Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lavina Shamdasani 06/05/2025

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art presents a weekly meditation for beginners and skilled meditators alike. Each episode is inspired by a different work of art from the Museum’s collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher.The episode begins with an opening talk followed by a 20-minute meditation. In this episode, the guided meditation begins at 17:32.Teacher: Lavina Shamdasani Theme: AwakenBuddha Shakyamuni; Tibet or Bhutan; late 17th-18th century; silk embroidery, appliqué; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2003.19.2Learn more about the Rubin’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org.

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, a global museum dedicated to bringing greater awareness and understanding of Himalayan art to people around the world. I'm your host, Tashi Churden. Every Thursday, we offer a meditation session at New York Insight Meditation Center that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubin's collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher. This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice. The description of each episode includes information about the theme for that week's session and an image

of the related artwork. Our Mindfulness Meditation podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, The Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine, and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. And now, please enjoy your practice. Hello everybody. Good afternoon and Tashi Delegh. Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program here at this beautiful space, New York Insight Meditation Center. I'm Tashi

Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador and I'm delighted to be your host today. So today is very very auspicious. I just wanted to share the living tradition. Today is actually the 10th day of the fourth month in Tibetan Buddhist calendar. You may remember from the last session when I reminded that this month is one of the most sacred and auspicious holiest month in Tibetan calendar called Sakadava. So today is the tenth day which often is known as Guru Rinpoche day or Padmasambhava day, the one who brought Buddhism into Tibet from India

back in the eighth century during the King Tussundetsan and Shantarakshita. So all over the Himalayas, in the monasteries, there's all this beautiful elaborate Padmasambhava eight manifestation, Lama dance or Cham dance that's happening to bring forth, you know, peace and blessings to all. So it is very special for us all to come together on this auspicious day for, you know, this beautiful session. So the Rubin is a global museum dedicated

to Himalayan art and its insights. And we're so glad to have all of you join us in person and online for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection we will first take a deep look at the work of art that is chosen by our teacher today and we will then hear a brief talk from our teacher Lavina Shamdasani. So wonderful to have you back again and then we will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Lavina Shamsa Dasani. So wonderful to have you back again. And then we will have a short sit, 15 to 20 minutes, for the meditation guided by her. Let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The artwork for today's session is this beautiful Shakyamuni Buddha.

This is origin from Tibet or could be from Bhutan, dated 16 to 1699. And this is a beautiful silk embroidery applique, about 50 x 29 x 3 8 inches. The connection to the theme as we are exploring on the theme of Awaken, again,, awaken is selected because of this special Sakadawa month. The silk embroidered thangka depicts the moment of Buddha Shakyamuni's enlightenment. He created a pathway for all of us to awaken from our cyclical existence of suffering,

which is birth, death, and rebirth. So going beyond that is enlightenment, which is often referred as liberation or awakening. So this exquisite depiction of Shakyamuni Buddha, often known as the historical Buddha, who lived in the 5th century before the common era, was created in the 17th or 18th century. Shakyamuni Buddha is portrayed here wearing a beautiful ascetic monk robe, sitting right in the middle on the lotus throne in a Vajra cross-legged position with the left hand in a meditation posture and right hand palm facing the

knees fingers touching the earth often known as earth touching gesture and this particular hand mudra when Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and meditated and when he reached the awakening Buddha calls the earth to bear witness to his awakening. And now if you look above, Buddha is also on the left shoulder of Buddha above. Buddha is sitting in a meditation posture, so that is right before the awakening hand mudra. And then above the right shoulder of Buddha on the top, this particular hand gesture is in turning the wheel of the hand gesture.

So this is when he was teaching after the awakening. And the first teaching was on Four Noble Truths at Varanasi Deo Park. Now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Lavina Shyamdasani. Lavina Shyamdasani is a certified compassion teacher through the Compassion Institute and Stanford University. She has taught programs focused on mindfulness,

compassion, joy, and gratitude, and led book club discussions and meditations for over five years. Lavina studied positive psychology coaching at the Whole Being Institute and helps clients transform their lives and meet their personal and professional goals. You can find Lavina at Souljoy by lavina.com. Lavina is also speaking at the 92NY on Monday, June 23rd at 6.30 on Cultivating Joy. Please help me in welcoming Laveena

Shamdasani. Thank you so much. Thank you Tashi for the warm welcome and thank you to the Rubin for having me today in this beautiful space here at New York Insight. And thank you to all of you for being here, greasing the space with your presence. It's nothing better than learning in community and learning from each other. And today the topic, awaken.

And as such, I thought we would discuss this idea of awakening. And we also, from the artwork here, the moment that the enlightened one found his awakening, he was sitting under a tree and his hand is shown to be touching the earth, grounding him. And speaking from personal experience, awakening this enlightenment that we're witnessing in this work of art seemed so beyond my grasp, you know, as an everyday person, a mother living life here in New York City, just so beyond my grasp. And I thought, why not try to break it down a little bit and see, I might leave you with a few tools to experience a sense of awakening.

And so, let's unpack. Awakening is essentially a shift in perception of reality, a shift in how we perceive ourselves, and finally a clearer understanding of the nature of experience. So to me, what we need to experience this shift is definitely a sense of openness. Understanding that suffering is inevitable and to help break down suffering I want to describe it in everyday terms. This is where we want to be and this is where we are and the difference is suffering. This is what we want, this is what we have, and the difference is suffering.

