• E29: Beyond Belief: The Path to Direct Spiritual Experience

    Michael Singer — November 27, 2024

    There is a profound relationship between beliefs, faith, and direct spiritual experience. Beliefs are constructs of the human mind and are not truths; they can change. Genuine...

  • 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

Otto Scharmer: What Future Is Wanting to Emerge Throug...

Looking at the state of our world, says Dr. Otto Scharmer, it’s plain to see that there’s something wrong with our collective decision-making. How, then, do we move from just reacting against the issues of the past, toward sensing and actualizing the future that is wanting to emerge? That is the profound question at the heart of this podcast featuring the renowned MIT lecturer, author of Theory U, and contributing faculty member to Sounds True’s Inner MBA® program. 

In a bold conversation that speaks directly to both our individual empowerment and the larger societal changes that are becoming increasingly urgent, Tami Simon and Otto Scharmer discuss: the collective sense of depression and disillusion at this time; reframing a fearful cultural narrative to one of hope and possibility; bridging today’s ecological, social, and spiritual divides; ego-system awareness vs. ecosystem awareness; big changes through small steps; the subtle shift of “opening the will”; letting go of what’s not essential; moving from certainties to not knowing; Social Presencing; courage; why transformational work and activating our potential is easier than we think; creating a “holding space” and allowing generative forces to come forth; attention, intention, and agency; the invisible yet vital part of our social field—the quality of our relationships; deep listening; the awakening of the human spirit; 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.

Margaret J. Wheatley, EdD: Beyond Hope and Fear

Are we in the midst of a civilizational collapse? There are some definitive signs, says Margaret (Meg) Wheatley, who has spent a lifetime as an activist and educator seeking to create a more caring, compassionate, and connected world. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with the renowned organizational and systems expert about how she maintains faith in humanity and a tireless commitment to her life’s work, even as she approaches 80 years old. 

Tune in for an inspiring call to become a “spiritual warrior” at this precarious time in history, with profound insights on how life exists in cycles—and why this is important to understand; putting our energy and desire to contribute in the right places; compassion and insight; seeing clearly so we can act wisely; removing the filters of hope and fear; grace, synchronicity, and serving your purpose; being faithful to the work you’re called to; the dark night of the soul; working for change at the local level; joy and togetherness; the antidote to despair; the practice of “I’m not lost, I’m right here”; 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.

Sam Harris, PhD: Cutting Through to Consciousness With...

How do meditation and mindfulness accelerate moral progress? Is spiritual insight alone sufficient to solve today’s problems? Dr. Sam Harris is a five-time New York Times bestselling author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and host of the popular podcast Making Sense. He is also someone who has practiced meditation for more than 30 years, having studied with teachers in Tibetan, Burmese, Indian, and Western traditions. Here, Tami Simon sits down with Sam Harris for a deep conversation on the nature of consciousness and the implications of spiritual realization. 

Tune in for this “aha moment”–filled podcast exploring: the illusion of the self and the default state of identity; advaita and nonduality; two different types of mystery; the future of AI; psychic phenomena; synchronicity, superstition, and skepticism; a new perspective on how to be happy; the superpower of noticing; tantra; Dzogchen and “the goal as the path”; looking for what is looking; resolving the view; becoming mindful of “the glimpse”; meditating from the neck down; 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 with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

Customer Favorites

Shelah Marie: Your Mess Is Your Power

Too many Black women are living other people’s stories for their lives, making themselves smaller to serve other people or society’s expectations. Shelah Marie is here to inform us that we can break free from cultural restrictions and our self-imposed barriers and unabashedly be who we really are, including our imperfections, our growth areas, our unacknowledged successes, and everything in between. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Shelah Marie about her new book, Unruly, an empowering work that gives you full permission and practical support in fully being yourself. 

