Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

Gil Fronsdal explores practicing in accord with nature, showing how mindfulness and honesty help us release resistance and move with the natural flow of the Dharma.

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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal lectures on:

• Being in accord with the dharma, with truth, and with nature
• The painful attitudes that we often bring to change
• Accepting our feelings rather than pushing them away
• How resistance to reality causes more suffering 
• Mindfulness: creating the ideal conditions for the natural process of healing
• Floating down the stream of Dharma rather than struggling up a mountain
• Studying nature rather than rushing into conclusions
• Becoming an observer of our own lives with child-like openness and adult-like resolve

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

"We're in this stream of the dharma, this stream of practice. It is not fighting up a mountain and struggling so much. It is finding a place to rest in the stream and we find ourselves being carried along beautifully into the ocean. The ocean is so big it can hold all of us. Isn't that nice? It's not like you're going to be king of the mountain. We're all going to be brothers and sisters in this great ocean of the dharma." –Gil Fronsdal

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We are starting a special mini-series featuring Ram Dass and guests from his Satsang on Maui.

This episode kicks things off with Kirtan by Uma Reed, as Ram Dass humorously explores the wonder of aging and seeing the entire world as God.

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“Aging is wonderful, all you have to do is stay conscious.” –Ram Dass

In this Satsang with Ram Dass, the group talks about:

• Dealing with pain, injury, illness, and other effects of aging
• Seeing the body as simply a vehicle for this plane of reality
• Ram Dass’s book Still Here and aging with awareness
• Focusing on our consciousness rather than concerning ourselves with the body’s decline
• Ram Dass’s story of seeing Krishna in a police officer
• Playing our roles while we are in this worldly plane 
• Karma Yoga and seeing the entire world as God

This talk was recorded in 2008 at one of Ram Dass' quarterly Sunday Satsang gatherings in Studio Maui. 

“I’m learning the aging process has to do with the body and my consciousness need not be concerned with my body. The body is a car, it’s a transport for this plane.” –Ram Dass

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In this intimate dharma talk, Mirabai Starr and Rameshwar Das explore the healing power of spiritual community and soul-level friendships. 

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Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual community and learn about other opportunities for connection HERE.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Mirabai Starr and Rameshwar Das explore:

• The concept of beloved community and why it matters so much in today’s world
• Satsang, soul pods, and other forms of spiritual support
• Ram Dass’s book of self-discovery, You are the Universe
• The universal soul consciousness which links all people together
• Accessing the depth of our being that Ram Dass called “the loving witness”
• Releasing the lone wolf mentality and cultivating conscious community
• The Three Jewels of Buddhism and becoming a refuge for each other 
• Healing through shared grief, trauma, and deep spiritual friendship
• Navigating introversion and finding community in unexpected places 

This talk was recorded at the 2024 annual Ram Dass Legacy retreat in Maui, Hawaii. Join us for another retreat this summer in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains! Click HERE to register and get more information. 

"We invite you to connect with your heart, yes, but that part of your heart that is burning with yearning for union. Union with God, union with the beloved, and especially, yearning for the divine within each other."  –Mirabai Starr

About Mirabai Starr:

Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author of creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialogue. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. Check out her many books and learn more at MirabaiStarr.com.

About Rameshwar Das Lytton:

Rameshwar Das is an author and longtime collaborator with Ram Dass, known for capturing and conveying the essence of spiritual teachings through storytelling and photography. Rameshwar Das met Ram Dass in 1968 soon after his return from India, and learned yoga and meditation from him. He traveled to India and spent time with Neem Karoli Baba from 1970-1972. His working life has been primarily as a photographer, including freelance work for the New York Times and other publications. He taught photography and photo-journalism, and also worked as an environmentalist and writer. Ramesh collaborated on several projects with Ram Dass including the original collection of manuscripts that became Be Here Now and the Love Serve Remember box set of recordings. He is the co-author of Ram Dass’s newer books, Be Love Now and Polishing the Mirror, and most recently Ram Dass's memoir, Being Ram Dass.

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From interfaith practice to ancestral wisdom, Kaira Jewel Lingo and Vincent Moore explore how engaged spirituality across traditions supports collective awakening.

