Host Michael Taft speaks with meditation teacher and author Kelly Boys on the practice of non-sleep, deep rest—a modern name for the ancient practice of yoga nidra, using liminal states as gateways to profound meditative experiences, finding ways to let go more completely, how this practice relates to nonduality, and the transformative power of embodied practice. 

Kelly Boys is a mindfulness trainer and author of The Blind Spot Effect: How to Stop Missing What’s Right in Front of You. She co-developed the Peace on Purpose mindfulness and resilience program for UN humanitarian and development workers, training UN staff in the Middle East, Central Asia and beyond. She has worked with veterans with PTSD in the VA system and in San Quentin State Prison as part of the Prison Yoga Project. She directed a teacher training for the Search Inside Yourself Institute, bringing facilitators from around the world together to learn the emotional intelligence and mindfulness curriculum as taught at Google. Kelly is the founding advisor for the Simple Habit meditation app. She is passionate about engaging in the inner and outer work of antiracism. She holds a degree in Intercultural Religious Studies and has trained in yoga nidra in the nondual yogic tradition of Kashmir Shaivism

https://www.kellyboys.org/

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Host Michael Taft iterviews Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher and author Andrew Holecek on nondual practice and theory, finding your way back to the true nature of mind, the dangers of getting dropped off in the deep end too soon, challenging to notion of path, the art of doing nothing (and doing it well); Andrew also offers listeners a dream-based nondual guided practice.

Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on meditation, dream yoga, and the art of dying. He is the author of many books, including Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep. Andrew is masterful at joining the wisdom traditions of Asia with the knowledge of the West. He holds degrees in classical music, biology, and a doctorate in dental surgery.

https://www.andrewholecek.com/

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Host Michael Taft speaks with meditation master and neuroscience consultant Shinzen Young on the background and history of Zen Master LinJi (aka Rinzai, in Japanese), the meaning of his famous phrase "the authentic person," various aspects of nonduality, an unpacking of LinJi's Four-fold Analysis, as well as cessations, the current state of Shinzen's research, using ultrasound to change the brain, and how to equanimize the biggest curveballs life can throw at you. 

Shinzen Young is an American mindfulness teacher and neuroscience research consultant. His systematic approach to categorizing, adapting and teaching meditation, known as Unified Mindfulness, has resulted in collaborations with Harvard Medical School, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the University of Vermont in the burgeoning field of contemplative neuroscience.

https://www.shinzen.org/

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Host Michael Taft talks with meditation teacher and author Tina Rasmussen about how psychology and meditation practice can work together to help people heal, working with trauma, the importance of heart-based practices such as metta, spiritual bypassing, using shamatha to build new brain networks, and Tina’s own story of her birth trauma and her path to healing.

Tina Rasmussen, Ph.D., began meditating at age 13, and has practiced in the Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist traditions for over 30 years. In 2003, she completed a year-long solo retreat, was later ordained as a Buddhist nun and became the first Western woman authorized to teach by renowned meditation master Pa Auk Sayadaw. Tina has been studied by the Yale Neuroscience Lab, and is the co-author of Practicing the Jhanas, as well as several books on human potential. 

Tina Rasumussen’s website: luminousmindsangha.com

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Host Michael Taft talks with neuroscientist and meditator Ruben Laukkonen about the phenomenology of the insight experience, how the sequence of deepening meditative practices maps onto the model of predictive processing in the human brain, the Eureka heuristic, what neuroscience can tell us about the deconstructive model of meditation, the science of cessations, and much more.

Ruben Laukkonen is a postdoctoral fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and lecturer at Amsterdam University College. Ruben seeks to uncover an empirically grounded and experientially authentic understanding of meditation, insight, and non-duality. Using a combination of neuroimaging, machine learning, and phenomenology, he is investigating some of the rarest states of consciousness available to human beings. Ruben has an eclectic contemplative background, including traditions such as Zen, Advaita, and Theravada.

Learn more at https://rubenlaukkonen.com/

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What can ancient Sanskrit poetry of love and longing teach us about our own deepest spirituality? Join host Michael Taft as he explores this question with professor, author, and teacher Rick Jarow. Further topics include the tantric aspect of poetry, how landscape and nature informs and embodies our spirituality, the role of the word in transcendence, sacred passion for the divine as expressed in the poetics of longing, and much more.

Rick Jarow Ph.D. is a author, teacher, and scholar of Indian languages and literature. Recently retired from his position as a Religious Studies professor at Vassar college in New York, Rick leads workshops and retreats worldwide. His books include: In Search of the Sacred, Tales for the Dying, and a new work: The Cloud of Longing: A New Translation and Eco-Aesthetic Study of Kalidasa's Meghaduta.

