Category: Meditation

Andrew Newberg: God and the Brain

In this week’s episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Andrew Newberg, director of research at the Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Medical College, and adjunct assistant professor in the department of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Tami asks Dr. Newberg about some of the new findings in the emerging field of neurotheology, which studies the links between faith, neurobiology, and the mysteries of the psyche. What changes take place in the brain of people who meditate or pray? What happens when we die? How does faith influence both our brain chemistry and the overall quality of our lives? Join Tami Simon and Dr. Andrew Newberg for a fascinating discussion of these questions and more. (63 minutes)

Awakening the Body

Tami Simon speaks with Will Johnson, the founder and director of the Institute for Embodied Training. For more than 30 years, Will has taught Buddhist meditation and practiced Rolfing, and has developed a unique blend of these two techniques for having a fully embodied meditation practice. He is the author of the books The Posture of Meditation and The Spiritual Practices of Rumi, and with Sounds True he has created the audio learning course Awakening the Body: The Path of Somatic Surrender. In this episode, Tami speaks with Will about how his work as a Rolfer has shaped his approach to meditation, how we can balance all of our perceptions to open ourselves to a complete experience of life, and how the Sufi practice of gazing can lead us to embodied awakening. (63 minutes)

It’s All in the Breath

Tami Simon speaks with Leslie Kaminoff, a yoga educator with more than 30 years of experience in the fields of yoga and breath anatomy. He is the founder of The Breathing Project in New York City, a non-profit dedicated to teaching breath-centered yoga. Leslie is the coauthor of Yoga Anatomy, and with Sounds True, a program called Freeing the Breath: Health, Clarity, and Relaxation Through Better Breathing. In this episode, Tami speaks with Leslie about the most common misconceptions about better breathing, how to experience a “breath koan,” the relationship between the motions of the breath, and what it feels like in the whole body to take one beautiful breath. (62 minutes)

Cynthia Bourgealt: Encountering the Wisdom Jesus

Tami Simon speaks with Cynthia Bourgeault, an Episcopal priest, author, and teacher of prayer in the contemplative Christian tradition. She is the principle teacher and advisor to the Contemplative Society and the founding director of the Aspen Wisdom School. Cynthia is the author of The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, and with Sounds True she has created the audio learning course Encountering the Wisdom Jesus and the audio program Singing the Psalms. In this episode, Tami and Cynthia speak about “kenosis,” or self-emptying, as the center point of Jesus’ message, how we can understand Jesus’ life as a sacrament, and how love lives on beyond death. (53 minutes)

The True Nature of Mindfulness

Tami Simon speaks with Joseph Goldstein, who is the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and has been teaching insight and lovingkindness meditation worldwide since 1974. He is the coauthor of the Sounds True audio learning course Insight Meditation (with Sharon Salzberg), and has recently released the third volume of his landmark audio course of advanced teachings and practical guidance on the Satipatthāna Sutta, Abiding in Mindfulness. In this episode, Tami speaks with Joseph about his study of the Satipatthāna Sutta as the Buddha’s central teaching of mindfulness meditation, the evolution of his own practice over the past four decades, and what it might mean to live without any sense of there being an “I” or a “me.” (60 minutes)

James Finley: Breathing God

Tami Simon speaks with Jim Finley, a master of the Christian contemplative way and a renowned retreat leader. Jim left home at the age of 18 and studied at the Abbey of Gethsemani with Thomas Merton for six years. He’s a clinical psychologist in Santa Monica, California, and the author of Christian Meditation and the book The Contemplative Heart, as well as the Sounds True audio learning programs Christian Meditation, Thomas Merton’s Path to the Palace of Nowhere, and along with medical intuitive Caroline Myss, the audio program Transforming Trauma. Jim discusses embracing our brokenness and the attitude of nonjudgmental compassion, the value of spontaneous moments of meditative awareness, and false perceptions about the practice of meditation. (56 minutes)

>