Vipashyana - Deconstructing Yourself

The Vipashyana Stack January 14, 2025 - Good. Now, look at the mirror. What is this mirror of vivid experience? Look at it. Let the mirror of vivid experience see itself, not as some kind of imagination,… Read More »

A Conversation with Sam Harris December 2, 2023 - Host Michael Taft speaks with author, philosopher, and neuroscientist Sam Harris about aspects of meditation, the fusion of vipassana and nondual practice as the “gold standard” for practitioners, insights into… Read More »

Effortless Resting in the Vast Space of Awareness August 30, 2022 - We rest as bright, clear, awake awareness and that we can rest in. And when we're resting as awareness, awareness is not a tennis shoe and a dryer, it's a… Read More »

Like Wind in a Vast, Empty Sky July 19, 2022 - This is nondual or essence tradition meditation. Some of these traditions include the Tibetan traditions of Dzogchen and Mahamudra. There's Hindu traditions of Advaita Vedanta and also nondual Shaiva Tantra.… Read More »

Effortless Awareness that is Always Present May 16, 2022 - There's nothing to change. There's nothing to fix. There's nothing to control. There's nothing to manipulate. There's nothing to make better. There's nothing wrong at all. There's nothing at all… Read More »

Shamatha and Vipashyana Support Each Other June 23, 2021 - https://youtu.be/7A9F_-Srot4 Nondual guided meditation by Michael Taft Shamatha (i.e. calming and focusing) and Vipashyana (special insight) are two different practices that can be used in combination to increase the effectiveness… Read More »

How to Do Nondual Vipashyana June 4, 2021 - https://youtu.be/1TkVzzgT868 Nondual Guided Meditation by Michael Taft Lots of you have been highly trained in vipassana meditation. Vipassana is a word in Pali (a dead language used only in ancient… Read More »

Emptiness of Mental Imagery March 2, 2021 - https://youtu.be/LxgKY3Jo5Gk Nondual Guided Meditation with Michael Taft Mental imagery is a major component of thinking for a human being. However, How much of this mental imagery is available to conscious… Read More »

Exploring Emptiness in the Breath February 26, 2021 - https://youtu.be/EENZpHirXvQ Nondual Guided Meditation with Michael Taft One of the core practices of the nondual traditions of Buddhism (also known as "essence" or "direct path" traditions) is vipashyana. This is… Read More »

Nondual Vipashyana on the Vanishing of Perceptions January 8, 2021 - https://youtu.be/De5EeUr7l98 Nondual Guided Meditation by Michael Taft 1:00 - Shamatha31:05 - Vipashyana on perception of various content: sounds, emotions, thoughts. Particularly noticing their vanishing.1:01:00 - Dharma talk and Q&A Contribute… Read More »

Nondual Vipashyana on Experience Arising November 9, 2020 - https://youtu.be/rn5rkO-EFmU Guided Meditation with Michael Taft One hour guided meditation, followed by a dharma talk and Q&A. In all the meditations from Michael (labeled "nondual") there is a structure behind… Read More »

Nondual Investigation of Mind October 15, 2020 - https://youtu.be/KoIxjfOdrQA Guided Meditation by Michael Taft This one-hour nondual guided meditation is followed by commentary and a Q&A session. Meditation begins at 00:01. - Rousing Bodhicitta- Shamatha with an object-… Read More »

Deconstructing Sensory Experience & Nondual Practice, with Michael Taft, Part 4 March 23, 2020 - https://youtu.be/63MCO0SamEg In this final class (4/4), Michael describes the role of emptiness plays in the model (hint: it is the central concept), and talks about how to work your way… Read More »

Deconstructing Sensory Experience & Nondual Practice, with Michael Taft—Part 3 March 17, 2020 - https://youtu.be/1tdAQxM0t5Q Michael Taft explains his system of understanding meditation experience. With guided meditations. In the third session of this class, we learn more about contacting sensory experience in greater and… Read More »

Hacking the Stack, Pt. 2 March 16, 2020 - https://youtu.be/Q1XAqi6WMr8 Part Two of a Four Part Class at San Francisco Dharma Collective. Michael Taft explains his system of understanding meditation experience. With guided meditations. In the second session of… Read More »

Contacting Vedana March 14, 2020 - https://youtu.be/7xN0U-ukucY Hourlong nondual guided meditation by Michael W. Taft at the San Francisco Dharma Collective. 0- 15 min - shamatha (relaxed focus) 15-30 min - resting in awareness 30 -… Read More »

