Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

Ram Dass and Uma Reed lovingly explore bhakti yoga, fierce grace, and the spiritual practice of seeing beyond incarnation to the soul in everyone.
“I love you. We are in love. We ARE love.” –Ram Dass
Recorded in 2008 at Studio Maui, this mini-series features Ram Dass and guests from his satsang. To start at Part 1, click HERE.
In this episode, Uma Reed and Ram Dass share insights on:
The yoga of your life and all roads leading to God
Fierce Grace and reinterpreting ‘negative’ life events
How Uma met Maharaj-ji in blue light
Hinduism and the many faces of God
Working with the suffering that the mind introduces into our lives
Not mistaking ourselves with our incarnation
Singing, chanting, and being brought closer to God
Bhakti yoga and merging together with the beloved
“Don’t mistake your self with your incarnation. I’m a nurse, I’m a doctor, I'm a student, I’m a yogi. You’re something in this incarnation, but, you really are a soul. You’re a spiritual being. If you are a soul, then you will see souls. If you be one, you will see one and just like that, officer of the law I saw a soul. Your children, souls. Your parents, souls. Your partners, souls. Your enemies, souls. Then, you live in paradise.” –Ram Dass
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About Uma Reed:
Uma was first exposed to Hindu devotional chanting in the early 1970s, while studying meditation and spiritual practices with Ram Dass and various other teachers. Kirtan was a practice that touched her deeply, and as a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba, she often participated in kirtan gatherings with fellow devotees, as well as in other ashrams and spiritual communities. For years she held kirtan in her home, and for the past dozen years or so, she has led kirtan formally in yoga studios, spiritual centers, and retreat settings. She has taught workshops and led kirtan on numerous retreats and in satsang with Ram Dass and other spiritual teachers in the U.S. and abroad.
“Finally I screamed out loud, 'I’ll do anything for God', and everything stopped and got very clear. There was this, almost like a rain, a very light sprinkle, and everything was completely peaceful. My mind was completely quiet. I opened my eyes and sitting in the room was Neem Karoli Baba. This was not a dream, not a vision, he was sitting there, bathed in blue light. I was looking at him and I noticed that he wasn't speaking out loud, but he was mouthing some words. I understood I was to repeat it with him. I realized he was saying Om Namah Shivaya.” –Uma Reed
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Teaching listeners to incline the mind towards peacefulness, Trudy Goodman offers practical ways to be calm and experience the blessings of tranquility.
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In this episode, Trudy Goodman holds a talk on:
Calm as a factor of enlightenment
Having an intimate connection with our own experience
Practical ways to calm down
Making our lives a living vigil of silence
Being in the holding presence of another
The mothering nature of mindfulness
How metta brings us self-compassion and calm
Inclining the mind towards practice and peacefulness
Witnessing the blessings of tranquility
This was recorded at Spirit Rock and was originally published on Dharmaseed
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 Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com
“One person happily reported in our meeting, I asked, ‘What is happening in your practice? How are you doing?’ This person said, ‘Nothing, nothing is happening. It took 30 days, but finally nothing is happening.’
This is calm. It’s really very neutral.” –Trudy Goodman
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Resting in the field of love that ‘just is’, Gil Fronsdal explores how to live for the benefit of both self and others.
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This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal explores:
Resting in the field of love without expectations
Love that does not require anything of others
Appreciating the simplicity of love through the simplicity of awareness
What the Buddha said about becoming a wise person
Living for the benefit of both self and others
The selfless nature of parenting
Understanding the circle of ‘we’ and the dynamics of family, society, and being a part of a whole
Taking time to be with reality rather than immediately responding and reacting
This episode was originally recorded at a family retreat and published on Dharmaseed
About Gil Fronsdal:
Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011, he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.
“Love that just is, it’s not something that requires something of others. It doesn’t require them to be any particular way, to perform, to reciprocate, love is just there.” –Gil Fronsdal

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Shaolin Martial Artist Paula Lazarz explores the alchemy of self-defense and Zen Buddhism to reach ultimate inner and outer balance in practice.
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In this episode, Paula Lazarz provides insights on:
Developing a beginner's mind and a commitment to practice
Including the mystery of Zen for Kung Fu testing
Guiding love in a martial arts environment
How martial arts reflect the true nature within you
Interweaving Zen practice with self-defense
Facing violence in the world and within ourselves
Discovering more about our own anger and shadows
Uniting our minds and bodies in a complete way
Releasing embedded cellular anger in order to practice more deeply
Practicing stillness just as much as we practice movement
Paula’s ‘homecoming’ within monastic practice
This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.
About Paula Lazarz:
Paula Lazarz is a full-time Shaolin martial artist. She also served as an ordained priest in the Zen Buddhist lineage of Shunryu Suzuki for 10 years before giving up her robes in 2026. Her over two decades of study in the martial arts and Buddhist practice has been an exploration of the idea of the historical Shaolin Temple, culminating in Warrior’s Path Buddhist Academy. Paula studies the connection, both practical and historical, between Shaolin Kung Fu and Zen Buddhism. Her teaching and business philosophy places an emphasis on helping individuals of all ages gain physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual balance using the multi-faceted disciplines of Shaolin Kung Fu. Paula is a co-owner of Energy Fitness, Inc., Head Instructor at HealthKick Kung Fu and a Practice Leader at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate.
About Vincent Moore:
Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Masters of Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.
“Martial art practice forces you to look at the dark side of humanity on a daily basis; you’re learning how to defend yourself against violence so you’re thinking about the reasons people get violent all the time. This is the Shaolin perspective: we know that if we only look at that all of the time that we might become an extremely aggressive person that doesn’t understand how to use it properly, that’s why there needs to be a balance in the training as well.” –Paula Lazarz
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Illuminating the power of boundless love, Frank Ostaseski explains how love dissolves perceived limits and transforms our relationship to fear, doubt, and desire.
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In this episode, Frank Ostaseski holds a session on:
How love enables us to do things we never imagined possible
Experiencing a love without limitations
Love as the background of all experiences and the very essence of our being
Making space for pain so that it can move
How love aligns us with the true purpose of our life
Differentiating between love and attachment
Soul friends who know how to be with us in times of grief and suffering
Developing a deep trust in an intelligence greater than our own
Living from the vantage point of boundless love
“When the veils between the worlds get very thin, like birth and death, love shows itself very easily. It allows us sometimes to do things we never thought were possible.” –Frank Ostaseski
About Frank Ostaseski:
Frank Ostaseski, an internationally respected Buddhist teacher and pioneer in end-of-life care, has accompanied over 1,000 people through their dying process. Acclaimed author of The Five Invitations, Frank co-founded the first Buddhist hospice in America—The Zen Hospice Project. In 2005, he founded the Metta Institute, through which he has trained countless clinicians and caregivers, building a national network of educators, advocates, and guides for those facing a life-threatening illness.
“Is there a greater gift we can give to ourselves or someone else than to receive them as is? Love is not a gated community. Every part of ourselves is welcome. ‘No part left out’, we say in zen. This is the receptive function of love. Once we know this treasure, there is no point in keeping it to ourselves. The ground of love is limitless. We don’t have to be stingy about it. We don’t have to think of love as a commodity that we trade with others. There is an endless supply of love, so we can endlessly give it away.” –Frank Ostaseski

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