Awaken

What does it look like to put what we’ve learned about non-attachment into practice? In this episode, all the guests in the series share their practices for working through their attachments and moving toward a more open relationship to oneself and life as a whole. Ultimately, it’s not about having no attachments—that’s almost impossible—but bringing presence and awareness to each moment.

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include poet and filmmaker Fatimah Asghar, chef Reem Assil, Founder and Director of the Center...

We might want to believe that there is a definitive end—a clear point where some patterns have died and new ones have been born—but in fact, we are always in a process of realization. It’s a continuous cycle of forgetting and remembering to let go of expectations and remain open to each moment. It might seem small but these shifts in awareness have the potential to be completely transformative. 

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include poet and filmmaker Fatimah Asghar, Founder and Dir...

Freedom from attachment doesn’t require leaving home and renouncing all our ties to family and friends like the Buddha did. It’s something that is available to all of us, in each moment, in everyday life. Letting go of expectations and self-imposed identities can create space to tune into what’s truly important and follow a path that feels authentic and meaningful.  

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include poet and filmmaker Fatimah Asghar, Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Founder...

How does non-attachment awaken us to our interdependence? We cannot exist without each other and the world around us. When we recognize this fact, not only do we free ourselves from self-focus and feel more connected, but we start to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary and recognize our collective responsibility to care for one another and our world. 

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include chef Reem Assil, Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Founder and Chief V...

The concept of non-attachment seems particularly confounding in the context of love. How can we not be attached to the people closest to our hearts? It’s not about loving or not loving, but rather how we love. Openness and compassion are the foundation for not only loving without expectations and conditions but also loving in service of one another. 

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Founder and Chief Visionary for Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc...

Many of the challenges that arise with attachment are related to the ego: who you think you are and how you think others should feel about you. By holding onto our sense of self too tightly, we end up seeing ourselves as alone and separate from one another. How can loosening our grip on the ego help us step into the fundamental truth of our interconnectedness?

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Founder and...

It’s almost impossible to have no attachments. So what does non-attachment actually mean? Depending on the context, it can be easily misunderstood. But from the Buddhist perspective, it’s not about letting go of what we hold dear—it’s about releasing attachments to outcomes, points of view, and expectations that keep us from fully engaging with life. 

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include poet and filmmaker Fatimah Asghar, Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Founder and Chief...

To understand non-attachment, we first have to understand attachment. It’s a fundamental part of the human experience. We cling not only to what makes us feel good but also to our identities, beliefs, and expectations of how things should be. But how does attachment function in our lives? And how can bringing greater awareness to it help shift our perspective of ourselves and the world?

AWAKEN Season 4 is hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Guests featured in this episode include Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, an...

Welcome to Season 4 of AWAKEN—a Webby Honoree podcast about the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to “wake up.” Hosted by actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini, this season delves into the complex Buddhist concept of attachment and explores how the practice of letting go of preconceived ideas, beliefs, and idenities can transform our experience of the world. 

Trailer voices in order of appearance: Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Founder and Chief Visionary for Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. Dr. Richie Davidson; author and transformational thought...

Everyone has spent time wondering about it, but no one can say for sure: What happens after we die? In the last episode of the season, all of the guests in the series consider this question and consider how believing or not believing in the afterlife impacts how they live. If death is simply a transition from one state to the next, then how do we imagine life after?  

View the artwork discussed in this episode, beginning at 14:45.

Read about this artwork, learn more about the Rubin, donate, and more: https://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/life-after-the-afterlife-awaken-podcast

One thing is for certain: one day you will die. But what happens when you die? And how does knowledge of your inevitable death impact how you live now? In this episode, all the guests in the series reflect on these questions and consider how grappling with our mortality is part of what makes us human.

View the artwork discussed in this episode, beginning at 18:07.

Read about this artwork, learn more about the Rubin, donate, and more.

AWAKEN Season 3 is hosted by singer and songwriter Falu. Guests featured in this...

If faced with bravery and awareness, conflict can bring great insight into what is right or needed. From the Buddhist perspective, it’s not the conflict itself that matters, but how we react to it. Because if we are too guarded, protecting ourselves from the difficult emotions that come with conflict, we might miss out on the opportunity for growth and new possibilities. 

View the artwork discussed in this episode, beginning at 25:07.

Read about this artwork, learn more about the Rubin, donate, and more:
https://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/life-after-conflict-awaken-podcast

AWAKEN Seas...

