How to Train a Happy Mind

This week, Scott is joined by transformative activist and restorative justice advocate Kazu Haga to discuss his new book, Fierce Vulnerability, which rethinks nonviolence as a path to healing and connection. In a world fueled by division, Kazu challenges the idea of winning against an enemy and asks: What if resistance wasn’t about force, but about vulnerability? If you’ve ever questioned whether conflict itself is keeping us stuck, this conversation is for you.Episode 186: Beyond Us vs Them: Transforming Society Through Fierce Vulnerability with Kazu Haga From August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

Objects around us ordinarily appear as if they are solid, singular, and separate from us. However, both science and the Buddhist understanding of reality show us that as we examine things more closely, they exist far more subtly and richly than they appear. This meditation focuses on an object most of us have strong feelings toward—our smartphone—breaking it apart into its myriad parts, and giving us a meditative glimpse of how it truly exists.This episode is the second in a series exploring the Buddhist topic of “emptiness,” or how things exist through parts, causes, and the minds that perceive them.Episode 38: Meditation on How Things ExistFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

The Buddhist view on reality, called emptiness, combines the awe of scientific knowledge with the inner, experiential knowledge that comes from meditation and critical reasoning to arrive at a feeling of interconnectedness. The first in a seven-art series on Buddhism's view of dependent origination looks at how objects exist using the example of that most modern wonder and addiction, our smartphone.Episode 37: How Things ExistFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

Settle into a mindful state and engage with your phone in this conscious exercise with digital wellness expert Jay Vidyarthi. Use this guided meditation to deeply and mindfully investigate your phone with clarity.Episode 185: How to Use Your Phone Mindfully: A Guided Meditation for Digital Wellness—Jay VidyarthiFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

Join Jay Vidyarthi, author of 'Reclaim Your Mind', as he shares his radical approach to reshaping our relationship with technology. He dives into the emotional needs behind our compulsive tech habits and offers transformative meditation practices to reset our digital instincts. Explore the detrimental effects of excessive screen time and the importance of mindful interactions, especially for children. Jay also emphasizes authentic communication in the digital age and the balance between profit and personal well-being in the tech industry.

What can Buddhism teach us about how Bitcoin works & why it’s so valuable? What can Bitcoin teach us about emptiness, the interdependent nature of reality? Find out in this episode with Scott Snibbe!Episode 70: Bitcoin and BuddhismFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

Meditate on the four types of generosity according to Buddhism, giving material objects, providing protection, teaching the Dharma, and spreading love. It has an emphasis on the generosity that we may or may not show to homeless people. It's part of a year-long series on what we call the Six Perfections, six practices of Mahayana Buddhism that lead one to, they say, a state of limitless happiness. The meditation is done in a way that you don't need to be a Buddhist or have any Buddhist beliefs, just like all the others in our program. Episode 183: Meditation on GenerosityFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

In this episode, I share lesson's I've learned about generosity from my Buddhist teachers, my college girlfriend, and, to start off, my mother on the generosity we choose to share (or not to share) with homeless people.This year, most of our episodes are centered around what Buddhism calls the "six perfections": generosity, morality, patience, joyful effort, calm abiding, and special insight into the ultimate nature of reality, also known as emptiness. These six practices are centuries-old altruistic ways of thinking, speaking, and acting in the world that evolve our minds (and the minds of the people we touch) toward happiness, better relationships, and a better world. Episode 182: A Buddhist Take on Homelessness & GenerosityFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

A guided meditation on “universalizing,” a Tibetan Buddhist mind training technique for transforming our everyday problems and pleasures through love and compassion.Episode 32. Guided Meditation: Universalizing our Problems and PleasuresFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show

One of the most powerful Tibetan Buddhist mind training techniques is universalizing, a practice that transforms everyday pains and pleasures into profound meditations. From arguing with the family to stuffing yourself with a delicious meal, life’s problems and pleasures can bring anger, guilt, and sadness. The meditation technique of “universalization” transforms our everyday experiences of pleasure and pain into engines of love and compassion.Episode 31: Universalizing: Transforming Pain and Pleasure into Love and CompassionFrom August 28 to 31, Scott Snibbe is leading an in-person meditation retreat at Vajrapani Institute. We’ll explore antidotes to anxiety, fear, and loneliness—and cultivate the deeper causes of a happy mind; connected, loving relationships; and a better world. It all happens in the beautiful redwood forests of California, while enjoying delicious vegetarian meals and meeting thoughtful new friends.SIGN UP NOWSupport the show