Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

Trudy Goodman explains the healing power of mindfulness in helping adults be authentically present with children—fully entering their creative, playful world.
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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Trudy Goodman talks about:
Trudy’s own life as a mother and grandmother, witnessing many stages of growth from different perspectives
Becoming inspired by the playfulness, openness, and curiosity of children
Approaching the world with beginners mind: approaching all experiences as if they are new
A sonar for presence: how children can tell when we are present and when we are not
How the capacity to meet ourselves often goes back to the parent-child relationship
Striving to be ‘good enough’ as a parent rather than perfect
Ordinary devotion and maintaining a sense of routine care for our children
Learning to be alone and getting acquainted with our inner lives
Resting in presence and allowance rather than always trying to ‘fix’ our children or ‘correct’ their play and creativity
Trusting the insubstantial nature of that which bothers us
How our own expectations, concepts, and ideals, affect children for better and worse
This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed
About Trudy Goodman:
Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com
"Our mindfulness practice really offers us a way to know deeply what's going on with children and this knowing often comes in nonverbal moments of just seeing, just realizing. It's such a powerful way of staying present with what's happening with all the strange and wonderful creatures that emerge both in ourselves and in our kids." –Trudy Goodman
More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:
Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation
JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body: First Foundation Guided Meditation
Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service
Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh
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Gil Fronsdal invites us to see Buddhism not as a doctrine but as a lived experience where insight, trust, and letting go give rise to genuine freedom.
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This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal dives into:
How the twelve steps of dependent origination fit into the schema of Buddhist practice
The stark difference between an insight and a belief
Buddhism as a path to walk rather than a doctrine to believe in
Turning from suffering and clinging to peace
Finding out how Buddhism is meaningful to us individually
How we have all been liberated from something in our lives
Appreciating the relief and clarity that comes from letting go of clinging
The profound act of trust that it takes to be open and present
The door of the wishless, when the mind stops desiring
Looking at things exactly as they are rather than trying to conceptualize
About Gil Fronsdal:
Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.
This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed
"How deep and thorough can we let go? Can we liberate ourselves? The challenge that Buddhism offers us, more than a doctrine, it offers us a challenge that it is possible to get into the very deepest roots of the clinging in our hearts and uproot it, to become free from it." –Gil Fronsdal
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Guiding listeners into bliss, Dr. Robert Thurman explores how emptiness, renunciation, and compassion reinforce our oneness with all beings.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.
This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Dr. Thurman offers us:
A lovely translation of an 18th-century poem written by a Tibetan lama
Finding ‘mother emptiness’ and reinforcing our oneness with all beings
Lessons from the Buddha on emptiness and relativity
Understanding renunciation as self-compassion
Prioritizing the dharma rather than what society makes us feel we need to do
What happens to the mind and body as we begin to renunciate things
Differentiating sympathy, empathy, and true compassion
Realizing how precious we are as human beings
How compassion arises from our own inner bliss
Releasing our need to achieve and cultivating a tolerance for ambiguity
The synergy of all elements along The Eightfold Path
This episode was recorded in 2020 during the Love Serve Remember Wise Hope Virtual Retreat: Day 2. Check out upcoming retreats HERE.
About Dr. Robert Thurman:
Robert Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University and President of the Tibet House U.S., and is the President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. His new book, Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life, is now available.
"Renunciation is true self-indulgence. It's a real connoisseur’s thing to be detached, to have less baggage, less things." –Dr. Thurman
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Exploring Vedanta and Vipassana practices, Ram Appalaraju discusses interfaith spirituality and his work as an eco-chaplain, honoring the dignity of all beings.
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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Ram and Vincent discuss:
Encountering dukkha (suffering) on a day-to-day basis
Resourcing ourselves so that we can be a resource for others
Self-discovery and learning how to process our suffering
The yoga of meditation and cultivating the core aspect of inner growth
The sense of ease that comes from deepening our practice
Weaving together Vedanta and Vipassana practices
Fostering trust in our own experiences
Transitioning from a high-stress work environment to living a more spiritual life
Offering dignity to ourselves and others, no matter their circumstance
Ram’s work in prisons and offering compassionate, attentive care to others
How preconceived notions hinder us from truly connecting with and caring for people
“There’s a human sense of dignity that we can offer to another person and that can only happen when we have dignity within ourselves when we have a sense of acceptance of who we are.” –Ram Appalaraju
This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.
About Ram Appalaraju:
Ram Appalaraju has served on the boards of nonprofit organizations for over eight years after retiring from the high-tech industry where he worked for 35 years. Ram has been studying Buddhism under Gil Fronsdal and is currently in the Insight Meditation Center’s Dharma Leaders Training. He also graduated as a chaplain and an eco-chaplain from the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. He now teaches as a faculty member at Sati Center’s Eco-Chaplaincy program and is one of the organizing team members at IMC’s Earth Care community group. He also serves as a Buddhist chaplain and Mindfulness Meditation teacher at Santa Clara County Jails and is currently pursuing Clinical Pastoral Education.
Ram has been practicing Buddhism for over 14 years and has engaged with several underprivileged and marginalized communities, teaching meditation and offering support. He is deeply committed to social and ecological causes and serves various groups in nature-based education through science and spirituality. He currently serves on the board of Insight Meditation Center at Redwood City and teaches at the San Jose Insight Meditation Sangha. Ram has also studied Vedanta at Sri Ramakrishna Mission and Chinmaya Mission for over 20 years.
Ram serves as president of Insight World Aid. For more information about Insight World Aid, please see HERE.
“My own capacity to care started to unfold. It is not just an external activity of me learning how to care for someone, that’s a byproduct. The intent is self-discovery: how did I process my own suffering and how and when it's relevant to engage with others who may be suffering for their own reasons.” –Ram Appalaraju
About Vincent Moore:
Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Masters of Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.
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Vipassana teacher Trudy Goodman provides practical tools for staying present.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.
This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Trudy Goodman explores:
Staying connected to the flow of the breath
The breath as our life-long companion and source of presence
The loneliness of thought and being caught in the trap of our own thinking
How the breath is our anchor and our teacher
Cultivating the power of the mind to focus
The pause at the end of a breath
Balancing our energies and moving through each breath with care
Stepping out of our familiar reactivity
Accepting this as they are so that we can let them go
About Trudy Goodman:
Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com
This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed
“All the ways of being mindful are ways that the Buddha asks us to be true to our own hearts and minds. Mindfulness is a form of honesty, of telling ourselves the truth of what is happening. It's showing us that when we're present with the breath, the breath is not just our companion, it's our dharma friend, it's our teacher.” –Trudy Goodman
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