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Episode: Are You Ignoring Your Higher Self? NEUROSCIENTIST on Intuition, Synchronicities & Soul Messages | Dr. Marjorie Woollacott
Guest: Dr. Marjorie Woollacott (Neuroscientist, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon)
Date: February 20, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode explores the experiential and scientific intersections of spirituality, consciousness, and neuroscience. Dr. Marjorie Woollacott, a once-skeptical neuroscientist and former atheist, recounts her personal “awakening” and the subsequent journey that changed her understanding of consciousness. The discussion delves into phenomena such as meditation, kundalini energy, psi abilities, near-death experiences, intuition, mediumship, and the power of belief. Mayim, Jonathan, and Dr. Woollacott examine whether it is possible—and practical—for science to make room for spiritual experience, and how listeners might open up their own “inner senses” to greater awareness.

Main Themes & Purpose

• Bridging Science and Spirituality:
  Dr. Woollacott shares her journey from materialist neuroscience toward embracing and investigating spiritual experiences.
• Awakenings and Transformation:
  Personal narrative and examples of sudden, transformative experiences that defy materialist explanations.
• Exploring Psi Phenomena:
  Near-death experiences, remote viewing, telepathy, synchronicity, and mediumship—how they relate to brain filters, belief, and consciousness.
• Practical Application:
  Guidance for listeners aiming to integrate deeper awareness, intuition, and altered states while remaining grounded.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Dr. Woollacott’s Spiritual Awakening

[09:00–15:08]

• Felt unfulfilled and “subtle dis-ease” despite career success.
• Describes being invited to a meditation retreat: initially skeptical, eventually attended.
• During a “Swami’s touch” initiation, experienced a profound energetic rush:
  • “It felt like a mini lightning bolt… I feel this energy begin radiating outward from my heart, filling my whole being. This is love and my heart is my home.” (Woollacott, 00:00/14:05)
  • Not on any substances, never used psychedelics.
  • Aftermath: a spontaneous and persistent desire to meditate, leading to lasting personal transformation.
  • “I began leading two lives: an academic neuroscientist and a secret meditation practitioner.” (Woollacott, 22:33)
• Science brain was “confounded” but “didn’t care” because the felt experience was so powerful.

The Science–Skeptic Split: Can We Study This?

[27:49–34:39]

• Physical mechanism for these experiences is unknown—do we need a mechanism to accept transformative events?
• Quotes from world philosophy: Kundalini (India), Chi (China), Holy Spirit (Christianity), Kia (Africa).
• Subtle energy fields and their possible universality.
• Dr. Woollacott: “Something happened that is transformational... Even without a mechanism, we must acknowledge it happens.” (Woollacott, 27:49)
• Brain “filters” inhibit expanded awareness; deep meditation or near-death can turn them “way down” resulting in wider perception.

Psi Phenomena and the Limits of Materialism

[47:41–52:45]

• Near-death experiences often unlock lasting psi abilities (e.g., Elizabeth Crone and precognition).
• Some non-verbal autistic children display intuitive or telepathic abilities.
• Mediumship, historically dismissed, now included in Dr. Woollacott’s research: “I had to go underneath my disbelief and see what the data actually shows.” (Woollacott, 47:41)
• Strong evidence across cultures for communication with deceased and “information transfer” that cannot be explained materially.

The Role of Belief and Co-created Reality

[54:00–61:37]

• Discussion of Bernardo Kastrup’s analytic idealism:
  • All beings have belief systems that “anchor” them in this physical reality (e.g., gravity, time, the five senses).
  • To change a limiting belief, “You have to go under the belief and literally dig it out like a thorn.” (Woollacott, 54:00)
• Mayim: “If we think of it like a simulation, we’re all running different code, trying to relate from our respective software and inherited patterns.” (Bialik, 56:05)
• Placebo and belief effects demonstrate “belief changes your physiology.”
• “Yes, our beliefs create reality, but this is nuanced—we co-create with all points of consciousness, not just individually.” (Woollacott, 60:43)

