One of the most transformative aspects of the Buddha's teaching is his teaching of Anatta ("Not-Self"). Through the practice of vipassana ("insight meditation") we can learn to identify the destructive and confining views of ourselves (i.e. sakkaya ditthi - 'self view') and learn to embody a more spontaneous and authentic way of relating to our lived experience. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONAT...
Dec 11, 2017•33 min•Ep. 85
ATS Facilitator, Mikey Noechel, discusses Buddhist practices for working with Shame. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartnashville/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wi...
Dec 10, 2017•38 min•Ep. 84
Forming intimate relationships are necessary for both an integrated sense of self in the world and the development of healthy coping mechanisms to help us overcome life's inherent struggles. Often times, some of our most troubling experiences stem from our interactions with others. Through our formative years, most of us have learned patterns of communicating that are often maladaptive and push people away, despite our need to feel close. In this talk, Andrew explores how the Buddha's teachings ...
Dec 03, 2017•45 min•Ep. 86
Often times we develop clarity and wisdom through the most challenging aspects of our lives. As we embark on a contemplative path of practice, we learn to tune into more moments of experience and investigate the nature of dissatisfaction in the mind. Although we will never rid our lives of painful physical, emotional, or mental experiences, through practice, we learn that we can, indeed, come to liberate ourselves from the very habits that perpetuate further depths of dissatisfaction and distres...
Nov 26, 2017•49 min•Ep. 83
What is taking up unnecessary space in our lives? What types of behaviors and what particular patterns of thoughts no longer serve us any more? One way to look at renunciation is the practice of "not needing anything extra". Through mindfulness and the ethical trainings in Buddhist practice, we can learn to bring awareness to the aspects of our life that are taking up space and causing ourselves and others distress and come to liberate ourselves from unnecessary patterns of suffering. We call th...
Nov 19, 2017•41 min•Ep. 82
The process of awakening is likened to tending to a field for harvest. The growth and deepening of wisdom develops as we learn to: 1. Survey the land, 2. Plan & Prepare the field, 3. Plant the seeds, 4. Tend to the crop, and 5. Pick the fruit. The Buddhist path of practice invites us to take a seat in the middle of several fields of experience, amidst the intersection of our internal & external lives. The Buddha offered a holistic map in which we can navigate and tend to our fields of ex...
Nov 12, 2017•37 min•Ep. 81
The Buddha offered the cultivation of mindfulness as the direct path to liberating wisdom. Through observing our thoughts, emotions, and feelings in present awareness, we develop insight and familiarity with our inner landscape. However, we are often looking at our direct experience through the lens of aversion, fear, obsession, etc... "HOW" we focus on our present experience is just as important as what we are paying attention to. With mindfulness, we learn to bring a gentle, kind, & friend...
Nov 05, 2017•34 min•Ep. 80
The historical Buddha's style of teaching was open, inviting personal exploration and investigation (pali sanskrit term, Ehipassiko, meaning "come and see"). Although the encouragement of mindfulness practice is to bear witness to one's own subjective involvement in moment to moment experience, we can often fall into the trap of judging our experience as "right" or "wrong" or "good" or "bad". “Although discerning skillful from unskillful is basic to the Buddha’s teaching, in our Western culture ...
Oct 29, 2017•36 min•Ep. 79
Often, when we build up our defenses around the heart, we are trapping ourselves inside the walls with the pain we are trying to protect. Forgiveness is the intentional practice of "giving up any hope for a better past", learning to dissolve the resentments towards ourselves and others that keep us bound to past experiences. We can learn to understand that harm is caused out of suffering, and we can learn to let people back into our hearts, without letting them back into our homes. Wild Heart Me...
Oct 22, 2017•34 min•Ep. 78
Andrew continues his discussion of the 4 Foundations of Mindfulness, speaking on the theme of the Five Hindrances. Through mindfulness, we can bring active awareness to the most subtle defenses of our minds and learn to transform obstacles on the path into opportunities for awakening. Listen to explore how we can bring active awareness and skillful resourcing to these Five Hindrances: craving, aversion, laziness, restlessness, & doubt. Enjoy! Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Budd...
Oct 16, 2017•47 min•Ep. 77
In this talk, Andrew discusses the theme of awakening & the forms of the Dharma that support awakening. How does our ethical commitment to non-harming combined with the mental trainings of mindfulness and heart practice both protect the heart & cultivate its release from distress? Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www....
Oct 11, 2017•50 min•Ep. 76
The Buddha said that the nature of this world lies within our perceptions and thoughts. In this talk, Andrew discusses how our often unexamined patterns of thinking generate distress (magnification, fixation, rumination, and proliferation) and how the Buddha proposed we begin to examine and liberate the mind from unconscious and habitual patterns of suffering. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE:...
