A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment
A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment brings the inner science of Buddhist philosophy and meditation to modern people hungry for happy, meaningful lives. In our weekly podcast, we share talks, guided meditations, and interviews exploring happiness, love, compassion, relationships, family, politics, technology, and work. We explore powerful "analytical meditation” techniques from Tibetan Buddhism that use imagination, emotions, and critical inquiry to probe our inner and outer realities and expand our compassion. We expand on the popular mindfulness approach to meditation to help us better understand our minds from the inside out, building healthy mental habits that are the true causes of happiness.
Episodes
Several years ago, I read Venerable Thubten Chodron's book, Working with Anger, and I found it quite inspiring. A couple of months ago, her schedule finally allowed time to speak with me. We talked exclusively about anger, what it is, why it's harmful, and how we can work with anger in ways that heal relationships, rather than destroy them. She touches on anger's role in some of the most challenging situations, like ...
Tenzin Chogkyi talks to Scott Snibbe about his new book, How to Train a Happy Mind, at the Medicine for Nightmares bookstore in San Francisco.
Episode 164: Tenzin Chogkyi & Scott Snibbe Medicine for Nightmares SF How to Train a Happy Mind
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat at California’s Vajrapani Institute. There, in the heart of California’s redwood forest, we’ll go through al...
What do you do when you’re alone? When you’re scared, anxious, lonely, afraid, or feeling strong craving? In our guided meditation, we explore the Buddhist view on refuge and how to find a deep source of strength and peace within our own minds.
Episode 112: Finding Refuge in the Mind—A Guided Meditation
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat at California’s Vajrapani Institute. There, in...
What do you do when you’re alone? When you’re scared, anxious, lonely, or afraid, when you feel strong craving? What do you turn to? In this episode, we look at where our mind runs when we feel pain, when we don’t feel balanced or whole. We’ll examine the Buddhist view on this subject that reveals a deep source of strength and support within our own minds accessible to each of us any time we need it.
Episode 14: What do Y...
Venerable Robina Courtin guides a beautiful Tara meditation on hope that uses visualization and Buddhist teachings.
Episode 163: Tara Meditation on Hope—Ven. Robina Courtin
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat at California’s Vajrapani Institute. There, in the heart of California’s redwood forest, we’ll go through all of the analytical meditation topics from How to Train a Happy Mind, one by one. I’l...
Our very first podcast guest, Venerable Robina Courtin is back in today's timely episode on how to deal with the despair and hopelessness many people feel today about war, injustice, inequity, and the environment. Venerable Robina was ordained as a Buddhist nun in the late 1970s. She's worked closely with her teachers Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, to help spread Buddhist wisdom as an editorial director of wisdom, pu...
In New York City, a couple months ago, I had the honor of sharing a public conversation with one of my Buddhist heroes, the renowned author and scholar Robert Thurman. In this episode's conversation, we share an edited recording from that evening, talking about everything from overcoming self-hatred, enjoying pleasure without attachment, getting ghosted by the Dalai Lama, and how one might come to have compassion for someone a...
A meditation practice of self reflection, taking control of the mental cause and effect that's normally unconscious: the habits and activities conditioned by evolution, our upbringing, society and the media. This is a practice you can do at the end of each day: reviewing your day, rejoicing in the positive, and finding ways to sincerely forgive yourself for anything that you regret, so you can sleep better and be your best sel...
Science has greater and greater mastery in understanding and controlling physical cause and effect, from planets to particles, but we are only starting to understand cause and effect in our minds. Evolution, habits, and society all affect our behavior. How do we gain conscious control of our behavior, much less our thoughts? One method is a daily practice of self-appreciation and self-forgiveness that lets us release regret and pai...
Yangsi Rinpoche's gave a beautiful talk a couple of months ago with the intriguing title "Contentment Plus Ambition." He was generous enough to sit down with me afterwards for an interview about the same topic in which he talks about how to practice real self-compassion and even how we can create the causes for world peace.
Yangsi Rinpoche studied at Sera Jey Monastery in south India until 1995 when he grad...
Restorative justice practitioner sujatha baliga talks to Scott Snibbe about his new meditation book, How to Train a Happy Mind.
Episode 159: sujatha baliga & Scott Snibbe in conversation: How to Train a Happy Mind
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat at California’s Vajrapani Institute. There, in the heart of California’s redwood forest, we’ll go through all of the analytical meditation...
A guided meditation on impermanence that helps us release fear and anxiety to embrace the constant change at every scale of reality: from particles, possessions, homes, and the environment, to our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, and relationships. When we embrace impermanence, we more easily take on challenges like today’s Coronavirus crisis. We become more fully present to those around us and we can even more deeply appreciat...
We cling to things as if they won’t change, but change is the nature of reality. When we embrace impermanence, we prepare ourselves for big changes, and are able to let go of our fear and anxiety to become more fully present to those around us, to make the most meaningful choices day-to-day, and to more deeply appreciate life’s fleeting pleasures.
Episode 9. Embracing Impermanence
Two years ago, we created A Skept...
In this guided meditation, Stephen Batchelor invites you to unconditionally embrace your experience of the moment, to simply watch all thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and notice the ground of nonreactive awareness. This guides you toward a path rooted in freedom, openness, and love.
Episode 158: Meditation on Embracing Life with Stephen Batchelor
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat ...
Nearly 30 years ago, Stephen Batchelor wrote a book called Buddhism Without Beliefs that's become a foundational work for those seeking to adopt Buddhism into a non-religious form while still maintaining the power and authenticity of its time tested practices. I had a chance to speak with Stephen Batchelor recently from his home in France, where he shared his own creative struggle with Buddhism: from his origins as an ordaine...
Derek Fagerstrom interviews Scott Snibbe about his new book, How to Train a Happy Mind, at San Francisco’s Book Passage. Derek is the co-founder of Pop-up Magazine, and has worked at Esquire, Interview, and Francis Ford Coppola's literary journal Zoetrope: All-Story. How to Train a Happy Mind is out now in paperback, e-book, and audiobook. You can find it anywhere you buy books.
Episode 156: Book Passage Talk with Der...
Scott Snibbe leads a meditation from his new book, How to Train a Happy Mind, on how to make the most of our precious lives.
Episode 155: Precious Life Meditation
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat at California’s Vajrapani Institute. There, in the heart of California’s redwood forest, we’ll go through all of the analytical meditation topics from How to Train a Happy Mind, one by one. I’ll give lec...
Scott Snibbe shares a chapter from his new book, How to Train a Happy Mind: The Precious Life. If you enjoy this episode, check out the whole audiobook on Audible, which includes guided meditations!
Episode 154: The Precious Life—Chapter Reading from How to Train a Happy Mind
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat at California’s Vajrapani Institute. There, in the heart of California’s redwoo...
This is an exciting episode for the podcast because my book, How to Train a Happy Mind, comes out today. To celebrate its release, we're sharing a conversation I had with best-selling author Vicki McKenzie a couple of weeks ago at a book preview event in London, in front of a live audience.
This podcast is where I developed most of the ideas for the book, based on more than a decade leading meditations that eventually...
Meenadchi guides a meditation on discovering, playing with, and feeling the good things in your body through a light visualization.
Episode 152: Meditation on Feeling Good with Meenadchi
From August 8-11, I’m leading an in-person three-day retreat at California’s Vajrapani Institute. There, in the heart of California’s redwood forest, we’ll go through all of the analytical meditation topics from How to Train a Happy Mind, o...
Popular Podcasts
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the 33rd Olympic Games and you can follow Paris Summer Games to stay up to date on all things Olympics. We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Paris Summer Games so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.