Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better

Another solo podcast! This time it's about my Everyday Buddhism podcast journey and how I lost my "why." If you want to hear more about how important understanding what your why is, I talked about that in my second podcast episode, "Everyday Buddhism 2 - What is Your WHY?" The podcast has been such a meaningful space for me: A way to explore, connect, and grow with all my listeners. But more recently, I've noticed that the creative spark that once fueled these episodes has started to dim. I feel myself evolving and being drawn toward a wider, more spacious range of ideas and conversations than the current podcast focus or title really allows. Listen to hear more about my next steps in how I will explore ideas that expand my philosophical range. I plan to explore perennial philosophy, consciousness studies, mysticism, and contemplative traditions more broadly, Buddhism will still be part of the conversation, but not the only lens. Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Check out my Substack for ongoing chapter releases of my new serial book, Living Life As It Is and the podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/ If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

It's a pleasure to share a conversation with Ani Lodro Palmo, an ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun and Director of the Vajra Vidya Monastery in Crestone, Colorado; and a spiritual teacher and author with more than three decades of monastic experience. Ani has devoted her life to spiritual practice and shares her understanding of the Dharma as an author of the books, All That Appears & Exists: The Buddha's Teachings to Awaken the Heart and Turn Suffering Into Joy and her most recent, The End of Suffering: Finding Love, Self-Compassion, and Awakening in a Chaotic World. As a recognized teacher of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation, Ani Lodro's insights are deeply rooted in the unbroken lineage of Buddhist wisdom, through the Karma Kagyu lineage of The Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Although Ani has decades of monastic experience within Tibetan Buddhism, she teaches how the frustrations and dissatisfaction of our everyday lives can be understood and transcended through wisdom and compassion. She writes and speaks in an accessible way, with the gentle encouragement of a friend that is helpful to both new seekers and seasoned practitioners alike. Her teachings are available through retreats, online sessions, and publications. In the conversation we talked about a wide range things, including: How we tend to misunderstanding what suffering is. Gurus and reincarnation as a part of Tibetan Buddhism, but not a necessary part. The Four Noble Truths as a path to awakening. Taking the mystique from karma, as Ani writes: "transforming [it] from an enigmatic doctrine into a practical guide for conscious existence…. rooted in intention and behavior." Her teaching of the "7 Simple Truths to End Suffering": (1) Thoughts are nothing, they are no things; (2) Labels and thoughts create our reality; (3) When we look for our thoughts, they aren't there; (4) Your beliefs are not truth; (5) Dropping attachments is the fastest way to end suffering; (6)You can't focus on helping others and be miserable at the same time; (7) You don't need your mind (as much as you think). ... And much more. I know you will enjoy Ani Lodro's easy and relatable style of teaching and be inspired by what she has to say. Learn more about Ani Lodro Palmo: https://www.anilodroretreats.com/ Vajra Vidya Monsastery: https://vajravidya.com/ Buy her books The End of Suffering: The End of Suffering All That Appears & Exists: All That Appears & Exists Journey Into Peace: Timeless Tales of Zen Buddhism: Journey Into Peace YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@anilodroretreats Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Check out my Substack for ongoing chapter releases of my new serial book, Living Life As It Is and the podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/ If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

