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

About this episode

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. Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self. 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