Transforming PTSD Through Buddhist Teachings

Hello everyone This episode is called How To Recognize and Rid Ourselves of Cravings and Dislikes So sorry it took me so long to get this episode up.  A few things jumped up to get in my way. So, here is what I am talking about in this 23rd episode: What is the difference between being attached to something and simply liking something and how does being attached make us unhappy How to recognize when we have aversion to something and how aversion causes us to be unhappy because of the negative things that aversion can cause us to do How do attachments and aversions work and why they cause us emotional suffering How to learn to let go of the attachments and aversions caused by our PTSD How can we work on reducing our fears brought about by our attachments and aversions How to see that the qualities we place on something that causes us to crave or dislike something really come from our own mind not from the side of the object How to have a happier life from letting go of our attachments and aversions Next episode, which will be this month - and what I will be talking about is something a bit intense. I will be talking about how some of the teachings of Buddhism can help us as survivors of trauma.  I am going to talk about why we survive a trauma but then feel guilty to be grateful that we survived the trauma that brought about our PTSD and feel maybe we should not  be living even though we survived. Take care and thanks for everyone who listens to these episodes

Hello everyone - Well, here we are in August - and here is the 22nd episode of the podcast called How to Learn to Understand and Trust Our Emotions as PTSD sufferers. In this episode I talk about how through the application of logic, Buddhism has helped me to understand and trust my emotions. And I also talk about these topics: How to use meditation to really get in touch with our emotions Which emotions are really positive and negative and why How the fight or flight part of our brain is not completely trustworthy How to use meditation to help overcome negative emotions How to help train our mind to stay calm when we experience problems How to reduce the feeling of being pushed around by our emotional attraction or aversion to things I will be attending a 2 week retreat this month so the next episode will be in September and in it, I will be talking about how to let go of emotions that have a stranglehold on us and how to break down how emotions form so that we can be in control of them and not the other way around especially in relation to PTSD. Thanks everyone for downloading and listening to these episodes - Please let me know if there is anything you would like to hear about or talk about - I look forward to talking with you again in September and in the mean time - Much happiness and peace Yangchen

Hello everyone - Wow - it’s July already June turned out to be a lot busier than I expected and so did not get a chance to upload an episode. July is a lot more calm so I am hoping to get the next episode up by the end of this month. Here are the topics I discuss in this current episode - I talk about: Recognizing and using the transitions from one task to another in our day to get back in control of our emotions Learning to let go of our negative labels that we give ourselves - like damaged or broken Understanding the difference between self-esteem and self compassion Using meditation to help our minds stay positive Using compassion to heal the cracks in our psyche Using compassion to rebuild the damaged pieces of ourselves How to transform the fear in my life to compassion for myself and other In the next episode, I will discuss how to better understand our own emotions and how to get in touch with them, work with them and not be afraid of them. In the mean time, may all who come in contact with this podcast and everyone they come in contact with find peace, joy and contentment - Take care - Yangchen

Hello One and All - Glad to be back with you again. I have made it to the 20th episode :>  Very happy - Very excited that the numbers of people downloading the podcasts keeps increasing - So glad that is happening. Going to keep trying to improve the content of each podcast to be of benefit for everyone who suffers with PTSD and finds Buddhist teachings can help them feel better. This episode is called “What Happens When My What About Me Gets Threatened?” In this episode I talk about the following topics: How to use meditation to keep our mind calm during stressful moments in our lives How to use Analytical Meditation to probe into how to use our mind to let go of our negative emotions How to begin to understand that we are not so permanent and unchanging as it appears we are and why that is important. How to learn to relax and not take the labels we give ourselves and others give us as so concrete and absolutely true To have compassion for our own what about me so that we can in turn have compassion for others’ what about mes. Why we defend our What About Mes so strongly and how to begin to understand that we don’t have to - we can be more gentle and relaxed about who we think we are despite our PTSD symptoms. Next month I am going to dig deep into the me inside myself and how I can understand it better, have compassion for it and forgive it. In the mean time, I hope you find peace and contentment in your life this coming month. Take care - Yangchen

