Mystical feminist Mirabai Starr shares the fruits of many years of investigating, excavating, and uplifting women’s voices within global spiritual traditions.

This talk was recorded on Sept 22, 2020 as a part of the Virtual Ram Dass Fellowship.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Mirabai Starr discusses:

• An invitation to unknowing and allowing our preconceived notions to fall away
• The patriarchal roots of spiritual traditions and religious institutions
• Highlighting women’s spiritual wisdom in the Ram Dass community
• Women's circles that are free of a masculine influence
• Honoring feelings as they arise and having the capacity to hold them
• Speaking spiritual truth to power while staying heart-centered
• The great mystery and ambiguity of the feminine heart space
• Connecting with our higher selves and true purpose
• Practicing contemplative meditation through creativity
• The necessity of community for transformation to take place
• Trusting the journey to spiritual awakening and surrendering to the process
• Balancing active and contemplative energies as sacred feminine archetypes
• Remembering that we all have both feminine and masculine energies within us

This episode is sponsored by Dharma Seed:

Join Krishna Das, the most well-known voice of Bhakti chanting (Kirtan) in the West, and David Nichtern - a senior Buddhist teacher, founder of Dharma Moon, guitarist in Krishna Das’ band, and producer of several of his albums - for a warm and engaging conversation about these two paths, their shared roots, and how they intersect in contemporary spiritual practice. Learn more about this FREE online gathering - THE HEART & MIND OF PRACTICE: BUDDHISM & BHAKTI

About Mirabai Starr:

Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author of creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialogue. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. Check out her many books and learn more at MirabaiStarr.com.

About The Host, Jackie Dobrinska:

Jackie Dobrinska is the Director of Education, Community & Inclusion for Ram Dass’ Love, Serve, Remember Foundation and the current host of Ram Dass’ Here & Now podcast. She is also a teacher, coach, and spiritual director with the privilege of marrying two decades of mystical studies with 15 years of expertise in holistic wellness. As an inter-spiritual minister, Jackie was ordained in Creation Spirituality in 2016 and has also studied extensively in several other lineages – the plant-medicine-based Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, Sri Vidya Tantra, Western European Shamanism, Christian Mysticism, the Wise Woman Tradition, and others. Today, in addition to building courses and community for LSRF, she leads workshops and coaches individuals to discover, nourish and live from their most authentic selves.

"It's scary to dwell in the heart because it's a place of mystery, at least the feminine heart is. It is a place where there is a great degree of tolerance for ambiguity—that the masculine paradigm conditions us to believe is a problem to be solved. The feminine heart space sees ambiguity as a higher truth, paradox as a vast space of truth. This heart has the capacity, because it is so vast, to hold seemingly contradictory propositions." – Mirabai Starr

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Returning to the refuge of breath that is present from birth to death, JoAnna Hardy guides listeners through a grounding and connective breath-based practice.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

In this practice-infused episode, JoAnna guides listeners through:

• The first foundation of mindfulness, according to the Buddha
• Whole-body awareness and inviting our body fully into the practice
• The individuality of each breath and becoming familiar with our breath
• Remembering that the breath is always with us, from birth to death
• Finding calm, peace, energy, rapture, and joy within the breath
• Becoming completely interested in each one of our inhales and exhales
• Our exhale as the connection between us and nature, us and all beings
• Landing in the rhythm of the breath and allowing it to rock you
• Letting the breath be our home base and refuge when our mind wanders during practice
• Becoming aware of sensations on and in our body via the throughline of the breath
• Feeling the body rather than thinking about your body
• Exploring practice one breath at a time, one bodily sensation at a time, with curiosity

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed.org

Join Buddhist Teacher David Nichtern and Duncan Trussell for a conversation about finding our own voice, our own expression, and our own way of connecting with people. Learn more about this FREE online gathering - AUTHENTIC PRESENCE: FINDING YOUR OWN VOICE

About JoAnna Hardy:

JoAnna Hardy is an insight meditation (Vipassanā) practitioner and teacher; she is on faculty at the University of Southern California, a meditation trainer at Apple Fitness+, a founding member of the Meditation Coalition, a teacher’s council member at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, a visiting retreat teacher at Insight Meditation Society, and a collaborator on many online meditation Apps and programs. Her greatest passion is to teach meditation in communities that are dedicated to seeing the truth of how racism, gender inequality and oppression go hand in hand with the compassionate action teachings in Buddhism and related perspectives to social and racial justice.

“That exhale is going far beyond this body. It's what connects us to this earth, to nature, to all beings.” – JoAnna Hardy

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