Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group: [ Ссылка ]
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Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction and Background of Stephen Bodian
00:03:31 - Embracing everything and the paradoxes of truth
00:07:36 - The Backward Step
00:10:46 - Cultivating Mindfulness and Discovering Innate Qualities
00:14:15 - The beauty of presence and mindfulness
00:17:47 - Discovering Rest as Awareness
00:21:43 - The Effects of Spiritual Practice on the Brain
00:25:09 - Finding our Way through Intense Experiences
00:28:27 - Embracing the Ego and Bringing Compassion
00:31:50 - The Importance of Mental Health Awareness
00:35:05 - The Mind and Stillness
00:38:26 - Finding Order in Chaos
00:41:01 - Spacious awareness versus detached observing
00:43:47 - The Misunderstanding of Witnessing
00:46:29 - Turiya: The Natural State
00:49:01 - Witnessing and Emotions
00:51:41 - The Pitfall of Suppressed Emotions in Mindfulness
00:54:22 - Psychotherapy and Awakening
00:57:09 - The Power of Resting as Awareness
00:59:41 - Evolution of Spirituality
01:02:27 - Moving Towards Perfection
01:04:53 - Learning from Life
01:07:28 - Emotions and Enlightenment
01:10:06 - Drawn into the Silence
01:12:54 - The Razor's Edge
01:15:54 - The Integration of Form and Emptiness
01:18:41 - Awakening and Influence
01:21:25 - The Misunderstanding of Awakening
01:24:07 - The Pitfalls of Intellectual Understanding in Non-duality
01:26:50 - The Mystery of Love
01:29:25 - Supporting the Channel with Donations
Stephan Bodian offers satsangs, intensives, and retreats in the tradition of his teachers, Jean Klein and Adyashanti. His gatherings are noted for their humor, warmth, spontaneity, and intimacy and combine direct pointers, lively dialogues, silent sitting, and guided self-inquiry. He’s the author of several books, including Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening and Beyond Mindfulness: The Direct Approach to Lasting Peace, Happiness, and Love.
Stephan spent a decade practicing Zen intensively as a monk but left the monastery because he sensed that the rigorous practice of meditation was obscuring the truth he was seeking. After studying Dzogchen for several years, he met his guru, Jean Klein, a European teacher of Advaita Vedanta, who told him to stop meditating and instead discover the meditator. Shortly after meeting Jean, he had a profound awakening to his true identity as timeless presence. After Jean’s death, Stephan met Adyashanti, and in 2001 Adya gave him Dharma transmission and invited him to teach.
Stephan is the founder and director of the School for Awakening, an annual eight-month awakening intensive, and he leads regular retreats and shorter intensives In Tucson, Arizona, and at the Garrison Institute in New York.
Trained and licensed as a psychotherapist, Stephan also offers individual spiritual counseling and mentoring sessions to people throughout the world. His approach blends direct, experiential, nondual wisdom with the insights of Western psychology to support students in realizing who they really are while inquiring into the stories and patterns of thinking and behaving that continue to cause suffering.
Website: [ Ссылка ]
Other books:
Meditation For Dummies, w/Audio CD(Also available in various languages.)
Timeless Visions, Healing Voices: Conversations With Men & Women of the Spirit
Interview recorded 1/24/2015
