Familiarizing listeners with the five Buddhist hindrances, Trudy Goodman suggests a compassionate return to mindfulness of the senses.

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In this episode, Trudy Goodman outlines:

• The 5 Buddhist hindrances: desire, aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness/worry, and doubt
• Remembering that being affected by the hindrances is not a mistake or our fault, but instead is an opportunity to practice mindfulness
• How craving pulls us out of the present moment and how our senses can ground us back into awareness
• Reflecting on the feeling of wanting something, and whether our desires truly align with our core values
• The four kinds of suffering, most of which we have all experienced
• Understanding that aversion is not inherently ‘bad’ and how it can be a kindness to turn away from something that causes us pain
• Shifting our attention away from hostility and turning towards curiosity about our emotions
• Practicing walking meditation as a remedy to sloth and torpor
• Getting to the root of our restlessness and discovering what we are trying to change about the present moment
• How, beneath the paralysis of doubt and inner cynicism, there is often a lack of inner confidence
• Living our lives fully, not wasting a moment, and being completely present as often as we can

“We each have our favorites of the hindrances, but again, these are not mistakes, these are not your fault, they’re part of the practice. When the mind gets lost in them, the doorway back to being present is through coming to our senses. What we see here, taste, feel, in this particular moment of our life. We know this is actually the only real moment of our life.” – Trudy Goodman

About Trudy Goodman:

Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com

Aversion is also here to protect us from things that are painful in this life, the problem is that aversion doesn’t understand what true protection is. True protection comes from understanding that we can meet our suffering, that we have strong enough mindfulness and strong enough ability to be present, that we can hold it, that we can meet it, that it isn't going to flood us, overwhelm us, and destroy us, which is often the fear.” – Trudy Goodman

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed.org

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Framed by the Sufi wisdom of Rumi, a 13th century mystical poet, Omid Safi brings our awareness to the profound ways that we are interconnected with the divine.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Omid Safi discusses :

• Living as a reflection of the Divine—carrying ourselves as mirrors of God’s light on earth
• The gift of alchemy: the science that recognizes the whole of the universe as one essence
• Transforming that which is lowly into that which is sublime
• Surrounding ourselves with communities and companions who bring us closer to God
• Polishing the mirror of the heart until we can shine divine qualities outwardly
• Realizing that the beloved always was and always will be with us
• Experiencing the body as a vessel and conduit for grace
• The mystical whirling dervishes and their harmony with the universe
• Rumi’s best known work, The Spiritual Couplets, and its enduring inspiration
• Allowing our spiritual path to be supple, nourishing, and radiant with beauty
• Becoming what we already are (intertwined with the whole matrix of creation)
• Training our bodies to listen, to be gentle, to speak with love
• A brief history of the 13th century and the world Rumi was living in
• How the world can be healed through expansive love
• Death, dying, and embracing the infinite rather than being stuck in fear
• Befriending the heart and asking ourselves what feeds our souls

“When Rumi speaks about love, it is not just something sentimental and romantic. Love is nothing short of the unleashing of God onto this earth. Love is the very being of Allah. It is love that created you, it is love that brought you here, it is love that sustains you here, and if you can just get over this notion that you are a finite limited creaturely self, you can merge into this current of love and be carried back home.” – Omid Safi

About Omid Safi:

Dr. Omid Safi is the director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center. He specializes in the study of Islamic mysticism and contemporary Islam and frequently writes on liberationist traditions of Dr. King and Malcolm X, and is committed to traditions that link together love and justice. He leads spiritual tours every year to Turkey, Morocco, or other countries, to study the rich multiple religious traditions there. The trips are open to everyone from every country. More information is available at Illuminated Courses & Tours.

“The sages in Rumi's tradition, one of them from India says, ‘the One beloved is closer to you than the ocean is to the fish’. It’s a matter of reorienting, realizing that here and now where you are, you’re standing knee deep in the water of life, that the One has never abandoned you, the One is with you now as has been forever.” – Omid Safi

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.

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