Explore every episode of the podcast Skillful Means Podcast
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The constant barrage of terrible news can be overwhelming and exhausting. While big feelings are normal responses to what we're seeing our feeds, we also need to metabolize those feelings so they don't take up residence in our hearts and minds and prevent us from finding pathways forward.
In this guided practice, Jen takes you through an embodied and grounded practiced called Felt Sensing. Part of a broader therapeutic practice called Focusing, Felt Sensing helps you be with feelings with grounded presence so they don't overwhelm and take you out.
If you want to skip the intro, jump to 2:53 or use the chapter marker if it's supported by your app.
We're kicking off the new year with an exploration of the ways in which we can capture the energy and freshness of a new calendar year to every day moments, creating new beginnings whenever we need them. Topics include:
how temporal landmarks, like a new year, pull us out of the ordinary
how walking meditation teaches us how to start over in the present moment
and we can train up the capacity to let go in order to embrace a fresh moment in mindfulness of breathing meditation
We'll also go through ways to reaffirm your values, not only as a ritual way of starting over, but also because following your values will capacitate you for the challenges head.
In order to be an open-hearted, compassionate person, we first have to notice the things things that need our support. This is where mindfulness — the practice of presence — comes in. It teaches how to engage directly with what's real, rather than what we wish were true.
This month we're back to mindfulness basics with a guided practice that starts with concentration practice (samata) and then follows with insight (vipassana). The practice starts right away (no intro) and includes periods of silence (nothing wrong with your player).
We are pleased to kick off our virtual retreat with this Yoga & RAIN Meditation practice with Sarah Jane.
In this guided practice, Sarah Jane invites you to spend a few moments warming the body and enhancing chi circulation with simple movements undertaken in concert with a slow and steady breath. We then settle in and progress through the steps of RAIN meditation--Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture--with the opportunity to rest in various yin yoga postures through their unfolding.
Poses include: child's pose, shoelace, dragonfly, recalled butterfly, and savasana. You may need a blanket or two and a pillow or cushion for support in the yin postures.
Developed by Vipassana teacher Michele McDonald and championed by psychologist and meditation teacher Tara Brach, RAIN is a mindfulness-based, self-compassion practice that can be used in a moment or over a lengthy meditation sit, and anywhere in between.
Our intention in offering this practice at the outset of the retreat is to fortify you and provide a useful tool you can bring forth when emotional discomfort arises, presenting the opportunity for an accelerated cultivation of loving awareness.
Disclaimer The information and postures shared in this episode are not a substitute for proper medical care. If you are ill or injured, please consult your physician.
Practicing asana comes with inherent risk. It is up to you to assess whether the postures shared in this practice are appropriate for you. Consult your physician before beginning any exercise or movement program.
You assume responsibility for any injuries suffered while practicing these techniques.
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Skillful Means Podcast is offering this virtual retreat to help you recommit to your yoga and mindfulness practice even - especially - during this difficult time.
This is just a quick reminder about the upcoming virtual retreat here on the podcast.
Join us on Nov 20-22 for twice daily practices to help you strengthen your connection both to yourself and to those around you. Episodes will appear here in the podcast feed at midnight and noon EST.
You can also join for optional live Zoom calls and receive email tips. Sign up at: http://bit.ly/tiro2020
We hope this offering is off benefit to you and the wider world.
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You can find Skillful Means Podcast on Facebook and Instagram, or send us your comments at feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com.
You can also get in touch with Jen and Sarah Jane directly.
As a companion to episode 29 on Internal Family Systems (IFS therapy), we invite you to enjoy this guided parts meditation.
Jen will help you locate and get to know one or more parts during this experience. IFS is an embodied practice, so the doorway into your inner environment is through body sensations. After a few minutes of guided relaxation, you'll start to track your somatic experience as a way of foregrounding what needs the most attention right now.
It's helpful to engage in IFS parts work at a quiet time where you are neither rushed nor distracted. Many people find this to be a fruitful addition to their daily practice.
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Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
We welcome your comments. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or send us a note at feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com. You can get in touch with Jen directly at https://sati.yoga where she offers yoga and mindfulness classes, workshops, and trainings. She also offers group and 1:1 IFS coaching sessions.
In this episode, Jen and Sarah Jane finally and excitedly get around to talking about Internal Family Systems.
IFS is having a moment lately, and is being brought into yoga and Buddhist communities by some prominent teachers, including Sarah Jane and Jen’s primary teacher, Sarah Powers.
Since Jen has completed Level II IFS training, Sarah Jane asks her to describe the core proposition of IFS – that our mind is composed of sub personalities that have their own perspectives and motivations – and the benefits of bringing this model into spiritual life.
