600 Podcasts and Counting...
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Most Recent
Joan Chittister: Presence and Perpetual Goodness
Sister Joan Chittister is an American theologian, Benedictine nun, and the author of more than 50 books. For over 40 years, she has passionately advocated on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues, and church renewal. This week’s podcast shares with you an excerpt from Sister Joan’s audio program, Catching Fire: Being Transformed, Becoming Transforming, a seven-hour conversation with Tami Simon intended to spark the fire of the divine within each one of us.
Scott Shute: Moving from Me to We: Compassion at Work
Scott Shute is the head of LinkedIn’s Mindfulness and Compassion Programs and a featured trainer in the Inner MBA, a nine-month immersion program that Sounds True has created in partnership with LinkedIn, Wisdom 2.0, and MindfulNYU. In this week’s podcast, Tami Simon and Scott discuss the new revolution that is underway at today’s workplaces. Their conversation explores the importance of being present in order to find strength from the inside, learning to relax our minds and bodies, integrating spirituality and business, the power of compassion to shift a workplace from “me-centered” to “we-centered,” and much more. (57 minutes)
Nature Meditation by a Window
With many people home-bound, we may need to get creative in seeking ways to connect with the natural world. Sitting by an open window is one excellent practice for connecting with the outdoors, and it can be a powerful form of nature meditation as well.
“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
Crowfoot, Orator of the Blackfoot Confederacy
- Find a comfortable seat by an open window that looks outdoors.
- Morning, during the dawn chorus when birds are most active, can be a perfect time to enjoy your morning coffee or tea as you observe a new day emerge.
- Set an intention to stay present, letting go of thoughts or stories in your mind as they arise, and instead focusing your attention on whatever is fascinating in your environment.
- Sit for at least 15-30 minutes if you can. Practice regularly to help alleviate stress, increase your sense of connection with your local environment, and awaken your senses.
Find more practices for connecting to nature in Rewilding: Meditations, Practices, and Skills for Awakening in Nature by Micah Mortali.
Read Rewilding today!
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Stephen Cope: Yoga and Psychological Health
Tami Simon speaks with Stephen Cope, a psychotherapist who studies the relationship between Western psychology and Eastern contemplative traditions. Stephen is the founder and director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living, the largest yoga research institute in the West. With Sounds True, he has created the audio program Yoga for Emotional Flow: Free Your Emotions through Yoga Breathing, Body Awareness, and Energetic Release. In this interview, Stephen speaks with Tami about deeper dimensions of yoga, including how yoga helps us undo core patterns of aggression and craving in the body. Stephen also discusses “riding the wave,” a process for leaning in and fully experiencing emotion. (61 minutes)
Ep 1: Love and Loss
As Joanna Macy approaches the end of a long life dedicated to healing our imperiled planet, she begins the conversation with Jessica Serrante, her student and dear friend, “standing afresh with what it’s like to live on Earth at this moment.” As we look into the face of the climate crisis, injustice, and war, difficult feelings arise; all are welcomed.
You are invited to join them at Joanna’s kitchen table, and invited into a deeper sense of your belonging and love for our world.
In this episode:
- How to connect with the great possibilities that still exist for us even in these precarious times Joanna reflects on her awakening of environmental consciousness
- Jess reflects on how meeting Joanna changed her life
- Love, laughter, heartbreak, and the Work That Reconnects
- Bonus Exercise: “Open Sentences”—a practice for partners
We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
Ken Hansraj: Watch Your Back—Relieve Back Pain Witho...
Back problems are the leading cause of disability worldwide—and most of us will endure acute or chronic back pain at some time in our lives. The good news: there are excellent, highly effective alternatives to surgery and painkillers.
In this podcast, join Tami Simon in conversation with spine and neck expert Dr. Ken Hansraj for an amazing discussion of his new book, Watch Your Back: Nine Proven Strategies to Reduce Your Neck and Back Pain Without Surgery. They cover the Text Neck study; meditation and the “flash of awareness”; why proper posture is not stiff but gentle; the supination external rotation stretch; the power of movement; the “beautiful jewels” called facet joints; a guided belly breathing practice; the connection between sleep and spinal health; the impacts of stress, and how breath and motion provide an antidote; the metaphor of the “tensionometer”; how the spine connects us to divinity; and more.