Sounds True: Insights At The Edge

Dr. James S. Gordon, the founder and director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine and a clinical professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, speaks with Tami Simon about self-healing strategies for overcoming depression. Dr. Gordon is the author of Unstuck, and with Sounds True he has created the six-session audio program Freedom from Depression: A Practical Guide for the Journey. In this episode, Tami speaks with Dr. Gordon about the actual research on antidepressants and their effectiveness, the importance of breaking the taboo around talking about our suicidal thoughts, and which mind-body practices are most powerful for helping people experiencing severe depression. (57 minutes)

David Darling, a Grammy®-winning cellist and maverick musician who redefines the way the cello is played and the way music is taught, speaks with Tami Simon about his unique perspective on music. With Sounds True, David has released a new record called In Love and Longing with vocalist Sylvia Nakkach, as well as Just Being Here, a collaboration with Coleman Barks featuring David’s music and the poetry of Rumi. In this episode, David and Tami discuss the cello as an instrument of melancholy, what it takes to be a good collaborator, and the art of good listening. (72 minutes) See David Darling live in August 2014. Visit WakeUpFestival.com for more information.

Dee Joy Coulter speaks with Tami Simon about the nature of the creative mind. Dee is a nationally recognized neuroscience pioneer with a doctorate in neurological studies and holistic education from the University of Northern Colorado. With Sounds True, she has recently released the book Original Mind: Uncovering Your Natural Brilliance and an audio program called A Guided Tour of Brain Development. In this episode, Dee examines why the creative mind values emptiness and open focus, how we can recover the perceptual freshness we had when we were first born, how creativity lets us tolerate ambiguity, and how we can enjoy thinking as a rich, multi-dimensional experience. (69 minutes)

What is the active ingredient in plant spirit medicine? Eliot Cowan tells us that the answer is friendship. In this edition of Insights at the Edge, the author of Plant Spirit Medicine speaks with Tami about engaging in a friendship with plant spirits, and compares the act of connecting with plant spirits in your local area versus working with the spirits of plants from distant places. Tami and Eliot also discuss “great teacher plants” such as marijuana and the plants from which ayahuasca is derived, offering some of the dangers and potential benefits associated with these plants. (73 minutes)

Elizabeth Gilbert speaks with Tami Simon about the magic of creative living. Elizabeth is a novelist, essayist, and author most widely known for her bestselling memoir Eat Pray Love, and has recently released her latest novel, The Signature of All Things, which O, The Oprah Magazine calls “the novel of a lifetime.” In this episode, Elizabeth challenges the myth of the tortured artist, offering her insights for allowing creativity to be a joyous and pleasurable pursuit. She also reveals how ideas can seem like living beings who choose and are chosen to collaborate with you, and what her current growth edge is. (44 minutes)

Adyashanti speaks with Tami Simon about his understanding of the story of Jesus. Adyashanti is an American-born teacher trained in the Zen tradition who teaches today about the process of spiritual awakening. With Sounds True, his latest project is a book and audio program called Resurrecting Jesus: Embodying the Spirit of a Revolutionary Mystic. In this episode, Adya examines the deep mythic underpinnings of the story of Jesus and how it can serve as a map of awakening. He also talks about Jesus as a revolutionary figure, how the metaphor of the crucifixion helped him process his own experience with intense physical pain, and the redemptive power of love to restore us to our natural state. (79 minutes)

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)

Deena Metzger—author, poet, teacher, and the creator of the classic Sounds True audio title This Body, My Life—has an in-depth conversation with Tami Simon. Tami and Deena discuss her work with the ReVisioning Medicine organization and the necessity of listening to the story that chronic illness is trying to tell you about your body. They also talk about creating a “literature of restoration,” intended to promote values other than those pushed by materialistic society and to focus on what is truly life-giving. Finally, Deena expounds on the idea of the coming “Fifth World” and the steps necessary to create it. (62 minutes)

In a special Insights at the Edge sponsored by Spirituality & Health magazine, Tami Simon interviews the founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington. They converse about Arianna’s recently published book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder, and what it means to truly incorporate the principles of the Third Metric into one’s life. They also speak about the increasing visibility of devotion to the inner life in modern culture, as well as how women can take charge of institutions to create a better future. Finally, Tami and Arianna discuss periods of suffering and how cultivating gratitude can help us move through them. (55 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dr. José Luis Stevens, a leading shamanic teacher who brings indigenous wisdom to personal and organizational challenges. José is the cofounder of the Power Path School of Shamanism and the author of 18 books and ebooks, including his latest book with Sounds True, Awaken the Inner Shaman: A Guide to the Power Path of the Heart. In this episode, Tami speaks with José about what the Inner Shaman is and how we can access it through practice and surrender. He explores shamanic ways of seeing, relating to your body, and actualizing your potential. José also examines the questions of trust and faith for both the Inner Shaman and the unfolding of world events. (68 minutes)

