Ep. 202 – The Subtlety of Practice

Responding to student questions, Joseph Goldstein invigorates listeners to have faith and confidence in dharma practice.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein answers questions on: Mental noting throughout meditationWorking with a greedy mindDukkha and craving as the fundamental cause of sufferingSmall moments of renunciationThe deepening of concentration over time and why practice is non-linearKeeping confidence in the dharmaDoubt as the most problematic feeling within practiceDealing with shame, depression, unworthiness, and other painful mind-statesBalancing self-knowing and deepening insight into non-selfFear of impermanence and attachment to things staying the sameThis special group mentorship program recording was originally published on Dharmaseed“We really just need to continue doing the practice and have that trust that the dharma will lead us onward, which it does. I’ve seen it in myself and I’ve seen it in thousands of yogis. I have a lot of confidence in that.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Explaining the subtleties of practice and the energy between mind and body, Joseph Goldstein offers both insight and humor to his students.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein :The variety of practice ways to strengthen concentrationAnimals and questions on karma in the natural worldFree our minds from fear when nearing the end of our livesWatching the mystery of life unfoldingThe wholesome and unwholesome actions that determine our rebirthHabitual karma and having a place of refuge from repeated practiceHumility and the understanding of selflessnessCultivating relationships of equanimityThe ongoing discovery of the mind-body energy systemSexual desire and the refinement of our sensationsWhy neutrality is better than pleasureThe unhelpful ways that we relate to painHow practice helps with boredom and restlessnessKeeping an effort to pay close attentionUsing our precious lives very wellThis 1990 recording was originally published by Dharmaseed“Each of these practices not only addresses a particular conditioning of the mind, they all very much strengthen the power of concentration. It’s just to see how through many different doors we can enter the realm of understanding, taming the mind, coming to a place of stillness where we can really see the essential nature and come to freedom. There are many ways depending on temperament.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Highlighting the impermanence of experience, Joseph Goldstein leads a practice in noticing mental and physical sensations.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein offers a guided practice on: Working with thought and emotionFull body awareness without effort or strugglingNoticing the breath and other sensationsBeing aware of thoughts just as they are arisingOpening up to the fullness of experienceThe power of naming emotionsSensing the impermanent nature of all thingsMoving from the conceptual into direct experienceThe seduction of our thoughtsThis 2018 recording from an Insight Meditation Retreat was originally published by Dharmaseed“We don’t have to do anything to make things change. The very nature of whatever is arising, whether it’s in the body or the mind, the very nature is that whatever arises will also pass away.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a dharma talk on working with thoughts and emotions, Joseph Goldstein explains the impersonal and empty nature of the mind.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein teaches us about: Observing how mind states and thoughts mutually condition each otherThe way that thoughts carry us away into different emotional statesLooking at the direct nature and meaning of thoughtNoticing the difference between being lost and being awakeViewing our thoughts just as they ariseNot overthinking and focusing on the simplicity of a practiceThe six things that are ever arising or passing: our sensesMaintaining open awareness and experiencing the flow“Well, what is a thought? It’s quite remarkable because when we look at that level, not on the level of the story or the content, but thought as a phenomenon, we see that it is barely more than nothing. It is so phenomenal. These thoughts arise, and the content can be so compelling, but as a phenomenon, as the nature of thought, it’s just this little energy blip in the mind. If we’re not getting hooked by the content, it has no power at all.” – Joseph GoldsteinThis 2019 dharma talk from Insight Meditation Society was originally published by DharmaseedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joseph Goldstein meets us at the constellation of self, the duality of self, and the need for mindfulness.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.This time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein gets into: Duality and how it relates to our meditation practiceThe fundamental split of object and subjectLimitations from perceiving ourselves as separatePersona and the identification we have with the worldThe progression from fullness/oneness to constrictionHaving compassion for the shadow sideHow fear desire, and attachment, make us more attached to our sense of selfBeing imprisoned and conditioned by dualistic perceptionThe integration of mind and body and love for all experience as the connectorFrom the ego center to the zero centerBeing totally honest with what is happeningMindfulness as the tool to stop identificationThe power of renunciation and restraintThis 2005 dharma talk was originally published by Dharmaseed“As long as we are identified with that sense of self in the mind, that identification creates fear, attachment, separation, comparing. If there’s an “I”, if there’s a self, then we have to defend it, we have to protect it, we have to gratify it, and our whole lives revolve around this particular identification.