4 Reasons I Meditate

FromJonathan Foust

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4 Reasons I Meditate

FromJonathan Foust

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Length:

48 minutes

Released:

Jul 19, 2023

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

This talk explores why, after 52 years of practice, I still meditate. You’ll learn about the science behind meditation, what all great traditions say about the practice, the power of empirical evidence and the potency of the intention to live in authentic cooperation with reality.

Released:

Jul 19, 2023

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (50)

A Guiding Teacher at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and co-founder of the Meditation Teacher Training Institute, Jonathan offers talks, guided meditations and inquiries into what it means to be awake in mind and heart. www.jonathanfoust.com

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Four Ideals to Guide Your Practice: This talk explores four sutras offered by the Buddha on how to awaken your heart and mind. You’ll learn the importance of cultivating a lifelong aspiration to awaken, to actively cultivate spiritual friendships, to be open and kind and to... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Compassion Strategies for Working with Pain: This talk explores how to draw on compassion when in pain. You’ll learn how compassion must be balanced with wisdom (tough love) and a powerful technique for opening the frame of compassion that can dramatically shift your personal experience... by Jonathan Foust
44 min listen
From the Ruthless Critic to Wise Discrimination: This talk explores how you can transform your relationship with your inner critic. You’ll learn the origins of negativity bias, how that critical voice forms in your early development and how the miracle of self-awareness can lead to a life... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Sacred Wounds, Sacred Gifts: This talk explores how you might transform your deepest wounds into sacred gifts. You’ll learn how stress and suffering are inevitable and how, when you deeply examine your wounds, you can unveil the gifts they offer. We’ll explore the... by Jonathan Foust
44 min listen
Concentration, Mindfulness and Insight: This talk explores the power of paying attention on purpose as well as the power of non-judging awareness. You’ll learn about how getting control of your concentration can make a huge difference in your life as well as what happens when you turn... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
More Practice Questions with Tara and Jonathan (Part 2): We’re back! We had so much fun last time we are doing another. Here’s the second installment of practice questions with Tara Brach and Jonathan Foust. by Jonathan Foust
58 min listen
Change Yourself, Change the World (archive): This archive talk explores how your perception of stress and suffering in the world is a mirror your inner world. You’ll learn how, by reflecting on the core teachings of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
More on From Fear to Wisdom (2 of 2): We continue our exploration on moving from Fear to clear-seeing. You’ll explore a few protocols that have helped me enormously in shifting from feeling caught to feeling empowered again. Fear can serve as an early-warning detection system... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
4 Reasons I Meditate: This talk explores why, after 52 years of practice, I still meditate. You’ll learn about the science behind meditation, what all great traditions say about the practice, the power of empirical evidence and the potency of the intention to live in... by Jonathan Foust
48 min listen
The Quickest Way to Be Happy: This talk explores the nature of happiness. You’ll learn how happiness truly is ‘here and now,’ how important it is to actively explore what is between you and feeling happy, how happiness is a reflection of your true nature and a model or... by Jonathan Foust
42 min listen
How to Heal What’s Broken: This talk explores the mechanics of healing (and how I’m healing a bone fracture.) You’ll learn how critical it is to make room for all your reactions and how to ask yourself an important question that can make room for feeling whole. ... by Jonathan Foust
47 min listen
$How to Heal What’s Broken: This talk explores the mechanics of healing (and how I’m healing a bone fracture.) You’ll learn how critical it is to make room for all your reactions and how to ask yourself an important question that can make room for feeling whole. ...$
Love and the Fear of Losing Love: This talk explores the near-enemy of love: Attachment. You’ll learn about the nature of attachment and attachment styles in relationship as well as keys to healing what holds you back from loving fully. by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
From Fear to Wisdom (1 of 2): This talk explores how to move from Fear to Clear-Seeing and new possibilities. You’ll learn how unresolved fear restricts the possibilities in your life and how you can turn toward fear through cognitive processes as well as somatic inquiry.... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
