PODCAST · health
Rebel Buddhist
by Ana Verzone
Rebel Buddhist is all about freedom - inside and out - so if you want to tame your mind but not your life, this podcast is for you. In each episode, Master Certified Coach Ana Verzone, DNP, will teach you practical, effective tools from the fields of psychology, eastern spirituality, and self-coaching so you can train your mind to work for you instead of against you. Learn how to get out of your own way and cultivate the compassion and resilience you need for this wild new world. Explore how you can discover your own path to enlightenment and live an adventurous life with no regrets. Start now by downloading the free Rebel Buddhist Training Kit at RebelBuddhist.com
Episodes
-
A Year in Review for Wild Awake Hearts
We’re ending this year with a deep reflection: a year in review for wild awake hearts. You know it’s the end of the year when there you are, just trying to drink your tea in peace, and your feed is full of “Optimize Your 2026,” “New Year, New You,” and shit like that. Meanwhile, the Buddha is...
-
Wherever We Go, There We Are: The Myth of "Geographic Cure"
This is a PSA and reminder for us all that sometimes changing our circumstances (like through a move, leaving our job or a relationship etc) really is the most compassionate, wise, and liberating choice…and sometimes it’s just changing what our suffering looks like on a superficial level. I’ll...
-
Spiritual Audacity
Today we’re exploring what it’s like to live with a kind of inner fire that refuses to stay quiet. Ziji + Spiritual Audacity. A deep, embodied courage that comes from being radically awake in our own lives. We’ll look at how this shows up personally and in the collective, and how choosing to live...
-
Integrating Insights for the Real World - Off the Cushion Part 8
I know it can be fun + inspiring to listen to how to make progress on our path: open our hearts, be more patient, confident, have healthy boundaries, learn to forgive… AND the challenge can be knowing WTF to do with it all on a day-to-day basis. So today, we are wrapping up the off-the-cushion...
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 34 - The Risks of Lovingkindness
This week is a revisit of an episode exploring metta (the Buddhist practice of lovingkindness) and how when we hold back to protect our hearts, we can welcome in more vulnerability, re-opening ourselves to lovingkindness through vulnerability. We’ll jam on what to do when we hit a wall and why we...
-
The Concept of No-Self (and Greater Intimacy) - Off the Cushion Part 7
When everything around us is changing, how do we stay grounded without shutting down? In this week’s episode, we dive into The Three Marks of Existence. Qualities that are true for anything that exists. Yes, anything! We’ll explore impermanence, suffering, and the concept of “not-self” and talk...
-
5 Self-Sabotage Patterns ALL Brains Have - Off the Cushion Part 6
Ever notice how just when your practice starts to deepen, our mind gets loud as hell, distracted, unmotivated, or tired? Don’t worry - it’s totally normal. This week, we’re getting real about what’s known as the Five Hindrances; the craving, aversion, doubt, fear/worry, and existential MEH that...
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 33 - Off the Cushion Into the World
This week’s episode is a special replay on how to step off the cushion and into the world, interweaving our spirituality with activism. We’ll be exploring compassion in action and how to take our practice from our internal work out into the world. Because our world IS what we are. It’s living...
-
The Still Point: Where Freedom Begins - Off the Cushion Part 5
This we wrap up our discussion of the Eightfold Path by talking about 3 components of Meditation/samādhi: Wise Effort, Wise Mindfulness, and Wise Concentration. We’ll talk about how our meditation practice isn’t just to calm the mind, and why we need it now more than ever. Plus I’ll give you some...