Hello everyone - I hope all are well - Well, I survived my trip back home and wanted to share with you what practices I have been talking about in these episodes worked for me in a real world setting and which did not and in the process, talk about the following: How using the phrase “abandon all hope for results” can help deal with expectations we have that can cause us suffering when reality does not meet the expectation. How learning more of the laws of karma - cause and effect - can help us see and correct the negative patterns in our lives How to see our emotions - especially our strong ones for what they really are so we can deal with them How to use the practice of rejoicing in the good fortune and deeds of others to make us happier How to let go of our fear in scary situations How using the practice of patience can derail our anger before things get ugly How to use meditation to remain present in the moment in order to access our positive qualities and let go of our negative ones Thanks to everyone who is listening to these podcasts - please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Next month’s topic will be how to deal with our ego when it does not get what it wants. Take care and be well - Namaste - Yangchen

Sorry about missing last month - there were technical difficulties in my recording and I was away in Florida for vacation In the episode I talk about: Whether guilt should be used to classify PTSD How we can lessen guilt by breaking it down into parts How to understand our relationship with guilt How to use mindfulness meditation to be in the present moment and not in the past where guilt is How to change guilt into a more proactive action such as remorse or regret How to begin to rely upon friends, family and spiritual leaders and practices to lessen guilt How to resolve not to feel guilty and to use this resolve to give us confidence Different ideas we can meditate on to improve our relationship with guilt when we are in the world and not in a mediation session The next podcast (which Buddha willing and the creek don’t rise will be next month about this time) will be on how well I was able to use the ideas and concepts that I have been discussing in these podcasts when I went back home to see my family and friends in Florida See you next time Take care - Yangchen

Hello everyone and happy New Year - I hope you had a really wonderful holiday season full of great times, peace and joy and that will continue into this new year - So for the new year - Here is episode 17 called “How To Deal With An Uncertain Future” In This Episode I discuss: How Meditation can help us live more happily in the present moment How having PTSD can freeze us in time so we don’t grow and thrive How to understand that the nature of our world is to change and how to let us be at peace with that How living in the present moment helps shape our future for the better How living in the present moment helps us let go of the suffering of the past, which helps us shape our future for the better How to see ourselves not as permanent and unchangeable but as people able to change and accept what happens in our lives and grow and flourish How to see the present as something that is changing moment to moment and not be afraid of the change How by living in the now it takes the fear out of living in the future The next podcast will be about ways of dealing with guilt. So, thanks to everyone who listens to these podcasts -

Hello one and all - Happy holidays - As promised here is the holiday episode called 8 potential emotional pitfalls of the holiday season In this episode I talk about: Dealing with the what the Buddhists call the 8 worldly concerns and how they apply to the holiday season Discuss how to deal with the desire for becoming well known for doing things Discuss how to deal with the fear of being insignificant Discuss why we believe our emotions more than our reason and logic Do meditation to calm our minds and learn to recognize our emotions as they arise before they come out in the form of harmful actions Talk about dealing with pitfalls of not getting what you want Talk about how to deal with getting what you don’t want and how meditation can help us with disappointments that arise in our life  Discuss how to not to attach too much anticipation to holiday festivities so we don’t get disappointed Discuss how to deal with pain by working on not giving so much power to our memories of the past Discuss how to deal with life when we are blamed for doing things Discuss how to deal with the differences between getting and wanting praise And for the new year, the next podcast will be how to cope and deal with an uncertain future.  May your holidays be peaceful and joyous Many blessings - Gyalten

Hello there - Glad to be back with you This is the 15th episode called Transforming Difficult situations into positive ones. In this episode I talk about How to use meditation to let go of our resentments How to transform the way we see ourselves from negative into positive In what ways transforming the way we see ourselves is beneficial How we can transform ourselves to make life easier on our friends, relatives and loved ones How we can transform ourselves to better deal with people we don’t get along with How letting go of our need and craving for specific outcomes and results of our actions is beneficial The next podcast will deal with how to overcome 8 major issues that can often increase our PTSD symptoms especially around the holidays. Thanks so much for listening - and much peace to you

Hello there - I am happy that I am able to bring you a new podcast less than a month after the last one - hopefully this trend will continue Here is what I talk about in this - the 14th episode In this episode I talk about: Becoming aware of going through our lives on automatic pilot What to do once we become aware that we are How meditation helps us become aware of living in the present moment The importance of thinking about our motivation for doing an action before we do it How finding a positive motivation for what we do can improve our mental health How thinking about our motivation can help us lessen the power of negative PTSD episodes How meditation helps strengthen our desire to create positive motivations in our lives instead of the old habitual negative or neutral motivations The next episode will be dealing with how to transform difficult situations we face as PTSD sufferers into ones we can handle - And there is a surprise for all those who listen - Thanks so much for everyone who listens to these podcasts and to all those who are following me - it means a lot - Please let me know if I can do anything to improve - In the mean time take care and hope you find peace - Namaste - Yangchen

