Explore the concept of Shenpa, a Tibetan term reflecting emotional triggers that lead to habitual reactions. Discover how this awareness can help you recognize emotional hooks and make healthier choices. Learn to see moments of agitation as opportunities for personal growth. By taking a breath and reflecting on your soul's invitations, you can cultivate emotional resilience and connect deeper with yourself. Join the journey of self-discovery and mindfulness with practical insights and personal anecdotes.
22:22
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Understanding Shenpa
Shenpa, a Tibetan term, describes the hook that triggers habitual closing down.
It's a contraction reaction, not a conscious response, and more than just attachment.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Shenpa in Everyday Life
Pema Chodron describes shenpa as that familiar tightening feeling when someone criticizes you or your work.
It's a sense of closing down and not wanting to be present.
insights INSIGHT
The Purpose of Shenpa
Suffering, or shenpa, arises from our need to be fully conscious; it's our soul's push for integrity.
We contract so we can expand; agitation helps us return to ease.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In this perennial self-help bestseller, Pema Chödrön offers down-to-earth guidance on how to go beyond fleeting attempts to 'fix' pain and instead take life as it is. The book is framed around fifty-nine traditional Tibetan Buddhist maxims, such as 'Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment,' 'Be grateful to everyone,' and 'Don’t expect applause.' By working with these slogans as everyday meditations, Chödrön shows how readers can develop the courage to work with their own inner pain and discover true joy, holistic well-being, and unshakeable confidence.
The Places That Scare You
A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
Pema Chödrön
In this book, Pema Chödrön provides essential tools for dealing with life's difficulties, teaching how to awaken basic human goodness and connect deeply with others. She emphasizes the importance of staying present, accepting ourselves and others with faults and imperfections, and overcoming the strategies of the ego that resist life as it is. The book advocates for mindfulness and meditation practices, such as metta and tonglen, to transform fear and pain into joy and compassion.
Loves,
Today we’re diving into Shenpa—a Tibetan Buddhist term that’s translated as attachment, but it’s much more than that. It’s the hook, that triggering force that pulls us into habitual patterns of closing down. It’s the contraction reaction, not a conscious response.
You know that tight feeling? That’s Shenpa. It’s our soul’s invitation for integrity, pushing us to grow.
Episode 145 of With Love, Danielle is about noticing the hook and making a better decision. It’s about not taking the emotional bait.
So that the next time you get triggered, take a breath, recognize the hook, and ask yourself, What’s my soul inviting me to do here?
With Love, Danielle
MENTIONED IN EPISODE 145:
📚 The 2025 Heart Centered Planner: Use code PODPLANNER10 for 10% off at daniellelaporte.com/shop.
💗 The Heart Centered Membership is a support system for your body-mind-spirit…and your work in the world. A monthly workshop + audiobook series, with some self-help in the front and business in the back. Get on the wait list for when doors open in February.
✨ Sacred Weekends is my (always free) newsletter for devotion + lifestyl’ish. 220k subscribers are digging it! 2 Fridays a month.
WITH LOVE, DANIELLE 