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This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Kaira and Vincent discuss:

• The Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality: developing a monastic space for Buddhist/Christian/non-denominational practice in upstate New York
• Receiving Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh
• Contending with hostility, wars, and climate crises 
• Ancestral wisdom and honoring those who came before us
• Skillful means and working with people in denial around the current troubles of our time
• Enjoying practice, allowing individuality, and letting go of rigidity 
• Remembering that everyone has the capacity for awakening

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.

About Kaira Jewel Lingo:

Kaira is a mindfulness meditation teacher, author, and mentor who guides people to transform and heal through embodied presence, stillness, and play. She is a Buddhist teacher who has spent decades weaving mindfulness and meditation with social justice. Check out her book, We Were Made for These Times, to learn about navigating change. You can keep up with Kaira on her website.

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Masters of Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.

"Whenever I read the Christian mystics or any mystic, really, it's like the mystics are in touch with this space that is beyond the confines of one tradition. They're in the groundwater, not in the well. All the mystics seem to get to that place of oneness, emptiness, or total interconnection." –Kaira Jewel Lingo

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Trudy Goodman explains the healing power of mindfulness in helping adults be authentically present with children—fully entering their creative, playful world.

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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Trudy Goodman talks about:

• Trudy’s own life as a mother and grandmother, witnessing many stages of growth from different perspectives
• Becoming inspired by the playfulness, openness, and curiosity of children
• Approaching the world with beginners mind: approaching all experiences as if they are new
• A sonar for presence: how children can tell when we are present and when we are not
• How the capacity to meet ourselves often goes back to the parent-child relationship 
• Striving to be ‘good enough’ as a parent rather than perfect
• Ordinary devotion and maintaining a sense of routine care for our children
• Learning to be alone and getting acquainted with our inner lives 
• Resting in presence and allowance rather than always trying to ‘fix’ our children or ‘correct’ their play and creativity
• Trusting the insubstantial nature of that which bothers us 
• How our own expectations, concepts, and ideals, affect children for better and worse

This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed

About 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.com

"Our mindfulness practice really offers us a way to know deeply what's going on with children and this knowing often comes in nonverbal moments of just seeing, just realizing. It's such a powerful way of staying present with what's happening with all the strange and wonderful creatures that emerge both in ourselves and in our kids." –Trudy Goodman

More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:

Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation

JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body:  First Foundation Guided Meditation

Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service

Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh

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Gil Fronsdal invites us to see Buddhism not as a doctrine but as a lived experience where insight, trust, and letting go give rise to genuine freedom.

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This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal dives into:

• How the twelve steps of dependent origination fit into the schema of Buddhist practice
• The stark difference between an insight and a belief 
• Buddhism as a path to walk rather than a doctrine to believe in 
• Turning from suffering and clinging to peace
• Finding out how Buddhism is meaningful to us individually
• How we have all been liberated from something in our lives
• Appreciating the relief and clarity that comes from letting go of clinging
• The profound act of trust that it takes to be open and present 
• The door of the wishless, when the mind stops desiring 
• Looking at things exactly as they are rather than trying to conceptualize 

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 episode was originally published on Dharmaseed

"How deep and thorough can we let go? Can we liberate ourselves? The challenge that Buddhism offers us, more than a doctrine, it offers us a challenge that it is possible to get into the very deepest roots of the clinging in our hearts and uproot it, to become free from it." –Gil Fronsdal

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Guiding listeners into bliss, Dr. Robert Thurman explores how emptiness, renunciation, and compassion reinforce our oneness with all beings.

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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Dr. Thurman offers us:

• A lovely translation of an 18th-century poem written by a Tibetan lama 
• Finding ‘mother emptiness’ and reinforcing our oneness with all beings
• Lessons from the Buddha on emptiness and relativity 
• Understanding renunciation as self-compassion
• Prioritizing the dharma rather than what society makes us feel we need to do
• What happens to the mind and body as we begin to renunciate things
• Differentiating sympathy, empathy, and true compassion
• Realizing how precious we are as human beings 
• How compassion arises from our own inner bliss
• Releasing our need to achieve and cultivating a tolerance for ambiguity 
• The synergy of all elements along The Eightfold Path

This episode was recorded in 2020 during the Love Serve Remember Wise Hope Virtual Retreat: Day 2. Check out upcoming retreats HERE.

