Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg

Devon has been committed to meditation since 2000, spending years in retreat in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions, and has been mentored by Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Craig began intensive meditation training in 1994, living in a Zen monastery for six years before getting his Ph. D. in counseling psychology. Together they are teachers and mentors in the spiritual com...

For episode 141 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with Ellen Agler. Ellen serves as the CEO of  the END Fund , a private philanthropic initiative working to see an end of the suffering caused by five neglected tropical diseases affecting 1.7 billion of the world’s most impoverished people, including more than 1 billion children. The END Fund actively supports programs with dozens of partners i...

For episode 140 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with friend and colleague Mallika Dutt. Mallika is a leading innovator in storytelling and culture change, bringing together the power of ancient wisdom and spiritual practices with contemporary technologies and tools for creative connection and transformation. She combines her creative advocacy for a thriving world with a coaching, speaking and str...

For episode 139 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with Jana Kiser. Jana Kiser is a social entrepreneur and Harvard-trained educator. She has more than twenty years of experience partnering with youth, adults, and communities in their pursuit of equity, justice, and peace. Jana founded Global Learning, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to education for peace and justice, and served a...

For episode 138 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with David DeSteno. David is a Psychologist who studies the ways in which emotions guide decisions and behaviors fundamental to social living. David is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where he directs the Social Emotions Group. At the broadest level, his work examines the mechanisms of the mind that shape vice and virtue. Study...

For episode 137 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with Killian Noe. Killian is the Founding Director of Recovery Café, providing a beautiful, safe, warm, drug and alcohol-free space and loving community to anchor Members in the sustained recovery needed to gain and maintain access to housing, social and health services, healthy relationships, education and employment. Before starting  Recovery...

For episode 136 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with friend and colleague, Soren Gordhamer. Soren is the founder and host of Wisdom 2.0 , and the author of the book by the same name. He has spoken on and taught mindfulness to people around the world–from youth in New York City’s juvenile halls, to trauma workers in Rwanda, to the staff at Google’s corporate headquarters. This is the ninth episode...

For episode 135 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with one of her oldest friends and colleagues, Jack Kornfield. Jack Kornfield is a beloved author and meditation teacher who trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974, and his books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. A long...

For episode 134 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with social change agent, Marc Solomon. Marc is a nationally recognized political strategist and campaign leader with 25 years of experience in strategy, campaign management, policy development and execution, messaging and communications leadership, and field mobilization. Marc was one of the key architects of the marriage equality movement and has...

For episode 133 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with Anu Gupta. Anu Gupta is a scientist, educator and lawyer. He is the Founder of Be More with Anu, a science-backed, compassion-based approach, after conducting decade-long research on the causes of and solutions to racial and gender inequality. In this episode, Sharon and Anu speak at length about Anu’s personal journey to becoming a meditator,...

For episode 132 of the Metta Hour Podcast, Sharon speaks Diego Perez, known more commonly as Yung Pueblo, for the Real Change Podcast Series. Diego is a meditator, writer, and speaker who is widely known on Instagram and various social media networks through his pen name Yung Pueblo. Online he reaches hundreds of thousands of people every month through his written works that focus on the reality o...

For episode 131 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with her close friend, Sylvia Boorstein for the Real Change Podcast Series. Sylvia Boorstein has been teaching Dharma and mindfulness meditation since 1985, and is the author of five books. She is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, a psychotherapist, wife, mother and grandmother.vIn this conversation Sharon and Sylvia talk about th...

For episode 130 of the Metta Hour Podcast, Sharon speaks Joel Leon. Joel is a performer, author, and storyteller who writes and tells stories for Black people. Born and raised in the Bronx, Joel specializes in moderating and leading conversations surrounding race, masculinity, mental health, creativity and the performing arts, with love at the center of his work and purpose. He is the author...

For episode 129 of the Metta Hour Podcast, Sharon speaks with friend and colleague, Sebene Selassie for the Real Change Series. Sebene Selassie has been teaching meditation workshops, courses and retreats for over a decade and her first book, “You Belong” was released in August of 2020 by HarperOne. She has studied Buddhism for over 30 years and received a BA from McGill University in Religious an...

For episode 128 of the Metta Hour Podcast, Sharon speaks with Sensei Joshin Byrnes for the Real Change Series. Sensei Joshin Byrnes is a Zen priest, teacher, activist, and the founder of the Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community in Vermont. Joshin maintains a core practice of bearing witness to homelessness by offering street retreats in cities around the country and has spent much of his career worki...

For episode 127 of the Metta Hour, Sharon chats with Bethany Saltman about her new book, Strange Situation. Bethany is an author, award-winning editor, and researcher. Her work can be seen in magazines like the New Yorker, New York Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Parents, Town & Country, and many others. Her first book, “Strange Situation: A Mother’s Journey Into the Science of Attachment” was jus...

For episode 126 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with civil rights activist, filmmaker, lawyer and innovator, Valarie Kaur. Valarie is the founder of The Revolutionary Love Project and has won policy change on multiple fronts – hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, Internet freedom, and more. Her new book, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutiona...

For episode 125 of the Metta Hour, Sharon is re-releasing a previously released episode of the podcast from 2018, featuring a conversation with colleague Rhonda V. Magee. Rhonda is Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, and is an internationally-recognized thought and practice leader on integrating Mindfulness into Higher Education, Law and Social Justice. She is the author of the 20...

For episode 124 of the Metta Hour, Sharon is re-releasing a previously released episode of the podcast from 2018, featuring a conversation with author, teacher, and activist, Ruth King. Ruth King is an international teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition, blending mindfulness and meditation principles with an exploration of racial conditioning and its impact. She is the author of “Mindful of...

Dr. Rick Hanson visits Sharon to explore resiliency, lasting traits, and the intersection of neuroscience and spirituality. In this episode of the Metta Hour, Sharon is joined by Dr. Rick Hanson, the author of the new book Neurodharma. In this joyful and bright conversation, these two teachers uncover and elucidate core themes from the book, sharing anecdotal experiences to bring to life concepts...

Many are experiencing loneliness and deep feelings of disconnect during this period of quarantine due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Sharon Salzberg offers wisdom for being with ourselves in these difficult emotional states, and how to tap into a more rooted truth of our authentic self, as well as the interconnection that surrounds our lives. Sharon also leads a guided meditation centered around the...

Mindfulness teacher and grassroots community organizer Shelly Tygielski joins Sharon Salzberg for a conversation around supporting one another through community and integrating mindfulness into social activism. Shelly Tygielski  is the founder of  Yuru Meditation  and the mutual aid community Pandemic of Love, which was started in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. Pandemic of Love...

Sharon Salzberg shares a reflection and guided practice around how we relate to suffering and better recognizing when we are swept away by thought, pain and emotion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Recorded live at the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center, Sharon offers her perspective on the evolving role of contemplative practice in modern life and how we can find the middle way through all things with the help of mindfulness. Would you like to be part of the next generation of mindfulness meditation instructors? If so, we invite you to take a unique opportunity to study...