Catching Z's: The Millennials Guide to Mindfulness

Catching Z's: The Millennials Guide to Mindfulness

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Catching Z's: The Millennials Guide to Mindfulness episodes

  • Conversations with Tibetan Buddhist Monastics: Nun Lobsang Tsyang Thukten

    Ven. Thukten was born in a small village in Bhutan called Gelephu. She is 32 years old and 15 out of those she dedicated to the monastic life. Currently, she resides at Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in Southern India. Thukten is studying at Emory University as a Tenzin Gyatso Science Scholar. She thoroughly enjoys observing nature. Thukten was AMAZING to talk to.  She walks us through so many topics: 

     

    • How her past lives influenced her becoming a nun
  • What is karma? 
  • Mind training and why it's necessary
  • What is consciousness composed of? 
  • How she views reaching enlightenment
  • The 12 links of dependent origination
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    Explanation of Twelve links of dependent origination

    44 min
  • CZ 094: Ora Nadrich, Founder of Institute for Transformational Thinking

    Ora Nadrich is founder and president of the Institute for Transformational Thinking and author of Live True: A Mindfulness Guide to Authenticity. A certified life coach and mindfulness teacher, she specializes in transformational thinking, self-discovery, and mentoring new coaches as they develop their careers.   

    I had a great time speaking to Ora about what true transformation looks like and how to achieve it yourself.  We also talked about: 

    • Starting off her meditation journey with TM and switching to mindfulness
  • Authenticity 
  • How to define your authentic self
  • The journey to authenticity
  • What it means to go through a transformation
  • Defining how you would like to change
  • How to raise your consciousness
  • Much more!
  • Ora's website

    1 hr
  • Conversations with Tibetan Buddhist Monastics: Lödrö Gyendon
    Lödrö Gyendon  is a Buddhist monk living in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Raised in South Florida, Gyendon first encountered Buddhism in college when he was studying sculpture.  He moved to Sravasti Abbey to deepen his study in 2011 and trained under the guidance of Bhikkshuni Thubten Chodron, before moving to Gampo Abbey in 2014 where he has lived and trained under the guidance of Pema Chödrön.  We chat with Gyendon about:
    • How he was interested at looking for alternative lifestyles and ways of living and led him to being a monk
  • Difference in monastery, abbey, nunnery
  • Wanted to explore buddhism and the monastic life but needed refuge before he could be considered
  • Importance of lineage
  • Examining “Trust born from understanding, understanding born from trust”
  • His understanding with impermanence through his fathers experience of dying
  • Exploring the phrase from Thich Naht Hahn: “Would you freeze the whole ocean for the sake of one wave?”
  • Exploring the nature of mind
  • Transmitting vs. translating the dharma
  • Being American and taking on Buddhist vows
  • Disease of disembodiment and the utility of our bodies
  • Trisha hershe Nap ministry
  • Striving and how it can cloud our dharma practice.
  • Recognizing how painful attachment is
  • Much more!
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    1 hr 21 min
  • CZ 093: Alan Stein Jr.: Keynote speaker, author, performance expert

    Alan Stein, Jr. teaches proven strategies to improve organizational performance, create effective leadership, increase team cohesion and collaboration, and develop winning mindsets, rituals, and routines. A successful business owner and veteran basketball performance coach, he spent 15 years working with the highest-performing athletes on the planet (including NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Kobe Bryant). 

    In addition, he's been a huge advocate for meditation for as long as he's been practicing.  Alan is the real deal and I loved chatting with him for his combination of motivation and practical advice for life.  Great perspective from Alan as we talk about: 

    • Finally getting into meditation after avoiding it for so long
  • Why we should be open to trying new things for our wellness
  • How important routine and preparation is
  • Benefits that he’s seen through his meditation practice
  • Importance of consistency and discipline
  • His love for basketball and how that started
  • Importance of mindset
  • What his morning routine consists of 
  • Stories about his time with Kobe and why you should never get bored with the basics
  • 1 hr 8 min
  • Conversations with Tibetan Buddhist Monastics: Nun Tenzin Choyang

    This was another EPIC conversation, this time with Nun Tenzin Choyang.  Choyang was born in Tibet and came to India to study Buddhist philosophy. She has been studying Buddhist philosophy at a nunnery for over 17 years.  In between that time, she went to Emory University in the United State to learn science and scientific techniques.  Currently she is continuing her Buddhist study in Mundgod near Drepung Loselling Monastery in India.

    We talked with her about SO MUCH! Including: 

    • Feminism in Tibetan Buddhism
  • Running away from tibet on a month long journey to India to become a nun
  • The importance of studying logic
  • How to introduce logic and investigation techniques to children
  • What she thought the monastery was going to be and what it actually was
  • The concepts of Emptiness and Compassion
  • How to come to experiential knowledge
  • Studying science at Emory and bringing that back to her nunnery to teach
  • The value of hope
  • How we can decipher our emotions correctly
  • How we can lessen the power of the ego
  • Using lovingkindness to show up authentically for others
  • Reincarnation and Karma
  • Social emotional ethics
  • 1 hr 59 min
  • CZ 092: Carley Hauck, Author ”Shine: Ignite your inner game to lead consciously at work and the world”

    Carley Hauck is a learning architect, leadership development consultant, author,  speaker, and serves as adjunct faculty at Stanford University and UC Berkeley Haas  School of Business. For the last decade, she has served hundreds of leaders and  companies in Fortune 100 companies and high growth start-ups such as: LinkedIn,  Genentech, Pixar, Clif Bar, Intuit, and Bank of the West.  She helps them cultivate their recipes for resilience and create thriving workplaces and mission driven businesses. In her upcoming book, Shine- Ignite your inner game to lead consciously at work and the world, Carley guides readers on a transformational inner to  outer journey to inspire a new workplace and world that works for everyone and  prioritizes people and planet first. Carley’s writing and work has been featured in Mindful  Magazine, Conscious Company Media, 15 Five, and Emerging Women. Additionally,  Carley is the host of the inspiring Shine podcast. 