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joseph Goldstein discusses how working with fear is absolutely essential in our practice of understanding, opening, and accepting.This 1983 dharma talk was originally published on Dharmaseed.This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein teaches us about: Releasing tension through awarenessThe body as an energy systemOpening up to the Buddha natureWorking with fear and emotional painResistance and unwillingness to be uncomfortableBecoming open to pain and discomfortInsecurity and the fear of being judgedHow the fear of feeling certain emotions keeps us bound to negative habitsHow openness allows our hearts to be touchedDeath and fear of the unknownBeing okay with being afraidHaving space for fear without demandsLovingkindness as the antidote for fear“What we’re doing in our practice is learning how to work with those experiences which often cause trouble, which often cause resistance, which we’re afraid of.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Offering instruction for metta practice, Joseph Goldstein explains the many flavors of loving-kindness that we can try.This 2018 talk was originally published on Dharmaseed.This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/insighthourThis time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein explicates: The unconditional quality of mettaHelping each other see our individual lovelinessUsing mantra to evoke the feeling of loving-kindnessMetta as a tool for deep concentrationExperimenting with the different ways metta can be applied in meditationThe three aspects of practicing of loving-kindnessA 12-minute guided metta practice to settle into the feeling of well-wishing“There are two main purposes for doing metta meditation. One is metta, or loving-kindness, which can be used as a vehicle for developing concentration. So, not only for the metta quality itself, but it is a technique or a method for developing strong concentration, even to the point of absolution.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guiding us in three short, guided meditations, Joseph Goldstein helps us break down our identification with the body and the self.This talk from the Insight Meditation Society was originally published on Dharmaseed. In this episode of Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein guides us in: Accessing deeper meditative states outside of a retreatTurbo-charging our practice through shorter meditations we can do in our daily livesFinding the mental areas where our mistaken sense of self is createdListening to sounds and considering the ‘knowing’ rather than being a “knower”Breaking through the identification we have with the bodyDirectly experiencing bodily sensations and their changing natureWatching our thoughts and being aware in their moment of arisingEnlivening our understanding of the Buddha’s teaching through a combination of practices“This exercise allows us to see the selfless nature of thought and gives us the ability to choose which are helpful, which are not. Which do I act on, which do I let go of.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Focusing on equanimity and compassion, Joseph Goldstein teaches about staying open and responsive to collective and individual suffering.This talk from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on Dharmaseed.This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/insighthourThis time on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein divulges : How to stay open and responsive while experiencing both individual and global challengesCompassion and equanimity as tools to work with difficultiesThe definition of equanimity and seeing all things as a wholeEquanimity as the basis of wise discernment and skillful responsivenessRe-framing difficult experiences as an opportunity to practice opennessAn invitation to look within rather than blaming outside forcesExamining what emotions are underneath our reactionsLetting go of the illusion of being in controlAccepting our feelings instead of allowing them to limit usFreeing ourselves through the awareness of impermanenceHow compassion arises out of our willingness to come close to sufferingSorrow as the near enemy of compassionHaving humility on our path to explore equanimity and compassion“Equanimity gives us the foundation, the ability to approach the suffering without reactivity. And compassion, precisely arises out of the willingness to come close to suffering.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joseph Goldstein describes the steps along the Buddha’s path to awakening, helping us see the significance of the Buddha in our own lives.This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/insighthourThis dharma talk from The Insight Meditation Society was originally published on Dharmaseed.In this episode, Joseph Goldstein lectures on:The sacred journey of the Buddha’s lifeThe Buddha as a universal archetype for awakeningConnecting the Buddha’s journey with our own journeyMaterialism and the wheel of becomingDiscovering the real value in our livesReflecting on the inevitability of deathThe uncertainty of the time of deathWhat actually matters when we reach our endOur own calls to destinyGiving up a conventional way of viewing thingsOur own power over the way we areConfronting the forces of Mara Relative and absolute bodhicitta“In order to awaken to the hidden possibilities of life, we need to renounce, we need to be willing to give up our ordinary or conventional way of viewing things. Things are often not what they seem to be. If we stay just on the surface, we are often living in ignorance and illusion.” – Joseph GoldsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.