-
Remembering Our Humanity - A Lesson of the Ages
We can often think that very few ancient teachings could apply to these historic times, when things seem upended in ways the world has never seen (or so it seems;). This week, we explore lessons that are over 2600 years old that remind us of our humanity and what really matters, no matter the…
more -
Wisdom In Action - Off the Cushion Part 3
This week’s episode continues our Off the Cushion and Into the World series. We’ll try to save ourselves some time and headache by starting to step onto the actual path the Buddha laid out for how to live with more freedom — the Noble Eightfold Path. Today, we focus on the first section: Wisdom…
more -
Our Choices Are More Important Than Luck
This week we dive into something extra personal for me - snapshots of struggles in my own life story. We’ll explore the power of the choices we all make and why we often struggle to believe that we’re just as capable as anyone else to create the life we want. And I’ll give you some encouragement…
more -
Reality Check - Off the Cushion + Into the World Part 2
This week we’re stepping right into the heart of a Buddhist version of a Reality Check. When the Buddha came out of his meditative state, he didn’t run to tell people about all the trippy things he experienced. Instead, he chose his first teaching to be about the Four Noble Truths - the fact that...
-
Off the Cushion and Into the World - Part 1 Intro and the Three Jewels
This week is the first in our Off the Cushion and Into the World series. This series came from multiple requests for a course on Buddhist philosophy and psychology, and I wanted to offer this series on the foundational teachings here on the podcast. As the Dalai Lama said, you don’t have to be...
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 32 - Trusting Yourself and Your OWN Experiences
This week’s episode is all about one of the foundational teachings of Buddhism: ehipassiko. We’ll jam on what it means to “live the question” and why it’s important for us to see things for ourselves instead of relying on others’ experiences. Plus, we’ll talk about how to not judge others for how...
-
Alignment DOESN'T Always Feel Like Flow
This week we talk about the misguided idea that if it’s meant to be, it should be easy, and if it’s hard, it’s a sign that something is NOT meant to be. While there’s some validity to certain experiences like this, it isn’t universally true. In this episode, I share ways you can actually...
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 31 - How to Support Someone Who's Struggling
This week’s episode is about some of the things we can do to help us show up as our best selves when there is someone in our life who has a mental illness. We’ll jam on cultivating practices that help us come to these challenges with more love, compassion + wisdom. Plus I’ll tell you the ONE…
more -
The Ripple Effect (and the story of Bruce)
This week we have some inspiration from my bodhisattva cab driver in Eugene, Bruce. He has intimate knowledge of The Ripple Effect. We’ll jam on how he uses it to make the world a better place through his Soul Work - even more evidence that our soul purpose can have nothing to do with our career....
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 30 - The Two Wings of Freedom
In this episode we talk about the two wings of freedom: wisdom and compassion. I’ll explain the importance of cultivating a balance of both, and what can happen when we are practicing one without the other (HINT: often, more harm than good). We will also go over some tips to help us cultivate…
more -
Would You Still Do It If No One Knew?
This week I ask the question: would you still act in kindness if no one ever knew? We all want to be recognized for our actions - it’s part of our human nature (and our culture). But when we act anonymously, we may find ourselves feeling freer. You will learn: // Why we often want to be…
more -
Letting Others Be Uncomfortable
This week we’ll discuss how it’s ok to make other people and ourselves uncomfortable…even if it makes you want to puke ;) We’ll dive into why discomfort can be a good thing and how to tell if it’s actually harming you. We’ll also talk about the myth of “feel good healing,” and why we need...
-
Sacred Rage
This week we explore something that often makes a lot of people uncomfortable: Sacred Rage. Many of us don’t feel like it’s healthy to express rage, and/or we are thrown or upset when we see others express it. We’ll dive into why rage is actually necessary when it comes from a place of compassion…
more -
Greatest Hits Vol. 29 - It's Time to Let Go
This week’s episode is a special replay on a daily practice we can do to decrease unnecessary suffering - which is what this podcast is all about! It’s completely natural that things end - relationships, careers, objects we adore, and more. Yet we have so much resistance when things do come to an...