Tune in now as Tami and Shelah discuss: how specificity leads to universality; embracing our inner contradictions; the gifts of self-investigation; how many things can be true at the same time; the practice of writing a self-acceptance letter; ritual and celebration; performing true; “main character” energy; owning your mess; vulnerability and the courage to “show your seams”; becoming friends with yourself; the crooked room metaphor for the experience of being a Black woman; personal accountability and self-compassion; the Serious Daydreaming practice; 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.

Melissa Brown: Nourishing Your Nervous System

When was the last time you felt truly relaxed, present, and at peace with everything going on in your life and in our world? In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Melissa Brown about her new audio learning program, Nourishing Your Nervous System, and how we can begin to empower ourselves to choose the state of regulation over dysregulation. Give a listen to this practical and inspiring discussion of the ventral vagal branch of the parasympathetic nervous system—and how we can access it for calm, joy, and vitality; co-regulation with others as a means to move out of dorsal depression; productive thinking versus rumination and other forms of unhealthy thinking; the elongated breath as a tool for shifting out of sympathetic arousal (or the “fight, flight, freeze” response); improving your “vagal tone”; doom-scrolling, binge-watching, and other ways we distract ourselves from what we don’t want to feel—and how we can learn to hold a state of vitality and a state of tension at the same time; the psoas muscles and their connection to nervous system activation; the benefits of “constructive rest pose”; “fixed action patterns” and how the psoas muscles store trauma; attuning to your heart; and more.

Elizabeth Stanley: Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness

Elizabeth Stanley is a Georgetown University professor and the creator of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT)®, an approach taught to thousands in civilian and military high stress environments. A U.S. Army veteran with service in Asia and Europe, she holds degrees from Yale, Harvard, and MIT. She is the author of the book, Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive During Stress and Recover from Trauma. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Elizabeth Stanley about her 8-session online course, Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training: A Trauma-Sensitive Online Course to Build Resilience and Thrive During Stress. They also discuss why MMFT is a practice we can all benefit from; the value of expanding our “window of tolerance”; the relationship between personal agency and trauma; the “thinking” brain versus the “survival” brain; when stress becomes trauma; the importance of recovery from stressful situations; and more.

Timeless Classics

Honoring Our Returning Warriors

Dr. Edward Tick is the founding director of Soldier’s Heart veterans’ Safe Return Programs. A psychotherapist and a tireless advocate for war healing and peacemaking, Dr. Tick is the author of the award-winning book War and the Soul, and with Sounds True he has published a new book called Warrior’s Return: Restoring the Soul After War. In this episode, Ed speaks with Tami about how we can heal the broken social contract between warriors and civilians in the United States, the universal warrior archetype, what it means to mature into a spiritual warrior, and his advice for speaking to returning veterans in a way that supports and honors their service. (77 minutes)

Donna Eden: Uplifting Energy

Tami Simon speaks with Donna Eden, a renowned energy medicine expert who has taught throughout the US, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and South America. Along with her partner David Feinstein, Donna is author of the books Energy Medicine and Energy Medicine for Women. With Sounds True she has produced the multimedia program The Energy Medicine Kit. In this episode, Tami speaks with Donna about her experiences as someone who both sees energy and has healed herself from serious medical challenges. Donna also shares two energy practices: a technique to evolve our fight-flight-or-freeze response, and another for opening with total trust to the energy of the heavens. (64 minutes)

Coleman Barks: Rumi, Grace, and Human Friendship

Tami Simon speaks with Coleman Barks, a leading scholar and translator of the 13th century Persian mystic, Jelaluddin Rumi. Coleman’s work was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers’ Language of Life series with PBS. He has published numerous Rumi translations, including with Sounds True the audio programs I Want Burning, Rumi: Voice of Longing, and his new three-CD collaboration with cellist David Darling called Just Being Here: Rumi and Human Friendship. In this episode, Tami speaks with Coleman about the extraordinary friendship between Rumi and his teacher Shams Tabriz, and how translating Rumi requires entering a trance state. Coleman offers insights on grace as he and Tami listen to selections from Just Being Here. (63 minutes)

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