In Buddhism, morality isn’t just about avoiding harm but helping others. It comes down to taking responsibility for our actions. We can never truly know our morals until they are tested. But faced with that test, it can wake us up to new ways of thinking, being, and relating to one another in the world.

View the artwork discussed in this episode, beginning at 20:58.

Read about this artwork, learn more about the Rubin, donate, and more:
https://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/life-after-morality-awaken-podcast

AWAKEN Season 3 is hosted by...

Aspiration involves desire and ambition, whether it’s the pursuit of a new job or to be a better friend. It’s something that gives us a north star to move toward in our daily life. But what happens once we get there? And how can the Buddhist concept of attachment help us make sense of the inevitable ups and downs along the way? 

View the artwork discussed in this episode, beginning at 22:18.

Read about this artwork, learn more about the Rubin, donate, and more.

AWAKEN Season 3 is hosted by singe...

Emotions aren’t just the feelings in the body—they reflect neurons firing in the brain, and from the Buddhist perspective, they offer opportunities for profound insight. When we hold too tightly to our emotions, we risk getting caught up in them. But when we step back and harness the power of simply observing them, there is great potential for transformation. 

View the artwork discussed in this episode, beginning at 22:07.

Read about this artwork, learn more about the Rubin, donate, and more. 

AWAKEN Season 3 is hosted by singer and songwriter Falu...

It’s often in the most challenging moments that we learn the most about ourselves and others. Not only do we have the opportunity to rewire our brains, but we get to see things with newfound clarity. From the Buddhist and neuroscientific perspectives, learning is all about allowing for curiosity and openness. What does the process of learning have to teach us?

View the artwork discussed in this episode, beginning at 18:50.

Read about this artwork, learn more about the Rubin, donate, and more.

AWAKEN Season 3 is hosted by singer and songwriter Falu. Guests fe...

Welcome to Season 3 of AWAKEN—a Webby Honoree podcast about the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to “wake up.” In this season, hosted by singer and songwriter Falu, artists, writers, scientists, poets, Buddhist teachers, and others delve into the notion of life after and explore how we navigate the key events and qualities of human life—birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death—as well as grapple with the ultimate mystery: the afterlife.

Everything is in a constant cycle of birth and death: cells are born and die, synapses, emotions, ideas. Whe...

Welcome to Season 3 of AWAKEN—a Webby Honoree podcast about the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to “wake up.” In this season hosted by singer and songwriter Falu, authors, musicians, poets, psychologists, Buddhist teachers, and others delve into the notion of life after and explore how we navigate the key events and qualities of human life—birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death—as well as grapple with the ultimate mystery: the afterlife. 

Episode guests in order of appearance: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Michelle Tea, Jill Bolte Taylor, Falu, and Spring Washam.

AWAKEN Seas...

Because of the amazing response we received for AWAKEN Season 2, we wanted to extend the conversations about the five afflictive mind states we discuss in the series: Pride, Attachment, Envy, Anger, and Ignorance. 

In this episode, hosted by AWAKEN executive producer Tania Ketenjian, we have interwoven conversations from the Rubin’s BRAINWAVE®program series with neuroscientist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary’s understanding of the challenging emotions explored in the podcast. Guests include Bibi Bahrami, Dr. Philip Corlett, Janeane Garofalo, Jean Grae, Dr. Hedy Kober, Richard “Mac” McKinney, Dr. Kevin Ochsner, Khenpo Pema, Dr. Adriana Renero, and Joshua Seftel.

To read...

In this special bonus episode of AWAKEN, we turn the mic onto our host, singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora, to hear her own story of awakening. Listen to her reflect on growing up as a first generation American, inspirations for her music and creativity, her deep connection to the Rubin Museum, and how she navigates her own challenging emotions.

To read a transcript, learn more about the Mandala Lab, donate, and more: https://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/bonus-episode-with-raveena-awaken-podcast

In this final episode, we return to the mandala, our visual guide on our path to awakening. We might survive without the wisdom we have gained by examining our emotions, but what is possible—for ourselves, our relationships, and our world—if we stay curious? 

AWAKEN Season 2 is hosted by singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora. Guests featured in this episode include psychologist and neuroscientist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist Mark Epstein, artist and activist Madame Gandhi, Zen priest and author Ruth Ozeki, author and Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, Buddhist teacher and scholar Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Buddhist teach...

