Category: Spirituality

Awakening the Body

Tami Simon speaks with Will Johnson, the founder and director of the Institute for Embodied Training. For more than 30 years, Will has taught Buddhist meditation and practiced Rolfing, and has developed a unique blend of these two techniques for having a fully embodied meditation practice. He is the author of the books The Posture of Meditation and The Spiritual Practices of Rumi, and with Sounds True he has created the audio learning course Awakening the Body: The Path of Somatic Surrender. In this episode, Tami speaks with Will about how his work as a Rolfer has shaped his approach to meditation, how we can balance all of our perceptions to open ourselves to a complete experience of life, and how the Sufi practice of gazing can lead us to embodied awakening. (63 minutes)

The Trickster Redeemer: Woof, Woof, Wanna Play?

Tami Simon speaks with Caroline Casey, whose unique fusion of astrology, compassionate social activism, esoteric spiritual wisdom, and humor is known to audience internationally. Caroline hosts “The Visionary Activist Show” on KPFA in the San Francisco Bay area. With Sounds True, she is the author of the audio learning course Visionary Activist Astrology and the audio program Making the Gods Work For You: The Astrological Language of the Psyche. In this playful yet insight-filled discussion, Tami speaks with Caroline about the myths that are most relevant to our culture at this time, the cultural forces surrounding 2012, and how we can invite the “trickster redeemer” to play an essential role during this time when we most need it. (67 minutes)

Cynthia Bourgealt: Encountering the Wisdom Jesus

Tami Simon speaks with Cynthia Bourgeault, an Episcopal priest, author, and teacher of prayer in the contemplative Christian tradition. She is the principle teacher and advisor to the Contemplative Society and the founding director of the Aspen Wisdom School. Cynthia is the author of The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, and with Sounds True she has created the audio learning course Encountering the Wisdom Jesus and the audio program Singing the Psalms. In this episode, Tami and Cynthia speak about “kenosis,” or self-emptying, as the center point of Jesus’ message, how we can understand Jesus’ life as a sacrament, and how love lives on beyond death. (53 minutes)

The Guru Question

Tami Simon speaks with Mariana Caplan, PhD, a psychotherapist, cultural anthropologist, and professor of yogic and transpersonal psychologies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She is the author of six books in the fields of psychology and spirituality, including Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path and her newest book with Sounds True, The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher. In this episode, Tami speaks with Mariana about who needs a dedicated spiritual mentor, what to look for and what to avoid when seeking a teacher for yourself, and the path of “conscious discipleship”—what it means to be a great student. (72 minutes)

Being With Dying

Tami Simon speaks with Joan Halifax, who is an anthropologist, Buddhist teacher, and the author of The Fruitful Darkness, Shamanic Voyages, and The Human Encounter with Death, co-written with Dr. Stanislav Grof. In 1994, Joan created a project called “Being with Dying” to help health care professionals learn how to care for dying patients in a compassionate, mindful fashion—and which was the source for her Sounds True audio training course, Being With Dying: Contemplative Practices and Teachings. In this episode, Joan speaks about the powerful insights on living that she has learned from her years of caring for the dying—including the greatest gift that we can give another person. (67 minutes)

Hank Wesselman: Kahuna Wisdom

Tami Simon speaks with Hank Wesselman, who has a PhD in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley, and for many years studied the origin of the human species in the Rift Valley in East Africa. He is also a student and teacher of shamanic practices and is the coauthor of the Sounds True book Awakening to the Spirit World, with fellow shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman. His new book with Sounds True is The Bowl of Light: Ancestral Wisdom from a Hawaiian Shaman. In this episode, Dr. Wesselman speaks the lessons he learned from his friendship with the late Hawaiian kahuna and wisdom keeper Hale Makua-including a technique called “the bowl of light” that can help us connect to our divine nature, and the vision of an “Ancestral Grand Plan” for humanity. (58 minutes)

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