In this cozy holiday special, Jack sheds seasonal tidings on how to rediscover the secret beauty within you and share your special gifts with the world.

This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“What you most deeply long for is who you are, is coming back to your own heart, to your own beauty, your own wellbeing that you were born with, to that secret beauty.” – Jack Kornfield

In part 1 of this special holiday video series, Jack merrily explores:

- The spiritual meaning of the Winter Solstice, the turning of the seasons, and the holidays
- How Jack’s teacher Ajahn Chah reacted when a Christmas Tree was put up in the Monastery
- Reconnecting with the great mystery of the world and with each other
- How to deal with your family with compassion, equanimity, and peace
- Seeing the secret beauty behind the eyes of everyone you meet
- Moving past the body of fear, the small sense of self
- The paradox of spiritual practice: you’re perfect and there’s room for improvement
- Rediscovering the love and secret beauty within you
- Cultivating dignity, presence, generosity, clarity, integrity, meaning, compassion, trust
- Bringing the mind and body together in the present
- Loving awareness and entering the wisdom stream
- Manifesting love and understanding into this world
- A Hawaiian story on how to bring your special gift
- Ram Dass, Mother Teresa, service, and allowing yourself to be taken care of
- Moving past fear politics and becoming a force of connection and love

“To meditate, more than anything, is an invitation to remember, to quiet ourselves, to touch back in to this truth, this reality beyond the busyness, fears, and confusion we have because we’re human.” – Jack Kornfield

“Meditation and spiritual practice is not meant to be a grim duty, it’s meant to be a rediscovery of the love and secret beauty that’s within you.” – Jack Kornfield

This episode was originally recorded for the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation Livestream on 12/14/15. Learn more about Spirit Rock’s offerings at SpiritRock.org. Join Jack’s next livestream at JackKornfield.com/events

Transform your year with Jack! Join “The Year of Awakening: An Intimate Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield” a year-long online journey! Sign up at bit.ly/Awakening2025

Jack Kornfield - Heart Wisdom – Ep. 268 – Holiday Special Pt. 1- Rediscovering Your Secret Beauty and Sharing Your Special Gift

Shining a lamp in the darkness, Jack offers a heartwarming holiday story, guided meditation, angelic chant, and powerful intention setting ceremony for the New Year and beyond.

Transform your 2025 with Jack! Join “The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield” a year-long online program beginning Jan 2025 at bit.ly/Awakening2025

“May your holidays and the turning of the seasons bring new light, great love, wisdom, and understanding into your life, to all your touch, and across this beautiful blue-green globe.” – Jack Kornfield

In part 2 of this special holiday series, Jack merrily shares:

A heartwarming Christmas Dharma story to relax the mind
Learning the true and boundless joy of making others happy
A powerful “Just Like Me” two-person guided meditation practice
Transforming the world through seeing the beauty of those around us
Setting the compass of your heart for our highest good and intention
Creating your own New Year’s vow, and becoming a lamp in the darkness for those in need
A special blessing-cord ceremony—an intention setting ritual for the turning of the seasons, the New Year, and the returning of the light
The angelic, holy, chanting of the of the mantra, “Namoh”

“How do we respond to this world? You sit and you sweep the garden. You have the capacity as a human being incarnating in this life—with your measure of suffering and the beauty you have—to respond in extraordinary ways.” – Jack Kornfield

“I did a blessing cord ceremony 40 years ago together with Lama Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and somebody raised their hand and said to him, ‘What exactly do these protect you from?’ And he said, ‘Why yourself, of course,’ which is a main protection that human beings need.” – Jack Kornfield

This episode was originally recorded for the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation Livestream on 12/14/15. Learn more about Spirit Rock’s offerings at SpiritRock.org and join Jack’s next livestream at JackKornfield.com/events

Jack Kornfield – Ep. 269 – Holiday Special Pt. 2 – A Lamp in the Darkness- Setting Intentions for the Return of the Light

Jack and Thomas explore how ritual serves as a powerful language for opening the heart and living joyfully through life’s challenges.

This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

"Ritual and symbol become a gateway back to the heart to our deep connection. When we have that in spiritual life, things open up in a different way." – Jack Kornfield

In Part 1 of this episode originally airing for Dr. Hübl’s ‘Spiritual Healing Journey Summit,’ Jack and Thomas mindfully explore:

How to live joyfully through difficult times
Finding the wonder of “everyday grace”
Reducing suffering through spiritual practice
Western Psychology and Eastern Spirituality
Interconnection and opening to the great web of being
Relational mindfulness and communal mindfulness
Ritual as a language and gateway to the heart
How to talk with nature and speak for the trees
The transformation of having true mentors and guides
Service, activism, and navigating burnout
Paying attention and listening to each other and nature

