Skillful Means Podcast

Text me your feedback. With this meditation, Sarah Jane takes the instructions “Pause, Soften, and Connect,” which are often delivered at the beginning of a meditation, and stretches the time we spend with each one.  With occasional instruction, she illuminates the possibilities each of them points to: With “pause,” the shift from everyday mind to mindfulness; with “soften,” receptivity and the ab...

Text me your feedback. Unfortunately for humans, our nervous system's stress response only has two settings (on and off) even though we understand degrees of tension. Whether we feel the pressure of a work deadline or an existential threat, our body responds the same way. However, we can "hack" the stress response with body-based tools that tell the nervous system that we're OK...

Text me your feedback. Equanimity is a steadiness in heart and mind that has a spacious feel. It is “being with” rather than “reacting to” present-moment experience, which makes possible the beat between stimulus and response. We can choose what we do next rather than impulsively react. Thus, equanimity supports agency and choicefulness. Also, it balances the three other “Divine Abodes”or “Immeasu...

Text me your feedback. In our latest guided practice, Jen blends two potent practices to help you land in the tranquility of open, spacious awareness. The traditional way to call forth this energy is to concentrate on the breath while gently discouraging distracting thoughts, sensations, and other inputs from taking root in the conscious mind. But a lot of people find this very challenging, often...

Text me your feedback. Acknowledging that humans are hardwired to be on alert for danger, and that imbalanced states can cause us problems such as anxiety and doubt, we would do well to incline the mind toward goodness and gladness.  In this guided meditation, Sarah Jane touches on the negativity bias and the nature of both conditioned and unconditioned happiness.  Through mindfulness meditation –...

Text me your feedback. According to Chinese Energetic Medicine, the heart is vulnerable to heat of the summer season. In this short but sweet practice, Jen while guide you through three Yin Yoga postures — melting heart and empty coat sleeves — to nourish this most vital organ. Each posture is paired with meditative practices phrases in the Plum Village tradition to foreground the qualities of pre...

Text me your feedback. In this guided meditation, Sarah Jane supports you in turning toward what is present in the body, heart, and mind, and holding it with kind regard without insisting it change or improve. This act of compassion toward our humanness is the means by which we move from a state of dissociated trance to wholeness and presence. Near the end of the meditation Sarah Jane reads “Clear...

Text me your feedback. In this guided practice, Jen shares the Microcosmic Orbit, a Taoist meditation for longevity. Circulating Qi (life force energy) through a loop formed by the Governor Vessel (Du Mai) and the Conception Vessel (Ren Mai), protects Jing, or Essence Energy, from depletion. Jing is finite, given to us during conception from our parents. As we live our lives, our activities will e...

Text me your feedback. In this guided meditation, Sarah Jane invites you to settle into a posture that will support your mindfulness by inviting a relaxed quality in the body and wakefulness in the mind. After a period of arriving, she shares a technique for how you might use mental noting to disrupt discursive thinking. With 1-minute-long periods of silence interspersed with gentle encouragement...

Text me your feedback. In our second book club, Jen and Sarah Jane follow some dharmic threads through the ancient Taoist text the “Tao Te Ching” by Laozi and enjoy the poetic language used to, somehow, beautifully illuminate something that cannot be defined. The Tao is the source of everything and the way of life, and this text invites us to align ourselves and our lifestyle with the natural orde...

Text me your feedback. In this guided practice, Jen offers a meditation on establishing body awareness as a mindfulness anchor. Because the body is always available, bringing our attention to the posture and sensations of the body helps us to connect to the immediacy of the present moment. ~ Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness jour...

Text me your feedback. In this episode, Jen and Sarah Jane talk about the concept of precious impermanence, an organizing principle for many Asian religions and belief systems. Impermanence dignifies the transient nature of reality. Clinging to things as if they could be permanent is what causes unnecessary suffering in life.  Through Buddhist, yogic, and Taoist textual references and stories, Sar...

Text me your feedback. In this meditation inspired by popular teacher Jack Kornfield’s tree meditations, Sarah Jane guides you through a visualization that accesses the stabilizing and steadfast qualities of trees.  Recalling a tree that has been significant in your life is the beginning of a short relational journey that includes rooting downward for nourishment and rising to the challenges of li...