Rick Jarow's website

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Host Michael Taft speaks with Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton about her recent work with the 21 manifestations of the Goddess Tara, some aspects of Green Tara, and especially the role of vision and visualization in Vajrayana, and Buddhism more generally. Beginning with the somewhat negative role of the eyes in early Buddhist practice, moving through the Mahayana sutras talking about "enlightened eyes," and the "Eye of the Buddha," and culminating with the rainbow light practices of Vajrayana and Dzogchen. Topics include: Nagarjuna's vision metaphor of emptiness, the esoteric subtle channel from the heart to the eyes, meditation on kasinas, and much more.

Chandra Easton has taught meditation and yoga since 2001. She has had the good fortune to study with many Tibetan and Western Buddhist teachers such as H.H. Dalai Lama, H.H. Karmapa, Lama Tsultrim Allione, B. Alan Wallace,Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, and Jennifer Welwood. She is currently the Assistant Spiritual Director & Head Teacher at the Tara Mandala Retreat Center. You can learn more about Chandra's work at:

http://www.chandraeaston.com/

and

https://www.taramandala.org/

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Zen teacher, author, and poet Henry Shukman talks with host Michael Taft about Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Henry’s series on the Waking Up app, meditation for awakening vs. meditation as a “band aid,” the role of psychotherapy in spiritual practice, the power of working in the “old way,” the path of working with Zen koans as the journey of a lifetime.

Henry Shukman is a teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage, and is the Guiding Teacher of Mountain Cloud Zen Center, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Henry is an award-winning poet and author of several books, including One Blade of Grass, which details his spiritual journey. And is excellent. His struggles and traumatic experiences as a youth, combined with a spontaneous awakening experience at age 19, paved the way for Henry to develop a well-rounded approach to spirituality and meditation – one that includes love for self and the world as its foundation.

Henry Shukman at Mountain Cloud Zen Center

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Host Michael Taft talks with teacher and author Ken McLeod about his insights into Vajrayana, spiritual practice as "choosing a way to live," the Tibetan idea of lam khyer, the power of prayer as a kind of raw, naked stance, why the seeds of spirituality need to be nurtured in secret, difficulties Westerners face when attempting to work within traditional Asian religious systems, and the true meaning of spirituality.

Ken McLeod began his study and practice of Buddhism in 1970 under the eminent Tibetan master Kalu Rinpoche. After completing two three-year retreats, he was appointed as resident teacher for Kalu Rinpoche’s center in Los Angeles, California, where he developed innovative approaches to teaching and translation. After his teacher’s death in 1989, Ken established Unfettered Mind, a place for those whose path lies outside established institutions. His published works include The Great Path of Awakening, Wake Up to Your Life, An Arrow to the Heart, Reflections on Silver River, and A Trackless Path. 

Ken's website: Unfettered Mind

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Host Michael Taft talks with meditation teacher and author Tina Rasmussen about ways to understand nondual awareness and the progress of nondual meditation, including her own unique comparison between the Formless Realms of early Buddhist meditation and the Boundless Dimensions taught by Hameed Ali (aka Almaas) of the Diamond Approach.

Tina Rasmussen, Ph.D., began meditating at age 13, and has practiced in the Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist traditions for over 30 years. In 2003, she completed a year-long solo retreat, was later ordained as a Buddhist nun and became the first Western woman authorized to teach by renowned meditation master Pa Auk Sayadaw. Tina has been studied by the Yale Neuroscience Lab, and is the co-author of Practicing the Jhanas, as well as several books on human potential.

Tina Rasumussen’s website: luminousmindsangha.com

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Show Notes

00:44 - Intro

03:30 - The

core four practices of Buddhism that help us with the current crisis: shamatha,

vipassana, heart, and self-transcending practices

06:19 - How

Tina teaches shamatha (the Theravada way: anapanasati and brahmaviharas)

09:08 - The difference between anapanasati and pranayama

11:45 - The similarities and differences between the Theravadan and Tibetan practices

16:18 - How Tina teaches a hybrid set of Theravadan and Tibetan practices on retreat

18:44 - Shamatha is needed for stability

20:44 - The

different flavors of nonduality (unity/emptiness)

24:37 - The Buddhist map of the realms of existence (form/material realm:

physical/brahmaviharas; formless/immaterial realms:

1) boundless space;

2) boundless consciousness;

3) no-thingness/void;

4) neither perception nor non-perception;

5) the Deathless/Absolute/Nameless mystery)

28:53 - How ‘awareness’ is more fundamental than ‘consciousness’

30:55 - Comparison of the formless realms in Buddhism and in the Diamond Approach

(Ridhwan); how different spiritual traditions focus on different formless realms

35:35 – Differing views in Theravada and Vajrayana

37:51 - Integrating boundless love and shamatha practices in Tina’s teachings

43:00 - The non-personal practices of the Eastern traditions and the personal practices of

the Western traditions

44:08 - The synergy between spiritual and psychological technologies; the ‘inquiry’ practice

46:27 - Tina’s birth trauma and the importance of trauma work

53:10 - The inquiry way of working with aversion

55:46 - Suffering is optional

58:00 - Outro

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