Ep. 136 - The Heart Sutra, Groundlessness, Joy, and Crumbling Patriarchy with Susan Piver
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
Release Date: 03/07/2025
Ep. 162 - One Samsara After Another: An End To Gun Violence and The First Precept
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
After a heavy weekend on Earth, Ethan discusses violence and gun violence via the mass shootings at his alma mater of Brown University and the Jewish community in Sydney at Bondi Beach, along side the movie One Battle After Another and the murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer. Ethan contemplates the first precept (to refrain from killing) as both a personal and a political practice. He also argues that the American love of “free speech” and our widespread addiction to guns are directly at odds with each other, and as a society, we must either choose guns or speech and can’t have...
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Ep. 161 - Cover The World In Leather - Seeking Stability with Dan Harris
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
Ethan welcomes , one of the leading voices in the mindfulness movement, for a live (and lively) conversation about the quest for stability in an unstable world, and to present the . When Ethan mentioned a classic quote from the Indian master Shantideva about “covering the world in leather,” Dan responded with one of his slightly irreverent and not-safe-for-the-monastery quips. It was a great conversation. Check it out! A former ABC news anchor, is the bestselling author of 10% Happier and Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. He hosts the . You can follow his work and subscribe to his...
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Ep. 160 - The Cosmic Joke: Developing A Sense of Humor Along The Path
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
The path of awakening is often treated as serious business for serious people. This approach can make us rigid about our experience of reality, when what we want to develop is greater flexibility, appreciation, and openness to ouselves and others. For that, we need the path to include a great sense of humor. So when is the spiritual path funny? When is humor an obstacle or a neurotic defense mechanism? How can comedy point us toward Ultimate Truth? In this solo episode, Ethan explores where comedy and humor aid the path, where they might lead us astray, and why you should crack up every once...
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Ep 159. - Radical Change with Adriana DiFazio
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
is joined by old friend and teacher Adriana DiFazio for a wide ranging discussion of the limitations of a Western Buddhism that focuses on individualism, individual liberation, and “secular” practice. They discuss how to create a Dharma that is more focused on intersectionality and systems, along with a truly spiritual approach. Enjoy! is a Buddhist meditation teacher, scholar, chaplain, and parent whose work explores the intersections of Buddhism, critical theory, and social change. Her teaching emphasizes the dharma as a collective and liberatory practice, grounded in both personal and...
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Ep. 158 - Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Buddhist Socialism, and Standing (or Sitting) For Something
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
How did NYC become the epicenter of all the tensions and promise of American society and politics, and do the Buddhist teachings have anything to offer to understanding this political moment? Using the rise of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in his home city—a city of perpetual immigrants—Ethan explores themes of community engagement, sangha, social democracy and the power of standing up for what you believe in to talk about this chaotic (yet potent) moment on Earth. Please support the podcast via and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Additional links and show notes are...
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Ep. 157 - How Am I (Really?) Doing: The Power of Accurate Self-Assessment
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
Drawing on concepts from his latest book, , Ethan explores how it is that our self-assessment can be so off the mark so frequently, especially when it comes to seeing our progress along a long-term path like meditation, or the deeper journey of spiritual and psychological . Why is it so hard assess our traits, and to see our strengths as well as our stuck places, clearly? How can we overcome our negativity bias and meet the inner critic more skillfully in everyday life. What does it mean to develop clarity when asking ourselves the question: “How am I doing, really?” Please support the...
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Ep. 156 - The Myth of (Conditional) Freedom
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
Ethan is back with a solo episode to discuss the Buddhist experience of liberation and (moksha) and how we can glimpse an experience it in our awareness and meditation practice. He also discusses the related question of the collapsing American mythology of “freedom.” In the discussion, he highlights several categories of freedom, first “conditional” freedom versus “unconditional” freedom. Then he discusses individual, or personal freedom versus “collective” freedom. Please support the podcast via and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Additional links and...
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Ep. 155 - What Should a Teacher Say? with Francesca Cervero
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
Ethan is joined by friend and yoga teacher to talk about becoming a teacher as a livelihood, the duty of the teacher when it comes to building community in a post-pandemic world, and how to be clear and open with students about the ethical teachings of Buddhism and yoga in a world of chaos, violence and oppression. Francesca Cervero (she/her) has been a full time yoga and meditation teacher since 2005 and offers private and group yoga classes as well as yoga teacher mentoring and education. She is the host of the podcast “” and you can find out more about her work at Please support the...
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Ep. 154 - How Do I Know If I’m Enlightened?
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
In this episode, Ethan discusses the crucial question of “enlightenment,” better translated as “awakening.” What does this word mean? What doesn’t it mean? How would we know if we were really there? Is awakening a big deal? And most importantly, how can we glimpse it, or notice the glimpses we are already having of our awakening, and build off of those powerful moments with confidence in our development? Please support the podcast via and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Additional links and show notes are available . Paid subscribers will receive occasional...
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Ep. 153 - You Won’t Heal Until You Love It : Inside The Neurological Storm with Reggie Hubbard
The Road Home with Ethan Nichtern
16 months ago, yoga/meditation/sound teacher Reggie Hubbard had a near-death experience, a major stroke. He visits the podcast to describe the experience of his "neurological storm" and the path of collapse and healing that he's been on ever since, and how it has profoundly affected his views as a practitioner, teacher, and his views of the neurological storm that the United States and the world is currently experiencing. If there's such a thing as a "must-listen" episode of this podcast, this it it. Reggie Hubbard is a senior political strategist, certified yoga and meditation teacher,...
info_outlineEthan welcomes bestselling author and Dharma teacher Susan Piver for a discussion of the groundlessness of our current world framed through her new book Inexplicable Joy: On The Heart Sutra. If you'd like to read a translation of this classic Buddhist text, you can find that on Ethan's Substack.
Susan Piver is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including The Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships and The Buddhist Enneagram: Nine Paths to Warriorship. Her most recent book is Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra.
Susan has been a student of Buddhism since 1993, graduated from a Buddhist seminary in 2004 and began to teach meditation in 2005. In 2014, she founded The Open Heart Project, an online dharma center with nearly 20000 members.
Please support the podcast via Substack and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more!
Check out all the cool offerings at our sponsor Dharma Moon, including the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training, starting March 21. Free video courses, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download.