Dear friends, students, and Shambhala Sangha, If you haven’t heard, the head of my Shambhala lineage has been accused of clerical sexual abuse. The community is reeling. Whether you are in the Open Heart Project community or are a fellow Shambhala practitioner, I want to share with you my own thoughts and feelings about what is going on. First, thank... READ MORE
Can’t wait to share it with you. I hope you will find it inspiring, useful, and real. It is about what it really takes to open your heart in a love relationship. We are self-publishing this, y’all. I wrote this book for us specifically. Every single decision that has gone into creating it has been made with you in mind.... READ MORE
Welcome to the Ask Susan podcast. This is episode #24. I’m really excited to be able to offer this to you. Each week, I will answer a question about spirituality and meditation practice. Please click here to ask me your question. Torsten from Berlin raises an excellent question, one for the ages. If mindfulness is about being present, how... READ MORE
Welcome to the Ask Susan podcast. This is episode #23. I’m really excited to be able to offer this to you. Each week, I will answer a question about spirituality and meditation practice. Please click here to ask me your question. Katia’s question is about figuring out the balance between kindness toward others and self-care. In this answer, I... READ MORE
I’m a 20+ year practitioner in a Tibetan Vajrayana tradition. It is based on teachings brought to the West by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. There are things in these seemingly straightforward sentences that might piss some people off. There are people who say that the Vajrayana (the third “yana” or vehicle of Buddhist teachings, aka the esoteric teachings) is not even... READ MORE
Welcome to the Ask Susan podcast. This is episode #21. I’m really excited to be able to offer this to you. Each week, I will answer a question about spirituality and meditation practice. Please click here to ask me your question. This week’s question is truly fascinating. Our questioner has discovered that since beginning a meditation practice, his mind... READ MORE
(Parts of this piece were published previously, but as our wedding anniversary approaches, I felt compelled to update it.) Next month, my partner and I celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. Nineteen years. How the hell did that happen?! As we get ready to celebrate nearly two decades of wedded bliss, (and also of wedded hell, confusion, joy, and mystery), I’ve... READ MORE
Even though Buddhism is often associated with ascetic practices done by people in robes, as a 20+ year practitioner, it has been useful to apply core Buddhist teachings to my love life. Buddhist practice and study were helpful when I fell in love, got my heart broken, and, now, in marriage. In a recent post, I offered a way to... READ MORE
Earlier this week, I posted about applying the wisdom of Buddhism to romantic relationships. Is it even possible? Advisable? As a Buddhist and a wife, I would say yes. Relationships have periods of closeness and distance and no one can really tell you what governs their coming and going. It’s a mystery. During one such period of distance with my... READ MORE
My 19th wedding anniversary is coming up next month. HOLY CRAP. I never in a million years imagined that I would be with one person for this long. Our marriage has been more than I could have hoped for but nothing I would ever have expected. Like most of us, when I was young, I dreamed of finding the right relationship.... READ MORE
When you think of spirituality, you might call to mind a framework or set of rules that show you the way to inner peace, to end your suffering (and possibly even avoid death), is to be good. On the darker end of the spectrum, however, behavior is often driven by a fear of consequences (of not following the rules), an... READ MORE
Since the presidential election, I have felt called to do more. To get involved with organizations that stand for the values I hold dear, to call my elected officials to give them a piece of my mind (or at least read one of the suggested scripts from Facebook), to march and rail and educate myself about my own ignorance and... READ MORE
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