Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

The eyes of a dying patient are clear mirrors. In their gaze there is simply no place to hide. Coming face to face with dying requires a fierce compassion and self-awareness that is best supported by mindfulness, emotional balance and equanimity. These two pioneers in contemplative care of the dying are offering this special intensive [...]

The eyes of a dying patient are clear mirrors. In their gaze there is simply no place to hide. Coming face to face with dying requires a fierce compassion and self-awareness that is best supported by mindfulness, emotional balance and equanimity. These two pioneers in contemplative care of the dying are offering this special intensive [...]

The eyes of a dying patient are clear mirrors. In their gaze there is simply no place to hide. Coming face to face with dying requires a fierce compassion and self-awareness that is best supported by mindfulness, emotional balance and equanimity. These two pioneers in contemplative care of the dying are offering this special intensive [...]

Sensei Fleet Maull invites us to embrace the fullness of our lives, especially the aspects of our lives that we are most fearful of. He speaks about how we all have a sense that we're in prison due to our mind of preferences. Sensei shares intimately how he has dealt with grief and everyday life [...]

The eyes of a dying patient are clear mirrors. In their gaze there is simply no place to hide. Coming face to face with dying requires a fierce compassion and self-awareness that is best supported by mindfulness, emotional balance and equanimity. These two pioneers in contemplative care of the dying are offering this special intensive [...]

The eyes of a dying patient are clear mirrors. In their gaze there is simply no place to hide. Coming face to face with dying requires a fierce compassion and self-awareness that is best supported by mindfulness, emotional balance and equanimity. These two pioneers in contemplative care of the dying are offering this special intensive [...]

The eyes of a dying patient are clear mirrors. In their gaze there is simply no place to hide. Coming face to face with dying requires a fierce compassion and self-awareness that is best supported by mindfulness, emotional balance and equanimity. These two pioneers in contemplative care of the dying are offering this special intensive [...]

here was a slideshow at the end of this sessionThe eyes of a dying patient are clear mirrors. In their gaze there is simply no place to hide. Coming face to face with dying requires a fierce compassion and self-awareness that is best supported by mindfulness, emotional balance and equanimity. These two pioneers in contemplative [...]

Compassion is one of the most positive and fulfilling emotions we can experience. Various studies have shown that people who are the most altruistic also appear to be the happiest. There is always, deep within ourselves, a potential for loving kindness, compassion and inner peace. This potential needs to be actualized and matured in order [...]

Compassion is one of the most positive and fulfilling emotions we can experience. Various studies have shown that people who are the most altruistic also appear to be the happiest. There is always, deep within ourselves, a potential for loving kindness, compassion and inner peace. This potential needs to be actualized and matured in order [...]

Michael Stone begins by saying that in many of today's popular magazines, yoga is reduced to a body practice and dharma is reduced to mind practice. This way of looking at Yoga and Dharma is insufficient because it doesn't capture how it can penetrate our lives. Michael says that what really connects yoga and dharma [...]

Compassion is one of the most positive and fulfilling emotions we can experience. Various studies have shown that people who are the most altruistic also appear to be the happiest. There is always, deep within ourselves, a potential for loving kindness, compassion and inner peace. This potential needs to be actualized and matured in order [...]

Compassion is one of the most positive and fulfilling emotions we can experience. Various studies have shown that people who are the most altruistic also appear to be the happiest. There is always, deep within ourselves, a potential for loving kindness, compassion and inner peace. This potential needs to be actualized and matured in order [...]

Compassion is one of the most positive and fulfilling emotions we can experience. Various studies have shown that people who are the most altruistic also appear to be the happiest. There is always, deep within ourselves, a potential for loving kindness, compassion and inner peace. This potential needs to be actualized and matured in order [...]

Compassion is one of the most positive and fulfilling emotions we can experience. Various studies have shown that people who are the most altruistic also appear to be the happiest. There is always, deep within ourselves, a potential for loving kindness, compassion and inner peace. This potential needs to be actualized and matured in order [...]

Compassion is one of the most positive and fulfilling emotions we can experience. Various studies have shown that people who are the most altruistic also appear to be the happiest. There is always, deep within ourselves, a potential for loving kindness, compassion and inner peace. This potential needs to be actualized and matured in order [...]

Roshi leads a meditation on mindfulness of the body and lovingkindness, goes through the stages of a rite of passage, and talks about leading with our hearts and not our roles in the world. Mary Catherine talks about "liminality," that stage between falling apart and coming back together, and suggests that our civilization as a [...]

In a heartfelt and funny talk ranging in topic from roasting turkeys to boat anchors, Natalie and Wendy speak about their lives as Zen practitioners, teachers, students, and members of community, sharing stories and insights about past retreats, interactions with teachers, and family.

David begins the session by leading a guided meditation on gratitude. The participants then have a chance to ask the faculty some questions and share some insights. The Wisdom & Time Faculty: Al Kaszniak, David Chernikoff, The Wisdom & Time Faculty: Al Kaszniak, David Chernikoff, Jane Fonda, Malka Druker, Mary Catherine Bateson, Roshi Joan Halifax. To access [...]

Roshi Joan leads a meditation on mindfulness of and appreciation for the body, and offers a view of four vectors of human development, emphasizing the importance of embodiment in affecting positive change in the world. Jane continues this examination of embodiment, noting some reasons why people may become "disembodied" at various points in their lives. [...]

Mary Catherine leads a session on improvisation, offering that we are "artists of our own lives." She leads some of the participants in an improvisation game called "the ball of energy." After the game, the participants note what they felt and noticed during their participation. Mary Catherine concludes with some notes about seeing life as [...]

Malka opens by offering reflections on and personal experiences pertinent to Mary Catherine's addition of "Adulthood II" within the context of Erikson's model, then offers a model of aging as seen in the Jewish tradition. Roshi then introduces Jane Fonda. Jane offers her own view of this "second adulthood" which she calls "The Third Act," [...]

David opens with a partner meditation in which one person holds the other's hand, meditating on the hand's nature and capabilities as if it were a completely foreign object. In a talk entitled "Wisdom, Neuroscience and Lifespan Development," Al Kaszniak offers some functional definitions of wisdom, noting that there is not yet a "neuroscience of [...]

Roshi opens by offering a view of maturation as seen by the Lacandon people of Mexico and speaks to the phenomenon of prolonged childhood in America. Mary Catherine leads an examination of Eric Erikson's view of development, adding "Adulthood II" between "Adulthood I" and "Old Age," noting that a large part of "Adulthood II" is [...]

Roshi Joan Halifax begins by introducing Mind and Life Institute faculty and she facilitates the discussion. Adam Engle shares how the Mind and Life Institute began and how the institute shifted its focus to researching the benefits of meditation. Jon Kabat-Zinn speaks of how Mind and Life brings the notion that the mind is 'trainable' [...]