Shell Fischer's Podcast

By Shell Fischer

What's Shell Fischer's Podcast about?

Insight Meditation teacher, Shell Fischer, founder of Mindful Shenandoah Valley, offers her 25+ years of study and experience in these weekly talks about meditation practice, and how it can help us nurture more compassion, kindness, joy, and calm in our lives.

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Shell Fischer's Podcast episodes:

04.06.2024
What Would Buddha Do? Taking Refuge in the Beloved
This talk addresses the question: How can we flow between all the different roles, hats, or identities that we place on ourselves every day, and that kind, wise, compassionate presence within us that is actually free of those often-limiting identities,...
02.29.2024
It Takes A Long Time to Grow Young: Nurturing Contentment
Right before the Buddha’s enlightenment, a single memory from his childhood apparently not only led him to nirvana, but to the profound teachings of the Middle Way – the whole thing. Essentially, what he remembered was what contentment (or passaddhi)...
02.02.2024
How To Work With Fear & Grief: Pause
The Buddhist teachings are continually calling our attention to the truth of what is called annica, or impermanence, because essentially, it’s exactly what we tend to struggle with, in the form of both the fear of uncertainty, and the grief that...
12.30.2023
"It's All Yours" - Responding to Disrespect and Insult
As the Buddha’s teachings remind us over and over, even though it’s difficult, we never want to let another person’s anger, disrespect, or cruelty harden our own hearts. Instead, we want our meditation practice to serve as a kind of...
12.02.2023
EMPTY OF EXPECTATION: Exploring "Beginner's Mind"
While the Buddha assured us that it’s healthy to be aware of all our different intentions, he also suggested that once we’ve planted the seeds of our plans, our practice becomes surrendering to any determined outcome whatsoever – to truly...
11.04.2023
Content in the Center: Exploring the Middle Way
When we practice what the Buddha called The Middle Way, we start to realize with more clarity that contentment resides at the center of our wanting and not wanting, our indulgence or deprivation. We learn that nothing is really happy or...
09.30.2023
The Sacred Healing of Noble Silence
In order for us to practice well, we need to learn how to create and then dwell in a quality the Buddha called Noble Silence – something that is precious and multi-faceted, like a jewel, and not simply about being...
09.02.2023
What Am I 'Really" Offering Myself and Others?: An Exploration of Dana
In the Buddhist teachings, the practice of dana (or generosity) is considered the number one heart quality that we are urged to cultivate, in order to discover more joy, and less suffering in our lives. This new talk from Shell...
08.06.2023
What You Resist, Persists: Working With Aversion
As the Buddha tells us, rejecting, avoiding, or pushing away the reality of the moment - which might be unpleasant - is one of the main ways that we create suffering (or dukkha) not only for ourselves, but also for others....
06.07.2023
Is Meditation Selfish? Advise From The Acrobat Sutta
Most of us tend to grapple with what is considered an ancient human torment: the challenge of trying to balance a need for self-care, along with a strong sense of feeling responsible for helping others, and the world in general...
05.06.2023
Do You Know Your Frenemies?
In the Buddhist teachings, the Buddha urged us to very consciously be on the lookout for harmful qualities he called “The Near Enemies,” – qualities that all “pretend” to be the heart-qualities of kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity, or,...
04.01.2023
The Most Important Meditation Practice: Patience
The Buddha was once asked “what is the most important thing for us to practice?” And his answer was simple: patience (or khanti, in Pali). Happily, this vital quality is something we can learn to apply to absolutely everything we...
03.05.2023
Maybe So, Maybe Not, We'll See: Riding The 8 Worldly Winds
In the Buddhist teachings it is said that there are 8 different “winds” or conditions that we either hope for, or fear - all of which are constantly blowing into our lives, just like the wind. These 8 are the...
02.03.2023
Where Do We Find Our True Home?
Whenever we think of the word “home” we often think of a kind of brick and mortar “place” where we can physically dwell. But in the Buddhist tradition, home or “refuge” is not something we find outside of ourselves, but...
12.02.2022
A More Joyful, Contented Heart
Modern science has now shown us that what the Buddha was trying to tell us more than 2600 years ago is spot on: that by consciously choosing to incline our minds towards more joy, we can actually change the structure of...
11.03.2022
No Mud, No Lotus: Exploring Our Suffering
While the Buddha assured us that our meditation practice is the path to freedom, he also explained that in order for us to achieve a more profound happiness than we could ever find outside of ourselves, we first need to...
10.08.2022
What Would Buddha Say?
Modern science has shown us that our words are not harmless: they have the very real power to not only affect our actual brains, but to either create more hurt and discord in this world, or more harmony and connection....
09.10.2022
Can You Apologize? A Mindful Inquiry
Apologizing is such a challenging skill that the Buddha himself said that learning to do it well is “THE essential factor in achieving purity in thought, word, and deed.” This new talk explores how we can use our mindfulness practice...
08.13.2022
Buddha: What's NOT Wrong?
Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that instead of focusing on everything that’s wrong with ourselves, other people, or the world … we should ask: “What’s NOT wrong,” as a way of practicing the incredibly transformative quality of gratitude. This...
07.13.2022
Buddha: 5 Ways To Let Go
The Buddhist teachings warn us of 5 main challenging and complicated mental states that block, confuse, or “hinder” our ability to more fully open our hearts and minds, and prevent us from discovering freedom from suffering. In this talk, Shell...
06.18.2022
Don't Believe Everything You Think
A common expression among those who practice Insight Meditation is “don’t believe everything you think,” which points to the idea that in order for us to discover the truth – or any transformation or release from suffering in our lives...
05.19.2022
Don't 'Should' All Over Yourself
The Buddha taught that you can search the entire universe for someone more deserving of your love and compassion than yourself, and you will not find that person anywhere. And yet, so often for many of us, it seems much easier...
04.23.2022
You Are Worthy; You Belong
As the Buddhist teachings show us, our deepest source of pain and suffering arises from our delusion that we are somehow separate from one another, and from Earth itself. Given this, one the most profound practices we are offered to...
03.26.2022
Trust The Unfolding
In the Buddhist teachings, we are asked to use our meditation practice as a way to reflect on the profound truth of anicca, or impermanence: the truth that everything – including ourselves, is always and forever in a constant state...