    Carley and I had a wonderful inspiring chat as we talked about: 

    •  How her Yoga practice got her into meditation 
  • Why she’s drawn to wisdom and how she defines it
  • What nature can teach us about our internal environment
  • Layers of a spiritual journey and where she is at currently
  • Moving from your Head to your heart
  • Tapping into the resilience that is already within you and a resilience exercise
  • Her organization Leading from Wholeness
  • Her book “Shine: Ignite your inner game to lead consciously at work and in the world”
  • Using emotional intelligence with conscious leadership
  • How our perspective on others exposes your inner world
  • Leaning into discomfort for healing
  • Shine Book

    Carley's newsletter and podcast

     

    1 hr
  • Conversations with Tibetan Buddhist Monastics: Geshe Damchoe

    Ven. Geshe Tenzin Damchoe was born in Dharamsala India and attended Tibetan Childrens Village (TCV) school until the 10th grade.  After that he attended TCV Bylakuppe where he received a Bachelors of Commerce from St. Philomena’s college of Mysore University.

    After graduating with his commerce degree, Geshe-la joined the Institute of Buddhist Dialectic school, where he spent over a decade studying Buddhist philosophy and earning the prestigious Geshe degree (which is equivalent to a PhD) from Drepung Loseling Monastery in south India. He later became a professor: teaching Buddhist Philosophy and Practices at Earlham College and then at Oxford University in England as a visiting scholar. Geshe-la now works at Sarah College for higher Tibetan studies as a program coordinator and renowned lecturer for Buddhist Philosophy studies. 

     

    Given his expertise, Marshall and I discussed with Ven Geshe-la:

    • How he became a monk
  • Prevalence of monks in tibet
  • What does being a geshe mean
  • How to keep your cup of knowledge from getting full
  • Respecting others by thinking about their good qualities
  • Self centered attitude vs. self-cherising
  • Unconditional vs. Conditional love 
  • Interdependence of everything
  • Two different types of meditation: Analytical and one pointed meditation
  • Two different types of compassion: Emotional and Wisdom
  • Positive influence western traditions have had on him
  • How karma and murphy’s law share similarities
  • 4 Noble Truths
  • Contextualizing the four noble truths and 8-fold path as they pertain to coping and surviving the COVID-19 crisis.  
  • The utility of the identities we hold
  • How Finding nemo shows us a great example of the 4 noble truths
  • 1 hr 52 min
  • CZ 091: Thomas Bushlack, Ph.D. in Theology and Ethics, Founder of Centering for Wisdom tool and Kalon Enterprises

    Thomas J. Bushlack (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) is currently the Regional Director of Mission Integration with SSM Health in St. Louis, MO. He brings over 20 years of experience in higher education, public speaking, leading retreats, leadership coaching, and consulting in organizational development in mission integration. Tom’s expertise is in integrating Contemplative Practices with Ethics & Wise Decision-Making. He enjoys helping leaders to harness their innate capacity for wisdom for success in professional and personal life. As the creator of the Centering for Wisdom™ Assessment tool, and the founder of Kalon Enterprises, LLC, Tom knows the struggles of being a good leader and growing a successful business aligned with personal and corporate values – all in service to the common good. Based in Metro St. Louis, Tom lives with his wife, Anna, and their three young children.

     

    https://thomasjbushlack.com/

    https://centeringforwisdom.com/

    Thomas' YouTube Channel

    1 hr 12 min
  • 2020 Review: Growth by Fire

    I reflect on the year that was 2020.  The highs and lows and all the wonderful lessons that I learned because of having to go through it all.  I talk about: 

    • Where the podcast is headed in 2021
  • Life lessons from growing marijuana
  • Experiences and thoughts on death
  • Ram Dass' massive influence on me
  • Love and Fear
  • Reach out at [email protected] !

    Alex Stokes blog: How to Relax

    Be Here Now

    Becoming Nobody

     

     

    1 hr 19 min
  • Meditators Among Us: Marshall Kupka-Moore

    Marshall and I met earlier this year and formed a very close bond immediately through being facilitators of the satsang we created, Unity Community.  His depth of experiential knowledge and wisdom from all of the text he's read always make for a fascinating conversation.  He talks about deep stuff while also making it digestible to any audience.  There's something for everyone in this episode! 

    We chat about: 

    • Starting Meditation in College
  • His trips to India with the Emory Tibetan Science Center initiative
  • Being an Interdisciplinary studies major and studying compassion
  • Cultivating compassion 
  • Where his thirst for knowledge comes from
  • Using suffering to create meaning
  • Compassion and Emptiness
  • His Spiritual milestones
  • What is the self? 
  • Couple of riffs on death
  • Co-founding Source Wellness
  • Much more!
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    Source Wellness

    Marshall's LinkedIn

     

    1 hr 15 min

About Catching Z's: The Millennials Guide to Mindfulness

From the publisher's feed

This podcast is my journey as a curious millennial figuring out what it means to live fully through meditation by bringing on the greatest minds of our day.