The Antidote to Imposter Syndrome: This talk explores how to free yourself from feeling like an imposter. You’ll learn the power of self-awareness, the importance of investigating inner states and how to break out of the box of the doubting mind. You’ll also explore ways you... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
The Keys to Lasting Happiness [archive]: This talk explores how you can cultivate lasting happiness. You'll learn how to avoid the biggest trap in seeking happiness and how you can cultivate happiness both externally - through wise and skillful action - as well as... by Jonathan Foust
47 min listen
Understanding Joy [archive talk]: This talk explores how to increase your capacity for joy and wholesome states. You’ll learn about the nature of Joy, what gets in the way of the experience and how to cultivate more and more positive and fulfilling qualities of presence. by Jonathan Foust
48 min listen
Conversations with Depth Practitioners: Advice on Intensive Practice with Tracy Budd: Soon after retiring, Tracy Budd, who had a strong meditation practice, embarked on an exploration of meditating for four hours a day following the Elephant Path and the teachings of Culadasa. In this interview we explore what happened over the course... by Jonathan Foust
44 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking Part 5: Love is the Highest Thought of All: This talk explores the power of streaming thoughts toward love, compassion, kindness, joy and equanimity. You’ll learn about the origin of the heart practices, how here love starts as a thought and moves into an experience, the system for... by Jonathan Foust
66 min listen
How to Increase Your Capacity for Wisdom and Insight: This talk explores how you can open to greater insight and wisdom in your life. You’ll learn about the characteristics of a wise person, what gets in the way of wisdom, the anatomy of intuition and insight and the natural flowering of compassion... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Practice Questions with Tara and Jonathan: Jonathan interviews his wife, Tara Brach, regarding common practice questions and weighs in on a few himself. by Jonathan Foust
57 min listen
Frank Sinatra Got It Right: Do Be Do Be Do: This talk explores what I think of as the “Frank Sinatra Sutta.” You’ll learn the importance in meditation - and life - of willful doing combined with conscious being. The result of this balance is ‘knowing,’ the arising of... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
The Best Technique [archive]: This talk reveals the best technique for awakening heart and mind. You’ll learn about techniques that awaken your capacity for sustained present-moment awareness, techniques for cultivating awareness of change, techniques for purifying the... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking Part 4: Bare Attention and Gratitude: This talk explores the practice of Bare Attention and how suffering ceases in the experience of gratitude. You’ll learn about the distinction of the linear mind and the intuitive mind, the practice Bare Attention and a technique for opening to... by Jonathan Foust
44 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking Part 3: Investigating Beliefs: This talk explores how to deconstruct beliefs. You’ll learn about the origin of thoughts and beliefs, the art of interrupting the stream of thinking, the art of deconstructing beliefs and the importance, when you do this work, to err on the side of... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking, Part 1: Embodied Awareness: This talk explores how to cut through the trance of thinking. You’ll learn how turning toward awareness itself reveals how much you rely on thinking and some practical strategies using embodied awareness for ‘remembering’ who and what you truly... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
A Heart That Can Hold it All: This talk explores how to cultivate both wisdom and compassion. You’ll learn how suffering is both internal and external, the keys to the release of suffering and how to foster your intention to be awake in the midst of turbulent times. by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
When to Step Up and When to Step Back [recast]: This talk explores the art of engaging and disengaging. You’ll learn about stimulus / response and how your practice of meditation can open up more space for you to be more skillful as to how you respond to the moment — and to the challenges that... by Jonathan Foust
43 min listen
You Can’t Stop the Surf, but You Can Surf the Waves [archive]: This talk explores how to go with the flow. You’ll learn how life is filled with constant challenge and how, when you learn to let go and bring full attention to the here and now, you can open to new possibilities in your life. by Jonathan Foust
65 min listen
Gratitude and Giving as a Spiritual Practice: This talk explores to transformative power of generosity. You’ll learn how giving as a spiritual practice reveals what is between you and a truly generous heart, how generosity requires you learn how to fully receive … and the Buddha’s... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Is it OK to Be Happy in a Turbulent World? [recast]: This talk explores how to increase your happiness level. You’ll learn how stress and dissatisfaction can be transformed and how happiness is not only your birthright, but your greatest responsibility and contribution to others. by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen

