Podcast
Sounds True: Insights at the Edge
Hosted by Tami Simon · EN
Tami Simon, Founder and Publisher of Sounds True interviews spiritual teachers, visionary writers, and living luminaries about their newest work and current challenges—the growing edge of their inner inquiry and outer contribution to the world.
36episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Yuria Celidwen, PhD: “Flourishing Is a Gradual Unfolding of Aesthetic Arrest”
Jan 7, 202501:08:02Tap to summarizeDr. Yuria Celidwen is at the forefront of a historic expansion in the field of contemplative science—or the study of inner practices like meditation, prayer, and mindfulness. Until recently, researchers have primarily focused on major religious traditions such as Buddhism or Christianity. Today, Dr. Celidwen is bringing the long-overdue perspective of Indigenous cultures into the discussion. In this podcast, Sounds True founder Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Celidwen about her new book, Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Wisdom for Collective Well-Being. Tune in for this invigorating conversation exploring: Yuria’s definition of flourishing as a gradual unfolding of aesthetic arrest; cultivating an embodied sense of your interconnection with all of creation; why Indigenous perspectives are vital for solving the climate crisis; honoring spirit, the animating principle of life; a deeper understanding of health; the direct experience of “moments of truth”; sunshine as a seed of awareness; the core right of self-determination; relating to Indigeneity respectfully; the possibility of collective flourishing; 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.
Transcribe →Awe and a Meaningful Life
Jul 5, 2022Tap to summarizeDacher Keltner, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and is the founding director of the university’s Greater Good Science Center (GGSC). He is the host of the GGSC’s award-winning podcast, The Science of Happiness, and is a co-instructor of the GGSC’s popular online course of the same name. He has devoted his career to studying the nature of human goodness and happiness, conducting groundbreaking research on compassion, awe, laughter, and love. He is also the bestselling author of The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence and Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life, and is a coeditor of The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness, in addition to more than 100 scientific papers and two bestselling textbooks. In this podcast, Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, speaks with Dr. Dacher Keltner about his inspiring work and his exploration of how the experience of awe, gratitude, empathy, and other prosocial emotions is intimately tied to our capacity to live a life of meaning. Tami and Dacher discuss Charles Darwin’s study of emotions and how “survival of the kindest” may be more true than “survival of the fittest”; the connection between emotions and ethics and the changing nature of power; the instinct of sympathy; making kindness your core principle; choosing prosocial emotions in stressful, energy-draining situations; “vagal superstars” and the practice of compassion; establishing healthy boundaries to avoid empathic distress (or taking in other people’s suffering); creating positive changes in the health-care system; the experience of awe in the presence of another person; and more.
Transcribe →Is There a Holy Grail of Healing?
Mar 29, 2022Tap to summarizeLissa Rankin, MD, is a New York Times bestselling author of multiple books including Mind Over Medicine, a physician, speaker, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute and the nonprofit Heal At Last, and mystic. Lissa has starred in two national public television specials, her TEDx Talks have been viewed over 4 million times, and she leads workshops both online and at retreat centers like Esalen, 1440 Multiversity, Omega, and Kripalu. In this podcast, Dr. Rankin speaks with Sounds True founder, Tami Simon, about her new book, Sacred Medicine: A Doctor's Quest to Unravel the Mysteries of Healing. Their conversation explores: the placebo effect and the mega-placebo effect; the scientific method and some assumptions we should question; the relationship between trauma, the nervous system, and healing; connectivity and co-regulation; developmental trauma, or what Mark Epstein calls "the trauma of everyday life"; the concept of spiritual bypassing; chronic inflammation as a root cause of many diseases; the paradoxes of healing; our four "intelligences"—mental, somatic, intuitive, and emotional—and what to do when they "disagree"; Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and working with the polarized parts within ourselves; healing the collective; and more.
Transcribe →Hard Pivot
Feb 22, 2022Tap to summarizeReinvention is at the core of Apolo Ohno. He acquired and honed this skill over a decade of Olympic speed skating competition, during which he became the most decorated US Winter Olympian of all time. Apolo continually adapts that performance mindset to support ongoing personal and professional growth. He has drawn on this acumen to become a global cross-industry entrepreneur, a successful sports broadcaster and television personality, a New York Times bestselling author, and a lifelong scholar inside and outside the university setting. In this podcast, Apolo joins Sounds True founder Tami Simon to discuss his new book, Hard Pivot: Embrace Change. Find Purpose. Show Up Fully. Tami and Apolo also discuss being relentlessly curious; fear of failure and “FOPO”—fear of other people’s opinions; doing the hard work; how to work with disempowering self-talk; the power of visualization; the concept of “process over prize”; having a full dedication to one’s craft; the Japanese principle of ikigai; maintaining self-discipline; and Apolo’s Five Golden Principles for building resilience, overcoming self-doubt, reinventing ourselves, and pivoting gracefully into new opportunities for success.
Transcribe →Making Sense of Menopause
Feb 15, 2022Tap to summarizeSusan Willson, CNM, is a Yale-educated certified nurse midwife and certified clinical thermographer with more than 40 years of experience in the women’s health field. She has taught at Omega Institute and is a frequent lecturer for the American College of Nurse-Midwives, where she lectures on women’s health and the emotional work of menopause. With Sounds True, she has authored the book, Making Sense of Menopause: Harnessing the Power and Potency of Your Wisdom Years. In this podcast, Sounds True founder Tami Simon speaks with Susan Willson about her new book and her efforts to bring menopause out of the shadows and into the light, so we can learn how to embrace this passage to reclaiming our power and creativity as wise women and truth tellers. Susan and Tami also discuss: how our birth traditions reveal the heart of our culture, Susan's journey as a cross-cultural midwife, normalizing the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, overcoming the shame associated with menopause, why we need to tell our stories in order to heal, the hormone estriol and its connection to the brain's creative centers, finding support for challenging symptoms so you can return to balance, key lifestyle changes to restore energy, reestablishing healthy sleep, good stress versus bad stress, how women and men's sex drive changes as we age, the croning ritual and other ways to mark our passages in life, the qualities and characteristics of a wise woman, and more
Transcribe →Matthieu Ricard: Finding Inner Freedom
Dec 8, 2020Tap to summarizeMatthieu Ricard is a French author, photographer, translator, and Buddhist monk. With Sounds True, he has joined with coauthors Christophe André, a well-known French psychiatrist, and Swiss philosopher Alexandre Jollien to create two books: In Search of Wisdom: A Monk, a Philosopher, and a Psychiatrist on What Matters Most and, most recently, Freedom for All of Us: A Monk, a Philosopher, and a Psychiatrist on Finding Inner Peace. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Matthieu about the path to inner freedom. They discuss the obstacles we encounter on the path, such as addiction or confusing our willpower with true freedom. Matthieu also explores what supports inner freedom, the nature of optimism, and the training we must go through. Finally, they move into the “harvest” that comes from cultivating deep and lasting inner freedom.
Transcribe →Eckhart Tolle: Conscious Manifestation
Oct 8, 2019Tap to summarizeEckhart Tolle is one of the world's most renowned spiritual teachers. In addition to hosting many talks, retreats, and seminars, Eckhart has written two all-time bestselling books: The Power of Now and A New Earth. In this special episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon joins Eckhart for an in-depth question-and-answer session that includes queries from members of his teaching community. In preparation for a new, eight-week online course on conscious manifestation, Eckhart explains the difference between creating from the demands of the ego and from a place of still Presence. Eckhart also describes how to deal with doubts and fears of insufficiency during the creative process. Finally, Eckhart comments on the true origins of inspiration and how you can use the principles of conscious manifestation to affect positive change in the world.(68 minutes)
Transcribe →Robert Wright: A Meta-Cognitive Revolution
Jan 30, 2018Tap to summarizeRobert Wright is a scholar, journalist, and the author of books such as Why Buddhism Is True, Nonzero, and The Evolution of God. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Robert and Tami Simon examine meditation from a slightly different perspective, discussing the practice as both a tool of discovery and a kind of rebellion against the hardwired instincts of natural selection. They speak on whether there is a secret order to the universe and what truly fuels moral action. Robert and Tami also talk about different ways to conceive of the arising of thought and of "enlightenment" itself. Finally, Robert comments on how stepping back from our mental processes comprises a "metacognitive revolution" that is key to the survival of the human race. (76 minutes)
Transcribe →Bessel van der Kolk: Fluid, Alive, and Optimistic
Feb 22, 2017Tap to summarizeBessel van der Kolk is a clinician, teacher, author, and one of the most esteemed researchers on post-traumatic stress in the world. A veteran professor at universities and hospitals across the United States, Bessel is the New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body and the Treatment of Trauma. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Bessel speak on his many decades researching trauma. They talk about recent developments in the treatment of trauma—specifically the effectiveness of such methods as EMDR, psycho-dramatics, yoga, and introception. Lastly, they discuss the healing of trauma at a societal level and why—despite the suffering he has encountered over the years—Bessel is essentially optimistic about humanity's ability to heal. (61 minutes)
Transcribe →Terry Real: Fierce Intimacy
Sep 6, 2016Tap to summarizeTerry Real is a family therapist, author, and founder of the Relational Life Institute, which hosts workshops on family and relationships throughout the country. He has written several books, including The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Make Love Work. Terry will be a featured presenter during Sounds True’s upcoming online training summit Psychotherapy 2.0, which will take place September 7–13. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Terry talk about the inherent challenges of being in relationship and the many approaches to addressing those challenges in couples therapy. Terry discusses how men and women relate to one another in different ways, as well as the steps necessary when couples are badly out of sync. Finally, Terry and Tami speak on the Relational Life approach to therapy and the skills we need to develop in order to take our interpersonal relationships up to “full throttle.” (67 minutes)
Transcribe →