SPP2026: Sesshin Day 1: Joyful Effort

In this first formal talk of the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Monshin takes up virya — the Sanskrit term for joyful effort — as the essential energy of practice. What does it mean to sit day after day with the whole catastrophe of the mind: the boredom, the fear, the stories we tell about ourselves? Drawing on the ox-herding pictures’ imagery of taming, she explores the difference… Source

You can listen to SPP2026: Sesshin Day 1: Joyful Effort online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

SPP2026: Sesshin Day 1: Joyful Effort is an episode from Upaya Zen Center by Joan Halifax | Zen Buddhist Teacher Upaya Abbot.

This episode is 35:03 long.

This episode was published on May 1, 2026.

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