Happy Mind: Meditations from the Ancient World to Modernity
450 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★ - 59 ratingsAncient meditation techniques from wisdom teachers who are lost in the mists of time are made available to you in accessible, bite-sized or longer guided meditations. Each episode is largely inspired by the original teachings of Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu masters like Lao Tzu, Buddha and "Krishna", Christian masters like Mary Magdalene, Jesus and Teresa of Avila, Greek masters like Plotinus, Plato and Pythagoras, Islamic masters like Rumi, Ibn Arabi, Attar, and Hafez, and pre-historic masters from Polynesia, Australia and the Americas. From Buddhism to Taoism, from Astrology to Platonism, from Medieval Alchemists to Central Asian poets of yore, (and more), this podcast provides an easy way to access the simple meditation and happy life practices developed by the wisest masters to have graced this planet. Zebediah Rice guides you in an easy and free way to learn to meditate, become more mindful, energetic, happy, peaceful, and mentally sharp. Just sit back, relax, and let me do the work for you.
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Episodes
Let Go - Be the Vehicle (30 min)
May 13, 2018 07:14 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBWu Wei. Non-doing. What in the world can the great masters possibly mean?! How is doing nothing (if that is what they mean) the key to happiness and health? The answer isn’t what you think. You first need to learn what the old sages mean by expressions like “The wise person does nothing, yet nothing is left undone” (Lao Tzu) or “Self, confused by the idea of an ‘I’, thus thinks, ‘I am the doer’" (Krishna). Or, if you prefer, you can look to the Islamic mystics of 12thcentury CE (such as Ibn ...
When you let go, what's left? (15 min)
May 07, 2018 08:45 - 15 minutes - 13.8 MBWe all seek happiness and health for ourselves and the ones we love. But somehow it seems to elude us most of the time. The great masters tell us that one of the reasons we suffer so much is that we hold on to things without being aware of it. We hold our breath and we don't realize it. We hold our muscles tight and we are unaware of it. We hold onto patterns of thinking and judging and blaming and criticizing and we aren't conscious of this. And then we are surprised when we get angry or sa...
When you let go, what's left? (45 min)
May 07, 2018 04:56 - 45 minutes - 41.2 MBLetting go sounds like such an easy thing to do. But trying to let go is like saying try not to try. The act of trying reinforces the holding. Holding is something most of us do unconsciously. We hold our breath and we don't realize it. We hold our muscles tight and we are unaware of it. We hold onto patterns of thinking and judging and blaming and criticizing and we aren't conscious of this. And then we are surprised when we get angry or sad, when we feel anxious or aimless, when our muscle...
When you let go, what is left? (1 hr)
May 07, 2018 02:26 - 1 hour - 54.9 MBHolding is something most of us do unconsciously. We hold our breath and we don't realize it. We hold our muscles tight and we are unaware of it. We hold onto patterns of thinking and judging and blaming and criticizing and we aren't conscious of this. And then we are surprised when we get angry or sad, when we feel anxious or aimless, when our muscles spasm or we get sick. So, what to do? It is time to let go. This is one of the most powerful techniques we have to experiencing a life of pea...
When you let go, what is left? (30 min)
May 06, 2018 07:16 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBLetting go is one of the most powerful techniques we have to experiencing a life of peace and happiness. But how do you do that, and why does it work? There are many ways to let go but the reason it works is that your underlying nature, your true self is inherently beautiful and joyful and loving. You’ve just forgotten. You’ve moved your attention to other things. You’ve done that for so long that you now think that the body and the brain and the thoughts and feelings and memories they produ...
Letting Go of Shame & Regret (30 min)
April 30, 2018 07:43 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBNo one likes to think about it but each of us has experienced the feelings of shame or humiliation or done something we deeply rgret. At one time or another, more frequently or less, everyone has had the fear that people will see you as a fraud, they will judge you as a failure, or that they will reject you because you are unreliable. That toxic cocktail of deep embarrassment combined with fear and regret and even self-loathing is not something anyone wants to taste. So, if you’d rather not...
