Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

Beginning with the Buddha’s teaching of Anapanasati, Trudy Goodman explores the breath as our most reliable and loving life-long companion.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.This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, renowned Buddhist teacher Trudy Goodman explores:The breath as our life-long, trusted companionThe Buddhist teaching of breath-awareness (Anapanasati)Developing heartful awareness along with the breathComing back to the ‘teddy bear’ of our breathStaying with the breath while being aware of other things in our mindsA guided breath practice and deepening our sense of focusBreath practice as a method of relaxationThe tender caress of the breath in the bodyAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples an

Exploring Bhakti, Buddhism, and lessons from wise teachers, Krishna Das and Robert Thurman come together for a wide-ranging discussion.This recording is from the 2020 Cultivating Wise Hope Virtual Retreat. Find more heart-focused teachings like this, along with practices and digital courses from Ram Dass and friends with Ram Dass’ Inner Academy: Learn MoreToday’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, Krishna Das and Robert Thurman discuss:The miracles of Maharaj-jiHow all people are wholly embraced by divine loveBhakti as devotional heart-to-heart mergingAn exploration of dreams and being happy to let goBeing brave enough to have a heart and experience wonderA breakdown of the three parts of ‘Om’Sovereignty and the tremendous power we all haveRecognizing that Nirvana is everywhereLessons from Jesus and ChristianityLooking to Kali and being fierce but always with loveAbout K

Visionary artist, Martina Hoffmann, describes her encounters with spirit through dreams, nature, psychedelics and more.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, Martina Hoffman offers a talk on:Encountering spirit through dreaming, nature, and moreThe interweaving of creativity and spiritAttempting to express the ineffableEntering into meditation through artMartina’s expansive spiritual evolutionLucid dreaming and transitioning from dream to awakeningOut of body experiences and feeling everything deeplyMartina’s experience with psychedelics and receiving graceThe many ways that one can heal (physically, spiritually, emotionally)Letting go and embracing new beginningsHow challenging moments prepare us for the final journeyAbout Martina Hoffmann:German-born, Martina Hoffmann partially grew up in Cameroon, West Africa. She studied art education with and sculpting at the Johann

Guiding us along the path, Gil Fronsdal shows how to develop spirituality into enduring inner strengths rather than solitary experiences.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, Gil Fronsdal teaches listeners about:Developing personal, inner strengthsThe tendency of meditators to over-value spiritual experiencesWisdom as one of our inner strengthsThe clarity of awakening and seeing the functions of our heart and mindHow something arises and how something ceasesWhat it means to be awake in the here and nowRecognizing all of the times we are in the past or the futureShedding, letting go, and simplifying our experienceFinding the path in the present momentRemaining composed and settling our entire beingHow the Buddhist path does not have a destinationAbout Gil Fronsdal:Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been tea

Exploring how to untangle the threads of intense desire, teacher Trudy Goodman offers direction on meeting the Dharma.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.This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Buddhist teacher Trudy Goodman discusses:Being incarnated into this desire-bodyDiversity within desire and being tuned into different frequenciesThe pressure to conform to expectationsDifficulty in knowing our deepest desires and embodying themBeing determined to do what we wantComing home to the true self which is underneath everythingHeartbreak and obstacles to connection as a place of learningDeveloping our ability to be with intense sensation and maintaining awarenessLeaning into the call of the dharmaThis recording from the Big Bear Retreat Center was originally published on DharmaseedAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teac

Lama Tsultrim Allione shares the practice of feeding our demons in order to dissolve that which prevents us from being free.In this episode from the 2023 Summer Mountain Retreat, Lama Tsultrim Allione shares:How she first discovered Buddhism and meditationThe beauty within silence and quiet attention to our surroundingsLama Tsultrim’s first trip to India and studying the mystic eastHer connection with Ram Dass and Maharaji’s early devoteesThe practice of feeding our demons (the parts of ourselves that drain us)Dissolving that which prevents us from being freeFighting our demons versus feeding our demonsThe demons of the fear of abandonment, depression, anxiety, and addictionParts of ourselves that are trying to get attentionThe difference between the wants and needs of our demonsA guided practice for listenersAbout Lama Tsultrim Allione:Lama Tsultrim Allione is the bestselling author of Women of Wisdom (1984), Feeding Your Demons (2008), and Wisdom Rising Journey into the Mandala of the Em