Hello there - I am happy to be finally bringing you episode 13 - I have finished the project I was doing here where I live and have just ended an amazing retreat so I finally have a lot of time and a lot of fresh and wonderful content to use for the next podcast which I promise will be done by the end of this month. In this current podcast I work with a technique used by Buddhists on how to improve our positive qualities and how to let go of our negative ones.  And I have been able to use this technique to get back and improve many of the qualities that I lost or was never able to nurture as a result of being a PTSD sufferer and so I hope this technique works for you as well. In this podcast: I discuss the possibility of using this technique to improve or regain our positive qualities lost by having PTSD I explain the technique which involves using visualization combined with meditation to improve and regain our positive qualities and let go of our negative ones We do stabilizing meditation to help our minds focus on a single object and not jump around so much from thought to thought I discuss the 3 most important basic qualities to meditate on - regaining our wisdom, compassion and being grounded in ethical awareness I talk about how important it is to do something with the right motivation I lead a meditation on how to use the visualization technique to improve our positive qualities and let go of our negative ones I share this technique which as I said works for me in hopes that at least to a small degree this helps you grow the positive qualities that have been keeping you from being your best - If you have any questions, comments or concerns, don’t hesitate to let me know. The next podcast will be a discussion of why we do what we do and how to let go of our negative mindsets that keep us trapped as PTSD sufferers. Namaste -

Hello - At long last a new podcast The volunteer work I am doing where I live is taking a lot of time and so I have not been able to do as many podcasts as I want recently - But here is the 12th one - Reconnecting Our Mind with Our Heart To be candid, I am not sure this is my best podcast but what I was trying to do in it was: Talk about how we can develop our wisdom to understand and live in accordance with how the world really works To explore how to deepen our compassion for ourselves especially around the subject of labels To discuss why having compassion for ourselves is so important in the first place To explore how labels that we and others give us keep us from being fully compassionate for ourselves To use meditation to explore what it would feel like to really have compassion for ourselves To explore how we can combine our wisdom; our minds, and compassion; our hearts to become a complete person In the next podcast we will explore how to use Buddhist teachings as a fast track to let go of our negative stuff and embrace our positive stuff in a rather surprising way. Thanks so much for everyone who is following me on Twitter and Podbean.  I will keep working to create the best content I can that will be of the most benefit. If you have any comments, I would love to hear them or any suggestions for what topics you would like to hear, or would like to share your thoughts as part of the podcast, please let me know. I hope everyone finds compassion for themselves and therefore is happier in their lives. Take care - Yangchen

Hello everyone - I hope everyone is well and happy I am happy to finally bring you podcast number 11 about how to take the fear out of things that change in our lives For me as a PTSD sufferer fear used to scare me a lot because it put me on shaky ground to know what to do or how to act So in this podcast I discuss the following ways Buddhist teachings have helped me get over my fear of when things change I talk about: How Buddhism teaches us how to deal with things as they really exist - which is that change is a constant How recognizing and accepting that things are always changing can help us be more present and focused in the moment - especially with the help of doing meditation How understanding things change helps us live in the present moment more completely and therefore we are not so worried about our future because we are creating it by living fully in the now Through meditation how to begin to learn to live fully in the now How understanding that all things change helps us realize that we don’t have to define ourselves by labels we give ourselves in the past How doing meditation can help us work with our own issues around the ultimate change - death and how to not have so much fear surrounding that subject  Thanks to everyone who is listening - I am getting about 90 downloads now per episode - Hear’s prayers that all symptoms of PTSD vanish asap. Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts - Namaste - Yangchen

This podcast is episode 10 - yay! It deals with ways to recover your sense of trust and faith in yourself and your world once you have lost it to PTSD. In this episode  I discuss: How stabilizing meditation helps keep you centered in the present moment which is a key element to rediscovering you own innate inner wisdom and faith again How understanding karma; cause and effect can help strengthen your sense of trust in the world How understanding that the nature of the world is impermanent can be beneficial in restoring our sense of trust in the world  How to start trusting ourselves and the world again by understanding better how our emotions work And how we can restore our faith and trust in ourselves and the world by living more in accordance with the way the world really works instead of always fighting against it Plus we will do some analytical meditation to help us rekindle our own innate wisdom and compassion The next episode will be dealing with really getting in touch with how the world really works according to Buddha’s teachings as opposed to how we are told it works and how we function in it and how we can use this information to improve our own peace of mind and live more peaceful lives. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. Thanks for all of you who are listening   

