Episode Summary: Love-Based Activism: A Conversation with Tara Brach and Mohsen Mahdawi – Part I

Podcast: Tara Brach
Date: March 19, 2026
Guests: Tara Brach (Host), Mohsen Mahdawi (Guest)

Episode Overview

This episode offers a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation between meditation teacher Tara Brach and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian activist, Buddhist practitioner, and Columbia University student. Part I traces Mohsen’s remarkable journey from childhood in a West Bank refugee camp through experiences of trauma, education, spiritual awakening, and activism, focusing especially on the transformative role of Buddhist practice and love-based activism. The dialogue unpacks the intersection of personal healing, mindfulness, and the struggle for social justice, highlighting the challenges and possibilities of responding to violence and oppression with compassion.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mohsen’s Early Life in a Refugee Camp

[03:39–09:00]

• Reality of Refugee Camp Life:

  • Refugee camps in the West Bank are crowded (10,000 people on 63 acres), with basic infrastructure, poor privacy, infrequent water supply, and little connection to nature.
  • Mohsen describes it as a "concrete jungle" with houses crammed against each other.
  • Environmental hardships compounded by lack of nature: “We were disconnected from nature. And that was actually one of the most difficult things for me…" (Mohsen, [05:05])

• Exposure to Trauma and Loss:

  • Mohsen recounts firsthand witnessing traumatic violence: the killing of his best friend by an Israeli soldier, his uncle’s murder on his 11th birthday, loss of his brother and cousins, and the horrors of the Second Intifada.
  • “As a child, I had to collect people's body parts with my own hands after a strike and put them in plastic bags.” ([07:18])
  • Despite trauma, he recalls early childhood “tranquility and love and deep support from my family and from my mother.” ([08:00])

2. Journey to the United States & Education

[09:00–11:52]

• Pursuit of Education as Resistance:
  • Inspired by his late uncle’s encouragement, Mohsen prioritized education as a way forward: “After he was killed, I continued holding on his vision.” ([09:53])
  • Studies took him from Birzai University (Ramallah) in computer engineering, to Lehigh University, and ultimately Columbia University, where he earned a philosophy degree and began graduate studies in international affairs.
  • “Now I am studying a master's degree in international affairs.” ([11:37])

3. Encountering Buddhism and Spiritual Healing

[12:24–17:40]

• Discovery of Safety, Surfacing of Trauma:

  • The move to the U.S. provided, for the first time, a sense of physical safety and freedom from daily oppression.
  • With safety, deeply buried trauma surfaced: “The moment the safety…was met for me…my trauma started surfacing.” ([12:56])
  • Mohsen describes post-migration traumas—including heartbreak and divorce—intensifying his need for healing.

• Finding Buddhist Practice:

  • Welcomed into a Unitarian Universalist Church community in Vermont, Mohsen encountered Buddhist meditation (especially Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition).
  • First meditation experience: "Just sitting down and doing mindful meditation…put me in a level of relaxation. I was able to break out of the cycle." ([15:14])
  • Buddhist practice proved crucial in Mohsen’s trauma therapy: “Meditation and Buddhism was very grounding experience for me.” ([16:23])

4. Everyday Practice Amid Continued Triggers

[17:40–19:54]

• Daily Routines:
  • Begins his day with gratitude practice and 15 minutes of meditation.
  • Emphasizes importance of community: “I ensure that I have a community where I meet with them at least once a week to continue my practice.” ([19:36])
  • Uses mindfulness and loving-kindness (metta) meditation to regulate emotions, especially when triggered by Middle Eastern violence.
  • “Our body keeps…when I am overwhelmed with emotions, I have to center myself and to fill my own glass.” ([18:46])

5. Love as the Core of Activism

[19:54–24:47]

• Activism Rooted in Love, Not Resentment:

  • Mohsen’s activism was transformed by spiritual healing: he could now share his story “from a place of love, not from a place of resentment or anger or fear.” ([20:49])
  • Developed deep connections and empathy in the U.S., including with Jews and Israelis unfamiliar with Palestinian narratives.
  • “It felt addictive to me…the human being has a good nature, that's a Buddha nature…” ([21:39])

• Building Coalitions at Columbia:

  • Led and co-built the largest coalition in Columbia’s history for pro-Palestinian advocacy—over 130 organizations and thousands of students.
  • Despite trauma and adversity (including discrimination from university administration), the foundational vision was love for humanity and peaceful justice.

