Podcast Episodes

September 9, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with renowned and beloved meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg. Sharon has been teaching meditation in the West for over 40 years, and is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society. Their conversation covers many topics, including:

• finding Buddhism and meditation as a teenager, and where it led her;
• her experience as a woman in the early contemplative movement;
• loving kindness & metta, and their relationship to prayer;
• love as an ability;
• the role of narrative and story-telling in our world and minds;
• a call for balance and self-compassion on the path;
• the role of the body in meditation;
• why contemplation matters for societal change;
• and living into our interconnection.

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June 3, 2022

In this episode, Wendy speaks with Buddhist scholar and author Robert (Bob) Thurman. Bob is one of the foremost scholars in the world on Tibetan Buddhism, and played a major role in bringing Buddhism to America. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his entry into Buddhism, and befriending the Dalai Lama;
• links between Buddhism and science (and why Buddhism is 1/6 religion);
• problems with scientific materialism;
• enlightenment and emptiness;
• stories of the Buddha leaving home;
• four friendly fun facts (noble truths);
• realistic vs. right approaches on the path;
• jumping into bliss prematurely;
• Buddhist ethics;
• practices to push against essentialism;
• the key role of compassion in enlightenment;
• how he thinks about reincarnation and continuation of consciousness;
• the role of science on the contemplative path;
• and Bob’s parting fun fact.

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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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