Opening this podcast with an introduction to the Medicine Buddha and his long time co-teacher + friend Richard Freeman, Professor Thurman explore the connections between Hatha Yoga, Buddhist Philosophy + the Indic Inner Sciences through a close translation of the classic fifteenth-century Sanskrit manual on hatha yoga, “The Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā” by Svāmi Svātmārāma.

Using the teachings of K. Pattabhi Jois + Geshe Ngawang Wangyal Robert A.F. Thurman and Richard Freeman explore the symbolism and meditation practices centering on the Hindu Deities Brahmā, Shiva, and Buddha in the form of Great Vajradhara.

Podcast includes a discussion of Brahmanism, Shaivism, Tantic Buddhism, the Chöd (“Severence”) Charnel Ground Practice, Raja Yoga (King Yoga), a re-telling of the story of the Mahasiddha, Luipa The Fish-Gut Eater and how the non-Dualism found in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions erode hierarchies and brought change about change within the rigid caste system of India.

Second half of this week’s podcast continues the dialog focusing on how the Vedic + Buddhist traditions both approach non-dualism, daily practice and bathroom humor.

Stunning the Mind with Yoga – Episode #178 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Photo by Park Troopers on Unsplash

This podcast was recorded at Menla’s Nalanada Conference Center in Phoenicia, New York during the 2016 ‘Buddha & The Yogis’ Retreat with Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, John Campbell + Robert A.F. Thurman.

Learn more about the connections between practical yoga, daily meditation & esoteric study at this year’s ‘Buddha & The Yogis: The Divine Feminine Retreat with Mary Taylor, Richard Freeman & Robert Thurman please visit: www.menla.us.

This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was thanks to Richard Freeman + Mary Taylor and was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York.

Stunning the Mind with Yoga is an excerpt from the archive recordings from the Tibet House US retreat “Buddha & the Yogis” with Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, John Campbell and Robert A.F. Thurman recorded at Menla’s Nalanda Conference Center in Phoenicia, New York, Summer 2011.

Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert AF Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us.

Previews are available on the Tibet House US YouTube Channel + Full Archive Recordings from the 2016 + 2017 Annual Retreat at Menla in the THUS Member Archives. Tibet House US Member Access starts at $2 a Month.

The song ‘Dancing Ling’ + ‘Trance Tibet’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

To learn more about upcoming programs in the heart of the Catskills with Bob Thurman & Richard Freeman + Mary Taylor please visit: www.menla.us.

In this podcast extra Professor Robert A.F. Thurman leads an extended Nine Fold Purification Breath Meditation from the Yuthok Nyingthig as taught by Dr Nida Chenagtsang.

This practice, also known as “Expelling the Dead Air” begins with by sitting in the Vairocana Meditation posture and then visualizing moving energy with the breath through the Central, Left + Right Channels to clear blockages, decrease negativity and increase clarity.

According to Tibetan Medicine, ultimate health can only be achieved when approached from the perspective of body, energy, and mind together. Yuthok Nyingthig is considered the most important practice for Tibetan medicine healing practitioners- helping one reveal the rainbow body that is each person’s natural state.

This 9 Fold Breath Meditation was excerpted in the second half of  Episode #176 “Bias, Racism + Buddhism ” of the from the Bob Thurman Podcast.

This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was thanks to Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York & brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community.

This podcast is apart of the Buddhist Inner Sciences 101 Podcast Series taken from the Bob Thurman & Tibet House US archives which are intended to provide an introduction to the yogic, meditative & theoretical practices of the tradition. These recordings are intended to be general overviews & one should be studying with a qualified teacher before attempting or engaging in the practices.

About The Yuthok Nyingthig

The Yuthok Nyingthig (Tib. གཡུ་ཐོག་སྙིང་ཐིག་), the ‘Heart Essence of Yuthok’, composed by Yuthok the Younger, the great 12th Century Tibetan yogi-physician is a complete cycle of Vajrayana Buddhist practice, beginning with the preliminary practices (Tib. སྔོན་འགྲོ་ “ngöndro”) and progressing through the development and completion stage practices to the highest practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. It is characterized by its concise and simple methods which bring about both worldly benefits, including improved health and longevity, as well as the ultimate benefit of complete spiritual liberation. The Yuthok Nyingthig is the main spiritual practice of Tibetan physicians, and it contains many unique techniques to heighten the intuition and healing capacities of the doctor.

These practices eliminate and prevent illness, lengthen the life span of the practitioner and bring all levels of spiritual accomplishment. As the great master, Guru Rinpoche said, ‘of all activities, the first should be long life practice. If life is long, it can be virtuous, and the purpose of this life and the next can be achieved.”

The Seven Meditation Postures of Vairocana

1. Sit Cross Legged, Ideally in full lotus position.

Reincarnation as Buddha taught it to his community of mendicants suggests that everyone has at some time or another been born in every conceivable species, race, gender, or class. Professor Thurman opens this two part podcast discussing the Buddhist perspective on reincarnation and how the on rigid barriers such, caste, race, sex or class tend to be eroded through the acceptance of karmic biology.

Examining bias + racism on a personal level, Robert A.F. Thurman shares insights learned from the teachings of Jey Tsongkhapa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet and his life long study of Buddhism and the Buddhist Inner Sciences.

The second half of this week’s podcast is an in-depth guided Nine Fold Breath Meditation from the Yuthok Tradtion as taught by Dr. Nida Chenagtsang.

This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was thanks to Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York & brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community.

Bias, Racism + Buddhism Photo by Ryan McGuire, All Rights Reserved.

To listen to the full Nine (9) Fold Breath Meditation by Robert A.F. Thurman excerpted in the second half of this week’s podcast please visit: www.bobthruman.com.

