Radically telling his personal truths, Lama Rod Owens talks with Spring Washam about his upcoming book, The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors.
Click HERE to preorder your copy of Lama Rod Owens’ book, The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors
“When you choose to do the work, you will experience liberation. You will experience the space, the fluidity. You’ll come to understand yourself in a really different way, in such a way that’s full of potential and expansive and generative.” – Lama Rod Owens
This week on the Spirit Underground, Spring and Lama Rod dive into:
- Heartbreak, fear, and the freedom of honesty
- Lama Rod’s method of opening up in his upcoming book
- Inspiration from James Baldwin
- Embodying the path of liberation and trusting the process
- A contemporary understanding of sainthood
- Rethinking the Bodhisattva tradition
- How the idea of being good may mean suppression
- Tuning into our own needs
- The modern love of radical truth
- The tough work of spiritual awakening and processing our traumas
- Recognizing when someone is bypassing their pain
- Lama Rod Owens’ dedication to the Black, Queer, and Trans communities
- Impacting the world through personal transformation
“Do not be fooled by people selling you that this path to liberation is one joyful moment after another….like an elevator you just keep taking all the way to the heaven realm. No. You may go into the deepest work of your life. In fact, be prepared to deal with heartbreak.” – Spring Washam
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 showing 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.
For current offerings and programs, click here.
About Spring Washam:
Spring Washam is a well-known teacher, author, and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and her newest book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founding teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in downtown Oakland, CA. She has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism since 1999. She is a member of the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California where she was trained for over a decade.
In addition to being a teacher, she is also a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices since 2008. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, a one-of-a-kind organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom in South America. Her writings and dharma teachings have appeared in many online journals and publications. She currently teaches meditation retreats and leads workshops, and classes worldwide.
Spring currently teaches meditation retreats and leads workshops, and classes worldwide: springwasham.com