Oct 08, 2017•45 min•Ep. 75
How can active awareness help us better manage the pleasure & pain of our lives? What does it look like to bring mindfulness to the primary sense impressions of the body & mind? How do we deal with pain, and how do we take active delight in the pleasure of our lives? Andrew discusses mindfulness of feeling tone & how mindfulness can help us to minimize the habitual & unconscious reactions that often build up around the pleasure & pain in our lives. Wild Heart Meditation Cente...
Sep 24, 2017•45 min•Ep. 74
Andrew builds on his discussion from last week, outlining the 3 skills of mindfulness practice (concentration, observation, & equanimity), to discuss the ways that mindfulness meditation promotes insight into the 3 marks of existence (impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, & impersonality). Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https:/...
Sep 04, 2017•47 min•Ep. 73
Andrew offers a wide overview of meditation and its general affect on the brain. He discusses how mindfulness provides clarity into the nature of the stress manufactured by the brain, and how the skills of concentration, observation, & equanimity are cultivated and fine-tuned through practice. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: htt...
Aug 27, 2017•37 min•Ep. 72
Andrew provides a brief overview of satipatthana (The foundations of mindfulness) and then offers a discussion on 4 applications of mindfulness that are offered throughout the Buddhist discourses in the Pali Cannon. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https...
Aug 13, 2017•49 min•Ep. 71
Do you consider your relationship to Money to be a part of your spiritual practice? What about work? The Buddha encouraged contemplative practice as a means of uncovering causes of stress & suffering in our lives. For lay practitioners (non-monastics), it is essential to begin to reflect on our relationship to money and our livelihood, as these are often areas of great excitement, dis-ease and anxiety. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. ht...
Jul 17, 2017•40 min•Ep. 70
Andrew discusses the role of Buddhist ethics on the path of awakening. He overviews the nuances of ethical practice as it relates to sexuality. He discusses some of the difficulties of working with sexuality, as well as the potential of working with sexual energy on the path. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmedi...
Jul 10, 2017•39 min•Ep. 69
The eightfold path factor of Wise Action is not meant to be another set of commandments or rules that will help us become a better Buddhist, but instead a set of trainings that help us to engage with our day-to-day lives with more ease and wellbeing. In order to 'act' with more ease, we must learn to SLOW DOWN, gauge the impact of our emotions, and develop supports that encourage changes in behavior. Before we jump into discussing Wise Action, it's important to discuss Stabilization & Suppor...
May 22, 2017•38 min•Ep. 66
Dave speaks on the topic of "the wound that seeks the arrow", discussing 'woundedness' as it relates to the Buddhist path of practice. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wild...
May 21, 2017•40 min•Ep. 68
Dave Smith speaks to the 'heart of the Dharma'. He talks about our tendencies towards defense and avoidance of the heart & how the cultivation of the brahmaviharas ('heart practices') help us to uncover and liberate the heart's release. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on...
May 15, 2017•40 min•Ep. 65
Andrew discusses the eightfold path factor of "Wise Communication". He discusses the importance of founding communication on attainment and active listening, and then he discusses guidelines that support the use of wise and effective speech. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us o...
May 15, 2017•38 min•Ep. 67
Andrew discusses the ethical foundation of the Buddhist path of practice. He discusses the importance of developing and engaging in action through non-harming, and how this ethical base sets the stage for the development of wisdom. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials!...
May 14, 2017•39 min•Ep. 64
Dave Smith offers a brief context of insight meditation practice, followed by a discussion of Metta-Vipassana. Metta-vipassana combines the development of present time awareness & goodwill. Enjoy! Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.facebook...
May 10, 2017•30 min•Ep. 63
Andrew discusses the eightfold path factor of 'intention', detailing the intentional cultivation of goodwill. He discusses the practice of 'metta', from its etymology to its practical application. Enjoy! Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.faceb...
Apr 16, 2017•42 min•Ep. 62
Dave Smith offers an overview of working with hindrances and awakening factors on the path. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartnashville/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok....
Apr 14, 2017•33 min•Ep. 60
Andrew continues his discussion of the Buddha's core teachings, detailing the connection between the first and second factors of the eightfold path: view and intention. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/ Instagr...
Apr 09, 2017•43 min•Ep. 61
Andrew continues a discussion on the core teachings of the Buddha: the Four Truths & the Eightfold Path. He discusses common misconceptions about 'karma' and how developing an understanding of karma encourages wise movement on the path of awakening. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate...
Mar 27, 2017•37 min•Ep. 59
Andrew continues his discussion of the core teachings as outlined by the Buddha, discussing an overview of the eightfold path of practice. Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/...
Mar 24, 2017•36 min•Ep. 58
Dave Smith discusses the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as they relate to the Buddhist path of practice. Enjoy! Wild Heart Meditation Center in a non-profit Buddhist community based in Nashville, TN. https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org DONATE: If you feel moved to support WHMC financially please visit: https://www.wildheartmeditationcenter.org/donate Follow Us on Socials! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildHeartNashville/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartnashville/ TikTok...
Mar 16, 2017•37 min•Ep. 57