02.19.2022
Buddha: What's Your Sense of Worthiness?
In the Buddha’s teachings on Wise or Right Livelihood, we are urged to shine a strong light on what we’re believing about our own worth, as well as our opinions about the worthiness of others, because these assumptions touch, shape, and...
01.28.2022
The Cooling Touch of Tranquility
One day, when the Buddha was just 8 years old and upset, he decided to offer himself both calm and compassion by very naturally sitting in what has been called “the first meditation,” and consciously nurturing a quality called Passaddhi...
01.01.2022
Strive On With Diligence: Practices to Help Keep Us Going
The Buddha’s last words to us were said to be: “All conditioned things are impermanent; strive on with diligence!” In these difficult times we’re all living through, maintaining our practice, as well as our sense of hopefulness, can often be...
12.03.2021
Keep Calmly Knowing Idiots: Practices for Working With Anger
Whenever there seems to be a gap between what is, and how we want it to be – whether this means a situation, person, ourselves, or life itself – we tend to experience frustration, or anger. Yet, if we can...
11.05.2021
What's The Most Important Thing?
The Buddhist nun Pema Chodron suggests that we remember to ask ourselves one key question, every day: “Since death is certain, and the timing of death uncertain, what is the most important thing?” In this talk, we explore what the...
10.11.2021
What The Heart Finds In Silence
In the Buddhist tradition we are asked to develop a quality called Noble Silence, which serves not only as a sacred vehicle for us, but is also in a very real way our destination. In essence, the more we can...
08.23.2021
Pray Like A Buddha
The Buddhist teachings offer us numerous ways of praying, yet people often ask: in this non-theistic tradition, what does it mean to do this? Or, what is it that we are aspiring to, when we place our hands together and...
08.08.2021
Finding Balance By Setting Boundaries
The teachings show us that setting healthy boundaries with others is an incredibly important skill that can help us to live with more balance, joy, and ease in our lives - but of course, this isn’t always easy. Students often...
07.10.2021
I Am Family, To Myself: Becoming Your Own Refuge
One of the most essential teachings of the Buddha can be found in a single and famous line of advise from him, which is, “Be a lamp unto yourself; be a refuge to yourself; take yourself to no external refuge.”...
06.02.2021
Everything Changes: Now What?
According to the Buddhist teachings, one of the main ways that we suffer is by trying to hold onto or even control that which is inherently impermanent – including everything and everyone in our lives, as well as our ourselves....
04.29.2021
The Gift of Being Heard
In order for each of us feel understood, and cared for, it’s important that our hearts are both seen, and heard. And while our listening skills are absolutely essential for this, so many of us don’t know how to do...
04.03.2021
Care For Our Tender Hearts
As we slowly begin to emerge from this difficult time in our history, it’s essential for us to remember that we’ve all experienced loss this year, and to make every effort to offer our kindness, compassion, and care out to...
03.06.2021
Seek Those Who Fan Your Flames
According to the Buddha, choosing good relationships in this life doesn’t just constitute part of our spiritual development, but in fact the whole of it. Because these choices are so critical to our happiness, the teachings offers us numerous and...
02.06.2021
Buddha: Don't Associate With Fools
The Buddha tells us that our relationships are “the whole of this spiritual life”; that in fact they can greatly determine both our happiness, or our sorrow. Because of this, he urges us to use our practice to closely discern...
01.10.2021
False Evidence Appearing Real: Working With Fear
Given all the conditions that are giving rise to worry, anxiety, and fear in our world, it’s natural that many of us find ourselves struggling with what the Buddha called unhealthy fear – which occurs when we become trapped in...
12.12.2020
Don't Give Up, No Feeling Is Final
Inevitably, throughout our lives, we will all experience both the beauty and terror of what are called the 8 Worldly Winds, which can arrive in varying degrees –sometimes as a gentle breeze; at other times like a gusting tornado. Either...
11.14.2020
Don't Argue With Fools - Practices for Working with Insult
Though the experience of being insulted can feel extremely painful, it’s actually a common experience. Yet, if we continue to cling to each and every barb, it can greatly affect the quality of our lives. This talk explores some of...
10.09.2020
This Is A Moment - A Practice on Presence
This new talk is based on the phrase, “This Is A Moment,” which through practice can help us to detach from our busy, discursive, and negative thoughts, and bring us back home to the more open, calm, awake space of...
09.02.2020
Allowing Our Sadness to Speak
So often, we tend to believe that whenever we’re experiencing sadness, there must be something “wrong,” or that it “shouldn’t” be happening. But when we can use our practice to courageously and compassionately allow ourselves to not only feel our...
07.30.2020
Finding Refuge in Gratitude
Especially in times of difficulty, the practice of gratitude (or katavedita, in Pali) is one of the most profound skills we can use to help us discover some sort of balance in our lives, some ground beneath our feet, a...
06.18.2020
Permission to Pause
As the teachings show us, in order for us to respond to suffering – our own, and that of others – it is essential that we very consciously give ourselves permission to pause, to temporarily take some sacred time to...
05.04.2020
The Benefits of Being Patient
Often, during difficult times, what’s most needed to help soothe, quiet, and ease our troubled minds – the quality of patience - is also the most difficult to access. In this new talk, Shell taps into the Buddhist teachings to...
03.23.2020
Finding Balance & Ease: The Practice of Equanimity
In this talk, recorded live on Mar. 10, Shell explores how we can use the practice of equanimity (or balanced awareness) to work with our fear, panic, and uncertainty, and discover more kindness, compassion, connection, and ease during these difficult...
02.26.2020
Concentration - The 6th Factor of Awakening
In mystical and spiritual literature throughout the ages, deep states of consciousness have been described as having been achieved through the art of concentration – which is exactly what we’re trying to cultivate in our meditation practice. As we learn...
02.12.2020
Tranquility: The 5th Factor of Awakening
As we deepen our meditation practice, it is crucial for us to learn how to develop the powerful quality of Passaddhi, also translated as “calm,” “tranquility,” “serenity,” or “composure.” This soothing, cooling quality of mind and heart can help to...
02.07.2020
Meditation: Discovering Our Deepest Intention
In this 25-minute guided meditation, we're invited to look beneath our more shallow intentions to discover our deepest intention, so that we can learn to cultivate, nurture, and embody it, and carry its light out into our lives and our...

