An international speaker and teacher on the topics of mindfulness and positive psychology, Cory Muscara is passionate about helping people find real peace. He believes that when people are deeply fulfilled, they are a better force in the world for other beings, the environment, and their communities.

For the past few years, he has taught mindfulness-based leadership at Columbia University and currently serves as an assistant instructor for the positive psychology graduate program at the University of Pennsylvania.

A graduate of the 2-year Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader training, Cory also has several years of extensive professional training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), completed certification with Mindful Schools & Search Inside Yourself, and has trained in Mindfulness-Based Inquiry, Breathworks Chronic Pain with Vidyamala Burch, the Trauma Institute led by Bessel Van der Kolk, and a 6-month relational meditation training in “circling” through Circling Europe. He is a 200-hour hatha yoga teacher, certified NLP & Eriksonian Hypnosis practitioner, and an Integrative Health Coach through Duke Integrative Medicine.

In 2012, Cory spent 6 months in silence living as a monk, meditating 14+ hours each day, and now aims to bring the teachings of mindfulness to people in a practical and usable way, presenting to schools, organizations and the general public. He has been featured multiple times on the Dr. Oz show, is a teacher on the Simple Habit and 10% Happier meditation apps, and his meditations have been heard more than 5 million times in over 50 countries.

Follow Cory Muscara on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corymuscara/
Check out Cory's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@cory.muscara/featured

00:03:59 – Introduction from Cory
00:06:00 – Cory’s entry into mindfulness and meditation

00:16:32 – Various trainings and modalities Cory has explored
00:27:45 – Participant question: Is there something that can propel me to put myself out there more (as a teacher)?
00:32:50 – Not overstepping our expertise as a teacher
00:34:56 – “How do you know when you are ready to teach?”
00:39:40 – Participant question: How do you delineate with clients the secular, science-based mindfulness practice and those of the Buddhist tradition?
00:47:10 – Exercise: Take your normal teachings and explore them with different language
00:53:14 – “Do meditation teachers need to attend a silent retreat or Vipassana retreat?”
01:07:55 – Role-modelling vulnerability
01:11:50 – Mindfulness operates on a vertical plane
01:17:49 – Importance of bringing mindfulness into relationship
01:18:28 – Subject-object theory (Robert Kegan)
01:21:41 – Creating safety and the importance of safety
01:25:00 – Four forms of safety
01:29:08 – Developing a sense of social safety
01:34:28 – Creating psycho-social safety
01:36:50 – Spiritual safety: Is it okay to let go of ‘me’?
01:50:35 – Participant reflection: Exploring the idea of ‘transcendence’