Rainforest Mind: Gifts, transactions and why it's hard to stay grateful
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
Image from Pexels. Public Domain.
Why are gifts so important? Is everything a gift? What’s the difference between a gift economy and a transaction economy? Why is it hard to stay grateful?
Today’s episode was partly inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. I also mention this talk by Ven. Shenyn: The Life of a Wondering Monk
Rainforest Mind: Shhh, listen. Being, doing and love.
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
A street in Bristol
I’m standing with my eyes closed in the middle of a busy street and listening. Why? And what can I learn from that experience? I talk about the false opposites of being and doing, and why I prefer lovable to perfect.
I mention the Bang And Olafson podcast Sound of the Cities, and an early epsiode of this podcast on Wildness.
See all episodes here. Or subscribe on iTunes, Sticher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
A few weeks ago we got a puppy! Wow – what a whirlwind the last month has been. Moments of sheer joy, and moments of fraught overwhelm. As one book Satya was reading put it, there is the honeymoon period, the WTF have I done period, and the I couldn’t live without her period….
Today I’m talking about what Aiko puppy has taught me, about living with a puppy and about living with myself.
Aiko is part of the reason there haven’t been many episodes recently. But she’s growing and easier to live with now, and so Rainforest Mind is back 🙂
Rainforest Mind: Boundlessness with James Ford Roshi
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
James Ford Roshi
What a great conversation. James and I spoke about the Unitarian Universalist movement, form and emptiness in Zen, boundlessness, spiritual fluidity and more.
James is a Zen Buddhist teacher and part of the Empty Moon Network, he leads a group in Southern California.
James’ most recent book is called Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons, search for it at your local bookstore.
Buddhist Psychology, Climate Change and Spiritual Encounters
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
Dharmavidya David Brazier
I’m talking to my Buddhist teacher Dharmavidya David Brazier. We talk about Buddhist Psychology: what does it mean, and how does Buddhist therapy work? We talk about how encountering ‘awakened’ people can be transformative, and about enduring great suffering. We talk about what supports grounding yourself in the big picture, and how faith helps us respond to climate change.
Dharmavidya’s book on Dogen is released in March by Windhorse and is called The Dark Side of the Mirror. Remember he writes under his given name of David Brazier, so search for that if you are looking for his other books, including Zen Therapy, which he mentions in the podcast.
How can we support healing in people, and in the planet?
To help answer that question I’m talking about the importance of going outside, and what different kind of outside spaces can teach us.
I talk about what wildness means and I talk about the practice of finding a spot to sit in, and sitting there regularly. I talk about two different experiences of outside spaces, and what I learnt from each.
In this episode I’m in conversation with Ven. Ayya Yeshe, about her socially engaged Buddhist work. What led her to social engagement? How does helping fit with Buddhist practice?
She talks about how her experiences as a Tibetan Nun helped her to empathise with oppressed groups, and her socially engaged work in India with the Dalit community, particularly with woman and girls.
I’m a little nervous about releasing this episode. It’s just me today, no guests, and I’m talking about my experience of depression, and how it is to be a Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist and have the ‘black dog’ as a companion on the path.
This is an important topic. We are all human and some of the trickiest situations arise when we don’t recognise all the different parts of ourselves, and all the different parts of the people we are in relationship with.
Rainforest Mind: A Nomadic life - in conversation with Jayne Johnson
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
In this episode I’m talking to Jayne Johnson about life incommunity, and about the nomadic life.
Jayne got rid of most of her stuff, sold her flat and now lives nomadically.
Why leave the householder life? How do we live in community? And what is it like to leave the settled life? What are the benefits, and the costs?
Jayne is a body psychotherapist, and therapy trainer. Her website is here: shamanismembodied.com and you can find many of the courses Jayne teaches on here: erthworks.co.uk
Rainforest Mind: To the divine mother, with Clark Strand and Perdita Finn
/
RSS Feed
Share
Link
Embed
In this episode I’m talking to Clark Strand and Perdita Finn.
It was a quote by Clark that first grabbed my interested in speaking to them – he wrote about moving from ‘spirituality to ecology’.
In the end I forgot to ask about that quote, but we had a great conversation about lots of things and that theme found it’s own way in to the conversation.
We talked about Zen, about different kinds of practice groups, touched on the twelve steps, talked about the importance of trees and I heard about the history and importance of rosary practice and making prayers to the divine mother… great stuff