Ever concerned about the spiritual bypassing, appropriation, and dilution they see in many parts of yogaland, particularly in the U.S., Sarah Jane and Jen speak specifically about what IFS can do for yoga practitioners who seek to heal the wounds that prevent them from fully showing up.
Join us for our first live Virtual Retreat, November 20-22: Tuning In and Reaching Out
We believe in taking the opportunity we have here now, in our ephemeral existence and in uncertain times, to strengthen the web of interconnectedness, in which our freedom is found.
And so, our first virtual retreat will feature talks and practices that encourage inner investigation as well as interconnectedness.
In this meditation drawn from Taosit practices, Sarah Jane guides you through a breath-based visualization for replenishing and balancing inner energy.
We are both individually whole and inextricably interconnected with each other and the natural world. We can view everything--even human beings--as composed of elements and infused with energies that, when in balance, create harmony and health.
By drawing grounding earth chi, or earth energy, from below to fill the dantian or hara, the body’s energetic center in the lower abdomen, we capacitate stability. Similarly, by drawing energizing heaven chi, or sky energy, from above to fill the heart center, we capacitate liveliness.
In this meditation we spend time doing both, using long, slow, smooth breaths as guides. After filling the hara and heart, we start to intermingle these two energies for a sense of balance, harmony, and health.
Well rooted and in touch with our depth, as well as filled with activating energy, we will not need to leave our inner ground in order to navigate the shifting course of life.
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Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
In this episode, Jen and Sarah Jane address the human predicament: We are wired to avoid unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and unpredictability in life, even while these very forces are ever-present realities. This simple paradox is the source of much of the stress in our complicated lives.
Acknowledging the particular challenges of navigating life in the midst of a global pandemic, the US election, and seasonal changes, Jen and Sarah Jane share the methods they use to soothe the nervous system in times of distress. But what about building long-term resilience so that we may engage with life as it is, no matter how it is? Back and forth, they share what they’ve learned for, drop by drop, “filling the pot with good.”
Ultimately, they talk about how understanding and accepting the nature of change can ease passage through life that will naturally be filled with obstacles. Like water running downhill and around obstacles, aligning ourselves with the way things work is foundational to living a life free of, at least, the unnecessary sufferings we place upon ourselves.
Adyashanti’s The End of Your World, for spiritual clarity on the nature of the world.
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright, on how Buddhism addresses the human condition.
Coming in November on the show! We’ll be offering a virtual retreat in November, with live Zoom check-ins to start and end, two practices a day via the podcast feed for three days, and two Q&As tucked in between for support. Make sure you're subscribed to receive it all.
In the meantime, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram, or send us your comments at feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com.
You can also get in touch with Jen and Sarah Jane directly.
In this guided Yin Yoga practice, Jennifer guides you through a short series of postures designed to nourish the spleen and stomach.
According to Taoist Energetic Medicine, the spleen and stomach work together to perform the important function of extracting vital life force energy from the food we eat. When the spleen and stomach experience disharmony, it affects our entire organ system.
These organs are also associated with important emotional and mental faculties including feelings of groundedness, connectedness, understanding, insight, and mental clarity.
During times of transition or great uncertainty, we tend to feel the opposite, including anxiety or a sense of being like a boat adrift on a rough sea. Mentally, we tend to lose focus and our ability to stay on task.
In this practice, we fortify the organs most affected by these emotions. During the poses, Jennifer unpacks a centering technique called The Three Grounds of Support. The meditative aspect of this practice will help you to tap inner resources to help you meet the challenges of these uncertain times.
You’ll find it helpful to have a bolster or firm cushion on hand for one of the postures.
Disclaimer The information and postures shared in this episode are not a substitute for proper medical care. If you are ill or injured, please consult your physician.
Practicing asana comes with inherent risk. It is up to you to assess whether the postures shared in this practice are appropriate for you. Consult your physician before beginning any exercise or movement program.
You assume responsibility for any injuries suffered while practicing these techniques.
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Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
The landscape of yoga studios is not what it once was. With some studios closed permanently and others open only temporarily or in limbo, practitioners who relied on guided classes may be more motivated than ever to develop a self-led practice.
In order to have a regular self-led yoga asana practice, you need one thing: some form of inquiry practice. Whether it’s a regular mindfulness practice, a journaling practice, or another method of self-examination, you need to be able to assess your current state of being so that you can select methods that address your present needs.
After all, what is a yoga practice if not the opportunity to attune and attend?
In this episode, Jen and Sarah Jane introduce the body-heart-mind check-in, a three-part inquiry practice that allows a practitioners to investigate:
How does my physical body feel today?
What is present for me emotionally?
