Category: Mindfulness

Peter Jack Rainbird: Unravel

Soloist Peter Jack Rainbird—along with his trusty vintage electric guitar and collection of homemade pedals—is said to create sounds that would seem to require a full orchestra. In this episode, Peter and Tami Simon talk about the origins of his unique personal sound and how it relates to nature, architecture, and society. They also discuss the process of discovering, nurturing, and expressing one’s personal gifts. Finally, Peter introduces listeners to two excerpts from his new studio album releasing through Sounds True, Unravel: The Extended Suites. (66 minutes)

Breathing Meditations – a new free gift from Sou...

The transformational power inherent in the simple act of breathing is truly remarkable. With Breathing Meditations, join seven Sounds True authors for a series of simple guided practices that can open you to the many benefits of breathwork—from a deeper sense of presence and serenity in the moment, to revitalized health and ease of being, to creative insight and higher perspective, and more.

Stream or download Breathing Meditations here at no cost!

Tracks include:

1. “Breathing Meditation” by Jack Kornfield from Meditation for Beginners

Learn the art of following the breath, a foundational skill for all meditators, with Jack Kornfield, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society.

2. “The Relaxing Breath” by Andrew Weil, MD from Breathing: The Master Key to Self-Healing

Dr. Andrew Weil gives us a potent practice for activating the body’s relaxation response and returning to balance after stressful situations.

3. “Breath Meditation” by Sharon Salzberg from Guided Meditations for Love and Wisdom

A mindful breathing practice that helps us open the heart and experience compassion for ourselves and others.

4. “Soft Belly” by James Gordon, MD from Freedom from Depression

Harvard-educated psychiatrist Dr. James Gordon presents a guided exercise for liberating stuck energy in the body.

5. “Observing the Breath” by Shinzen Young from Meditation: A Beginner’s Guide

An introductory meditation inviting us to discover what can happen through full and complete attention to the breath.

6. “The Power Breath” by Mark Thornton from Meditation in a New York Minute

Executive meditation coach Mark Thornton teaches us a stress-reducing practice that both relaxes and reenergizes the body.

7. “Meditation on the Breath” by Sally Kempton from Beginning Meditation

A guided meditation in which our breath becomes the doorway to the depths of the self.

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Share Good Karma! – free gifts from Sounds True

Dear friends, we wanted to let you know about a new program at Sounds True, called Share Good Karma, which was created so that you could receive free gifts from us – and share them with your friends.

The first two titles featured in the program are a collection of relaxing and healing music, entitled Meditation Music: An Invitation to Still the Mind and Open the Heart; and The Practice of Mindfulness: 6 Guided Practices. Once three of your friends ‘accept’ these free gifts from you, you’ll receive an additional free gift of your choice.

Learn more and get signed up for Share Good Karma!

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Mukti: Exploring Embodied Awakening

Mukti is an associate teacher at Open Gate Sangha in Northern California, which she cofounded in 1996 with her husband, Adyashanti. As a teacher, Mukti points us back to our natural state of undivided consciousness, supporting the journey with feminine qualities of quietude and nurturing. Mukti has recently created a six-session audio learning series with Sounds True entitled The Self in Full Bloom: Teachings and Practices for Embodied Awakening. In this episode, Mukti speaks with Tami about her personal experience of awakening and how it changes the self, guides us through a practice for embodied self-inquiry, and shares the inside story of her relationship with Adyashanti. (67 minutes)

Jon Kabat-Zinn: The Mindfulness Revolution

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder and director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts, whose trailblazing research has helped bring mindfulness meditation into mainstream medicine. Jon is the author of Wherever You Go, There You Are, and with Sounds True he has created many unique audio programs, including Adventures in Mindfulness and the Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series. In this episode, Tami speaks with Jon about the role of science in validating mindfulness practice, the 180-degree shift that lets us rest in awareness instead of identifying with our thoughts, and the potential renaissance in the world that may arise from a “mindfulness revolution.” (73 minutes)

Becoming a Person

When I first met my partner Julie, almost thirteen years ago, I remember telling her that my greatest fear in life was that I would turn out to be “mediocre”. She looked at me and said, “there is only one thing that is mediocre about you and that is the way you’re dressed. But we can fix that. Just give me your credit card.” And Julie has done a great job of improving my wardrobe over the past ten plus years. But my point is that I had a dreadful fear of mediocrity, of somehow being like other people, being average and unremarkable; I felt like I would do anything to stand out and be different.

Recently, I have begun experimenting with dropping all need for specialness. I can see that there is a small child in me that wanted love and attention in a crowded environment (four older siblings) and that a large part of my motivation was not a spiritual need to express my unique being (which is how I had explained this unrelenting drive to express myself uniquely) but a psychological need to earn love. What if I am perfectly love-able and I am not doing anything particularly extraordinary? What if I am going to the laundrymat (we are renovating our home and our washer and dryer have been offline for several months), and I am as ordinary as ordinary gets, and I have no need to stand out in any way? (As an important aside, it is always so interesting to me when I uncover something that has psychological roots, like this need to be extraordinary in order to receive love, and to notice how I have been operating under a spiritual justification, in this case that I have been focused on expressing human uniqueness).

So I have been experimenting with enjoying the ordinary, not solving any big Sounds True problems or making “big deals” or creating a big splash of any kind. And I am noticing that I am happier than I have ever been. I am relaxing into being one of six plus billion people and simply being “one of us.” I don’t have anything to prove or anything to earn. Instead, it is about being present to what is needed and asked in the moment without a big agenda. I feel like a person instead of a striving determined-to-be-extraordinary achiever. And what I am noticing is that the glistening of the trees is brighter, the fur on Jasmine’s back (Jasmine is our 16-year old cocker spaniel) is even softer, and that I really enjoy going to the laundry mat!

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