Episodes
Scott Snibbe leads a meditation from his new book, How to Train a Happy Mind, on how to make the most of our precious lives. Episode 155: Precious Life Meditation Scott Snibbe has just released a new book called How to Train a Happy Mind that shares the accessible approach to Buddhism familiar to podcast listeners. The book features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and you can order it right now anywhere you buy books. Go to  skepticspath.org for more details on the book and tour,...
Published 03/26/24
Scott Snibbe shares a chapter from his new book, How to Train a Happy Mind: The Precious Life. If you enjoy this episode, check out the whole audiobook on Audible, which includes guided meditations! Episode 154: The Precious Life—Chapter Reading from How to Train a Happy Mind Scott Snibbe has just released a new book called How to Train a Happy Mind that shares the accessible approach to Buddhism familiar to podcast listeners. The book features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and...
Published 03/19/24
This is an exciting episode for the podcast because my book, How to Train a Happy Mind, comes out today. To celebrate its release, we're sharing a conversation I had with best-selling author Vicki McKenzie a couple of weeks ago at a book preview event in London, in front of a live audience. This podcast is where I developed most of the ideas for the book, based on more than a decade leading meditations that eventually formed many of our episodes. I want to thank all our listeners for your...
Published 03/12/24
Meenadchi guides a meditation on discovering, playing with, and feeling the good things in your body through a light visualization. Episode 152: Meditation on Feeling Good with Meenadchi Scott Snibbe has just released a new book called How to Train a Happy Mind that shares the accessible approach to Buddhism familiar to podcast listeners. The book features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and you can order it right now anywhere you buy books. Go to  skepticspath.org for more details...
Published 03/05/24
A couple of decades ago, a friend introduced me to a book called Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg. Over the years, I've tried imperfectly to use its gentler forms of communication. At various points in life the techniques of NVC, as it's known for short, have saved me from losing a lawsuit, losing a job, and losing a partner. Still, these techniques didn't always work for me. When our producer Annie Nguyen recently introduced me to a book called Decolonizing Nonviolent...
Published 02/27/24
Dr. Suzanne Wertheim is the author of The Inclusive Language Field Guide. An academic for many years, she now specializes in analyzing and addressing bias at work, helping companies like Google and Reddit promote speech that's more inclusive and more connecting. After I read Suzanne's book, I was struck by the parallels between her work and the Buddhist ethical foundation of right speech.  In our interview, we talk about embarrassing mistakes we both made in our speech, how to both forcefully...
Published 02/20/24
A complete guided meditation session expanding your compassion, stabilizing concentration on the breath, and observing your thoughts. Episode 3: Guided Meditation: Stabilizing the Mind and Watching Thoughts Four years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science currently accepts. The first 40 episodes of the podcast gradually go through all of these topics, in...
Published 02/13/24
Over the past few years meditation has become popular as a way to help reduce stress, be focused at work, sleep better, or simply relax. Yet meditation isn’t just a tool to improve focus or relax, but a way to strengthen the positive qualities we all naturally possess: compassion, kindness, generosity, patience, humor, and finding joy in everyday life. This episode explores this higher purpose of meditation through the less familiar technique of analytic meditationthat uses stories, thoughts,...
Published 02/06/24
Scott Tusa leads an equanimity meditation—based on the Mahayana Buddhist tradition—that works with three kinds of relationships in our life. The purpose is to cultivate compassion, loving-kindness, and understanding. Episode 149: Equanimity Meditation with Scott Tusa Support the show
Published 01/30/24
After ordination by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Scott Tusa spent nine years as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Today, he's an irreverent meditation teacher and a brand-new father. In this episode, Scott and I talk about some hard decisions we've faced in life, and that the world faces today, asking ourselves, What is the right thing to do? Is there a right and wrong from a Buddhist perspective? How did Scott and I deal with the painful decisions we faced in our lives to get divorced and to give up...
Published 01/23/24
Even a short 10-minute meditation has the power to calm your body and mind. Here’s a helpful guided meditation that in just 10 minutes a day can improve your well-being. Even though it's short, this is a complete meditation session including establishing proper meditation posture, motivating our meditation to be a force for good, stabilizing the mind on the breath, letting go of thoughts, cultivating beneficial thoughts, and a dedication to seal your meditation practice. A Guided 10 Minute...
Published 01/16/24
Four years ago, we created A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment to share the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditation in a form that requires no belief beyond what science currently accepts. The first 40 episodes of the podcast gradually go through all of these topics, in order, beginning with appreciating the gift of our life and our place in the universe, and gradually moving up to cultivating boundless compassion for all beings and understanding the ultimate nature of our...