As some of you have noticed and commented on, I haven't been as active in releasing podcast episodes. A few listeners were worried about me and, for your concern, I am grateful. I plan to get back to more timely podcast releases, with quite a few on my schedule, but in the meantime, I will re-run some podcast episodes so my podcast listeners will know I haven't disappeared … and to that end I will be releasing 2 early episodes: Episode 11 and Episode 12 on koans. I decided to re-release these two episodes on koans as a double episode for Episode 116, because I've been practicing with koans for a few weeks now, through the guidance of Henry Shukman and his meditation app, "The Way." As an additional note, Henry will be joining me on the podcast in July. I am quite excited to have him as a guest. Something I wanted to share with you about my recent practice with koans. To frame it, it's as if my life after falling on the ice in December and spending a couple of days in the hospital, shook the puzzle pieces I frame my reality in and left all the pieces in a heap at the bottom of the puzzle box. I started my second book, Living Life As It Is, and it seemed as if a frame on life was coming into view. But then, other odd health challenges appeared and altered my ability to do some things and caused enforced rest. The last of those was the flu/virus thing that was like a whack on the back of my head, saying, "Slow down. Stop. Rest." This time corresponded with my koan practice and the latest fascist escapades of our new "regime." The more I sunk into koan practice, the more all of life seemed a bit hazy—without definition and without anything to grasp on to as something I didn't or did like. Things just were. Everything without definition. Some of the koans I've been working with are "Not knowing is most intimate", "A bowl of rice, a bucket of water", "How do you go straight on a road with 99 turns?" Sitting with those helped create a sense of security and OK-ness in my new hazy world. A not knowing that feels like knowing everything in a non-conceptual way. A bowl of rice. What else? That's enough. And 99 turns … like my teacher, Rev. Gyomay Kubose taught, "Every day, one thing after another." So enjoy the re-release of the two koan episodes and in the meantime, I encourage you all to see how you can not grasp and unhook from things you think you need to hold tightly to. Think about the ways you can care for yourselves. It can be easy to get lost in the demands of daily life and the overwhelming noise of the dysfunctional and crazy-scary reality we are now living in. Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Check out my Substack for ongoing chapter releases of my new serial book, Living Life As It Is and the weekly podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/ If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

