Month: May 2020

[WATCH] Andrew Holecek on Working with Fear & Anxiety; Navigating This Bardo

Published by Travis Newbill

Andrew Holcek is a Buddhist teacher and author (and dentist and concert pianist) who has earned the nickname Dr. Death because of his extensive knowledge of the death and bardo teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. And his presentations on this universally relevant (and dreaded) topic are enriched by his unending interest in the findings of western psychology and neuroscience as well. Basically, he’s a good person to check in with if you realize that life as you knew it is over and you need a map for navigating the in-between state—the bardo. Of course, some of the trickiest, most crucial, and most immediate tasks in navigating the bardo have to do with relating to—rather than from—fear and anxiety. It’s quite possible to do this well, Andrew says. And, if you can, this crisis, this time of uncertainty, can accelerate your spiritual and psychological development rather than initiate a spiral of regression. Andrew offers helpful perspective, as well as one of his “emergency meditations,” in this recent interview. Enjoy the video below, or scroll down to stream/download …

How Will We Meet this Moment?

Published by dmcblog

By Gelong Loden Nyima // Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche passed away into parinirvana when I was nine months old. I never met him but have felt my path—like that of thousands—has been occurring in the wake of his. I practiced at places he founded, was taught and trained to teach in his lineage, and now live at Shambhala Mountain Center in a cabin on the aptly named “Stupa View” which sits in the valley beneath his Great Stupa of Dharmakaya. The Buddhist tradition identifies the age we’re living in as broadly fortunate because teachings leading to enlightenment are alive and available, yet also troubled as it is a time when the mass amalgamations of actions arising from greed, aggression, and willful ignorance ripen into social and global occurrences of resource depletion, conflict, and pandemic illness. Much of what we now know to be occurring, and what experts on climate change and public health expect for the future, has also been forecast in Buddhism for millennia based on this understanding of cause and effect. Similar to and …

Feeding your Demons: Revealing the Hidden Treasure Within Difficulty

Published by dmcblog

By Charlotte Rotterdam // I was first drawn to the Feeding your Demons process and the teachings of Machig Labdrön – the great 11th century Tibetan yogini from whose teachings the process was developed – for the radical invitation to turn towards that which we find most repulsive or frightening. This view seemed so counter-intuitive, so clearly different from the human default response of avoiding or rejecting the ugly and threatening aspects of life. Perhaps it reminded me of my early childhood, when I spent time in the autopsy lab with my mother, a pathologist. There was an odd peacefulness in the autopsy room where the intensely eerie became quite ordinary and sometimes even sacred. Beyond transforming the morbid into the mundane, however, lies a profound teaching on compassion. Ultimately, these teachings suggest that it is only by meeting and even nurturing whatever we consider threatening or “other” that we can live a fully integrated life, radiant with our own wisdom. Holding our inner and outer demons at bay draws us into a never-ending cycle …

[WATCH] Dr. Rick Hanson: “Finding Calm and Contentment in Turbulent Times”

Published by Travis Newbill

In this video, filmed live with Shambhala Mountain Center, Dr. Rick Hanson—the renowned psychologist, best-selling author, and meditation teacher—shares techniques and insights that are directly applicable to life in these challenging times. In addition, Rick has offered a package of bonus material to everyone who finds their way to this video. It includes a few guided meditations, as well as the first chapter of his new book Neurodharma—which just came out May 6! Click here to get the bonus material! As Dr. Hanson says: “The deepest roots of the highest happiness are in the body. At the intersection of modern science and ancient wisdom – which could be called neurodharma – we can find very effective tools for resilient well-being.” May this be of benefit. About Rick Hanson Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books are available in 28 languages and include Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture. He’s been an invited speaker at Google, NASA, …