For episode 275, we are continuing a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, out now!

Co-authored by Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a new children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness.

To learn more about Sharon’s children’s book, Kind Karl, and pre-order a copy with a special pre-order gift, you can visit Sharon’s website, right here.

For this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them. For the fourth episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Ali Smith, Andres Gonzales and Atman Smith of the Holistic Life Foundation.

Andy, Ali, and Atman co-founded the Holistic Life Foundation in 2001, a non-profit organization bringing yoga, meditation, and breath-work to thousands of at-risk kids in Baltimore and beyond. Their work has received wide national attention due to their remarkable results in public schools where suspension rates plummet and graduation rates skyrocket. Outside of the Holistic Life Foundation, Ali, Atman, and Andy also teach to diverse populations worldwide, including drug treatment centers, mental crisis facilities, homeless shelters, and Yoga, Wellness, and Mindfulness Festivals.

Their first book, “Let Your Light Shine” was published in 2022 by Penguin Random House.

In this conversation, Sharon, Atman, Andres and Ali speak about:

• The creation of the Holistic Life Foundation

• Experiencing meditation early in life

• Working in underserved communities

• Teaching with trauma awareness

• HLF Retreats and certification programs

• The importance of sharing love

• Benefits of mindfulness for kids

• Partnering with schools and education systems

• Modifying practice for younger minds

• How to champion love

• Encouraging authentic, in-person interaction

• Giving from a place of overflow

• Caring for ourselves to better care for others

The episode closes with a guided practice. You can learn more about the Holistic Life Foundation’s work on their website, right here. And get a copy of the book“Let Your Light Shine” right here.

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For episode 274, we are continuing a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, coming out on December 9th!

Co-authored by Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a new children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness.

To learn more about Sharon’s forthcoming children’s book, Kind Karl, and pre-order a copy with a special pre-order gift, you can visit Sharon’s website, right here.

For this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them. For the third episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Meena Srinivasan.

Meena Srinivasan is an educational leader, speaker, author, and visionary edupreneur. With over two decades of dedicated service, she has consistently championing the fusion of Mindfulness and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). In 2022, she was featured as one of Mindful Magazine's "Ten Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement," while also gaining recognition in Educational Leadership Magazine for her insights into Mindful Leadership and Wellbeing. Her recent TEDx Talk on Tenderness is one of the most popular talks of 2024 with more than 2 million views. A dedicated practitioner for more than 25 years, Meena is a newly ordained lay Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, in the lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who calls her a “precious ambassador of mindfulness.”

In this conversation, Meena and Sharon speak about:

• Aligning inner life with outer work
• Meena’s early spiritual foundation in Hindu culture
• Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
• SEL practices for different ages & environments
• Smell the Flower and Blow Out the Candle meditations
• Supporting kids in crisis
• Thích Nhất Hạnh’s School of Interbeing
• The importance of parents'’ and educators’ well-being
• Community practice as a necessity
• Transformative Educational Leadership
• Meena’s research on tenderness with Yale
• Tenderness versus compassion, vulnerability & empathy
• The Three Breath Hug Meditation
• The Non-Toothache Meditation

The episode closes with Meena leading guided practice. You can learn more about Meena’s work on her website, right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 273, we are continuing a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, coming out on December 9th!

Co-authored by Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a new children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness.

For this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them. For the second episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Dr. Christopher Willard.

Chris is a clinical psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of numerous publications for children and adults. An internationally sought-after speaker and mindfulness educator, his books include Growing Up Mindful, Raising Resilience, and Alphabreaths.

In this conversation, Sharon and Chris speak about:

• The benefits of mindfulness in family systems
• Chris’s personal journey with mindfulness
• How mindfulness can be accessible for kids
• Emotional growth and connection at any age
• Simple at-home practices
• Modeling calm compassion
• How kids can emotionally regulate
• The benefits of meditation in schools
• Challenges of technology in family life
• How self-compassion prevents burnout
• Nurturing empathy, presence and resilience
• The goal of presence, not perfection

The episode closes with Chris leading guided practice. You can learn more about Chris’s work on his website, right here.

