Buddhism Beyond Belief with Susan Piver

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When heartbreak is overwhelming, the instinct is often to make it stop. But what if the practice is not to fix what we're feeling, but to learn how to be with it? In this episode, I continue looking at three ways Buddhism offers us a path through heartbreak. The second way is practicing loving-kindness.

Highlights:
Learning to make space for a racing mind instead of trying to shut it down
Working with the intensity of heartbreak without insisting that it disappear
How loving-kindness can turn suffering into compassion
Extending our wish for relief for ourselves, those we love, strangers, difficult people, and all beings
Why caring for others can bring back a sense of strength and agency
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
My new book is now available - in print and in audio format
Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics, is available for purchase. Explore the spiritual path through 7 principles which run counter to conventional wisdom on mindfulness. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.

If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

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Heartbreak is something we have the tendency to want to get rid of as quickly as possible. But some heartbreaks cannot be “fixed” or hurried. In this episode, I look at how Buddhist teachings can help us when heartbreak has a life of its own. We start with the mind: learning to be with what is happening rather than trying to change it. Meditation is a way to let the mind settle naturally in times of emotional upheaval.
Highlights:
Why some heartbreaks cannot be solved or pushed away quickly 
The three yanas as three different ways to work with heartbreak
The first step is learning to work with your mind
What heartbreak can show us about love, compassion, and being of benefit
Mentioned in this episode: 
My book, The Wisdom of a Broken Heart
More on the yanas in this podcast episode, Episode 26, How to Choose a Meditation Teacher
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
My new book is now available
Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics, is available for purchase. Explore the spiritual path through 7 principles which run counter to conventional wisdom on mindfulness. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.

If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

Send us Fan Mail
How do we recognize a true teacher? In this episode I talk about the outer teacher, the inner teacher, and the secret teacher. Along the way I share a story from teaching the Heart Sutra, reflect on an unexpected lesson about joy, and use a piece of music to show how wisdom can reach us through content, direct experience, and the context in which it all unfolds.
Highlights:
What the outer, inner, and secret teacher represent in Buddhist practice
Why real learning is often based in recognition rather than picking up new information
How expectations color the voice of the inner teacher
A story from a Heart Sutra retreat and an unexpected teaching on joy
How music shows three different ways of knowing
Why the outer teacher's job is to point us toward the wisdom we already have
Mentioned in this episode: The Heart Sutra
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
My new book is now available
Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics, is available for purchase. Explore the spiritual path through 7 principles which run counter to conventional wisdom on mindfulness. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.

If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

Send us Fan Mail
It's no secret that many forces are competing for your attention, especially online. Some are noble and righteous. Some are not. Trying to track it all is...exhausting.
The need for boundaries around our hearts and minds has never been more important. We must preserve our energy so that we can continue to care, dream, and love.
Meditation helps establish mental and emotional boundaries. This is not about bypassing. It is about retaining life force to fight the good fight and respond to your world with intense clarity, compassion, and purpose.
Please have a listen to this episode to learn more. 
Highlights:
Why meditation helps set strong mental boundaries
Reclaiming your attention from distraction and overwhelm
How working with the breath builds discernment and agency
Why protecting your attention is a radical act
The difference between reacting to the world and responding on purpose
How protecting your energy lets you be of greater benefit to others
Referenced in this episode: Buddhist Cosmology: The Six Realms of Being (Episode 12)
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
My new book is now available
Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics, is available for purchase. Explore the spiritual path through 7 principles which run counter to conventional wisdom on mindfulness. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.

If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project

Send us Fan Mail
This is a shorter episode, recorded while my family and I accompany my mother through hospice care. I reflect on an instruction I received when I first learned to meditate: resting more fully on the out breath than the in breath. As I prepare to be with my mother at the end of her life, that instruction has taken on new meaning. I share a few experiences that have shaped how I understand death, presence, and what it means to simply be there when a loved one is dying.
Highlights:
Why my meditation practice rests on the out breath
The link between breathing out and letting go
My own near-death experience and how it colors the way I am accompanying my mother
The impossibility of knowing what is right during such moments

Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
My new book is now available
Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics, is available for purchase. Explore the spiritual path through 7 principles which run counter to conventional wisdom on mindfulness. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.

If you enjoyed this episode:
Please rate, review, and share it with a friend who’s curious about mindfulness, spiritual commitment, or the Buddhist path.
For more on Buddhist teachings and how our humanity isn’t necessarily in our way, sign up for my free weekly newsletter or join the Open Heart Project sangha for more connection with community and with me.
If this podcast has been meaningful to you, it would be great if you would subscribe, give it a five star rating and share it with a friend. To join or learn more about The Open Heart Project please visit openheartproject.com.
Thoughts? Email us at info@susanpiver.com
Produced by Citizens of Sound
Music by: Derek O'Brien

©Open Heart Project