The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast

By Darren Littlejohn

Religion & Spirituality Buddhism

What's The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast about?

Readings and meditations from sacred Buddhist masters. Discussion of methods, techniques and essential principles of Buddhist recovery.

Now we're integrating the next level. Are you ready to drop into the deep work? The correct answer is yes!

Based on the groundbreaking new book, Compassionate Recovery: Mindful Healing for Trauma and Addictions (2022 Rainbow Light Media).

AA deals with the cunning, baffling and powerful nature of addictions.
Here, we go down to the roots, with ACEs, Western neuropsychology, and the application of scientifically tested training methods that are based on the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhist, Yoga other systems.

Learn to practice easy to follow methods, with powerful effects. Enhance and strengthen your emotional stability in recovery. Discover self-compassion, the wisdom of generosity and more.

For a foundation in Buddhist recovery and Dharma recovery, read The 12-Step Buddhist 10-Year Anniversary Edition (2018 Atria\Beyond Words) anywhere books are sold.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

What is a Buddhist Higher P...

09.22.2023

What is a Buddhist Higher Power and How Do Buddhists in Recovery Pray? The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 103 Sutra of Golden Light: Chapter 6 on Emptiness cont. Let's talk about the obstacles to prayer and hence, spiritual development. That's ...

The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast episodes:

