Van Jones is a New York Times bestselling author, public speaker, and host of The Van Jones Show on CNN. This special edition of Insights at the Edge re-broadcasts Van's powerful session from Sounds True's Waking Up in the World online event. In this in-depth interview, Tami Simon speaks with Van about the necessary meeting between spiritual practice and social activism. They discuss the currently fraught political climate and why it's essential for everyone to break out of their respective bubb...
Nov 20, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Stan Tatkin is a clinical psychologist, couples and family therapist, and the author of Wired for Love. With Sounds True, he has published a new book titled We Do: Saying Yes to a Relationship of Depth, True Connection, and Enduring Love. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Stan about his unique methodology, the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT). Stan explains his definition of a couple as a "biological survival unit" and some of the common occurrenc...
Nov 13, 2018•1 hr 9 min
Dr. Kristin Neff is a professor of human development and culture at the University of Texas and a practitioner of Buddhist meditation. The book and documentary The Horse Boy chronicle Kristin and her family's extraordinary journey to help her autistic son. With Sounds True, Kristin has created the audio program Self-Compassion Step by Step, which includes clinical evidence of the importance of self-compassion along with techniques and exercises for cultivating this pivotal quality. In this inter...
Nov 06, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Ronald Siegel is a longtime assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and the author of many books. With Sounds True, he has created the audio program Healing Through Mindfulness: Effective Practices for Chronic Health Conditions. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Ron talk about the psychological contributing factors to chronic pain—especially in the back and spine. Speaking on his own brush with debilitating pain, Ron explains the ways that stress and oth...
Oct 30, 2018•1 hr 10 min
Miranda Macpherson is an international spiritual teacher who founded the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London and currently leads the Living Grace community of California. With Sounds True, she's published the book The Way of Grace and the audio series Meditations on Boundless Love. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Miranda about taking a more feminine approach to spiritual seeking and why that involves creating an atmosphere of unconditional love. Miranda expl...
Oct 23, 2018•1 hr
Mary O'Malley is an author, counselor, and acknowledged leader in the field of spiritual awakening. With Sounds True, Mary has published What's in the Way Is the Way: A Practical Guide for Waking Up to Life. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Mary discuss the eight "spells" that keep us feeling separate from life—as well as the remedies that bring us more fully into the energetic flow of existence. They speak on the need for curiosity and the role it plays in uniting our att...
Oct 16, 2018•1 hr
Miles Neale is a prominent member of the current generation of Buddhist teachers, championing the emerging field of contemplative psychotherapy. With Sounds True, Miles has published Gradual Awakening: The Tibetan Buddhist Path of Becoming Fully Human. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Miles about Lam Rim, the Tibetan Buddhist framework for moving into enlightened awakening step by measured step. They discuss the difference between gradually awakening and coming to ...
Oct 09, 2018•1 hr 9 min
Zainab Salbi is an author, humanitarian, and media commentator who founded the nonprofit organization Women for Women International when she was only 23 years old. With Sounds True, she has published the book Freedom Is an Inside Job: Owning Our Darkness and Our Light to Heal Ourselves and the World. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Zainab discuss what it means to be an agent of social change while also navigating the everyday journey of being human. They talk about why it...
Oct 02, 2018•1 hr 23 min
Paul Hawken is an author, entrepreneur, and environmentalist whose books include Natural Capitalism, The Ecology of Commerce, and the New York Times bestselling Drawdown. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Paul about the spiritual origins of his lifelong devotion to the natural environment. They talk about Project Drawdown—Paul's far-reaching plan to reverse global warming—and the fact that climate change is an alarm bell telling humanity it needs to transform itself...
Sep 25, 2018•1 hr 13 min
Rhonda Magee is a law professor at the University of San Francisco, a longtime mindfulness teacher, and a fellow of the Mind & Life Institute. Rhonda is a featured presenter in Sounds True's Waking Up in the World—a 10-day online event showcasing prominent voices who embody the meeting between social action and spiritual exploration. This special episode of Insights at the Edge is drawn from a previous presentation given by Rhonda as part of our Mindfulness Monthly subscription program. Here...
Sep 18, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Susan David is a psychologist teaching at Harvard Medical School, cofounder of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, and the bestselling author of Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks with Susan about modern society's attitudes toward emotion—specifically our tendency to label certain feelings as good or bad, and the dysfunctional behaviors that arise as a result. Susan explains that a much ...
Sep 11, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) is a world-renowned spiritual teacher and the author of the indispensable classic Be Here Now. Despite suffering a massive stroke that left him with aphasia, Ram Dass continues to write and teach from his home in Maui. His longtime friend Mirabai Bush is the founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, and was the one of the co-creators of Google's Search Inside Yourself program. They have teamed with Sounds True to publish Walking Each Other Home: Conv...
Sep 04, 2018•1 hr 3 min
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 ...
Aug 29, 2018•1 hr 4 min
Stephen Cope is the scholar emeritus at Kripalu Yoga Center and the director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living, as well as the bestselling author of The Wisdom of Yoga and The Great Work of Your Life. With Sounds True, Stephen has produced an eight-week online course titled Your True Calling: Essential Teachings of Yoga to Find Your Path in the World. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Stephen about discovering and living out your dharma—the true purp...
Aug 21, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Gary Gach is a writer, meditator, and mystic who draws on his diverse life experiences to inform his nonfiction and poetry offerings. He is the author of What Book!? and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism. With Sounds True, he has most recently published Pause, Breathe, Smile: Awakening Mindfulness When Meditation Is Not Enough. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Gary about the titular process of pausing, breathing, and smiling—how it can center you...
