Showing results by narrator "Pema Chodron" in All Categories

Pema Chodron is one of today's leading meditation teachers. With more than one million books sold to date, she draws sold out crowds across the U.S. and Canada. On Unconditional Confidence, she offers two accessible sessions to help anyone find courage in times of challenge and change.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Lojong is a powerful Tibetan Buddhist practice created especially for training the mind to work with the challenges of everyday living. It teaches our hearts to soften, reframes our attitude toward difficulty, and allows us to discover a wellspring of inner strength. In this recorded retreat, Pema Chödrön introduces the lojong teachings and explains how we can apply them to any situation in our life—because, as Pema says, "every moment is an opportunity for awakening."

According to Pema Chodrön, spiritual practice has nothing to do with “self-improvement” since, as the title of this audiobook explains, you are already perfect just as you are. Deep down, our ultimate nature consists of the four limitless qualities—loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity—and these qualities cannot be improved upon.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Fear and guilt are two of the greatest challenges we face on the spiritual path—but there is a way to transform these painful feelings into courageous self-acceptance. Here Pema Chödrön presents the five aphorisms for developing fearlessness that were given to Machig Lapdronma, one of Tibetan Buddhism's greatest female teachers.

For thirteen hundred years, Tibetans have been practicing shamtha/vipashyana (peaceful dwelling/insight): a profound form of meditation that illuminates and purifies the obstacles to spiritual realization. Tibetan Buddhists today regard shamatha/vipashyana as both the fundamental and the most advanced spiritual practice of all.

In True Happiness, Pema Chödrön guides us through simple yet effective practices that show us how to recognize and nurture these moments of delight, cultivating them until they become more and more frequent, accessible, and real. Recorded at Gampo Abbey Monastery in Nova Scotia, True Happiness features highlights from Sounds True's full-length audio learning course of the same title and gives you the opportunity to absorb the teachings of Pema Chödrön at your own pace.

Within the wisdom teachings of Buddhism, there are many stories that refer to its founds as the "Supreme Physiciam"- a healer of all illness- mental, physical, and spiritual. The Buddha understood suffering and its antidote. His prescription and philosophy for right living led directly to a Tibetan meditation practice that is today the medicine our hearts have been searching for.

Pema Chödrön and Alice Walker in Conversation reveals the revolutionary power of tonglen through a dialogue between two hearts and minds forged in very different cultures - and yet deeply joined in the simple practice of compassion.Take a front-row seat as the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and American-born Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön reflect on anger, joy, fear, and the union of spirituality and social activism.