More Episodes from Jonathan Foust

Skip carousel

Embodied Presence: Surfing the Waves: This talk explores how to work with challenging energies. You’ll learn how embodied awareness can open the door to higher degrees of self awareness and how in that recognition of what is arising you can learn to ‘ride the wave’ of... by Jonathan Foust
66 min listen
Embodied Presence: Whole Body Breathing and Subtle Energy Awareness: This talk explores how to open to more subtle felt-sense awareness through mindful breathing. Whole Body Breathing is yet another tool for drawing attention to the play of energy and sensations within and can dramatically heighten awareness of what is... by Jonathan Foust
48 min listen
Embodied Presence: Practical Tools for Your Meditation Practice: This is an adaptation of the first talk of a five day retreat at the Art of Living Center in Boone North Carolina. You’ll learn some practical suggestions for embodied meditation and how the body can be an ally in your practice. by Jonathan Foust
66 min listen
Who are You in the Absence of Desire?: This talk explores who you are free from the wanting mind. You’ll learn about the nature of desire, strategies for working with a greed-filled mind, what can arise as desire lessens and finally, some thoughts on being desire-free and... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Who are You in the Absence of Delusion?: This talk explores who you are in the absence of ignorance and confusion. You’ll explore the nature of delusion, strategies for overcoming delusion and being more clearly into the nature of reality and what it means to be awake beyond the... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Who are You in the Absence of Hatred, Judgement and Ill-Will?: This talk explores who you are beyond the reach of aversion. You’ll learn about how, in our relationship to hatred there can be a rush to premature transcendence and how, by turning toward aversion, what is possible when hatred ceases,... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Who are You Without a Sense of Your Self?: This talk explores who you are beyond the conditioned self. You’ll learn about what arises with the dissolution of the ego: A greater sense of interconnectedness, an increased flow of compassion and empathy and not least, a more... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Seventh of the Seven Factors Cultivating Steadiness and Equanimity [recast]: This talk explores the seventh factor of awakening. You’ll learn how this factor is the the complete expression of all and as you cultivate both spaciousness and steadiness, wisdom and compassion can flow unrestricted. by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Sixth of the Seven Factors: Cultivating Concentration and One-Pointedness [recast]: This talk explores the power of sustained attention. You’ll learn about the consequence of chronic distraction, the levels of concentration you can achieve in your meditation practice, how to balance concentration with deep relaxation and how... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Fifth of the Seven Factors: Cultivating Calm and Tranquility [recast]: This talk explores how to cultivate a calm and relaxed presence. You’ll learn how tranquility is critical to mindfulness practice and sets the stage for more and more intimate awareness of what is happening and how you are holding it. by Jonathan Foust
23 min listen
Fourth of the Seven Factors: Cultivating Rapture and Joy [recast]: This talk explores ways you can bring more joy into your life. You’ll learn about the two essential forms of joy and how practicing ‘yes’ to life can cultivate more aliveness, radiance and upwelling of well-being in your life. by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Third of the Seven Factors: Cultivating Energy and Vigor [recast]: This talk explores ways you can cultivate greater aliveness and vitality. You’ll learn how mental and physical energy, vitality and aliveness are integral to the process of being more awake, aware and present in your life. by Jonathan Foust
47 min listen
Second of the Seven Factors: The Art of Investigation [recast]: This talk explores the power of looking closer at what is present. You’ll learn how cultivating curiosity, examining what is arising and how you are relating to it can lead to not only greater freedom, but profound insights into the nature of reality. by Jonathan Foust
48 min listen
The First of the Seven Factors: Establish Mindfulness [recast]: This talk explores the factors that go into not only waking up, but working with the most profound challenges in your life. You’ll learn how recognizing the filters through which you perceive is truly a key to liberation and how some specific... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
The Power of Intention + A Year in Review: This talk explores the impact of having your personal North Star. You’ll learn how helpful it can be to clearly articulate what you most want, to reflect on the good in your life, to acknowledge what grows you and what calls you. I share a bit... by Jonathan Foust
67 min listen