In this podcast I discuss: How to use meditation to see the nature of our minds How seeing the nature of our minds helps us to let go of anger and be more patience What in the world is wrong with having anger anyway Understanding the nature of anger How to use our wisdom to lessen the power of anger in our lives and become more patient How to use diffuse the anger we carry from past wrongs How to be more compassionate with ourselves and therefore much more patient in our lives How I’ve been able to let go of my own anger through practicing patience For the next podcast, I thought I would talk about the journey I took to regain faith in my life and in the world by using Buddhist teachings, I hope everyone is happy and well. I am grateful to everyone who listens to these podcasts - Please let me know of you have any thoughts, ideas, questions or comments - Until next time -

In this podcast: I talk a bit about how jealousy has kept me back from living a full, productive life especially where my career is concerned I discuss how the world seem so narrow and unfriendly when we are jealous and what can be done to get around that We do a stabilizing meditation to help us learn to recognize negative thoughts when they arise before they turn into full blown jealousy We think about how we can use the laws of karma to figure out what actions to do to keep us from becoming jealous. I Explore the “all about me-ness” of jealousy and how to change our focus to be more aware of the needs of others in our lives. I talk about how jealousy is really created in our minds and therefore we can use our minds to stop it from derailing our lives. We explore what causes jealousy to arise within us to begin with and what we can do to keep it from even showing its green  eyed face. And I reveal a secret way - my favorite way to deal with jealousy. Since I am still working on this project here where I live, the next podcast will probably be a bit late too but hopefully worth the wait as it will be dealing with patience - I know I can’t wait to get that one to you :>

I’m back and happy to bring you the final episode of 4 on how to use Buddhist teachings to deal with fear. As I say in the podcast this one is probably the most enigmatic.  I hope you can get some benefit from it. Please let me know what you think Here are the topics I deal with in this podcast Tools to use to take the fear out of the things that trigger us How stabilizing meditation can calm our minds and help us catch our thoughts before they turn into fear To come to terms with the idea that fear does not truly reside and is not inherently manifest in external objects or within our bodies To come to terms with the fact that fear begins as a thought and thoughts can change moment to moment which means that neither our thoughts nor fear are as permanent as they appear to us To explore the idea that we might not be as solid or concrete as we think we are and how knowing that gives fear less power over us To explore the impermanence of fear and by doing so, fear’s power over us is diffused. Next week we will be discussing how having PTSD can limit our activities and how to deal with the frustrations when the encounter this.

In this episode I talk about how understanding karma in our lives can help us get rid of fear by Understanding a bit about karma so we can use it to make choices that take us away from our fears Understanding how using positive karma can help us let go of thoughts that bring about our anxieties Understanding negative karma Here’s where the tough love comes in - Using the understanding of karma to accept the responsibilities for our actions so we don’t repeat them and keeps us in fear Understanding that karma is predictable and so helps reduce the feeling of unpredictability in our lives Plus we’ll do a meditation that will help us learn how to recognize fearful thoughts as they arise in our minds so we can let them go before they take control of our lives The next episode - which is the last one on how to deal with fear by understanding the Buddhist teachings on Emptiness will be ready on Wednesday, May 20 I’m glad to announce that the audience for this podcast is growing - So, thanks for tuning in And let me know if you want to be a part of the podcast or want to hear a podcast on a specific Buddhist topic.

Welcome to Podcast 5 This is my 2nd in a series of 4 podcasts on how to use various Buddhist teachings to reduce the fear we feel in our lives In this current podcast I:   Share some more about my own life  Talk about the importance of having compassion for yourself How having compassion for yourself helps reduce our fears Talk about having compassion for others Share how I discovered the benefits of truly having compassion for others Explore how having compassion for others reduces our fears, helps us be more present in the moment and empowers us to be proactive during fearful situations and not be defeated or victimized by them. And as usual we do a stabilizing meditation to keep us grounded and analytical meditation to help us discover how having compassion for ourselves and others can reduce our fear  The next episode will deal with karma and fear -   Hope to see you here for that one next week  In the mean time, many blessings