Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Sharon Salzberg

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

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 12:24.Teacher:  Sharon SalzbergTheme: New BeginningsWheel of Life; Tibet; 18th century; pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; gift of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation; F1997.40.10Learn 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 Children. Every week, we offer a meditation session that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubin's collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher. You can find more information about the related artwork. in the episode description. Our mindfulness meditation podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg

and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. And now, please enjoy your practice. Hello and Tashi Deleck. Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program. I'm Tashi Chudun, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm delighted to be a host today. The Rubin is a global museum dedicated to presenting Himalayan art and its insights,

and we're so glad to have all of you join us 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 we've chosen for today. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Sharon Salzberg, and then we will have a short set 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. The theme for the month of January is New Beginnings. The Wheel of Life is strongly emblematic of starting anew.

It is a captivating visual reminder of samsara, cyclical existence. The Wheel of Life is featured at the gateway of temples to awaken practitioners to the impermanent, nature of life and the constants of change. Now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Sharon Salzberg. Sharon Salzberg, co-founder of the Inside Meditation Society in Barry, Massachusetts, has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Her latest books are real life,

the journey from isolation to openness, freedom and finding your way, meditation, thoughts, and wisdom for living an authentic, life and the children's book, Kind Carl, A Little Crocodile with Big Feelings. She's a weekly columnist for On Being, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and the author of several other books, including the New York Times bestseller, real happiness, the power of meditation, real change, mindfulness to heal ourselves and the world, faith trusting your own deepest experience and loving kindness, the revolutionary art of happiness. Sharon, thank you so much

for being here. Hi, so this month's theme is change. I'd like to speak a little bit about change before we get to practice together. It's such a fascinating topic really because there are in a way two distinct faces of change. One is beginnings and renewal and doors opening and springtime. And it's very enlivening. It's a sense of possibility not being stuck, not being kind of rigidly held by present circumstance. And even though we don't know what's going to be happening, we can feel almost like

that pulsation of life because change is life. And so that is that feeling of not being so confined, not being so defined by present moment circumstance and we have that sense of aliveness and growth and possibility. And of course, the other phase of change is everything is fleeting. We can't seem to hold on to anything. Anything we want anything. In fact, we don't want. Everything is so transitory, ephemeral. And the Buddha used such kind of beautiful images to describe that. He said life is like an echo like a flash of lightning in the summer sky, like a drop of dew on a blade of grass,

so fragile, so in a way tentative arising and passing away. And sometimes as we either reflect on change or we meditate and are more directly seeing the nature of change, it's that latter aspect, the movement, the kind of ceaseless flow, the fact that we cannot hold on that we're just part of this stream of everything fading and moving and in a way departing even as it arises.

And so it's a very different feeling tone in the former, that sense of beginnings and renewal and so uplifting. It's so enlivening. And in tuning into the ceaseless nature of everything. everything passing away that we cannot hold on, that we're not in control of that flow. It's more a feeling, of course, it's poignancy. It's the bittersweet nature of life that here it is.

You know, so many people as they get older and they reach, you could say the culmination of this life, the single most prevalent comment is, This went really fast. And it does. It goes by really fast. Like I went to India to learn meditation to begin with in 1970. That was a long time ago.

And I have several friends that I met at my very first meditation retreat, which was January 1971. And so when we met each other, I was 18 years old. And I'm not anymore. And it's such an odd feeling. It's like, where did those years go? It's so fast. And of course, if one has a sense of kind of the bigger cosmology,

which you may or may not, but certainly as it's depicted within Buddhist teaching, there's a sense of many lifetimes. And the art piece, you know, for today that is very, much a description of that many lifetimes, many forms, many kinds of manifestations arising and passing away in that cosmology and that view, unlike in some other religions or depictions, it's not a sense of permanence anywhere. You know, we may be born in the human form in this lifetime and then next lifetime saying a David realm, a God realm and enjoy, you know,

bodies of light or whatever. And then next lifetime, we are maybe born again as a human or squirrel or something, you know. And so there's this constant sense of movement. And even if you have no alliance with that worldview and you certainly don't have to, you know, symbolically, one can understand in one lifetime, we can have lives kind of overcome by anger and resentment and others by pleasure, by refined sensual delight like music and so many other things by concentration or the lack of concentration. And it's like lifetime after lifetime, sometimes in a very short, condensed period of time, we see. just this constant change.

And the more we try to control, which cannot be controlled, of course, the more that we suffer. And so tuning into each aspect of change, the beginnings and the fact that doors open and that we don't have to feel so stuck in present moment circumstances, even if it's overwhelming and very intense right now, we can just feel like that heartbeat underneath that things do move. They do change. And the other face of change, the kind of poignancy, the fleeting nature of things,

the more we align with the truth, actually, the more fulfilled we are, the wiser we are, of course. And the more we have a sense of, because we are in tune with how things are, we have a sense of really being in harmony with things and empowered by that. I was looking around because I have a mug that says, banging your head against the wall is never fun.

