• E105: The Meaning of Life Is Life Itself

    Michael Singer — August 20, 2025

    Life’s deepest purpose is not to get what you want or avoid what you don’t want, but to use every moment between birth and death to evolve spiritually. By...

  • Insights At The Edge

    Tami Simon’s in-depth audio podcast interviews with leading spiritual teachers and luminaries. Listen in as they explore their latest challenges and breakthroughs - the leading edge of their work.

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Meet Your Host: Tami Simon

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

Most Recent

Sheryl Lisa Finn: “Connection Is More Powerful Than ...

With so many valid concerns stoking fear in today’s world, it’s no wonder that more and more of us are living in a state of chronic anxiety that seems irreversible. If you’re feeling at a loss about how to reclaim your peace of mind, body, and spirit, Sheryl Lisa Finn has a life-changing suggestion: Don’t underestimate the power of connection. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with the author of The Healing Anxiety Workbook to share actionable insights and approaches for dissolving anxiety on the spot and experiencing inner safety and serenity (without “bypassing” the realities of our times). 

Enjoy this conversation on: anxiety in a nutshell—sensing a lack of safety; reverse engineering anxiety; working with trauma at the root; when anxiety seeps back in; finding a source of goodness bigger than yourself; grief; building a foundation of connectivity that we can source into in challenging times; creativity and working with our hands; receiving support from the “wise self” within; Jungian psychology, archetypes, and dreamwork; fighting the spiritual fight in the face of systemic problems; anxiety’s hidden agenda—to serve our evolution; a practice to release the anxiety-producing stories we tell ourselves; the power of ritual and the importance of getting out of our rational minds; the practice of asking your ancestors to take your worry from you; anxiety in relationships, and how connection becomes a remedy; panic attacks; anxiety as a friend in disguise; 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.

Zach Leary: Psychedelics in the 21st Century and How t...

He’s the son of Timothy Leary and one of today’s leading voices in the psychedelic renaissance of the 21st century. But Zach Leary’s journey hardly unfolded in the way you might expect. In this deeply informative and myth-busting podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Zach about his new book with Sounds True, Your Extraordinary Mind. 

With a “friend to friend” approach to discussing the amazing potential for the safe use of psychedelics, Tami and Zach converse about: carrying forward the legacy of the front-runners of psychedelic exploration, including icons like Terence McKenna, Humphry Osmond, Dr. John C. Lilly, and of course, Zach’s father Timothy and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass); acknowledging the mistakes of the past and dispelling the myths and misconceptions about psychedelics; bringing legitimacy to the use of psychedelics for healing and insight; a review of the major compounds and their sources (natural and manmade), such as MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, LSD, and ketamine; the importance of the 3 S’s: set, setting, and sustainability; turning insights into action; challenging experiences (instead of “bad trips”); Carl Jung and shadow work; using psychedelics to overcome our fear of death; Zach’s personal battle with addiction and how psychedelics supported his recovery; the nature of consciousness; psychedelics as humanity’s evolutionary partner; 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.

Stephen Porges and Karen Onderko: All Healing Begins w...

In every social interaction, we convey signals of trust and accessibility to those around us. In other words, whatever’s happening within your nervous system is seen and felt by others. Dr. Stephen Porges’s groundbreaking Polyvagal Theory has led to a revolution in mental health, showing us that when you bring conscious awareness to your own inner state, you can choose to self-regulate (and ultimately to co-regulate), stop the cycle of fight-flight-freeze, and become a source of empathic connection and mutual safety for yourself and the people in your life. 

Join Tami Simon in conversation with Dr. Porges and Karen Onderko, coauthors of the new book Safe and Sound to learn about: the origins of Polyvagal Theory; the minimization of bodily feelings and emotions in mental health care; the evolutionary hierarchy of our brainstem’s survival mechanisms; the concept of co-regulation; the neurobiology of trust; neuroception and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP); why the intonation qualities of vocalization are more powerful than the words we say; the amazing vagus nerve; applying the SSP for trauma healing; self-compassion and honoring the body’s wisdom; the transformative potential of a felt moment of safety; how to remain open and accessible without becoming overwhelmed by vulnerability; breathwork, qigong, and other neural exercises that facilitate the social engagement system; 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.

Customer Favorites

Maggie Smith: Writing in a Way That Is Brave, Real, an...

Bestselling poet Maggie Smith has a gift for embracing the complexity of our human experience—and for writing about it with piercing intensity, clarity, and beauty. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Maggie about her approach to her craft and to life, and how writing can serve as a pathway to self-discovery and release.