Where is my mind and is my mental body cluttered, free, or something else?
And once we know how we are, we can proceed from there. Jen and Sarah Jane share tips and examples from their own practices and teaching.
Wrapping up our series on the Four Immeasurables, in this guided practice, Sarah Jane Shangraw unpacks the fourth “sublime state,” upeksa (equanimity). Upeksa is a state of non-preferencing that can arise in meditation when we feel into and accept the uncontrollable flow and tonality of experience, and leave it at that.
Not a cool and distant quality, equanimity combines the wisdom of understanding together with compassionate inclusivity. Under its influence, we are balanced and open, able to “be with” rather than give in to the compulsion to “react to.” More broadly, it helps us accept our joys and sorrows equally, and engage skillfully in the wider world, despite its many challenges.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or send us a note at feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com with your comments.
You can also get in touch with Sarah Jane directly and sign up to attend her ongoing twice weekly live meditation drop-in, Mindful Morning Sangha.
In this episode, Jen and Sarah Jane take a look through the Buddhist lens at the mind.
Specifically, they explore using mindfulness, being with discomfort, and taking responsibility as foundations for the necessary and ongoing work of recognizing and undoing our conditioning, including unconscious bias.
Though this conversation is inevitably incomplete, it touches on several concepts that can serve as jumping off points to further our contemplation and engagement in a world where the dominant racial identity group must reckon with and right deeply rooted, systemic wrongs. Conversation includes:
What mindfulness is and isn’t
Internally and externally focused mindfulness
Not scratching the itch (being with discomfort)
We are not our minds after all (thank goodness)
The sausage-making effect of conditioning
How much control do we actually have?
The almost inevitable “affective push” of feelings
In Part 3 of the Awakening the Heart series, we're looking at why acts of kindness and service are powerful resilience-builders — possibly the exact things we need if we're to overcome so much divisiveness in our relationships and discourse.
To understand why a generous spirit is so supportive, we explore the Buddhist and Yoga concepts of dana (generosity) and seva (selfless service) and how they relate to modern psychology's hope theory (hat tip to CR Snyder).
Then Jennifer is joined by friend and colleague Laurent Goldberg to talk about her simple but brilliant Career Support Care Packages, which perfectly illustrate how generosity can restore our sense of agency and hope when everything feels so dispiriting.
Highlights include:
how the Eastern philosophical traditions from India view dana and seva
how willpower and waypower fuel hope
why helping others should be in your resistance/resilience toolkit
how Lauren designed her care packages to support both sender and receiver
thinking about service not as self-sacrifice but as a way to put your skills and talents toward the greater good
In this episode, Jennifer offers guidance for creating space between a difficult stimulus and the response to it. Whether you are confronted by a challenging event or a triggering conversation, the prompts in this meditation can bring forward a more responsive — rather than reactive — inner attitude.
The setting for this guided practice is sphinx pose, chosen for being a relatively gentle, although not entirely neutral, shape. Postures can help us approximate uncomfortable situations so that we can practice how we respond to them.
In this episode, Jen is joined by her friend and colleague Kaya Mindlin to discuss the Bhagavad Gita and how to fully and authentically show up for social justice while staying true to one’s dharma.
In this sweeping conversation that, at times, adopts the atmosphere of a workshop, Jen and Kaya discuss:
how to embrace the discomforts of learning,
the setting and themes of the Bhagavad Gita,
what is yoga,
understanding the mind through the lens of the Gunas,
what the Vedas can tell us about the origins of implicit bias and how we can overcome them,
ancestral work,
and how the Gunas shed light on some of the ways we may be missing the mark when it comes to our activism.
About Guest Host, Kaya Mindlin Kaya Mindlin is a Yoga therapist and educator who has been teaching the “softer side of yoga” for 19 years. Her background includes thousands of hours of in-depth study with masters in the Vedic Tradition - including Therapeutic Yoga, Ayurveda, Vedic Astrology, Sanskrit and Yogic Texts, Vedanta and Tantra. Kaya makes traditional teachings powerfully meaningful for yogis living a modern life. Her warm and intelligent approach inspires dedicated yogis and teachers in every aspect of life. Kaya's students are often longtime seekers who resonate with her storytelling, technical acumen and mothering bhava. She is committed to supporting spiritual growth and resolving misleading messages in the popular Yoga world through her programs. Kaya lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Vedic Astrologer Michael Manzella and their children.
This guided meditation encourages you to take up residence in your body in order to be present for the life that is inside you right now. With kind attention, we feel into the physical body and citta (the heart-mind), which may need some buoying.
Then, drawing on our own creative compassion, we resource ourselves internally so that we can meet the call of the wider world in the in this and future moments.
