Ever notice how just when your practice starts to deepen, our mind gets loud as hell, distracted, unmotivated, or tired? Don’t worry – it’s totally normal. This week, we’re getting real about what’s known as the Five Hindrances; the craving, aversion, doubt, fear/worry, and existential MEH that keep us stuck. We also explore how to manage them so we can continue to become the little Rebel Buddhas we already are beneath it all.

This week’s episode is a special replay on how to step off the cushion and into the world, interweaving our spirituality with activism. We’ll be exploring compassion in action and how to take our practice from our internal work out into the world. Because our world IS what we are. It’s living through ALL of us.

This week we wrap up our discussion of the Eightfold Path by talking about 3 components of Meditation/samādhi: Wise Effort, Wise Mindfulness, and Wise Concentration. We’ll talk about how our meditation practice isn’t just to calm the mind, and why we need it now more than ever. Plus I’ll give you some ways you can begin practicing samādhi in your own daily life.

We can often think that very few ancient teachings could apply to these historic times, when things seem upended in ways the world has never seen (or so it seems;). This week, we explore lessons that are over 2600 years old that remind us of our humanity and what really matters, no matter the era, our job, our age, our nationality, our sexuality, our religion, or any other way we might identify. This is about getting clear about how we want to show up in the world, and committing to that for the benefit of our liberation – and others’.

This week’s episode continues our Off the Cushion and Into the World series. We’ll try to save ourselves some time and headache by starting to step onto the actual path the Buddha laid out for how to live with more freedom — the Noble Eightfold Path. Today, we focus on the first section: Wisdom, or Pañña — specifically, “Right” – or Wise – View and Right/Wise Intention. I’ll break down what each means, and why they help us make our mind more peaceful and kind – and bring less suffering into the world and more joy and freedom. Plus we’ll touch on some ways you can begin to practice these in your daily practice.

This week we dive into something extra personal for me – snapshots of struggles in my own life story. We’ll explore the power of the choices we all make and why we often struggle to believe that we’re just as capable as anyone else to create the life we want. And I’ll give you some encouragement so you can go out and find your own freedom!