Wendy Haylett, author, podcast host, Buddhist Sensei, Lay Minister, and spiritual coach. Wendy has 40+ years as a Buddhist practitioner and 35+ years of coaching experience.
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Everyday Buddhism 120 - I Lost My Why: A Podcast Journey
Episode 120
Friday, November 7, 2025 • Duration 13:04
Another solo podcast! This time it's about my Everyday Buddhism podcast journey and how I lost my "why."
If you want to hear more about how important understanding what your why is, I talked about that in my second podcast episode, "Everyday Buddhism 2 - What is Your WHY?"
The podcast has been such a meaningful space for me: A way to explore, connect, and grow with all my listeners. But more recently, I've noticed that the creative spark that once fueled these episodes has started to dim. I feel myself evolving and being drawn toward a wider, more spacious range of ideas and conversations than the current podcast focus or title really allows.
Listen to hear more about my next steps in how I will explore ideas that expand my philosophical range. I plan to explore perennial philosophy, consciousness studies, mysticism, and contemplative traditions more broadly, Buddhism will still be part of the conversation, but not the only lens.
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack: https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhismCheck out my Substack for ongoing chapter releases of my new serial book, Living Life As It Is and the podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here:https://donorbox.org/podcast-donationsSupport the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book,Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change:Buy the book, Everyday BuddhismSupport the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
It's been a long time since I've done a solo episode of this podcast and I've been getting requests for a bit more of those to include along with the guest episodes. And this episode is one of those.
In this episode I reflect on the Fifth Realization from the sutra,The Eight Realizations of Great Beings. The Fifth Realization, as translated by Thich Nhat Hanh says:
Ignorance is the cause of the endless rounds of birth and death. Bodhisattvas always listen to and learn from others so their understanding and skillful means can develop and so they can teach living beings and bring them great joy.
My reflection includes a call for us not to try to "know" things but to listen. Plus, to try to help and serve others—and, ultimately, bring joy—by listening.
If we don't feel or witness a lot of joy under the weight of the times, it's because there are so many of us talking and "knowing" what's right ... and not many of us listening.
I end with a call to for us to help or offer positivity to at least one person every day ... to bring joy!
Link (Amazon affiliate) to the book, The Eight Realizations of Great Beings by Brother Phap Hai:
NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
Everyday Buddhism 118 - The End of Suffering with Ani Lodro Palmo
Episode 118
Monday, August 25, 2025 • Duration 01:51:29
It's a pleasure to share a conversation with Ani Lodro Palmo, an ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun and Director of the Vajra Vidya Monastery in Crestone, Colorado; and a spiritual teacher and author with more than three decades of monastic experience.
Ani has devoted her life to spiritual practice and shares her understanding of the Dharma as an author of the books, All That Appears & Exists: The Buddha's Teachings to Awaken the Heart and Turn Suffering Into Joy and her most recent, The End of Suffering: Finding Love, Self-Compassion, and Awakening in a Chaotic World.
As a recognized teacher of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation, Ani Lodro's insights are deeply rooted in the unbroken lineage of Buddhist wisdom, through the Karma Kagyu lineage of The Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.
Although Ani has decades of monastic experience within Tibetan Buddhism, she teaches how the frustrations and dissatisfaction of our everyday lives can be understood and transcended through wisdom and compassion. She writes and speaks in an accessible way, with the gentle encouragement of a friend that is helpful to both new seekers and seasoned practitioners alike.
Her teachings are available through retreats, online sessions, and publications.
In the conversation we talked about a wide range things, including:
How we tend to misunderstanding what suffering is.
Gurus and reincarnation as a part of Tibetan Buddhism, but not a necessary part.
The Four Noble Truths as a path to awakening.
Taking the mystique from karma, as Ani writes: "transforming [it] from an enigmatic doctrine into a practical guide for conscious existence…. rooted in intention and behavior."
Her teaching of the "7 Simple Truths to End Suffering": (1) Thoughts are nothing, they are no things; (2) Labels and thoughts create our reality; (3) When we look for our thoughts, they aren't there; (4) Your beliefs are not truth; (5) Dropping attachments is the fastest way to end suffering; (6)You can't focus on helping others and be miserable at the same time; (7) You don't need your mind (as much as you think).
NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
Everyday Buddhism 117 - The Way with Henry Shukman
Episode 117
Tuesday, July 22, 2025 • Duration 01:10:40
I am excited to share this conversation with Henry Shukman, a Zen master in the Sanbo Zen lineage and spiritual director emeritus at Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Henry is the co-founder of The Way meditation app and founder of the Original Love meditation program.
He is the author of the books, Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening and One Blade of Grass: A Zen Memoir, among other award-winning and bestselling books of poetry and fiction.
He has taught meditation at Google and Harvard Business School and taught poetry at the Institute of American Indian Arts. His poetry has appeared in the New Yorker and the Guardian and his essays in the New York Times, Outside, and Tricycle. Henry has a master's degree from Cambridge and a master of letters degree from St. Andrews.
