Everyday Sublime

Like sharpening a knife, training awareness to see clearly involves a number of skills that refine over the course of practice. In this talk, I share some of my favorite ways of cultivating a calm and open state of embodied presence. Included: Short Guided Meditation.

NEW TRAINING: The Chinese word for spirit is “shen.” In Chinese Medicine our spirit resides in our heart. With practice, we gather, channel, flow and settle our spirit within the heart, awakening and deepening our capacity to wake up, grow up and clean up. 

In this episode, I am excited to share an introductory talk about our second module in our Yin Yoga + Qi Cultivation training: Refining Metal | The Wisdom of Qi Cultivation.

In October, we’ll be teaching this module LIVE, exploring the energetic and meditative dimensions of Qi Cultivation. The Chinese word for spirit is “shen.” In Chinese Medicine our spirit resides in our heart. With practice, we gather, channel, flow and settle our spirit within the heart, awakening and deepening our capacity to wake up, grow up and clean up. 

Recorded on August 14, 2023, I give an upcoming preview of new Yin Yoga classes and training Terry and I will be offering in Fall ‘23. 

Yin Yoga + Qi Cultivation Trainings: 

Recorded on August 7th, 2023, Josh offers some thoughts on practicing with deliberate slowness. This talk includes reflections on the spirit of improvisation with simple practices like “walking hands” and “half-breath” meditation.

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Recorded on July 31st, 2023, Josh offers reflections on the convergence of personal and collective dukkha. In the face of such challenges, our commitment to practice nurtures the resilience and sensitivity of the heart.

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In this talk, I share three points of advice for anyone embarking on a silent meditation retreat, either at a center or from home. My advice comes down to: 1) set the schedule and forget time, 2) kiss the moment, and 3) notice the negative.

I hope this talk supports your practice. Special thanks to the members of the River Bird Sangha for supporting this free podcast.

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In this episode, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Don Goewey (Executive Director of the De Mello Spirituality Center). We discuss DeMello’s significance as a spiritual figure of the 20th century, and how he offers a unique view of eastern and western spirituality. Don and I reflect on DeMello’s dharma, the experience of seeing one’s shadow, and the rude awakenings that occur when everything falls apart.

In this talk, I discuss practice as a form of improvisation and suggest ways of working with “forms” of practice as a way of developing one’s skills at improvisation. I conclude with a Sufi story about a duckling, leaving open the question of how improvising in practice reveals our true nature. 

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In this talk, I reflect how, on a vipassana meditation retreat in Myanmar, I became compulsively obsessed with finding the perfect height for my meditation cushion; I explore what this behavior reveals about the “clinging” mind.”

“An attachment is an emotional belief that without a person, thing or experience you can’t be happy.” – Anthony DeMello

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In this episode, I speak with my friends and colleagues Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer about their wonderful new book, Reflective Meditation. We talk about many themes of their approach to meditation, including: listening, journaling, and improvisation. 

In this talk, I share a patchwork of dharma reflections, exploring some everyday conundrums and synchronicities – appreciating the sublime in the innocence of a niece and a godson.

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The questions that have gripped me for the last twenty or so years of my practice are these: What is the relationship between yoga practices and Buddhist meditation, and what does Qi cultivation, as described within Chinese Medicine, have to do with yoga and meditation? 

In the opening talk for our new course, Yin Yoga + Qi Cultivation Training, I share my practice odyssey – as a yogi, as a meditator and as an acupuncturist – exploring the relationships amongst Yin Yoga, meditation and Chinese Medicine. These stories shape the principles and practices of this training. 

In this five-minute talk, I describe the ALL NEW Yin Yoga Training and Continuing Education immersion that Terry and I are launching this June. In this training we will integrate four acupuncture point formula for supporting adrenal, fascial, Qi and spiritual health with the practices of Yin Yoga and Qi Gong. Perfect for any Yin Yoga student or teaching looking to add more depth and empowerment to their teaching.

As part of a Mother’s Day reflection, I recount the harrowing story of getting robbed in the middle of the night on a train in India, and how a “spiritual” mother appeared to both save me and subsequently change the course of my life. I conclude with a meditative prompt for honoring and appreciating our spiritual ancestors.

In this dharma reflection, Josh draw’s on his and others’ observations of bird life in the natural world, and weaves these reflections into a broader meditation about the role of images and reflections in the practice of the dharma.

The students were discussing the famous statement uttered by Lao Tzu: “Those who know do not say; those who say do not know.” When their teacher arrived he offered some helpful analysis in the form of a simple dialogue. 

In this talk, Josh reflects on this wonderful story and its implications for meditation practice. 

The Buddha once said: “Nothing whatsoever should be clung to as ‘I’ or ‘mine’.” In this talk, analyze this statement as an important signpost on the map of practice. 

As Georg Feuerstein put it: “The sense that ‘I’ can go beyond where ‘I’ am right now is the place from which to start your practice.”

In this talk, Josh continues to unpack the experience of waking up, exploring how consciousness often awakens to being entangled with some part of experience (usually thoughts), and to explore what it’s like when consciousness relaxes into itself, embracing the entire field of perception.

In this dharma talk, I reflect on a teaching from my dharma mentor Jack Engler: “the entirety of the spiritual path is a path of mourning.” This talk is an attempt to explore that reflection in light of the practice and experiential dynamics that occur when we let go of grasping at views, perceptions, orientations and practices, etc. 

