{"podcast":{"title":"Dharma Talks and Sangha Shares","slug":"dharma-talks-and-sangha-shares-7730357","podcast_index_feed_id":7730357,"rss_url":"https://media.rss.com/insight-meditation-houston/feed.xml","website_url":"https://rss.com/podcasts/insight-meditation-houston","image_url":"https://media.rss.com/insight-meditation-houston/20260303_070337_71d115ffd6a81264c6f3ebc0ce8ffde2.jpg","author":"Insight Meditation Houston","episode_count":15,"summary":"What does it mean to truly wake up — not someday, but in this very life? Insight Meditation Houston (\"IMH\") invites you to find out. Rooted in 2,500 years of Vipassana tradition and planted in Houston's spiritual community since 1980, this podcast brings you the liberating teachings of the Buddha — accessible, grounded, and alive for modern practitioners. Each episode can offer guided meditations, Dharma talks, and teachings drawn from the ancient path of insight meditation: the careful, compassionate observation of breath, thought, and emotion that slowly — and then suddenly — changes everything. Whether you're sitting for the first time or deepening a lifelong practice, you'll find here a genuine refuge. Not a performance, not a philosophy debate — just sincere companions on the path, committed to mindfulness, ethical living, and the wisdom that sets the heart free. Join a community that has been quietly, persistently waking up together for over four decades — and discover what it means to meet your own life with presence, clarity, and compassion. All backgrounds welcome. No experience necessary. Just bring yourself. Visit us at our website: insighthouston.org","last_synced_at":"2026-06-17T10:19:49.005023+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/dharma-talks-and-sangha-shares-7730357"},"episode":{"title":"The Digital Fast","slug":"the-digital-fast","published_at":"2026-04-15T15:08:10+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/dharma-talks-and-sangha-shares-7730357/the-digital-fast","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/dharma-talks-and-sangha-shares-7730357","url":"https://rss.com/podcasts/insight-meditation-houston/2738417","audio_url":"https://content.rss.com/episodes/376050/2738417/insight-meditation-houston/2026_04_15_14_56_46_e88c2223-e5ca-40f4-9f62-ee2d0fbb5b48.mp3","summary":"Our phones are designed to capture our attention and they're very good at it. In this talk, Travis Hicks reflects on his annual Lenten practice of giving up social media, and what it reveals about how digital habits shape the mind. Drawing on his own experience with Reddit, a remote monastery retreat, and some statistics about phone use, Travis connects the pull of apps and notifications directly to what we're trying to cultivate in meditation practice: the ability to notice where our attention goes and choose it more intentionally. He looks at how algorithms are built to trigger fear and anger, how novelty-seeking shows up in the mind, and how a period of stepping back can help us see which digital habits actually serve us and which ones are just filler. The talk ends with some practical suggestions and a handful of apps that genuinely support practice, rather than compete with it. About Travis Hicks Travis Hicks has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1995 and teaching since 2005. He completed a two-year teacher training program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center under the guidance of senior teachers in the Theravada tradition. Travis brings a warm, accessible style to the dharma, drawing on both classical Buddhist teachings and contemporary psychology. He leads weekly sittings, daylong retreats, and occasional residential retreats for the IMH community.","meta_description":"Our phones are designed to capture our attention and they're very good at it. In this talk, Travis Hicks reflects on his annual Lenten practice of giving…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1177,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/dharma-talks-and-sangha-shares-7730357/episodes/the-digital-fast/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/dharma-talks-and-sangha-shares-7730357/the-digital-fast.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}