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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.
An Army of Coolness
Michael gives a talk about the Buddha’s “Fire Sermon,” and connects it to practice, being in relationship, and the cultivation of generosity, creativity and loving action.
A Ball Thrown into a River
In this talk Michael covers part of the Ariyapasasana Sutta (the Buddha’s own account of his awakening), the difference between Patanjali’s definition of yoga and the Buddha’s Second Truth, recognizing and working with (or against) the momentum of culture, and
A Case of Mistaken Identity
Michael argues that “yoga citta vritti nirodha” can be interpreted as “the ending of our misidentification with the movement of consciousness” and that our attempts to ground or reify our self-identity lead to dissatisfaction and anxiety.
Stormy Sea and Heaven’s River
Using a Haiku by Basho as a jumping off point, Michael continues his exploration of Dogen’s essay The Time Being.
Best of Awake in the World: Not Picking & Choosing
This week we’re revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. Michael uses an old Zen tale, a troubled story about him falling in love with his wife, and quotes from Shunryu Suzuki, to describe the practice of not-knowing
Best of Awake in the World: Seals, Owls, and Letting Go of Destructive Relationships
This week we’re revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. Michael explores the sensitive topic of knowing when to pull out of relationships, kindness to one’s self, emptiness, love, and a story about appreciating that you and others
Whatever is Needed
Michael talks about dukkha, self-care, and activism. He also describes several kinds of burnout and some methods to prevent being afflicted by them.
Self-Portraits
Starting with Dogen’s Self-Portrait, Michael explores different ways of viewing self-hood and argues for a “useful” doubt in respect to the self (not the kind that leads to indecision, but the kind that opens us up to new possibilities).
The Whisk, the Staff, Three Heads and Eight Arms
In this talk Michael unpacks Dogen’s essay on The Time Being and argues that an unhealthy relationship with time can be one of our biggest discontents.
The Problem is the Wanting
Micheal explores the difficulty of being immersed in a culture of desire, our tendency to want to be something other than what we are, and our notion that practice is going to get us somewhere.
Anxiety & Meditation
This week we’re revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. Michael explains how we can cultivate a field in which anxiety can arise and change, surrounded by spaciousness. We have forces of good inside us, we aren’t fated
The Center of the Storm is Calm
In this talk on the Yoga Sutra Michael highlights the fluctuations of consciousness, kaivalya, and four kinds of nirodha.
Support the Library
The Community Library will continue as long as we have supporters. The more support we have, the more we can ensure that the teachings Michael left behind can be available for free to anyone in the world.