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
32: Intimate with Your Inner Mental Attitude [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This guided meditation focuses on the inner mental attitude, on becoming intimately familiar with it. By reinforcing our connection of attention with the inner mental attitude, we head off cycles of negative thought and…
31: Short Guided Meditation on the Breath [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:02
Use this when you don't have a lot of time but want to be consistent with your practice and not skip a day. Or as a quick pick-me-up anytime you need to re-establish intimate contact with your breath again. Then again, w…
30: Guided Meditation for Focus and Presence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:36
Use this meditation to stabilize the mind and focus in on a single meditation point. While this classic meditation is understood in the west to be merely for enhancing ones mental powers of concentration, in fact it has…
Talk 7: Chattering Thoughts and Loud Thoughts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:50
A Questioner asks: what's going on with chattering little thoughts all the time while feeling the breath? Should we attend to these chattering thoughts? The practical answer to this question parallels the very purpose of…
28: Continuity of Sensation Shows Us What is Mindfulness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:10
A guided meditation on sustaining the presence of sensations also leads us deeper into understanding the practical meaning of "mindfulness" and what is awareness. This meditation practices the ability to keep a meditatio…
Talk 6: What is Awareness? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:18
Mindfulness and Awareness can mean two very different things-- what is the benefit we meditators can have from drawing this distinction? What does it point to?
26: Letting Awareness Do the Work of Meditation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:11
This guided meditation focuses on the natural support we already have in our practice, on recognizing the awareness that is always there. Meditation need not be a lot of striving and effort-- we can recognize this and re…
Talk 5: Knowing your Inner Mental Attitude [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:19
Half guided meditation, half talk, this intro to the inner mental attitude explores something that colors all of our experience. While we can't monitor our attitude indefinitely, even by knowing it only sometimes we can…
24: Follow the Path of the Breath guided meditation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Scan the breath with this meditation that travels along the core path of breath sensations. It's a massage for the body, from the inside! And it also helps us explore the inner regions of our body where we store emotiona…
Talk 4: Where Can I Stop Thinking? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:05
How do I stop thinking so much? It's a question with the wrong target, pointed in the wrong direction. In this live Q & A recording a meditator asks the question that naturally arises to anyone who tries to meditate. A q…