As this biographical summary makes obvious, it's not like Henry hasn't been quite "discoverable", as a writer and meditation teacher but I only recently "discovered" him. And once I did, he has had a profound influence on me, as both a teacher and writer. In my conversation with him, I'll talk more about how I discovered him on Sam Harris' Waking Up app and how he became a primary teacher to me—even though we've never met—so stay tuned.
In the conversation we talked about a wide range things, including:
The "Four Inns on the Path of Awakening", the subtitle of his book Original Love (that is "Inns", as in lodging, or in this case, a refuge or shelter on the path of meditation): Mindfulness, support, absorption, and awakening.
Meditation as a journey, or path, rather than an intervention—as Henry said, "a journey of a lifetime."
Kensho or seeing the timeless, primordial or non-dual awareness that is the core of our very being.
The importance of support in your practice, whether it is a teacher, community, or friend.
, including books mentioned on podcast: and ir NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
Everyday Buddhism 116 - Revisiting Koans: Releasing the Grip on "Reality"
Episode 116
Thursday, June 12, 2025 • Duration 01:08:31
As some of you have noticed and commented on, I haven't been as active in releasing podcast episodes. A few listeners were worried about me and, for your concern, I am grateful. I plan to get back to more timely podcast releases, with quite a few on my schedule, but in the meantime, I will re-run some podcast episodes so my podcast listeners will know I haven't disappeared … and to that end I will be releasing 2 early episodes: Episode 11 and Episode 12 on koans.
I decided to re-release these two episodes on koans as a double episode for Episode 116, because I've been practicing with koans for a few weeks now, through the guidance of Henry Shukman and his meditation app, "The Way." As an additional note, Henry will be joining me on the podcast in July. I am quite excited to have him as a guest.
Something I wanted to share with you about my recent practice with koans. To frame it, it's as if my life after falling on the ice in December and spending a couple of days in the hospital, shook the puzzle pieces I frame my reality in and left all the pieces in a heap at the bottom of the puzzle box. I started my second book, Living Life As It Is, and it seemed as if a frame on life was coming into view.
But then, other odd health challenges appeared and altered my ability to do some things and caused enforced rest. The last of those was the flu/virus thing that was like a whack on the back of my head, saying, "Slow down. Stop. Rest."
This time corresponded with my koan practice and the latest fascist escapades of our new "regime." The more I sunk into koan practice, the more all of life seemed a bit hazy—without definition and without anything to grasp on to as something I didn't or did like. Things just were. Everything without definition.
Some of the koans I've been working with are "Not knowing is most intimate", "A bowl of rice, a bucket of water", "How do you go straight on a road with 99 turns?" Sitting with those helped create a sense of security and OK-ness in my new hazy world. A not knowing that feels like knowing everything in a non-conceptual way. A bowl of rice. What else? That's enough. And 99 turns … like my teacher, Rev. Gyomay Kubose taught, "Every day, one thing after another."
NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
Everyday Buddhism 115 - Unlocking the Heart with James Crews
Episode 115
Sunday, April 27, 2025 • Duration 01:18:05
I am delighted to have another conversation with James Crews,a return guest who is joining me for a conversation about his book, Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage, and Self-Compassion.
James is the author of the essay collection, Kindness Will Save the World, and editor of several bestselling poetry anthologies, including The Wonder of Small Things (winner of the New England Book Award), Healing the Divide, The Path to Kindness (winner of the Nautilus Books for a Better Life Award), and How to Love the World, which has over 140,000 copies in print.
He has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, and in People Magazine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and The Washington Post. He is the author of five prize-winning books of poetry, including Unlocking the Heart, and his poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The New Republic, and other journals.
James lives with his husband in the woods of Southern Vermont.
At the end of September, James surprised me with the gift of his book, Unlocking the Heart and what a gift it was! I'll talk more about it in our conversation, but the book really did help unlock my heart. During February and a time of reflection on my transformative experience after falling and time in the hospital in December, I worked with the book, reflecting on the poems and James' thoughts about them, and using the writing prompts to journal.
Being opened to vulnerability and held by the poems in the book was a special gift.
As you will no doubt hear, James is a gentle soul whose conversation about poetry, spirituality, and life is healing. Both the words he uses and the tender way he speaks them is a balm for our painful and anxious times.
Among other things, we talked about:
How we are all poets …
. : NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
Everyday Buddhism 114 - Release of My 2nd Book - Living Life As It Is
Episode 114
Thursday, February 13, 2025 • Duration 26:52
This is a special episode announcing the release of my new book, as a Substack serial book:
Living Life As It Is: An Honest Narrative of My Challenges Practicing Right View
I started writing my second book in 2020. But along came the Covid-19 pandemic and so much after that. So here I am still writing what was to be my second book, focused on Right View. The stumbling block in getting it done was things in life kept changing faster and faster, and I had no idea whether I had any sense of Right View anymore or if I was helplessly lost in delusion. But I recently had an idea that would help me focus and share my writing in the midst of life and all its confusion and delusion—in the middle of life as it is.