Featuring a reading of the beloved poem “Good Bones,” this insightful episode of Insights at the Edge explores metaphor and life in sensory experience; poetic memoir; Maggie’s “drill-down” exercise; entering the territory of our pain; balancing a creative life and domestic responsibilities; the notion of “containing multitudes”; being an integrated, whole person; intuition and the deep knowing of what is brave, real, and true; sitting with the splinters (instead of sanding them down); allowing “full wingspan” for both individuals in a relationship; endurance versus closure; forgiveness versus acceptance; taking a bird’s-eye view of our experiences; making life more beautiful for everyone; 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.

The Financial Mindset Fix

Joyce Marter is a therapist, entrepreneur, speaker, and adjunct professor at Northwestern University. She’s the founder and CEO of Urban Balance, a nationwide counseling practice that provides trainings on mental health and success for Fortune 500 companies. With Sounds True, Joyce has written a new book called The Financial Mindset Fix: A Mental Fitness Program for an Abundant Life, which offers practical exercises for cultivating greater financial literacy and resilience. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Joyce about how our thoughts and emotions around money shape our financial reality. They discuss how low self-esteem holds us back financially and how we can shift into a “mindset of abundance” that shatters the limitations we’ve created for ourselves. Joyce and Tami also talk about the realities of financial trauma in our society, setting boundaries in our relationships with money, transforming toxic notions we may have of “success,” and mindfulness practices for managing financial shame or anxiety in a healthy, healing way.

Masculine Depth and Power—from the Core

John Wineland is an LA-based men’s group facilitator, speaker, and teacher who has been guiding both men and women in the realms of life purpose, relational communication, sexual intimacy, and embodiment.

In this podcast, John Wineland joins Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, to speak about his new book, From the Core: A New Masculine Paradigm for Leading with Love, Living Your Truth, and Healing the World. Tune in for an empowering discussion of the universal polarities we can access to expand our human experience and strengthen interpersonal connection; the work of integration and coming into greater wholeness; living from the core—physically, emotionally, and spiritually; the connection between living from the core and true masculine power; the magnetism of depth; how we benefit by working with our nervous system; answering the classic question, “What do men and women really want?”; the currencies of presence and play; shifting from closure to openness; breaking our “karmic vines” in relationship as a moment-to-moment practice of presence, awareness, and sensitivity; conscious warriorship and the proper use of our fierceness; and more.

Timeless Classics

Terry Real: Standing Up to One Another with Love

Terry Real is a family therapist, public speaker, and the founder of the Relational Life Institute. Terry’s written works include I Don’t Want to Talk About It, How Can I Get Through to You?, and The New Rules of Marriage. With Sounds True, he has created the audio program Fierce Intimacy: Standing Up to One Another with Love. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Terry about his somewhat unusual, do-or-divorce approach to couples therapy. They talk about deal breakers in relationships and why they don’t necessarily need to end a partnership. Terry explains what it means to hold a “core negative image” of a partner, why this is all too common, and why recognition of that core image can actually strengthen a relationship. Finally, Terry and Tami discuss what “fierce intimacy” truly entails and why canny relationship skills are the very same qualities that will help the human race rise to meet the challenges of the future. (64 minutes)

Father Greg Boyle: The Answer to Every Question Is Com...

Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit devoted to intervention, social reintegration, and job training for former gang members. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Father Greg and Tami Simon discuss the work of Homeboy Industries and what it takes to move from a culture of violence to one of open tenderness. Father Greg describes the path that brought him to working with gang members—specifically his experiences in Bolivia, where his experiences with the poor brought to life the teachings of the Gospels. Tami and Father Greg talk about living the tenets of one’s faith and what it means to offer love no matter the situation. Finally, they speak on the judgments many have of gang members and other criminals, and how we can seek a compassion that can “stand in awe at what people have to carry, rather than in judgment of how they carry it.” (63 minutes)

Gabor Maté: The Roots of Healing

Dr. Gabor Maté is an author, speaker, and physician who specializes in addiction, stress, and childhood development. His many books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and When the Body Says No. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Maté about his views on modern mental health evaluation—specifically the widespread diagnoses of ADHD and depression. They discuss the connection between emotional expression and immune response, as well as how the body can be an effective teacher. Finally, Dr. Maté comments on how mental health issues can often be rooted in compensating behaviors from childhood and how healing can be approached from a bio-psycho-social perspective. (68 minutes)

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