Shell Fischer's Podcast

Oct 14 2024 100 ep. 46 mins 20

Shell Fischer's Podcast artwork

Insight Meditation teacher, Shell Fischer, founder of Mindful Shenandoah Valley, offers her 25+ years of study and experience in these weekly talks about meditation practice, and how it can help us nurture more compassion, kindness, joy, and calm in our lives.

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CLAIM YOUR SEAT: Buddha’s Teachings on Doubt

Oct 14 2024 44 mins

Our common experience of doubt – in ourselves, and in our ability to make good decisions for ourselves, especially - is actually the very last thing the Buddha himself struggled with just before he became enlightened. In fact, his own awakening was his profound message to us: that we all have the innate capability to discover for ourselves what will lead us towards more happiness

Some Things Just Hurt: Allowing Our Pain

Sep 02 2024 46 mins

Whenever we experience pain or suffering, our common tendency is to believe that not only is the cause of our suffering in some way wrong, but that our own response to it is also wrong. And therefore, we tend to surmise that we, ourselves, are also somehow wrong. Happily, the Buddhist teachings are designed to help us notice this common pattern, and learn how we can bravely open up

My Relationships: Medicine, or Poison?

Jul 24 2024 49 mins

The Buddha insisted that our relationships make up the “whole” of our spiritual life, and and urged us to use our mindfulness practice to become more aware of who we’re choosing to associate with in order to assure our sense of peace and well-being. Happily, his teachings offer us numerous ways that we can use our meditation practice to better discern whether our relationship

Put Your Heart Into It Again: The Buddha On Determination

Jun 29 2024 52 mins

As opposed to the act of “striving,” which involves a kind of unhealthy or stressful clinging to some sort of expectation, and typically arises from our more self-centered mind, or ego - the quality of aditthana (or determination, in the Pali language) almost always arises from the heart, as in, from our heart’s desire. And because our heart is just naturally wise and compass

Do No Harm/Take No Sh*t: A Buddhist Lesson on Boundaries

May 25 2024 42 mins

Whenever we perceive that some sort of harm is being done – either by another person, people, or even on a more national or global level - how can we best confront this without nurturing aversion in our own hearts, or letting it consume us in some way? This talk explores the Buddha’s teachings on how we can use our meditation practice to help us to say “no” or maybe “that

What Would Buddha Do? Taking Refuge in the Beloved

Apr 06 2024 43 mins

This talk addresses the question: How can we flow between all the different roles, hats, or identities that we place on ourselves every day, and that kind, wise, compassionate presence within us that is actually free of those often-limiting identities, or beliefs about who we think we “should” be? The answer involves using our meditation practice to examine how we can begin to

It Takes A Long Time to Grow Young: Nurturing Contentment

Feb 29 2024 49 mins

Right before the Buddha’s enlightenment, a single memory from his childhood apparently not only led him to nirvana, but to the profound teachings of the Middle Way – the whole thing. Essentially, what he remembered was what contentment (or passaddhi) had felt like to him, at age 8. This talk explores how the Buddha was led to this understanding, along with some of his teachings

How To Work With Fear & Grief: Pause

Feb 02 2024 44 mins

The Buddhist teachings are continually calling our attention to the truth of what is called annica, or impermanence, because essentially, it’s exactly what we tend to struggle with, in the form of both the fear of uncertainty, and the grief that comes with change. But instead of trying to avoid our fear and grief – which is our natural tendency - the teachings are asking us to

"It's All Yours" - Responding to Disrespect and Insult

Dec 30 2023 50 mins

As the Buddha’s teachings remind us over and over, even though it’s difficult, we never want to let another person’s anger, disrespect, or cruelty harden our own hearts. Instead, we want our meditation practice to serve as a kind of guard for our hearts - a strong shield that can protect us against the power that other people's disrespect can often have over us. This new talk

EMPTY OF EXPECTATION: Exploring "Beginner's Mind"

Dec 02 2023 47 mins

While the Buddha assured us that it’s healthy to be aware of all our different intentions, he also suggested that once we’ve planted the seeds of our plans, our practice becomes surrendering to any determined outcome whatsoever – to truly let go, of all of it. This talk on Shoshin, or “Beginner’s Mind,” is aimed at helping us to let go more and more often by inviting us