Josh Summers

Yin Yoga | Meditation | Path

Everyday Sublime: Shadow | Light | Unity

The Everyday Sublime podcast explores a full spectrum spirituality. Each week Josh will release a dharma talk, and each month Josh will publish a long-form conversation with a thought-leader from the field. As Stephen Batchelor says, "the mystical does not transcend the world, but saturates it."

Available in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, Castbox, Overcast, PlayerFM, Beyondpod, PocketCasts, TuneIn, and (almost) anywhere else you listen to podcasts!

From Patience to Peace: Dharma Talk

If you sit and patiently endure, you find your mind going into a state of calm. That calm occurs because there’s no more trying to become something or trying to get rid of something. – Ajahn Sumedho

Peace Within Uncertainty (Part 2): Dharma Talk

Yet, along with sorrow, there is the backdrop of consciousness, the inner atmosphere that holds whatever arises, like the sky holds lightning… Through our practice of meditation, access to the backdrop becomes possible. – Narayan Liebenson

Peace Within Uncertainty (Part 1): Dharma Talk

Recognition of the Yin Will allows for the creation of the virtue of Wisdom. This Wisdom is not about knowing things. In fact, it is more about being deeply connected to the Unknown… Wisdom is a recognition of a deep knowing that infuses life. – Ted Kaptchuk

Vipassana on the Path: Dharma Talk

Within the process of Vipassana meditation, the meditator develops and rests within a capacity to remain calm and clear towards the entire display of visceral, cerebral and environmental content. – Josh Summers

Basic Vipassana Instructions (Part 2): Dharma Talk

Just as sounds arise and cease naturally within the field of awareness, when attending to their body, the meditator begins to perceive the same impersonal display of sensations arising and ceasing within the stillness of the mind. – Josh Summers

Basic Vipassana Instructions (Part 1): Dharma Talk

When we shift into a vipassana lens of practice, there are no distractions. Each experience the meditator encounters becomes the practice, itself – an experience to see clearly and relate to with compassion. – Josh Summers

The Key To Stillness (Part 2): Dharma Talk

“Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss or tranquility, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, and our hidden fears and hopes.” – Chogyam Trungpa

A Still Forest Pool: Dharma Talk

“Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things.” – Ajahn Chah

Metta, Vipassana, and Creativity: Dharma Talk

Just as a musician learns musical etudes to develop and refine their capacities for musical expression, a contemplative can learn meditative etudes – exercises that nurture the capacities of the Heart/Mind.

Robert Wright: Existential Psychological Threats

“I would say that cognitive empathy is a strength that needs to be built, cognitive empathy being the ability to look at things from the perspective of other people. And one thing the explain-excuse conflation does is undermine cognitive empathy.” – Robert Wright

Lauri Glenn: Self-Compassion in Practice

“When we meet difficulty with a kind and loving heart, compassion naturally arises. Often easy to feel for others, self-directed compassion can get blocked by old belief patterns and cultural conditioning. However, self-compassion can be awakened through a few simple steps that echo the Four Noble Truths.” – Lauri Glenn

Linda Modaro: The Dharma of Experience

“We aren’t looking to get away from our personal lives [in this approach]… but we’re given permission to bring what’s alive in our lives into our meditation practice.” – Linda Modaro

On Transcending Tribalism: Dharma Talk

“The political problems that impede the evolution of international governance are rooted in human psychology – mainly in what is sometimes called “the psychology of tribalism.” This psychology consists largely of cognitive biases, notably including confirmation bias and attribution error.” – Robert Wright

Linda Modaro: Spiritual Friendship and the Development of View

“So much can go bongo tingo in conversations, what with misunderstandings and mixed intentions… and yet, so much can go right to the heart of the matter. Bringing our meditation sittings into a conversation with another person changes the conversation to a relationship – one of developing trust, care, and collaboration. The Dharma is between us.” – Linda Modaro