Bias, Racism + Buddhism – Ep. 173 of the Bob Thurman Podcast is apart the Practicing Buddhism Series.

In this two part podcast Professor Thurman is joined by Richard Freeman, John Campbell + Mary Taylor for a discussion of the connections between the Buddhist Inner Sciences + the Vedic Yoga Traditions and how the two streams of self-transformation when practiced together can positively affect our relationships, communities and the wider world in unexpected ways.

Sharing the spiritual history of the International Pathwork Foundation’s Phoenicia, New York property before it was donated to Tibet House US to become Menla Retreat, Robert A.F. Thurman reflects on the work of Eva Pierrakos + The Guide contextualizing it within a Yoga or Yogic perspective.

First half of podcast includes a discussion of breathing meditation practices, the subtle body, the place (and value) of secrecy in initiatory traditions and how an understanding of emptiness and the interrelated nature of reality can make one feel responsible for the world we construct everyday through the use of our imagination enough to take compassionate, wise action.

Podcast concludes with an in-depth teaching on Vinyasa, Buddhist Vajra breathing and on the Twenty One Taras mantra practice.

Body as Holy Grail : Yoga, Breath + Imagination Photo by Fares Nimri on Unsplash

This podcast was recorded at Menla’s Nalanada Conference Center in Phoenicia, New York during the 2016 ‘Buddha & The Yogis’ Retreat with Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, John Campbell + Robert A.F. Thurman.

Learn more about the connections between practical yoga, daily meditation & esoteric study at this year’s ‘Buddha & The Yogis: The Divine Feminine Retreat with Mary Taylor, Richard Freeman & Robert Thurman please visit: www.menla.us.

This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was thanks to Richard Freeman + Mary Taylor and was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York.

Body as Holy Grail : Yoga, Breath + Imagination is an excerpt from the archive recordings from the Tibet House US retreat “Buddha & the Yogis” with Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, John Campbell and Robert A.F. Thurman recorded at Menla’s Nalanda Conference Center in Phoenicia, New York, Summer 2017.

Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert AF Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Ti

In this two part podcast Robert A.F. Thurman gives an unique presentation of “Three Principles of the Path” to the annual “Buddha and The Yogis” gathering of yoga practitioners held at Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York.

Professor Thurman elucidates in clear and readily accessible terms to those unfamiliar with Buddhism the “Lam Rim: Stages of The Path” a streamlining of mind transformation teachings created in Tibet by Jey Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), focusing on his “Three Principles of The Path” poem, which is known as the quintessence of the longer teaching.

Providing a concise introduction to the Buddhist path, Robert Thurman begins this fast moving teaching by defining what Buddhism is and how it’s mind-tranforming philosophy based on the inner sciences is thought of as religious by those not engaging in its practice.

The first half of this podcast includes: a discussion of the concept of a Bodhisattva, it’s relationship to tantra, yoga, how the desire for freedom from suffering when coupled with altruistic intention and an understanding of emptiness is the essence of the Buddhist path, a re-telling of a humorous story of the walking stick from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” and a non-dual perspective on Nirvana.

This week’s podcast’s second half concludes with an in-depth teaching on causation, karma and reincarnation and how they relate to an understanding of the Nirvanic nature of reality of a Realistic world view as taught as the first branch of the Buddha’s Noble Eight Fold Path.

This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was thanks to Richard Freeman + Mary Taylor and was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York.

“Principles of the Path : On + Off The Yoga Mat” is an excerpt from the archive recordings from the Tibet House US retreat “Buddha & the Yogis: the Divine Feminine” with Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor and Robert AF Thurman recorded at Menla’s Nalanda Conference Center in Phoenicia, New York, Summer 2017.

Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert AF Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us.

Previews are available on the Tibet House US YouTube Channel + Full Archive Recordings from the 2016 + 2017 Annual Retreat at Menla in the THUS Member Archives. Tibet House US Member Access starts at $2 a Month.

The song ‘Dancing Ling’ + ‘Trance Tibet’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

To learn more about upcoming programs in the heart of the Catskills

Dr. Mark Epstein M.D. and Robert A.F. Thurman, in this two part podcast discuss the Buddhist & Alcoholics Anonymous perspectives on addiction, depression, and recovery using the teachings of Shantideva and Winnicott to highlight common strategies and illustrate how the two can help one change one’s relationship to any source of suffering, internal or external.

Professor Thurman begins this podcast with a rare explanation of the Heart Sutra focusing on the the dialog between Shāriputra and Avalokiteśvara in the Buddha’s samadhi field, and it’s connection to Clear Light, Bliss, Relativity and how one can avoid absolutism when thinking about emptiness.

Second half of the podcast concludes with a special teaching to the retreat participants on how to take the lessons of the annual program at Menla Retreat + Dewa Spa into their everyday lives.

“Managing Misery : A.A., Shantideva + The Heart Sutra – Ep. 173″ of the Bob Thurman Podcast” is apart of the Buddhism 101 series using classic teachings from the archives of Robert A.F. Thurman to elucidate basic concepts of the tradition.

This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was thanks to Omega Institute & brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York.

This podcast is a continuation of the teachings from Alcoholics Anonymous, Buddhism + Powerlessness – Episode 161 of the Bob Thurman Podcast and are excerpted from the archive recordings from the Tibet House US retreat “Addiction, Depression & Recovery: Buddhist Psychological Insights for Mental & Spiritual Health in the Modern World Retreat” with Robert A.F. Thurman & Mark Epstein M.D., recorded at Menla’s Nalanda Conference Center in Phoenicia, New York, Summer 2017.

Managing Misery : A.A., Shantideva + The Heart Sutra Photo by Ryan McGuire, All Rights Reserved.