Published 01/09/24
Scott Snibbe shares a gentle Buddhist approach to self-forgiveness, letting go, establishing good habits, and rejoicing in all the good we've done. Move into the new year with your best intentions and best self. Episode 147: Letting Go and Looking Forward in the New Year Pre-order Scott Snibbe's new book How to Train a Happy Mind with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Enter your your order number at skepticspath.org for an invitation to a special pre-release broadcast interview of...
Published 01/02/24
Grammy Award winning artist Laurie Anderson, a longtime student of Buddhism and meditation, shares her personal path with Buddhism, approaching art with a beginner’s mind, staying present with suffering without letting it overwhelm you, and making our lives meaningful. Laurie Anderson is one of our greatest living artists. Her work includes spoken word and performance, top-charting albums and music videos, digital art, film, virtual reality, and the invention of ingenious instruments like...
Published 12/26/23
Dan Harris, former ABC News anchor and host of the hit podcast Ten Percent Happier, talks with Scott Snibbe about love, skepticism, Buddhism, and the "cheesy upward spiral." Episode 134: Dan Harris: Love, Skepticism, and the "Cheesy Upward Spiral" This is a rebroadcast of one of the year's most popular episodes. Pre-order Scott Snibbe's new book How to Train a Happy Mind with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Enter your your order number at skepticspath.org for an invitation to a...
Published 12/19/23
Dr. Katherine MacLean leads a meditation practice called RAFT: Remembering to be Aware of Feelings in your body and Trust your experience. Katherine says that mushrooms shared this practice with her as a way to help others access the space of psychedelics from a sober standpoint. Episode 146: RAFT Meditation with Dr. Katherine MacLean Support the show
Published 12/12/23
Ten years ago Dr. Katherine MacLean conducted the first scientific study of the combined effects of psychedelics with meditation. The encouraging results of the study showed the long-term beneficial effects these substances can have on our concentration, emotion regulation, openness, wellbeing, and happiness.  In our conversation I learned what psychedelics have in common with meditation and how they can compliment one another. Katherine also shared when psychedelics aren't useful or even...
Published 12/05/23
Psychedelic psychotherapist Dr. Michael Sapiro leads a guided meditation on mindful awareness that connects you with the present moment and your senses. Episode 144: Mindful Awareness Meditation with Michael Sapiro  Support the show
Published 11/28/23
Psychedelics have been in the news a lot lately as a new way to help people work through otherwise intractable issues of grief depression and PTSD. Dr. Michael Sapiro is a psychedelic psychotherapist and researcher who has worked successfully with psychedelics in his practice for years.  He focuses on helping combat vets and first responders overcome PTSD and other trauma; in his words, transforming worldly warriors into spiritual warriors. Listen to this episode to hear how psychedelic...
Published 11/21/23
On several occasions I’ve heard people ask the Dalai Lama how to end war, and he’s always answered the same way: begin by trying to resolve the conflicts in your own life. But how do we do that? This meditation goes through some of the Buddhist approaches to understanding the causes of war, both in ourselves and others, and how we might eventually be free of them. Episode 142. War Meditation Pre-order Scott Snibbe's new book How to Train a Happy Mind, with a foreword by His Holiness the...
Published 11/14/23
Take an expansive tour through the four foundations of mindfulness in this sweeping guided meditation with Dr. David Kittay: mindfulness of body, feelings, mind, and mental objects. Guided Meditation: Four Foundations of Mindfulness with Dr. David Kittay Listen to our previous interviews with Dr. David Kittay here: Episode 77: Buddhism and Technology (Part 1) Episode 78: Buddhism and Technology (Part 2) Support the show
Published 11/07/23
Professor David Kittay talks with Scott Snibbe about whether we should treat AIs with compassion, whether we are living in a simulation, and whether technologically assisted enlightenment might be possible. Dr. David Kittay teaches philosophy, religion, and technology at Columbia University, where his students call his courses life changing. Dr. Kittay is also an author, a translator, and a Tibet House board member. His latest publication is the Vajra Rosary Tantra, available from Wisdom...
Published 10/31/23
A guided meditation by Ven. Sangye Khadro (Kathleen McDonald) on the natural goodness of our mind, or Buddha nature. In this meditation we let go of all our negative, disturbing states of mind like anger, anxiety, or fear; and cultivate our positive mental qualities of compassion, wisdom, and courage. 36. Guided Meditation on the Natural Goodness of our Mind — Ven. Sangye Khadro (Kathleen McDonald) Support the show
Published 10/24/23
In this episode, I have one of my heroes back for a third time. Dr. Jan Willis is an extraordinary Buddhist scholar and practitioner and today she's talking with me about the question, Are we fundamentally good?  Buddhism sometimes seems quite depressing with its focus on suffering and death. But at the core of Buddhism is the idea that in fact, our nature is fundamentally good. Is there any evidence for this? And if so, how do we come to see it?  Listen to my interview with Dr. Willis to...
Published 10/17/23