Aug 14, 2018•59 min
Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés is an award-winning poet, senior Jungian psychoanalyst, and cantadora (keeper of old stories in the Latina tradition). Dr. Estés is the author of the bestseller Women Who Run With the Wolves, along with over a dozen audio programs from Sounds True. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks with Dr. Estés about the themes and stories in her book Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother's Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul. They speak on the different manife...
Aug 08, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Rick Doblin, PhD, is a Harvard-trained researcher and the founder of MAPS—the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Rick and MAPS work to develop a legal framework for the application of psychedelic drugs both as medication and for personal psychological growth. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Rick about the current clinical research surrounding the use of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as many other possibilities for other ...
Jul 31, 2018•1 hr 13 min
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, ...
Jul 24, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Richard Schwartz, PhD, is a therapist, author, and the founder of the Internal Family Systems modality of psychotherapy. With Sounds True, he has most recently created the audio program Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts: Discovering Your True Self Through Internal Family Systems Therapy. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Schwartz about the origins of IFS—specifically how his family therapy practice made him realize that every client had a multiplicity of interna...
Jul 17, 2018•1 hr 10 min
Sarah Seidelmann is a former physician who decided to "right-size" her life, devoting her career to the path of personal transformation. With Sounds True, she has published The Book of Beasties: Your A-to-Z Guide to the Illuminating Wisdom of Spirit Animals. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks with Sarah about animal spirits and totems—how they show up in our lives, the meaning they carry, and how they can reveal our true paths to us. They discuss midlife career changes and...
Jul 10, 2018•56 min
Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk and the author of several books including Altruism, The Monk and the Philosopher, and The Quantum and the Lotus. Sounds True has recently published the English-language edition of In Search of Wisdom, a bestselling French book Matthieu co-wrote with Christophe André and Alexandre Jollien. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Matthieu about practicing altruism and the attempt to create caring, more equitable economic systems. They disc...
Jul 03, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Kelly Boys is a teacher and author who directed the launch of the renowned Search Inside Yourself training program, based on the emotional intelligence and mindfulness program developed at Google. With Sounds True, she has published The Blind Spot Effect: How to Stop Missing What's Right in Front of You. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Kelly speaks with Tami Simon on the different kinds of blind spots, how we develop them, and how to finally see through those blockages. Kelly describes ...
Jun 26, 2018•1 hr 2 min
More than 30 years ago, Elizabeth Lesser helped cofound Omega Institute, now one of the world's premiere centers for the exploration of the spiritual journey. These days, Elizabeth is known as the bestselling author of The Seeker's Guide and Broken Open, as well as a frequent collaborator with Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey. In this episode, Elizabeth and Tami converse on the role of spiritual teachers, the power of prayer, and the inevitable price of wisdom. They also talk about fear and fearl...
Jun 19, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Steve Taylor is a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University in the UK and the author of many books, including The Fall, The Leap, and Waking from Sleep. With Sounds True, he has published the audio program Return to Harmony: From Turmoil to Transformation. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Steve and Tami Simon talk about the concept of spiritual awakening: what it means, the different ways it arises, and how it changes a person's day-to-day life. They also discuss why the most common an...
Jun 12, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Karen Johnson is a co-developer and long-time teacher of the Diamond Approach, a spiritual and philosophical modality that strives toward inner realization. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Karen speaks with Tami Simon about the experience of developing the Diamond Approach into what it is today, including how she first met Hameed Ali—the man who would take up the pen name A. H. Almaas. Drawing on her recently released book The Jeweled Path, Karen relates how she discovered presence in t...
Jun 05, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Steven Kotler is a journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and the director of research for the Flow Genome Project. His many books include Tomorrowland, Abundance, A Small Furry Prayer, and Stealing Fire. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks with Steven about his interest in "flow states"—those states of consciousness in which we act largely without thought, purely in the moment, and at the peak of our abilities. Steven draws upon his personal experience of healing f...
May 29, 2018•58 min
Sera Beak is a scholar of comparative religions who has conferred with shamans, monks, and mystics the world over. She is the author of The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark and Red Hot and Holy: A Heretic's Love Story. With Sounds True, she has most recently published Redvelations: A Soul's Journey to Becoming Human. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Sera about the fragmentation of the soul and the journey that Sera undertook...
May 22, 2018•1 hr 1 min
Edward Espe Brown is a renowned chef and Zen teacher who is best known as the first head cook at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. In addition to writing several cookbooks including the classic Tassajara Bread Book, Edward founded Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. With Sounds True, he has published No Recipe: Cooking as Spiritual Practice. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Edward about Zen teachings on what it means to have to feel our way through the dark—both i...
May 15, 2018•1 hr 12 min
Gustavo Ferrer, MD, is a pulmonologist who specializes in end-of-life care and has been named one of the best doctors in the nation—including Most Compassionate Doctor—by US News & World Report. With Sounds True, he has published Graceful Exit: How to Advocate Effectively, Take Care of Yourself, and Be Present for the Death of a Loved One. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks with Dr. Ferrer about our society's anxiety around death and how he tries to alleviate it for bo...
May 09, 2018•1 hr
Nataly Kogan is a public speaker, author, and the founder of the training organization Happier. With Sounds True, she has published the book Happier Now: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Embrace Everyday Moments (Even the Difficult Ones). In this edition of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Nataly about redefining happiness not as a state where we experience no negative feelings whatsoever, but as a skill we must constantly hone. Nataly shares some of her life story, including her c...
May 01, 2018•1 hr 7 min
