Podcast Episodes

May 20, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with social neuroscientist Lasana Harris about his work on flexible social cognition—the variable ways that we perceive others. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his accidental entry into psychology;
• what flexible social cognition is;
• schemas and predictions about others’ minds;
• dehumanization and why we do it;
• the role of propaganda and implications for the war in Ukraine;
• how these processes scale up from individuals to societies;
• bias and prejudice, and the key roles of threat and safety;
• the inseparability of cognition and emotion;
• how contemplative practice might help reduce dehumanization;
• information overload and echo chambers, and what to do about them;
• and looking at the concept of self to change social bias.

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May 6, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with meditation teacher and co-founder of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), Jessica Morey. Jessica has been working with the contemplative path through the lens of attachment theory, and shares how she blends these approaches for healing. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her long roots in the contemplative path;
• meditation retreats for teens through iBme;
• the basics of attachment theory;
• contemplative approaches to healing attachment wounds;
• subtle body and trauma;
• developing embodied safety;
• grounding practices with the earth;
• why it helps to examine your own lineage;
• benefactor practices and imagining perfect parents;
• links between Buddhism and attachment theory;
• and the joys and opportunities of working with teens.

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April 22, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative researcher and social activist Juan Santoyo. Juan’s work sits at the intersection of basic neuroscience and community-based programs; his central interest is in understanding the factors that are needed for peace and healing—both in the brain, and in the world. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his path into contemplative research;
• neurophenomenology;
• life in Colombia and reflections on the peace process;
• working with ex-combatants through community engaged research;
• Indigenous practices to connect with land and ancestors;
• working with difficult emotions;
• self-forgiveness;
• the lack of land and ancestor practices in the West;
• how oppressive systems impact the sense of self;
• why contemplation matters for justice and equity work;
• integrating basic neuroscience with healing in the world;
• and investigating what is needed for peace.

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April 8, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with psychologist, contemplative researcher, and Zen Buddhist teacher, Al Kaszniak. Al has been in the contemplative science space since the earliest days, and his work has shed light on how meditation impacts our thoughts, emotions, and sense of self. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his parallel interests in Buddhism and neuropsychology;
• research on meditation, emotion, and attention;
• how our view of self impacts what seems relevant to us;
• cognitive effort and emotion regulation;
• how his own experience of self has shifted through practice;
• attention and early emotion/affective tone;
• shifting out of the conceptual mind;
• the relationship of attention and emotion;
• how decades of practice have changed his daily life;
• free will vs. free won’t (meditation as inhibition);
• increasing access to contemplative ideas and practices;
• mind as process, interaction, and context—and what that means for science;
• and the value of interdisciplinary dialogue and the “in-between” spaces.

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March 25, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with Buddhist scholar, contemplative teacher, and social activist Brooke Lavelle. Brooke is the co-founder and president of Courage of Care, an organization that seeks to build transformational practice communities rooted in compassion, healing, and counter-oppressive frameworks. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her trajectory of interest from mindfulness to compassion to relational practice to social justice;
• relationality as the starting point for contemplative growth;
• Courage of Care, and the CourageRISE framework;
• routes to understanding oppressive systems;
• the body as culture;
• the skills needed to build multicultural community;
• applications in climate work;
• the non-dual frame as an antidote to othering;
• and love as an organizing principle.

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