What Mindfulness Off the Cushion Looks Like: This talk explores some tips and tricks for being more mindful during your day. You’ll learn the fundamentals of applied mindfulness, my morning routine, how I try to remind myself to be more mindful during the day …. and the importance of being... by Jonathan Foust
68 min listen
The Keys to Cultivating Faith and Trust: This talk explores the dance of trust, faith and doubt. You'll learn what gets in the way of trust, three levels of maturing faith, how embracing and investigating doubt is integral to wisdom and and suggestions as how to navigate the leaps of faith... by Jonathan Foust
66 min listen
Four Reasons I Love My Plant-Based Lifestyle: Please note there are a few graphic examples animal suffering from my experience working on farms that might make you uncomfortable. This talk reflects on my journey with different diets and food philosophies. You’ll learn why and how I landed... by Jonathan Foust
64 min listen
You Can’t Stop the Surf, but You Can Surf the Waves [archive]: This talk explores how to go with the flow. You’ll learn how life is filled with constant challenge and how, when you learn to let go and bring full attention to the here and now, you can open to new possibilities in your life. by Jonathan Foust
65 min listen
Gratitude and Giving as a Spiritual Practice: This talk explores to transformative power of generosity. You’ll learn how giving as a spiritual practice reveals what is between you and a truly generous heart, how generosity requires you learn how to fully receive … and the Buddha’s... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
When to Step Up and When to Step Back [recast]: This talk explores the art of engaging and disengaging. You’ll learn about stimulus / response and how your practice of meditation can open up more space for you to be more skillful as to how you respond to the moment — and to the challenges that... by Jonathan Foust
43 min listen
On Learning to Love the Mystery: This talk explores moving from conceptual to non-conceptual awareness. You’ll learn what gets in the way of feeling the mystery, how ‘the five aggregates’ make up each moment, the doorway into non-conceptual perception as well as the... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking Part 5: Love is the Highest Thought of All: This talk explores the power of streaming thoughts toward love, compassion, kindness, joy and equanimity. You’ll learn about the origin of the heart practices, how here love starts as a thought and moves into an experience, the system for... by Jonathan Foust
66 min listen
A Heart That Can Hold it All: This talk explores how to cultivate both wisdom and compassion. You’ll learn how suffering is both internal and external, the keys to the release of suffering and how to foster your intention to be awake in the midst of turbulent times. by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen
Is it OK to Be Happy in a Turbulent World? [recast]: This talk explores how to increase your happiness level. You’ll learn how stress and dissatisfaction can be transformed and how happiness is not only your birthright, but your greatest responsibility and contribution to others. by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking Part 4: Bare Attention and Gratitude: This talk explores the practice of Bare Attention and how suffering ceases in the experience of gratitude. You’ll learn about the distinction of the linear mind and the intuitive mind, the practice Bare Attention and a technique for opening to... by Jonathan Foust
44 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking Part 3: Investigating Beliefs: This talk explores how to deconstruct beliefs. You’ll learn about the origin of thoughts and beliefs, the art of interrupting the stream of thinking, the art of deconstructing beliefs and the importance, when you do this work, to err on the side of... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking Part 2: The Power of Mental Noting: This talk explores the power of noting or labeling your inner experience. You’ll learn how you can cut through discursive thinking by training your attention to the sense fields, but also what it means to ‘take the seat of the witness’ and note... by Jonathan Foust
67 min listen
Am I Dreaming? Thoughts on Thinking, Part 1: Embodied Awareness: This talk explores how to cut through the trance of thinking. You’ll learn how turning toward awareness itself reveals how much you rely on thinking and some practical strategies using embodied awareness for ‘remembering’ who and what you truly... by Jonathan Foust
46 min listen
How to Increase Your Capacity for Wisdom and Insight: This talk explores how you can open to greater insight and wisdom in your life. You’ll learn about the characteristics of a wise person, what gets in the way of wisdom, the anatomy of intuition and insight and the natural flowering of compassion... by Jonathan Foust
45 min listen

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4 Reasons I Meditate

4 Reasons I Meditate

Description

Titles in the series (50)

More Episodes from Jonathan Foust

Related podcast episodes