Finally, we wish safety, happiness, and peace to all beings, near and far, known and unknown. May it be so.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or send us a note at feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com with your comments.
You can also get in touch with Sarah Jane directly.
Today, we pivoted a bit to share resources on the intersection of mindfulness, Buddhism, anti-racism, and collective healing. We focus on the major voices, most of them people of color, shining a light on the social justice issues facing spiritual communities and how to overcome them.
Background on “Beloved Community,” coined by philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce, popularized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and used by spiritual communities when cultivating anti-
Inspired by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Pebble Meditation, Jennifer guides you through the four qualities of freshness, solidity, clarity, and freedom in the container of a calming Yin Yoga practice.
Each point of the meditation is paired with a Yin Yoga pose that evokes these qualities including sphinx, supported caterpillar, reclining butterfly, and pentacle.
Originally developed for children, the Pebble Meditation is, nevertheless, very popular with adults for the peaceful state that it awakens. You may find it helpful to follow this practice any time you are feeling strong, unpleasant emotions such as anger or agitation.
You'll need a yoga bolster or firm pillow for this practice.
Tha brief description offered before the practice starts at 1:30. If your app supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead and get started right away. You can expect moments of silence so that you can practice the inner methods offered.
Disclaimer: Practicing yoga postures comes with inherent risk. It is up to you to assess whether the postures shared in this practice are appropriate for you. Consult your physician before beginning any exercise or movement program.
You assume responsibility for any injuries suffered while practicing these techniques.
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Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
In Episode 17, Sarah Jane and Jen spoke with their teacher Sarah Powers about the wisdom and opportunity for awakening amidst the suffering of the coronavirus pandemic.
During the recording of that episode, Sarah generously led an inquiry meditation for holding and healing wounded and distressed parts of ourselves with maitri, loving friendship to ourselves. We decided to release this meditation separately so that you can return to it again and again as need.
The meditation begins at 00:27 and is approximately 15 minutes long.
Following the meditation is a dialogue where Sarah Jane and Jen share about what arose for them during the practice. Sarah skillfully unpacks their experiences within the wider context of "parts work" according to the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model. This is a teaching unto itself, and it is our greatest hope that it will be of benefit.
The dialog begins at 16:00.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
You can find more audio recording from Sarah Powers on her website.
Our primary teacher Sarah Powers has spent decades studying, living, and teaching from the Wisdom traditions--Buddhism, Yoga, Taoism, and contemporary western psychology. As the new coronavirus pandemic spread, Sarah joined us via Zoom from London to talk about the wisdom and opportunity for awakening amidst this suffering.
From how to be sick, to parenting, to lifestyle medicine, in this episode we hear about aspects of the harmonious approach to living Sarah developed well before our current circumstances. We examine the question, "how do we foreground what is most important and bring meaning to this precious, impermanent life?" In repsonse, Sarah discusses developing an inner life, taking risks, and healing ourselves as well as supporting others.
Sarah illuminates our 21st-century predicament – violence, environmental crisis, the harm caused by industrialized food – and shares her vision of the gifts in this global pause. May we look back on this five years from now and see, as Sarah envisions, that this is “the moment we kicked over into something totally renewed.”
During the recording of this episode, Sarah generously led an inquiry meditation for holding and healing wounded and distressed parts of ourselves with compassion. We decided to release this meditation separately as a bonus along with a very potent dialogue about Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work.
Mudita, or sympathetic joy, is the third in the series of the four most highly regarded qualities, or “sublime states,” in Buddhism: metta (loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy)and upeksa (equanimity).
Mudita is a potent practice that helps us experience joy even when life feels difficult and warm feelings are hard to access.
In this guided meditation, Sarah Jane helps you bring forth feelings of joy so they will be more likely to arise spontaneously in daily life.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
In Chinese Medicine, the immune system is comprised of a protective barrier of energy (Qi), called Wei Qi ( pronounced “way chee”), that circulates through the body while also emanating about an inch around the outside of the body. The Taoists believe that, like a force field, Wei Qi prevents external pathogens, like viruses and bacteria, from making us sick.
In this guided practice, Jennifer shares a gentle Yin Yoga practice that targets the Kidney, Urinary Bladder, Lung, Large Intestine, Spleen, and Stomach meridians to help strengthen Wei Qi.
You’ll need a yoga block or similar substitutes such as a thick book or a firm pillow.
The episode starts with a brief description of Wei Qi. The practice starts at 1:46. If your app supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead and get started right away. You can expect moments of silence so that you can practice the inner methods offered.
Disclaimer: The information and postures shared in this episode are not a substitute for proper medical care. If you are ill or injured, please consult your physician.
