For our 34th episode, I sat down with Sharon Salzberg. Sharon is a world renowned meditation teacher. We’ve never met in person but I follow her work. I listen to her podcast, The Metta Hour and I’ve been reading her book Real Love, The Art of Mindful Connection. Although the book has been out for a while now, love has always been a difficult concept for me to fully grasp and this book was full of ah-ha moments, of explanations and ways of putting things I could really relate to. It gave me hope and tools for the future, so I thought it would be a great subject for us to tackle today.

5 BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS OF THIS EPISODE

1. Love is not a feeling it’s an ability we all have to connect deeply to ourselves and others. The love you experience is in your own hands, it’s inside you, it’s yours to tend.

2. Loving kindness is the antidote to fear and mindfulness gives us the ability to understand our emotions and the space to experience and move through them.

3. It’s correct to want to be happy. Everybody wants to be happy. Don’t be ashamed of that quest. Our beliefs, our conditioning and our habits either enhance or hinder our ability to be happy.

4. The ability to see and the willingness to be seen is the key to having loving relationships with others.

5. You cannot fail at meditation. Your goal is not to make your mind blank or keep certain experiences from happening, our goal is to change the relationship we have to each of these experiences. Meditation is a resilience training. We learn to constantly begin again.

QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED

• Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to meditation?
• What is Loving Kindness vs Mindfulness and why you chose to focus your teachings on these practices instead of any other types of meditations?
• Why did you choose to write a book about love. What is real love? How did these practices change your life?
• What are the mistakes we do that keep us from genuine happiness? How do we avoid them? How can we use mindfulness as a tool to move towards it?
• Why is it so hard to love ourselves?
• How does self-love or a lack of affect how we show up in the world and how we enter in relationships?
• What’s the importance to understand our inter-connectivity with the world around us?
• In the book you talk about the concept of you-me-and the space in between. What’s in that space? Why should we care about it?
• How do assumptions tint our capacity to be open, to listen and be in relationship with others?
• How can we cultivate a Love that is more an unconditional, sustainable ability, rather than a fleeting feeling.
• What’s your hope for the future of meditation in this country?
• What do you say to people that say they can’t meditate?

SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW!

Thank you so much for listening and being part of our 34th episode! We have other great guests lined up for you so make sure to subscribe to the podcast where ever you listen to not miss an episode or get on my mailing list!

As always, I really appreciate your support. So as you leave a review on iTunes or on your iPhone podcast app, you automatically enter a giveaway. Athleta is generously continuing to support this podcast in their effort to ignite a community of strong women who lift each other up, and is giving out a 75$ shop card! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, check this article. Thank you so much if you left a review. The winner of this episode’s giveaway is iTunes user AJ_34. Congrats! Email me at erika.belanger@gmail.com or DM me on instagram @erika.belanger and I’ll send you your shop card!

Other very exciting news, I’m adding another way for you to support this Podcast. I am now part of Patreon. Patreon is a platform where you can donate to support this podcast or you can become a monthly member. Donators will get shout outs on the episode and as monthly members you will receive exclusive content : mini-shows, guided meditation, guided flows and so much more. Our first exclusive episode will be about me! Thank you if you send me questions! Your support means a lot and will help me continue to offer quality content here for free! Check out my Patreon page here, see my intro video, donate or become a monthly member. Right now, you have an intro video to listen to, and the August exclusive content is out! You can make a one time donation or become a member at 5$ tier to listen to that episode about me, just like our new patreons members this week ; Thank you Bethany Miller and Barbara Peleg for your support! Hope you enjoy your exclusive episode. I am so grateful for you.

ABOUT OUR GUEST OF TODAY

Sharon Salzberg is a pioneer in the field of meditation, a world-renowned teacher and New York Times bestselling author. She has played a pivotal role bringing meditation and mindfulness into mainstream American culture since 1974. Sharon is co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society, in Barre, MA and has authored 10 books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, her seminal work, Lovingkindness and her 2017 release, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection.

Acclaimed for her down-to-earth and relatable teaching style, Sharon offers a secular, modern approach to Buddhist teachings, making them instantly accessible. Her writing can be found on Medium, On Being, the Maria Shriver blog, and Huffington Post. Sharon is also the host of her own podcast, The Metta Hour, with 100+ episodes featuring interviews with the top leaders and voices in the meditation and mindfulness movement.

Learn more at www.sharonsalzberg.com

Read her writings : on Medium

Listen to her podcast : Metta Hour Podcast

Follow her on :

YouTube

Facebook: @SharonSalzberg

Instagram: @sharonsalzberg

Twitter: @sharonsalzberg

Linkedin: @sharonsalzberg