"The nuclear waste of what you've been through can burn in some way that it becomes the fuel for energy and light. It gets transformed in the reactor of the heart and you have a power now." – Jack Kornfield

“No amount of nanotechnology, A.I., space technology, or biotechnology is going to save us. Because the source of hatred, war, racism, conflict, exploitation, and climate disruption is in the human heart. That’s where it starts and where it grows from. Therefore, the outer developments which are becoming really remarkable have to be matched by the inner developments of humanity.” – Jack Kornfield

Transform your 2025 with Jack! Join “The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield” a year-long online program beginning Jan 2025! Join at bit.ly/Awakening2025

About Thomas Hübl, PhD:

Thomas Hübl, PhD, is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator who works within the complexity of systems and cultural change, integrating the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since the early 2000s, he has led large-scale events and courses on the healing of collective trauma.

He is the author of Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma—and Our World and Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds. He has served as an advisor and guest faculty for universities and organizations, as a coach for CEOs and organizational leaders, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. For more info, books, podcast, and upcoming offerings, please visit thomashuebl.com

Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 270 – Ritual as a Language and Gateway to the Heart with Thomas Hübl, PhD

Opening the doorway to transformation, Jack and Dr. Hübl explore spiritual discernment, identity, “central casting,” overcoming nervous system triggers, reframing trauma, and more.

Transform your 2025 with Jack! Join “The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield” a year-long online program beginning Jan 2025, but join anytime at bit.ly/Awakening2025

The ‘wisdom of insecurity’ is to learn that it’s okay to feel insecure—that it’s part of our human law—and to love anyway.” – Jack Kornfield

In Part 2 of this episode originally airing for Dr. Hübl’s ‘Spiritual Healing Journey Summit,’ Jack and Thomas mindfully explore:

- Spiritual community, idealism, disillusionment, and healing spiritual injury
- Jack’s experience “pressure testing” his teacher Ajahn Chah
- Trading our “blind faith” for “spiritual discernment”
- Living in joy with a free heart amidst it all
- Ram Dass, identity, and “central casting”
- Seeing past our identities/roles to our Divine Nature while still fully honoring them
- Reframing “trauma” with Buddha’s lens of suffering
- Healing the nervous system and it’s triggers
- Expanding our loving kindness to encompass all beings
- Walking through the doorway of transformation and dissolving the cosmos into love
- How to deal with our trauma and learn to live with suffering
- Reaching out and healing the part of the world we can touch
- The Bodhisattva vow as fostering the awakening of the heart
- Opening to the “wisdom of insecurity”

“Spiritual practice is to remember your true divine nature, and also your social security number, your particular role which ‘central casting’ has placed you in at this time.” – Jack Kornfield

"Disillusionment is part of the spiritual path, baby. It is! You have to see with the eyes of the Buddha to see the truth of suffering and greed and hatred, and also see that it's not the end of the story, that that's not who you are." – Jack Kornfield

About Thomas Hübl, PhD:

Thomas Hübl, PhD, is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator who works within the complexity of systems and cultural change, integrating the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since the early 2000s, he has led large-scale events and courses on the healing of collective trauma.

He is the author of Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma—and Our World and Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds. He has served as an advisor and guest faculty for universities and organizations, as a coach for CEOs and organizational leaders, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. For more info, books, podcast, and upcoming offerings, please visit thomashuebl.com

Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 271 – Diffusing Triggers, Reframing Trauma, and Surviving Suffering with Thomas Hübl, PhD

Opening the doorway to transformation, Jack and Dr. Hübl explore spiritual discernment, identity, “central casting,” overcoming nervous system triggers, reframing trauma, and more.

The ‘wisdom of insecurity’ is to learn that it’s okay to feel insecure—that it’s part of our human law—and to love anyway.” – Jack Kornfield

In Part 2 of this episode originally airing for Dr. Hübl’s ‘Spiritual Healing Journey Summit,’ Jack and Thomas mindfully explore:

- Spiritual community, idealism, disillusionment, and healing spiritual injury
- Jack’s experience “pressure testing” his teacher Ajahn Chah
- Trading our “blind faith” for “spiritual discernment”
- Living in joy with a free heart amidst it all
- Ram Dass, identity, and “central casting”
- Seeing past our identities/roles to our Divine Nature while still fully honoring them
- Reframing “trauma” with Buddha’s lens of suffering
- Healing the nervous system and it’s triggers
- Expanding our loving kindness to encompass all beings
- Walking through the doorway of transformation and dissolving the cosmos into love
- How to deal with our trauma and learn to live with suffering
- Reaching out and healing the part of the world we can touch
- The Bodhisattva vow as fostering the awakening of the heart
- Opening to the “wisdom of insecurity”

“Spiritual practice is to remember your true divine nature, and also your social security number, your particular role which ‘central casting’ has placed you in at this time.” – Jack Kornfield

“Disillusionment is part of the spiritual path, baby. It is! You have to see with the eyes of the Buddha to see the truth of suffering and greed and hatred, and also see that it’s not the end of the story, that that’s not who you are.” – Jack Kornfield

About Thomas Hübl, PhD:

Thomas Hübl, PhD, is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator who works within the complexity of systems and cultural change, integrating the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since the early 2000s, he has led large-scale events and courses on the healing of collective trauma.