Practicing asana comes with inherent risk. It is up to you to assess whether the postures shared in this practice are appropriate for you. Consult your physician before beginning any exercise or movement program.
You assume responsibility for any injuries suffered while practicing these techniques.
~
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
Continuing the conversation on how Yin Yoga affects the physical body, Jen and Sarah Jane talk about the physical benefits of the practice, immediately zeroing in on the elephant in the room: the edge.
What is it? Why is it important? Is it safe to spend time there? How might we describe it to students so they can safely encounter it, so they can find their sweet spot?
In the course of this discussion Jen coins a phrase: ujayii bypassing. If you don’t immediately have an idea what that might be, you might be doing it, and missing out on an important aspect of yin yoga asana practice: feeling.
No discussion of yin yoga would be complete without delving into sensation and the practitioner's attitude or relationship to it. And what about pain? Is it possible for a practice to help us redefine or diminish it?
Jen thinks Gate Control Theory may be at play in the way in which yin yoga asana minimizes her back pain. Sarah Jane muses whether yin yoga could have made her stronger. (More likely it improved her proprioception.)
Finally, Jen and Sarah Jane wend their way toward the healing effects of embodiment practices on trauma and body image, and how well suited yin yoga poses are to this work.
Tonglen - the practice of sending and receiving - helps us to be with hardship without falling into despair. An explanation of the practice appears in the Lojong teachings and is associated with those who follow the path of the Bodhisattvas.
In addition to cultivating an open, spacious heart, Tonglen can help us to cultivate the paramitas - the perfections - especially generosity, loving-kindness, determination, and diligence.
The practice starts at 3:14 after a brief introduction. If your player supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead.
Karuna, or compassion, is the second in the series of the four most highly regarded qualities, or “sublime states,” in Buddhism: metta (loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy)and upeksa (equanimity).
Compassion arises when loving-kindness meets suffering and stays loving. It's more of a process than a static quality. In practice, we call upon this natural capacity of the heart and purposefully sustain it through the repetition of phrases.
In this guided meditation, Sarah Jane encourages you to draw on the natural care that arises when considering a beloved person’s measure of suffering. You'll take that energy and direct it to you both before expanding in all directions to include all beings.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
In this episode of our continuing series on Yin Yoga, Jen and Sarah Jane talk about the physical benefits of the practice. Many of us practice Yin Yoga, at least in part, to give ourselves the chance to experience “just being,” an antidote to the stresses produced by our busy lives. But even as we enjoy the emotional and mental effects of slowing down in Yin poses, all sorts of wonderful things are happening on the physical level.
As we unpack the benefits of Yin Yoga, including better mobility, Jen addresses common misunderstandings about the impacts of the practice on various tissues in the body. The result is a mini-primer on contemporary and emerging understanding of topics such as “stretching”--what is it?--to the longevity of the effects of practice, topics every yin yoga teacher should be at least somewhat familiar with.
And we didn’t even get to embodiment and body image, topics in the realm of the physical that are inextricably linked to Yin for so many practitioners! Stay tuned for those discussions in part 2, episode 14, next month. (Interceding odd-numbered episodes are guided practices.)
Many yoga and mindfulness practices are specifically designed to grow one's capacity to remain present - internally and externally - from moment to moment.
In this guided practice, Jennifer shares a simple practice for getting to know the current state of your body, heart, and mind so that you have the information you need to take care of yourself in a practice or in daily life. This meditation is particularly beneficial at the very beginning of a yoga practice, so that you have a better snapshot of what you need and how your body may react to the practice.
The meditation is presented in the container of Butterfly, a relatively easy and widely accessible Yin Yoga posture. It is based on techniques shared with Jennifer and Sarah Jane by their teacher Sarah Powers. Being in non-neutral shapes can accelerate our ability to move out of the busyness of the thinking mind and into the more intuitive body mind.
This episode begins with a short explanation. Instructions for Butterfly begin at 1:30. The meditation starts at 2:45. If your app supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead and get started right away.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
Yin yoga, the slow and quiet approach to asana, flows against the current of mainstream yoga practices these days. With this episode, we urge you to try it based on the ways in which it bolstered us during challenging times.
Not to dismiss the physical and energetic benefits of the practice, here we’re talking about an often unspoken aspect of Yin Yoga, that the poses serve as accessible containers for mindfulness meditation and similar practices.
In this episode, we get personal and share our early experiences with the practice and the ways in which it accelerated our relationship to the inner methods and transformed our lives.
In a yang society that encourages us to strive to the detriment of our health, Yin practice is a key tool for balance and awakening.
