The Garrison Institute Presents: The Common Good

Meditation with Sharon Salzberg: Letting Go of Thought

In this five-minute guided meditation, Sharon invites you to anchor your awareness in the breath while practicing the gentle art of letting go. When thoughts arise, whether pleasant or difficult, you're guided to recognize them as "not breath," release them, and return your attention to the present moment.  You can find more meditations and contemplative resources like this at GarrisonInstitute.org, along with information about our Contemplative-Based Resilience initiative and other programs supporting those who serve our communities.

Sharon Salzberg: Interconnection and the Tools for Real Happiness

In this rich and inspiring conversation, meditation pioneer Sharon Salzberg explores how we move from the “three S’s” of modern life—separate, scared, and selfish—to the “three C’s”: connected, compassionate, and courageous. Sharon shares practical tools from her Real Happiness framework, the annual 28-day meditation challenge, and her decades of work with caregivers, frontline workers, and trauma survivors. She and host Jonathan Rose discuss building a genuine culture of wellness, transforming empathy into sustainable compassion, and understanding our deep interdependence in everyday life. Sharon also offers a glimpse into her upcoming projects, including a children’s book and a new play based on her spiritual journey. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

Konda Mason: Regenerative Justice and Ancestral Healing

Visionary activist and spiritual teacher Konda Mason joins The Common Good to explore how healing the land is inseparable from healing ourselves. In this powerful conversation with Jonathan F.P. Rose, Konda shares the story of Jubilee Justice, a cooperative reclaiming Black agricultural wisdom through regenerative rice farming and community ownership across the American South. She traces rice’s deep African roots, the resilience of its farmers, and how cooperative economics can restore both soil and spirit. Konda also introduces her transformative Journeys Program, where truth-telling, ancestry, and compassion bridge divides of race, land, money, and faith. The episode closes with a grounding practice of ancestral connection—reminding us that joy and reverence are essential tools for justice. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

Meditation with Sharon Salzberg: Listening Deeply

In this five-minute guided meditation, Sharon invites you to tune into the sounds around you. Perfect for a quick reset during a busy day or as part of your regular mindfulness routine, this practice helps you use everyday sounds as gentle anchors to return to the present moment, wherever you are. You can find more meditations and contemplative resources like this at GarrisonInstitute.org, along with information about our Contemplative-Based Resilience initiative and other programs supporting those who serve our communities.

Janine Benyus: Nature’s Universal Patterns of Connection and Growth

In this illuminating conversation, science writer and Biomimicry Institute co-founder Janine Benyus joins Jonathan F.P. Rose to explore nature’s universals—the deep design patterns that guide all living systems. Benyus, known worldwide for pioneering biomimicry, reveals how life creates the conditions conducive to life through cooperation, self-organization, and elegant networked intelligence. From coral reefs and forests to economic and social systems, she shows how natural principles such as right-sizing and distributed abundance can guide human innovation and ethics. Together, they examine how re-embracing our biological literacy can reshape industry, culture, and Western spirituality—inviting us to see the world not as a collection of parts, but as a living, interdependent whole.  We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.