Practical Spirituality and Application

[38:18–46:59, 62:54–65:56]

• Many paths to awakening: meditation, yoga, spiritual community, even dissatisfaction can open a “crack” in the self.
• Small, consistent practice (e.g., mantra repetition, focused breathing) helps quiet the “egoic narrative” in the brain (Default Mode Network).
• Surrounding oneself with others who have “awakened” is powerful (“get new friends”—humorous but true).
  • “In a group that meditates, it’s easier to induce a quiet state of mind.” (Woollacott, 39:12)
• Beware of abandoning practicality for “spiritual bypassing”—one must balance heart and intellect:
  • “Is this fulfilling? If not, maybe I need to get back into a job.” (Woollacott, 63:03)
• Apply “honest introspection” to daily habits and social connections to support awareness.

Consciousness—Where Is It?

[65:56–67:20]

• Consciousness is not solely in the brain: “There is an element of consciousness in everything… My brain is not producing my awareness.”
• Each element of existence “cooperates” in the shared dance of consciousness.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Lightning Bolt Experience:
  “First of all, literally, it felt like a mini lightning bolt, like electricity, a tiny electric current … and it landed in the heart. … The heart felt very good. That’s why the words came—‘I’m home. My heart that I’d never experienced before.’”
  — Dr. Woollacott, [14:05]

• On Scientific Skepticism:
  “Do we have to have a mechanism in order to accept something? Or can we accept the veracity of the experience and the transformation that occurs?”
  — Dr. Woollacott, [27:49]

• On the Power of Community:
  “Make new friends… When you’re in a group that meditates, it’s easier to induce yourself into that quiet state of mind.”
  — Dr. Woollacott, [39:12]

• On Belief Systems:
  “Beliefs are anchors … You have to go under the belief and literally dig it out like a thorn … and then you have the chance of actually letting go of that belief.”
  — Dr. Woollacott, [54:00]

• On Co-Creating Reality:
  “Yes, I do have a contribution to creating my reality… But all the human beings, all the points of consciousness… are also contributing to our joint reality. This is a co-created universe.”
  — Dr. Woollacott, [60:43]

• On Balancing Spirituality and Practical Life:
  “We need a healthy combination: the yin and the yang, the heart and the mind… Is this fulfilling me? Just keep asking.”
  — Dr. Woollacott, [63:37]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Woollacott’s Awakening Story: [09:00–15:08]
• Explaining the Energy Experience: [13:22–14:44]
• Integrating Spiritual Practice with Scientific Career: [22:33–24:12]
• Community and Transmission in Meditation: [38:18–39:49]
• How to Cultivate Awareness and Overcome Distractions: [39:49–46:59]
• Psi, Mediumship, and Skepticism: [47:41–52:45]
• Consciousness Beyond the Brain: [65:56–67:20]
• Closing Reflections on Co-created Reality: [60:43–63:37]

Tone and Style

The conversation is open-minded, sometimes playful, candidly skeptical, and deeply curious. Mayim and Jonathan ground the dialogue by questioning, paraphrasing, and bringing in relatable anecdotes, while Dr. Woollacott remains compassionate yet direct, persistently inviting listeners to embrace personal experience and not shy away from the mysteries of consciousness.

Recommended Next Steps

• For Listeners:
  Explore different contemplative practices, cultivate community with open-minded seekers, and maintain an honest dialogue between intellect and heartfelt experience.
• Readings Mentioned:
  • Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind — Marjorie Woollacott
  • Spiritual Awakenings (edited by Woollacott)
  • More Than Allegory — Bernardo Kastrup
  • Additional studies on near-death experiences and psi phenomena

Closing

This episode provokes listeners to reconsider the boundaries of perception and reality. It offers a bridge for skeptics and believers alike, inviting everyone to explore awareness beyond the five senses—without abandoning healthy skepticism or life’s practical necessities.
To be continued in Part Two, which will delve further into terminal lucidity, synchronicity, telepathy, and the nature of consciousness.