Let Go of Letting Go (1 hr)
April 25, 2018 07:47 - 1 hour - 54.9 MBHave you ever noticed that, even though meditation makes you feel better, you seem to be the same person with the same negative feelings and sometimes inappropriate reactions to situations? You meditate, you feel great, or at least settled, afterwards. Your mood improves. But then your baseline emotion springs back and your fears or disproportionate reactions shows their ugly head again. So, what to do? It’s time to learn to let it be. It is time to honor the space in which these feelings l...
Let Go of Letting Go (45 min)
April 24, 2018 07:45 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MBIt’s time to learn to let your emotions just be. It is time to honor the space in which these feelings live. But how to do that? The secret is 1) to allow whatever the negative feeling or reaction is to be the content of your awareness but 2) to focus on the fact that it is the content and you are the one who is placing and keeping your attention on these feelings. You are NOT the feelings themselves and the feelings are NOT real. So, it is time to let go of trying to let go of them. It is t...
Let Go of Letting Go (30 min)
April 24, 2018 06:03 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBYou probably have tried other meditations, and they might have worked for you. You feel great, or at least settled, afterwards. Your mood improves. But then your baseline emotion springs back and your fears or disproportionate reactions shows their ugly head again. So, what to do? It’s time to learn to let it be. It is time to honor the space in which these feelings live. The secret is to allow whatever the negative feeling or reaction is to be the content of your awareness but to focus on ...
Let Go of Letting Go (15 min)
April 23, 2018 10:09 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBMeditation has the ability to make you feel great. And it has all sorts of health benefits. But the question is whether it can really fundamentally change your inherent baseline emotional state; whether it can address the sorts of reactions that seem to unconsciously creep in to your day to day life. The secret to extending the benefits of meditation is to learn to let your feelings just be; to learn to honor the space in which these feelings live. You can learn to allow whatever the negativ...
Let Go of Negative Emotions & Let in the Light (15 min)
April 18, 2018 01:51 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBRegardless of the particular negative feeling, we all experience them. Fortunately, there are many methods we can employ to let them go. But it does require facing them. Repressing them, resisting them or pretending they don’t exist will only strengthen them. So, we have to take a different tack. For you the negative feeling could be anger, sadness, loneliness, fear, anxiety, shame, or even boredom or apathy. Or something else. Whatever your negative feeling flavor is today, for this meditat...
Let Go of Negative Emotions & Let in the Light (30 min)
April 15, 2018 08:00 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBEach of us experiences negative feelings of one kind or another, and for most of us, these feelings are present far more often than we would like. (NOTE: It is best if you have a specific feeling in mind, or memory of an experience that generates that feeling, to work with). These feelings come an endless variety of flavors. For you it could be anger, sadness, loneliness, fear, anxiety, shame, or even boredom or apathy. Regardless of the particular negative feeling, we all experience them. F...
Grateful for my love, for my heart (1 hour)
April 10, 2018 05:35 - 1 hour - 55.1 MBYour heart is the place your emotional self expresses love. When you feel loved by someone, it glows and you can feel the love and the joy and the completeness coursing through your whole body. When you are feeling rejected or unloved, your whole body aches in response. Your heart is the seat of love in your body. And love is the closest we can come to experiencing heaven in this body of ours. There is an old saying that home is where the heart is. But like many old sayings, there are many ...
Grateful for my love, for my heart (45 min)
April 10, 2018 05:03 - 45 minutes - 41.2 MBThe heart generates its own electromagnetic field. It is estimated that this field is 60-100 times as strong as the brain's electromagnetic field. It is also thought that the brain contains its own set of neurons. With the heart's field extending a meter or so from the body, a mother's brainwaves have been shown to synchronize with her baby's even when they are a few feet apart. There are many mysteries to this extraordinary organ of ours, the heart. Today, we will explore the energetic powe...