09.22.2023 What is a Buddhist Higher Power and/or How Do Buddhists in Recovery Pray? What is a Buddhist Higher Power and How Do Buddhists in Recovery Pray? The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 103 Sutra of Golden Light: Chapter 6 on Emptiness cont. Let's talk about the obstacles to prayer and hence, spiritual development. That's ...
09.15.2023 Stabilizing Our Recovery with Dharma Practice Stabilizing Our Recovery with Dharma Practice The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 102 Sutra of Golden Light: Chapter 6 on Emptiness Dharma has to help, otherwise it's of no value. For it to work, we study, hear words, see things and ...
09.03.2023 Addiction and Trauma: A Basis for the Practice of Recovery Addiction and Trauma: A Basis for the Practice of Recovery The Dysregulated Addict: Finding Spiritual Regulation Series Pt. 6 The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 101 Review of this series so far. Understanding ACEs: - Definition and Types: Physical abuse, emotional ...
08.13.2023 ACES High - Mindful Heart: Mindfulness for Addicts with ACEs The Dysregulated Addict: Finding Spiritual Regulation Series Pt. 5 The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 100 Part 5: Mindfulness for Addicts with ACEs The Impact of ACEs on the Brain and the Path to Addiction Introduction:** Remember our journey through the ...
08.04.2023 Calming the Fires - Allostatic Load, Window of Tolerance Calming the Fire Alarms - Allostatic Load, Window of Tolerance The Dysregulated Addict: Finding Spiritual Regulation Series Pt. 4 The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 099 https://podcast.compassionaterecovery.us Part 4: Balance in the Nervous System -Allostatic Load, Window of Tolerance This is ...
07.22.2023 Balancing Our Nervous System - The CNS and Stress Balancing Our Nervous System - The CNS and Stress The Disregulated Addict: Finding Spiritual Regulation Series Pt. 3 Happy First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma Day The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 098 Part 3: Balance in the Nervous System ...
07.07.2023 The Dance of the Nervous System - Sympathetic and Parasympathetic The Disregulated Addict: Finding Spiritual Regulation Series Pt. 2 The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 097 Episode 2: The Dance of the Nervous System - Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Deep dive into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems Their roles in stress, ...
07.01.2023 The Dysregulated Addict: Finding Spiritual Regulation in Recovery Series Pt. 1 Do you get distressed easily in sobriety? You may have a disregulated nervous system. If so, it's important to not compare your insides with anyone else's outsides. In Compassionate Recovery: Mindful Healing for Trauma and Addictions, we gain an overview ...
06.23.2023 Into the Fire; How to Transform Experience into Dharma Everything is the path to enlightenment. The ground is everywhere. We can't step anywhere exept deeper into Teaching. More authentically into practice. As the smoke churned towards my face, plumes broiling hundreds of feet into the natural blue sky, my ...
06.09.2023 Curbing the Dharma Ego What is ego, and how does it affect our practice as Buddhists in Recovery? When we practice Dharma, are we taking refuge in our identity, apparently concrete and permanent sense of self, or are we working to let go, to ...
06.03.2023 Taking Refuge in Compassion To empower ourselves into a trajectory beyond suffering we must clearly understand our condition. How to arrive at this understanding, and then integrate this real, non-artificial Buddha Superinteligence that is our real condition, as blind as most of us are ...
05.27.2023 Birth of the Birthless; Refuge and Bodhicitta in Daily Life pt. 3 Buddha's Birthday - Saka Dawa If you were born after the 70s, your ideas of Dharma are probably your grandmothers, or even great grandmothers. So this here what we do on the podcast, this ain'tcher granny's dharma, y'hear? Listen in ...
05.20.2023 Compassion Breath; Refuge and Bodhicitta in Daily Life pt. 2 Speak to him, thou, for He heareth And spirit with spirit can meet. Closer is He than breathing. And nearer than hands and feet. -Tennyson As within, so without. Join us this week for a compassion meditation that is as ...
05.12.2023 Recovery Flow State; Refuge and Bodhicitta in Daily Life The notion of getting into a flow state, otherwise known as zen af, while maintaining our sobriety and living to our full potential. As Bodhisattvas on the path of recovery we can affect those around us with our own stable ...
04.21.2023 Tantric Refuge in Recovery; Components of a Practice Session pt. 3 We've spent many sessions on refuge and bodhicitta, compassion. For this episode, let's get into something that I wrote about in Step 11 in The 12-Step Buddhist (Atria\Beyond Words 2018), in reference to the practice of Vajrasattva for purification. We'll ...
04.14.2023 Grace: How to Accept the Blessings in Recovery; Components of a Practice Session pt. 2 Instead of putting ourselves in a position to be hurt, we place ourselves in a position to be blessed. What is Grace? We can discuss in a traditional sense the meaning of grace. How do we get out of the ...
03.31.2023 How to Practice Dharma in Recovery: Components of a Practice Session pt. 1 We can apply our development of refuge and bodhicitta on the path of recovery. We use rituals that include motions, breathwork, sounds and visualizations. We can offer flowers and scents and all of our attachments to the Refuge Field. From ...
