Landscapes For Learning

13 min.   Maureen talks to Pierre about the Wellness Resource Center she is managing at her local Yoga studio.  How cool is that?  If you live in Danvers, MA, or anywhere nearby, check out Maureen's Wellness Center, where Maureen also teaches yoga.  Building on Landscapes for Learning curriculum and website, Maureen gets real in addition to virtual.  Bringing her unique blend of professional and personal experience to life coaching, counseling and making resources available to those around her, check out this new in-person feature of LFL - Landscapes for Learning.   Enjoy!  

25 min. This pod is for Sydney. Maureen recognizes that Pierre’s “good morning” is subdued and asks a question. How human to recognize. How gracious to ask.  Pierre relates the story of losing his friend and best companion of 14 years, his dog Sydney.   This pod cast relates a ‘miracle story’ or two of Syd’s doing.   We dip into the subject of grief. Grief is a subject that isn’t afforded much room in our culture.  It's also a subject that is ‘hard’ to manage. Difficult because it is so visceral. Its visceral nature parallels Learning Conversation podcasts' exploration of connections in mind, body & spirit. Balancing those parts of us.  Because grief is more visceral is less manageable and a bit of a lesson for us in the importance of recognizing our less thinking selves and seeing value. Join us. Excellent resources on grief. Huberman Lab on Grief Dr. Joan Rosenberg on Grief    

5 min Camus?  The word is:  absurd. Join us. Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

Landscapes for Learning is local! Mental Health Counselor and Wellness Educator, Maureen Bakis offers mindbody wellness and fitness programming at Bikram Yoga Danvers/Studio Y owned by James Frew, located on Route 1 South in Danvers, Massachusetts.  Maureen and James agreed that the The Wellness Resource Center in the studio is a welcoming space for members to gather together to share resources and grow the studio community by extending wellness education to the broader community and invite new members to engage in mindbody fitness-focused lifestyle. Maureen creates original content and delivers wellness education programs, lifestyle consultation and coaching, and mental fitness training programs for studio members and to schools, businesses, and individuals within local communities across the North Shore.  Visit https://landscapesforlearning.com/wellness-resource-center/ to learn more!    

6 min. Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

30 min. This discussion is about Maureen’s BOOK!  Title:  The Graphic Novel Classroom:  POWerful Teaching with Learning and Images, published by Corwin Press, 2011 Folks check out the cover graphic if nothing else!!!!   https://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Novel-Classroom-POWerful-Teaching/dp/1628737344.      ENJOY! -------- Using graphic novels as her main tool, Maureen taught young people how to reflect on how they make meaning from images based on their conditioned life experiences and how to negotiate meaning socially, with their peers. This experience ultimately led Maureen to a career as a psychotherapist and wellness educator at Landscapes for Learning.  Graphic novels created within the comics medium of communication afforded Maureen the opportunity to learn about how humans make meaning together based on a process of social negotiation. The world isn't just how I see it. It's how WE see it. "Me" has to be willing to be a "We."  Maureen learned how this process of social negotiation of meaning and communi

4 min. Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   Today's word is:  Harvest If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

22 min. Maureen and Pierre chat as Pierre recovers from cold and flu, discussing Michael Singer, a stalwart in the mind, body, spirit space. Michael Singer’s book:  The Untethered Soul is a beautiful allegorical book.  Since writing that book, he’s connected to the website:  Sounds True.  In that learning space, Singer creates an 8-part series:  Living from a Place of Surrender.   Pierre suggests that Michael Singer’s Living from a Place of Surrender is one of the clearest explanations of meditation and what consciousness to be found.   Singer being a tech entrepreneur developing  a medical data software platform has a unique way of explaining Eastern philosophical stuff in a clear and logical Western fashion.  No wooo woooo.  Straightforward examples from a logical mind. Over the 8 sessions, he gently leads people towards understanding one's deeper consciousness - or as he calls it:  one's seat of consciousness. Both Maureen and Pierre agree Michael Singer is super clear describing metaphysical experiences. 

