Ep. 330 – Becoming Kinder: 49 Years of Friendship, Practice, and Insight with Sylvia Boorstein

Celebrating Sylvia Boorstein’s 90th birthday, Jack and Sylvia reflect on 49 years of friendship, meditation, and Dharma practice—and how awakening ultimately expresses itself through kindness, connection, and a willingness to stay amazed.

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This week on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield shares:

• Sylvia’s journey through the Buddhist teachings of impermanence, suffering, and selflessness, and how intellectual understanding gradually becomes lived realization
• Jack and Sylvia’s 49 years of friendship, from her early meditation and kundalini experiences to their travels, teaching, and shared life in the Dharma
• How decades of mindfulness and metta practice made Sylvia not only kinder, but happier and more responsive to the needs of others
• Meeting ourselves and one another with loving awareness, remembering our interconnectedness, and staying amazed by the mystery of being alive

This episode was originally recorded for a special Spirit Rock Monday Night Meditation and Talk in July 2026 celebrating Sylvia Boorstein’s 90th Birthday. Watch the next one at SpiritRock.org

About Sylvia Boorstein:

Sylvia Boorstein, PhD, is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught Dharma and mindfulness since 1985. A psychologist, author, and gifted storyteller, she makes Buddhist teachings accessible by emphasizing that everyday life is mindfulness practice. Her work integrates meditation, kindness, engaged citizenship, and social activism. Learn more about Sylvia at SylviaBoorstein.com“We remind each other of our freedom and our possibility. We are so deeply interwoven in the energy field of consciousness itself, and when you know it, whatever you do becomes benevolent in some really deep way.”

"The shortest way to say what happened to me in 49 years is: I became kind. Seymour said, ‘No, you were always kind.’ And I said, ‘Well, then I became kinder.’ And the big surprise for me after all this time is that I’m also happier.” – Sylvia Boorstein

About Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield, PhD trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practice to the West, has taught internationally since 1974, and is the author of 16 books which have sold 2 million copies.

Stay connected with Jack and explore his latest offerings at JackKornfield.com. Sign up for his free weekly email teachings, explore his transformational online courses, access his complete course library through the All Access Pass, or join his monthly livestreams and online community. Jack’s latest book, All In This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World is out now!

“We remind each other of our freedom and our possibility. We are so deeply interwoven in the energy field of consciousness itself, and when you know it, whatever you do becomes benevolent in some really deep way.” –Jack Kornfield

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