This is a special episode announcing the release of my new book, as a Substack serial book: Living Life As It Is: An Honest Narrative of My Challenges Practicing Right View I started writing my second book in 2020. But along came the Covid-19 pandemic and so much after that. So here I am still writing what was to be my second book, focused on Right View. The stumbling block in getting it done was things in life kept changing faster and faster, and I had no idea whether I had any sense of Right View anymore or if I was helplessly lost in delusion. But I recently had an idea that would help me focus and share my writing in the midst of life and all its confusion and delusion—in the middle of life as it is. The idea is this: Why not write this long-hoped-for second book in real time? Why not write for my Substack audience, releasing essays/chapters as I go so that you, kind subscribers, can read as I write—and comment too. And that is what I've done. I published the first chapter on February 7, 2025 and plan to release a new essay/chapter every Friday. I thought I'd share that first chapter as a podcast episode and here it is ... Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community, a virtual sangha, and a subscription to my Everyday Buddhism Substack:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Check out my Substack and subscribe to receive a weekly release of a new chapter of my second book, Living Life As It Is, and the weekly podcast, Words From My Teachers: https://wendyshinyohaylett.substack.com/ If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I invited Scott Snibbe to join me for a conversation about Buddhist responses to the anxiety, apprehension, insecurity, fear, dread, anger … and on and on … that some people are feeling now. Scott Snibbe is a twenty-five-year student of Tibetan Buddhism whose teachers include Lama Zopa Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is the author and host of the How to Train a Happy Mind book and podcast. Scott leads meditation classes and retreats worldwide in a style that will become evident in our upcoming conversation. His light-hearted approach is infused with humor, science, and the realities of the modern world. Scott is a new media artist whose installations have been incorporated into museums, public spaces, and performances. He has collaborated with musicians and filmmakers including Björk, Philip Glass, Beck, and James Cameron, and his work can be found in the collections of New York MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other institutions. Listen in as we talk about how the Dharma can help us see things as clear and non-reactive as possible. In this conversation, we talk about: The key to non-violent communications is listening. You don't have to agree with someone to understand them. The antidote to anger is curiosity. No matter what other people believe, each is driven by a desire for happiness. Radical acceptance and how acceptance IS transcendence. And so much more… Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): How to Train a Happy Mind: A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment Learn more about Scott: https://www.snibbe.com How to Train A Happy Mind YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcf_cNAKoiIuGilQYL51ow Scott Snibbe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ssnibbe/ Scott Snibbe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottsnibbe/ Scott Snibbe Twitter: https://twitter.com/snibbe Scott Snibbe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snibbe/ Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I talk with Nadia Colburn. Nadia is the author of the poetry books, I Say the Sky and The High Shelf, and her poetry and prose have appeared in more than eighty publications, including The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Spirituality & Health, Lion's Roar, and The Yale Review. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University, is a yoga teacher and serious student of Thich Nhat Hanh, and is the founder of Align Your Story Writing School, which brings traditional literary and creative writing studies together with mindfulness, embodied practices, and social and environmental engagement. The school has a community of over 30,000 mindful writers. Nadia lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and two children. Stay tuned as we listen to Nadia read some poems from her book and talk about, among many other things: The relationship between Buddhist / meditation practice and writing. Poetry and literature as a companion or an offering as a mirror to yourself. Literature as a place where people can speak truths that are sometimes uncomfortable but not talked about all the time. Writing as therapy and healing. And much more! Sit back and enjoy the flow of conversation and poetry with the delightful Nadia Colburn. Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): I Say the Sky Learn more about Nadia: https://nadiacolburn.com/ Free writing and meditation resources: https://nadiacolburn.com/free-resources/ Free 5-day meditation and writing challenge: https://nadiacolburn.com/free-mindful-writing-challenge/ Nadia Colburn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadia.colburn/ Nadia Colburn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alignyourstory/ Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity Register for the next Introduction to Buddhism course (virtual-Zoom), beginning Thursday, August 29, 2024! Register NOW to get the first readings and reflections in your email, before the class! https://www.everyday-buddhism.com/p/introduction-to-buddhism-course-and-registration-1/ If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I talk with Cindy Rasicot, about her new book, This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkuni Dhammananda. Cindy is an award-winning author of the memoir Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter's Spiritual Quest to Thailand. Cindy also hosted a weekly YouTube series that welcomed people from all walks of life to explore their spiritual practice in conversation with Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammananda. Guests have included Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein, Joan Halifax, and many others. The conversations showcase Venerable Dhammananda's wise and warm teaching style. In this conversation we talk about Venerable Dhammananda and her amazing and inspirational life journey from academic to activist to spiritual leader. She is an advocate of serious reform for monastic and lay Buddhists, including—of course—the reestablishment of the Bhikkhuni order. She also speaks out, urging all genders and classes to be advocates of equality for women. We also talk about some of the direct teachings found in 10 chapters of Cindy's book, This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkuni Dhammananda. Teachings that include meditation, forgiveness, loneliness, grasping, uncertainty, and ageing—among others. Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkhuni Dhammananda Learn more about Cindy Rasicot: https://cindyrasicot.com/ Learn more about Venerable Dhammananada and her monastery, Sondhammakalayni Temple: https://cindyrasicot.com/about-venerable-dhammanda/ https://www.songdhammakalyani.com/ Casual Buddhism YouTube: www.youtube.com/@casualbuddhism Cindy Rasicot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cindy.rasicot Cindy Rasicot Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.rasicot.author Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism Support the podcast and show your support through the purchase of Everyday Buddhism merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/everyday_buddhism NOTE: Free shipping on ALL (unlimited) items (Everyday Buddhism merch or gifts from other stores) if you join Zazzle Plus for $19.95/year: https://www.zazzle.com/zazzleplus

