Kevin Griffin: Dharma and Recovery
This podcast is from Kevin Griffin's Tuesday morning Zoom classes exploring Dharma and Recovery. Topics cover meditation, Buddhism, addiction, depression, anxiety, and spirituality. Kevin Griffin is the bestselling author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps and several other books bridging dharma and recovery. A co-founder of the Buddhist Recovery Network, he is a leader in the mindful recovery movement and a sought after speaker and teacher. He offers retreats, workshops, and public talks internationally. He was trained and teaches regularly at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the West Coast’s leading Buddhist retreat center. He has be...
August 4, 2026 Thought versus Proliferation
Distinguishing ordinary passing thoughts from the ones that sweep us away in meditation. How to work with the proliferating thoughts.
July 28, 2026 The Obstruction of Self
How self-consciousness gets in the way of being present and enjoying life.
July 21, 2026 The Mirror of the Hindrances
Looking at the simile of the bowl of water and the five hindrances.
July 7, 2026 The Dart
Exploring the classic sutta The Dart which tells how aversion increases the suffering of our pain.
June 30, 2026 Meditation for Recovery
Talking about what the connections are between Buddhism and recovery and the role of meditation in that connection.
June 16, 2026 Entering Your Own Mind on Retreat
As I leave for a weeklong self-retreat, I talk about the fear of being with my own mind.
June 9, 2026 The Dharma of Pain
Looking deeply at how physical pain connects with impermanence and not self.
June 2, 2026 Insistent Visitors
Reading from Jack Kornfield’s “A Path with Heart” on working with difficult emotions.
May 26, 2026 Chasing Comfort
How throughout our days and lives we seek pleasure and comfort. Working to develop equanimity around the changes experiences of mind and body.
May 19, 2026 Two Kinds of Thought
Exploring the sutta “Two Kinds of Thoughts” (Majjhima Nikaya 19) which talks about letting go of unwholesome and cultivating wholesome thinking.
May 12, 2026 Working with Thoughts
Drawing from Ajahn Pasanno’s “Abundant, Exalted, Immeasurable,” to explore how we work with thoughts in meditation.
May 5, 2026 Breathing with Energy
Using the breath to modulate the nervous system. This is how we work with emotions and moods in meditation.
April 14, 2026 Body Mirrors Mind
Exploring what makes Dharma a unique way of working with recovery.
April 7, 2026 Comparing Mind
Drawing from Ajahn Pasanno’s book “abundant, exalted, immeasurable.” To skip the guided meditation, scroll ahead about 20 minutes.
March 30, 2026 The Body Mirrors the Mind
Exploring Ajahn Pasanno’s comment that we can sense mental activity more easily through mindfulness of the body.
March 24, 2026 What Are Thoughts?
Exploring the non-verbal quality of thoughts, and the intention behind them.
March 10, 2026 Rapture in Meditation and Recovery
Exploring the uplifting energy of mindful breathing. Note: this episode has no guided meditation.
What We Resist Persists
March 3, 2026 Learning to be with the difficult without reactivity.
Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness
Feb 17, 2026 The developmental process from the five hindrances, to the Seven Factors of Awakening, to the Four Noble Truths.
Precepts and Boundaries in Recovery
Feb 10, 2026, Reading from Ajahn Amaro on the protection of sila and sobriety.
Dharma and the World
Feb 3, 2026, Balancing engagement with the world with spiritual practice and recovery.
Understanding Mindfulness
January 20, 2026 Exploring misconceptions about mindfulness meditation.
Jan 13, 2026 Death and the Deathless
Connecting Dharma with death and the deathless.
Jan 6, 2026 The Terror of Undefined Being
Drawing from Ajahn Amaro’s teaching on watching the arising of self and the suffering that comes with it.
Concentration
Reflections on the role of concentration in meditation. Exploring different challenges and subtleties of practice. How we get stuck in striving or judgment when the mind doesn’t get quiet.
Watching the Wheels
Reflections on my early practice. Anecdotes from that time, including hearing John Lennon during a meditation retreats.
12/16/25 It's Like This
The non-verbal reality of experience. Referencing Ajahn Sumedho’s famous phrase.
12/9/25 Thinking vs. Feeling
Meditation focusing on feeling rather than thoughts. Connecting to the nervous system as a source of intelligence.
12/2/25 Feeling Tone in the Foundations of Mindfulness
Beginning with background on the mindfulness and Insight Meditation movement, then moving to “vedana,” the feeling tone of each experience.
11/25/25 The Inner Experience
Exploring the term “interoception,” the internal sense perception.
11/18/2025 Thoughts and Feelings in Practice
Discovering our habitual emotional states by exploring thoughts.
11/11/25 Mindfulness and Addiction
Reflecting on the the feelings that drive addiction and how mindfulness can help.
11/4/25 Forms of Concentration
Reading from Joseph Goldstein’s “Mindfulness” and Bhikkhu Analayo’s “Mindfulness of Breathing” to understand what meditative concentration is and how to approach it.
Diligent, Ardent and Resolute
October 28, 2025 Exploring three qualities the Buddha recommends for our meditation and spiritual practice.
Trauma and Mindfulness (cont.)
Continuing to explore trauma, addiction, and mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness and Trauma
Exploring trauma in addiction and meditation. Discriminating between ordinary suffering and severe trauma. This moves on to discussing depression, feeling, and naming uncomfortable states, making them more real.
Intimacy
October 7, 2025 Exploring the underlying desire that triggers addiction.
Feeling and Perception
9/23/2025 Exploring how naming experiences, feelings, and objects reifies them.
Mindfulness and Not-Self
9/16/2025 Connecting Buddhist mindfulness practices with understanding not-self.
Working with Energy in the Body
Tips for mindful meditation to reduce stress and manage emotions.