5 min Today's word is:  MAD. It's A Mad Mad World! Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS   I

15 min Come journey with us through conversation about CS Lewis’s thinking his way from atheism to Christianity. A powerful story, an incredible journey. “Right and Wrong, A Clue to the Meaning of the Universe.”  A title of one of CS Lewis’s books - powerful.  Incredible. CS Lewis posits humans know right and wrong without learning -  it's innate.   Learn more about CS Lewis. Go beyond his books about Narnia, The Witch, The Lion and The Wardrobe. CS Lewis a resource for the ages. Enjoy!  

20 min. Maureen aces test to be a Licensed Mental Health Counselor.  Maureen counterbalances the negative in the DSM with ‘strengths counseling, merging the fields of ‘mind, body, spiritual health’ with traditional mental health counseling.   Enjoy this discussion of frontiers in mental health counseling. Maureen and Pierre talk about how human beings relate to and behave toward one another, how the nervous system is shaped early in life through attatchment and attunement. Alas, before any of us have any choice in the matter, our little bodies and brains are shaped by our early caregivers. When we can, later in life, learn about who we are and how we function, we realize much of our stress arousal and calming patterns, and ways of relating to others in relationship were taught and programmed into us long, long ago. We may not have had choice when we were younger, but adulthood is about learning and taking responsibiity for oneself. To this end, it's worth doing studying self-awareness to care for oneself and

20 min Maureen introduces Pierre to another mind-body resource, Kelly Starret and his wife, Juliet Start, who recently created The Ready State Podcast.  https://thereadystate.com/podcasts/ Mind body resources explored - this focuses on the body piece, but we see in these resources the overlap of body, mind, spirit.   Learn about tools for finding your inner tools. What can a foam roller do for your viscera - how is that related to emotional regulation Referenced in the podcast:  Stacy Simms - Female Physiology and Nutrition Science. "Women are Not Small Men https://www.drstacysims.com Jill Miller - Yoga Teacher, Therapy Balls & Yoga Tune-Up https://www.tuneupfitness.com/teacher/jill-miller-creator-yoga-tune-up Glen Cordoza and Kelly Starrett:  The Supple Leopard - The Ultimate Guide To Resolving Pain, Resolving Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance

60 min A deep dive discussion into how fields of human behavior are beginning to overlap and converse with each.  SNAP:  Learning conversation - you mean it's happening?  It's happening indeed. The basis of this podcast is a Jordan Peterson interview with Andrew Huberman. This is Maureen's adorkable dream conversation linking psychology with the humanities and spirituality, all backed by hard science with practical results for everyday people doing everyday living.   For Maureen a humanities teacher and therapist, this conversation is a dream - as it is for many of us who have been wanting to see fields in the humanities 'converse with each other.' Geek out with us.  And or dive into the podcasts yourself. ENJOY!   Andrew Huberman https://hubermanlab.com Jordan Peterson https://www.jordanbpeterson.com  

20 min Maureen and Pierre talk about how much they love Sam Harris' Waking Up app! What is meditation? What is it not? Sam Harris demystifies a mystical subject and practice.  Less soothing sounds, rustling wind, harmonic bowls, this app is more of a philosophy course that will liberate you from the control your thinking mind most likely has over you. Waking Up introduces practical steps in establishing a meditation practice, while explaining its deep mystery.  Check it out. About half way into the podcast, Pierre describes an experience of dropping into a meditation state which shuts off his brain from processing visual inputs.  Kind of freaky, kind of cool.   One of the more powerful points that Sam Harris makes is deep meditation states are not something achieved at the end of a road of work or practice.  They can be achieved almost instantly by recognizing a new reality, a reality wherein you are object not subject.  A reality where ego disappears.  Brain function is observed (one might say) instead of be

5 min Faith - leap of. Leaping into the future. Having faith in oneself and making choices. Spirituality. Thomas Aquinas- faith beyond reason. Letting go of needing answers, evidence, certainty. Every day leaps, big overarching life leaps. What's the role of faith in your life? Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