In this episode, I welcome Donna Brooks back to the podcast to talk through the experience of grief and how embodiment practices support our capacity to navigate this challenging emotional landscape. 

In this talk, I explore some common views about meditation and thinking, and I encourage bringing inquiry to the views of practice that we may be clinging to. Releasing views is somewhat like voluntarily jumping into free fall. The self will grasp, but in releasing the grasping, we align with the Buddha’s famous teaching: “Nothing whatsoever should be clung to as ‘I’ or ‘mine’.”

In this week’s practice story, I continue to explore the famous Buddhist parable about the tiger and the snake, and I suggest how the core images of this story symbolize the central dharma themes of our practice and life.

In this old Buddhist parable, we are presented with a description of the human predicament. In the face of being caught between death and something worse, how does our practice serve us to live, as Munindra put it, “the life fully?”

In this episode, I share Jung’s famous story of the Rainmaker. I suggest ways in which this story offers insight into the direction of the spiritual path. But when there was a prolonged drought in China, and the Rainmaker was fetched, this is what happened…

In this episode, I offer a few reflections on the passing of my dear companion, Ozzie. On February 15, 2023, Ozzie died peacefully in our arms, in front of his hearth, and as I try to convey in this short talk, the dharma of his life continues to open and deepen for me.

In this episode, I try to speak to the implacable heaviness many are feeling in the face of the overwhelming number of ongoing disasters in the world. What, if at all, does the Dharma have to offer?

In this episode, I reflect on the roots of anger in my own conflicts and share the tools I’ve learned from mindfulness-based modalities to de-escalate tensions and nurture harmony. I share from my own challenges and difficulties with practicing wise speech, and how Active Reflective Communication is my go-to model for any generative and important conversations.

In this episode (#207), Josh reflects on the four foundations of practicing Yin Yoga, and how the first two foundations – safety and relaxation – inform the development of the meditation process.

This dharma theme closes with a prompt from Josh: What does it mean to practice non-grasping in meditation?

Further reflection:

“Great genial power, one would almost say, consists in not being original at all; in being altogether receptive; in letting the world do all, and suffering the spirit of the hour to pass unobstructed through the mind.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

In this episode, I am joined by my friends and colleagues Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer to talk about their new book, Reflective Meditation - Cultivating Kindness and Curiosity in the Buddha’s Company.

In this episode, I share voices from the River Bird Sangha on the theme of non-violence in practice and society. Together, in a circle of practice, I suggest ways we can all feel empowered by a connection with common ground.

In this talk, I reflect on a passage from Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, and how practice, itself, generates an internal creative tension that is necessary for growth and transformation.

In the first dharma talk of 2023, Josh offers a meditative reflection on the relationship between reflective listening and the development of skillful intentions in practice. He offers some key meditative prompts that explore the initial stages of tuning into the conditions of your life that may deserve some focused intention.

This solstice season, let us give you the gift of practice. In this episode, I describe our portfolio of practices and how they integrate into the process of awakening body, energy, heart and mind.

To receive this gift of practice, please sign up for our Sublime Winter Solstice Celebration – 10 practices of Yin Yoga, Qi Gong and meditation.

In this talk, I reflect on some of the parallels between tending the fire of a woodstove and tending the conditions of a meditation and yoga practice.

In gratitude for your support, Terry and I would like to give you a special series of Yin Yoga, Qi Gong and meditation practices. Each day, from December 12th to December 21st (the Winter Solstice), we will share one specially curated practice from our 2022 year of teaching – just like a Yin Solstice advent calendar.

To receive this FREE gift of practice, please sign up for our Sublime Winter Solstice Celebration – 10 practices of Yin Yoga, Qi Gong and meditation.

Celebrate the Winter Solstice with Practices from Josh and Terry Summers

In gratitude for your support, Terry and I would like to give you a special series of Yin Yoga, Qi Gong and meditation practices. Each day, from December 12th to December 21st (the Winter Solstice), we will share one specially curated practice from our 2022 year of teaching – just like a Yin Solstice advent calendar.

To receive this gift of practice, please sign up for our Sublime Winter Solstice Celebration – 10 practices of Yin Yoga, Qi Gong and meditation.

The Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck said that when “nothing is special, everything can be.” In this talk, Josh reflects on how everything that arises in our practice can be received as a perfect learning opportunity.

In preparation for the winter holiday season, Josh reflects on the Buddha’s insight of conditionality, or karma, and how this helps release ourselves and others from vicious cycles of blame. Learning to listen to the nature of conditionality is at the core of the Buddha’s path of liberation.

Morning practice is often recommended as the foundation of a contemplative path. In this talk, Josh offers reflections on the importance of practicing in the morning.

In this talk, I announce the time and schedule changes to the River Bird Sangha’s programming and how to channel the support of the sangha to realize the dharma within your own experience.

In this episode, I speak with my friend and former Buddhist monk, Greg Burdilis about our time practicing together in Burma. We discuss the highs and lows of life on an intensive vipassana meditation retreat.

In this talk, Josh discusses the process and energy of Recognizing, Realizing and Releasing conflicts and challenges as they arise in our practice and life.

In this talk, Josh explores the important role of relaxation, rest and receptivity for the development of calm clarity in Yin Samatha-Vipassana Meditation.

“Enlightenment is an accident, but some activities make you accident-prone.” - Krishnamurti

In this talk, Josh offers reflections on the most important element of a personal spiritual practice.