-
Spiritual Practice vs Conscious Exploration
This week, we dive into Spiritual Practice vs Consciousness Exploration - and the dangers of not knowing the difference. I’ll talk about how we can use conscious exploration to nurture our spiritual growth (instead of letting it distract us) and how we can approach altered states with caution.…
more -
Freedom Is a Feeling
In this week’s episode, we dive deeper into the concept that freedom is a FEELING - and not only the freedom TO, but freedom FROM. We’ll also jam on when to know it’s time to let go, and how our freedom affects more than just ourselves. You will learn: // Freedom ACTUALLY is (and what it isn’t)…
more -
You Were Made for Joy
This week’s episode is short and potent reminder that joy is your birthright. In remembering our inevitable death and lack of control around it, we discover that we were ALL made for joy. I share a poem from the Persian mystic, Hafez, that is a mic drop moment you’ll want to hear, and invite you…
more -
Greatest Hits Vol. 28 - Re-Evaluating What's "Enough"
In this week’s episode, we revisit my own story of creating my coaching business and how I learned the hard way that defining success and having enough wasn’t just some random number I could throw out and work to achieve. We’ll jam on how to find your own version of “enough” and how that can...
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 27 - Qualities of a Rebellious Mind
This week, we’re throwing it back to an episode celebrating our rebel minds ones. And yes - that means we’re celebrating YOURS, too! We’ll jam on some of my fave concepts and teachings from past episodes and why each one is a rebellious act on its own. Plus, we’ll review some of the most...
-
Everyday Enlightenment
This week’s episode is about enlightenment. We’ll break down one of my current fave quotes by Nisargadatta Maharaj and talk about the paradox of being both empty and full - nothing and everything, in our everyday lives. You will learn: // Why “nothing” isn’t a scary void, but a limitless place of...
-
The Radical Possibility That Things Might Go Right - Optimism
This week we’re going to dive into a simple - but not easy - experiment:mWhat if we assumed shit just might work out for us, instead of worrying it won’t? Join us as we explore this way of thinking that’s 100% available to all of us. You will learn: // Why we often struggle to control how things...
-
Awe and Wonder in Everyday Life
This week we dive into one thing that we all need to cultivate to really experience a good life: AWE. We’ll talk about all the ways we can experience awe (because it’s more than just sunsets and mountain splendor), and some practices we can do to cultivate awe in our daily lives. You will learn…
more -
Wild + Woven - Why We Need Both Nature and People
This week we dive into our Foundational Attachments, exploring our relationships with nature and humans, and why we might see them as separate in the first place. This impacts how we experience the world, as well as how we suffer unnecessarily, AND how we find joy. You will learn: // How we...
-
We Are the Dreams of Our Ancestors
This week, we dive into a truth that we often forget: We are the dreams of our ancestors. Join us as we explore the ways we can honor our ancestors in the lives we live today and how we can move forward in healing their wounds AND ours, not just for our own good, but for the good of our...
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 26 - Lessons in Trust and Interdependence
This week I reflect on a recent visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, and how a simple experience of crossing the street turned into a very healing and eye-opening lesson in trust and interdependence. We’ll talk about how in the US, when it comes to navigating traffic and driving, we are taught to assume we…
more -
Judgment vs Curiosity
This week’s topic is all about judgment and discernment. We can often default to judging situations and people, especially if we've been through trauma and we’re on the lookout for threats. Add to this a history of being gaslit, and it gets even harder to trust our inner wisdom. But understanding...
-
Letting IN to Let GO
This week’s episode is about the importance of letting in what restores and realigns us so that we can let go of what no longer serves us. We’ll talk about the concept of crowding out and how we can use that as a framework to practice letting in wherever we find ourselves stuck in our old…
more -
Greatest Hits Vol. 25 - Risking the Relationship
This week we talk about the importance of showing up authentically in relationships… even when we are afraid the other person won’t accept us for who we are. I’ll share my own story about how my husband and I could have ended it… and how my choice to speak and act wisely changed the course of our...
-
Sacred Discipline
This week’s episode is all about Sacred Discipline - not the authoritarian, “I told you so” type of discipline, but a sacred discipline that comes from creating what WE wants. A Sacred Discipline that can set us free and help us live our Soul Purpose into the world (which, BTW, really needs it...
