Dedicated to liberation in all its forms, Deconstructing Yourself is passionate about fearlessly investigating, attempting, and questioning all things to do with awakening, meditation, mindfulness, brain hacking, consciousness, neurofeedback, and more.
Your host Michael W. Taft interviews some of the most interesting thinkers, authors, and teachers around, as well as other offerings. In this hard-hitting, radical, and fun podcast we look at secular post-, non-, un- Buddhism, Vajrayana, nondual Hindu Tantra, philosophy, the neuroscience of the sense of self, neurofeedback and the consciousness hacking movement, aspects of artificial intelligence, entheogens, and much more.
If you’re looking for fresh directions, free from dogma and conformism, think of the Deconstructing Yourself podcast as the radical cafe where you can hear from the most interesting luminaries either from the outside edges of dharma, or a fresh take from more traditional teachers. If you’re interested in more, check out the Deconstructing Yourself website at https://deconstructingyourself.com.
Meditation teacher and neuroscience consultant Shinzen Young and host Michael W. Taft talk about what mindfulness teachers are getting wrong, Shinzen’s Periodic Table of Happiness Elements, informed consent for awakening, effective strategies for dealing with the Dark Night of the Soul, and the phenomenon that Shinzen calls “Enlightenment’s Evil Twin.”
Learn more about Shinzen Young at Shinzen.org.
Also here is a pdf of Shinzen’s Periodic Table of Happiness Elements.
Show Notes
0:25 – Introduction and overview
2:38 – Defining mindfulness, and what mindfulness teachers can improve on
15:20 – Fulfilling the ethical duty to inform students about the possibilities and challenges of deeper meditation work
20:05 – The Dark Night and DP/DR, and the amount of guidance students need to integrate emptiness
25:24 – Addressing student concerns about becoming derailed or idle if they make spiritual progress
28:24 – Clarifying what the Dark Night is, what it might look like, and how to address it prophylactically and remedially
51:31 – More about what mindfulness teachers can improve on
1:19:28 – Frosting Shinzen’s buns by shutting down a meditator’s no-self experience
1:26:06 – Being careful not to set up barriers that keep people away from practice
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