03.25.2023 How to Take Refuge in Recovery: Refuge in the Sangha Who is our Sangha? Choose wisely. In this aspect of the path, we study and try to understand our effect on other beings and our energy. The Buddha has shown itself in the sufferings of infinite karmas, filling bottomless oceans ...
03.18.2023 How to Take Refuge in Recovery: Refuge in the Dharma What is this Dharma that we are offered to take refuge in? Can it be defined? Continuing our discussion of what, and what not to take refuge in. Now that we have some sense of the Buddha, the Four Noble ...
03.11.2023 How to Take Refuge in Recovery: Refuge in the Buddha cont. This week we continue deepening our understanding of precisely what it means to us to take refuge, in the Buddha, in recovery. Last episode, we discussed the Four Kayas of a Buddha. This episode continues the discussion of Objects of ...
03.03.2023 How to Take Refuge in Recovery: Refuge in the Buddha Work with refuge in our meditations with "objects" to take refuge in. We started the topic on a simple way. Now, we get into the weeds on refuge in this ongoing series. Drawing from a rare translation on Refuge and ...
02.25.2023 How to Take Refuge in Recovery: Objects of Refuge Two weeks of dental suffering brought my practice, and my sobriety, to the test. This week we take a deeper look at refuge and it's application to our lives as Buddhists in recovery. More personal sharing this week as I ...
02.05.2023 How to Take Refuge in Recovery: Being Refuge To understand what is meant by refuge in recovery, we must first understand and integrate some basic Buddhist principles. Intellectual understanding is not sufficient, but we gotta start somewhere. We discuss the meaning of refuge in Buddhism. It There are ...
01.27.2023 Easy Does It Dharma; Practices of a Bodhisattva #37 ccl. If you've ever been to a 12-step meeting, you've probably seen the famous sign, "Easy Does It". Some who've clawed our way out of hell to scratch a morsel of serenity have done so out of sheer force, which can ...
01.21.2023 Shamanic Meditation From Peru w/Charo; Practices of a Bodhisattva #36 Direct from Peru, Charo Verastegui (María del Rosario Verástegui Schmitt), a fellow practitioner of the Chod, as well as indigenous spiritual practices. See past and future books and episodes for more on Chod as the best tool available to cut ...
01.14.2023 Is Suffering Really Optional?; Practices of a Bodhisattva #35 Addicts are seekers. What do we seek? Transcendence. The mystical. The sacred. Why do we seek the type of experiences that are outside what we call ordinary consciousness? Rather than look for answers out of pure scientific curiosity, we're more ...
01.07.2023 What We Resist Persists-Resistance is Futile; Practices of a Bodhisattva #34 As addicts in any form of Buddhist Recovery, Dharma Recovery, Refuge Recovery, we try to focus on mindful, compassionate presence in the four moments that Buddha described. Yet, when we have ACEs and are in working with Trauma and Recovery, ...
12.31.2022 Release Your Anger; Practices of a Bodhisattva #33 We can pretend that we're not angry, but it will make us feel less in control. How does anger affect us in our recovery? We're told in 12-Step meetings that anger is a dubious luxury for "normal" people. Yet it ...
12.24.2022 How to Give the Gift of Presence; Practices of a Bodhisattva #32 What is the best thing that we can gift each other? Our mindful, compassionate presence. We discuss the mahayana *(greater) path of dharma, as it applies to recovery from addictions, at any stage. To overcome the root of our addiction, ...
12.18.2022 Being Present w/Loss and Grief; Practices of a Bodhisattva #31 Being present with loss and grief. while loss is universal, the experience of grief is individual. it cannot be compared to previous experiences, or those of other people. once we own our own process, grief and loss become part of ...
12.10.2022 *25 YEARS SOBER*, When the Present is the Past; Practices of a Bodhisattva #30 celebrating 25 years of sobriety 12-4-97 how the past influences our perception and therefore experience of this infamous now. the holy now. the nowness of now. but is what we think is the now really the present moment, or a ...
12.04.2022 Insight into What?, Practices of a Bodhisattva #29 So called insight meditation practices are perhaps the most widely diffused in the west, in terms of what people think of as buddhism. today we'll expand our view and understand something of value when it comes to the nature and ...
11.26.2022 Emotional Surrender: How to Be Non-Toxic; Practices of a Bodhisattva #28 Emotional Surrender: How to Be Non-Toxic. Addicts are very sensitive, empathic, highly emotional creatures. The inability to be comfortable in our own skin creates suffering that contributes to our addiction and other dysfunction. How does Dharma deal with toxic emotions ...
11.20.2022 Wait for It... Patience Never Comes; Practices of a Bodhisattva #27 Teachings ask us to practice the perfection or paramita of patience. But as any good addict knows, it's never fast enough for us. We operate on our own time, often expecting the world to warp its perceptions to match ours. ...
11.05.2022 The Horny Buddhist: Sex and the Dharma; Practices of a Bodhisattva #26 How does a Buddhist deal with the sex drive, sex roles, morays, expectations, taboos in the dharma, and the dharma of recovery? What role does trauma, particularly sexual trauma, play in our choices, drives as Buddhists in recovery? Why do ...
