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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.
Aim & Allow: How Mindfulness of Breathing Helps Us Manage Expectations
In meditation we need ‘initial application of attention’ then ‘sustained application’ so that we cultivate a spacious field in which thoughts and sensations can come and go. Sometimes blessings are all over the place and we miss them. Recorded May
Raw Fear is a Dot in Space
More people are afraid of uncertainty than they are of physical pain. If we do something about our own pain, we can connect with the pain of others. 50% of our practice should be inward and 50% in our environment.
The Secular Buddha
Stephen Batchelor reflects upon secular Buddhism and revisits the Four Noble Truths, primary Buddhist ideals, assumptions, and dogmas. Recorded March 28, 2010.
Fear, Rebirth, and the 3 Insights
Describing how the Buddha met fear, Michael maps out how concentration practice unfolds, then offers a mind-opening view of rebirth and reincarnation.
What Is This? Short Guided Meditation
An 8-minute guided meditation with Martine Batchelor. Recorded in Toronto, March 28, 2010.
From Fear to Sympathy
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 for them, and how to develop concentration practice.
Fear, Dread & Anxiety: The Buddha in the Forest
On retreat, Michael speaks about the Buddha’s instructions for practicing alone in the wilderness, how past actions haunt the body, how to turn towards anxiety and a moving story about his son and autism. Recorded March 25, 2017, in Wisconsin.
20 min. Guided Meditation on Thinking
For the purposes of meditation, what you’re thinking about is not important. But as we pay attention to thinking in meditation, you might notice other aspects of the process of thinking besides the content. So, for example, if you’re thinking
20 min. Guided Meditation: Unstable Emotions
See if you can find out where in your body that emotional state or mood is most manifested, most expressed. What sensations or feelings in your body let you know that you’re having this emotional state? See if you can
20 min. Guided Meditation: Feeling the Sensations of the Body
Nothing needs to be refused. Let the breath travel the body without picking up speed. The clouds of thought haul across the sky. Let them come and go. Let the breath move the way blood moves: let it find its
20 min. Guided Meditation: Tuning into Breath in the Nostrils
A 20-minute guided meditation on tuning into the breath in the nostrils to explore subtle sensations and bring the mind into its natural state.
20 min. Guided Meditation: Mindfulness of the Breathing Body
A 20-minute guided meditation on mindfulness of the breathing body in the abdomen to settle thoughts. Recorded in 2017.
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