About Dr. Robert Thurman:

Robert Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University and President of the Tibet House U.S., and is the President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. His new book, Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life, is now available.

"Renunciation is true self-indulgence. It's a real connoisseur’s thing to be detached, to have less baggage, less things." –Dr. Thurman

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Exploring Vedanta and Vipassana practices, Ram Appalaraju discusses interfaith spirituality and his work as an eco-chaplain, honoring the dignity of all beings.

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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Ram and Vincent discuss:

• Encountering dukkha (suffering) on a day-to-day basis
• Resourcing ourselves so that we can be a resource for others
• Self-discovery and learning how to process our suffering
• The yoga of meditation and cultivating the core aspect of inner growth
• The sense of ease that comes from deepening our practice
• Weaving together Vedanta and Vipassana practices 
• Fostering trust in our own experiences 
• Transitioning from a high-stress work environment to living a more spiritual life
• Offering dignity to ourselves and others, no matter their circumstance
• Ram’s work in prisons and offering compassionate, attentive care to others
• How preconceived notions hinder us from truly connecting with and caring for people

“There’s a human sense of dignity that we can offer to another person and that can only happen when we have dignity within ourselves when we have a sense of acceptance of who we are.” –Ram Appalaraju

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.

About Ram Appalaraju:

Ram Appalaraju has served on the boards of nonprofit organizations for over eight years after retiring from the high-tech industry where he worked for 35 years. Ram has been studying Buddhism under Gil Fronsdal and is currently in the Insight Meditation Center’s Dharma Leaders Training. He also graduated as a chaplain and an eco-chaplain from the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. He now teaches as a faculty member at Sati Center’s Eco-Chaplaincy program and is one of the organizing team members at IMC’s Earth Care community group. He also serves as a Buddhist chaplain and Mindfulness Meditation teacher at Santa Clara County Jails and is currently pursuing Clinical Pastoral Education.

Ram has been practicing Buddhism for over 14 years and has engaged with several underprivileged and marginalized communities, teaching meditation and offering support. He is deeply committed to social and ecological causes and serves various groups in nature-based education through science and spirituality. He currently serves on the board of Insight Meditation Center at Redwood City and teaches at the San Jose Insight Meditation Sangha. Ram has also studied Vedanta at Sri Ramakrishna Mission and Chinmaya Mission for over 20 years.

Ram serves as president of Insight World Aid. For more information about Insight World Aid, please see HERE.

“My own capacity to care started to unfold. It is not just an external activity of me learning how to care for someone, that’s a byproduct. The intent is self-discovery: how did I process my own suffering and how and when it's relevant to engage with others who may be suffering for their own reasons.” –Ram Appalaraju

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Masters of Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.

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Vipassana teacher Trudy Goodman provides practical tools for staying present.

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 time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Trudy Goodman explores:

• Staying connected to the flow of the breath
• The breath as our life-long companion and source of presence 
• The loneliness of thought and being caught in the trap of our own thinking 
• How the breath is our anchor and our teacher
• Cultivating the power of the mind to focus
• The pause at the end of a breath 
• Balancing our energies and moving through each breath with care 
• Stepping out of our familiar reactivity 
• Accepting this as they are so that we can let them go 

About 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.com

This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed

“All the ways of being mindful are ways that the Buddha asks us to be true to our own hearts and minds. Mindfulness is a form of honesty, of telling ourselves the truth of what is happening. It's showing us that when we're present with the breath, the breath is not just our companion, it's our dharma friend, it's our teacher.” –Trudy Goodman

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Explaining how imagination creates both beauty and suffering, Gil Fronsdal offers a skillful way to tap into inspiration without becoming lost in a dream.

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, Gil Fronsdal dives into:

• The poem “Thursday” by William Carlos Williams
• Transformation through presence during mundane experiences 
• Dreaming as an important part of being human
• How the imagination helps to create connections
• The Zen principle of present moment awareness
• Allowing reality to move through the world of our imagination
• Not becoming lost or stuck in a dream
• The Buddha as a man of tremendous imagination
• Imagining the possibility of being freed from suffering

This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed

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.

“Dreaming, I think, is a very important part of being a human being. The imagination that can imagine possibilities, potential, that can create wonderful connections between things.” –Gil Fronsdal

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