Teaching us to relax back into being held by spaciousness, Lama Rod Owens discusses the forces that help us remember real love, awakened freedom, and who we truly are.
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In this episode, Chris and Lama Rod explore:
- The practice and embodiment of real love as revolutionary
- Transcending violence and harm and the yearning for all to be free
- Holding brokenheartedness with a lot of care and viewing it as a teaching
- Continued practice even as an awakened being
- Returning to a space of fluidity and openness
- Riding the middle line between form and emptiness
- Cultivating a stronger relationship with Earth, even in an urban environment
- Mystical breakthroughs and navigating mental health through the lens of spirituality
- Getting distracted by euphoria / believing we are hyper-special instead of taking spiritual experiences as an opportunity to connect more deeply with humanity
- Meditative experiences that can be found in daily life and in our pre-existing hobbies
- Allowing space for Western medicine when it is needed
- Untangling the notion that we have to like something or someone in order to love
- Returning agency back to community and the enduring spiritual traditions that will aid in our survival
About Lama Rod Owens:
Lama Rod Owens is a Black Buddhist Southern Queen. An international influencer with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of social change, identity, and spiritual practice. Author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, his teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care. Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is to show you how to heal and free yourself. A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist teachers with over 11 years of experience, Lama Rod is highly respected among his peers and the communities that he serves. From these intersections, he creates a platform that’s very natural, engaging, and inclusive. Check out Lama Rod’s most recent publication, The New Saints, and his podcast on the Be Here Now Network, The Spirit Underground.
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“Is it taking you out of this moment, out of relationship with others around you? Are you having thoughts of being special and extraordinary? Is it helping you to be more human, or is it leading you towards this idealized state that seems to take you out of the messiness of humanity? I think that the real spiritual breakthrough brings us deeper into the experience of being human, of empathy.” – Lama Rod Owens
More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:
Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation
Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service
JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body: First Foundation Guided Meditation
Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh