Natural Meditation podcast
353 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 months ago - ★★★★★ - 32 ratingsStephan Wormland, MA in clinical psychology and trained in Gestalt therapy. He has studied and practiced meditation in multiple Buddhist traditions for over 30 years and spent altogether 5 years in meditation retreats. Stephan was a monk in the Tibetan tradition for 11 years and teaches meditation in Buddhist centers in Europe.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Guided Meditation to fall asleep with ocean waves
October 23, 2016 15:34 - 40 minutes - 91.6 MBA guided meditation to help you gently move into a zone of peace and calm in preparation for sleep. Allow yourself to let go of the business of the day and find the silence within.
Falling Asleep Meditation with Nature Sounds
October 23, 2016 10:50 - 45 minutes - 51.6 MBA guided meditation with nature sounds which helps you to let go of anxiety and restlessness. Stephan Pende leads you into sleep through gentle instructions of letting be and letting go.
37 Practices - Verse 4-7
October 20, 2016 07:55 - 1 hour - 63 MBGive up your life. Give it all up. Do not base your life on what can be taken away from you - wealth, possessions, health, family, friends, fame, respect, even your own life. If you have those, savor them, knowing that they all must come to an end. But do not base your life on holding on to them. - Ken Mcleod
Wholeness through Just Being
October 10, 2016 10:34 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBFrom birth, and throughout every moment of your life, being is a quiet background presence that’s always with you but that can go unnoticed until it’s directly pointed out. Take a few moments now to feel back through your life and notice how the feeling of being has always been with you. To realize that you are Being is freedom.
37 Practices - Homage To Compassion
October 07, 2016 13:14 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBCompassion isn't some kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we're trying to live up to. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don't even want to look at.
37 Practices - Verse 1-3
October 06, 2016 19:03 - 58 minutes - 53.8 MBRely on silence! You become aware of a silence - a silence that is always there, even in your darkest moments, a silence that includes everything and cannot be fathomed, a silence that allows you to listen to your heart, your body and your mind in a way you did not know was possible. Rely on Silence! - Ken Mcleod
Recognize And Embrace
September 27, 2016 20:51 - 56 minutes - 51.5 MBRecognize what is going on; Allow the experience to be there, just as it is; Investigate with kindness; Natural awareness, which comes from not identifying with the experience.
Introduction 37 Practices
September 22, 2016 19:46 - 1 hour - 94.9 MBEvery experience has infinite dimensions. Can you experience all of them without struggling against any of them? If you can, then suffering comes to an end - so obvious, so simple, so deep, and so wonderful. -Ken Mcleod
Awake, Open And Gentle
September 22, 2016 18:55 - 1 hour - 97.5 MBAwareness has a natural sensitivity and the capacity to express warmth. This responsiveness is what is called tenderness. Our tenderness allows us to respond with compassion, love, and awe to whatever arises, in all its beauty and sorrow.
Be Quiet and Listen
September 14, 2016 07:43 - 1 hour - 99 MBStephan Pende invites you to sense the tension or sensations in your body that are present. What happens if you really meet, greet, and welcome sensation without trying to get rid of it?. In natural meditation you are not trying to change. Instead, you learn to welcome yourselves as you are; to be with what is. Let’s start with who we are, as we are, and see who we become when we accept who we are, as we are, and stop trying to be somebody or something else.
Challenging emotions and the energy body
September 12, 2016 13:44 - 1 hour - 102 MBAccording to the Tibetan tradition the emotional patterns that dictate our inner sense of balance or imbalance are functions of the subtle body. The subtle body is a kind of interface between the mind and the physical body, by means which these two aspects of being interact. The Tibetan word for the subtle body is lung, in sanskrit prana and in the chinese tradition it is called chi. Stephan Pende introduces how awareness of the subtle body can support you in times of challenging emotions.
You Are Already Home
June 08, 2016 16:29 - 59 minutes - 54.3 MBWhen it comes to the true nature of mind, this isn't something that we get from a spiritual tradition or religion. It's not something that we need to seek from a guru or that we need to find by going to a sacred place, but it's a matter of recognizing who we are, whatever that it is. When we see this completely clearly, when who we actually are becomes completely evident and obvious to us, and we recognize it and appreciate it in a completely perfect way, then that I think is what is called r...
Compassionate Abiding
June 01, 2016 16:16 - 1 hour - 99.3 MBBodhisattvas practice 'in the middle of the fire.' This means they enter into the suffering of the world; it also means they stay steady with the fire of their own painful emotions. They neither act them out nor repress them. They are willing to stay 'on the dot' and explore an emotion's ungraspable qualities and fluid energies - and to let that experience link them to the pain and courage of others. Compassionate abiding is a method which can help us to do this. - Pema Chodrön
Awakening Is Already Happening
May 24, 2016 20:22 - 1 hour - 92.3 MBYou already have everything to be complete in this moment. There is nothing to do and nothing to understand for you to relax into the truth of peace. Stephan Pende is guiding you into the place which you never left. Home is here, there is no path.
Selflessness
May 11, 2016 10:34 - 58 minutes - 53.2 MBAll Buddhist traditions consider it important to understand the selflessness of the individual in order to gain liberation from suffering. The reason for this is that all suffering comes from believing the self is truly existent. This results in taking the self and everything that affects it very seriously, and we become fixated on pursuing happiness and avoiding suffering. But in fact, the self does not exist in a separate, solid, independent way. It is made up through the mental process of...
Self-Compassion
May 04, 2016 13:40 - 1 hour - 66.8 MBIt is helpful is to become aware of the inner judge. The inner judge is an agency within us that criticizes, judges, compares, condemns, blames and attacks us and others mercilessly and constantly. Stephan Pende share insights and meditations on how to cultivate self-compassion.
Relaxed, Interested, Friendly
April 28, 2016 10:55 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBMeditation takes us just as we are, with our restlessness and our peace. This radical acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri, or unconditional friendliness. It is a simple, direct relationship with the present moment just as it is.
Pointers to stillness
April 20, 2016 05:34 - 37 minutes - 51.1 MBWhen you attentively look into stillness you find greater stillness. Look clearly into the greater stillness to find greater stillness yet. Continue to easily yet attentively look into greater and greater stillness. If your awareness shifts to thoughts, return again to stillness and greater stillness.
You Are Already What You Seek
April 17, 2016 09:57 - 33 minutes - 45.8 MBWhat you’re looking for, is what is doing the looking. That which sees and looks is what is looked for! And that can’t be found. Because it’s not been lost. It’s been looking all along. At the deepest level, you’re holding the answer you’ve been looking for. The answer is in your hands. It’s in your own being. You ARE what you’re looking for. You ARE What you’ve always longed for.
Meditation Posture
April 17, 2016 09:00 - 21 minutes - 30 MBYour physical posture affects your mental state. If you assume a posture that is too relaxed, chances are that your meditation will stray into drowsiness. Too rigid and tense a posture, on the other hand, might lead to mental agitation. Thus it is appropriate to take a balanced posture that is neither too tight nor too loose. Stephan Pende points to the keys of a healthy posture: alignment, relaxation and resilience.
Enough! Working with addictive patterns Part 2
March 29, 2016 13:12 - 1 hour - 65.9 MBAll of us are caught up in addictive patterns. Stephan Pende presents how meditation can release us from the grip of negative habits and addictions that block a full and meaningful life. We can learn how to undo our habits and addictions and find true contentment. Stephan Pende also leads two meditations to develop familiarity with states of mind that can release us from addictive patterns.
Enough! Working with addictive patterns Part 1
March 29, 2016 12:51 - 1 hour - 84.6 MBAll of us are caught up in addictive patterns. Stephan Pende presents how meditation can release us from the grip of negative habits and addictions that block a full and meaningful life. We can learn how to undo our habits and addictions and find true contentment. Stephan Pende also leads two meditations to develop familiarity with states of mind that can release us from addictive patterns.
5. Beyond Mindfulness - Resting As Awareness
December 17, 2015 13:06 - 1 hour - 131 MBStephan Pende explains and guides a meditation on how to recognize and rest as awareness or what sometimes is called the nature of your mind.
4. Beyond Mindfulness - Being With An Emotional Tsunami
September 23, 2015 11:51 - 1 hour - 96.7 MBMindfulness supports you in your capacity to be present in moments of emotional turmoil, neither suppressing the feelings nor getting lost in them. Stephan Pende shares methods on how to be in an emotional tsunami.
3. Beyond Mindfulness - Unhooking
September 09, 2015 08:35 - 51 minutes - 82.2 MBAwakening begins by discovering the awareness which is already free, pure, connected and in the nature of love. It is discovering the natural peace, the deep stillness which is available to us in any moment regardless if we feel good or bad. Can you find the eye in the storm? Rest right there.
2. Beyond Mindfulness - Exploring Selflessness
September 03, 2015 15:28 - 1 hour - 186 MBThere is a simple, obvious truth: there is no such entity as “me”. That is the main insight in all paths of liberation. There is no separate, solid entity called "me" or "self" anywhere to be found. The sense that there is something like that is the root cause for all suffering. Because of this mistake you feel you live in a prison, spending your life protecting and trying to make happy something that was never there to begin with. Seeing through this illusion is simple and straightforward.
1. Beyond Mindfulness - The Loving Gaze
September 02, 2015 11:17 - 39 minutes - 71.8 MBFormer monk Stephan Pende leads a meditation on cultivating a loving gaze and explains how to find peace in the midst of intense experience. He explores how to work with the subconscious gossip, which is obstructing a direct relationship with our experience.
Resting In Natural Peace
June 11, 2015 08:23 - 21 minutes - 40.1 MBThis guided meditation is an invitation for you to experience deep relaxation, to find peace in doing nothing. Just tune in to the incredible feeling of stillness within you. Within the movements of your thoughts, there is a still point. A point that is completely still and which has nothing to do with whatever is happening around you. Becoming aware of this ever present peace is the ultimate medicine.
Developing Gratefulness with a mantra
November 07, 2014 08:24 - 11 minutes - 21.2 MBGratefulness is a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life. Emerging research has recently started to draw attention to its multiple benefits. People who are grateful have been found to be relatively happier, more energetic, and more hopeful and to report experiencing more frequent positive emotions. Stephan Pende guides you into a gratefulness meditation using a simple mantra.
Loving - Kindness With A Difficult Person
October 08, 2014 15:53 - 16 minutes - 30.7 MBIt is painful to exclude a person from your heart. In this meditation you are invited to soften that pain and see a difficult person in a different way. It might change the way you relate to that person as well.
Awareness recognizing Awareness
July 13, 2014 08:32 - 18 minutes - 42.8 MBSo who are you? You are not objects out there, you are not feelings, you are not thoughts - you are effortlessly aware of all those, so you are not those. Who or what are you? You have feelings, but you are not those feelings. Who are you? But then people usually make a big mistake. They think that if they rest in the Witness, they are going to see something or feel something - something really neat and special. But you won't see anything. If you see something, that is just another object ...
Healing Through Tonglen
July 04, 2014 14:24 - 22 minutes - 51.1 MBTonglen (giving and taking) is a method for connecting with suffering — ours and that which is all around us — everywhere we go. It is a method for overcoming fear of suffering and for dissolving the tightness of our heart. Primarily it is a method for awakening the compassion that is inherent in all of us. We begin to feel love both for ourselves and others and also we begin to take care of ourselves and others. It awakens our compassion and it also introduces us to a far larger view of real...
Celebrating Life By Contemplating Death
June 17, 2014 12:37 - 21 minutes - 49.3 MBMaking death your friend to awake to your life. Contemplating death is a powerful pointer to what is really important. Celebrate your life by remembering death.
Allowing this moment to be what it is
June 06, 2014 10:37 - 22 minutes - 51.4 MBAllowing is effortless, but it takes effort to not allow this moment. For this moment is already present, already perfectly what it is. In the vastness of your own heart even resistance is allowed.
Meditation On Chenrezig
May 16, 2014 08:55 - 14 minutes - 33.8 MBA guided meditation following a traditional Sadhana of the Buddha of Compassion.
Meditation And Relationships
April 28, 2014 09:11 - 1 hour - 138 MBHow does your meditation practice benefit your relationships? Stephan Pende explores how the qualities you cultivate in meditation like equanimity, stability and self-kindness support you in your relationships.
Smile at Fear
April 14, 2014 11:01 - 1 hour - 42.7 MBFormer Buddhist monk Stephan Pende explores a liberating way to relate to our fears: not as something to try to get rid of or cast out, but as something we become very intimate with. In doing so we come to find that the journey of knowing fear is in fact the journey of courage. From this wisdom, we learn to embrace the fullness of our experience in life.
Letting Go Means Letting Be 2
March 25, 2014 12:24 - 55 minutes - 127 MBBeing in a place in which you can rest and see more clearly, which holds and contains everything arising for you in the present. From here, it is possible to deconstruct, re-contextualize and reframe our original fear-based feelings and reactions, honoring and embracing them without being their victims.
Letting Go Means Letting Be
March 25, 2014 11:51 - 48 minutes - 111 MBMy assumption is that, at this moment, you can open the door to peace without becoming someone else or being in another place. Just by looking inside, at what is and embracing it with a loving heart. Right now you could step into this place. This place is so close to you that you oversee it. There is stillness and peace in the background of the wanting, dissatisfied mind. There is underlying peace and stillness, beyond these words, in this room, wherever you are dear reader, right now! Could ...
Transforming Anger 2
March 24, 2014 14:22 - 2 hours - 215 MBWe can suppress anger and aggression or act it out, either way making things worse for ourselves and others. Or we can practice patience: wait, experience the anger and investigate its nature.
Transforming Anger
March 24, 2014 12:51 - 1 hour - 146 MBWhat you need to do is to neither reject nor indulge in your own emotional energy, but instead come to know it. Then you can transmute the energy of emotions into wisdom. You could gain the capacity to slow down, feel the energy in our body, drop the story line and let it pass trough your body and mind. Stephan Pende shares tools to transform anger into healthy, compassionate aggression. In that way your anger can become a contribution to inner and outer peace.
Two Levels Of Mind
March 24, 2014 10:07 - 49 minutes - 112 MBStephan Pende explores in this teaching the two basic levels of mind: the unconditioned and conditioned level. When we rest in unconditioned awareness, our dualistic fixations and with that our stressful thoughts are completely inactive. There’s no attachment or aversion to anything that arises within our field of awareness and no attempt to prolong or escape what is happening. We discover a place of peace and wholeness which is always available to us. Conditioned mind, on the other hand, i...
Resting In The Breath
March 14, 2014 11:18 - 11 minutes - 25.6 MBThe breath can be the resting point you return to during daily life. Stephan Pende guides a gentle breathing meditation which helps you to find a peaceful place in the midst of your experience.
Just Being Yourself
March 04, 2014 13:47 - 11 minutes - 26.9 MBCould you allow yourself to find a place of rest in the middle of your experience? Just being yourself is all what is needed to be content. Stephan Pende guides you in this short Meditation to a place of peace in the midst of a busy day.
May I be happy
December 04, 2013 09:36 - 23 minutes - 52.7 MBIn this meditation you are invited to connect with the warmth of a friendship and from there your are gently guided to a place of radical self-acceptance. From resting in the open heart sharing your love happens naturally and without effort.
Pause, Relax And Open - 5 Minutes of just being
October 25, 2013 12:56 - 5 minutes - 12.9 MBA guided meditation into the present moment for to be used in a busy life. Take a rest of 5 minutes and do nothing. Connect with the natural peace in your own heart.
Compassionate Breathing
September 25, 2013 08:54 - 18 minutes - 34.2 MBGentle Breathing Meditation, helping you to connect with the natural peace of this moment. Allow yourself to find a place of rest by breathing in kindness towards yourself.
Being with emotional or physical discomfort
June 11, 2013 10:50 - 20 minutes - 24.3 MBIn this Meditation you are invited to approach an area of emotional or physical discomfort and hold it softly. Trusting the healing and transformative power of mindful acceptance. A meditation for difficult moments!
Self-Inquiry
May 16, 2013 18:09 - 12 minutes - 14.2 MBWhen we practice mindfulness meditation, many things arise in awareness. We typically turn our attention to each thing in turn - different thoughts, feelings, body sensations, states of mind. We often don’t turn our attention to that which is doing the observing, that which seems to be doing the thinking, that which is aware. This is what you are invited to do in this meditation - to actually seek, in a very practical way, who it is that is doing the seeking, who it is that is practicing. Of ...
Letting be and letting go
February 15, 2013 10:39 - 18 minutes - 20.8 MBAn invitation to slide into a place of fulfillment by letting the moment be just as it is. If you stop to struggle with reality there is peace.