Episode Description

For episode 230 of the Metta Hour, Sharon sits down with her longtime friend, teacher and author, Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D. Roshi is a Buddhist teacher, the founder and head teacher of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, NM, a social activist, author, and in her early years was an anthropologist. She is also a pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. Some of her books include: The Human Encounter with Death (with Stanislav Grof) and her most recent, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet, and the 2023 card deck from Shambala Publications, In a Moment, In a Breath.

In this conversation, Sharon and Roshi discuss:

• The impetus for Roshi’s new card deck

• How Roshi came to contemplative practice

• The impact of COVID on inner life

• Deconstructing being a beginner

• How the elements correlate to Roshi’s card deck

• Grounding into the body

• The nuanced work of caregivers

• The Brahma Viharas

• Equanimity as a form of inclusiveness

• Using ideology to avoid feeling

• Strong back, soft front

• Not cultivating a mind of poverty

• Radical Inclusion

• Watering the good seeds

• Ram Dass in his last years

• Space and wisdom

Additional Resources

Roshi closes the conversation with a short guided meditation on Ocean Mind. To learn more about Roshi’s work, you can visit her website right here or the website for the Upaya Zen Center right here and get yourself a copy of her new card deck, In A Moment, In a Breath, right here.

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