While we often don’t think of ignorance as a feeling, its antidote, awareness, resides at the heart of the mandala. It may be the mind state most difficult to explain, yet it may be the most important, and more complex than meets the eye. If ignorance is used the right way, it can move us from a closed mind to an open one. Is awareness the key to awakening?

AWAKEN Season 2 is hosted by singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora. Guests featured in this episode include author and activist adrienne maree brown, psychologist and neuroscientist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, au...

We have all experienced anger from a very early age. In Buddhism, anger is one of the five afflictive emotions, or kleshas, that can cloud our understanding of the world, along with pride, envy, attachment, and ignorance. But if we pay attention to the emotion, can it transform to give us a sense of clarity, to help us see what is important?

AWAKEN Season 2 is hosted by singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora. Guests featured in this episode include psychologist and neuroscientist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist Mark Epstein, Buddhist teacher and scholar Dzogchen...

No one wants to admit they are envious, yet in the age of social media, envy is a bitter taste in everyone's mouth from time to time. But envy dismantled can point you in the right direction and show you your heart’s desire. Can feelings of envy be transformed from an isolating experience to one that actually connects us?

AWAKEN Season 2 is hosted by singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora. Guests featured in this episode include psychologist and neuroscientist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, artist and activist Madame Gandhi, Buddhist teacher and scholar Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Buddhist te...

From a psychological perspective, attachment is vital to the mental well-being of a developing human. But from the Buddhist viewpoint, attachment is the mind state that trips us up constantly. It’s the one that pulls us out of the present and into a state of longing for an imagined future or clinging to the past, leaving us with nothing but dissatisfaction. But what if we could release our grip and truly be in the moment?

AWAKEN Season 2 is hosted by singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora. Guests featured in this episode include author and ac...

Welcome to Season 2 of AWAKEN—a Webby Honoree podcast about the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to “wake up.” In this new season hosted by singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora, Buddhist teachers, writers, artists, activists, and others use a Tibetan Buddhist mandala as a guide and share how they wrestle and learn from  five challenging emotions—anger, pride, attachment, envy, and ignorance.

What is a mandala? Like many Tibetan Buddhist artworks, a mandala is a visual catalyst that can lead to awakening. In our first episode, we introduce the mandala, come to understand what it repres...

Pride can be celebratory—a powerfully affirming emotion. But its dark side can bring a sense of supremacy. It can be so full of self-importance that there isn’t room for other views, other ways of life. It can even be a little lonely to be so rigid. In Buddhism, pride is one of the five afflictive emotions, or kleshas, that can cloud our understanding of the world, along with attachment, envy, anger, and ignorance. When we get curious about pride, ask questions, and move beyond certainty, what is welcomed in? In this episode, curiosity creates possibility. 

Guest...

Welcome to Season 2 of AWAKEN—a Webby Honoree podcast about the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to “wake up.” In this new season hosted by singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora, Buddhist teachers, writers, artists, activists, and others use a Tibetan Buddhist mandala as a guide and share how they wrestle and learn from  five challenging emotions—anger, pride, attachment, envy, and ignorance.

AWAKEN Season 2 will launch on October 4, 2022.

Episode guests in order of appearance: Tracy Dennis, Mark Epstein, Raveena Aurora, Ruth Ozeki, Madame Gandhi, adrienne maree brown, and Ponlop Rinpoche.

What is enlightenment? What does it mean to be truly awake? Are you awake? Enlightenment can take many forms. In this final episode, we will look back at highlights from all our guests and consider enlightenment from Tibetan Buddhist perspective with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a highly respected Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher from the Kagyu tradition, one of the four main lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. This episode features Youngey Mingyur Rinpoche along with Aparna Nancherla, Alok Vaid-Menon, Tara Brach, Latham Thomas, Amanda Palmer, Lama Rod Owens, Tsherin Sherpa, BJ Miller, Patricia James, and host Laurie Anderson. Visit the podcast webpage...

Remarkable experiences can inspire, but without integration, they can also bring a sense of alienation. What role does integration play in the process of awakening? In this episode, we speak with Patricia James, a Medicine Woman of Seminole tribe heritage who has been formally trained in the Cheyenne tradition as a Priest and a Pipe Carrier, which means that she is a steward of a sacred pipe and the religious ceremonies for which it is used. To begin, Patricia considers a sculpture of an intertwined pair of lovers, Guhyasamaja and Sparshavajra, which represent the concept of nonduality, the idea...

