Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

• Ep. 213 - Angels & Devas with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

  In this expansive overview of spirit beings and how they operate in our world, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee explains his personal encounters with Angels, Devas, and more.Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Llewellyn illuminates:Awakening to our divine nature through spiritual practice and accessing higher dimensions of consciousnessThe sacred worldview of our ancestors vs. the spiritual emptiness of modern cultureLessons from Lakota Medicine Man, Black Elk, on restoring awareness of the sacred nature of all thingsHow Angels and Devas have effected Llewellyn’s life and brought him messages about humanityThe disconnection from unseen realms and its impact on human consciousnessLlewellyn’s detailed description of different types of AngelsJinns, spirits made of fire in the islamic tradition which have free will to do good or evilDevas, aka, the spiritual intelligence within natureHow reconnecting with nature’s spirit can help heal ecological destructionEncounters with elemental tricksters and darker beings from other dimensionsHow violence and darkness obscure the radiant light of our true consciousnessThe sustaining power of light and love on both the soul and cellular levels of beingAbout Llewellyn:Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D. is a Sufi teacher in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Sufi Order. He is the author of Sufism, the Transformation of the Heart, and the founder of The Golden Sufi Center. Check out his new podcast Working With Oneness. “I live surrounded by these other worlds, not fully understanding why our culture had to cut off all the inner worlds from our consciousness, why we have to live in such a bleak environment in which even our dreams are censored. And what does it mean to this present liminal time when we no longer have angels to guide us, nature spirits to help bring us back into balance with the natural world and its patterns of biodiversity? ” – Llewellyn Vaughan-LeeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  --------  

  34:35
• Ep. 212 - Including Everything with Gil Fronsdal

  Are we trying to find inner peace the wrong way? Gil Fronsdal discusses cultivating an all-inclusive awareness that embraces each experience and sensation without resistance or judgment.Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.In this episode, Gil Fronsdal provides insights on:Figuring out what our life’s pursuit is, and, if we are chasing the wrong thingsThe Buddha as a doctor of freedom, the inner life, the illness of sufferingHow child-like wellbeing and openness lead the Buddha to the path of freedom and the end of suffering Integrating adult stability with childlike openness, curiosity, and joyCultivating openness and inner strength when facing temptation, emotional pain, or adversityUsing mindfulness to expand awareness and include all aspects of our experiencePracticing nonjudgmental and non-discriminating awareness—welcoming all emotions, thoughts, and sensations equallyShifting focus from what we’re mindful of to how we are being mindful The problem with hyperfixating on the self and identity This recording from Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaseedAbout Gil Fronsdal:Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. Gil has an undergraduate degree in agriculture from U.C. Davis where he was active in promoting the field of sustainable farming. In 1998 he received a PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University studying the earliest developments of the bodhisattva ideal. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.“What I feel is most sacred in Buddhism is not something outside of you. Not a shrine, not a statue, not a text. But rather, what's most sacred is an awareness, your awareness, when it has nothing outside. There's nothing outside, nothing which is unacceptable for it, nothing which is shut out from it. Everything is allowed to be there in your awareness. When awareness is all-inclusive, with no outside, I think that's sacred.” – Gil FronsdalSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  --------  

  47:58
• Ep. 211 - Showing Up With Love For Whatever Comes Next with Thanissara, Raghu Markus and Jackie Dobrinska

  Contemplating the nexus of suffering and compassion, Thanissara, Raghu, and Jackie offer suggestions for showing up with love for all that arises. This is the opening workshop from the Centered in the Storm Virtual Immersion with Ram Dass & Friends. This course features topics like: uncovering our shared connection, transforming relationships, personal healing & global impact, and more!Check out Ram Dass’ Inner Academy, where you can get the full Centered in the Storm Virtual Immersion along with dozens of other full-length, interactive, virtual courses and retreats. The Inner Academy offers lessons from Ram Dass, Krishna Das, Anne Lamott, Dr. Robert Svoboda, Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan Halifax, Dr. Robert Thurman, Nina Rao, Father Greg Boyle, David Nichtern, Thanissara and many more.Today’s podcast is also brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.In this episode,Thanissara, Raghu Markus and Jackie Dobrinska discuss:Cultivating inner peace and resilience in the face of life’s most difficult momentsThe vital role of trust in awakening intuition and authentic self-awarenessComing together in unity rather than being polarized as we navigate life’s stormsThe nexus and relationship between suffering and compassionHow toxic individualism fosters inequality and disrupts collective well-beingThe deeper the suffering, the more potential there can be for quantum shifts of consciousnessHow fear-based thinking can fuel violence and disconnection in an untrained mindFinding a way back to the deathless, back to the heart, back to beingEmbodying courage and unwavering faith in the radiant wisdom of the heartAbout Thanissara:Thanissara is a teacher, poet, climate activist, and co-founder of the Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat. She spent 12 years as a Buddhist nun and holds an MA in Core Process Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy Practice. Thanissara was a founding member of Chithurst and Amaravati Buddhist Monasteries in England. She helped initiate/support a number of HIV/Aids response projects in deep rural South Africa. In addition, she has facilitated meditation retreats internationally for 30 years. She teaches across the U.S., in South Africa, and the UK. She is the author of several books, including her most recent, Time To Stand Up, A Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth.About Raghu Markus:Raghu Markus spent two years in India with Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass. He has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s. Currently, he is the Executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation and hosts the Mindrolling Podcast on the Be Here Now Network. Along with Duncan Trussell, Raghu also recently co-created The Movie of Me to the Movie of We.About Jackie Dobrinska:Jackie Dobrinska is the Director of Education, Community & Inclusion for Ram Dass’ Love, Serve, Remember Foundation and the current host of Ram Dass’ Here & Now podcast. She is also a teacher, coach, and spiritual director with the privilege of marrying two decades of mystical studies with 15 years of expertise in holistic wellness. As an inter-spiritual minister, Jackie was ordained in Creation Spirituality in 2016 and has also studied extensively in several other lineages – the plant-medicine-based Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, Sri Vidya Tantra, Western European Shamanism, Christian Mysticism, the Wise Woman Tradition, and others. Today, in addition to building courses and community for LSRF, she leads workshops and coaches individuals to discover, nourish and live from their most authentic selves."This focus of suffering into compassion or the nexus and relationship of suffering and compassion, the entwined way that both of these two sides of the same coin, is really just a very succinct way of summarizing the whole path of awakening." – ThanissaraSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  --------  