Grateful for love, for my heart (30 min)
April 09, 2018 11:47 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBThere is an old saying that home is where the heart is. But like many old sayings, there are many layers to this phrase. It doesn’t just mean that we can be happy and safe and at rest (i.e. at home) where our loved ones are. Home can also be understood as our true nature or our true self. In this sense, we can see why the heart has played the role throughout the ages of the bridge to the mystical or magical parts of the self; we can see why it has been seen as the door separating our lower, ...
Grateful for my love, for my heart (15 min)
April 08, 2018 05:36 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBBecause of its bridge-like connection to the numinal or non-physical dimension, the heart has been thought of throughout the ages as the ruler within us. Today, we are going to invite our reluctant ruler to help us access our higher self. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grateful for my Breath (10 min)
April 04, 2018 11:21 - 10 minutes - 18.9 MBWe don't notice our breath most of the time. Yet it sustains our life each moment of each day. So take just a few minutes today to notice and appreciate your breath. (NOTE: This is a 10 minute version of the Grateful for my Breath guided meditation) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grateful for my Breath (45 min)
April 02, 2018 04:03 - 45 minutes - 82.8 MBWe take our breath for granted. We don't even notice it most of the time. Yet it holds the key to accessing our higher self. Many an ancient master has said there is another plane of existence that our life force inhabits alongside the physical dimension we are all so familiar with. The breath is a symbol for this life force. In ancient China and India they used words like qi or prana to describe the life force in this other dimension. We can take advantage of this deep-seated symbolism and u...
Grateful for my Breath (1 hour)
April 02, 2018 03:55 - 1 hour - 110 MBMany an ancient master has said there is another plane of existence that our life force inhabits alongside the physical dimension we are all so familiar with. The breath is a symbol for this energy or spirit self. In ancient China and India they used words like qi or prana to describe the life force that bridges the world of form and this other dimension. We can take advantage of this deep-seated symbolism and use our physical breath to refresh or reactivate our connection to our spiritual se...
Grateful for my Breath (25 min)
April 02, 2018 02:35 - 25 minutes - 45.8 MBThroughout history the breath has been a symbol for life. It is a symbol not just of life in the sense of a physical body breathing and being alive; it also represents the life energy or life force (we could also call this qi or prana). We can take advantage of this deep-seated symbolism and use your breath refresh or activate your connection to your spiritual self. Listen now to do just that. (NOTE: This is a 25 min version of the Grateful for my Breath guided meditation) Hosted on Acast. ...
Grateful For My Teacher (10 min)
March 27, 2018 02:49 - 10 minutesThis is a simple meditation designed to connect you with a teacher you work with today in a non-intellectual fashion so that you can access their teachings in a different way. NOTE: It is the first part only of the longer Grateful for my teacher guided meditations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grateful For My Teacher (45 min)
March 26, 2018 04:44 - 45 minutesWith the very best teachers, just being around them feels good. And even reading a true master’s words, when those words are truly understood (or, to use the words of the Diamond Sutra, are “received and retained”) will put you in the frequency of happiness and love. But 'receiving and retaining' a master’s teaching isn’t a straightforward exercise. Which is part of why this podcast exists: to help you receive and retain and understand and experience the teaching of the illuminated ones of by...
Grateful For My Teacher (30 min)
March 25, 2018 19:57 - 30 minutesWe all have teachers. Some are ancient masters who have long been dead. Some are with us today. Some we know well, some we’ve never met. Some don’t even know they are our teachers (any parent of a small child or a teenager can attest to that!). Our teachers hold a special place in our development as people and on our path to self-mastery. So today we are going to thank them. And because of gratitude’s special power, we will be able to use this meditation to activate their teaching within you ...
