Showing results by narrator "Pema Chödrön" in All Categories

In challenging times, why do so many of us turn to Pema Chödrön for guidance? Many say that it’s her honest and caring way of communicating the core teachings of Buddhism - not just conceptually, but directly from her heart to ours. In these inspiring sessions, she teaches us how to give that compassion to the person we neglect most often - ourselves.

Beloved Tibetan Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön has a unique gift for helping those of all faiths to work with their most difficult inner and outer challenges. In this supportive series of talks, listeners will join her at her best - showing us the way back to our wisest and most heartful selves. Here, Pema shares three simple, time-honored steps to practice when we are in pain or crisis.

Have you ever found yourself thinking your way into a tangle of fret, frustration, or gloom? And then something small - a few kind words, the sun glancing through the clouds, a warm cup of tea - gave you a welcome pause from all your inner chatter? With Making Friends with Your Mind, that's what Pema Chödrön helps us to do, not by chance but with our full intention: to stop fighting with our thoughts and reopen ourselves to wonder as naturally as we breathe.

Pema Chödrön presents her first live talk on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. With Embracing the Unknown, she reveals how one of Buddhism’s most revered texts contains essential guidance not only for understanding the mysteries of life, death, and rebirth - but also profound wisdom for living fearlessly in “the bardo of this life”. Experience one of today’s most beloved spiritual teachers at her best as she helps us navigate fear, doubt, and uncertainty with a compassionate and open heart. 

The Sanskrit word paramitas means "actions that take us to the other shore". In this inspiring audio program, beloved teacher and author Pema Chödrön shows us how to use the six paramitas to move out of isolation and fear and into the compassion and courage of our awakened Buddha nature. 

Where will we look when we are afraid? How do we find strength? In what can we place our trust? According to Tibetan Buddhism, there are four noble aspirations, known as the Four Great Catalysts of Awakening, which we can call on to cultivate strength and openness in any situation. From Fear to Fearlessnessbrings us into the company of beloved teacher Pema Chödrön to discover and cultivate these four immeasurables: maitri (loving-kindness), compassion, joy, and equanimity.

In this recorded retreat, based on the program Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change held at Omega Institute, Pema Chödrön and her teaching assistant, Meg Wheatley, provide a wealth of wisdom for learning to step right into the river: to be completely, fearlessly present even in the hardest times, the most difficult situations. It's the secret of being fully alive.

What if the full sense of our aliveness were only to be found amidst our most challenging times and difficult experiences? In pain and crisis, teaches Pema Chödrön, there lies a hidden doorway to freedom that appears to us only when we're sure that there is no way out. In these intimate audio learning sessions, Pema Chödrön helps us distinguish the triggers or external events that we blame for our suffering from the deeper habitual patterns that feed our anger, fear, or sadness.

Compassion is a skill. It's not a special trait that we either have or don't, but a practice that we can all nurture in our daily lives. And the benefits are vast. It liberates our hearts from a narrow sense of self, expands our sense of well-being, and so much more. Of course, it's not always easy. But when we learn to work with our adversities and fears, whatever it is that might be keeping us stuck, then we find that we gradually and naturally become more open, joyful, and free.

When her granddaughter was accepted to Naropa University, the celebrated author Pema Chödrön promised that she'd speak at the commencement ceremony. Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better contains the wisdom shared on that day. "What do we do when life doesn't go the way we hoped?" begins Pema. "We say 'I'm a failure.'" But what if failing wasn't just "okay"... but the most direct way to becoming a more complete, loving, and fulfilled human being?

With war and violence flaring all over the world, many of us are left feeling vulnerable and utterly helpless. In this book Pema Chödrön draws on Buddhist teachings to explore the origins of aggression, hatred, and war, explaining that they lie nowhere but within our own hearts and minds. She goes on to explain that the way in which we as individuals respond to challenges in our everyday lives can either perpetuate a culture of violence or create a new culture of compassion.

What do a Jesuit priest and a Buddhist nun have in common? It may sound like the opening to a joke, but it’s actually the question that initiated an extraordinary spiritual collaboration. Father Greg Boyle and Pema Chödrön came together in a night of interfaith conversation for a great cause: aiding Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest rehabilitation, re-entry, and job training program for former gang members. Originally founded by Father Greg in 1992, Homeboy Industries has helped thousands of people find renewed hope after leaving gang life.

In The Meditation Summit: Volume II, Sounds True publisher and founder Tami Simon speaks with 10 leading meditation teachers about their personal understanding of this practice - each with a complete guided meditation. Practitioners of all levels will benefit from the abundance of insight and guidance provided by these diverse voices.

As a child, did you ever sit under a favorite tree, immersed in the wonder of a single, precious leaf? As our days grow more complex, teaches Pema Chödrön, these vibrant and wholehearted moments may begin to elude even seasoned meditators. But it doesn't have to be that way. Buddhism’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness lead us on a journey back to the unabashed presence and delight of the “Child Mind” that lies within all of us.

On the spiritual path we speak of enlightenment. But how do we reconcile the idea of enlightenment with what we see when we look in the mirror - when insecurities, doubts, and self-centered tendencies arise in our minds? Dzigar Kongtrül suggests that we need not feel "doomed" when these experiences surface. In fact, such experiences are not a problem if we are able to simply let them arise without judging them or investing them with so much meaning. This approach to experience is what Kongtrül calls self-reflection.

We all have fears, but when we look closely at them, we discover that behind each fear resides a basic fear of ourselves. We're afraid to look at our habitual styles of thinking and behaving because we might not always like what we see. Ironically it is this fear of honest self-reflection that keeps us trapped in patterns of stress and discontentment. Here is a vision for moving beyond this most basic fear to discover the innate bravery, trust, and joy that reside at the core of our being.

Of the many Eastern wisdom teachings to have found their way westward, the notion of karma may be the most misunderstood - and most transformative. American-born teacher Pema Chödrön is renowned for making the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism accessible, practical, and relevant for Westerners from all walks of life. But to bring us an understanding of the fundamental concept of karma, Ani Pema called on one of her own guides.

What would happen if we looked with fresh eyes at the struggles and "impossible situations" that we face every day - and found there four gifts that changed everything? For decades, Pema Chödrön has brought clarity and heart to the core teachings of the Buddha, helping to make them relevant and useful in our everyday lives. With The Truth of Our Existence, she immerses us in one of Buddhism’s essential distillations of written wisdom known as The Four Marks of Existence.

Two of the world's most beloved spiritual teachers and leading figures in the Shambhala tradition of Buddhism discuss the core principles and practices of the tradition and how personal meditation practice can forge an enlightened society. Best-selling authors Pema Chödrön and Sakyong Mipham get to the heart of Shambhala practice in this recorded retreat on the ways that inner peace and bravery can help us cultivate compassionate action and positive societal change.

Pain, loss, shame, sadness - suffering is an unavoidable part of being human. The practice of tonglen offers us a way to transform our relationship with suffering - our own and that which is all around us. In The Courage to Love the World, beloved teacher Pema Chödrön shares insightful and heartfelt stories about tonglen, along with direct instruction and guided practice.