Deconstructing Yourself

Kelly Boys, a consultant with the United Nations Foundation, discusses integral restoration, nondual awakening, spiritual bypassing, gendered aspects of awakening, engaged Buddhism, and how to see your blind spots. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing vulnerabilities, engaging with egoic material, and cultivating conscious living through meditation and self-awareness.

Daniel Ingram, an emergency medicine physician and long-time dharma practitioner, explores topics such as teacher-student models, creating meditation peer groups, working with 'co-adventurers' on the spiritual path, and overcoming projection as a teacher. They discuss different approaches to teaching, the impact of social connections on our advancement, the contrast between childlike mode and critical thinking, and the benefits of having different teachers for different students. They also discuss the organic conversations and activities that took place during a retreat.

Roshi Joan Halifax speaks with host Michael W. Taft about her new book, Standing at the Edge, the shadow sides of altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, engagement, and rays of hope in current times.Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D. is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order and founder of Prajna Mountain Buddhist Order, her work and practice for more than four decades has focused on engaged Buddhism. Her books include: The Fruitful Darkness, A Journey Through Buddhist Practice, Being with Dying, and her forthcoming, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet.Upaya Zen CenterStanding at the Edge on AmazonYou can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rick Hanson and I discuss the tension between accepting how you're feeling and changing how you're feeling, spiritual bypassing, how to cultivate positive states of mind, the quivering potentiality at the front edge of now, the three branches of attention, why Buddhist aggressiveness is not an oxymoron, and, of course, ewoks.Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books include Buddha’s Brain, Hardwiring Happiness, and the new book Resilient. Rick began meditating in 1974, has trained in several traditions, and teaches at meditation centers around the world.You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Concentration master Leigh Brasington talks with Michael W. Taft about the jhanas, a Buddhist system of eight altered states of consciousness that arise in states of high concentration. The conversation dives deep into practicing each of these eight states, how the jhanas relate to vipassana practice, ways to work through major challenges that may arise, the so-called "powers" that are often attributed to concentration practice, and much more.Leigh Brasington has been practicing meditation since 1985 and is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema. Leigh began assisting Ven. Ayya Khemma in 1994, and began teaching retreats on his on in 1997. He teaches in Europe and North America and is the author of the book Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas. Find more about Leigh’s teaching and schedule at http://leighb.com.Show Notes0:31 - Introduction1:59 - The Jhanas, de-emphasis on jhana practice in American practice, the Visuddhimagga, Paw Auk Sawadaw, overview concentration vs vipassana5:23 - The variety of systems of jhana, why there are differences in what counts as jhana, sermons, meditation instructions and one on one interviews8:08 - The Jhanas - specific states10:16 - Did the Buddha learn the jhanas from his teachers?12:19 - The Buddha’s unique contribution – a well-concentrated mind can more accurately investigate reality – vipassana13:21 - Redefinition of the jhanas over time - Sutta to Abhidharma to Visuddhimagga15:37 - What makes concentration a jhana?17:36 - Jhana from a light switch or other object how to generate it, access concentration, feedback loops to generate piti-sukkha19:41 - Piti-sukkha gleeful happiness - variety of experience among meditators20:23 - How long does attention need to be there? Indistractability, and when to switch between access concentration and the first jhana22:26 - Why is this better than meditating on a cloud? Why meditate on piti-sukkha? A great way to set up your vipassana practice.24:34 - The higher jhanas, discussion of emotions with bodily components vs emotions as embodied with mental aspects.27:10 - Focus in the first four jhanas on the mental aspect of the emotion vs. the physical aspect28:36 - How long does it take to learn the jhanas29:36 - Unresolved psychological stuff may show up as a function of concentration, getting those up and out,32:04 -Example feeling of unworthiness, low self esteem, how to handle it,35:21 -Purification practice39:55 -Unwise action that won’t lead to the results you are hoping for, social media, where people are trying to get happiness and be safe42:21 -Strong piti in first jhana, moving from first to second jhana45:21 -Jhanic states and neurotransmitters and transition to third jhana, varying time