  58:43
• Ep. 210 - Virya: Courage, Energy and Trust with Buddhist Teacher Trudy Goodman

  Explaining Virya, the effort factor of enlightenment, meditation teacher Trudy Goodman explores the courage it takes to trust in our practice and to mindfully face the five hindrances. Today’s podcast is also brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Trudy Goodman explains:Virya, the effort, energy, and enthusiasm factor of enlightenment The courage it takes to be fully present with every life experienceShowing up for our human experience with qualities of heart, courage, and balance An impactful Iraq War story that reveals the power of presence and awarenessHow to work wisely with challenges that block mindful presenceThe five classical hindrances: wanting, ill-will, restlessness, sloth & torpor, and doubtA reading from the Flower Ornament Sutra about freeing the heart and mind from hindrances How living defensively against pain limits our full human experienceThe positive impact of naming our struggles and how it prevents us from being swept awayMoving through all experiences with steady effort—no halting, no strainingDaily spiritual practice and repetition in order to build trust in life and the dharmaThe four great efforts that the Buddha talked aboutProtecting our hearts by not watering seeds of harm that arise in our thoughts and emotionsWatering the seeds that are beneficial, feeding their growth, and encouraging goodnessHow to stay open to life's potential by expecting goodness, not fearing missed chancesTrusting in the dharma, the natural world, and life’s unseen supportive forcesAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.comThis 2011 recording is from Spirit Rock’s Fall Insight Meditation Retreat and was originally published on Dharmaseed. “It takes great effort, great energy, great trust. When we bring that to this practice everyday, the trust is also a kind of confidence that if we just do this, things will unfold naturally without forcing them.” – Trudy GoodmanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  --------  

  53:31
• Ep. 209 - Why We Suffer with Buddhist Teacher Gil Fronsdal

  Gil Fronsdal explores why we suffer and how we can meet our suffering with a supportive presence for the benefit of ourselves and all beings. In this episode, Gil thoughtfully discusses:Becoming like a wise & peaceful snake, shedding our skin from time to timeHow mindfulness practice can contain the goal of cessation of greed, hatred, and delusionHow clinging creates emotional stress, mental pain, and spiritual sufferingNotice the “aah” of skillful action versus the “ouch” of unskillful action as we develop awarenessBeing present for the depth of suffering in the human heartBringing the qualities of the awakened mind in to meet our suffering and help us release itHelping our suffering feel safe and remembering that all suffering can be put to restThe ability to stay with our experiences without clinging and with a sense of wellbeing Meeting our suffering for ourselves and to show the way for othersPracticing mindfulness with sincerity, consistency, and heartfelt dedicationThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp & Dharma Seed:Join Krishna Das, the most well-known voice of Bhakti chanting (Kirtan) in the West, and David Nichtern - a senior Buddhist teacher, founder of Dharma Moon, guitarist in Krishna Das’ band, and producer of several of his albums - for a warm and engaging conversation about these two paths, their shared roots, and how they intersect in contemporary spiritual practice. Learn more about this FREE online gathering - THE HEART & MIND OF PRACTICE: BUDDHISM & BHAKTIToday’s podcast is also brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.About Gil Fronsdal:Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed.orgNo matter what it is, suffering is always an activity that can be put to rest, that can stop. Suffering is not the deepest thing in you. It doesn't have to define you, it's not all of who you are." – Gil Fronsdal See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  --------  

  40:34

More Religion & Spirituality podcasts

Trending Religion & Spirituality podcasts

About Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast: Podcasts in Family