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Meet Your Host Tami Simon
Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.
Author photo © Jason Elias
Most Recent
Iain S. Thomas & Jasmine Wang: Can AI Answer Life...
Mention to someone the words “artificial intelligence,” and chances are you’ll get a very emotional response. For some, the thought of AI triggers fear, anger, and suspicion; for others, great excitement and anticipation.
In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with technologist and philosopher Jasmine Wang along with poet Iain S. Thomas, coauthors of the new book What Makes Us Human? An Artificial Intelligence Answers Life’s Biggest Questions. Whatever your view on AI, we think you’ll find this conversation profoundly interesting and informative!
Listen now as Tami, Jasmine, and Iain discuss the artificial intelligence known as GPT-3; holding an attitude of “critical techno optimism”; finding kinship with digital beings; the question of sentience; the sometimes “hallucinatory” nature of generative AI; the three main aspects of deep learning technology—classification, recommendation, and generation; AI as a creativity compounder; bringing a moral lens to the development and deployment of AI; the central human themes of presence, love, and interconnectedness; acting with intent and living with meaning; and more.
Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
Paulina Porizkova: Aging Beautifully
We’re all beautiful in different ways. To see this beauty in everyone around you only takes a little kindness and patience. This is just one of the many deep insights you’ll hear in this podcast with author and former supermodel Paulina Porizkova. Here, Tami Simon speaks with Paulina about her book No Filter, and how “the world is so full of beauty on every level if you stop to look for it.”
Give a listen as Tami and Paulina talk about the trouble with the word “still”; our cultural bias about youth and beauty; opposing the marketing forces deciding the standards of beauty; self-acceptance and confidence that comes from within; Paulina’s hashtag, “#BetweenJLoAndBettyWhite”; a new vision for the modeling industry; internal beauty; vulnerability and connection; the freedom of acceptance; starting from zero and rebuilding your life with the wisdom of age; and more.
Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
Sará King: Liberatory Technology from the Future
We live in an age of astounding technological wonders. Yet there is great fear and uncertainty around where it’s taking us all. The multitalented Dr. Sará King is a neuroscientist, education philosopher, public speaker, and codirector of Mobius, a nonprofit committed to the creation of “liberatory technology” as a countercurrent to the harm perpetuated by much of our modern technology.
In this thought-provoking podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. King about her life and work, covering a variety of intriguing topics including the critical skill of self-compassion; intergenerational trauma and the relationship between the personal and the collective; how to shift to a freeing perspective on our suffering; the pain inflicted through the practice of othering; empowerment, awe, and curiosity; gratitude for our ancestors whose dreams become our reality; the metaphoric medicine bowl visualization; metta (or lovingkindness) practice; weaving together the multiplicity of selves within us; technology that contributes to our sense of interdependence and well-being; and more.
Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
Customer Favorites
Daniel Goleman, PhD: Emotional Intelligence Now
Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist, science journalist, and the author of the books Emotional Intelligence (over 5 million copies in print in 40 languages), Social Intelligence, and Ecological Intelligence. He is cofounder of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. With Sounds True, he is a faculty member of the Inner MBA nine-month immersion program. In this podcast, Sounds True founder Tami Simon speaks with Dan about the insights in his landmark book, Emotional Intelligence, and where we’ve come since its publication in 1995. They discuss the physiology and origin of emotions; the relationship between thought and emotion; constructive worry versus destructive worry; self-awareness and the practices that support it; temporary states versus abiding traits; the four domains of emotional intelligence; perseverance, drive, and high performance; cultivating unflappable equanimity; and more.
Waking Up: What Does It Really Mean?