in different jhanas47:56 -The Difference between the second and third jhana, third jhana afterglow49:38 - Moving into the fourth jhana, attention on the quiet stillness wherever you find it52:16 - Hanging out in the fourth jhana, and insight practice55:28 - Misinformation on the jhanas57:48  - The four immaterial jhanas1:00:40  - Getting to the fifth jhana1:02:17  - The sixth, seventh, and eighth jhanas1:05:03  - The ninth jhana - cessation of feeling and perception1:07:17 - Weird experiences with jhanic concentration, powers1:13:40 - Which jhanas are helpful for insight practice, even access concentration helps,1:15:01 - The jhanas and retreat1:15:17 - The importance of the jhanasYou can help to create future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, I talk with Jessica Graham about her book Good Sex, the #MeToo movement, the power of self love and acceptance, a beginner’s guide to spiritual awakening through sexuality, mindful masturbation, aspects of puritanism in Buddhism, the meditative way to work with "love drugs," and much more.Jessica Graham is a spiritual teacher, sex and intimacy guide, and author. Jessica began studying meditating in earnest a decade ago and started teaching soon after. Jessica is also passionate about exploring sexuality and helping others heal, evolve, and awaken sexually. She is the author of Good Sex: Getting Off without Checking Out .Jessica is also an award-winning actor and filmmaker. And, of course, Jessica is the author of many of the articles on the Deconstructing Yourself blog.Read Jessica's series of posts on Mindful SexVisit Jessica's website You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thomas Metzinger and Michael W. Taft discuss having moral integrity with yourself, intellectual honesty in the pursuit of spirituality, the overlapping goals of science and spirituality, the possibility of a fully secularized spirituality, neurofeedback and virtual reality, mortality denial, the simulation hypothesis, and a whole bunch more.Thomas Metzinger is full professor and director of the theoretical philosophy group and the research group on neuroethics/neurophilosophy at the department of philosophy, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. He is the founder and director of the MIND group and Adjunct Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute of Advanced Studies, Germany. His research centers on analytic philosophy of mind, applied ethics, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. He is the editor of Neural Correlates of Consciousness and the author of Being No One and The Ego Tunnel.Thomas Metzinger’s website.A video of Metzinger’s Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty talk.Read an interview with Thomas Metzinger, entitled “What Is the Self?“Show Notes0:25 – Introduction2:53 – Interesting times in the world4:12 – Summary of Thomas’ talk, “Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty”7:46 – Impact and divided reactions to “Spirituality and Intellectual Honesty”12:43 – Internal moral integrity: belief formation & authority17:05 – Needing a teacher, master or guru21:10 – Surrender, Western enlightenment and the “crazy corner”24:13 – Getting science to say something interesting about human experience26:08 – Neurofeedback glasses for walking meditation; taking meditation into life30:00 – Virtuality and nothingness, consciousness as virtual reality34:03 – Suchness; spirituality as de-immersion from conscious experience, meditating on artifacts36:20 – The feeling of being real, transparently and opacity38:55 – Hyperreality & derealization: hallucinogens, religious ecstasy and seizures40:42 – VR meditation, getting in touch with virtuality42:28 – Reaching earlier brain processing stages through meditation or hallucinogens45:43 – The Ruining Innocence podcast: a half-serious criticism of taxonomies and discussing meditation49:33 – Thomas’ thoughts on the Arrow of Attention; correlates in neuroscience53:20 – Mindfulness of inattention and avoidance, pitfalls of mindfulness56:07 – Discussing Douglas Harding: the Headless Way and immersion; more discussion of the Arrow of Attention1:00:14 – The self as a visual metaphor; the pre-3D lump of sensations and motor babbling1:03:23 – Thomas’ recent studies of subjectivity: the epistemic agent model of self1:09:48 – How it transpires that the Self is not conscious1:11:34 – Questioning science’s value for practice; the moral imperative of trying to improve contemplative practice1:15:12 – Thomas’ critique of the perennial philosophy; strategies of mortality denial1:22:07 – The simulation hypothesis; thoughts in the mind of god1:25:41 – Is suffering real, and how deep does reality go?1:29:05 – A hypothetical merging of science and subjectivity1:31:29 – OutroYou can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michael Taft interviews A.H. Almaas, creator of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization. They discuss attachment to the non-dual viewpoint, unilocal awakening, the role of instinct in spirituality, integrating awakening with philosophy, and more.