10.29.2022 Making Buddhist Amends; Practices of a Bodhisattva #25 How does a Buddha make amends? In 12-Step, we learn the necessity not of insincere apology, but absolute willingness to right the wrongs we've done. Given that we've accumulated infinite negative karmas in our Realm of Desire, just how long ...
10.22.2022 Sacred Space; Practices of a Bodhisattva #24 If being is one thing and space is another, we suffer. In being space, we create a split between samsara and nirvana. From the beginning of beginningless time, when we separate subject and object, we create infinite causes for suffering. ...
10.14.2022 Effortless Meditation with Guest Instructor Igor Berkhin Join me for a special guest meditation. On this episode, we practice together with an excellent instructor in the Dzogchen space. The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast - Episode 066 Igor Berkhin is a long-term meditation practitioner, a Buddhist translator, and a ...
10.10.2022 How Deep is The Dharma?; Practices of a Bodhisattva #23 Do you want to be free of suffering? Training on the path of compassion will ultimately free us from all attachments, if we commit and take a long-term view. Continuing w the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, #23. Readings from ...
10.01.2022 Free Yourself; Practices of a Bodhisattva #22 In Twelve step programs, we're taught that we must free ourselves from the "bondage of self." What does this mean for us as Buddhists in recovery? How can we apply the teachings to free ourselves? It's up to us. Liberation ...
09.24.2022 McMindfulness w/Cheese, Please; Practices of a Bodhisattva #21 Is Mindfulness being co-opted more by corporations, or our egos? McMindfulness in the context of meaningful recovery that includes training in self-compassion and compassion for others. The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast - Episode 063 Want to opine? Leave a message on ...
09.17.2022 Microtasking Happiness; Practices of a Bodhisattva #20 Learn to microtask with laser precision on absolute happiness, through practices in our relative condition. The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast - Episode 062 Continuing w the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, #20. Reading from A Cascading Waterfall of Nectar, Thinley Norbu ...
09.10.2022 Being Joy; Practices of a Bodhisattva #19 How to create and manifest authentic joy from your Buddha nature for the benefit of beings. Continuing w the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, #19. Episode 061 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Reading from The Precious Treasury of the Basic ...
09.03.2022 Are Your ACEs High?; Practices of a Bodhisattva #18 Take your Adverse Childhood Experience test with me, as we talk about the lifelong effects of ACEs on your recovery, well into long-term sobriety. Episode 060 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Reading from The Precious Treasury of Pith Instructions, Longchen ...
08.26.2022 Episode 059 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast: Retrain Your Brain for Compassion, Practices of a Bodhisattva #17 How to retrain our thinking, reasoning, organizing brain with practices of compassion. Executive Function as it is affected by trauma, addiction and principles of recovery. Reading from The Precious Treasury of The Way of Abiding Compassionate Recovery: Mindful Healing for ...
08.20.2022 Episode 058 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast: Soulmates in Sobriety, Practices of a Bodhisattva #16 Using skillful means to discern between a soulmate and an addiction. Applying the bodhisattva practice to our recovery. Reading from White Lotus: An Explanation of the Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Padmasambhava Compassionate Recovery: Mindful Healing for Trauma and Addictions Available ...
08.11.2022 Episode 057 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast: Learn to Regulate Your Stress Response, Practices of a Bodhisattva #15 How our nervous system can be retrained to contain our toxic stress by continuing with Practices of a Bodhisattva #15. Reading from Treasures from Juniper Ridge Compassionate Recovery: Mindful Healing for Trauma and Addictions Available in Kindle, Trade Paperback, Hardcover. ...
08.06.2022 Episode 056 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast: SOUND UPGRADE, Adopting the Long-term View, Practices of a Bodhisattva #14 Discussion of the experiences of wisdom and compassion and how they relate to our confidence in recovery as well as our long-term goals of becoming a Bodhisattva. Continuing with practice #14. Reading from the New York Times, The Case for ...
07.30.2022 Episode 055 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast: Trauma and Recovery, Practices of a Bodhisattva #13 How not to cut people's heads off, rather we offer our own. ACEs, neuropsych, how to pause when agitated as the Practice of a Bodhisattva, #13. Reading from Kindly Bent to Ease Us - Part Three, Wonderment Compassionate Recovery: Mindful ...
07.23.2022 Episode 054 - The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast: Don't Pull the Trigger, Bodhisattva Practice #12 Prayers for the dead. How to integrate Bodhisattva practice into recovery. Discussion of triggers as they pertain to staying in balance, within our Window of Tolerance. Reading from Great Perfection Audiobook!!! Now on Audiobook! Compassionate Recovery: Mindful Healing for Trauma ...

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