The Integrated Self

Drawing from my experiences and wisdom received on two Vipassana Meditation Retreats in the lineage of S.N. Goenka, this episode invites and guides you to experience peace in any circumstance (equanimity), and recognize the eternal power of love flowing through non-attached, neutral reality. There can be a confusion around the Buddhist teachings and practice of non-attachment, if that means we can...

What happens when we live for the collective, not just for oneself? Modernity's guiding question is: "How can I make MY life better?" I believe a different question leads to a much richer and more fulfilling life: "What does life need now?" Holding this guiding orientation to life creates a radically different paradigm than the hyperindividualism currently leading to planetary...

Forgiveness is not something we do to let someone else off the hook, it's something we do for ourselves to allow more love into our lives. We can still maintain boundaries and discernment of what we're not okay with while we forgive, while we stop continuing to poison ourselves with the stuck energy of a grudge. In this episode: Preambles before we get to the point A Course in Miracles For...

Providing an encore to the last two episodes, we round out our deep dive into the spirituality of Phish by focusing on the profundity of playing with humor. In this episode: The lineage of humility, humor, and light-heartedness of Phish and the sometimes heaviness of The Grateful Dead The cosmic joke of seriously mattering and simultaneously not mattering Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig on music...

The living spiritual path I'm most connected to, present in and transcending many different traditions, is the path of leaning into life, leaning into the body, the challenges, the relationships, the experiences, the boring and mundane, and awakening the transcendent miracle of life in all things. The band Phish embodies this praxis through the ways they listen humbly to each other and the ene...

Why 43 years of friendship, humor, intelligence, and creativity is so meaningful to so many. In this episode, I describe how being present (i.e. surrendering to the flow) is a key ingredient to spiritual experiences. The band Phish offers A LOT to be present with, in caring, inclusive, and endlessly playful ways. Among many insights and experiences, three of the core teachings I've learned fro...

Most of Modern Western culture abhors, shuns, and deeply fears Death. But what if Death is holding the key to the full unblemished experience of Life, and by turning away from Death, we are limiting our ability to live as the full, complete, perfect beings we deep down know ourselves to be? Continuing the contemplation started in Episode 14: Death is Safe, this episode ventures, safely in our brea...

The essence of The Gene Keys path of wisdom, discussed in the last episode, is the art of Contemplation. This episode dives deeper into this central practice. Contemplation is a spiritual practice that can easily integrate into modern lifestyles. It can help busy homemakers, parents, workers, and anyone access a deep wellspring of wisdom and dynamic truth by entering into relationship with the now...

This episode provides an introduction, an overview, and key take ways from two systems of self awareness I've been connecting with: Human Design (the first 13 minutes) and The Gene Keys. These systems provide practical knowledge for your optimal functioning as a unique individual, and a path of inner awakening for your personal evolution. Discussed in the episode: Human Design's mapping of...

Continuing the discussion on differing circumstances from the last episode, today we go deeper into our Kabbalistic contemplation of the common life force present in all people, things, and circumstances. Review of the 4 levels of reality through the metaphor of the Torah scroll The true nature of esoteric teachings and why they're secretive How perceiving and relating with the shared life for...

Coming in in a very weird mood, this episode is a real time process of living in a world of inequality and astronomically different situations. I also share an unplanned Kabbalistic teaching on 4 levels of interpreting the Torah Scroll and reality, which I learned from my teacher Zvi Ish-Shalom. It's not about finding a neat answer to inequality and living with differences, but about feeling o...

In this first episode of Season 2, I share my key insights from studying and practicing the KonMari method of tidying up a physical home as a spiritual practice. Covered in this episode: - A thanks to listeners and a technical note on my recording technique - Overview of Marie Kondo and the KonMari method of tidying up your life - Marie Kondo as a role model for living one's life authentically...

In our 18th Episode Spectacular (!), join me in a living meditation. You don't have to be sitting still, but to get the full effect, you are warmly invited to listen, not just to me, but to the full energy of Life as it moves through you throughout this episode. Preceded by a short left-brain (rational) talk, we then drop into a direct right-brain (experiential) relationship with Life itself....

Listening to the radio sparked a contemplation on the side effects of having so many choices of on-demand experiences, namely the difficulty of staying present with what's happening. Sifting through and discarding genius The difficulty of being just fine Financial wealth and spiritual poverty True fulfillment will never come from an external impermanent thing Eternal satisfaction in the comple...

This episode is an invitation to take time throughout your life to pause your habitual activity and open to something else—the mystery of what's beyond our personal fixations. In pausing and listening, you can enter into a personal relationship with Life itself. In my experience, and in that of countless streams of wisdom, Life is unceasingly generous and intelligent; so give her a chance. Put...

This episode is a continuation of the threads explored in episodes 14 and 13. How recognizing the safety of Death enables greater trust with Life How Life's needs moved through me at a recent concert Dancing and standing still at general admission shows Dancing with the variety of life's needs expressed through different people at different times A prayer and a blessing for your Trusting t...

From a narrow and constricted view of reality, death can be a scary end. From a wider openness to all of existence, death is safe. Death will not kill us A song of birth and death

Beyond the techniques of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) (explored in the last episode), I find a deep spiritual connection to life that NVC can bring us into greater contact with. When we connect with our needs, we are connecting with the dynamic edge of life's evolution. In this episode, I contemplate some of the juiciest and most interesting aspects of the philosophy underpinning NVC. How bl...

Nonviolent Communication (NVC), developed by Marshall Rosenberg, has been used to foster peace, reconciliation, understanding, empathy, and collaboration in settings from warzones to personal relationships. It's also an incredibly helpful framework to develop self-understanding when you're feeling disturbed by an inner or outer conflict. In this episode, I explain the simple 4-step process...

This episode largely focuses on Western Medicine and is inspired by Gabor Mate's book The Myth of Normal . This episode is not about taking a black or white stance for or against any particular strategy of health, it's about being informed and thinking critically about the decisions you make for your health. How Western Medicine can be a force of oppression and colonization (especially thr...

A working theory on the spectrum of "normalcy" and "neurodiversity." What is normal? Neurodiversity as a way of acknowledging needs Highly sensitive people and highly numb people The difficulty and magic of life on the spectrum in the modern world Weird blessings on blessed weirdness

"The bad news is you're falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there's no ground." - Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this episode: - The Western tendency to solidify concepts - All life as a verb - Addressing anxiety about the past and the future through the Eternal Now

Desire is a driving force of life. It can be so helpful to clarify what your desires are. But what happens when you get stuck on wanting something other than what's happening? In this episode, we address: - the suffering of life - how attachment to results causes much suffering - what happens when you loosen your attachments to the specific results you want - not getting the job you want - wan...

This episode is an invitation to deepen into your own experience of your life. Including: A quick vent about the crunchy pressure of capitalism Three dimensions of reality: thoughts, emotions, and sensations The difference between stories and direct experience Feeling the body's sensations as an invitation into the unconditionally supportive presence of being

This episode is meant to help you move through Doing to come back to Being, and bring your Being into all you're Doing.