Mind & Life Podcast

Grant Jones – Music, Meditation, and Healing

· ·

November 16, 2023

View or download a transcript of this episode

In this episode, Wendy speaks with musician, contemplative, researcher, and activist Grant Jones. Grant is working to develop and implement contemplative and liberatory tools for underserved populations. This conversation covers many topics, including:

Grant Jones
  • blending music, psychology, contemplation, and activism;
  • music and mindfulness for healing race-based anxiety;
  • collaborating with Lama Rod Owens, Esperanza Spalding, and others;
  • the absence of research on black music;
  • music medicine vs. music therapy;
  • pleasure activism as a form of disruption;
  • balancing structure and freedom;
  • the Black Lotus Collective;
  • links between psychedelics and meditation;
  • potential benefits and harm of psychedelic treatment, and how race plays in;
  • the power of music to transcend language and culture;
  • balancing identity with non-self;
  • and letting go, having fun, and not being too serious.

Grant Jones (he/him) is a contemplative, musician, researcher, and activist, and is currently a Clinical Psychology PhD candidate at Harvard University. He co-founded of The Black Lotus Collective, a meditation community that centers the healing and liberation of individuals with historically marginalized identities. He also serves as a member of the Mind & Life Steering Council. His research and life work centers around developing and implementing contemplative and liberatory tools for underserved populations. His music is rooted in Black soul, R&B, and alternative music traditions. He loves his family, his friends, nature, travel, moving his body, and good food.

Resources

Harvard Psychology lab
Black Lotus Collective