How to Train a Happy Mind

Dr. Mark Westmoquette leads a Zen Buddhist meditation to help navigate conflict in your daily life. He uses the story "Cutting the Cat in Two"—a famous Zen koan—to lead the practice and illustrate the importance of embodiment and shifting one's perspective. Episode 114: “Cutting the Cat in Two”: A Guided Meditation for Dealing with ConflictIf you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

Dr. Mark Westmoquette is an astrophysicist who became a student of Zen Buddhism and yoga. Now an author and meditation and yoga instructor, Mark has written a new book called Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People.In this podcast episode, we talk about this meaty topic of how to deal with difficult people who Mark calls 'troublesome Buddhas,' from our boss to our partner to world leaders and that person who takes your parking space.Episode 113: Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People with Dr. Mark WestmoquetteIf you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

What do you do when you’re alone? When you’re scared, anxious, lonely, afraid, or feeling strong craving? In our guided meditation we explore the Buddhist view on refuge and how to find a deep source of strength and peace within our own minds.112. Guided Meditation on Finding Refuge in the MindIf you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

What do you do when you’re alone? When you’re anxious, lonely, or afraid, when you feel strong craving? What do you turn to? In this episode we look at where our mind runs when we feel pain, when we don’t feel balanced or whole. We’ll examine the Buddhist view on this subject that reveals a deep source of strength and support within our own minds accessible to each of us any time we need it.14. What Do You Do When You're Alone?Two 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 inner and outer realities. Over the next year, interspersed with new interviews, we are re-releasing updated versions of these topics.If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

Buddhist psychologist Lorne Ladner leads a meditation on giving and receiving love, a loving-kindness meditation with themes of connection, gratitude, and warmth.Episode 111: Guided Meditation on Giving and Receiving Love with Buddhist Psychologist Lorne LadnerIf you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

We talk with clinical psychologist and Buddhist practitioner Lorne Ladner about his patients' top questions, the difference between selfishness and self-compassion, setting healthy boundaries, and treating depression with Buddhist psychology.Episode 110: Buddhist Psychologist Lorne LadnerRead more in Dr. Lorne Ladner's wonderful book, The Lost Art of Compassion. If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

A meditation practice of self reflection, taking control of the mental cause and effect that's normally unconscious: the habits and activities conditioned by evolution, our upbringing, society and the media. This is a practice you can do at the end of each day: reviewing your day, rejoicing in the positive, and finding ways to sincerely forgive yourself for anything that you regret, so you can sleep better and be your best self the next day.Episode 12: Guided Meditation on Mental Cause and EffectTwo 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 inner and outer realities. Over the next year, interspersed with new interviews, we are re-releasing updated versions of these topics.If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

Science has greater and greater mastery in understanding and controlling physical cause and effect, from planets to particles, but we are only starting to understand cause and effect in our minds. Evolution, habits, and society all affect our behavior. How do we gain conscious control of our behavior, much less our thoughts? One method is a daily practice of self-appreciation and self-forgiveness  that lets us release regret and pain to face each day with renewed presence and joy.Episode 11. Mental Cause and EffectTwo 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 inner and outer realities. Over the next year, interspersed with new interviews, we are re-releasing updated versions of these topics.If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

Catholic priest and Benedictine monk Father Laurence Freeman discusses the role of community, meditation, contemplation, and science in his life and his dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He emphasizes his trust in humanity and the importance of wonder in our daily lives. Episode 109: https://www.skepticspath.org/podcast/meditation-science-and-christianity-with-father-laurence-freeman/If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials 

Christian Scholar Greg Hillis speaks of the parallels between Christianity and Buddhism, the possibility of universal love, mystical experiences that break through to the beauty and interconnectedness of reality, and social activism that respects—and even loves—those we disagree with.Episode 108: Universal Love in Christianity and Buddhism with Dr. Greg HillisIf you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.🙏 Help us stay ad-free📲 Follow us on socials