Grateful For My Gifts (10 min)
March 19, 2018 05:01 - 10 minutesWe all have so much to be grateful for. Yet we rarely take time the time to be grateful for all the things we do have. Use this opportunity to be grateful for all the many gifts you have been given. (NOTE: This is a 10 minute version of the Grateful for my Gifts meditation.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grateful For My Gifts (30 min)
March 19, 2018 04:49 - 30 minutesWe all have so much to be grateful for. Yet we rarely take time the time to be grateful for all the things we do have. Use this opportunity to be grateful for all the many gifts you have been given. (NOTE: This is a 30 minute version of the Grateful for my Gifts meditation) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grateful For My Gifts (20 min)
March 18, 2018 23:54 - 20 minutesWe all have so much to be grateful for. Yet we rarely take time the time to be grateful for all the things we do have. Use this opportunity to be grateful for all the many gifts you have been given. (NOTE: This is a 20 min version of the Grateful for my Gifts meditation) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Gratitude - You are strong, beautiful and loved (1 hour)
March 12, 2018 04:40 - 1 hour(One hour version). You are strong, beautiful and loved. But you probably don't feel like this all of the time, or even most of the time. Why? The primary function of your body and your mind is to keep you alive and create copies of your genes into the next generation. It is a highly efficient, capable entity finely crafted to achieve these goals. So when you suffer, whether from physical or emotional pain, this is they way that you know to change course. This is how you keep yourself alive. ...
Gratitude - You Are Loved (30 min)
March 12, 2018 04:10 - 30 minutesYou are loved. It may not feel like that right now, but it is true. You have to recognize that any time you don't feel loved, anytime you are suffering, you are the one creating this experience. You have some belief that is preventing you from releasing the suffering and feeling loved. Your beliefs then manifest as your experience. But you get to decide what your beliefs are. So why not change them? You can do that now. Let's do that now. (NOTE: This is a 30 minute version of the You Are Love...
Gratitude - You Are Strong, Beautiful, and Loved (45 min)
March 12, 2018 03:18 - 45 minutesYou are strong, beautiful and loved. But you probably don't feel like this all of the time, or even most of the time. Why? The primary function of your body and your mind is to keep you alive and create copies of your genes into the next generation. It is a highly efficient, capable entity finely crafted to achieve these goals. So when you suffer, whether from physical or emotional pain, this is they way that you know to change course. This is how you keep yourself alive. The organisms and pe...
Grateful - You Are Loved (15 Min)
March 04, 2018 19:38 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBYou are loved. It may not feel like that right now, but it is true. You have to recognize that any time you don't feel loved, anytime you are suffering, you are the one creating this experience. You have some belief that is preventing you from releasing the suffering and feeling the love. Your beliefs then manifest as your experience which then confirms your beliefs as being true! But you get to decide what your beliefs are and therefore what your experience of life is like. So why not change...
Grateful - You Are Beautiful (30 min)
February 28, 2018 08:29 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBYou many not feel it, but you are beautiful. If you don't feel incredibly beautiful right now, you have some belief that is preventing you from seeing this truth. But you control your beliefs so you can shift your beliefs and this, in turn, will change your experience not just of this moment but of your whole life. But it takes practice. Lots of practice. Let's do that now in a simple but powerful meditation to help you remember just how beautiful you really are. (NOTE: This is a 30 minute ve...
Grateful - You Are Beautiful (15 min)
February 25, 2018 09:59 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBYou are beautiful. You may not realize it but it is true. If you don't feel incredibly beautiful right now, you have some belief that is preventing you from seeing this truth. But you control your beliefs so you can shift your beliefs and this, in turn, will change your experience not just of this moment but of your whole life. But it takes practice. Lots of practice. Let's do that now in a simple but powerful meditation to help you remember just how beautiful you really are. (NOTE: This is a...
Grateful - You Are Strong (10 min)
February 25, 2018 09:55 - 10 minutesThis is a simple but beautiful and powerful technique to bring a positive mindset into dominance. The intelligence of your emotional and physical self is excellent at generating the feelings and movements to keep you alive in the primitive and dangerous settings that life developed in over the last few million years. Unfortunately, it isn't well-adapted yet to the relative safety and comfort of today's world. So we have to do the work to train the brain to adapt to this new environment. You h...