The idea is this: Why not write this long-hoped-for second book in real time? Why not write for my Substack audience, releasing essays/chapters as I go so that you, kind subscribers, can read as I write—and comment too.
And that is what I've done. I published the first chapter on February 7, 2025 and plan to release a new essay/chapter every Friday. I thought I'd share that first chapter as a podcast episode and here it is ...
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack: https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhismCheck out my Substack and subscribe to receive a weekly release of a new chapter of my second book, Living Life As It Is, and the weekly podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
Everyday Buddhism 113 - "Open" with Nate Klemp
Episode 113
Wednesday, January 15, 2025 • Duration 01:25:25
In this episode I talk with Nate Klemp, PhD. Nate is a bestselling author and formally trained philosopher. He is the author of the new book OPEN: Living With an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World. Nate is also the coauthor of the New York Times Editors' Choice, The 80/80 Marriage: A New Model for a Happier, Stronger Marriage, and the New York Times Bestseller, Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing.
He has been featured in The LA Times, The New York Times,The Times London, and has appeared on Good Morning America and "Talks" at Google.
Nate co-founded the mindfulness training company Life Cross Training and holds a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from Stanford University and a PhD from Princeton University.
I cannot think of a better guest to have on the podcast during these uncertain, catastrophic times. His new book, OPEN: Living With an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World is an important antidote to the ongoing trauma and division of the times. He offers the remedy of opening our minds and hearts despite our instinct to close them.
Stay tuned as we talk about:
How we're living in a time of closure: closing in through our screens and closing to each other.
"Annihilating the power of the smart phone."
The practice of skillful closing when things get too intense.
How our mindset is contagious and how it reinforces our environment of closure.
How we talk to each other about politics in either "strategic mode" where we're trying to 'win' or "communication" mode where we're trying to understand.
Non-drug psychedelic experience and psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Mindfulness, meditation, and the practice of open-awareness (like Dzogchen) meditation.
And more!
I'm sure you'll enjoy the conversation with Nate as much as I did. He is wise, funny, and a delightful conversation partner!
: : NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year:
Everyday Buddhism 112 - Buddhist Response to Election Angst with Scott Snibbe
Episode 112
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 • Duration 01:23:07
In this episode I invited Scott Snibbe to join me for a conversation about Buddhist responses to the anxiety, apprehension, insecurity, fear, dread, anger … and on and on … that some people are feeling now.
Scott Snibbe is a twenty-five-year student of Tibetan Buddhism whose teachers include Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
He is the author and host of the How to Train a Happy Mind book and podcast. Scott leads meditation classes and retreats worldwide in a style that will become evident in our upcoming conversation. His light-hearted approach is infused with humor, science, and the realities of the modern world.
Scott is a new media artist whose installations have been incorporated into museums, public spaces, and performances. He has collaborated with musicians and filmmakers including Björk, Philip Glass, Beck, and James Cameron, and his work can be found in the collections of New York MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other institutions.
Listen in as we talk about how the Dharma can help us see things as clear and non-reactive as possible. In this conversation, we talk about:
The key to non-violent communications is listening.
You don't have to agree with someone to understand them.
The antidote to anger is curiosity.
No matter what other people believe, each is driven by a desire for happiness.
Radical acceptance and how acceptance IS transcendence.
Everyday Buddhism 111 - Buddhist Psychology with Natalie Baker
Episode 111
Tuesday, September 24, 2024 • Duration 01:19:57
In this episode I talk with Natalie Baker. Natalie is a psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher, with more than 30 years of personal practice and 2+ decades of teaching experience. She is the founder of Neurofeedback Training Co. and a practicing psychotherapist in New York City, Natalie blends the wisdom of Buddhist psychology with modern therapeutic techniques, empowering individuals to navigate life's challenges with mindfulness, compassion, and resilience.
Natalie teaches from the strength of her own Buddhist practice, sharing the transformative power of mindfulness and meditation with others.
In addition to her psychotherapy practice, Natalie has been instrumental in bringing neurofeedback—a cutting-edge brain training technology—into the mainstream. Neurofeedback is often described as "meditation for the limbic brain", helping individuals achieve greater mental clarity and emotional stability by training the brain to self-regulate.
Stay tuned as we talk about some of my favorite subjects, including:
Mindfulness and meditation
Buddha Nature as basic goodness or fundamental sanity
Finding the brilliance in the energy of fear
Fearlessness and gentleness as key tools for self-healing and self-discovery
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:
And the "love" Henry refers to as something "endemic to our existence" … A great sense of belonging or union with everything.
… And much more
I know you will enjoy this conversation and Henry's clear, authentic, and gentle teaching style that I suspect will influence you, too, to bring more of Henry's guidance into your Dharma and meditation practice.
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:
So enjoy the re-release of the two koan episodes and in the meantime, I encourage you all to see how you can not grasp and unhook from things you think you need to hold tightly to. Think about the ways you can care for yourselves. It can be easy to get lost in the demands of daily life and the overwhelming noise of the dysfunctional and crazy-scary reality we are now living in.
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:
Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:
