If you think about virtually everything you do in a given day, you may come to a realization: “I do what I do because I want to get something out it.” We work to earn money, we exercise to stay fit, we meditate to feel good…it seems harmless enough. But there is a more subtle path available to us as human beings. In Suzuki Roshi’s words, we can live our lives with “no gaining idea.” When we have no gaining idea, we taste what it means to express our true nature—to be truly alive.
Feb 16, 2022•22 min•Season 5Ep. 15
It’s not often you call someone “selfish” and mean it as a compliment. But prepare to be liberated from your misconceptions about what healthy selfishness actually is! In this episode, Thomas offers insights from the field of developmental psychology and coaches you on how to be the best kind of selfish in your life. You’ll be glad you listened. Interested in learning more about development? For information about an opportunity to join Thomas’s cohort program, go to www.lowerlightswisdom.org/spe...
Feb 09, 2022•24 min•Season 5Ep. 14
One of Thomas’s great pleasures in hosting Mindfulness+ is the opportunity to introduce listeners to some of the teachers who have changed his life. On today’s show, Dr. Terri O’Fallon shares a few of the dazzling delights from the field of human development. Terri is a renowned expert in this area, known for her spiritual depth, vision, and kindness. She ultimately points us to the great mystery, “who am I?” Learn about her latest offerings at stagesinternational.com . For information about an ...
Feb 02, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 13
If you’ve been practicing meditation for some time, you may have heard the instruction somewhere along the way to “sit like a mountain.” But what does that mean? Is it just a nice metaphor? Thomas takes us right to the heart of our mountain nature in this episode, where there is always, right here, an abiding peace, stillness and stability.
Jan 26, 2022•21 min•Season 5Ep. 12
Spirituality and human transformation are taking exciting turns in the 21st century. Never before have so many traditions been intersecting, influencing and evolving one another. How can we meet this moment with courage and curiosity? Thomas lays out a vision of “metalineage” in this episode—a way in which all of humanity can realize greater fullness and freedom. For a deeper dive, check out this immersive online experience, Gospel Meets Dharma: The Dance of Buddhism and Christianity in the 21st...
Jan 19, 2022•25 min•Season 5Ep. 11
Mindfulness practice is simple as it is difficult: we need to be willing to feel what we’re actually feeling. Easier said than done! In this episode, Thomas shares the experience of his grandmother’s recent passing, all that he wasn’t willing to feel, and what came on the other side of being honest with himself.
Jan 12, 2022•22 min•Season 5Ep. 10
In this episode, Thomas offers an extended, beginning-of-the-year meditation, inviting you to appreciate what has already passed—what is gone . The more fully we learn to welcome the “gone”, the greater the birth of something new in our lives.
Jan 05, 2022•23 min•Season 5Ep. 9
To be a human being is to be incomplete—in process. No matter where we are in this moment, we are undoubtedly on our way to becoming something else, something new. How, then, do we manage the anxiety of being “in suspense and incomplete”? Thomas points to the part of us that is already complete in this episode, even as we are becoming something more. Also, check out this new online course, Gospel Meets Dharma: The Dance of Buddhism and Christianity in the 21st Century ....
Dec 29, 2021•24 min•Season 5Ep. 8
For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re right on the other side of the winter solstice. Traditionally, this is a time when we hunker down, take an inventory on our lives perhaps, and sense into what survives the enveloping dark. When we pay close attention, we’re comforted to discover the light that the darkness never overcomes. Also, check out Thomas’s new online course, Gospel Meets Dharma: The Dance of Buddhism and Christianity in the 21st Century ....
Dec 22, 2021•22 min•Season 5Ep. 7
The path of waking up and growing up can be excruciating, even as it can be gentle and forgiving. We continue the meditation on Advent in this episode with a reading from the Gospel of Thomas. “Stop lying”, Yeshua says. What could this mean? Is there a truth we haven’t been willing to hear, or speak? Also, check out Thomas’s new online course, Gospel Meets Dharma: The Dance of Buddhism and Christianity in the 21st Century .
Dec 15, 2021•21 min
In the Buddhist tradition, we make the distinction between “ordinary” and “extraordinary” happiness. Extraordinary happiness, simply put, is a happiness beyond conditions. Thomas shares about this teaching in the context of Advent, a time when we can bring more awareness to our “distorted values” and let in greater Light. Also, check out Thomas’s new online course, Gospel Meets Dharma: The Dance of Buddhism and Christianity in the 21st Century .
Dec 08, 2021•25 min•Season 5Ep. 5
What does the “+” in “Mindfulness+” mean again? Thomas takes us even deeper into the territory it points to in this episode. Drawing from the words of Aurobindo, he invites us beyond the “surface mind’s” idea of reality into something altogether Unnameable.
Dec 01, 2021•25 min•Season 5Ep. 4
In this episode, Thomas invites his very first meditation teacher, David Timpson, to share about his meditation practice, his medical practice, and the profound power of the intentions of our heart. The conversation is a beautiful window into how mindfulness can transform us over the decades. Prepare to be inspired!
Nov 24, 2021•39 min•Season 5Ep. 3
We take a quantum leap on the spiritual path when we learn to really trust our basic goodness. The challenge: layer after layer of socialization, education, and shame tend to obscure our connection to this goodness. What can we do? Listen to today’s episode for insights and practices to “return to innocence.”
Nov 17, 2021•25 min•Season 5Ep. 2
We’re back! Thank you for joining us for a brand new season. Thomas kicks off the festivities with a close reading of a timeless text from the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. In this episode you can learn to relax your inner control freak (okay, for some of us it’s more like an outer control freak) and let go more fully into the natural ebb and flow of life.
