Buddhism Beyond Belief with Susan Piver

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This week I share one of the central teachings in Tibetan Buddhist practice: the Four Reminders that turn the mind toward the dharma. I had a recent conversation with Lama Sonam Rinpoche who said to me multiple times in the course of a few hour conversation: there is no more important teaching than this. In this episode, I try to offer some insights into why a great Lama might say such a thing. 
Highlights:
How the Four Reminders create a trustworthy foundation for spiritual practice
Why your life really, really matters
How impermanence brings clarity to everyday living
A practical way to understand karma 
The weird way that acknowledging suffering actually helps
How these contemplations can deepen any meditative or contemplative practice
Listener Question
Can we get so focused on spirituality that we lose touch with the “real world”? I talk about the difference between real practice and spiritual bypassing, and why the path is never separate from ordinary life.
Ask me a question
You can send your questions via Instagram DM or through our form.
Music
This week's track is "Okie Dokie Stomp" by the musical miracle known as Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.
Mentioned in this podcast: Episode 12, Buddhist Cosmology: The Six Realms of Being
Also mentioned: great contemporary blues artist Sue Foley’s live version of Okie Dokie Stomp
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.
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
New course: 30 Days of Dharma
For 30 days, beginning September 13th, I’m offering a chance to practice all of this together with a small group of people who want to take the dharma off the cushion and into ordinary life. We'll create a personalized daily routine, meditate, study the teachings, and look at how wisdom, compassion, and power actually show up at home, at work, and in our relationships. Every participant will have one-on-one time to consult with me and my co-teacher, Crystal Gandrud, about your practice before, during, and following the program. You don't need to be a Buddhist. You only need a willingness to begin where you are and be yourself. Space is limited. Learn more here.
Proclaiming Basic Sanity: Living the Bodhisattva Path Retreat 
Let’s practice together in person at Drala Mountain Center, up in the Colorado Rockies, for a retreat on the bodhisattva path: what it takes to live with real courage and an open heart in the middle of our ordinary, chaotic, beautiful lives. We'll talk honestly about how to recognize and rouse basic sanity right where we already are. Everyone's welcome, and you don't need any prior meditation experience. Learn more and register.
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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It’s episode 60! A perfect place to reach a summation of my new book, Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics which posits that meditation is not about becoming a better version of yourself. It is a spiritual practice that opens you to the three qualities of the awakened mind: wisdom, compassion, and power. How do these qualities arise from sitting there, doing “nothing”? All I know is that millions of practitioners over thousands of years have reported that it is so.  
In this episode, we look at the seven principles of living as a mystic, hiding in plain sight. 
In this episode:
Why meditation is a spiritual path, not a self-help project
A common misconception about meditation and how it keeps people from practicing
How your everyday life provides the perfect gateway to magic
An introduction to a Buddhist teaching, the three kāyas, and how it all relates to the magic of meditation
Sensing what is under the surface is just as “real” as whatever is on the surface
How meditation helps us relate to ourselves, others, and the world
Music
This episode closes with "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" by Blind Willie Johnson, a recording that seems to come from somewhere else. 
Send your questions or reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.

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.
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
New course: 30 Days of Dharma
For 30 days, beginning September 13th, I’m offering a chance to practice all of this together with a small group of people who want to take the dharma off the cushion and into ordinary life. We'll create a personalized daily routine, meditate, study the teachings, and look at how wisdom, compassion, and power actually show up at home, at work, and in our relationships. Every participant will have one-on-one time to consult with me and my co-teacher, Crystal Gandrud, about your practice before, during, and following the program. You don't need to be a Buddhist. You only need a willingness to begin where you are and be yourself. Space is limited. Learn more here.

Proclaiming Basic Sanity: Living the Bodhisattva Path Retreat 
Let’s practice together in person at Drala Mountain Center, up in the Colorado Rockies, for a retreat on the bodhisattva path: what it takes to live with real courage and an open heart in the middle of our ordinary, chaotic, beautiful lives. We'll talk honestly about how to recognize and rouse basic sanity right where we already are. Everyone's welcome, and you don't need any prior meditation experience. Learn more and register.

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 episode picks up on the sixth principle of spiritual practice from my new book, Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics: We Dream on Behalf of Others. 
Meditation protects our minds from the incessant barrage of those who seek our attention, whether for good or, most probably, for ill. Great forces are vying for agency over your thoughts right now. I hope that doesn’t sound conspiracy theory-y! It just seems obvious that a lot of money is being spent to capture attention spans as so much consumerist fodder. What could possibly go wrong?! Besides everything! 
In this episode, I talk about the importance of maintaining sovereignty over your inner world, in no small part because it enables you to keep dreaming…visioning…imagining…remaining connected to what is possible–not as a means of escaping reality but of laying the ground for creating a new reality, one that includes decency, sanity, and care for others. 
There are many who simply cannot dream right now, and for very understandable reasons. Many are under siege. Homeless. Hungry. Living in a fire of rage. 
Right now, we are able to dream. This may not always be so, but while it is, we could dream on everyone’s behalf. Because what we cannot imagine, we cannot build.  
Highlights:
In the Heart Sutra, the Buddha's meditative absorption stirs a student, Sariputra, to ask an important question.
Because none of us is truly separate, your practice affects everyone around you.
Plenty of beings cannot dream right now because they are besieged, hungry, sick, or without a home, so the rest of us can hold dreams for them.
If we cannot dream something, we cannot build it, and there are forces that would rather their dreams of money and power become ours. Don’t do it!!
Meditation is how I keep my own mind: I notice a thought, call it a thought, and come back to the the present.
Listener question
From Kim, a parent who wants to stay informed for the sake of conversation with her children, but is deeply disturbed by all the things happening in  2026 America..
Send your questions or reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
Music 
"A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins, a mid-90s hit I love for its weird, fuzzy guitar tone. Idiosyncratic guitar playing FTW.

