As a path to eternal vigilance and ultimately, cessation of suffering, Ramdev encourages us to tune into the present moment during times of mundanity and neutrality. 

 In this episode, RamDev offers a balanced perspective on:

• Practicing awareness during neutral, mundane, or transitional moments
• The four Buddhist foundations of mindfulness (body, mind, feelings, dharma)
• The three Buddhist characteristics of existence (impermanence, suffering no self)
• Working skillfully with neutral states so that we are prepared for both joy and adversity
• Embracing eternal vigilance as a tool for inner transformation
• Observing the process of thinking instead of getting caught in thought content
• Asking the powerful question: “How alive do I want to be?”
• Practicing loving-kindness (metta) and checking in with our inner states and levels of connectedness
• Shifting our mental habits to move from unconsciousness toward greater conscious awareness

“What I notice, if I am not paying attention to neutral states, that almost always there is this eternal monologue going on and it’s a way of the ego saying ‘I’m here’. One of the most direct practices I have found for not getting lost in that inner monologue during so many of these neutral moments is learning the practice of watching the mind—Not what you're thinking about, but being aware of thinking itself.” – RamDev

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Ramdev invites us into a space of lasting joy and peace, revealing ways we can better relate to both personal and collective suffering.

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In this episode of Healing at the Edge, RamDev explores:

• Considering how the world is changing and how to respond to those changes
• Learning to love what is mortal and to be touched by the tragedy of being alive
• Discovering a deeper joy beyond pleasure and pain—even in the face of war, genocide, and global crisesDiscovering a deeper joy beyond pleasure and pain—even in the face of war, genocide, and global crises
• Cultivating unshakable inner peace and emotional resilience in turbulent times
• Allowing ourselves to be moved by collective suffering rather than shutting down or turning away
• Transforming grief into compassion through a sense of deep interconnectedness
• Understanding the key difference between pity and true compassion
• Training ourselves to be grounded, centered, and to rest in equanimity 
• Exploring ways we might take a vow of renunciation to look at our own habits and patterns
• Committing to maintaining an open heart towards all people, all of the time
• How awareness of our own mortality can inform our actions in daily life

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All proceeds benefit the Love Serve Remember Foundation and their work to preserve and continue the teachings of Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass. CLICK HERE to bid on the shoes and find more exciting one-of-a-kind collector’s items at the LSRF Auction HERE.

"We have to learn to love what is mortal, to not spiritually bypass, to be touched by the tragedy, be touched by the suffering of others, be willing to be touched by our own suffering. Hold it against your bones as if your life depends on it, and when the time comes to let it go, let it go." – RamDev

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RamDev shares how difficult emotions can be a portal for non-dual awareness, surrender, and bliss.

 This time on Healing at the Edge, RamDev discusses :

• Working with strong emotions and using them as fuel for awakening 
• The difference between spiritual bypassing vs. heart-centered action to transmute negative experiences
• Applying a tantric perspective to transform emotions in real-time
• Experiencing the present moment’s enlightened nature and recognizing divinity in all things
• Building a relationship with content via embodied mindfulness 
• Stabilizing the mind, opening the heart, and loving whatever is going on 
• Faith-based devotion and a sense of separation from divinity versus tantric devotion and a oneness with God
• Identification with the divine rather than only worship and how it leads to sacred union and transformation 
• The heart as a bridge between spiritual realms and physical reality
• Cultivating awe, wonder, and a deep appreciation for the divine nature of even the most mundane experiences
• How tantra dissolves the boundary between Samsara and Nirvana 
• Emotions as portals for non-dual awareness and gateways into expanded states of consciousness
• Embracing fear and how it can lead to surrender, bliss, and liberation 
• Engaging with political challenges through love and compassion, not hatred
• A short guided practice to help listeners release pain, accept the human condition, and trust in the boundlessness of the heart  

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp and Dharma Seed:

