Zen practitioner, painter, and author of fifteen books, Natalie Goldberg talks to Lion’s Roar editor Andrea Miller about how writing can be a practice of studying your mind.

Author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness, and co-author of Fully present: The Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness, Diana Winston is one of the best-known teachers of mindfulness in the United States. Noami Matlow is a Mindfulness Studies Masters student, and former intern at Lion’s Roar. She asks Diana Winston about significant changes in the mindfulness movement, the relationship between the movement and Buddhism, and what might...

Roshi Joan Halifax, Upaya Zen Center founder and head teacher, offers two prayers for the New Year–or any time of the year. Then, the editor of a posthumous release from the trailblazing modern Buddhist nun and teacher, Ayya Khema, talks about the “force of nature” that she was–her adventurous life, her teachings on metta (loving-kindness) and her practices. Editor Leigh Brasington, who practiced and trained with her, also leads a practice in the Ayya Khema style.

This Buddhist, Afrofuturist comic book co-authored by Steven Barnes and Charles Johnson and illustrated by Bryan Moss, is an anthology of interconnected parables inspired by the teachings of Buddha. Together with Lion’s Roar’s Pamela Ayo Yetunde, its creators discuss the power and process of storytelling through a Black lens and in a Buddhist context.

Exactly what is meditation good for? What does it do? Daniel Goleman and Tsokyni Rinpoche talk about their new book Why We Meditate: The Science and Practice of Clarity and Compassion.

Buddhist teacher Lama Tsomo talks about her new book, Deepening Wisdom, Deepening Connection, shamatha meditation, the four prized emotions referred to as the “Divine Abodes,” and how to find your own Buddhist teacher, including a “calm abiding” meditation.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Dalit civil rights organizer and author of the forthcoming book, The Trauma of Caste, speaks with Lion’s Roar associate editor Noel Alumit about being classified as “untouchable,” how caste oppression relates to civil rights in the Western world, and what Buddhists can do about it.

East Bay Meditation Center teacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda is thinking about death. Having practiced Korean and Japanese Zen, and Vipassana, she now finds new wisdom on the end of life via the Vajrayana tradition. This piqued the interest of Lion’s Roar’s Rod Meade Sperry, who reached out to hear more.

Founder of the Mindful of Race Institute, and author of Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out, Ruth King talks to Lion’s Roar Associate Editor Pamela Ayo Yetunde about the Brave Space program, how to approach talking about race, and how mindfulness can heal racial wounds.

Diego Perez is the name behind the New York Times bestselling book, Clarity and Connection, written under the pen name, Yung Pueblo. His upcoming book Lighter, promises a “radically compassionate plan for turning inward and lifting the heaviness that prevents us from healing ourselves and the world.” Lion’s Roar Associate Editor Mariana Restrepo asks about his story–his life and family, how he established a consistent practice of meditation, and recommendations for your own practice. First, a...

New York Times bestselling author Susan Piver takes a well-known typology of personality types, and applies Buddhist principles to demonstrate how it can provide support on the path to deeper compassion for yourself and others. Then, Rod Meade Sperry reads a review of That Bird Has My Wings by imprisoned Buddhist author, Jarvis Jay Masters, which was recently selected for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club.

Author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists, Chenxing Han reads her article examining the stereotypes that have marginalized Asian American Buddhists, and the rich diversity of a new generation of practitioners. 

Sad music, rainy days–there’s beauty in the bittersweet state of mind. It can also teach us about creativity, compassion, leadership, spirituality, mortality and love. Lion’s Roar associate editor Chris Pacheco talks with Susan Cain about the surprising lessons we can learn from sorrow and longing. Also, director of the Dallas Meditation Center, Miguel Chen, reads his article on how to keep up your spiritual practice when enlightenment and wisdom seem unattainable. 

Mindfulness is effective when used properly, but the deep techniques of the Buddhist form of meditation known as Insight (or Vipassana) are truly the heart of mindfulness practice, and often go unaddressed. Trudy Goodman, Founder of InsightLA, talks about breath awareness, why it’s so important, and how to experience the true grounding power of mindfulness meditation.

Dr. Kamilah Majied is an expert on building inclusivity and equity using meditative practices. She talks to Lion’s Roar’s Pamela Ayo Yetunde about internalized racism in America, the nature of suffering, how to triumph over that suffering as a racialized person, and how we can all find a more freeing, joyous way to live.

Larry Ward, student of Thich Nhat Hanh, shares four everyday practices to better connect with the natural world. Then, Roshi Joan Halifax offers some words of encouragement for all those reeling after the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Senior student of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and author of Nothing to It: Ten Ways to Be at Home with Yourself, Brother Phap Hai talks about the connection between suffering and wisdom.

Insight Meditation teacher Phoenix Soleil talks to Pamela Ayo Yetunde about dealing with racism, and how metta practice can help get you through.

Fear can lead us to do regretful, hateful, and even violent things. Lion’s Roar’s new online course Medicine for Fear, inspired by Zen teacher Eihei Dogen’s essential instructions for awakening, offers a way to minimize fear’s impact on us—featuring Koshin Paley Ellison and Chodo Robert Campbell of New York Zen Center, as well as Mushim Ikeda, Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Kodo Nishimura, and Mirabai Bush. In this clip from Medicine for Fear, Koshin talks about the problem of never feeling like you...

Internal medicine physician and founder of the End Well Project, Shoshana Ungerlieder talks about the taboo of death and dying among medical professionals and the importance of taking time to ask what really matters to you and your loved ones, while you still can.

Black, male-identified people have experiences in Buddhist communities that are markedly different than that of the majority–not only physically standing out in the group but facing unique internal questions and struggles. Willie Mukei Shoman Smith, SoOn Eli Brown-Stevenson, and Malik (MaLLy) Watkins talk to Lion’s Roar’s Pamela Ayo Yetunde about how they deal with inhabiting white spaces in the Buddhist context, and also what white sanghas can do to be helpful.

Author of The Cure for Money Madness, Spencer Sherman talks about how one can grow spiritually while still engaging with money. Then Lion’s Roar editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod and deputy editor Andrea Miller discuss the latest issue of Lions Roar magazine, honoring both the late Thich Nhat Hanh and the late bell hooks, as well as a special look at Pure Land Buddhism.

With Lion’s Roar’s free “Wisdom of Pema Chodron” Summit about to launch, we’re sharing Andrea Miller’s story abouts Pema Chodron and her advice on how to “walk the walk” of a spiritual person, and what being a “fake” spiritual person really means. Visit lionsroar.com to register.

Sister Clear Grace is a black, non-binary monastic traveling across the country to lean in to the collective experience of the United States. The traveling nunk speaks with Lion’s Roar’s associate editor Pamela Ayo Yetunde about letting go of privilege, answering the call to become a monastic, and encounters on the road to liberation.

Seth Godin is an expert on failure. While he’s founded several hugely successful ventures and written 20 bestselling books around the world including his newest book, The Practice, he has also learned from failing over and over. Today he explains what helps creative thought, and what so often gets in the way of true success.