Zen Bones : Ancient Wisdom For Modern Times

Why Must It Be This Way: Guided Meditation, Talk and Zen Puzzler

This episode begins with a short guided meditation, then Marc gives a short talk based on a famous Zen dialogue in which a student asks, "Why must it be this way?" referring to a crow eating a dead frog. The Zen teacher responds "It's for your benefit. And you caused it." Marc addresses and unpacks this mysterious and practical dialogue that is meant to open our hearts and minds. For this episode's Zen Puzzler, Marc plays with the question, "What is Zen?" and goes deeper into the question of why things must be a particular way.

Finding Wholeness in a Challenging World with Parker Palmer

Parker J. Palmer is a writer, speaker, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. In this episode of the Zen Bones Podcast, Marc and Parker explore the creative tension between what is and what is possible, the art of perspective taking, and how to find wholeness in a challenging world. Parker shares how his hard experience with depression gave birth to several books, what he aspires to now, how his experiences in a Quaker intentional community showed him a way to transform economic inequality, and how creating safe spaces and tapping into your inner wisdom is a key component in enabling social change.

Design Your Life: Guided Meditation, Talk, and Zen Puzzler

How are you designing, and living your life? In this episode Marc begins with a short guided meditation. Then he unpacks the teachings of Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki who says "The more you practice meditation, the more you will be interested in your everyday life." and "You will discover what is necessary and what is not; what part to correct and what part to emphasize more." Marc reads and comments on a poem by William Stafford called Just thinking. This episode's Zen puzzler is Ordinary Mind Is the Way. How to design your life - with your ordinary, extraordinary mind.

Say Yes To Everything with Jane Hirshfield

Jane Hirshfield is one of the world's most celebrated poets. The New York Times describes her as "among the modern masters." Jane and Marc have been friends since their days as young Zen students living at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. During this intimate and enlightening conversation, Jane describes what brought her to Zen practice and her life-long ourney to poetry. They discuss and Jane reads her poetry about optimism, surprise, and embracing the fullness of the world.
Jane Hirshfield's writing is “some of the most important poetry in the world today,” according to the New York Times, and described as "among the modern masters" by The Washington Post, is one of American poetry's central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere. Lay-ordained in Soto Zen in 1979 during her eight years spent in full-time residential practice, including three years of monastic practice at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California's Ventana Wilderness, she explores transience and interconnection, shared fate and interiority, with equal allegiance. A former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and the founder in 2017 of the online and traveling installation Poets For Science, Hirshfield is the author of nine collections of poetry, including most recently Ledger (Knopf, 2020).

Doing The Impossible: Guided Meditation, Talk, and Zen Puzzler

Working skillfully and effectively with difficulties and challenges. Training ourselves to meet and transform difficulty. Marc begins with a short guided meditation followed by a talk on the topic of meeting challenge. This session's Zen puzzler is "Can you step from the top of a one hundered foot pole?" - a traditional Zen teaching about doing what looks impossible.

Transforming Resistance To Finding Freedom with Sharon Salzberg

Sharon Salzberg has become America's meditation teacher. In this episode Sharon talks about places of resistance as "tight spots" and methods of transforming resistance to more openness and freedom. Marc and Sharon discuss the practice of loving kindness as well as shame, an emotion that has positive and negative qualities. They discuss the power of presence and the role of meditation.
Sharon Salzberg is a New York Times bestselling author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts. Her emphasis is on Vipassanā (insight) and mettā (loving-kindness) methods, and has been leading meditation retreats around the world for over three decades. Her books include Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, A Heart as Wide as the World, and Real Happiness - The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program among others.
 

Ordinary and Sacred: Guided Meditation, Talk, and Zen Puzzler

We are all ordinary human beings living in an ordinary world. And yet...we are also sacred, extraordinary beings, living in an extraordinary, sacred world. Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki describes that we usually only see one side and ignore what is sacred and mysterious. During this session we have a short guided meditation, follwed by a talk on living in both the ordinary and sacred world. Today's Zen puzzler is based on a traditional Zen koan -- a buffalo goes through a window, and every part of it goes through, except for the tail. Why doesn't the tail go through?

The Power of Belonging with MaryAnne Howland

MaryAnne Howland, storyteller, entrepreneur and social change agent, talks about the game-changing work that she is doing for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Mary and Marc talk about the power of belonging and mindful listening and about the importance of dreaming.
MaryAnne Howland is the founder and CEO of Ibis Communications, a branding marketing solutions firm in Nashville, Tennessee. The success of her business has been recognized by the Clinton administration and she has attended several summits at the White House. In 2012, she launched the Global Diversity Leadership Exchange, a forum to facilitate dialogue on diversity, sustainability, and inclusion, which has held annual summits at the New York Stock Exchange and the United Nations.

The World Is Its Own Magic: Guided Meditation, Talk, and Zen Puzzler

"The real miracle isn't to walk on water. The real miracle is to walk right here on Earth" according to Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. In this episode a short guided meditation is followed by a teaching, emphasizing shifting from busyness to being more focused, engaged, and spacious. The practice of spaciousnes is essential in today's complex world. The Zen puzzler is based on a traditional Zen koan -- Is the flag moving, the wind moving, or is it your mind that is moving?

Open Heart, Focused Mind with Dan Siegel

Marc and Dr. Dan Siegel discuss the deep inner work of awareness, the power of belonging, and the illusion of the self and shifting from me to "we." Dan shares a meditation practice that he calls the "Wheel of Awareness."
Daniel Siegel, MD, is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the Founding Co-director of its Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an organization that focuses on the development of mindsight, teaches insight, empathy, and integration in individuals, families and communities. 
He is a bestselling author of several books, including Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, and The Developing Mind.