Talk 13: Balance Striving and Being

Talk 13: Balance Striving and Being

Author: Meditation and mindfulness daily practice to remain interested in, and remember, being present in every day life and living October 3, 2014 Duration: 22:37
The huge question of how to balance our striving in meditation practice opens a whole lot of possible things to say. In this talk however one very important point is made that before trying to work all that out, it is crucial to fully explore and surrender to single moments of allowing everything to just happen. And these moments should be kept separate from any plan, including how good it would be to do this! Including how to sustain it in time, how to stay with it, or how it relates to everyday life. Keep these special moments separate from all plans as much as possible. Then, we will be more open to the important two aspects of the rest of the question. 1. We have a planning and orienting energy, and it's there for a reason, and it can and should be used in some measure to go about our life, if it is arising for us. But we get out of balance when that energy captures our attention. 2. We don't have to figure out that balance by ourselves, life itself will show it to us and life itself will move us down the proper course. If we are open to it that may happen easier. But if we are not open, life will bite us until we get what it is telling us.

Finding a consistent space for quiet reflection can be a challenge, but I Should Be Meditating with Alan Klima offers a direct and practical path back to the present moment. This isn't about achieving a perfect state of silence, but rather cultivating a daily practice of mindful curiosity. Alan provides guided mindfulness meditations that feel like conversations with a knowledgeable friend, blending direct instruction with thoughtful discussion. You'll encounter fresh perspectives on foundational techniques-breath awareness, body scans, and loving-kindness-along with subtle tweaks and surprising approaches that can reinvigorate a routine practice. The podcast serves as a gentle, recurring nudge to remain interested in the texture of everyday life, whether you're new to meditation or have been sitting for years. Each session is designed to be a tool for personal investigation, helping to dissolve the distance between formal practice and simply living. Tune in for a blend of calm guidance and insightful talk that makes the intention to be present feel both accessible and deeply worthwhile.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 84

I Should Be Meditating with Alan Klima: Guided Mindfulness Meditation and Discussion
Podcast Episodes
Talk 16: Surrender or Self-Improvement? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:10
Meditation is about more than Self-Improvement. That is only its possible side-effect. If we bend meditation to our will and make it serve us, the only definite side-effect is frustration. At some point the meditator wil…
50: Surrender to the Breath [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:54
In this guided meditation on the breath the emphasis is on receptivity, sensitivity, and opening. By offering up the breath sensations to the world to which they belong, we also cultivate an attitude of allowing everythi…
49: Playing with Being and Breathing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:20
If you play with the edge between conscious deliberate attention and open awareness, your meditation in enhanced so that you can quickly find yourself in a state of ease.
48: Breathing with Intention, and Not [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:17
This breath meditation explores the difference between when we consciously, deliberately feel the breath, and when we let it go and allow it to appear by itself. These two flavors of attention are great to recognize, and…
47: Connecting the Breath with the Inner Mental Attitude [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:06
A connection with the inner mental attitude is made, and then sustained, with this guided meditation that makes a sense of the inner mental attitude vivid and clear, and then helps you to maintain and sustain it. This is…
46: Exploring the Breath from the Inside and Out [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:57
This guided meditation begins with a 3 step settling process and then explores feelings of exchanging the breath between the interior feeling of alive presence, and the greater world beyond the body, surrounding the body…
45: Three Levels to Relax into Presence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:12
Whenever possible, it is very powerful to recognize and confirm our effortless and fundamental right-ness. Some meditators have yet to catch a whiff of this, while all of us can vary in how easily it comes forward to our…
44: Three Steps to Focus in on Your Presence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:21
This guided meditation training is a great introduction to a basic tool in the mindfulness toolkit. It pinpoints a three step process which you can use repeatedly to bring you to focus. Train this a few times with this a…
Talk 15: It is Way Easier Than You Think [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:44
Season 2 is Back with a Point that Cuts Straight at one of the Biggest Obstacles stopping us from getting what we want in meditation. It is a belief, a thought lodged in the mind, and if we just get past it a whole new w…
43: Meditation for Seeing Beyond a Wandering Mind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:45
This guided contemplation points to something essential that every meditator must see and understand if they are to go beyond worry over wandering mind. There are many ways to deal with wandering thoughts, but the most i…