600 Podcasts and Counting...
Subscribe to Insights at the Edge to hear all of Tami's interviews (transcripts available, too!), featuring Eckhart Tolle, Caroline Myss, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Adyashanti, and many more.
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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Andrew Holecek: Dream Yoga, Part 2
Andrew Holecek is an author and spiritual teacher whose work blends a background in ancient Tibetan Buddhism with the leading edge of contemporary Western thought. With Sounds True, he has released the book Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep. In the fascinating second part of his interview on Insights at the Edge, Andrew speaks with Tami Simon about pressing beyond lucid dreaming and into the actual nighttime practice of dream yoga. They talk about illusory form yoga and invoking specific imagery within dreams to cultivate positive qualities. Finally, Andrew describes the ability to actually meditate within dreams—as well as the doorways to personal inquiry this practice can unlock. (78 minutes)
Raghu Markus and Parvarti Markus: Love Everyone, Serve...
Raghu Markus is a musician and artist who collaborated with Ram Dass on the groundbreaking spoken-word and world music album Love Serve Remember, and currently serves as the executive director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation. Raghu has collaborated with Sounds True and Ram Dass to create Being Here Now: The Essential Teachings of Ram Dass, a nine-week online course beginning on September 19. Parvati Markus has written and edited many nonfiction books, including the recent Love Everyone: The Transcendent Wisdom of Neem Karoli Baba Told Through the Stories of the Westerners Whose Lives He Transformed. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Parvati and Raghu about the influence of Neem Karoli Baba on Western spiritual thought, as well as how Ram Dass spearheaded those changes. They also listen to and discuss an excerpt from the Being Here Now course, in which Ram Dass teaches on the essence of karma yoga and how we can maintain joy and lightness even in difficult times.
(63 minutes)
Henry Shukman: Allowing, Welcoming, and Loving
There is a boundless goodness at the heart of this and every moment. And the path to realizing this goodness directly and more continuously is often what we would least expect. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with poet, author, and Zen meditation teacher Henry Shukman about his personal journey and the insights he shares in his latest book, Original Love.
In a conversation that will appeal to both meditators and non-meditators alike, Tami and Henry discuss: suffering, love, and the awakening of the world; being simultaneously broken-hearted, open-hearted, and wholehearted; the practice of allowing; how our most difficult feeling states become portals to higher awareness; Buddhism’s Five Hindrances; the discovery of emptiness; the four faces of awakening and what Henry calls, “no way but through” and “blazing forth”; finding the spiritual practice that fits you best; the meditative state known as absorption; choosing to love oneself; and more.
Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