Hacking the Stack, Part 1 February 16, 2020 - Deconstructing Sensory Experience & Nondual Practice https://youtu.be/52Ei9s8t2Sc In this first class of a four part series, Michael W. Taft discusses his model or map of sensory experience. Here he introduces… Read More »

Reversing the Stack—A Nondual Practice Map—Transcript January 12, 2020 - The following is a transcript of this podcast episode: https://deconstructingyourself.com/reversing-the-stack-nondual-practice-map-with-michael-taft.html Transcript Introduction: Welcome to Deconstructing Yourself, the podcast for modern mutants interested in meditation, awakening, emptiness, post-, non-, and un-Buddhism,… Read More »

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Deconstructing Sensory Experience — a Transcript December 19, 2019 - The following is a transcript of this podcast episode: https://deconstructingyourself.com/deconstructing-sensory-experience-with-michael-taft.html Transcript Introduction: Welcome to Deconstructing Yourself, the podcast for modern mutants interested in meditation, awakening, emptiness, post-, non-, and un-Buddhism,… Read More »

Emptiness, Emptiness December 6, 2019 - https://youtu.be/RKqEjv9X8GA Hour long guided meditation on emptiness by Michael Taft. Begins with 15 min of shamatha. Followed by 15 min of contacting the natural mind (i.e. vast spacious awareness). Then… Read More »

Am I Mindful Right Now? with guest Kenneth Folk – Transcript December 3, 2019 - Note: This is a transcript of the podcast episode that you can listen to here. The introductory material has been elided. Michael: Alright, I’m extremely happy to finally be here… Read More »

Reversing the Stack—A Nondual Practice Map, with Michael Taft November 21, 2019 - In this episode, host Michael Taft remixes his map of deconstructing sensory experience, and talks about how to use it to work in nondual traditions. Essentially the idea is to… Read More »

A Map of Deconstructing Sensory Experience with Vipassana November 20, 2019 - by Michael W. Taft This is a map of deconstructing sensory experience using vipassana. It can help you to understand where you are at with your vipassana practice, and what… Read More »

Meditating Down the Stack November 8, 2019 - https://youtu.be/bnKpwU5SKgE Guided mindfulness meditation from the surface of awareness to the very source of awareness. Michael guides the group through a meditation descending through (most of) his vipassana map. One… Read More »

Deconstructing Sensory Experience, with Michael Taft September 24, 2019 - In this episode, host Michael Taft shares a map of deconstructing sensory experience. This is intended to help orient you to your vipassana meditation practice; helping you to understand where… Read More »

Vanishings into the Void August 23, 2019 - https://youtu.be/9WK7bVvW1mU Guided meditation lasting approximately one hour, focused on noticing how all sensory phenomena go from being solid objects, to vibratory activities, to vast spacious awareness. Self and world dissolve… Read More »

Mahamudra Vipshyana on the Moving Mind – Guided Meditation July 19, 2019 - https://youtu.be/O2EdZkVSNPQ Michael Taft teaches this guided meditation called Mahamudra Vipshyana on the Moving Mind. Once we contact vast, spacious awareness clearly, it is possible to observe the arising of thoughts… Read More »

Three Vehicle Investigation June 21, 2019 - A Guided Meditation with Michael Taft https://youtu.be/E9C62kx7t3w In this guided meditation, Michael W. Taft investigates experience through the lenses of the Three Vehicles of Buddhist practice. After an opening breath… Read More »

Allowing Vast, Open Awareness to Do Vipassana June 1, 2019 - https://youtu.be/An00h5Cs2xw Michael Taft leads a guided meditation at the San Francisco Dharma Collective, demonstrating how to contact vast, spacious awareness. Then using that awareness to do vipassana. This technique completely… Read More »

Directly Investigating Awareness May 24, 2019 - https://youtu.be/7Zyek057vGc In this guided meditation, Michael Taft leads practitioners at the San Francisco Dharma Collective through a progressive series of shamatha exercises, followed by vipashyana on awareness itself. Often we… Read More »

How to Escape the Observer Trap April 14, 2019 - https://youtu.be/gQECU2VMjW4 Michael Taft leads a guided mindfulness meditation (from beginning until about 45:00). Variations on open monitoring. Then a Q&A that covers escaping the observer trap (i.e. the feeling of… Read More »