Grateful - You Are Strong (30 min)
February 25, 2018 09:45 - 30 minutesThe intelligence of your emotional and physical self is excellent at generating the feelings and movements to keep you alive in the primitive and dangerous settings that life developed in over the last few million years. Unfortunately, it isn't well-adapted yet to the relative safety and comfort of today's world. So we have to do the work to train the brain to adapt to this new environment. You have to recognize that any time you are suffering, you have some belief that is preventing you from...
Grateful - You Are Strong (20 min)
February 20, 2018 00:57 - 20 minutesThe primary function of your body and your mind is to keep you alive and create copies of your genes into the next generation. It is a highly efficient, capable entity finely crafted to achieve these goals. So when you suffer, whether from physical or emotional pain, this is the way that you know to change course. This is how you keep yourself alive. The organisms and people in our distant past that weren't good at that didn't pass down their genes. But these techniques that are so foundation...
Forgiveness And A Smile (25 min)
February 05, 2018 02:30 - 24 minutesWhen we talk about forgiveness, we are not talking about allowing ourselves to be treated badly or giving ourselves permission to act badly towards others. We are talking about taking control of our emotional well-being; about achieving self-mastery. But how do we do that? The complexity of our minds rivals that of our universe. And like the cosmos, our minds follow certain rules. Burned deep into our neural circuitry are vast networks that perform silently and invisibly beneath our conscious...
Meet Me in the Field of Forgiveness (20 min)
January 28, 2018 11:20 - 20 minutesHaunted by something in your past? Regretting something you did? You're not alone. But sometimes there are experiences so difficult that they require a special focus in order to reach a state of forgiveness. This meditation is going to help bring you to a place where you can experience forgiveness even with the toughest situations. Remember that forgiveness doesn't mean that you will allow yourself to be treated badly in the future or that you ever need to see someone that has wronged you aga...
Meet Me in the Field of Forgiveness (30 min)
January 28, 2018 11:09 - 30 minutesThe mindset of forgiveness is one of the happiest spontaneous side-effects of meditation generally. But sometimes there are experiences so difficult that they require a special focus. This meditation is going to help bring you to a place where you can experience forgiveness even with the toughest situations. Remember that forgiveness doesn't mean that you will allow yourself to be treated badly in the future or that you ever need to see someone that has wronged you again. This is an internal ...
Welcoming Forgiveness (30 min)
January 26, 2018 01:33 - 29 minutesThe art of forgiveness is an ancient practice for healing illness, life troubles and psychological distress. It has so much power that some Buddhist teachers recommend practicing forgiveness to ourselves and others twice a day for months on end. When forgiveness is practiced with such steady devotion, forgiveness starts to seem almost like a field of energy. A field is anything that has a physical quantity at any point in space. Anywhere you look in the universe, even in a vacuum, you will fi...
Welcoming Forgiveness (20 min)
January 21, 2018 21:08 - 20 minutesForgiveness is a sacred art with profound healing potential. It has so much power that some Buddhist teachers recommend practicing forgiveness to ourselves and others twice a day for months on end. When it is practiced with such steady devotion, forgiveness starts to seem almost like a field of energy. A field is anything that has a physical quantity at any point in space. Anywhere you look in the universe, even in a vacuum, you will find fields. We are all familiar with physical phenomena su...
Train Yourself to Feel Relaxed, Peaceful and Beautiful (45 min)
January 19, 2018 10:48 - 45 minutesYOU are not your feelings. Sometimes, you might feel that you are engulfed with sadness or anger or anxiety or whatever the feeling. You can't shake it. You might even come to believe that is just the kind of a person you are, that that is part of your personality. But this isn't true. Unfortunately, you can't just tell yourself to feel relaxed or beautiful or peaceful. If only it were that simple! Your states of mind seem to just arise. But you have two choices. You can choose to allow the e...
Train Yourself to Feel Relaxed, Peaceful and Beautiful (1 Hr)
January 19, 2018 10:34 - 59 minutesYOU are not your feelings. Sometimes, you might feel that you are engulfed with sadness or anger or anxiety or whatever the feeling. You can't shake it. You might even come to believe that is just the kind of a person you are, that that is part of your personality. But this isn't true. Unfortunately, you can't just tell yourself to feel relaxed or beautiful or peaceful. If only it were that simple! Your states of mind seem to just arise. But you have two choices. You can choose to allow the e...
