Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

From meditation retreats to pop music, Vipassana teacher Trudy Goodman describes cultivating devotion in both obvious and unlikely places.
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In this episode, Trudy Goodman illuminates:
Cultivating devotion through seeing things with a positive connotation
The activity of compassion as a beautiful possibility to experience the sacred
A story of Trudy’s daughter and facing severe illness with grace
Holding a deep gratitude for life and the dharma
Practicing devotion through pop music and romance ballads
Remembering the present moment, the only moment we have
Experiencing devotion through the tenderness of our shared joys and sorrows
Enduring messy and painful moments with gratitude and continuing to enjoy our practice
How judgment and worry fall away when we are truly present
A lesson from Ram Dass on loving everything
Emerging from the mystery of the cosmos
This recording from a 2025 retreat at Spirit Rock 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
“Of course, these songs are romantic songs, devoted to you, my lover. But, you could say devoted to you, the Buddha, the dharma, the sangha. You could listen to all those teenage ballads that way, and it deepens your practice. You can listen to beautiful religiously inspired music like Bach, but you can also listen to pop songs. It can be about the Dharma. Devotion everywhere." –Trudy Goodman
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Gil Fronsdal explores practicing in accord with nature, showing how mindfulness and honesty help us release resistance and move with the natural flow of the Dharma.
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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal lectures on:
Being in accord with the dharma, with truth, and with nature
The painful attitudes that we often bring to change
Accepting our feelings rather than pushing them away
How resistance to reality causes more suffering
Mindfulness: creating the ideal conditions for the natural process of healing
Floating down the stream of Dharma rather than struggling up a mountain
Studying nature rather than rushing into conclusions
Becoming an observer of our own lives with child-like openness and adult-like resolve
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.
This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed
"We're in this stream of the dharma, this stream of practice. It is not fighting up a mountain and struggling so much. It is finding a place to rest in the stream and we find ourselves being carried along beautifully into the ocean. The ocean is so big it can hold all of us. Isn't that nice? It's not like you're going to be king of the mountain. We're all going to be brothers and sisters in this great ocean of the dharma." –Gil Fronsdal
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We are starting a special mini-series featuring Ram Dass and guests from his Satsang on Maui.
This episode kicks things off with Kirtan by Uma Reed, as Ram Dass humorously explores the wonder of aging and seeing the entire world as God.
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“Aging is wonderful, all you have to do is stay conscious.” –Ram Dass
In this Satsang with Ram Dass, the group talks about:
Dealing with pain, injury, illness, and other effects of aging
Seeing the body as simply a vehicle for this plane of reality
Ram Dass’s book Still Here and aging with awareness
Focusing on our consciousness rather than concerning ourselves with the body’s decline
Ram Dass’s story of seeing Krishna in a police officer
Playing our roles while we are in this worldly plane
Karma Yoga and seeing the entire world as God
This talk was recorded in 2008 at one of Ram Dass' quarterly Sunday Satsang gatherings in Studio Maui.
“I’m learning the aging process has to do with the body and my consciousness need not be concerned with my body. The body is a car, it’s a transport for this plane.” –Ram Dass
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In this intimate dharma talk, Mirabai Starr and Rameshwar Das explore the healing power of spiritual community and soul-level friendships.
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Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual community and learn about other opportunities for connection HERE.
This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Mirabai Starr and Rameshwar Das explore:
The concept of beloved community and why it matters so much in today’s world
Satsang, soul pods, and other forms of spiritual support
Ram Dass’s book of self-discovery, You are the Universe
The universal soul consciousness which links all people together
Accessing the depth of our being that Ram Dass called “the loving witness”
Releasing the lone wolf mentality and cultivating conscious community
The Three Jewels of Buddhism and becoming a refuge for each other
Healing through shared grief, trauma, and deep spiritual friendship
Navigating introversion and finding community in unexpected places
This talk was recorded at the 2024 annual Ram Dass Legacy retreat in Maui, Hawaii. Join us for another retreat this summer in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains! Click HERE to register and get more information.
"We invite you to connect with your heart, yes, but that part of your heart that is burning with yearning for union. Union with God, union with the beloved, and especially, yearning for the divine within each other." –Mirabai Starr
About Mirabai Starr:
Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author of creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialogue. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. Check out her many books and learn more at MirabaiStarr.com.
About Rameshwar Das Lytton:
Rameshwar Das is an author and longtime collaborator with Ram Dass, known for capturing and conveying the essence of spiritual teachings through storytelling and photography. Rameshwar Das met Ram Dass in 1968 soon after his return from India, and learned yoga and meditation from him. He traveled to India and spent time with Neem Karoli Baba from 1970-1972. His working life has been primarily as a photographer, including freelance work for the New York Times and other publications. He taught photography and photo-journalism, and also worked as an environmentalist and writer. Ramesh collaborated on several projects with Ram Dass including the original collection of manuscripts that became Be Here Now and the Love Serve Remember box set of recordings. He is the co-author of Ram Dass’s newer books, Be Love Now and Polishing the Mirror, and most recently Ram Dass's memoir, Being Ram Dass.
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From interfaith practice to ancestral wisdom, Kaira Jewel Lingo and Vincent Moore explore how engaged spirituality across traditions supports collective awakening.
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This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Kaira and Vincent discuss:
The Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality: developing a monastic space for Buddhist/Christian/non-denominational practice in upstate New York
Receiving Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh
Contending with hostility, wars, and climate crises
Ancestral wisdom and honoring those who came before us
Skillful means and working with people in denial around the current troubles of our time
Enjoying practice, allowing individuality, and letting go of rigidity
Remembering that everyone has the capacity for awakening
This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.
About Kaira Jewel Lingo:
Kaira is a mindfulness meditation teacher, author, and mentor who guides people to transform and heal through embodied presence, stillness, and play. She is a Buddhist teacher who has spent decades weaving mindfulness and meditation with social justice. Check out her book, We Were Made for These Times, to learn about navigating change. You can keep up with Kaira on her website.
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.
"Whenever I read the Christian mystics or any mystic, really, it's like the mystics are in touch with this space that is beyond the confines of one tradition. They're in the groundwater, not in the well. All the mystics seem to get to that place of oneness, emptiness, or total interconnection." –Kaira Jewel Lingo
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