Can letting go into death be the ultimate act of awakening? In this episode we explore how the process of dying can be an act of truly living. We speak with hospice and palliative medicine physician and author BJ Miller, who discusses his first encounter with death, facing his own mortality as a triple amputee, and what it means to have a good death. To start, BJ responds to a four-foot-tall sculpture of the fierce protector Vajrabhairava. Enormous and terrifying, he embodies the power and wisdom that can help us conquer our greatest attachment—life—and our ultimate fear—its ce...

What is the ego, and what role might it play in the process of awakening? In this episode we ponder these questions with best-selling author, activist, and Buddhist teacher Lama Rod Owens, who shares his story of working through trauma, embracing pleasure, and both accepting and letting go of his ego. Before we dive in, Lama Rod responds to a ritual object called the flaying knife-chopper. In Tibetan Buddhist art, this weapon is typically wielded by a fierce guardian deity who uses the tool to destroy not us but our egos. Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist minister, best-selling...

Is it possible to bridge the sacred with everyday, ordinary life? In this episode, we speak with artist Tsherin Sherpa, whose work suggests that the sacred and mundane are not separate, but inseparable. He shares his story of being trained by his father in the art of traditional thangka painting, discovering his own artistic voice as a contemporary artist, and how he finds potential for awakening in the simple moments of life, like enjoying a cup of coffee. Tsherin begins by introducing us to the painting, Protector, one of his artworks shown in the exhibition, AWAKEN: A Tibetan Buddhist...

What role does darkness play in the journey toward enlightenment? In this episode, hear about the power of darkness and what it means to embrace it. Musician, songwriter, and best-selling author Amanda Palmer shares the story of her childhood, the trajectory of her life as a street performer to musician, and how embracing her own darkness set her free. Amanda begins by considering a painting of the powerful, fierce guardian Yama Dharmaraja. This fearsome deity wears a crown of skulls and a garland of freshly severed heads, is surrounded by flames, and stands astride a buffalo and human corpse...

The journey to enlightenment can be intimidating. When you don’t know exactly where you are going, how do you get there? Master birth doula and world-renowned wellness leader Latham Thomas discusses visualization as a tool for empowerment, the necessary balance between preparation and surrender, and her own experiences with the body as a portal to the spirit world. As Latham shares her story, she contemplates a painting of a mandala, a mediational tool that serves as a guide. When a Buddhist practitioner visualizes a mandala, it's like they are giving birth to the whole world. Visit the podcast we...

For most, deep and lasting enlightenment doesn’t come in an instant. When considering how to navigate a path of study and self-inquiry, what is important? Psychologist, author and teacher of meditation Tara Brach shares her own story of how her life took an unexpected turn, what it was like to find her own path as both a student and teacher of Buddhism, and how her spiritual journey led to one of radical acceptance and compassion. Tara responds to a sculpture of Gautama Budda who holds his hands in a gesture of teaching known as the dharmachakra mudra, indicating th...

What if enlightenment is not something to strive for, but an innate quality born to every human being? Gender non-conforming writer, performer, and public speaker Alok Vaid-Menon challenges us to see the divine nature in every person, including ourselves, and asks who we might be if we choose to step outside of the limitations of judgment. Alok considers a sculpture of the Buddha Triumphing Over Mara, which depicts the moment the Buddha overcame ignorance, touched the earth as his witness, and became enlightened, declaring, "I am not a man, I am awake." Visit the podcast webpage to see the...

Life can be chaotic. Do we really have to face it in order to taste enlightenment? In our first episode, we speak with comedian Aparna Nancherla about her own relationship to inner turmoil, from pushing discomfort away to the relief of acknowledging it. She shares what it was like growing up a child of immigrants, her journey to recovery from an eating disorder, and how her struggle with anxiety and depression found its way into her standup routine. To begin, Aparna engages with a contemporary painting by Tsherin Sherpa, titled Luxation 1. Luxation means dislocation or displacement, and across sixteen...

Welcome to AWAKEN, a new podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Art and hosted by acclaimed musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson. AWAKEN explores the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to “wake up.” In ten episodes we dive into the personal stories of guests who share how they’ve experienced a shift in their awareness, and as a result, their perspective on life. Hosted by Laurie Anderson. Episode guests (in order of appearance): Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Tara Brach, Alok Vaid-Menon, Latham Thomas, BJ Miller.