We would love to hear from you! Send us your stories about how Yin Yoga has impacted your life. You can email us feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com or tag us on social (@skillfulmeanspodcast) on Facebook and Instagram.
Metta, or loving-kindness, is the first of a series of meditation practices offered by the Buddha to cultivate the four qualities of love: metta (loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy)and upeksa (equanimity). Practicing loving-kindness (metta bhavana) begins a process that, when mature, leads to a more accepting, kindly, and caring relationship towards one’s self and others.
In this guided meditation, Sarah Jane takes you on a sweet and tender journey to self compassion.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
Maintaining practice is a must for yoga and meditation teachers, as well as serious practitioners of all sorts who are interested in spiritual growth. Establishing and maintaining the habit of practicing regularly is often hard won. It doesn’t take much to disrupt a daily routine, so what happens when holidays arrive? What happens when we travel for work or go on vacation? How does our practice life fare when we are among family we rarely see, or who don’t understand—or worse, don’t value—our path?
Knowing that consistency is key, we need to be clear about the circumstances that crowd out opportunities to practice or that tend to challenge our dedication, as well as the strategies that help us honor our commitment as practitioners.
In this episode we share our stories and approaches from standing meditation in the shower to practicing in airport corners and keeping the peace with family. We also consider issues around practicing in public (beaches and airports) and identifying and attending studio yoga classes in faraway cities.
Share your tips for maintaining your practice outside your normal rourtine on Facebook and Instagram, or send us a note at feedback@skillfulmeanspodcast.com. Tag us at @skillfulmeanspodast and we’ll share your tips with our listeners.
Mentions:
Thanissaro Bikkho discusses how to work with challenging family members in his talk “Skillful Shelter” published on Tricycle.com.
This relaxing Body Scan practice is inspired by a Buddhist teaching called Mindfulness of the Reality of the Body that appears in the First Foundation of Mindfulness. It's designed to help cultivate non-attachment to the body and to demonstrate one of the Buddha's most fundamental teachings: impermanence.
Jennifer begins this episode with a short talk on the context and intention behind the Body Scan practice. The meditation begins at 2:40.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
In this bonus episode and companion to Episode 6, Sarah Jane takes you through a guided RAIN practice. Experience for yourself this transformative method for reframing your relationships with your feelings while cultivating self-compassion.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
RAIN (Recognize, Accept, Investigate, Nurture) is a mindfulness meditation method developed by western Insight Meditation teachers to support practitioners in skillfully dealing with difficult emotions. RAIN can be used as an antidote to obstacles when they arise during meditation practice, as a practice in and of itself, in partnership, or off-the-cushion as a means to simply and mindfully pause during a challenging situation.
Sarah Jane is a regular practitioner of RAIN, and Jen has questions. In this episode, Jen shares what she has heard about RAIN meditation and asks Sarah Jane to help fill in the gaps. Together they cover its purpose, method, and benefits...and how it fits with each of their developing understandings of the Buddhadharma.
In an effort to make what she believes is an incredibly transformative meditation practice seem as accessible to others as it feels to her, Sarah Jane attempts to breathe life into what may at first sound systematic. Get a sense of the creativity involved in using RAIN to go from a contracted state of over-identification, confusion or denial into a state of loving awareness.
Sources and Resources:
Insight meditation teacher Michele McDonald coined the term RAIN and offers an online course through Tricycle.com.
In this practice episode, Sarah Jane guides you through the practice of walking meditation. You can expect instructions, reminders, and several periods of silence for you to focus on the experience.
A formal meditation practice doesn't have to be static. Walking meditation is particularly helpful when you're feeling restless, but it also takes your practice off the cushion and into daily life. And the Buddha himself was fond of this practice.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
Continuing our series on Awakening the Heart, this month we're exploring the Buddhist path of the bodhisattva through the cultivation of bodhicitta - the awakened heart-mind that forms the foundation of compassionate living.
Drawing from Mahayana Buddhist teachings, we also take a look at Lojong (mind training), the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative practice that can be used as a powerful framework for developing genuine compassion.
Highlights include:
Cultivating the open-hearted attitude of enlightened ones (Bodhisattvas)
Two types of Bodhicitta
Paramitas (Perfections)
Short history and details of Lojong
Unpacking of the First Lojong statement: Train the Preliminaries
In #4, we discuss what it means to advance in a yoga practice. Through the lens of the koshas--concentric layers of a human’s identity described in the Upanishads--you can view advancement as moving from the gross to the subtle, from the physical to the mental.
We unpack the koshas and their related practice methods from the outside in, from asana for anamaya kosha (the physical or “food” body), to pranayama for the pranic body, and so forth.