What's Shell Fischer's Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Shell Fischer's Podcast episodes:

What Would Buddha Do? Taking Refuge in the Beloved

It Takes A Long Time to Grow Young: Nurturing Contentment

How To Work With Fear & Grief: Pause

"It's All Yours" - Responding to Disrespect and Insult

EMPTY OF EXPECTATION: Exploring "Beginner's Mind"

Content in the Center: Exploring the Middle Way

The Sacred Healing of Noble Silence

What Am I 'Really" Offering Myself and Others?: An Exploration of Dana

What You Resist, Persists: Working With Aversion

Is Meditation Selfish? Advise From The Acrobat Sutta

Do You Know Your Frenemies?

The Most Important Meditation Practice: Patience

Maybe So, Maybe Not, We'll See: Riding The 8 Worldly Winds

Where Do We Find Our True Home?

A More Joyful, Contented Heart

No Mud, No Lotus: Exploring Our Suffering

What Would Buddha Say?

Can You Apologize? A Mindful Inquiry

Buddha: What's NOT Wrong?

Buddha: 5 Ways To Let Go

Don't Believe Everything You Think

Don't 'Should' All Over Yourself

You Are Worthy; You Belong

Trust The Unfolding

Buddha: What's Your Sense of Worthiness?

The Cooling Touch of Tranquility

Strive On With Diligence: Practices to Help Keep Us Going

Keep Calmly Knowing Idiots: Practices for Working With Anger

What's The Most Important Thing?

What The Heart Finds In Silence

Pray Like A Buddha

Finding Balance By Setting Boundaries

I Am Family, To Myself: Becoming Your Own Refuge

Everything Changes: Now What?

The Gift of Being Heard

Care For Our Tender Hearts

Seek Those Who Fan Your Flames

Buddha: Don't Associate With Fools

False Evidence Appearing Real: Working With Fear

Don't Give Up, No Feeling Is Final

Don't Argue With Fools - Practices for Working with Insult

This Is A Moment - A Practice on Presence

Allowing Our Sadness to Speak

Finding Refuge in Gratitude

Permission to Pause

The Benefits of Being Patient

Finding Balance & Ease: The Practice of Equanimity

Concentration - The 6th Factor of Awakening

Tranquility: The 5th Factor of Awakening

Meditation: Discovering Our Deepest Intention