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The joke used to be that every time Michael opened his mouth what he said was archived here. We couldn’t be more grateful for that now because it is one of the best ways Michael’s teachings will live on.
The Awake in the World Podcast is the heart of the Community Library. Talks are on a wide-range of topics, including: bringing mindfulness and meditation practice into daily life; personal and community issues regarding mental health; and social change.
This podcast has been created so that anyone can have instant access to Michael’s teachings. It has been made possible due to generous donations from members of the community. In the six years that the podcast has been available, over half a million people have pressed play as a way to be more—like the name says—awake in the world.
Each podcast is between 30-60 minutes long. As always, you’re encouraged to follow along weekly as part of your practice. The podcasts were recorded at live events so you might hear coughing, airplanes, cars, sirens, laughter, and peoples’ questions—all part of the intimate experience.
What Are You Committed To? Part One
Michael gave this talk in France in 2007. He presents yoga as a practice of intimacy and argues that its goal is compassion and relationship rather than unity.
Best of Awake in the World: From Fear to Sympathy
This week we’re revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. How to meet others who are in fear or anxiety, how to help anxious kids, how to validate the feelings of other people without exacerbating what’s going on
Best of Awake in the World: Patience is a Practice of Attunement
This week we’re revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. Long-term practice requires patience more than discipline. Practice frustrates our results oriented mind. You need patience to stay with life for the long haul. The paradoxes of karma.
Eliminate “Why”
In this Remembrance Day talk Michael considers the relationship of stillness and action, bearing witness, non-violence and letting go of “why?”
Mindfulness & Situational Ethics
In this podcast episode, Michael discusses how mindfulness applies to situational ethics, exploring in practical detail the two wings of the practice: calming (samatha) and insight (vipassana). This lecture was part of an older version of Michael’s online course, Embodying
Poetry Night
In November 10th, 2009 Michael hosted a poetry reading night and invited author, Sarah Selecky, and poet, Erin Robinsong, to choose and read poems that highlight the importance of art to spiritual practice. He opened the evening by talking about
This Is the Way It Is
In this guided meditation practice Michael provides suggestions for cultivating equanimity and radical acceptance. The instructions last approximately fifteen minutes, followed by fifteen minutes of silence before the bell.
A Culture of Awakening
In the face of our global environmental crisis Michael argues that it’s not enough to only work with our individual greed, anger and delusion–we must create a culture of awakening that integrates individual practice, a cultural recognition of interdependence (deep
What Are You Going to Let Go Of?
Starting with a poem by Hafiz about haggling with God, Michael offers insights about ways to simplify and deepen practice, giving and receiving, renunciation, and ideas we need to let go of.
Form That You Can See Through
In this talk Michael covers balancing form and creativity in practice, the trouble with ideas of purity and accomplishment, and how the five koshas might be applied within asana practice.
Clouds in the Sky
This thirty-minute guided meditation focuses on noticing and letting go of commentary.
A Pilgrimage Inside Body and Mind
This talk, given to a group of clinicians, begins with a meditation practice (ending at [12:07]). What follows is a wide-ranging discussion about mindfulness techniques, their origin in the Satipatthana Sutta, and participants’ experiences and insights. The talk ends with
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