26 Weeks of Awakening: Recent Episodes
Emily Strunk
Emily is a Buddhist who has been discovering her Buddha Nature and the path of awakening since 2006. 26 Weeks of Awakening is about discovering the basic human suffering that exists in life, becoming aware of where and why it exists, and practicing staying present despite the appearance of suffering. In 26 Weeks Emily will guide you on her self-discovery and practice of becoming a Bodhisattva and introduce you to the teachers and teachings that have been profound on her journey.
Emily is happily a former executive in corporate America and former business owner with a BS in Applied Psychology from Regis University and a candidate in the Master of Science Psychology program at Arizona State University. Emily is a meditation instructor and wellness coach, and has been a nutrition instructor and personal trainer. She is also formerly incarcerated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Phoenix Satellite Camp and thinks this is a very important aspect of her life and training experience. She learned a lot about people, the openness and beauty of all people, and became awakened to the sad state of affairs in our criminal justice system in the USA. Emily lives with her husband and other family on a farm in Eastern Colorado. She has four grown children.
Emily talks about learning to observe the emotions in the mind, and not becoming the emotions. In Buddhism, observation and mindful attentiveness is a practiced discipline, we embark on the beginning ideas of this this week.
Emily talks about her struggle with learning how to connect with the joy inside while still living with fear, anxiety, and daily struggles. Learning how to be present and pay attention to the current moment, knowing that it is all impermenant is the beginning of discovering joy. Join Emily in the beginning of discovering joy.
Equanimity is one of the Four Limitless Qualities as instructed by the Buddha. Emily Strunk talks about her struggle with developing equanimity and some of the tools she has used on her journey in Buddhism to contemplate and practice equanimity.
This week Emily Strunk talks about Karma, and Karmic energy. - and a person's ability to transmute and transcend karnic consequences. Using as a resource, and discussion 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, Emily discusses how Karmic Energy is a true universal law, and its affect on her life.
Nirvana is said to be a destination that we aspire to, and maybe akin to Heaven, in the Christian sense. This is not the case. Nirvana is a state-of-mind, and practiced way of living and being that ends all suffering for the practitioner. Let's talk about Nirvana in lay terms and how to begin to experience it in little bits in our daily life.
Emily Strunk talks about the beginnings of Warrior Training in her life. Bodhisattva Warriorship is training in Bodhichitta - Awakened Mind. Helping others in suffering to - cultivating bravery, kindness. Join Emily as she talks about what it means to be a Warrior.
Emily Strunk instructs using guided imagery in a meditation about staying with pain and discomfort in order to learn, grow, and gather understanding in order to help ourselves and others in times of suffering, pain, grief and loss. Music in the background is by Benjamin Stone, the album Prairie Meditations which can be found on itunes, spotify and amazon music
Learning to Stay is a topic for daily living as well as meditation. When things become difficult or uncomfortable we as human beings want to escape, run, find pleasure. Learning to Stay is a topic about staying and paying attention in suffering, grief, anger and discomfort and using it as a teacher through awareness and sitting with it.
This is a 15 minute guided meditation for beginners learning the practice of meditation, and discovering the focus on breath during meditation training.
Background music is provided by Benjamin Stone and his album Prairie Meditations, available on Amazon Music, Itunes, and Spotify
The Four Limitless Qualities unlock unlimited potential for contentment, and connectedness with the spirit and other sentient beings around us. These four qualities are Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity. Join with Emily Strunk to hear about her journey and discover how to begin on this pathway to working with these qualities in your life.
Emily introduces the concept of mindfulness and shares her own experiences of discovering awareness in the present moment. What does mindfulness mean? How does one begin the process of developing mindfulness? These questions are investigated here, and a new beginning in mindfulness can begin.
Background Music The Parlor (album) by Artist Benjamin Stone which can be found on itunes, amazon music and spotify
This week we explore what groundlessness means, and how to cope with change, impermanence and our stress in daily living. Emily talks about how she learned to understand that the truth is, we do not have control and nothing will last.
The background music in this session is provided by Benjamin Stone and the album Prairie Meditations.
This is a 10 Minute Guided Meditation with a focus on breath, introducing meditation and the practice of mindfulness. This meditation is guided by Emily Strunk, with background music provided by Benjamin Stone, Album titled Prairie Meditations.
Understanding that the pleasure seeking activities, comfort centered goals, and routines are the basis for our suffering is a difficult concept to understand. But once it is understood, we begin to have moments of pure contentment where we can exhale and feel relief from our burdens and suffering. These moments are the start of understanding the importance of the current moment, the truth of uncertainty and impermanence, and the strength that comes in groundlessness.
This is the begining of self-discovery. This is the begining of understanding self, self-discipline and learning that finding things that are centered around happiness and pleasure is not really the way to finding contentment and happiness.
In this first week, Emily walks through becoming aware of what makes her suffer, and how awareness is key to understanding, knowledge and eventually change and growth.