Join Buddhist Teacher David Nichtern and Duncan Trussell for a conversation about finding our own voice, our own expression, and our own way of connecting with people. Learn more about this FREE online gathering - AUTHENTIC PRESENCE: FINDING YOUR OWN VOICE 

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"It isn't just mindfulness we're talking about—it's mindfulness from the heart. Instead of gradually wearing away our resistance to the emotion or a little more quickly wearing it away because we're adding compassion, we can instantaneously transmute it because our heart is so open. There's a sense of even worship or communion, that even this emotion is an expression of the divine." – RamDev

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RamDev shares a tantric approach to transforming difficult emotions into spiritual wisdom by turning emotional poison into medicine.

 This week on Healing at the Edge, RamDev holds a talk on :

• Learning to transform difficult emotions into wisdom through spiritual practice
• Realizing that samsara and nirvana are one through the lens of tantric philosophy
• Exploring the ‘disappointment’ of enlightenment and the persistence of human suffering
• Cultivating deep intimacy with every part of life and all lived experiences
• Practicing emotional grounding and staying present with all feelings
• Linking quantum mechanics and consciousness with emotional and spiritual expansion
• Understanding the difference between traditional and tantric devotion
• Recognizing emotions as gateways to non-dual awareness and higher consciousness
• Using devotional practices to open and stabilize the heart in the face of suffering
• Living consciously to prepare for a more peaceful and intentional death 
• Reflecting on political chaos as a possible catalyst for awakening in America
• Embracing the idea that everything unfolds within wholeness and divine perfection

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp and Dharma Seed:

Join Buddhist Teacher David Nichtern and Duncan Trussell for a conversation about finding our own voice, our own expression, and our own way of connecting with people. Learn more about this FREE online gathering - AUTHENTIC PRESENCE: FINDING YOUR OWN VOICE 

Today’s podcast is also brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

"We expect enlightenment to be everything's going to be fine, no pain in the body, no pain in the mind, no, there's still gonna be pain, we just have a very different relationship with it. We have to let go of the notion that we're going to fix everything. It's not about becoming happy, it's about becoming real, it's about becoming intimate with all of our experience."– RamDev

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RamDev shares tokens of personal wisdom and encourages listeners to evaluate their practice in order to guide themselves and others on the spiritual path.

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This time on Healing at the Edge, RamDev offers wisdom on:

• Evaluating our practice and giving ourselves advice 
• Helping others on the spiritual path 
• The foundational work of dealing with fear, guilt, and shame 
• Underestimating how attached we are to pleasant mindstates 
• Right effort and sitting with our suffering rather than running away
• Doing all things from the mindstate of guru seva versus ego
• Considering what we have faith in and if we need heart work or mindfulness work
• Looking at how constant our practice is and how we can bring practice into daily activity 
• Bare attention and mantra as a resource for continuous mindfulness 
• Being centered as the perfect balance between stress and relaxation 
• Developing spiritual confidence via facing uncomfortable feelings 
• Holding space and being a guide for someone who is averse to spirituality 

 "Running away from our demons makes them real. One of my main jobs as a guide is to tell people to sit still and be with that demon for a little while. Lean into it. Compassion can only arise after there is direct contact with the quality of suffering. You can't short-circuit that fundamental step. You can't heal something until you can meet it directly, nakedly, intimately."– RamDev

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Connecting grief, faith, and devotion, RamDev describes the spiritual price we pay when we ignore the fundamental grief we all experience.

