Ep. 6: Susan Kaiser Greenland — Real World Enlightenment (Mindfulness for Kids & Everyday Life)
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In this episode of Living Dharma, we sit down with Susan Kaiser Greenland—best-selling author, mindfulness teacher, Mind & Life fellow, and a pioneering voice in bringing contemplative practice into schools and family life.
Susan shares her path into meditation through a family health crisis, the challenges of a strong “thinking mind,” and how her legal training helped her navigate secular education settings with precision and care. We explore her foundational principle—“serve the child in front of you now”—and what she’s learned about attention, regulation, and humility from decades of working with young people. Susan also discusses her recent book Real World Enlightenment: Discovering Ordinary Magic in Everyday Life, and offers grounded reflections on practicing compassion and democratic values amid collective anxiety and polarization.
A rich, practical conversation about awareness, love, compassion, wisdom—and finding ordinary magic in everyday life.
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- 2:19Welcome + introductions
- 2:47Applying Dharma in daily life
- 5:12The “lawyer mind” + meditation
- 8:24Origin story: first exposure to meditation
- 13:02Yearning + glimpses of spaciousness
- 17:28The spark to teach children
- 19:19Early Inner Kids experiments
- 23:25Mingyur Rinpoche + kids: the throne story
- 24:49From law to classrooms: volunteering → UCLA research
- 30:39Neurodiversity + “serve the child in front of you now”
- 36:06Start small: the watchmaker principle
- 38:07Scaling mindfulness: where it goes wrong
- 42:07Teaching the system around the child
- 44:47Drop the expert mindset: listen + name what’s already working
- 49:15Regulation + attention: it’s a spectrum
- 53:14Real World Enlightenment: writing process + core ideas
- 59:45Tergar Schools: what’s distinct + “water” model
- 1:05:51From “bulldozer” to softness
- 1:06:11Our current predicament: naming the moment
- 1:07:32Speaking up without partisan preaching
- 1:08:45Democracy as practice
- 1:09:06Practical steps: regulate, stay local, act small
- 1:11:01Hosts reflect + gratitude
- 1:12:01Susan’s resources
- 1:13:01Farewell
- 1:13:37Outro: review, share, support