-
Forgiveness and the Art of Beginning Again
This week’s episode is all about forgiveness as a practice, and beginning again (and again). We often think of forgivensss as a singular act, but if you’ve ever tried to truly forgive, you likely know it’s a process. And if we succeed, it’s also something we might have to go through again when…
more -
Resistance Calisthenics for the Rebel Ones
This week’s episode is all about breaking the rules - really! We’ll jam on why some rules should be broken, and the importance of breaking little rules every day. Plus I’ll tell you some ways you can figure out which rules should be broken in the first place. You will learn: // Why some rules are...
-
Discomfort vs Danger - Safe ENOUGH Spaces
This week we’re going to dive into how discomfort doesn’t always mean danger. We’ll also explore how we need not look for guarantees of complete safety - because nothing can guarantee 100% safety and comfort for everyone. You’ll also learn about some ways we can practice stepping INTO discomfort...
-
What We CAN Do When We CAN'T Do Our Best
This week we talk about what we CAN do when - for myriad reasons - we can’t show up the way we’d like to in the world. We’ll talk about why we tend to ignore the not-so-awakened moments in our practice, and how that actually limits our growth. Plus I’ll tell you how we can look at our journey…
more -
Safety Stillness and Connection - Your Birthright
This week’s episode is a reminder that safety, stillness, and connection are our birthright. We’re going to remember what’s possible, what’s available, and what we most need today, in this moment. And we’re going to explore ways we can tap into all of it, right now, wherever we are. You will…
more -
You Are A Cycle Breaker
This week’s episode is all about being a Cycle Breaker. We’ll dive into our lineage of trauma and wounding, how we’re already doing the work to break the cycle of generational trauma, and what we can do to help others break the cycle for themselves. Yes, even in these times. You will learn: //…
more -
Accepting the Unknown - The Bardo of This Life
This week, we’re talking about how life is full of unpredictability and change and how resisting reality and clinging to the way we think things “should” be leads to unnecessary suffering. We also explore what we can do to learn to let it all BE, without losing our capacity to take actions for a...
-
Choosing to STAY During Challenging Times
This week, we’re diving into an essential topic for these times - how to stay through difficult experiences with others. I’ll talk about the importance of staying with discomfort for the benefit of our community and the more-than-human world around us. Plus we’ll talk about the key elements we…
more -
KINDfulness
This week’s episode is all about the concept of KINDfulness and the way that being mindfully kind can have an impact on our world and our day-to-day lives… for ourselves, for others, and for the more-than-human world around us. After all, the world could use more kindfulness now, more than ever....
-
Greatest Hits Vol. 24 - Helping Someone in Crisis
This week’s episode is an extra special one, as we talk about how we can help each other during a crisis or disaster. I'm sure you agree this is a good time to learn these skills! I'll teach you some super practical tools to use when others are processing a recent crisis, and I’ll tell you some...
-
Patience as Rebellion and Radical Love
Let’s take a deep dive into my word of the year: P A T I E N C E. Not the kind of patience like when we’re waiting in line or sitting quietly while our life happens TO us. I’m talking about the radical, world-shifting practice of patience that rewires how we engage with ourselves, others, and…
more -
The Complexity of Our Awakening
Today we talk about how to assess how “awake” we are in the various areas of our spiritual journey and the complexity of this process. This is essential because we can have made amazing progress in one area of awakening (like spiritual insight) but be still lacking in others (like ethics, or...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Rebel Buddhist is all about freedom - inside and out - so if you want to tame your mind but not your life, this podcast is for you. In each episode, Master Certified Coach Ana Verzone, DNP, will teach you practical, effective tools from the fields of psychology, eastern spirituality, and self-coaching so you can train your mind to work for you instead of against you. Learn how to get out of your own way and cultivate the compassion and resilience you need for this wild new world. Explore how you can discover your own path to enlightenment and live an adventurous life with no regrets. Start now by downloading the free Rebel Buddhist Training Kit at RebelBuddhist.com
HOSTED BY
Ana Verzone
Loading similar podcasts...