores Wise Awareness as the art of seeing life clearly enough to actually live it. So much of human regret comes not from dramatic mistakes, but from drifting through our days half-awake—disconnected from our bodies, driven by unseen reactions, caught in mental weather, and estranged from what matters most. Drawing on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, we'll explore awareness of bod...

The third talk in a weeklong meditation retreat, with Heidi Schuttenberg.   Our unwelcome visitors are guides to our freedom. This talk explores the Buddha's five hindrances and offers practical tools for meeting them with compassion, curiosity, and even gratitude.   With 25 years of Vipassana practice and a day job in international marine conservation, Heidi Schuttenberg, PhD brings both deep per...

The second talk in a weeklong retreat.   We often assume insight arises from calm, clarity, or deep concentration. But in truth, it is often born in the very moments we want to escape. This talk invites a radical reframe: what if restlessness, doubt, and emotional turbulence are not problems to solve—but the precise conditions for awakening? Together, we'll explore how mindful investigation transf...

This is the first talk of a weeklong retreat in 2026.   Lynn Teo starts by exploring various ways to resource the nervous system to support the capacity to be present to the moment's direct experience.  Then, we investigate what mindfulness is and how mindfulness of the body supports present moment awareness.   Lynn Teo has been teaching embodied movement and meditation for over 25 years. Deeply g...

This talk explores Right Effort as one of the most misunderstood elements of the Eightfold Path—revealing how much of our suffering comes not from a lack of effort, but from pushing, striving, and forcing ourselves in ways that create inner violence. Drawing on classical Buddhist teachings and everyday experience, the talk reframes effort as a form of care rather than willpower, inviting a wiser r...

This talk explores the power of self-observation and what lies beyond the sense of self. You'll learn how the witness can free you from the tyranny of the mind and your reactivity as well as what can happen when you explore being aware of the witness and what lies beyond.

This talk explores the liberating factor of self-observation.   You'll learn about how you can cultivate the optimal environment to develop the witness, the near-enemy of the practice and what it means to be aware of the light behind the observer.

This talk explores how the most simple mindfulness practices point to liberation.   You'll learn about the destination of cultivating present-moment awareness, understanding the nature of impermanence, recognizing inter-dependence and the power of non-attachment.

This talk explores Right Livelihood as a living inquiry rather than a rigid moral rule, asking how we can earn a living without gradually betraying our values, vitality, or sense of dignity. Grounded in the Buddha's teachings and everyday work life, the talk examines the ethical foundation of do no harm , the importance of inner congruence between what we do and what we feel in our bodies, and the...

This talk explores listening as a radical act of compassion at moments of loss, when words often rush in to ease our own discomfort rather than meet another's pain. We examine how common responses to grief—reassurance, advice, spiritual framing, or positivity—can unintentionally distance us, and how the impulse to fix subtly reinforces separation. Drawing on mindfulness and embodied awareness, the...

More on how to keep you keel in the water when navigating uncertainty.   You'll learn some practical strategies for finding 'refuge,' a place of presence, particularly accessing Wisdom - clear seeing, Compassion - a heart that can hold it all, Presence - the space of awareness itself, and Skillful Action - strategies for staying deeply present in the midst of change.

This talk explores how you might cultivate greater steadiness in turbulent times. You'll learn some practical tools for finding refuge in present-moment awareness, in cultivating Witness Consciousness and in watching the flow of phenomena with awake awareness and an open heart.

This talk explores wise intention as a living, moment-to-moment inquiry rather than a fixed decision or self-improvement project. Drawing from the Buddhist understanding of Right Intention, it reframes intention as an embodied process of noticing what genuinely supports clarity and ease, honestly recognizing what leads to contraction, and allowing the heart to recalibrate without judgment. The emp...

This talk explores the liberating power of clear seeing — vipassanā , or insight — the capacity to recognize things as they truly are rather than as we wish them to be. Through the practice of mindful attention, we begin to see through the illusions that shape our experience: the illusion that things are solid, that the self is fixed, that craving can bring satisfaction, and that suffering is pers...

This talk explores how to consciously direct the inner process of healing and release. Drawing on the classic teachings of Ho'oponopono, it introduces four phrases that guide your attention to: • Taking responsibility for your inner experience • Attuning to the process of release • Reflecting on gratitude and the opportunity to grow • Resting in loving awareness

This talk explores the heart of the Fourth Noble Eightfold Path factor—Right Action—as a living expression of mindfulness and compassion. We look at how ethical conduct arises not from rigid rule-following but from moment-to-moment awareness, attunement to the body's signals, and a sincere intention to do no harm. Through stories, classical teachings, humor, and direct reflection, we explore non-h...

This talk explores how to apply the Golden Rule in the context of mindfulness practice.   You'll learn how this timeless guidance ties into the practice of compassion (Karuna), interconnectedness (Dependent Origination), loving kindness (Metta) and non-harming (Ahimsa).

This talk explores the radical simplicity and depth of awakening to the present moment. Drawing on early Buddhist teachings and modern somatic inquiry, we'll investigate the building blocks of experience — sensation, feeling tone, perception, and awareness — to understand how the mind creates "now" and how freedom is discovered in direct experience.   You'll learn how to discern between sensation...

This talk explores the possibility of 'problems' as profound opportunities for growth and expansion.   You'll learn the importance of equanimity, cultivating convergent and divergent thinking and deep investigation into the nature of attachment and the nature of self.

This talk explores how every word we speak carries the power to create harmony or division, awakening or confusion. Drawing from the Buddha's teaching on Right Speech —truthful, kind, useful, and timely communication—you'll discover how mindfulness transforms the way we express ourselves and listen to others. Words become more than sound; they become expressions of presence, integrity, and care. T...