6. Navigating Division and the Risks of Reactive Activism

[24:47–29:00]

• Maintaining Loving Presence During Conflict:

  • Recognizes trauma, pain, and anger can divide movements and communities.
  • “One of the most important parts is to have that ability to regulate the emotions to sustain the movement, to continue to build unity and through empathy and compassion. Because otherwise movements can fall apart...” ([26:39])

• Honest Acknowledgment of Human Reactions:

  • Tara notes: “When we feel injured and scared, the human brain goes into very naturally hatred and aggression…unless there is a conscious, explicit intention to cultivate the qualities of presence and compassion, people get pulled into it.” ([27:29])

7. Supporting Others Out of Reactivity

[28:35–32:32]

• Separation of People from Oppressive Systems:

  • Mohsen teaches activists to distinguish people from the systems that oppress: “If we want to fight for justice, we are fighting the system, not the people.” ([29:10])
  • Affirms “the human nature is a good nature, that's the Buddha nature…Even Einstein…said the most important decision…is to believe if we live in a friendly world or an aggressive world.” ([29:45])

• Empathizing Without Justifying Harm:

  • Practices dialoguing with opponents by inviting their empathy; shares personal pain without blame. Over time, sees profound shifts in mutual understanding.
  • “The Bodhisattvas…do the vow…it's to liberate all beings. So that is part of the healing, is to liberate the people who are also being used and manipulated by the system of injustice.” ([31:01])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Childhood Trauma:

  • “As a child, I had to collect people's body parts with my own hands after a strike and put them in plastic bags.”
    — Mohsen Mahdawi ([07:18])

• On Finding Meditation:

  • “Just sitting down and doing mindful meditation…put me in a level of relaxation. I was able to break out of the cycle.”
    — Mohsen Mahdawi ([15:14])

• On Love-Based Activism:

  • “I was able to share my experience and to speak my truth from a place of love, not from a place of resentment or anger or fear.”
    — Mohsen Mahdawi ([20:49])

• On Coalition Building and Emotional Regulation:

  • “One of the most important parts is to have that ability to regulate the emotions to sustain the movement, to continue to build unity and through empathy and compassion.”
    — Mohsen Mahdawi ([26:39])

• On Seeing the ‘Other’ with Compassion:

  • “If we want to fight for justice, we are fighting the system, not the people…The human being is not an enemy, if there is an enemy. It's the system that capitalizes on ignorance, on fear, and on separation or segregation.”
    — Mohsen Mahdawi ([29:10])

• Tara Brach’s Reflection:

  • “If you can be a very embodied transmission of creating a safe space… it helps people to relax defenses and sense a larger connection…if we can respond by being the love, there's amazing hope.”
    — Tara Brach ([32:32])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:39] – Mohsen shares what it means to grow up in a refugee camp
• [07:18] – Description of firsthand trauma and loss as a child
• [09:37] – Educational journey and moving to the United States
• [12:24] – Encounter with safety in the U.S. and resurfacing of trauma
• [15:14] – First experience with meditation and the beginning of spiritual healing
• [17:53] – Ongoing spiritual and mindfulness practices in daily life
• [20:34] – Describing transition to activism rooted in love
• [24:47] – Ensuring activism comes from compassion, even in the face of intense opposition
• [28:35] – Teaching others to separate people from systems of oppression; practical applications in movement-building

Conclusion & Next Episode Teaser

The episode concludes with Tara reminding listeners that the conversation will continue next week, delving deeper into the practical challenges of enacting love in social movements and exploring what’s possible in the face of ongoing suffering and conflict.

“We’ll be exploring the challenges of manifesting love in action. We’ll also look at the dimensions of what’s possible. So I hope you’ll join us then.”
– Tara Brach ([32:50])