The Liberating Practice of the Fire Kasina – with Daniel Ingram March 27, 2019 - Author and meditation teacher Daniel Ingram speaks with host Michael W. Taft about how the Fire Kasina practice can be used as an insight practice. Subjects include: the background of… Read More »

Deconstructing the Sense of Self – Feb, 2019 February 16, 2019 - https://youtu.be/guX9ZXsPuCk In this program at the San Francisco Dharma Collective, Michael Taft leads a guided meditation (approx 43 min long) on the "focus in" technique (aka "Deconstructing the Sense of… Read More »

How to Deconstruct Yourself December 14, 2018 - by Michael W. Taft The next time you’re talking to yourself, in your mind, ask yourself this question: Who or what is talking to who? Are there two different people… Read More »

Fire Kasina Hints for Shinzen Meditators November 10, 2018 - by Michael W. Taft I recently went to the Fire Kasina retreat on Denman Island, in British Columbia. The group was hosted by Lama Shannon Stein, at a tiny Tibetan… Read More »

What Is Emptiness? An Interview with Rob Burbea September 25, 2018 - by Michael W. Taft (The following is a (fairly) verbatim transcript of a podcast interview I conducted with Rob Burbea. Please let me know if there are any errors in… Read More »

Emptiness, Liberation, and Beauty – with Rob Burbea August 27, 2018 - In this episode host Michael Taft speaks with Rob Burbea about Rob's book, Seeing That Frees, the power of perception (ways of seeing), his creative methods of working with meditation… Read More »

Walking, Nature, and Engaged Buddhism – with Christopher Titmuss August 13, 2018 - In this episode, host Michael W. Taft speaks with senior dharma teacher Christopher Titmuss about yatra—meditative pilgrimage without a destination—the power of nature, the importance of deconstructing the self, the… Read More »

Can You Make Friends with Entropy? May 17, 2018 - by Michael W. Taft One time as a little kid, I burned my hand on a hot stove. My mom gave me a towel with ice cubes in it to… Read More »

Feather Light & Paper Thin, with Shinzen Young June 13, 2017 - Meditation teacher Shinzen Young and host Michael W. Taft talk about the relationship between mindfulness practice (as it is usually defined) and nondual-type practices (or non-practices, if you like), the… Read More »

Am I Mindful Right Now? with guest Kenneth Folk May 21, 2017 - Pragmatic dharma teacher Kenneth Folk and host Michael W. Taft discuss what it means to be mindful, various definitions of being mindful in the moment, the trouble with remaining mindful… Read More »

Follow the Threads — Mindful Awakening June 26, 2016 - by Michael W. Taft Mille viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam When I started meditating in my teens, I believed in Enlightenment. I was going to get to the Big… Read More »

Nonduality and Mindfulness — Two Great Traditions that Go Great Together March 21, 2016 - by Michael W. Taft In the context of American spiritual practice nondual traditions and mindfulness traditions appear to be in sharp contrast. Nonduality is often associated with the “doing nothing”… Read More »

Overcoming Cravings With Mindfulness February 21, 2016 - by Jessica Graham (Watch this video for a very truncated version of the practice described here. And then come back and read the article.) I love popcorn. I have a… Read More »

Michael W. Taft’s Q & A on Reddit February 16, 2015 - The following is a reprint of an interview with the Reddit community that occurred on Sunday, Feb 15, 2015. You can find the original here. I've corrected some typos, added… Read More »

Deconstructing the Perception of the Ego/self May 22, 2014 - by Michael W. Taft Philosopher Thomas Metzinger says, “Nobody ever had or was a self.” Sages and seers have historically instructed us that the ego “doesn’t exist,” and that we… Read More »

The One Mistake You’re Making in Meditation April 18, 2014 - by Michael W. Taft You're drifting in a vast spaciousness. Your body feels highly energized and very relaxed at the same time. Time melts into one, long, deliriously eternal moment.… Read More »

The Mental Fountain—Working with Thoughts in Meditation February 6, 2014 - I first got involved in meditation because my brain hurt. As a teenage Monty Python fan, that’s how I described it at the time. What I meant was that the… Read More »

Escaping the Observer Trap: Free Yourself by Observing the Observer November 28, 2013 - Are you feeling stuck in your mindfulness practice? Did meditation lead to big, positive life changes early on, but now years later you’re just sort of treading water with no… Read More »

Mindfulness Will not Make You Happy October 5, 2013 - People will often say that mindfulness meditation will make you happy. Actually, mindfulness won't do that. It's not about creating or inducing some emotional state. It's about accepting and coping… Read More »