Text me your feedback. In this inaugural episode of the bi-monthly Dharma Book Club, Sarah Jane and Jen chat about The End of Your World . In this book, based on a series of his talks on the nature of enlightenment, spiritual teacher Adyashanti describes both the initial “glimpses” and the journey to “abiding awakening,” which he also describes as abiding as “Spirit.” Concerned that folks will ass...

Text me your feedback. In this month’s guided practice, we offer Yoga Nidra, the sleep of the yogis. The practice of Yoga Nidra dates back thousands of years and was developed to invoke a deep meditative state so that the practitioner may gather soma nectar for rejuvenation and immortality.  Today, Yoga Nidra has drawn a lot of interest for its ability to relax the body’s stress response. Many peo...

Text me your feedback. In this episode, recorded nearly a year after the first COVD-19-related lockdowns, Jen and Sarah Jane discuss the benefits and pitfalls of the mad rush to move trainings and retreats online. From individual teachers, to studios and centers, to decentralized institutes, the pandemic has brought much change in the way teaching –and learning –is done. Impacts include increased...

Text me your feedback. In this episode, Sarah Jane introduces and leads a mindfulness meditation on the four elements from the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Foundations of Mindfulness) as taught by the Venerable Bhikkhu Anālayo, a contemporary Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar. Contemplating the elements (earth, water, fire, and wind, according to early Buddhist writers), as they are expressed both within...

Text me your feedback. In this episode, Jen and Sarah Jane return from a winter break. Amidst ever increasing levels of upheaval in the States, they discuss their go-to practices and resources that buoy body, heart, and mind. In a casual back and forth conversation, they describe the methods and inspirations they rely on, including hara breathing, the idea of expansiveness, contemplating the eleme...

Text me your feedback. In this Taoist meditation, Jen will help you harness the loving energy of a smile and direct it inward for profound sense of self-compassion, joy, and relaxation. In Taoism, it's believed that the energy of negative emotions blocks Qi flow, leading to disease Practicing the inner smile meditation will help you clear out blocked negative energy for improved health, well-...

Text me your feedback. In this talk and guided practice, Sarah Jane describes the benefit of thinking of Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths as Four Ennobling Tasks. As tasks, the teachings become invitations to action. In the case of the first, the invitation is to comprehend dukkha (suffering). How? We practice. Why? Clear comprehension gives rise to liberating insight. But more than orienting our mind...

Text me your feedback. Jen wraps up our first virtual retreat with a practice very dear to her heart.  Loving-kindness, or metta, is at the very heart of spiritual practice. By tuning into our common humanity, we not only touch the essence of our true Self, but we are able to recognize and appreciate the Self of others, even difficult people. Consider this a training in radical acceptance.  Jen sh...

Text me your feedback. Welcome to Sunday, the third day of “Tuning In, Reaching Out.” We are maintaining our commitment to practice in part through the connections we’ve made and the energy we’ve felt from you, and we hope you feel the same.  Sarah Jane is interested in the active quality of compassion and how it can inform and even compel us to engage in the world. She opens this practice with a...

Text me your feedback. Welcome to the second and fourth overall practice of “Tuning In, Reaching Out.” We have deeply enjoyed connecting with some of you about intentions, methods, hindrances, and insights. A deep bow to all practitioners. In this practice, Sarah Jane shares thoughts on the purpose and practice of mindfulness through the Early Buddhist lens and highlights some aspects of the Satip...

Text me your feedback. Welcome to the second day of your virtual retreat. This morning, Jen brings you a gentle yang yoga practice in the tradition of her root teachers of Nosara Yoga Institute. This practice is appropriate for all levels including beginners, but you may find it helpful to have some asana experience in order to follow the verbal cues.  Disclaimer The information and postures share...

Text me your feedback. In this second practice of the Tuning In, Reaching Out Virtual retreat, Jen will guide you through a timeless meditation called Shamatha, or calm abiding.  You'll have an opportunity to practice in a formal way as well as in Yin Yoga postures. The postures featured in this practice include: butterfly, sphinx, empty coat sleeves, and reclined twist. You might appreciate...