He is the author of Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma—and Our World and Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds. He has served as an advisor and guest faculty for universities and organizations, as a coach for CEOs and organizational leaders, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. For more info, books, podcast, and upcoming offerings, please visit thomashuebl.com

Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 272 – The Art of Reconciliation- Cultivating Harmony Through Listening and Truth

In this defining talk, Jack shares his adventurous journey to Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, and how upon returning home, he had to learn to embody a heart of authenticity.

Transform your 2025 with Jack! Join “The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield” a year-long online program on mindfulness, love, community, and connection. Join in anytime at bit.ly/Awakening2025

“Being with Ajahn Chah was being with a person who rested in their Buddha Nature, their own true nature. He was just himself. He was really at peace with himself. You could feel it from the energy of his presence, rooted like a great tree in the earth.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

- His mystical journey to learn with Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah,
- Needing to work his way down the chakras to fully live this human life
- Sudden awakening versus gradual change on the spiritual path
- Ramana Maharshi and liberation through facing one’s own death
- How to live in your soul and dance your unique dance
- What it’s like hanging out with monks covered in wild bees
- Ajahn Chah’s tree-like quality of roundedness, freedom, and openness
- Matching our thoughts and actions with our values
- His first time experience rapture in meditation
- The transformative aspects of therapy, bodywork, marriage, family
- Ram Dass and the healing quality of presence
- Navigating differences in our romantic relationships
- Learning to acknowledge the pain and loss beneath our anger
- Opening to life’s lessons of compassion, wisdom, and wakefulness
- The gift of spiritual community and sharing our authenticity
- Embodying the timeless eternal truth of mindfulness, intimacy, and wakefulness

“To love another person just as they are is the only kind of love that makes any sense.” – Jack Kornfield

“There’s an intimacy and a presence that is true about mindfulness: it’s either now or never.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded on 9/14/1992 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 273 – The Search for Ajahn Chah- Embodying the Heart of Authenticity

Rekindling the ancient art of listening, Jack shares how we can transform our lives through nourishing inner stillness and simplifying the mind.

This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“The Divine waits for us to taste the food and not just read the menu.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Reclaiming the ancient Art of Listening
Meditating like the Buddha in nature
How your breath reflects your life
Meditation, attention, and overcoming restlessness
The ways we keep ourselves busy
How to trust your human instincts
Reclaiming an intimacy with your senses
Noticing when we’re listening and when we’re not
Honoring others through your attention
Cultivating the humility of ‘Don’t Know Mind’
The mystery of life, death, love, consciousness
Nourishing inner stillness and simplifying your mind
Letting go into the unfolding present moment
The rather bizarre situation of having a human body
Our connection to nature, earth, the elements, and all of being
Finding the meditative space of no going forward, backward, or standing still

“To meditate is to remember, reclaim, reawaken the ancient art of listening.” – Jack Kornfield

“When the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree on his night of enlightenment, it wasn’t to do, get, or make something, but to listen inwardly with all of his senses to the nature of this world that we are born into for a time.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded on 9/21/1992 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 274 – Listening with Your Whole Being- Honoring Life Through Presence and Simplicity

Love is in that air as Jack explores the nature of desire, relationships, and spiritual passion—offering wisdom on stabilizing the heart, navigating distractions, and awakening to the timeless and sacred.

Learn How to Thrive in Love: Buddhist Secrets to Transform Your Relationships with Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman beginning Feb 17 – join anytime at bit.ly/ThriveInLove

“If you know what it’s like to really fall in love with someone, then you can begin to sense what it means to bring the full presence of attention to your life.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:
The Buddha on mindfulness and awareness
Stabilizing the heart, mind, and body in the present
Overcoming distractions and difficult moods
Being aware of desires arising and passing
Chanda – spiritual passion, the desire for awakening
The connection between power, insecurity, and fear
How to stop feeding the hungry heart in unskillful ways
The difference between desire and love
Relationship, marriage, and staying in love
A moving love story from Thich Nhat Hanh
Reclaiming our humanity and animal nature
Reawakening mystery, gratitude, awe
Touching that which is timeless and sacred
Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of infinite compassion
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and living your fullness
Noticing what tempts you away during meditation

“What direction do our personal desires take us? It’s good to study them. As my teacher Ajahn Chah said, ‘It may be a very fast car, but you ought to look at what road you’re going down and which way it’s headed.'” – Jack Kornfield

“Perhaps what we most deeply desire is immensely simple—to reclaim our humanity, our animal nature that Jung talked about, the wondrous senses, the sense of the spirit of awe, the remembering, the reawakening of that sense of gratitude and mystery for life.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded on 9/28/1992 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 275 – Desire, Love, and Spiritual Passion

In this engaging Q&A session, Jack and Trudy explore romance, impermanence, attachment, diffusing anger, manifesting your dreams using mindfulness, and more!