From her perspective as a private teacher, Sarah Jane shares the qualities that arise as harbingers of an advancing practice, and reveals her guiding principles for establishing a self-led practice. Throughout the show, Jen offers some nuggets for yoga teachers on how to bring a wider variety of teachings into the yoga room. This discussion would not be complete without noting how crucial it is to resist external pressures to focus too closely on asana.
As yoga teachers, we are concerned with the integrity and depth of the methods available to us and our students. And as Buddhist practitioners we cannot help but bring up wise effort and muse how anandamaya kosha, the innermost sheath seems akin to buddhanature. We finish with resources for people who want to move beyond asana and pranayama.
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Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, speaks about disembodiment, yoga, resilience, and more in On Being “How Trauma Lodges in the Body.”
“Meditation in Motion,” a quick description of Kripalu’s integrated approach to practice.
Breath awareness is the heart of a mindfulness practice, a gift that brings the mind and body together in the present moment. This simple, yet profound, meditation will help you relax while also boosting concentration and focus.
You can practice with this meditation by itself. The short format also makes it ideal for meditating before a yoga practice to help you settle the mind and cultivate a state of inner listening.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
In Episode 2, we unpack “skillful means”: teachings and methods that support a practitioner’s journey on the path toward enlightenment. Serious yoga practitioners and teachers know this both includes and goes beyond asana and pranayama. So, what other means can we take up to wake up?
According to the Buddha, there is no one prescription. In Buddhism, skillful means (Pali: upaya) are whatever is expedient to continuing along the path, and appropriate to the circumstances (and discarded when no longer so). They are accelerative and adaptive, but may not lead to the ultimate truth...and that is okay. Examples from our practices include enhancement methods such as yin yoga, compassion meditation, and self-inquiry.
While the concept of upaya is used in some Buddhist contexts to classify teachings in a hierarchy, we use the concept to discern what is and what is not skillful when it comes to trends in contemporary western yoga (enter: goat and beer yoga).
The Parable of the Burning House from the Lotus Sutra, translated by Gene Reeves and published online by the Montreal Institute of Applied Mindfulness
The Tricycle.com article “When to Let Go of the Dharma, Too,” includes the Raft Parable, and teacher Stephen Batchelor discusses letting go of means to a particular end, and the empowering approach of secular dharma
In contrast to Batchelor’s secular lens, in the Tricylce.com article “Entering the Lotus,” Zen priest Michael Wenger shares the role the vast and iconic Lotus Sutra plays in Buddhist practice
In Episode 1, we start at the beginning, with the phenomenon that gave rise to the shared project that is Skillful Means Podcast: spiritual friendship.
In Buddhism, spiritual friends (Pali: Kalyāṇa-mitta, Sanskrit: -mitra) provide support and encouragement along the path. They may be monastic, lay peers, or teacher/student pairs. These relationships are fertile ground for better understanding the nature of the mind while also being protective in a world where contemplative practice is counter-cultural.
We use stories from the Buddhist Canon as well examples from our own lives to illustrate the purpose of spiritual friendship (supportive of practice), how it operates (encouraging the wholesome), and what a spiritual friendship is not (concerned with fixing). We also talk about whether and how it shows up in parts of the yoga world.
Our hope is to inspire you to identify and foreground spiritual friends or potential spiritual friends in your life. We end with resources that will help in this endeavor.
“Spiritual Friendship,” excerpted from a lecture by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi and published by Bodhi Monastery.
A big part of creating the conditions necessary for true happiness, according to Thanissaro Bikkho in his talk “Skillful Shelter” published on Tricycle.com, is choosing admirable friends.
In “The Whole of the Spiritual Life,” American Buddhist nuns Thubten Chodron and Ayya Tathaaloka discuss friendship in an interview with Sarah Conover on Tricycle.com.
“Making Friends on the Buddhist Path,” by Norman Fischer on Lionsroar.com opens with Ananda’s incomplete insight into the role of friendship in spiritual life and the Buddha’s teaching to Meghiya on the “five things [that] induce release of heart and lasting peace.”
In Beginning Anew: Four Steps for Restoring Communication, Sister Chan Khong, long-time friend of Thich Nhat Hanh and nun in the Plum Village monastic community, describes the conflict resolution process developed among the Plum Village monastics.
Resources for developing spiritual friendship and sangha:
Spirit Rock’s Kalyana Mitta (Spiritual Friends) network “Guidelines” and “
In this variation of loving-kindness, or metta, meditation, tap into the energetic resonance of the heart to awaken loving feelings within before sending them outward.
Inspired by Taoist visualizations, Mahayana buddhist practice, and Hearth Math's quick coherence technique, generate love and good will toward yourself and others. Many studies have shown that practices like this not only feel good, but also reduce stress, increase a sense of calm, and help us avoid despair by reminding us of our shared humanity.