12 min Happy New Year.  Laugh along with us as we explore three 'mustabtory' life lessons for this year or any year. In this Resource pod, Maureen wants to introduce REBT (Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy) by reading from a book.  No seriously.  And, Maureen tells Pierre:  this will be funny.  Pierre, ever the skeptic, is doubtful.  Re-listening: it IS FUNNY.  BTW: Pierre writing here, Maureen is right!  Hehe.   Do you like the word 'mustabatory?'  Yes, read mastabatory, for three significant expectations people have that create suffering - all starting with the ways things 'must' be.  Life should be fair. Here are a few gem lines as Pierre and Maureen riff on fairness and expectations for fairness in life. M:  'Thinking creates a shitshow in your life.' P:  'Fairness doesn't happen in a day.' M: 'You don't have to awfulize everything.'  Hey, join us for life lessons for the new year.  Find out about REBT, CBT (Cognitive Behavior Theory) and laugh along the way.   Join us.  Wishing you a happy and healthy 20

5 min Pierre gives the word today.  It's:  resentment. What is resentment?  What makes resentment? Psychologically how does it develop?  Maureen elucidates.   Pierre chimes in, suggesting somewhere underneath resentment is narcissism and it might be intractable.  Maureen calls BS on Pierre.  Pierre thanks Maureen.  WAIT! WHAT? YUP!   Nobody's head explodes, nobody 'gets into it with the other person.  It's conversation folks. Join us in listening.  Join us in practicing. Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

10 min Maureen puts the word "empath" up for an "LP" Learning Practice. The word is discussed a bit.  What it means to be empathic. What labeling oneself or others with word does.   Very soon thereafter, Pierre drops into a self-disclosure vortex, which you can hear him try to escape multiple times.  Maureen plays gentle guide and a very interesting discussion emerges about difficulties experiencing emotions through art and entertainment vs. real life.   Join us for a deep and self-disclosing Learning Practice as we travel the landscapes within before your ears. Learning Practice features a 3-minute conversation about a single word.  Unrehearsed, without forethought of the word to be discussed, we practice the art of Learning Conversation - the title of this podcast.   If you want to practice with us by supplying a word and joining us:   contact us through our websites. Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

12 min Maureen and Pierre dive into Stoicism.   Sam Harris's meditation app "Waking Up" has a section on the stoic path.  It's a series of mini-pods, about 8-15 minutes long that take you down the path of this philosophy with a view towards a better life. Maureen picks up on that and introduces several resources from her studies of philosophy which are now overlapping modern interests in classical wisdom.  Pierre chimes in and a bunch of resources are discussed.  The book Pierre was trying to remember in the pod is:  The Stoic Challenge, see below.  The psychologist Maureen remembered is Albert Ellis.  Listen to this pod for a quick overview and intro to these resources: Epictetus - Greek philosopher. Marcus Aurelius - Roman emperor, author, philosopher Ryan Holiday - author:  The Obstacle is the Way; The Daily Stoic; Discipline is Destiny William B Irvine - author: The Stoic Challenge; A Guide to the Good Life; Slap in the Face: Why Insults Hurt and Why They Shouldn't. Robert Greene - author:  The 48 Laws of

20 min.  Work:   I have to do this vs. I get to do this What is work?  How does work work?  Is it good? This podcast is about Dr. Phil?  Maureen likes Dr. Phil.  Pierre asks who’s Dr. Phil? Join Maureen and Pierre for an amazing journey in conversation from Dr. Phil, to children living in bedrooms, to rocks becoming organisms.  No really, all in 20 minutes.  You'll be AMAZED! Maureen brings up Dr. Phil’s observation that his show has changed over time because the issues that people in general are facing have shifted.  His observation is that people are concerned with bigger issues.  For instance, parents are concerned about what their children are learning.  Dr. Phil's show started with the ‘normal’ foibles of being human that makes great drama on television - infidelity, personal crises, hysteria.  Now, folks are concerned about ‘bigger’ issues.  Pierre finds out who Dr. Phil is. Maureen and Pierre talk about work and its value. Are adult children living in extra bedrooms a problem? What is going on in socie