Adyashanti is a widely beloved, American-born spiritual teacher whose practice is rooted in Zen Buddhism but has expanded beyond any one path or perspective. He has created many books and audio programs through Sounds True, including Resurrecting Jesus, Emptiness Dancing, and Healing the Core Wound of Unworthiness. In this episode of Insights of the Edge—which previously appeared as part of the provocative interview series Waking Up: What Does It Really Mean?—Tami Simon and Adyashanti inquire deeply into what exactly constitutes “awakening.” Adya describes his own experiences of awakening, vividly comparing and contrasting his felt sensation of each of these life-changing experiences. Tami and Adya also discuss whether awakening is a sudden or gradual process, and what one can and cannot expect from these moments of profound epiphany. Finally, Adya shares his pith instructions on how to encourage such a spiritual awakening.
Our Evolutionary Leap
Lynne Twist is a global activist, author, and teacher who has devoted her life to sustainability and economic integrity. An original staff member of The Hunger Project, she is author of The Soul of Money and president and founder of the Soul of Money Institute. She is also the author of the Sounds True audio learning program Unleashing the Soul of Money.
In this podcast, Lynne joins Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, to discuss the challenges and opportunities now facing humanity—and the invitation to each one of us to make a difference as we embrace this critical time in our evolution at the beginning of a new millennium.
Lynne and Tami also talk about our unique place in time and the emerging new approach to business; the Pachamama Alliance and the prophecy of “The Eagle and the Condor”; tapping the wisdom of “grandmother energy”; Buckminster Fuller and creating a world that works for everyone; the invitation to each one of us to “take an evolutionary leap and dream big now”; environmental regeneration and redefining humanity; reclaiming our home in the ecological world, and creating economies that respect nature; giving up the scramble and becoming totally present in the moments of our life; purpose, choices, and trusting our feelings; bravery, humility, and surrender on the path; and more
Timeless Classics
Lance Allred: The New Alpha Male
Lance Allred is a former NBA player (who was the first legally deaf player in the league), public speaker, and author. With Sounds True, he has published The New Alpha Male: How to Win the Game When the Rules Are Changing. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Lance about the experiences he had in professional sports that led him to reevaluate what it means to be a man in contemporary society. Lance explains how his upbringing in a rural, polygamous commune informed his original ideas about masculinity, highlighting the subconscious assumptions about money and power that affect American men’s self-worth. Tami and Lance also discuss the roles of emotional vulnerability and surrender in the lives of modern men. Finally, they talk about the principle of perseverance and the increasingly urgent need for all cultures to reexamine their assumptions and core values.(63 minutes)
Micah Mortali: Rewilding
Micah Mortali is the director of the Kripalu School, a certified yoga teacher, and a longtime wilderness guide. With Sounds True, he has published Rewilding: Meditations, Practices, and Skills for Awakening in Nature. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Micah about humanity’s growing disconnection from the earth and how “rewilding” can help slow that trend. They talk about rewilding both as individuals and as part of whole ecosystems. Micah also shares the story of an intense, revelatory trail encounter with a bear and comments on the “species loneliness” of urban environments. Mulling the sense of grief they have for humankind’s effects on the environment, Tami and Micah consider how modern people can grapple with being in exile from the natural world. Finally, they discuss the barriers many have to reentering nature, as well as ways to initiate your own rewilding experience no matter where you are.(64 minutes)
Christian Conte: Healing Conflict: Listen, Validate, a...
Christian Conte, PhD, is a mental health specialist and leading authority on anger management. With Sounds True, Christian has published Walking Through Anger: A New Design for Confronting Conflict in an Emotionally Charged World. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks with Christian about his Yield Theory of emotional management, focusing on the process of “listen, validate, explore options.” Christian explains the events that led to his interest in anger management, as well as the origins of Yield Theory. He emphasizes the importance of meeting others where they are, giving them the opportunity to drain anger’s charge from their limbic system. Christian and Tami discuss why it’s necessary to cultivate humility and how Yield Theory might be applied to our currently divisive culture. Finally, they speak on “the cartoon world” that angry responses often create, as well as the importance of watching what we add to our minds.(63 minutes)