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. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
Proclaiming Basic Sanity: Living the Bodhisattva Path Retreat 
Come practice with me at Drala Mountain Center, up in the Colorado Rockies, for a retreat on the bodhisattva path: what it takes to live with real courage and an open heart in the middle of our ordinary, chaotic, beautiful lives. We'll talk honestly about how to recognize and rouse basic sanity right where we already are. Everyone's welcome, and you don't need any prior meditation experience. Learn more and register.

If this one meant something to you 
Please subscribe, leave a rating or review, and/or send it to someone who's curious about meditation, spiritual practice, or the Buddhist path. Or just feeling better, really.
Free meditations: my free weekly newsletter 
Come be in community: the Open Heart Project sangha 
More about all of it: openheartproject.com

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
“The first rule of magic is containment,” said the great Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way and many other books. This points to the idea that the world we live in changes the way our minds and hearts work. The more uplifted our world, beginning with our actual home, the more potency we have in our spiritual quest. Why? It’s magic?  
In this episode, I explore the fifth principle from Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics: We Clean Up After Ourselves. I also answer a listener's question about why the Buddha described friendship, not as helpful along the way, but as the way. And for the podcast after party, we check in with the great Ini Kamoze. 
Highlights
Why caring for your environment is a spiritual practice
How the "container principle" shapes meditation and daily life
What it means to clean up after yourself — in your space and in your relationships
Repairing small moments of disconnection
Why the Buddha taught that spiritual friendship is the whole of the path
The role of sangha in practice
Music
Listen to "Here Comes the Hotstepper" by Ini Kamoze and tell me you somehow remained seated. 

Mentioned in this podcast: Fake Buddha Quotes

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. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.
Watch this episode on video
If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
Send me your questions:
You can keep the conversation going or send your reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
New 7-Day Program Starts June 14th
Seven Days of Inexplicable Magic is a chance to immerse yourself in post-meditation practice, aka the rest of your life. What happens when practice follows you into your relationships, home life, bill-paying, creative pursuits? Together, we will find out.. The program follows the arc of my new book, and I'm co-leading it with my friend, Crystal Gandrud. Come find out more.

Proclaiming Basic Sanity: Living the Bodhisattva Path Retreat 
Come practice with me at Drala Mountain Center, up in the Colorado Rockies, for a retreat on the bodhisattva path: what it takes to live with real courage and an open heart in the middle of our ordinary, chaotic, beautiful lives. We'll talk honestly about how to recognize and rouse basic sanity right where we already are. Everyone's welcome, and you don't need any prior meditation experience. Learn more and register.

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
The spiritual path asks you to open up, and the more you do so, the more you feel everything: your tenderness, things you’ve been avoiding, your deepest longings. It’s important to stay open to all of this but being open takes judgment. I know people say you shouldn’t judge but I say, hell yes, you’ve got to judge. The deepening vulnerability of the journey requires discernment and self-protection.
In this episode, I explore the fourth principle from my new book, Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics: We Are Boundaried. I discuss healthy boundaries, the importance of relying on teachers who can introduce you to your own wisdom (not theirs alone), and a traditional teaching called the Seven Treasures that help us establish protection, agency, and trust in our knowing.
Highlights
• Why boundaries matter
• Meditation as ground, path, and fruition
• The three qualities cultivated through practice: compassion, clarity, and courage
• Three teachers: outer, inner, and secret
• The line between a community that supports you and one that seeks to take you over
• The Seven Treasures as a framework for protection and self-trust
• A listener's question about progress in meditation, and where to actually look for signs your practice is working

Music
For the after party I'm playing "Who Do You Love" by Bo Diddley. It's deep and full of swagger, from one of the true original rockers.Have a listen.

My new book is now available
Inexplicable Magic: Meditation for Mystics, is available for purchase. Explore the spiritual path through 7 principles which go counter to conventional wisdom. 
Learn more and buy your copy here.
Watch this episode on video
 If you’d like to watch the podcast, the video version is here.
Send me your questions:
 You can keep the conversation going or send your reflections via Instagram DM or through our form — I’d love to include them in future episodes.
New 7-Day Program
A new 7-day programSeven Days of Inexplicable Magic is an immersion into what happens when practice gets off the cushion and into the rest of your life. It follows the arc of the new book, and I'm co-leading it with my friend, Crystal Gandrud.Come find out more.
Proclaiming Basic Sanity: Living the Bodhisattva Path Retreat 
Come practice with me at Drala Mountain Center, up in the Colorado Rockies, for a retreat on the bodhisattva path: what it takes to live with real courage and an open heart in the middle of our ordinary, chaotic, beautiful lives. We'll talk honestly about how to recognize and rouse basic sanity right where we already are. Everyone's welcome, and you don't need any experience to come.Learn more and register.
Learn more and register 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