Acceptance & The Slippery Bubble Of Now (20 min)
January 17, 2018 04:36 - 19 minutes - 18.3 MB“Stay in the present moment,” is an oft-heard recommendation from spiritual teachers. But how exactly do you do that? Your mind is not set up to ‘stay in the now.’ Fortunately, brains can be trained; the mind can be rewired. But it takes practice. And learning to accept what arises is the perfect way to master present moment awareness. This simple meditation helps you do just that. (Note, this is an extended, 20 min version of the shorter 10 min version of the same name and description) Hos...
Acceptance & The Slippery Bubble Of Now (30 min)
January 15, 2018 10:56 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBYou often hear spiritual teachers and modern day gurus tell us to “Be in the now,” but how exactly do you do that? Your mind is not set up to ‘stay in the now.’ Fortunately, brains can be trained; the mind can be rewired. But it takes practice. And learning to accept what arises is the perfect way to master present moment awareness. This simple meditation helps you do just that. (Note, this is an extended, 30 min version of the shorter version of the same name and description) Hosted on Aca...
Acceptance & The Slippery Bubble Of Now (10 min)
January 15, 2018 04:06 - 10 minutes - 9.87 MBModern day gurus tell us to “Be in the now,” but how exactly do you do that? Your mind is not set up to ‘stay in the now.’ Fortunately, brains can be trained; the mind can be rewired. But it takes practice. And learning to accept what arises is the perfect way to master present moment awareness. This simple meditation helps you do just that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chakras - The Complete Set (1 hr)
January 09, 2018 01:41 - 1 hourThis track is the complete Chakra set extended to 1 hour. Proceed with caution as it is an advanced practice and can unlock some long buried memories and powers. Make sure you are ready to ground yourself and get back in touch with your true self if things get out of hand. The eight noumenal centers of energy in the body are all activated in this guided meditation. Then you are guided through moving the energy within each Chakra, among multiple chakras and finally out into the universal Chakr...
Accepting Sadness & Grief (related to a loss - 17 min)
January 08, 2018 00:03 - 16 minutesHave you lost someone you care for deeply? Or perhaps someone you love has pulled away? You can use the meditation practice of acceptance to help heal these wounds and open yourself to the vitality and joy that is still present in your life. Whether it is a person, a pet, or some thing very dear to you, acceptance is available to you right here, right now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Metta Loving Kindness (Self Only - 10 min)
December 19, 2017 05:24 - 10 minutesThis is a 10 minute version of Metta meditation. Metta is a compassion based practice that is a popular form of meditation in Buddhism but is also found in the ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism and Jainism. The word “metta” can be translated as "friendly, benevolent, affectionate, kind, good-will, love, amity, sympathy". This Guided Meditation is a variation on that ancient practice. It follows the more traditional method of generating and cultivating loving kindness and other wonderful ...
Metta Loving Kindness (Self And Others - 45 min)
December 19, 2017 03:29 - 45 minutesA common meditation technique that has been passed down through the millennia is Loving Kindness or Metta Bhavana meditation. There is a reason it has stood the test of time: it works. One study done at Stanford University suggests that a loving-kindness meditation practiced even for 7 minutes can increase social connectedness. Loving kindness meditation has also been shown to help people with chronic lower back pain and Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill demonstra...
Metta Loving Kindness (Self And Others - 60 min)
December 19, 2017 03:01 - 59 minutesThis is a one hour version of Metta meditation. Metta is a compassion based practice that is a popular form of meditation in Buddhism but is also found in the ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism and Jainism. The word “metta” can be translated as "friendly, benevolent, affectionate, kind, good-will, love, amity, sympathy". This Guided Meditation is a variation on that ancient practice. It follows the more traditional method of generating and cultivating loving kindness and other wonderful s...