So just sort of breaking down suffering, it is a very challenging word to understand, but it's very much rooted in Buddhist philosophy. But anytime you don't get what you want or are not who you want to be, there is unrest, challenge to the body, the mind, the soul and that suffering. And so, a sense of awakening, we understand that we can't always be who we want and we can't always get what we want. So of course suffering is inevitable. Also, life is impermanent.

We're here for a very short time and knowing that, contemplating the impermanence of life helps us live each day as beautifully as we can. And then third, everything is changing. So this concept of I is also changing. It's never fixed. Who am I is always changing. So if we can remember these three things, remembering that most suffering comes from clinging or resistance and from ignorance, from not knowing or thinking we know, but we don't really know.

So let's unpack that a little bit. What do we mean by clinging or resistance? Clinging to a sense of self that we connect with, right? When we are disappointed with loved ones or with life, we're clinging on to what we think is a version of the I, the ego. So if we ask ourselves a simple question when we go through this. What am I without this? It's just a very simple question we can ask ourselves when we go through this clinging of not getting what we want and of not being who we want. What am I without this?

And possibly taking a step further and offering ourselves some loving kindness and some joy. Where can I find an alternative? If it's not this, will I be okay? Trusting that I'll be okay. So unpacking a little bit of the clinging. And oftentimes, if you sit in silence and stillness, just as a thought can disrupt you and create energies that are not pleasant, sometimes simply releasing that thought can also uplift you. The opposite can be true, right? So let's break this down into everyday situations if we can. I'll take myself as an example. Sayah, my daughter, is deciding between two jobs today. And I really want her to exit one of the

jobs with a conversation. And she's determined to do it over email. And I am currently experiencing clinging. I'm clinging to how I want her to turn down one of the job offers I'm clinging. And maybe there's some aversion about how she's responding to me. I'm not loving it. And so first breathing through it, letting the energies dissipate. And now I'm gonna ask myself this question, am I going to be okay if she does what she wants to do? And I am. I'm gonna be just fine. Nothing's changed for me. I'm still who I am. And accepting that and knowing that and releasing.

But that takes time. We think that Buddha received enlightenment in a moment. It's not a moment. It's experiencing and questioning the truth and understanding that sometimes we don't know all the details. So one question, am I going to be okay? Another question we can ask ourselves, do I know everything about this situation? Is this really factual and based on truth? Because sometimes our mind will play tremendous games with us, you know, and take us to places that are so far from the truth. But unfortunately, our bodies follow, our hearts follow.

So that's the next question. Do I know everything about this situation? Let's break that down into an everyday example. Everyone likes to talk about this one, right, where a friend is not calling them back or not texting them back. And I'll talk about me personally. A friend of mine was having a difficult time. Her mom was in a hospital and I had my evening open thinking that I would see her that evening. And she, I understood she was at the hospital. But around four or five p.m. she said, I actually have dinner plans tonight. And I thought, oh, I have kept my evening open, I have sort of planned my day, thinking we might meet. So now I am wondering if I am whole, does this friend love me? Who am I? Who am I? Who did she see?

Who did she choose over me? Am I going to be okay? It's her 50th birthday tomorrow. I'm going to be going to a luncheon for her. And I'm tight. I'm feeling the tightness. But I ask myself, do I know everything about this situation? That's the first question I'm gonna ask myself and I probably don't.

Am I gonna be okay? I think I'm gonna be okay. I think she still loves me, right? You can take it a step further and say, look at the person, not the behavior. And she's a wonderful human being. I've had so many wonderful experiences with her that I'm going to let this not be the defining moment of my friendship. So asking yourself these questions can help ease ignorance, clinging and aversion. So perhaps we can practice together. And when you're ready, I'll ask you to find a comfortable position, one that supports awakeness and alertness. And you can either lower your gaze or lower your eyes or close your eyes. Whatever feels most comfortable for you, finding a placement for your hands and bringing your

attention to your breath. Not trying to change your breath. Not resisting your breath. Not resisting your breath. Not clinging your breath. And if your mind wanders, remember not to resist the thought. Again, don't cling to the thought. Receive it with openness, with loving kindness and compassion. And then gently let it go. This is a chance to know how our minds tread into habitual patterns of thinking. This is a chance to understand how we've been conditioned to respond to events, situations.

So every time your mind wanders, it's an opportunity to thoughts as good or bad. Simply notice and let go.. And if we can let go, let's really experience our awareness of our consciousness from one thought to another, increasing that space and enjoying our awareness.... recognizing that it's this awareness within which our thoughts come and go. We are not our thoughts. We are simply this awareness of our thoughts.. And now bring to mind a situation that is causing some level of suffering within you. And now ask yourself, do I know everything about this situation? What other interpretations may I make, especially if I were to offer a compassionate response? response. Now ask yourself, is this really about me? Am I at the center of this situation? Or could something else be going on? And releasing the narrative. Offering yourself loving kindness. I am still loved.

I am still loved. I am still loved. I am still loved. I am still loved. This doesn't define me, I am bigger than this. And silently say for yourself, may I be free of suffering? Yes, and if it helps, place your hand on your steadfast solidarity to yourself. May I be free from suffering. May I find joy? And set the intention now to cultivate a small joy in the next hour or tomorrow as a new day unfolds, or simply in the acceptance and release in this moment And tapping into any spaciousness this practice might have awakened in you. Open your eyes. Thank you so much, Lavina, for that wonderful awakening session. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a friend of the Rubin

at rubinmuseum.org slash friends. If you are looking for more inspiring content, please check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. Season 4, hosted by Isabella Rossellini, delves into the Buddhist concept of attachment and explores how the practice of letting go can transform our experience of the world. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, visit rubinmuseum.org.

Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.