Nov 10, 2021•24 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Welcome to the season finale, Mindfulness Plussers! In the midst of hurricane force winds and blackouts across Salt Lake Valley, Thomas offers a deep view on parenting. Ultimately, when we’re totally present, we raise Creation itself.
Sep 09, 2020•20 min•Season 4Ep. 24
Have you ever had the experience of trying to meditate, only to find yourself constantly frustrated that you’re endlessly distracted? Have no fear! Thomas offers a simple, proven remedy to turn this deficit into a great strength. Your practice will never be the same. Also, join us for our home retreat, Sep. 12th: https://lowerlightswisdom.org/upcomingevents/home-retreat-a-day-of-sacred-living...
Sep 02, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 23
Suzuki Roshi said it well to his students: “Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.” What delightful play! Let’s dive into this paradox together. If we are only aware of the Relative, our practice becomes pressurized and grim. But if we get stuck in the Absolute, well, in Zen terms, we start to stink. Where is the Middle Way? Also, join us for our home retreat, Sep. 12th: https://lowerlightswisdom.org/upcomingevents/home-retreat-a-day-of-sacred-living...
Aug 28, 2020•22 min•Season 4Ep. 22
What we sometimes refer to as “the path”, that is, the process of transformation, has been expressed in different ways in the Wisdom traditions throughout history. We can learn a great deal from the similarities—and differences—in these formulations that seem to be pointing to very similar territory. Listen in as Thomas compares snippets from St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” and Master Guo An Shi Yuan’s commentary on the Oxherding Pictures of Zen Buddhism. What a joy to walk this path!...
Aug 19, 2020•25 min•Season 4Ep. 21
In this practice, there are two currents always at play: that of Transcendence, that which moves beyond all form, and Immanence, that which embraces all form. In Hinduism, these principles are deified as Shiva (Transcendence) and Shakti (Immanence). In the end, these currents are not two—they are different movements of the same Divine Reality. Listen in today’s episode to the story of Ramana Maharshi and the very intimate way in which the Divine danced his life.
Aug 12, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 20
It’s time for another extended guided meditation on Mindfulness+! Thomas shares a quote from the famous physicist, Erwin Schrödinger, and invites listeners to participate in the great Mystery that mystics and sages across the ages have invited us into: What is the self? Who is aware? What is it that is aware in this very moment of the words on this screen? Come fill your heart in this exploration.
Aug 05, 2020•21 min•Season 4Ep. 19
Mindfulness practices teaches us to relate to the discomforts of life in a dramatically new way. Conventionally, all we want to do as biological organisms is to get comfortable and stay comfortable. But when we look closely, we realize that pain is not just something we can learn to tolerate, it is a kind of grace, opening us up to a world beyond suffering.
Jul 29, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 18
We’re in the dog days of summer in Salt Lake City. Thomas shares a modern mindfulness parable on a broken air conditioner and working with discomfort. He guides listeners in becoming experts at diagnosing the suffering in their own body-mind. In the end, it is never one’s “own” body-mind. Any suffering we alleviate in “ourselves” is an alleviation of suffering for all beings everywhere in all worlds.
Jul 22, 2020•25 min
We live in a day and age where high quality teachings are available to anyone who is interested in the path of meditation. And yet, there remains something unique, even “rare” about the opportunity to meet and be inspired by a living master in the flesh. In this episode Thomas invites you to deepen your appreciation of the precious seed that is planted when we have such an encounter. In turn, you can set your intention on being that encounter for someone else on their own path of Transformation....
Jul 15, 2020•26 min•Season 4Ep. 16
In human life, we naturally confront the question again and again, “What do I do now? Where do I go next?” Or more broadly, “what do I do with my life?” Thomas draws from the deep well of Zen in this episode to take on these often bewildering questions. From a Zen perspective, the solution is so simple, we tend to look right past it.
Jul 08, 2020•22 min•Season 4Ep. 15
These last 12 days, Thomas has been staring a lot at his son and contemplating newborn consciousness. Which is lucky for you! In this episode, Thomas leads an extended guided meditation, inviting you back into primordial, formless presence, aka the experience of a newborn baby. In fact, we all have the capacity to rest in this open field of formless awareness—we simply forget! We hope you’ll enjoy this practice of remembrance.
Jul 01, 2020•22 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Do you have a sense of what it means to “listen from the ear of the Heart?” When we do listen from this new place within ourselves, the results can be dramatic. Listen as Thomas recounts a recent encounter with the Imaginal Realm—what Cynthia Bourgeault calls the “realm of cosmic assistance.”
Jun 24, 2020•25 min•Season 4Ep. 13
What would it mean to see things as they truly are? Is it even possible to do so? Thomas draws from an ancient Buddhist verse to explore this Mystery in this episode. The Prajnaparamita Sutra describes the “Wisdom Mother” continuing to “instruct her enlightened children about the true nature of What is.” Take a breath, relax the body, open the Heart, and explore this practice of “Perfect Wisdom” with us.
Jun 17, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 12
In a previous episode, Thomas said that “the Dharma is all about second chances.” In this episode, he goes into much greater detail. Namely, he asks how we can learn to bring a greater degree of mindfulness to the most difficult experiences of our lives. For anybody serious about decreasing their own suffering and that of others, this practice is an invaluable tool!
Jun 10, 2020•21 min•Season 4Ep. 11
“Duende”, a term coined by the Spanish poet, Lorca, describes the power of art to whisk us away into a world of “invisibles.” In this episode, Thomas mixes poetry and Dharma to invite you into a new realm full of magic and mystery. Is “duende” really a thing? Try on this practice and decide for yourself!
Jun 03, 2020•26 min•Season 4Ep. 10
