How to Train a Happy Mind
The ancient word yogi, or yogini in its female form, refers to someone who has dedicated their life to inner transformation through meditation. They often spend years or even decades in solitary retreat. My teacher and friend Paula Chichester is one of the vanishingly few modern people who has chosen to live such a life of isolation and inner adventure. It was my honor recently to speak with her about her life’s journey.
In our conversation, Paula talks about balancing the inner development fostered by meditation with the outer transformation of social action, the joys and challenges of long-term retreat and the practicalities of how to pay for it, how to find support, and how to cheer yourself up with a “one person party” when things get tough.
Episode 171: Diary of a Yogini with Paula Chichester
This Earth Day, I’ll be sitting down with one of the most inspiring voices on climate and the future—author Kim Stanley Robinson—for a live online conversation hosted by UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism.
We’ll explore how his work offers real hope in the face of the climate crisis—a chance to imagine not just what could go wrong—but what could go right.
It’s free, April 22nd at 5:30pm Pacific. Sign up here to watch on Zoom.
If you’d like to practice with others and bring these ideas into your life, join our weekly meditation community with Scott.