Learn How to Thrive in Love: Buddhist Secrets to Transform Your Relationships with Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman – join now at bit.ly/ThriveInLove

“If you actually become mindful, then it’s possible to choose a direction, to envision, to imagine your life in a healthy way.” – Jack Kornfield

In Part 2 of this episode, Jack and Trudy dive into Q&A on:

- Finding appreciation and wisdom in things “falling apart”
- Accepting change, aging, impermanence
- Entering the naked unknown of the wilderness, nature
- The wisdom of swimming with dolphins in the ocean
- Sending metta (loving kindness) to the world and those in positions of power
- How to tend our romantic relationships and partnerships with mindfulness and care
- Diffusing anger and learning how to communicate lovingly
- Connecting from a place of vulnerability and presence
- Moving past warfare, racism, violence, and blame
- Learning how to communicate across differences
- Noting the difference between your intention and it’s impact on others
- Manifesting your dreams using mindfulness
- “Attachment” in Buddhism vs Western Psychology
- Working through trauma in a safe and mindful way

“It’s important to love what we love; it’s only a problem when we need to let go.” – Trudy Goodman

“When you step back and quiet, deeper intuitions come, along with the ability to follow your dreams more clearly, and in a way that’s mindful of your own well-being.” – Jack Kornfield

This talk originally aired on the Voices of Esalen Podcast:
The Voices of Esalen Podcast showcases in-depth interviews with the dynamic teachers and thinkers who are part of Esalen Institute. Hosted by Sam Stern, a former Esalen student and current staff member, the podcasts have featured engaging conversations with authors Cheryl Strayed and Michael Pollan, innovators Stan Grof and Dr. Mark Hyman, teachers Byron Katie, Mark Coleman and Jean Houston, Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy, and many more. Learn more at Esalen.org/story/podcasts

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 about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com

About Jack Kornfield:
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a years worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

Falling Apart, Coming Together - Jack Kornfield's Heart Wisdom Podcast Ep. 277

Standing up for compassion in this powerful new Dharma Talk, Jack offers a steady spiritual rudder for navigating turbulent politics with the heart of a Bodhisattva.

Learn the Dynamic Art of Interactive Guided Meditation with Jack Kornfield in this online masterclass beginning April 7! Sign up at bit.ly/JackMasterclass

“It’s a time to get quiet and remember that you’re here for a beautiful purpose, oh Bodhisattvas. What better thing to do with your life?” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode of Heart Wisdom, Jack mindfully explores:

- Navigating this world's maelstrom of change from a deep spiritual rudder
- Returning from his trip to Asia; landing in Los Angeles on fire
- Samsara and the nature of uncertainty 
- Creating a wise society based on mutual care
- Trading our personal and cultural anxiety for imagination and hope
- Alison Luterman's heart-opening poem, Praise the Broken Promise of America
- Using the Dharma to move past Liberal versus Conservative
- How to help the vulnerable in the world
- Remembering your best values as things change
- Grounding yourself, steadying your heart, and remaining hopeful
- Bringing peace to this world, developing metta, and supporting what's good
- Taking the long view, living with integrity, virtue, and imagination
- Joining together with your community to stand up for compassion
- Being hopeful and helpful through difficult times
- Living like a Bodhisattva—offering support, compassion, loving kindness

“Take the long view—your intention, heart, and mind in all the cycles of birth and death. That deep intention of wisdom creates what’s possible for a wise society. It becomes a rudder through difficult times.” – Jack Kornfield

“When a society treats its members with respect, cares for the weak and vulnerable among them and tends the natural world around… it can be expected to prosper and not decline.” – Mahāparinibbāna Sutta

This Dharma Talk was originally recorded for the Spirit Rock Monday Night Talk and Meditation on 2/10/25.

Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 279 – Standing Up For Compassion- A Wise Rudder in Turbulent Politics

The Be Here Now Network is dedicated to the gathering and dissemination of spiritual talks, podcasts and writings of master teachers of Spirituality, Mindfulness and Meditation. Our core teachers and thought leaders include Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Lama Surya Das, Krishna Das, Joseph Goldstein, Danny Goldberg, Chris Grosso and the Mindrolling Podcast.

At BHNN we strive to produce quality podcasts, talks and lectures as well as text and films generated by a network of spiritual teachers and thought leaders on topics like mindfulness, service, social action, compassion, devotion and meditation.

New tracks tagged #jack kornfield