Podcast Episodes

December 2, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with clinical psychologist and contemplative Amy Cohen Varela. In addition to her work as a psychoanalytic therapist, Amy is also the widow of Francisco Varela (co-founder of the Mind & Life Institute), and continues to share his vision and work through the offerings of Mind & Life Europe. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her dual interest in biology and literature;
• the contemplative aspects of psychoanalysis;
• skills learned from listening deeply to yourself and to others;
• how she met Francisco Varela;
• enaction, meaning, and participatory sense-making;
• links between Francisco’s ideas and Buddhist philosophy;
• subjective and objective viewpoints, and how we oversimplify Buddhism and science in that dynamic;
• how more than a decade with Francisco has changed her;
• the power of curiosity and openness;
• doing and undoing the self in psychoanalysis;
• Francisco’s reflections on the Chilean civil war, and implications for polarization;
• the need for systems to be able to “undo” themselves;
• and Mind & Life Europe’s latest offerings.

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November 18, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with renowned clinical psychologist, researcher, and co-developer of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Zindel Segal. Zindel’s work has brought relief to many who suffer from depression by sharing the tools and skills of mindful awareness. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his early experiences with meditation and psychology;
• the development of MBCT and its evolution;
• seeing thoughts as thoughts;
• the power of curiosity, kindness, and an attitude of letting be;
• clinical research on MBCT in depression;
• staying with difficult experiences;
• the latest thinking about how antidepressants work;
• a short guided meditation;
• the importance of sense foraging;
• using digital platforms and increasing accessibility to mindfulness skills;
• adapting practices for the challenges young people face today;
• how MBCT can shift the sense of self and identity;
• and how practice has changed him.

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November 4, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with Randima (Randy) Fernando, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. Over several decades, Randy has worked to integrate technology, mindfulness, and social impact, trying to find ethical solutions to some of our most challenging issues. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• how the strands of Buddhism and technology have woven together throughout his life;
• the challenges we face with tech today;
• parallels between mindfulness and humane technology;
• understanding the “race to the bottom”;
• breaking the myth that technology is neutral;
• looking at technology through the Buddhist lens of dependent co-arising;
• problematic incentives in the tech space (e.g., advertising as a business model);
• the attention economy;
• how technology trains our attention, emotions, and even our values;
• technology’s impact on the way we view our “self”;
• customized realities, echo chambers, and polarization;
• how to avoid tech traps;
• the core principles of humane technology;
• building values/ethics into AI;
• understanding dukkha;
• the pros and cons of using technology to teach mindfulness;
• and the latest resources from the Center for Humane Technology.

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October 21, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative scholar and Indigenous activist Yuria Celidwen. Yuria has worked across many sectors to bring Indigenous ways of knowing into conversation with Western approaches, particularly in contemplative science. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• the importance of Indigenous languages;
• her roots in a lineage of mystics, healers, and explorers;
• insights from the Mayan calendric system;
• bringing Indigenous ideas into a dualistic culture;
• her own experience of othering;
• the role of contemplative practice amidst today’s challenges;
• opening our awareness to interdependence;
• bridging and safety as we come together across differences;
• kin relationality and ecological belonging;
• subtleties of language and what they reveal;
• implications of the term “mechanism” in the scientific approach;
• Indigenous contemplative science;
• and an inspiring closing poem.

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October 7, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative researcher Norm Farb. Norm was one of the first people to study how meditation impacts our brains, and his broader work incorporates emotions, body sensations, and present-moment awareness. Their conversation covers many topics, including:

• his initial research on meditation, neural networks, and modes of self;
• predictive models of mind;
• reinforcing vs. updating our model of the world (and implications for political polarization);
• the default mode network and its role in cognition;
• how meditation can help shift our habitual patterns;
• what happens in our minds when we learn to meditate;
• the concept of mental foraging;
• interoception and how sensing the body might reduce conceptual processing;
• depression & interoception, and getting stuck avoiding difficult feelings;
• the self as the current model of the world;
• a deeper look at the idea of no-self;
• the ethics of updating our self model responsibly;
• localization vs. distribution in the brain;
• and the state of research on meditation and the brain.

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