This is the thirty-seventh installment of the ongoing live series with Wendy Nash inquiring into meditation practice on and off the cushion. I recently witnessed a reoccurrence of various perplexing sentiments from the (USA) West Coast Dharma scene (which even parallel general society). After running this by Wendy she rightly pointed out tinges of self-righteousnessContinue reading “(Losing) Balance in Dharma | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #37”
Tag Archives: balance
Chanting Practice Notes
The description for this Feb 11, 2025 live event: I’ll go into detail of lots of stuff from the notes of noticing and observations I’ve had around the direct experience of (group) chanting practice which doesn’t come easily and naturally to me and yet can be quite a profound practice at times AI basically summarizedContinue reading “Chanting Practice Notes”
Anchoring Awakeness With Swami Nityananda
On August 2, 2023, Spiritual Teacher, Author, and Professor Swami Nityananda and I spoke to/about non-dual awareness, joy, grace, everyday life, her teacher Swami Shankarananda and her lineage which includes Kriya Yoga and the Venerable Yogananda, presence, energy, inspiration, light, the infinite, perceptions of limitation, being in a body, identity, awareness, vastness, balance, experience, purpose,Continue reading “Anchoring Awakeness With Swami Nityananda”
Integrating Presence Interviews And Talks On YouTube: Creativity, Communication & Heartful Presences
I somewhat recently started recording chats with folks online again and recording them, but for the time being, much of them just for my YouTube channel. I may or may not go back and add them to my traditional podcast feed later Amrit Singh and I talk about spiritual practices, Kundalini Yoga, service work, workingContinue reading “Integrating Presence Interviews And Talks On YouTube: Creativity, Communication & Heartful Presences”
Spontaneity
Topics from this recorded November 12, 2022 Insight Timer Live event include:
Overplanning, Fun, Expectation, Balance, Squirrels, Making deliberate small differences for bigger changes to occur, Comfort zone, Awkwardness, David Lynch art, Spontaneous Combustion, Zen Masters, Self-control, Self-awareness, Restraint, Spice of life, Outsourcing life to entertainers, Looking at the clock, Travel, Things in life happening beyond our wildest dreams and goals, Causes and conditions, Habits, Stability, Intention, Neuroplasticity, Stumble Upon, Ambidexterity, Drawing exercise without looking, Having no structure or stability
Practical Purity
[December 4, 2022 Update: Originally published November 11th, 2022 it’s being republished with a new date due to recent podcast publishing challenges and requirements] I pitched the October 30th, 2022 Insight Timer live event Practical Purity thus: What’s the importance of true purity? How can we view purity and what can we realistically think, sayContinue reading “Practical Purity”
Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power” (SN 51:20): Introduction; The Sutta’s Key Encapsulation Paragraph & A Translation Reading (1 of 7)
One reason this blog post and podcast series came about could likely be due to my meditation practice becoming stale and now provides an outlet for a somewhat more advanced level where details are dived into. If and when exploring this sutta on your own, it’s recommended to drop the intricate, sometimes tedious language I go into here to the fullest extent possible. It’s important to remember my intent here of placing plenty under a spiritual microscope to merely visit modes of deconstruction and analysis for study and (formal) practice possibilities, not as a general normalized mode of living. And while I go into minute details pertaining to this sutta please keep in mind it’s likely more helpful not to keep considering this sutta in isolation but within the broader context of the Buddha’s (other) teachings.
Multi-month Pāramitā (Attainments/Perfections) Challenge For December 2021
Apparently November 2021 was a break so December is month 4 of “The Pāramitā Challenge” (which I previously wrote and spoke on the first three months.)
In addition to contemplating topics about the Pāramitās or Perfections, so far, this challenge also includes precepts, the (10 Abodes from the) 52 Stages of the Bodhisattva Path and Bodhisattva vows.
Instructions are to journal contemplations resulting from observed intentions, opportunities, and actions to be generous, moral and ethical while arousing faith in the Triple Gem then seeing where/when confident and where/when in doubt.
This month includes the Pāramitā on diligence, the Right Speech precept (also doubling as a past Insight Timer live event) and the middle stages of the 10 Abodes from the 52 Stages of the Bodhisattva.
Vedic Astrology, Enneagram of Personality & Wheel of Totality with Indra Rinzler
[Nov 11, 2025 Update: Indra new book Indra’s Net: A SEEKER’S Guide to the Human Experience comes out Nov 20 and was “a lifetime in the making [with] innocent first writings a full 8 years ago”] Some of the topics Indra Rinzler and I address: Vedic Astrology Enneagram Wheel of Totality http://www.indrarinzler.com
Towards Everyday Implementation Of The Universal Beautiful Mental Factors
Dhamma and meditation teacher Beth Upton — who’s other chats I’ve posted — recently held a three part event with Dharma Gates called “Truth, Suffering and Liberation”. I’ve edited out most everything except my responses to Beth’s questions and her responses to me so please watch the full video at the end of this post especially if requiring more context.
Beth read an excerpt of the Aggañña Sutta about the origin of human kind on planet earth then linked our suffering, caused by the defilements (dramatic depicted in the sutta) to the Buddha’s antidote: the The Universal Beautiful Mental Factors (sobhanasādhāraṇa). Beth then offered a short teaching followed by a guided meditation and discussion on her condensed and more practical version of these Mental Factors from the Abhidhamma which are:
• Faith
• Mindfulness
• Non-greed
• Non-hatred
• Morality
• Balance
• Tranquility
• Lightness
• Softness
• Flexibility
• Uprightness/Authenticity/Truthfulness
• Proficiency
This post includes my responses (in an edited video) to Beth’s group-guiding questions along with a few new written responses.
Integrating Presence 