On this episode of the BHNN Guest Podcast, East Forest and Marisa Radha Weppner discuss the role of song in psychedelics and explore how the ethereal can be accessed through music.In this episode, East Forest and Marisa Radha Weppner discuss:The many ways we can arrive at non-ordinary statesThe power of intention when making musicHow music can act as a bridge to the etherealHow music can influence emotional states and brain statesMusic as a birthright and how anyone can be and is a musicianThe exponential growth rate of societyReclaiming creativity as a necessary technologyPsychedelics and music as propellers into a trance stateTruly giving ourselves over to the musicHaving a guide or therapist to work withThe impact of intention and set and settingAbout East Forest:East Forest is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, and ceremony guide. Since 2008, East Forest’s “lush” (Rolling Stone) and “blissful” (NPR) music has blended ambient, neoclassical, electronic, and avant-pop to explore sound as a tool for inner

In this retreat recording, Gil Fronsdal applies Buddhism to parenting and explains family life as one of the best forms of practice.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.This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal explains:Buddhism as a training for all aspects of our livesFinding balance, freedom, and compassion in the day-to-dayFamily and children as one of the greatest forms of practiceEquanimity as the crown jewel of BuddhismHow children are more influenced by how we are rather than what we sayOur emotional presence as an integral part of our children’s developmentHow anger and anxiety can pass onto our childrenStepping back and looking at our prioritiesTaking responsibility to show up for practiceControlling ourselves and staying presentBeing accepting and allowing our children to be themselvesMaking space when our children say hurtful thingsGil’s own stories and examples as a

Defining relationships as a triangle between God, Self, and Other, Stephen and Ondrea Levine discuss opening and softening our hearts.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 archival episode, Stephen and Ondrea Levine explore:How relationships open our hearts in hellThe difficulty in relationships as a path to purificationHow easy it is to be in a relationship, how hard it is to relateRelationships as a triangle between God, Other, and SelfHow fear and cruelty dissolves in a willingness to approach the truthTrying to let go of what keeps hearts separateDying into life, letting the heart burst, and going onPractices that help us connect to ourselves and to forgiveThe tremendous work we can do at homeHealing parental relationshipsHow grief keeps us separateEach moment of love as complete and preciousLearning how to love by watching how unloving we often areAbout Stephen & Ondrea

Trudy Goodman introduces listeners to the Brahmavihārās through an affectionate breath practice and a loving-kindness body scan.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.This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Buddhist teacher Trudy Goodman explores:The Brahmavihārās: love, compassion, joy and equanimityRe-parenting ourselves through practiceThe feeling of being soothed, comforted, and safetyOffering loving kindness to our bodyGratitude for the breath and all it does to support usThe breath as a river of blessings that is always here for usHow the Brahmavihārās infuse and suffuse our beingA loving-kindness body scanAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats and wo

In this episode of the Ram Dass Explorer’s Club, Buddhist teacher Spring Washam delves into the real work that comes before and after a journey with plant medicine.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.This conversation was recorded as part of the Ram Dass Explorer’s club. To learn more and sign up to join a Ram Dass fellowship gathering near you, visit RamDass.org/Fellowship.In this episode, Spring Washam and Jackie Dobrinska explore:Medicine as the gateway, practice as the real workAwakening to the truth of interconnectednessMetta, the loving-kindness practice / four qualities of heart and mindThe liberation that can be found within communityMoving away from hyper-independence and giving more value to loveThinking about our ‘why’ when it comes to using psychedelicsLearning how to love ourselves, each other, and this broken worldThe future of psychedelic legalization

Through meditation and lecture, Gil Fronsdal outlines how the awareness of awareness is more important than the content of an experience.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.This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal explains:Giving too much importance to our experiencesBeing mindful of whatever is present in a given momentThe authority we give to our fixationsDropping into the experience of the body breathingKnowing our feelings and thoughts and noticing when we are distractedA guided mediation from Gil to develop awareness of awarenessAbout Gil Fronsdal:Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at 

In this 2022 retreat session, Spring Washam and Sharon Salzberg take a deeper look at mindfulness, the foundation of the Buddhist tradition.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, Sharon and Spring hold a discourse on:Working directly with our mindAn opening body scan meditation with SpringThe practice of Satipatthana and finding freedom through mindfulnessFinding the end of suffering by examining our own body internallyThe importance of posture in meditationViewing the present moment without distortionOur relationship to what is arisingToxic happiness and negation of the realBeing with what is actually happening moment to momentMetta as an open, connected, interested quality of the heartA closing metta meditation from SharonRecognizing the power of good that moves through usAbout Sharon Salzberg:Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York