Culadasa talks with Michael W. Taft. After decades of Buddhist practice, Culadasa exploded on the scene a few years ago with his groundbreaking book The Mind Illuminated, an incredibly comprehensive guide to meditation. It’s an erudite mixture of neuroscience, traditional Buddhist practice, and Culadasa’s own ideas about how to gt the most out of practice. In this episode we talk about his definitions of attention and awareness, how his system compares to that of his friend teacher Shinzen Young, how the meditative brain works, dealing with aging and death, and much more.Learn more about Culadasa and his teaching at culadasa.comShow Notes0:15 – Introduction and overview 2:30 – Culadasa’s system vs. Shinzen Young’s: stability of attention 7:55 – Sustained attention and effortlessness 10:20 – Culadasa’s system vs. Shinzen Young’s: sensory clarity and peripheral awareness 19:55 – Mindfulness as the optimal interaction between attention and awareness 22:55 – Conceptual overlays and the lower limits of conscious perception 32:50 – Attention selects objects from peripheral awareness 35:00 – The interactive role of attention and awareness in maintaining mindfulness in daily life 38:30 – How strong mindfulness affects emotions, wholesome and unwholesome behavior, and the practice of virtue 43:50 – The importance of the Eightfold Path post-awakening 47:20 – The Ten Fetter, Four Path Model: characteristics of paths and the dropping of fetters 59:49 – Spiritual development does not end at Fourth Path 1:01:57 – Old age, sickness and death are part of the Great AdventureYou can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What do the neurocorrelates of enlightenment, the activation of the posterior cingulate cortex, and the extinction of craving all have in common? They relate to the work of Judson Brewer. Jud talks with Michael W. Taft about his brain biofeedback machine, the neurophenomonolgy of effort vs. non-effort, the feedback loop of reward-based learning, working with the black hole of anxiety, self-referential thinking as a kind of addiction, and much more.Judson Brewer is an MD-PhD and a thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery”, having combined nearly 20 years of experience with mindfulness training with his scientific research.A psychiatrist and internationally known expert in mindfulness training for addictions, Brewer has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including both in-person and app-based treatments. He has also studied the underlying neural mechanisms of mindfulness using standard and real-time fMRI. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, Fetzer Trust among others.Check out Jud’s recent book, entitled, The Craving Mind.In this TED talk, Jud describes how to “get out of your own way.”Show Notes3:37 – Has Jud found the neurocorrelates of enlightenment? 4:40 – The Default Mode Network and science, the PCC – Craving and tanha – Details of fMRI experiments 5:57 – Trying, Flow and PCC activity, contraction vs. expansion 9:36 – Jud’s own practice in the scanner, metta, calibrating the scale of exp/con 20:45 – High concentration vs. effortlessness – no force necessary – 7 factors of awakening 28:54 – What has Jud found? Excitement vs. happiness – a learning tool 30:30 – What we see with experienced meditators / Best use of his neurofeedback technology 36:09 – Michael’s experience in the device 38:30 – Neurophenomolgy effort vs. non-effort, and the feedback loop of reward-based learning – the perpetual Skinner box of relative rewards – anger vs. kindness 42:30 – Addiction – allcohol, cocaine, smoking – smoking tastes bad when you pay attention 45:50 – Paying attention to eating – Joie de vivre – PCC and digital therapeutics – apps 53:24 – The trickiness of the black hole of anxiety – Unwinding Anxiety app 56:20 – Do we have to practice abstinence or not? – Is addiction a disease? 1:00:27 – Jud’s new book, The Craving Mind 1:01:37 – Self-referential thinking as a kind of addiction – Instagram addiction 1:04:05 – Meditation from the Lab – Dependant Origination (PDF Download) – Siddhis You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.