On this week’s Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon interviews author and poet Roger Housden, creator of the New York Times bestseller Ten Poems to Change Your Life. With Sounds True, Housden has recently published the book Keeping the Faith Without a Religion. Tami and Roger have a conversation regarding the extraordinary access contemporary peoples have to different faiths, as well as why increasing distrust of authority has driven many away from traditional religious practice. They also discuss how it’s possible to maintain one’s faith even in the midst of pain and suffering. Finally, Housden speaks on poetry and its inherent relationship to faith. (67 minutes)

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)

Founder of the Neurosculpting® Institute Lisa Wimberger speaks with Tami Simon about how people can change their ingrained beliefs and conditioned behaviors using her revolutionary method. Neurosculpting takes a whole-brained approach to changing the way we deal with stress. Lisa relates how to “set up our brains for change” by calming our fight, flight, and freeze response, and guides us through a Neurosculpting session so we can see how we might respond in a new way to a stressful situation. (66 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with internationally renowned Qigong master Robert Peng about self-empowerment through the activation of what he calls the Four Golden Wheels—the three dantians and the central meridian. Robert helps us learn now to identify these energy centers in our own bodies, and discusses how to expand the central meridian to connect us with the infinite energy of the universe. Tami and Robert also discuss his experiences as a Qigong healer under the guidance of master Xiao Yao. Finally, Robert leads us in the practice he calls “Awakening Awareness,” an exercise at the heart of many of the practices he teaches. (72 minutes)

Nobody else possesses your unprecedented blend of gifts, experiences, and perspectives. So why have you been given this singular treasure, and what will you do with it? This is the focus of Michael Bernard Beckwith’s book Life Visioning: A Transformative Process for Activating Your Unique Gifts and Highest Potential. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Beckwith about the four evolutionary stages of the development of consciousness and how the Life Visioning Process works in each stage. Tami and Michael also discuss some of the biggest obstacles people experience with Life Visioning, and the importance of unconditional love as the atmosphere for the Life Visioning Process. (64 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Joseph Goldstein, the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society, the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and the Forest Refuge. Joseph has been teaching insight and lovingkindness meditation since 1974, and with Sounds True he has published many programs, including the new book Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening. In part two of a two-part interview, Tami speaks with Joseph about the Satipatthana Sutta’s wisdom on mindfulness beyond the body—mindfulness of feeling, of mind, and of dharma. Joseph also investigated what it means to be mindful of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, and how we can bring an engaged heart to our practice. (53 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Joseph Goldstein, the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society, the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and the Forest Refuge. Joseph has been teaching insight and lovingkindness meditation since 1974, and with Sounds True he has published many programs, including the landmark audio series Abiding in Mindfulness and the new book Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening. In part one of a two-part inerview, Tami speaks with Joseph about his understanding of mindfulness that goes beyond our experience in the present moment, how the embodied realization of impermanence relates to mindfulness, and the Satipatthana Sutta—the central Buddhist teaching on mindfulness. (68 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Cyndi Dale, an internationally renowned author, speaker, intuitive healer, business consultant, and authority on alternative healing modalities. Cyndi is the author of a number of top-selling books, including the Sounds True titles The Subtle Body, The Subtle Body Practice Manual, and her most recent release, The Journey After Life: What Happens When We Die. In this episode, Tami speaks with Cyndi about the similarities between birth and death, the purpose of our soul’s incarnation and evolution through multiple lifetimes, and what Cyndi calls the “Twelve Planes of Light”—the dimensions through which our soul travels in its greater journey through this life and beyond. (63 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Catherine Shainberg, a teacher who has more than 40 years experience adapting traditional practices into a modern medical context. Dr. Shainberg is the founder of the School of Imagery, and with Sounds True she has released the new book DreamBirth: Transforming the Journey of Childbirth Through Imagery. In this episode, Tami speaks with Dr. Shainberg about the Kabbalistic lineage in which she’s been trained, how imagery is the language of the body, how the style of imagery she teaches can jolt us into spontaneous insight, and the effectiveness of imagery for mothers in every phase of the journey through childbirth. (66 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with A.H. Almaas. A.H. Almaas is the pen name for Hameed Ali, best known as the originator of the wisdom path known as the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 14 books, including The Unfolding Now, and his works with Sounds True include the audio learning course The Diamond Approach and Realization Unfolds, a dialogue with Adyashanti. In this episode, Tami speaks with Hameed about some of the distinct characteristics of the Diamond Approach as an approach to investigating both reality and oneself as a path to liberation, why he makes no distinction between a psychological and spiritual approach to inquiry, and how the love of truth drives the process of realization. (73 minutes)