Awake in the World Podcast
Michael Stone
Awake in the World Podcast is a library of talks on a wide-range of topics, including bringing mindfulness and meditation practice into daily life; personal and community issues regarding mental health; and social change. The podcasts were recorded at live events so you might hear coughing, airplanes, cars, sirens, laughter, and peoples’ questions—all part of the intimate experience. Michael Stone (1974-2017) was a Buddhist teacher, author, and mental health advocate. His legacy is stewarded by Carina Stone. Podcast funded by Patreon (patreon.com/michaelstone).
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 13, 2022 • 1h 20min
Uncovering the Roots
In this deep dive into the first four lines of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra Michael talks about the nature of awareness and the goals of yoga. Recorded March 14, 2010.
Jan 9, 2022 • 1h 44min
Waiting for a Ride
Starting with a poem by Gary Snyder, Michael explores the Fourth Pada of the Yoga Sutra and argues that without the experience of a solid meditation practice it cannot be comprehended. Patanjali, he says, “is leaving you speechless.” But waiting at the airport watching everything come and go, isn’t a bad analogy. Recorded on March 9, 2007.
Dec 31, 2021 • 50min
Best of Awake in the World: Forgiveness
This week we're revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode from a New Year's retreat. A tender and personal talk Michael gives during silent retreat about his father, forgiveness, and how we need to practice forgiveness all the time. He talks about how, and why. He talks about the painter Hellen Frankenthaller’s death and practicing in good times and bad. Recorded on December 29, 2011.
Dec 26, 2021 • 33min
Best of Awake in the World: Love - Sometimes We Can Really Show Up
This week we're revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode. An hour before New Year’s Michael gives a quiet talk on the Heart Sutra and Forgiveness. “When I hold someone’s hand as they are dying I chant the Heart Sutra. Or when I watch my son sleeping.” A tender and quiet talk on silent retreat.
Recorded on Dec 31, 2011.
Dec 19, 2021 • 54min
Best of Awake in the World: Being Independent in our Practice
This week we're revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode from a New Year's retreat. Michael Stone talks on silent retreat about how meditation works over the long-haul, how to practice with a teacher that encourages independence, and how to live without gain. This is the second last talk of the year and the group was in deep silent practice, and it was snowing.
Recorded at Sugar Ridge Retreat Centre in Midland, Ontario on Dec 30, 2013.
Dec 12, 2021 • 44min
Best of Awake in the World: Save a Ghost!
This week we're revisiting a favourite Awake in the World podcast episode from a New Year's retreat. Michael speaks about modern Buddhism as a “culture of awakening,” and then talks on the Zen koan “Save a Ghost.” We are broken. That’s why meditation is an ambulance service for love. Mindfulness is a practice of mourning. The dead live on in us as ghosts and as we mourn we make them into culture. Recorded during the Silent New Year’s Retreat in Chapin Mill, New York.
Dec 5, 2021 • 1h 1min
Obstacles as Traction
In this talk, Michael explains that the way we choose to view the obstacles we encounter in practice can either take us off the path, or allow us to use them as signposts that help us move forward. He argues that social action, spiritual practice and psychological awareness are all required if we wish to wake up.
Recorded on March 7, 2006.
Nov 26, 2021 • 1h 21min
Life Is Outsideless
Drawing on several ancient texts, Michael describes practice as a deep investigation into the nature of how things are and how we are—which requires letting go of our tendencies to create categories, cling to preferences, and grasp for the unattainable.
Recorded March 5, 2008.
Nov 21, 2021 • 59min
The Lotus Sutra: Where's the Love?
In this second talk on the Lotus Sutra Michael provides some background about the role the text plays following the emergence of the Mahayana and Tendai traditions, shifting the emphasis from personal liberation to compassion and interdependence. He considers the mythical, fantastical style of the text and how it challenges orthodoxy in order to promote a path of service.
Recorded on March 3, 2011.
Nov 14, 2021 • 30min
Feeling is the Best Technique
This thirty-minute guided meditation focuses on the physical body, and describes how physical choices like setting up the gaze can help to monitor and settle the mind.
Recorded on June 28, 2008.
