Podcast Episodes

October 19, 2023

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In this episode, Wendy speaks with social psychologist and contemplative researcher Paul Condon. Paul’s work integrates psychological theory with the Buddhist contemplative tradition, looking at meditation through the lens of attachment theory. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his long interest in the intersection between Buddhism and psychology;
• measuring compassion in the real world;
• meditation’s effects on prosocial behavior and relating to suffering;
• barriers to compassion;
• the relevance of vulnerability and safety to compassion;
• understanding secure and insecure attachment;
• shifting our attachment style:
• how contemplative practice can help develop our secure base;
• security as adaptability;
• limitations of viewing meditation as self-help and individual effort;
• the relational starting point of meditation;
• open vs. closed secular contexts;
• identifying a caring moment or benefactor;
• the power of mental simulation;
• changes he’s noticed from practice;
• and what these practices can offer in our current moment as a society.

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October 5, 2023

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In this episode, Wendy speaks with cognitive scientist, contemplative practitioner, and ballet dancer Marieke Van Vugt. Marieke is a pioneer in studying mind wandering and meditation through computer modeling, and is also advancing participatory research through her collaborations with Tibetan monastics. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her braided interests in meditation, dance, and cognitive science;
• computer modeling of mind and meditation;
• exploring distraction, mind wandering, and becoming aware;
• how thoughts can get “stuck” in our minds;
• creating a meditating computer;
• the relevance of stuck thoughts to various mental disorders;
• trauma through the lens of predictive models of mind;
• analytical meditation and Tibetan monastic debate;
• collaborating with monastics in research;
• humility and fluidity of mind;
• re-thinking the tasks used in cognitive science;
• the phenomenon of brain synchrony;
• dance and embodiment;
• the roots of thinking in the body;
• problems with abstraction in science;
• curiosity vs. the critical mind in ballet;
• flow, responsiveness, and compassion;
• and advice to young scholars.

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Sept 21, 2023

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In this episode, Wendy speaks with gastroenterologist, author, and microbiome researcher Emeran Mayer. Emeran is a world renowned expert in the connections between the gut and the mind, and brings a biological lens to the concept of interconnection. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his interest in mind-body connection;
• microbiome overview & current questions;
• how we’ve inherited systems of communication from microbes;
• gut-brain connections, and the concept of the “second brain”;
• how meditation might affect our microbes;
• gut-immune connections;
• the importance of barriers, and what goes wrong in “leaky gut”;
• barrier compromise as common core of nearly all chronic disorders;
• stress and diet as key factors affecting our gut permeability;
• what we can do to protect our gut;
• equity issues around healthy food access;
• the gut as a sense organ;
• reductions in the diversity of microbes on the planet;
• the role of antibiotics and environmental destruction;
• development of the microbiome in pregnancy and infancy;
• implications for our concept of self;
• balance between reductionism and embracing complexity in science;
• and the need for more of the feminine archetype in our world.

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Sept 7, 2023

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To begin our seventh season, Wendy speaks with contemplative educator and developmental psychologist Rob Roeser. Rob has been working to re-envision the educational system for decades, and has been at the forefront of understanding how we can best integrate mindfulness and compassion into school settings. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his initial exposure to integrative school systems;
• educating for life, instead of just participation in the global economy;
• focus on the body, nature, and our inherent “earthiness”;
• studying schools in India that integrate meditation;
• integrating science and viewing contemplative practice as building skills;
• applying a developmental lens to contemplative education;
• the key role of educating adults alongside children;
• changing culture and norms;
• how social processes drive the development of attention in children;
• our innate tendencies towards both compassion and othering;
• attention training as a relational practice;
• the relevance of a secure base;
• leveraging developmental “windows of opportunity”;
• practices that highlight our shared humanity;
• systems thinking in education;
• and re-enchanting the gift of learning.

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June 1, 2023

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In this episode, Wendy speaks with lawyer, activist, and restorative justice expert sujatha baliga. sujatha’s work reimagines our current legal and justice system in the United States, and emphasizes the full humanity of both those who experience harm and those who cause it. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• growing up with sexual abuse, and the impacts it had;
• meeting with the Dalai Lama, and his transformational advice;
• the power of lovingkindness;
• her choice to be a public defender;
• responsibility & causes and conditions;
• holding two competing ideas simultaneously;
• problems with the traditional legal system;
• the paradigm shift of restorative justice;
• integrating contemplative practice into the process of restorative justice;
• the role of the self in the experience of harm;
• how we need to shift our language around labeling people;
• reflections on forgiveness and justice;
• and next steps for the movement.

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