Living Dharma Podcast

In this episode of Living Dharma, co-hosts Tsunma Kunsang Palmo and Justin Kelley sit down with Jess Morey, a meditation teacher whose own path began at fourteen, on a teen retreat at the Insight Meditation Society. Asked what applying the Dharma means to her, she answers in a single word, everything, and then narrows it to the work that fills her days now: mothering, and the delicate task of trusting a child's unfolding while gently steering it toward kindness.Jess retraces a remarkable early journey, from those first retreats to a year in Burma and a wish to become a nun that a wise monk redirected with three words: go home and work. That redirection became a vocation. She co-founded Inward Bound Mindfulness Education to bring retreats to teenagers, and later the Contemplative Semester for young adults, learning along the way that the boss's chair reveals the qualities a meditation cushion can hide.The conversation moves through the craft of teaching the young: why teenagers demand authenticity, how the crust on their hearts comes off so quickly in silence, and why diverse teachers, including those in recovery, matter so much. Jess speaks about trauma-sensitive practice grounded in unconditional positive regard, about when a young person is ready to meet emptiness and when they need a strong sense of self first, and about meeting her husband Doug in the shadow of serious illness. Throughout, she offers a quiet reassurance worth carrying: peace in the heart and mind is possible.

In this episode of Living Dharma, co-hosts Tsunma Kunsang Palmo and Justin Kelley welcome Nico and Devon Hase, husband-and-wife Buddhist teachers and authors who write about what happens when lofty ideals meet the rub of ordinary life. Their answer begins with getting real. The beautiful ideals of the Dharma, bodhicitta, compassion, stability of mind, have to come alive in exactly the places where we are pushed up against a wall.Drawing on their books How Not to Be a Hot Mess and This Messy Gorgeous Love, and on the three-year retreat they completed together, Nico and Devon explore relationship as a genuine path of awakening. They talk about the ideal and the real as two ends of a rubber band, about making the inevitable rub of any relationship into practice, and about the conflict styles they call volcanoes, diplomats, and dodgers.The conversation widens into some of the deeper questions facing modern practitioners. What is the difference between the worldview of Western psychology and the worldview of the Dharma, and which is the foundation? What does an honest, responsible syncretism look like when so many of us are weaving traditions together? And why might the best yogis not be the best teachers. Candid, funny, and unafraid of the tender places, this is a conversation about letting our humanness become more human as we practice, and growing sturdy and vulnerable at once, like small flowers on a high alpine ridge.

Some conversations we approach with a particular sense of reverence, and this is surely one of them. In this episode of Living Dharma, co-hosts Tsunma Kunsang Palmo and Justin Kelley are joined by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo. Her story needs little introduction. The cave, the long years of solitary retreat, the founding of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery, and the revival of the Togdenma lineage are by now the stuff of legend.What this conversation reaches for is something more intimate: the lived texture behind all of it. Jetsunma speaks with candour and warmth about how there need be no division between practice and ordinary life, using the image of a little yeast that lightens and transforms the heavy dough of the everyday. She reflects on the quiet work of befriending oneself, on the difference between the spacious, sky-like mind of old Tibet and the restless, over-stimulated mind of our own moment, and on raising children with integrity in a noisy age.She also turns to the situation of women who come to monastic life from the West and beyond, the non-Himalayan nuns who often arrive later in life, already formed, and who face particular challenges in finding training, community, and belonging. Here she shares the work of the Alliance of Non-Himalayan Nuns and her hope of making real use of all that these women bring.What strikes you, listening to her, is that here is someone who embodies the tradition and shares it openly, without pretense, with great humility and kindness.

In this episode of Living Dharma, co-hosts Tsunma Kunsang Palmo and Justin Kelley sit down with Rob Roeser, a developmental psychologist who has spent his life with a foot in two worlds that do not always speak to one another: the rigorous world of science and the quiet world of contemplative practice. Director of Research at Emory University's Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics, and a longtime contributor to the Mind and Life Institute, Rob is a leading figure in what has come to be called developmental contemplative science, the study of how practices like mindfulness and compassion shape the heart and mind across the whole arc of a human life.The conversation traces his own origin story, from a childhood curiosity about the life of Jesus, through the burnout that cracked him open in graduate school, to his slow arrival in the contemplative traditions of India and Tibet. Along the way he reflects on struggle as the seedbed of transformation, his honest and ongoing wrestling with the first noble truth, and why he believes a teacher's inner life is, in a very real sense, the curriculum.Rob also turns toward the harder questions of our time. How do we educate young people for an unstable world? What do gratitude, interdependence, and wonder have to do with it? And what might an education look like that draws on pre-modern wisdom to meet a post-modern age. Warm and wide-ranging, this is a conversation about waking up the wonder in ourselves and in those we teach.