The practice starts at 3:52 after a brief introduction. If your player supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead.
While the world may feel increasingly more fraught, we can't sustain ourselves on anger and fear alone. We must remember what we're fighting for and, as Tennessee Williams asks of us, save the love.
This latest episode kicks off a series of episodes on Awakening the Heart - theories, teachings, and practices that will better sustain us in the months and years to come.
This month, we take a look at why shouldn't feel guilty for taking time out of resisting to foreground what brings us joy and happiness. In fact, making sure we build in positive moments in our lives is going to set up our brains to be more creative and energetic warriors.
Some highlights include:
- Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's theories on "micro-moments of connection" and Broaden & Build
- The Mahayana Buddhist concept of bodhicitta (open-heartedness)
- Dr. Rick Hanson's "Taking in the Good" practice.
This month's practice features an embodied mediation to help you stay present with life's challenges without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.
Inspired by Roshi Joan Halifax's teachings, you'll cultivate a foundation of stability to underpin your capacity for openness and compassion.
This meditation includes several periods of silence of around 3-6 minutes. The guidance assumes you're sitting (chair or cushion are fine) so that you can experience the support of the spine.
The practice starts at 2:43 after a brief talk. If your player supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead.
This month, we're looking at a question that comes up a lot:
All parts are supposed to be welcome, but how do we work with feelings we don't like?
Drawing on Buddhist wisdom and the function of emotions, we're exploring:
Why equanimity is about including our feelings, not surprising them.
What the Buddhist teachings on dukkha (suffering) can tell us about why fighting against our emotions creates more suffering.
How so-called negative emotions serve as important internal motivators.
+ Simple techniques to start reframing your relationship with difficult feelings in order to create a welcoming inner atmosphere for all your parts.
Mentioned In The Episode: Join me for one of my upcoming Pause and Reset gatherings—hour-long meditative sessions combining desk-friendly yoga, mindfulness practice and parts work meditations. The next one is on June 4th and is pay what you can.
The Taoists believe that we can harness the stabilizing qualities of Earth Qi along with the generative qualities of Heaven/Sky Qi to improve physical health, increase longevity, and cultivate inner harmony.
In this guided practice, Jennifer O'Sullivan shares a visualization technique, paired with mindful breathing, to mobilize and balance these vital energies in the body.
👉 After a brief introduction, the meditation begins as 1:48. If your podcast player supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
There are definitely times when we need to get a hold of ourselves. But how do we do that without dismissing our feelings?
This brief Parts Work practice is for moments when you feel too activated or busy for deeper introspection but also need to find our center. It will help you create space – access Self Energy – around difficult emotions while honoring their presence.
Practice this technique regularly when you're calm so you are more likely to reach for it when you need it. It'll help you build up your capacity for self-connection and self-compassion so it becomes a resource even in really trying moments.
👉 After a brief introduction, the meditation begins as 1:48. If your podcast player supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.
Working through dilemmas and challenges usually involves trade-offs, compromises, or imperfect third options. After all, if there was a lot of internal consensus, it wouldn't be a dilemma.
Sometimes, parts may feel bruised and disappointed, making you feel unsure about whether you made the right choice.
In this parts work practice, Jen helps you connect with your inner skeptics and naysayers where you can soothe their nerves and solicit their advice on how to move forward more confidently. Skeptics can be a well of insight for how to navigate tricky situations - in other words that can be great allies if you take the time to get to know them.
If you want to skip the intro, jump to 2:02 or use the chapter marker if it's supported by your app.
Grounding practices are more than just coping mechanisms during tumultuous times. They're empowering strategies to discharge excess emotional energy while tap rooting your inner strength and resilience. In this episode, we're exploring:
An empowered way to think of grounding as a practice
6 principles of effective grounding techniques
Proactively collecting your tools so you can reach for them when you need them
Jennifer also pulls from yoga and Buddhist dharma teachings to answer a listener question about engaging others in our values-based causes without creating harm.
Instead of speculating endlessly about why you might be avoiding something, ask the part that's hesitating!
Based on Internal Family Systems (IFS), this guided parts work practice will help you identify and get to know the part (or parts) that are resisting taking action.
If you're new to IFS Parts Work, check out Episode 29 for a primer and 30 for a basic guided practice. You might also appreciate Episode 100 for a deeper dive into what lies underneath resistance.
👉 The practice follows a brief introduction at 3:18. If your podcast player supports chapter markers, you can skip ahead.
Skillful Means Podcast offers these guided practices to help you deepen into your yoga and mindfulness journey.