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In this episode, RamDev explains to listeners:

• The many forms that grief can come in
• Grief in our daily lives and feeling subtly separate from God and others
• How deep grief can shatter our faith
• Faith as an integral motivator for our practice
• The cyclical, positive relationship between faith and devotion
• Having an intimate, faith-based relationship with grief
• Our addiction to grief and becoming lost in our pain
• How we can consciously work with grief
• Opening to our own grief in order to be fully compassionate to others
• Trusting that we can become vulnerable and awaken to our own true nature
• Noticing sensations of grief and compassion for grief in our bodies
• Having appropriate boundaries when working with collective grief

“Unresolved grief has a numbing effect. These effects tend to accumulate and block our free expressions of the heart. Our goal is not to stop grief, but to help process it in whatever ways it might arise.” – RamDev

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Ram Dev helps listeners recognize the divine nature and inner light that already exists inside of each one of us.

In this episode, RamDev goes over:

• Incarnations of light as we move through the winter solstice
• Coming together in community to explore our inner light
• Navigating grief through the holidays
• The divine presence that is beyond time and form
• The light within us that is waiting to be recognized
• A brief practice and visualization of a being of light
• Accepting the true nature of reality and merging with the guru
• Ego death as the fundamental paradox of spiritual life
• How clinging to the self blinds us from seeing the light
• Resting in the quiet mind in order to realize non-duality

“When we’re talking about divine incarnation, talking about the birth of the light, it’s a moment to moment realization that we are more than our thoughts, our stories, our identities. The light that we seek is not something outside to be accomplished, not something that we need to attain. It is already within us waiting to be recognized.” – RamDev

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Ramdev teaches us how to adjust our practice and be a warrior of compassion during times of intense political change.

This week on Healing at the Edge, RamDev explores: 

• Non-aggressively confronting injustice
• Recognizing when we are distracted
• Not running away from feelings that are challenging
• Operating from love rather than being reactive
• Reclaiming the brain and taking responsibility for our emotions
• Devouring suffering with compassion
• How the depth of one’s mindfulness determines the depth of one’s compassion
• Remembering our universal connection and that we are all suffering
• Offering self-compassion and treating ourselves generously
• Learning to meet our edge as a path to enlightenment
• Looking into the big unknown and the next four years

“As long as we’re blaming the environment for how we’re feeling (I’m feeling really lousy because of the election, or there’s too much traffic, or the weather isn’t great), healing isn’t happening. Drive all blames into oneself means you reclaim the blame and take responsibility for how you’re feeling. The election is not making you feel a particular way, your set of conditioning in relationship to the election is creating certain emotions in you.” – RamDev

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Explaining relationships as the perfect environment to grow in our practice, Ramdev offers heart-opening wisdom.

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This time on Healing at the Edge, RamDev discusses: 

• Being in the sea of humanity and all the ways we relate to others
• Relationships as a mirror for how our practice is going
• Lessening one’s self-absorption
• How fear, guilt, and shame make it difficult to be in relationship
• Keeping our hearts open despite the chaos of the world
• Being with our feelings and not getting lost in the story
• Acknowledging when we are running away
• Using relationships to work on our spiritual growth
• Meeting the messiness of the human condition
• Seeing the love within each person

“Instead of relationship being only about comfort and enjoyment, and resenting it when it’s not there, use it as the crucible of practice. Use it as the place that is revealing to you where your heart is closing. When your heart is closing to somebody else, really it’s about not loving yourself. If you can love yourself completely, then you can be with everybody.” – RamDev

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Sharing stories of Maharaj-ji, RamDev discusses living a life of service and remembering that God, guru, and self are one.

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.

In this episode of the Healing at the Edge podcast, RamDev holds a talk on: 

• Worshiping God in every form and through every person
• The guru as the one who brings you to God
• God, guru, and self as one
• Love and awareness as the path to the guru
• The struggle of having blind faith in God
• Lessons on money and truth
• The Tantric teachings of Maharaj-ji
• Sacrificing thought and turning our minds to God
• Similarities between Maharaj-ji and Christ
• Maharaj-ji’s encouragement to do mantra practice
• The sense of pure consciousness that is always there

“Ram Dass actually summarized all of Maharaj-ji’s teachings in three words: love, serve, remember. Love people, serve people, remember God.” – RamDev

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