This week on the Be Here Now Network’s Guest Podcast, Loch Kelly and Stephan Bodian share a conversation about moving beyond basic mindfulness and towards a more direct approach to lasting peace, happiness and love.
Show Notes
Beyond Mindfulness (Opening) – Stephan shares his own experience of mindfulness practice in the Zen tradition and describes the pull he felt to look for the next step beyond mindfulness practice. He examines the way that different forms of meditation condition the mind and explores the benefits and limitations this conditioning offers. Stephan offers alternative practices for realizing a sense of awareness that is always present.
“I stumbled upon a teacher that told me to stop meditating, or to certainly not make a habit out of it. He said the only reason to meditate was to find out the meditator. He said that meditation conditions the mind and what we are looking to discover is the unconditioned mind.” – Stephan Bodian
The Goal of Awakening (20:45) – Loch Kelly asks us to look at mindfulness as a stepping stone in our spiritual practice, rather than the goal. He shares his own studies and experiences which led him to follow a more direct path to awakening, as well as practices for realizing our own innate awareness.
“What we and many others have found is that once you calm the mind and focus it you enter a state which could be a stepping stone to something else, but if you don’t know where to go you keep repeating the initial practice.” – Loch Kelly
Listen to Loch Kelly’s conversation with Chris Grosso about awareness and our natural state of being on Ep. 12 of the Indie Spiritualist Podcast.
The Trajectory of Awakening (37:35) – Stephan and Loch discuss the trajectory most of us find ourselves on in our journey of awakening. They examine different perspectives on awakening and awareness which can inform our own journey.
Navigating Awareness (49:45) – The two take questions from their audience about methods of practice, using the mind as a tool, and detaching awareness from thought.
Art via A.Dina