Awake in the World Podcast
Michael Stone
Awake in the World Podcast is a library of talks on a wide-range of topics, including bringing mindfulness and meditation practice into daily life; personal and community issues regarding mental health; and social change. The podcasts were recorded at live events so you might hear coughing, airplanes, cars, sirens, laughter, and peoples’ questions—all part of the intimate experience. Michael Stone (1974-2017) was a Buddhist teacher, author, and mental health advocate. His legacy is stewarded by Carina Stone. Podcast funded by Patreon (patreon.com/michaelstone).
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 29, 2020 • 47min
Noticing the Quality of Our Noticing
In this Awake in the World podcast episode Michael explains the meaning of taking refuge in Prajna Paramita (your heart), and your capacity to embrace your aliveness without being sidetracked by your storyteller.
Recorded April 28, 2009.
Nov 23, 2020 • 56min
You Are Your Refuge: Take Care of Yourself
In this Awake in the World podcast episode Michael considers the question: “If the boundaries of your self are conditioned and changeable, how do you know if you’ve stretched too far?” How do we balance the importance of boundaries and self-care against the need to be open, responsive, and flexible. Michael argues that you can’t have fluidity without boundaries, and discusses Shunryu Suzuki’s assertion that the best way to control a cow is to give it a large pasture.
Recorded on April 27, 2010.
Nov 15, 2020 • 53min
Best of Awake in the World: Love, Death & Oak Trees
This week we're revisiting a favorite Awake in the World podcast episode. In this talk, Michael describes the Buddha's death and discusses the Zen koan "Oak Tree in the Garden," meditation practice, and the politics of love.
Recorded at True North Insight in Ontario on April 19, 2014.
Nov 10, 2020 • 50min
Best of Awake in the World: The Role of the Body in Meditation Practice
This week we're revisiting a favorite Awake in the World podcast episode. In this talk, Michael uses the teachings on emptiness to work with the body. He calls sitting "physical practice" and he describes yoga as "psychological practice."
Recorded at True North Insight in Ontario on April 18, 2014.
Nov 2, 2020 • 40min
Best of Awake in the World: Bring Me Something That Isn't Medicine
This week we're revisiting a favorite Awake in the World podcast episode. In this talk, Michael discusses the Avatamsaka Sutra (The Flower Garland Sutra) and seeing everything as medicine. Meditation teaches us how to practice intimacy, even with old wounds.
Recorded on a silent retreat at True North Insight, Ontario on April 17, 2014.
Oct 25, 2020 • 58min
Best of Awake in the World: The Whole World is Upside Down
This week we're revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. In this dharma talk, Michael talks about a Zen Master called Bird's Nest Roshi who would go out on a limb and meditate in an abandoned bird's nest. Living in the world, ignoring death, trying to make impermanence permanent, avoiding loss and suffering... What we do with our deep grooves is more dangerous than going out on a limb and meditating.
Recorded on February 5, 2013.
Oct 18, 2020 • 53min
Best of Awake in the World: Gratitude in Jewish and Buddhist Practice
This week we're revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. In this talk, Michael reflects on God, gratitude, mind, compassionate action, and the encounter between what can and can't be talked about. Recorded at a retreat co-taught by Michael Stone and Rabbi Miriam Margles in Quebec in November 2013.
Oct 11, 2020 • 55min
Radically Simple
In this Awake in the World podcast episode, Michael references the Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha, reads a koan from The Book of Serenity, and explores how Buddhist practice is radically simple and relates to the whole of our lives.
Recorded April 26, 2010.
Oct 5, 2020 • 32min
Finding a Path
In this 30-minute guided meditation, Michael explores how to work with thoughts during sitting practice, focusing on the breath in a way that reduces clinging, reduces rejection. The breath doesn’t decide good or bad: it is kind to our body, our nervous system, our habits.
Recorded April 23, 2010
Sep 27, 2020 • 47min
A More Liquified Existence
In this Awake in the World podcast episode Michael elucidates the “post-negation” part of the Heart Sutra, particularly the lines “with no hindrance in the mind. No hindrance, therefore no fear.” He characterizes hindrances as walls of the mind and describes creating a “no landing zone.” In addition he talks about “horizontal transcendence,” “knotty” thoughts, and making peace with the fears that may accompany a more “liquified” existence.
Recorded April 21, 2009.