Somebody had made and sent to me. And that's kind of the whole point, you know, our futile resentments. the way we can do battle with life thinking if I hold on even tighter, that person's not going to change. That circumstance is not going to change. That object will never break. I'll be safe. Which is in a way one of the myths and distortions that many cultures really promote. Like hold on even tighter and you'll be okay. Acumulate endlessly. Nothing will ever fade. or be marred or control that person and you'll get what you want or try to control that person

is probably more accurate. You know, and so the more we are in harmony with the truth, the more we are actually empowered by that to live well rather than banging our head against the wall all the time thinking, well, I'll just hold on tighter or I'll seize control or it's going to work out tomorrow and, you know, I'll be safe from change, even from death, you know, if I can only get enough stuff or armor myself enough. And it's so untrue. It actually functions like banging our head against the wall endlessly. And so even though it can seem a little bit daunting to look at it. at change and not very appealing in some way, like it's going to leave us in a funk and feeling just the insecurity of life, it actually functions in a very different way so that we can take that alignment with the truth and the empowerment that it gives and we can go forth in a very

different way in the way we relate to ourselves, our bodies change, relate to others, the harmony that can come in relationships when we're not trying to seize control, a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction, no matter what we acquire or accumulate, a sense of cherishing each moment and having that kind of relationship to our lives as they move very quickly, we can actually be there for them rather than always thinking about how can I keep this and how can I get more and all of that. And so it's really a very beautiful path. So let's practice together a little bit. And remember that whatever arises in your awareness will also be passing away.

And so we get to see the nature of change. And ultimately, that is our goal. to see more deeply into how things are changing and to affect our relationship to change itself. And because everything shares that, that's why we say in mindfulness practice, it actually doesn't matter what we're looking at, whether it's pleasant or painful,

delightful or kind of unwelcome. Everything is changing. And if somebody said to me, would you prefer to more deeply understand the nature of change, looking at bliss or looking at knee pain, I'd say, I don't take bliss. But nobody's offering us a menu. And because our ultimate goal is to see more deeply into the nature of change itself. And anything, any object of awareness can offer that to us, that's why we say in mindfulness practice, it actually doesn't matter what we're looking at.

We might feel as a human being. Of course, we have a preference, but in terms of the mindfulness practice, it's all useful because we can see the nature of change, whether it's knee pain or bliss. And thus far, no one's given me a menu, right? So rather than feel I'm not having the right experience, my practice is no good, something like that. We can actually grow and make progress, whatever is arising, as long as we're tuning more and more deeply into the nature of change itself.

There's a saying that if you want to understand the nature of water, look at the waves, and that's what we're doing. We're going to settle our attention on the feeling of the breath as what we call the primary object, but many of the things may arise. We can allow them to come and go, watch them come and go, and then bring our attention back to that anchor,

that feeling of the breath. So you can sit comfortably, close your eyes or not, however you feel most at ease, see if your back can be straight without being strained or overarched, and see if you can find, that place where you experience the breath. And this is just the normal natural breath. You

don't have to try to make it deeper or different. You can experience the breath wherever it's most predominant for you. That may be the nostrils, the chest or the abdomen. You can find that place. Bring your attention there and just rest. See if you can feel one breath. You don't have to look back at what's happened. You don't have to lean forward for even the very next breath. It's just this one. And if you like, you can use a quiet mental notation like in, out, or rising, falling to help support the awareness of the breath, but very quiet.

So your attention is really going to feeling the breath, one breath at a time. And as you rest your attention on the feeling of the breath, maybe thoughts, emotions, sensations arise, but they're very slight. They're not really intense enough to take your attention away from the breath. And you can just let them flow on by your breathing. It's just one breath. But if something comes up and it's really strong and it captures your attention, maybe it's a sensation, maybe it's a sound,

maybe it's an emotion, whatever it is. You can recognize what's happening and there's joy, there's sorrow, whatever it might be. Watch it move. Watch it change. You don't have to manipulate it or interfere in any way. It's very nature's change. Maybe it's changing in intensity or revealing component parts. You know, maybe you have an emotion.

You recognize, oh, that's anger. But as you look at it, you see sadness, you see fear, you see many things arising and passing away. You see change itself. Spend a few moments with that object, which has become predominant, paying attention in this way. And then when you can, see if you can let go. Return your attention to the feeling of the breath. So sometimes we're with the breath, sometimes we're with what has become preterm. predominant and then back to the breath.

And for all those, perhaps, many times you're just gone, completely lost in thought, overcome by a fantasy or you fall asleep. Truly, don't worry about that. You can recognize you've been gone. See if you can let go gently, whatever it's been, however long it's been, it's all right. We let go and we begin again. Just shepherd your attention back to the feeling of the breath. we realize we've been gone.

We have some kindness toward ourselves, some compassion toward ourselves. We let go. Bring your attention back to the feeling of the breath. And when you feel ready, you can open your eyes or lift your gaze and we'll end the meditation. So thank you. Thank you so much for that, Sharon. And happy New Year to everyone. May 2026 awaken the compassion, wisdom, nature that is within each of you.

of us. Thank you. That concludes this week's practice. If you enjoyed this podcast or are a weekly listener, we invite you to support this series by donating and becoming a friend of the Rubin at Ruben Museum.org slash friends. The Rubin is a non-profit that relies on the generous support of donors like you to create meaningful experiences with Himalayan art around the world. If you are Looking for more inspiring content, check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up,

available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, sign up for our newsletter at rubinmuseum.org slash newsletter. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.