In this episode I talk with Oren Jay Sofer about his new book, Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity & Love. Oren teaches meditation and communication internationally. He holds a degree in comparative religion from Columbia University and is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Oren has practiced meditation in the early Buddhist tradition since 1997, beginning his studies in Bodh Gaya, India, and later spending 2-1/2 years living as an renunciate at branch monasteries in the Ajahn Chah Thai Forest lineage. He is a long-time student of Joseph Goldstein, Michele McDonald, and Ajahn Sucitto, and is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher's Council. Oren is also the author of the best-seller Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication and two books on teaching mindfulness to adolescents: The Mindful Schools Curriculum for Adolescents and Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Teens. His teaching has reached people around the world through online communication courses and guided meditations, combining classical Buddhist training with the accessible language of secular mindfulness In our conversation we talked about, among other things: How our hearts REALLY are made for these times … Our hearts were made to awaken and if we can practice—in small steps—turning toward suffering, we enter a portal to transformation. How the world shapes our hearts in ways not best for us and how we can practice shaping our own hearts. How getting in touch with our true values will guide us through these challenging times. How we need to consciously "change the channel" of our thoughts to be more aligned with our true values. Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): Your Heart Was Made for This Learn more about Oren Jay Sofer, his teaching, courses, and special events: https://www.orenjaysofer.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/orenjaysofervideo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orenjaysofer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrenJaySofer/ X/Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/OrenJaySofer/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orenjaysofer/ Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode, I welcome back Rebecca Li to talk about her new book, Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No Method. Rebecca and I had a conversation in May of 2021, about her previous book, Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times. Rebecca is a meditation and Dharma teacher in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen and founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community, a Chan Buddhist practice and study community made up of individuals committed to cultivating wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings. Rebecca has two decades of Dharma and meditation teaching experience, leading retreats or teaching at Buddhist centers in North America, Europe, and Asia. She has been featured in several Buddhist publications, including Tricycle, Lion's Roar, and Buddhadharma. She is also one of the founding board members of The GenX Buddhist Teachers Sangha where she continues to serve as a board member. Rebecca is a sociology professor and lives with her husband in New Jersey. In Allow Joy into Our Hearts, Rebecca wrote about Chan Practice and she continues to teach the path of Chan Buddhism in the book we will discuss today, Illumination. In Illumination, she dives deeper into the Chan meditation of Silent Illumination and deeper still into what causes our suffering and how Silent Illumination can help us identify and help decrease the causes of our suffering. In her book, Rebecca takes us on a fascinating, deep-dive into the method of no method in silent illumination and guides us in the mechanics of this type of practice. In our conversation we talked about, among other things: How, in our meditation, we turn thoughts into enemies, rather than allowing thoughts and feelings to be fully experienced and felt … About how tend to try to "achieve" as meditators, as if a sport … And about the modes of operation: craving, aversion, trance, problem-solving, intellectualizing, quietism, and forgetting-emptiness … Buy the book (Amazon affiliate link): Illumination: A Guide to the Method of No-Method Learn more about Rebecca Li and her Dharma talks, guided meditation offerings, and retreats: https://rebeccali.org/ *Special Everyday Buddhism Substack / Words From My Teachers podcast subscription promo code: Redeem by 3/31/2024 for 20% subscription for 1 year! Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha Join the Membership Community: https://donorbox.org/membershipcommunity Register for the Introduction to Buddhism Course (by February 22, 2024): Register for the Introduction to Buddhism course If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

As a special bonus episode for the Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am sharing the reading of the essay Purposeless Purpose. It's a wonderful essay to reflect on, as they all are in The Center Within, but I'm releasing it here on the Everyday Buddhism podcast as a companion piece, which you will find in the next episode, 104. But as a special introduction to the bonus episode, I am adding new content in this re-release of an episode I did in June of 2022, called Why Nonsense Makes the Most Sense, which was built on the essay, Purposeless Purpose. The new addition is some insight about meditation that is related to the purposeless-purpose message. Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Find out more and register for the Introduction to Buddhism course: Introduction to Buddhism course information and registration Join the Everyday Buddhism Membership Community: Join the Membership Community Join the Everyday Sangha: Join the Everyday Sangha Subscribe to my premium Substack feed and podcast, Words From My Teachers: Subscribe to "Words From My Teachers" Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism

In this episode of Words From My Teachers, an Everyday Buddhism podcast, I am reading the first five chapters from The Center Within by Rev. Gyomay Kubose: Awareness A Shining Star Buddha Nature and Gassho Buddhism Is Everyday Life Empty-Handed I hope you enjoy these readings and I hope you will take my suggestion and cue to do some reflection at the end of each essay. As my teacher, Rev. Koyo Kubose taught, "Don't just read. Ask yourself how you can use what you heard? How can you add it to your spiritual toolbox?" This is the last of the episodes released in full as public episodes, so be sure to subscribe to receive 5 essay readings weekly. And please share this feed using the convenient "Share" button on the Substack post. Subscribe to Words From My Teachers Premium Podcast ***************************************** For more about Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism: Bright Dawn.org

Introducing Words From My Teachers, a premium, weekly Everyday Buddhism podcast. Words From My Teachers features readings from the books written by and about my teachers from the Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism and the Kubose Dharma Legacy … Rev. Gyomay Kubose, Rev. Koyo Kubose, and Haya Akegarasu. I started the Everyday Buddhism podcast in June of 2018 so that I could share the everyday approach to Buddhism that was instilled in me by my teacher Rev. Koyo Kubose and the Bright Dawn Lay Ministry program. It is an approach that was not widely taught or communicated at the time … and, honestly, it still isn't. The lineage from which the Bright Dawn teachings derived is unique in the Dharma-sphere and its teachings are what I built my podcast and virtual sangha approach on. It is my hope that this Words From My Teachers podcast will help keep Rev. Gyomay's and Rev. Koyo's voices alive by bringing them to listeners not familiar with the Bright Dawn teachings and reinforcing them to those who already appreciate them. Stay tuned for the first 2 episodes that will be offered as public podcast episodes … then make sure to sign up to receive them weekly by subscribing to my Everyday Buddhism Substack premium content. Subscribe to Words From My Teachers Premium Podcast

I am very happy to share the wisdom of Gemma Naturkach, a member of our Everyday Buddhism Community and Sangha. I asked Gemma to join me for a conversation on the podcast, after listening to her share her reflections and insight about her experiences as a refugee from Ukraine. It really helps give us a bigger perspective—a perspective from the real-life experience of a woman trying to make sense of everything that happened to her and her family, who were driven from their home and country because of war. Gemma is a U.S. Army vet and member of a three-culture family. She is an ICF and iPEC certified coach and founder of Social Media for Coaches. She is deeply committed to using her experiences to champion the voices of those who have been uprooted from their homes. Her wisdom was sharpened through her own experience as she and her family made their way from Ukraine to Wisconsin in February 2022. After asking her to be guest on the podcast, I found out that Gemma has written a book, called Surviving Patriotism, targeted for release in 2024.This work serves as a testament to her emotional journey during her and her family's evacuation and subsequent resettlement. Among other things, we talked about how home and community is where you make it … the complex emotions of hating and then trying not to hate the "enemy" … how rage doesn't think, reflect, or consider … how war is romanticized … and how we feel pressured to pick a side, labeling one as bad and the other as good … and ways we might help when we feel helpless. I am positive Gemma's reflection on her experience … her honest sharing of what she went through and her thoughts along the way … may help you see war, anger, and propaganda from a broader and clearer lens … a lens outside our cultural or tribal bubbles. I know it did me! * Note: Correction - Near the end of the episode, I mistakenly referred to Palestine as Pakistan. Become a patron to support this podcast and get special member benefits, including a membership community and virtual sangha:https://www.patreon.com/EverydayBuddhism If this podcast has helped you understand Buddhism or help in your everyday life, consider making a one-time donation here: https://donorbox.org/podcast-donations Support the podcast through the affiliate link to buy the book, Everyday Buddhism: Real-Life Buddhist Teachings & Practices for Real Change: Buy the book, Everyday Buddhism