It remains the most transformative experience of my life. Three-year retreat is like a meditation university, providing the opportunity to practice dozens of meditations in the most nurturing environment. I even slept sitting up in meditation posture, practicing the nocturnal meditations of dream and sleep yoga.

My passion for meditation led me into the traditional Tibetan three-year retreat, where I became a monk with robes and a shaved head, meditating fourteen hours a day in a remote monastery. The adage “Chase two rabbits catch none” points out the necessity of commitment, and the dangers of spreading yourself too thin. While I remain a follower of many wisdom traditions, and believe that no one has a patent on truth, thirty years ago I took refuge in Buddhism. For over forty-five years I have practiced this ancient art, and I continue to reap its remarkable rewards.

Countless scientific studies tout its benefits, and a multitude of students proclaim its life-changing value. Illuminating the four steps of reverse meditation and much more, their conversation explores: how pain and hardship can accelerate the spiritual journey why mindfulness “sedates but doesn’t liberate” the cultivation of “industrial-strength” meditation repairing an adverse relationship to unwanted experiences the practice of open awareness bringing the unconscious into the light of consciousness investigating our personal “super-contractors” such as anger, fear, or anxiety shifting from reactivity to responsiveness the OBEY acronym of reverse meditation: observe, be, examine, yoke three attitudes for practice: kindness, patience, and curiosity establishing the right view the anti-complaint meditation and productive thinking. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Holecek about his new book, Reverse Meditation, and how we can move toward a more complete spirituality that welcomes all of our experience. But, asks Andrew Holecek, what do you do with these beatific states when your world is falling apart? Where’s your meditation practice then? Your mindfulness practice worked! You calmed your mind and felt the deep, inner bliss that meditation brings. Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Give a listen as Tami and Spring discuss: Meditation and dropping into “observation mode ” partnering with an ancestral presence creating your ancestral shrine fortification and empowerment from the unseen world receiving a transmission of courage and strength to do what seems impossible prophetic vision surrendering to the hard work we’re called to do compassion, empathy, and the fierce heart reconciling the heartbreak in our history healing trauma and more. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with meditation teacher and author Spring Washam about her book The Spirit of Harriet Tubman and the opportunity at this time for us to rediscover our connection to our sacred and always supportive lineages. We can call on the living spirit of our ancestors to collaborate on the creation of a more just and peaceful world. Our collective human family faces unprecedented challenges-but we need not face them alone.

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