Sharing her recent near-death experience, Trudy Goodman explains how and why dharma practice is essential to facing death without fear.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.This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Buddhist teacher Trudy Goodman shares:How even slivers of wisdom light up our lifeHer personal story of a near-death experience and choosing to liveThe imminence of death and knowing it can come at any timeThe extraordinary opportunity it is to be bornThe value in each moment we are awareThe way that life takes care of lifeLearning to rest and not pushFreedom from surrendering to the way things areHow who we are is more important than what we doThe way that pain concentrates the mind and tests our practiceAppreciating all of the little moments that act as dharma doorwaysThis recording was originally published on DharmaseedAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the

Gil Fronsdal offers Buddhist wisdom on relating skillfully to our emotions and seeing them as messengers of our inner worlds.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.In this talk, Gil Fronsdal lectures about:Identifying emotions without getting lost in the storyThe necessity and benefits of feeling painKnowing what's happening as it's happeningHow most of us are driven by our desires and aversionsSimply knowing and how free our knowing can beMaking room for our experiencesHow our emotions let us know what we should pay attention toLearning how our emotions live in the intelligent system of our bodyHow reactivity blocks us from processing emotionsBeing in our body and allowing processes to unfold“One of the primary functions of emotions is to let us know something is important. They’re knocking on the door of our capacity to know. They are not accidents, they’re not incidental, they’re not annoyan

Professor and Investigator Dr. Quevedo is hosted by Jackie Dobrinska for a philosophical talk on interrelation and psychedelic therapies.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, Dr. Sylvestre Quevedo and Jackie Dobrinska explore:The qualities of love within the heartHow the chemical components of MDMA aid in social bonding and heart-openingTouching into transcendent realms and the divineThe importance of our worldviewsNavigating difficult experiences when using plant medicineTurning to sacred texts to glean understandingRam Dass’ perspectives on psychedelicsHow the Bhagavad Gita can help usThe Indigenous 7 generation teachingThe efficacy of MDMA in PTSD treatmentAwareness and appreciation for natureThe importance of community and being in connectionThe uses of psychedelics beyond the medical modelThis conversation was recorded as part of the Ram Dass Explorer

In a stimulating talk on reincarnation, ego-death, and other dimensions, renowned Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee bridges this world and the next.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.This week, teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee returns to explore:The unknowable essence of deathLessons and instructions from the UpanishadsDying to the ego before we die to this physical worldThe transcendent dimension of our own beingHaving choice in the afterlife if one transcends their ego in their lifeHow relationships with spiritual teachers can last lifetime after lifetimeReincarnation and unfinished spiritual lessonsJourneying through other dimensionsDeath as a friend and destinationHow easy it is to be caught in the distortions of the worldLearning the lessons of our individual soulsBeing surrounded by an all-embracing lightAbout Llewellyn:Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D. is a Sufi teacher in t

Describing writing as an act of faith, author Anne Lamott offers a workshop on connecting to our inner longing for creativity.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.This week, Anne Lamott joins the BHNN Guest podcast to teach: Following our creative lives and childhood callingsMeeting our creativity half-wayHow all of us start at the beginningMaking time for writing in our livesFiguring out what it is we want to write and making a listOwning everything that was done to us and everything we have seenAccepting that our first drafts will not be wonderfulWhy we should not worship perfectionismFinding a writing partner or local writing groupTaking everything sentence by sentencePaying attention to ourselves and all that dwells within usTo read the poem Anne recites, Monet Refuses the Operation, click HERE.About Anne Lamott:Anne Lamott is the New York Times best-selling auth

Live from Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Trudy Goodman offers insight on skillfully working with the breath by infusing mindfulness with lovingkindness.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.This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Buddhist teacher Trudy Goodman discusses:Keeping the breath company with our attention from start to finishThe breath as a rudder to navigate our inner experienceStaying attuned and connected to the movement of the breathFinding safety and relaxation in our breathAlternative practices for those with asthma or other breathing concernsStudying the birth and death of experienceHow the Buddha practiced mindfulness of breath during his great awakeningFeeling the breath within the breathReturning to the breath when our attention straysThis recording was originally published on DharmaseedAbout Trudy Goodman:Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and th

This week, Buddhist Teacher Gil Fronsdal explores our quality of well-being and how we can cultivate ease, happiness, and contentment on the path to inner liberation.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 talk on cultivating well-being through Buddhist practice, Gil touches on:Happiness as something we do not pursue, but cultivate by creating and recognizing conditions for itThe “three breath journey” meditation practice, which helps to shift perception and be presentDeveloping clarity and ease through mindfulness practiceTransforming challenging emotions and experiences by befriending them non-judgmentallyPhysical presence and awareness in the body as a part of cultivating well-beingExperimenting with different mindfulness techniques to find what brings you joy and ease“We create the conditions for happiness, and we learn to recognize the conditions that bring it forth. But