Tami Simon (Part 1) – Waking Up the World: Being True to Life with the Founder of Sounds True

Ep. 164 (Part 1 of 2) | Tami Simon, founder of the highly regarded multimedia publishing company Sounds True, covers a lot of inspiring ground in this heartening, lively, candid conversation. She tells the extraordinary story of how she came to devote herself to disseminating spiritual wisdom; about finding the edges and growing into them on her own path of awakening; the spiritual teachers she has encountered whose teachings have affected her the most; the wholeness of spiritual vision and psychological health; and discovering that, like all of us, spiritual leaders can be both luminous and in need of healing at the same time. Tami is an ardent torchbearer for the conscious business movement, explaining that business can be the way we give our gifts—that the endeavors of an inspired entrepreneur can be expressions of love and provide an incredible way of connecting with other people.

What is so striking throughout is the depth of Tami’s clarity about what matters in life and her unwavering commitment to acting with integrity. Tami has a remarkable ability to translate her spiritual insights and principles into action—as co-host Roger Walsh points out, she is a beautiful example of a karma yogic life, where being of service is the fuel, the inspiration, and the content of her life, as she continuously works towards furthering both her own spiritual awakening and the awakening of all. Tami offers a lovely, poetic rendering of the effects of living a true and meaningful life: “The litmus test is always somebody’s wake, the ripples of their life, how they’ve impacted others . . . the beauty, love, and justice that live in the wake of a person.” A genuinely engaging, illuminating, memorable conversation. Recorded October 17, 2024.

“If our spiritual vision doesn’t translate into treating ourselves and other people, and the environment and the world well, and building a just society, I’m not interested in it.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

• Introducing founder of the multimedia publishing company Sounds True, author, entrepreneur & popular podcast host, Tami Simon (00:53)
• What is the spirit or ideal animating Tami’s venture? Broadcast awakening! (02:20)
• Tami was given 3 words right at the start: disseminate spiritual wisdom (03:47)
• The origin of Sounds True: synchronicities, altered state experience, and the concept of transformational economy (05:30)
• How Vipassana retreats changed Tami (10:10)
• Tami wanted to understand Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory in her body, in her bones (12:24)
• Meditation felt like a homecoming, a sense of belonging as never before: this is how it feels to feel okay (15:03)
• Sounds True has been Tami’s “ground of growth,” an incredible crucible—because it’s so stressful (18:12)
• Heart opening experiences keep on going (20:20)
• Entrepreneurial endeavors as an expression of love (23:05)
• Service is inherent in the energy of the human heart (26:30)
• Integrity is critical: a grace field rooted in the central part of the body (30:29)
• Responding to the many problems of contemporary media and our media-ted lives (36:43)
• What is the most strategic and economic way I can serve? (41:20)
• Technological change and Tami’s willingness to adapt (42:33)

Resources & References – Part 1

• Tami Simon, founder of multimedia publishing company Sounds True
• Tami’s podcast, Insights at the Edge
• Tami Simon, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love (audio program)
• Eugene Gendlin, Focusing*
• Karen Johnson, The Jeweled Path: A Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization*
• S.N. Goenka, Vipassana Meditation
• Tami’s interviews with Ken Wilber: Kosmic Consciousness
• Dr. Gunapala Dharmasiri, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist scholars, Fundamentals of Buddhist Ethics* 
• Melissa Bernstein, Entrepreneur in Residence of Sounds True’s The Inner MBA certification program
• Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
• Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
• The Social Dilemma (docudrama)
• The A.I. Dilemma (Aspen Institute YouTube video)

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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In 1985, at 22 years of age, Tami Simon founded Sounds True, a multi-media company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation which creates equitable access to Sounds True’s programs and the Inner MBA, an immersion learning program that teaches the inner skills of conscious business. Tami hosts a popular weekly podcast called “Insights at the Edge,” where she interviews Sounds True authors, delving deeply into their discoveries and personal experiences. With Sounds True, she has released the audio program “Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life, and Love.” Tami lives with her wife of twenty-three years, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Raspberry and Bula, in British Columbia.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell