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Tami Simon speaks with Mariana Caplan, PhD, a psychotherapist, cultural anthropologist, and professor of yogic and transpersonal psychologies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She is also the author of the new Sounds True book Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path. Mariana discusses enlightenment, the teacher-student relationship, and what makes someone “spiritually mature.” (54 minutes)
Mariana Caplan, PhD, MFT, E-RTY 500, is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and author of eight books in the fields of psychology, spirituality, and yoga. She has been teaching workshops and trainings online, in yoga studios and universities, and at major retreat centers throughout the world since 1997. She is the founder of Yoga & Psyche International, an organization created to integrate the fields of yoga and psychology globally, and lives in Fairfax, California. More at realspirituality.com and yogaandpsyche.com.
Photo Credit- Tanya Constantine Photography
Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.
Photo © Jason Elias
A practitioner in Tree Pose (or you can, of course, use any pose in this exploration) can experience the different layers of neural processing stacked atop each other, even if unconsciously. The structure and experience of Tree Pose itself reflect the hierarchical structure of the nervous system; the stability of the lower, sensory layers is like the trunk of a tree, whereas the higher, abstract layers are like the tree’s branches.
Whole Body
While you are positioned in Tree Pose, what information is available to you?
Neck
Can you sense your heartbeat and breath while in Tree Pose?
Heart
What is your emotional experience while in Tree Pose?
Do any fears or past traumas influence your current experience, even unconsciously?
Head
When we inhabit an asana like Tree Pose with ease and stability, we experience multisensory integration in a refined and cohesive way.
What does it feel like to be you while in Tree Pose?
Feet
Excerpted from Yoga & Psyche: Integrating the Paths of Yoga and Psychology for Healing, Transformation, and Joy by Mariana Caplan.
Mariana Caplan, PhD, MFT, E-RTY 500, is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and author of eight books in the fields of psychology, spirituality, and yoga. She has been teaching workshops and trainings online, in yoga studios and universities, and at major retreat centers throughout the world since 1997. She is the founder of Yoga & Psyche International, an organization created to integrate the fields of yoga and psychology globally, and lives in Fairfax, California. Learn more at realspirituality.com and yogaandpsyche.com.
Buy your copy of Yoga & Psyche at your favorite bookseller!
PHASE 1
Mind wandering is associated with the DMN (default mode network)—areas of the brain that are active when the mind is in its default state of rest. In this phase, the mind seems cluttered with thoughts and feelings all scrambling to be at the center of attention. The meditator may remain distracted by what seems like an endless barrage for some period of time. The brain remains in this state especially when it is not engaged in a specific task.
PHASE 2
Becoming aware of mind wandering occurs when we mobilize a conscious mind-body practice. This phase involves purposefully placing our attention in order to steer our practice, and this effort reveals itself as activation in the insula. As noted previously, the insula is characteristic of interoceptive awareness and self-awareness. In this way, cognizance of the mind’s habitual wandering is a form of metacognition—thinking about thinking—that sets the stage for neuroplasticity. Just to arrive at this stage of meditation is quite an accomplishment, as most people never cultivate any sustained awareness of how their mind meanders from one topic to the next. Practitioners should recognize the value of this second phase because it can take years to arrive here with any regularity. Without knowing this, beginners often become discouraged.
PHASE 3
Shifting out of wandering is like flexing a muscle or changing gears in a car. This phase involves the executive function of the brain, recruiting regions like the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the posterior parietal cortex. The practitioner arrives at this phase through consciously and consistently bringing their attention out of unfocused wandering. Much like training a muscle, we go through high and low points of practice, and—as in the previous stage—it is easy to feel discouraged. Unfortunately, meditators can judge themselves harshly at this stage, lose interest, or give up entirely if they do not recognize just how important this phase is in training the neural muscles of concentration.
PHASE 4
Focusing means that the practitioner has gained some meditative stability and can remain for some time in a concentrative state. This achievement shows up as sustained activation in the dlPFC. At this phase, progressive layers of our mind reveal themselves—both within a practice session and “off the cushion” over time. When the mind eventually starts to wander again, the cycle begins anew, and the practitioner passes through the phases once more to regain focus. With practice, the amount of effort, time, and repetition it takes to go through the cycles decreases, with less time occupied in the earlier phases and more time spent in a focused state.
Excerpted from Yoga & Psyche: Integrating the Paths of Yoga and Psychology for Healing, Transformation, and Joy by Mariana Caplan.
Mariana Caplan, PhD, MFT, E-RTY 500, is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and author of eight books in the fields of psychology, spirituality, and yoga. She has been teaching workshops and trainings online, in yoga studios and universities, and at major retreat centers throughout the world since 1997. She is the founder of Yoga & Psyche International, an organization created to integrate the fields of yoga and psychology globally, and lives in Fairfax, California. Learn more at realspirituality.com and yogaandpsyche.com.
Buy your copy of Yoga & Psyche at your favorite bookseller!
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Tami Simon speaks with Mariana Caplan, PhD, a psychotherapist, cultural anthropologist, and professor of yogic and transpersonal psychologies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She is also the author of the new Sounds True book Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path. Mariana discusses enlightenment, the teacher-student relationship, and what makes someone “spiritually mature.” (54 minutes)
What is the soul? How do we stay in relationship with the eternal aspect of ourselves? Is it possible to honestly trust that “everything is in order” when all we see is chaos and confusion?
In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with acclaimed author and evidence-based medium Suzanne Giesemann about her journey from being a commander in the U.S. Navy to one of today’s most sought-after guides on the path of spiritual awakening. In this eye-opening conversation, you’ll learn about: the two keys to communicating with the departed: belief and intention; the three Es: educate, experience, and engage; the Sip of the Divine practice; the observer perspective and the importance of one’s point of view; patterns of consciousness interacting across time and space; a meeting with Albert Einstein; past lives; preparing for “a good and free and blessed death”; Wolf’s story; passing through an “elevation”; shifting out of left-brain dominance; curiosity and playfulness; the emotional heart and the spiritual heart; vagus nerve breathing; why there is “purpose in every passing”; Earth as a school for the evolution of our souls; transcending the sense of incompleteness inherent in “the story of you”; 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.
At a time when things feel utterly groundless for so many of us, Dr. John J. Prendergast offers a practical approach to “meeting your deepest ground”—a stabilizing core of awareness and truth that is at once within and all around you. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with the retired therapist and spiritual teacher about his new book, Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality.
Settle back for a fascinating conversation filled with both practical insights and esoteric wisdom for anyone on a path of growth and transformation. Tami and John explore overcoming deep inner resistance to what we would rather not face; how traumatic “material” becomes frozen in the body; Kundalini awakening; how to attune to your body’s “subtle sensitivity” to receive the wisdom it has to offer; relaxing the mind; touching reality through and beyond the body; the “underground dimension” that is both personal and collective; the work of Carl Jung; becoming more intimate with the archetypal dimension of life; the challenge of defining the undefinable “absolute ground” of our being; transmitting a felt experience within a shared field of openness; the two kinds of inner blockages, psychological and existential; the core theme of safety; welcoming difficult feelings and experiences in order to better understand them; activating the light of awareness that leads to transformation; the practice of paying attention to the space behind you; mindfulness and witnessing our thoughts; humility and the pilgrimage from the head to the heart; the futility of “seeking” what is always already here; the disorientation that often precedes a reorientation; common symptoms people experience during the process of unwinding core contractions; letting go (and doing it with trust); the rainbow bridge between heaven and earth; why psychological healing is a necessary component for spiritual awakening; 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.
Each of us has a sense of ourselves as a separate and distinct individual, or what’s commonly called the personality or the ego. Yet beneath the surface of who we take ourselves to be shines a radiant and holy true Self, or who we are at the soul level. In this podcast, Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, speaks with celebrated spiritual teacher and author Zulma Reyo about the continual work of releasing the limitations of the egoic self to uncover and express the light and love of our deepest nature.
Drawing on insights from the books Inner Alchemy and Emergence of Consciousness, Zulma and Tami explore: the gift of etheric sight; the relationship between the personality and the soul; ego death; objective self-observation; the lifelong process of clearing out stuck emotional energies; the three energy bodies of the personality; turning your attention from the personality to your deeper, inner self; finding community support; seeing the purity within others; working on yourself as an act of service to the world; humility and self-honesty; the practice of letter writing; giving yourself the love and acceptance you didn’t receive as a child; a guided experience of Zulma’s alchemical alignment practice; connecting to the radiant sun within yourself; forgiving the unforgivable; the emergence of a new group consciousness; examining your attachments; 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.
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