To learn more about Sharon’s forthcoming children’s book, Kind Karl, and pre-order a copy with a special pre-order gift, you can visit Sharon’s website, right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 272, we are launching a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, coming out on December 9th!

Co-authored by Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a new children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness. To learn more about Sharon’s forthcoming children’s book, Kind Karl, and pre-order a copy with a special pre-order gift, you can visit Sharon’s website, right here.

For this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them.

For the first episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Susan Kaiser Greenland. Susan is a mindfulness educator and bestselling author, specializing in distilling global wisdom traditions and scientific research into straightforward everyday practices. In the early 2000s, she helped pioneer the introduction of secular mindfulness into classrooms through her Inner Kids model. After decades of working with children and adults and writing two widely translated books, Susan’s latest book, Real-World Enlightenment, was published in 2024 by Shambhala.

In this conversation, Susan and Sharon speak about:

• Susan’s journey with meditation
• Meditation’s effect on Susan’s son
• Inspiration for writing The Mindful Child
• Volunteering in schools
• Creating the Inner Kids program
• The importance of storytelling
• The playful approach for young ages
• The positive effects of mindfulness in schools
• The “Pink Bubble” compassion exercise
• Mindfulness for family dynamics
• Susan’s UCLA research findings
• Susan’s most recent book, Real World Enlightenment

The episode closes with Susan leading guided practice. You can learn more about Susan’s work on her website, right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 271, Sharon sits down with poet, author and Zen master Henry Shukman.

After a spontaneous spiritual awakening at the age of 19, Henry embarked on a long journey of healing and deeper awakening through meditation. Since then, he has been leading a growing number of practitioners in Europe and the US. He is the Spiritual Director Emeritus of Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Henry has also created the app, The Way, and is the author of several books, including his latest 2024 release, “Original Love.” This is Henry’s first appearance on the podcast.

In this conversation, Sharon and Henry speak about:

• Henry’s challenges in early life
• Discovering Zen teachings
• Henry’s new book, Original Love
• Mindfulness, Support, Absorption, Awakening
• Original Love versus Original Sin
• Mental health in spiritual practice
• The power of community and connection
• Henry’s meditation app, The Way
• How to microdose lovingkindness

The episode closes with Henry leading a guided meditation.

You can learn more about Henry’s books and teachings on his website right here. You can also learn about his app, The Way, right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 270, we bring you the second of a two-part episode from the archives.

Recorded in the early 2010s in a visit to Asheville, North Carolina, Sharon is teaching on Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances.

In this teaching, Sharon speaks about:

• Brief History of IMS

• The word Lovingkindness

• the cultural baggage of “love”

• The reality of interconnection

• “Never throw anyone out of your heart” - NKB

• Looking for the good

• How to make a gratitude list

• Sharon’s only joke

• Making different choices

Sharon then takes some questions from the audience on

• Feeling the sorrow of the world

• Balancing concentration in practice

• How do we open despite our conditioning

• Learn to let go of grievances

• The spaces between the breath

You can listen to the first part of this teaching in Episode 269 of the Metta Hour, released on September 3, 2025 entitled Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances Part 1.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 269, we bring you the first of a two-part episode from the archives.Recorded in the early 2010s in a visit to Asheville, North Carolina, Sharon is teaching on Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances.

In this teaching, Sharon speaks about:

• Her travel adventure to North Carolina

• Her first impressions of Asian philosophy

• Changing our relationship to joy & delight

• Transforming our relationship to suffering

• Awakening to the realm of neutral experiences

• Sharon’s first time meditating

• The three skills of meditation

• Sharon’s mantra of “something will happen”

• The deepening of concentration

• Our tendency to project into the future

• Mindfulness is not passive

• The magic moment in meditation

The episode closes with Sharon leading a guided meditation practice. Stay tuned for the second half of this teaching, which will be released in two weeks' time in Part 2 of Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.