In this episode of Living Dharma, co-hosts Tsunma Kunsang Palmo and Justin Kelly sit down with Bill and Susan Morgan, two highly respected voices at the intersection of mindfulness and psychotherapy. With over three decades of teaching together—including a consecutive four-year retreat at the Insight Meditation Society's Forest Refuge—Bill and Susan share their personal evolution away from rigid, hyper-intensive meditation toward an accessible, heart-centered approach. Drawing from their backgrounds as a psychologist and a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, they introduce the concept of an "inner holding environment". They explain how leaning into and holding difficult experiences kindly allows for true somatic healing, rather than simply labeling thoughts from a distance. The conversation also explores the dynamics of long-term spiritual partnership, navigating conflict in spiritual communities without spiritual bypassing, and the power of collective practice. Bill and Susan discuss founding "The Daily Sit" online community during the 2020 pandemic and emphasize using "soft concentration" to soothe overwhelmed nervous systems. Joyful and nurturing, this episode offers practical wisdom for integrating the Dharma through simple rituals, evening gratitude games, and a deep appreciation for the miracle of being alive. 

In this episode of Living Dharma, we sit down with Susan Kaiser Greenland—best-selling author, mindfulness teacher, Mind & Life fellow, and a pioneering voice in bringing contemplative practice into schools and family life.Susan shares her path into meditation through a family health crisis, the challenges of a strong “thinking mind,” and how her legal training helped her navigate secular education settings with precision and care. We explore her foundational principle—“serve the child in front of you now”—and what she’s learned about attention, regulation, and humility from decades of working with young people. Susan also discusses her recent book Real World Enlightenment: Discovering Ordinary Magic in Everyday Life, and offers grounded reflections on practicing compassion and democratic values amid collective anxiety and polarization.A rich, practical conversation about awareness, love, compassion, wisdom—and finding ordinary magic in everyday life.

In this grounded and intimate conversation, Devon Hase reflects on Dharma not as abstraction, but as lived responsibility—something enacted through relationship, ritual, and daily attention.Rather than positioning practice as something separate from ordinary life, Devon speaks to the ways discipline, devotion, and meaning emerge through showing up consistently: for community, for grief, for inner listening, and for the world as it is. The conversation explores how ritual functions as a technology of care, how practice matures over time, and why remembering why we practice is as important as how.This episode invites listeners into a quieter understanding of Dharma—one rooted in embodiment, humility, and participation—where practice becomes less about self-improvement and more about belonging to something larger than oneself.

In this deeply embodied conversation, Roshi Joan Halifax—Zen teacher, anthropologist, and founder of Upaya Zen Center—explores what it truly means to live Dharma in everyday life.Speaking with rare clarity and tenderness, Roshi Joan reflects on authentic practice as continuous practice: meeting each moment with wholeheartedness, mutuality, and non-separation. Drawing from decades of work in social activism, prison systems, hospice care, and contemplative training, she shares how contemplation and compassionate action are not separate paths, but one integrated way of being.She speaks candidly about suffering, impermanence, and our current global crises—inviting us not to turn away, but to sit in the “charnel grounds” of this world with courage and curiosity. From her own experiences with serious illness to her lifelong work accompanying the dying, Roshi Joan offers a powerful reminder: practice happens inside the life we actually have.This episode is a profound reflection on intimacy with reality, aligning values with intention, cultivating bodhicitta, and discovering how tenderness and resilience can arise even in the most difficult times.

What does it truly mean to live the Dharma in today’s complex and interconnected world?In this episode of Living Dharma, hosts Kunsang Palmo and Justin Kelley sit down with Jonathan F. P. Rose—mission-driven developer, contemplative practitioner, and co-founder of the Garrison Institute—for a wide-ranging and deeply grounded conversation on purpose, compassion, and action.Jonathan shares how a formative spiritual experience in nature shaped his lifelong commitment to relieving suffering—not only for humans, but for all sentient beings. Drawing from decades of work in affordable housing, environmental justice, and social innovation, he explores how Buddhist wisdom can guide real-world systems change without losing tenderness or integrity.Together, they discuss the role of daily practice, the protection of the mind in an age of distraction, the importance of sangha, and the balance between vast view and practical application. From the founding of the Garrison Institute to reimagining cities through The Well-Tempered City, this conversation illuminates how Dharma can be lived—not as abstraction, but as embodied responsibility.This episode is an invitation to reflect on how wisdom, compassion, and courage can shape our work, our communities, and our shared future.For more about the path we walk and the wisdom we share, visit the Tergar Institute at: https://tergarinstitute.org/

In this special live recording of Living Dharma, we sit down with pioneering meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein for a rich and heartfelt conversation on equanimity, compassion, and the creative spirit that arises from silence. With over five decades of practice and teaching, Joseph shares how perspective—whether gazing at the night sky or reflecting on history—can restore balance amidst turbulence.He speaks candidly about lessons learned from grief and suffering, the liberating power of curiosity, and how “cowboy dharma” helped him transform anguish into insight. Joseph also opens up about his poetry, revealing how meditative stillness and creative expression flow from the same wellspring of awareness.This episode is both practical and profound, offering guidance on staying present, lightening up, and discovering the intimate joy available in each moment.For more about the path we walk and the wisdom we share, visit the Tergar Institute at: https://tergarinstitute.org/