How Do I Meditate When There’s a War Going On? | Claude AnShin Thomas

How Do I Meditate When There’s a War Going On? | Claude AnShin Thomas

How can we meditate when it seems like the world is falling apart? How do we titrate our news consumption? What do we do with our fears about World War III? How can we do anything constructive to help given how far away many of us are from the action? Why are so many people so upset about Ukraine when they weren’t paying much attention to the wars raging in places like Syria, Yemen, or Ethiopia?

Today’s guest is uniquely qualified to answer these questions, given his experience in combat. Claude AnShin Thomas is an ordained monk in the Japanese Soto Zen Tradition. At 17, he signed up to fight in Vietnam and spent his tour of duty in the theater of war, surrounded by death and destruction. He came home suffering from an undiagnosed case of PTSD and spent years grappling with addiction and homelessness before he was introduced to Buddhism. He says meditation can help all of us look at the roots of war and violence that we all harbor.

Claude Anshin is now the founder of the Zaltho Foundation, dedicated to addressing the causes and consequences of violence in and among individuals, families, and societies. He has served in war zones, hospitals, schools, and prisons. He has also led meditation retreats at sites of war and suffering, and has worked with gang members, guerillas, and refugees. He is the author of the award-winning book At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace, which has been translated into several languages, and Bringing Meditation to Life.

This episode explores the above questions and additionally:

  • The narcotic effect of war.
  • How Buddhism helped Claude Anshin be at peace with what he calls his own unpeacefulness, and yet, why, to this day, he has to reckon with his impulse towards violence.
  • Why he doesn’t believe there is such a thing as a “just war.”


Content Warning: There are discussions of war, violence, suicide, and substance abuse throughout this episode.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/claude-anshin-thomas-427

Jaksot(910)

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, 'Potential of Tsewa Is in Everyone'

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, 'Potential of Tsewa Is in Everyone'

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, whose most recent book is "Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World," believes it's possible for all humans to develop compassion towards each other, but it starts with realizing the motivation behind ones own desires. - Website: http://www.mangalashribhuti.org/VDKR - Book: "Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World" and others: http://www.mangalashribhuti.org/VDKRbooks

22 Elo 20181h 11min

Thomas McConkie, The Mormon Meditator

Thomas McConkie, The Mormon Meditator

Having been raised in the Mormon faith, Thomas McConkie was feeling a little lost after he had a falling out with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his family and his faith-based community. When he started going to a Zen meditation center in Salt Lake City, Utah, a daily practice became "a lifeline," McConkie said, and it eventually helped him make his was back to Mormonism, start a meditation center called Lower Lights School of Wisdom and launch his "Mindfulness+" podcast.

15 Elo 201852min

Elizabeth Cutler, SoulCycle Co-Founder

Elizabeth Cutler, SoulCycle Co-Founder

After having two kids, Elizabeth Cutler had a friend suggest she try spin classes as a way to lose weight and less than a year later, she and her business partner Julie Rice launched SoulCycle. After the pair sold the multimillion-dollar company in 2016, Cutler decided to take her family on sabbatical, pulling her kids out of school so they could take classes online as they traveled all over the world, and all the while she tried to keep a regular morning meditation routine.

8 Elo 20181h 2min

Culture Abuse, Finding Peace in Punk Rock

Culture Abuse, Finding Peace in Punk Rock

For a long time, Culture Abuse's 31-year-old frontman David Kelling didn't want to perform in public. As all five members of the San Francisco-based punk band opened up about things they've tried to work through, Kelling, who has Cerebral palsy, said he felt that the frontman is "supposed to be good looking, in shape and this and that ... and so it is hard" when he "didn't really have any examples" of lead singer/songwriters who played with disabilities, and now that the band goes on tour, he added that "it's also hard to be the person now that is an example."

1 Elo 20181h 13min

Light Watkins, 'Simplify the Approach'

Light Watkins, 'Simplify the Approach'

"There was more snowstorms than meditators in Alabama when I was growing up," said Light Watkins, who started a career as a working model before switching gears to become a yoga teacher and then dove into the world of Vedic meditation. With his newest book, "Bliss More, How to Succeed in Meditation Without Really Trying," Watkins, who is now a meditation teacher and lives as a nomad, said his mission is to "simplify the approach" to meditation "and help people start something that they can get excited about."

25 Heinä 20181h 2min

Spring Washam, 'What Was Creating All This Suffering?'

Spring Washam, 'What Was Creating All This Suffering?'

Spring Washam was on a meditation retreat when she felt herself falling apart, so much so that she picked up "the red phone," screamed out "HELP." That moment launched Washam onto a "whole other journey" to work through her past and find sources of her suffering, which she details in her book, "A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Wisdom, and Courage in Any Moment."

18 Heinä 20181h 8min

Scott Edelstein, When Spiritual Leaders 'Stray'

Scott Edelstein, When Spiritual Leaders 'Stray'

Spiritual leaders often have great influence over their followers but there are times, author Scott Edelstein says, when some leaders will use their position of power to manipulate, shame and abuse others. Edelstein discusses how spiritual leaders can "stray," even become predatory, and suggests ways for a healthy student-teacher relationships, which he lays out in his book, "Sex and the Spiritual Teacher."

11 Heinä 20181h 5min

Jeremy Richman, 'There Is Hope in Helping'

Jeremy Richman, 'There Is Hope in Helping'

Jeremy Richman remembers his daughter Avielle as a fun spirit with "this unbelievable smile that she would just give out to anybody," who was as happy playing dress-up as a fairy at a ball as she was practicing Kung Fu and shooting a bow and arrow outside. Avielle was killed with 19 of her classmates and six educators in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and in her memory, the Richmans started The Avielle Foundation, which funds research on brain health and causations for violent behaviors.

4 Heinä 20181h 3min

Suosittua kategoriassa Terveys ja hyvinvointi

unicast
psykopodiaa-podcast
tiedenaiset-podcast
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
vakeva-elama-viisaampi-mieli-vahvempi-keho
fitnessvastaanotto
selvin-pain
meditaatiot-suomeksi
terapiassa
rss-uplevel-by-sonja-hannus
paritellen
katilon-kahvitunti
rss-nautinto
selviytyjat-tarinoita-elamasta
aamukahvilla
rss-narsisti
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-myotatunto-edella
rss-rentoudu-podcast-rentoutumiseen-hanna-viljanmaa
rss-fitissa-podcast