Mind & Life

In this episode, Wendy speaks with psychiatrist and contemplative researcher Zev Schuman-Olivier. Zev has been working for more than a decade to integrate mindfulness and compassion into health care, with a focus on addiction, depression, and chronic illness. This conversation covers many topics, including: weaving mindfulness and compassion into clinical settings; lessons from his own experience of chronic illness; the key role of behavior change in health; balancing individual responsibility for health with systemic factors; mindfulness and addiction; making interventions trauma-informed, inclusive, and broadly accessible; how signals from the body help motivate action and emotion; how mindfulness enhances trust in the body and changes the brain in depression; Internal Family Systems and the critical role of acceptance; and next steps for integrating mindfulness and compassion into complex healthcare systems. Full show notes and resources

Eve Ekman, a social scientist and meditation teacher, discusses emotion awareness, handshaking meditation practice, constructive vs. destructive emotions, leveraging technology for emotional tracking, teaching meditation, the Atlas of Emotion, and life lessons from surfing in an engaging conversation.

Contemplative neuroscientist Dave Vago discusses mindfulness, memory, chronic pain, attentional bias, self/other divide, inhibitory control, brain function, glymphatic system, ISCR. Meditation's impact on brain, attention, self-perception, and neurodegenerative disorders. Exploring interconnectedness of brain processes and integrating wisdom for meaning. Engaging with ISCR for contemplative research.

In this episode, Wendy speaks with biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medical doctor Tawni Tidwell. Tawni's research focuses on living—and dying—with greater awareness and well-being, and integrates multiple biological and cultural perspectives on mind-body systems. This conversation covers many topics, including: merging interests in biology, culture, ecology, nature, and medicine; how our minds shape our bodies; the holistic approach of Tibetan medicine; understanding constitutions and individual proclivities; the subtle body and consciousness; studying monastics who are able to extend the death process (Tukdam project); implications for life, death, and the nature of consciousness; individual differences and determining which practices might be best for someone; studying Tibetan medicine's approach to treating COVID; and coming back to our bodies, our communities, and our environments. Full show notes and resources

Neuroscientist Brian Dias discusses intergenerational trauma, epigenetics, and the transmission of experiences through generations. Topics include the impact of trauma on brain development, links to Buddhist karma, implications for inheritance and evolution, and strategies for breaking cycles of stress and fostering well-being.

Neuroscientist Jyoti Mishra discusses mindfulness, climate trauma, and mental health. Topics include community resilience after disasters, studying impacts of wildfires on mental health, healing relationships with nature through mindfulness, childhood adversity's effect on brain circuitry, and empowering youth through contemplative interventions.

Psychologist and contemplative researcher Simon Goldberg discusses the science behind meditation, the importance of control groups, common factors in healing interventions, individualizing contemplative practice, challenges in measuring meditation effects, delivering interventions through apps, and the potential of AI in supporting meditation practice.

Explore contemplative leadership with Diana Chapman Walsh, focusing on self-reflection, vulnerability, interconnectedness, and trustworthy leadership. Discover how to build community in the face of the climate crisis, accelerate positive change through feedback loops, and the power of storytelling in leadership.

Explore the intersection of psychology, meditation, and science with Daniel Goleman. Learn about emotional intelligence, contemplative science, social emotional learning in education, McMindfulness, nonconceptual states, science communication, latest research on emotional intelligence in organizations, and how awareness is showing up in the world.

In this episode, Wendy speaks with neuroscientist Robin Nusslock. Robin has long been interested in the mind through both scientific and Buddhist lenses, and he trained with Richie Davidson. His work focuses on the brain's role in our emotional life, how stress impacts many of our bodily systems, as well as social determinants of health. This conversation covers many topics, including: his long interest in mind & Buddhism; basic pathways of how stress gets into the body; how the brain learns threat and safety; effects of early life trauma on brain and behavior; our brain's reward systems and relevance to Buddhist ideas; craving and addiction; pathways toward change, neuroplasticity and pause; social and environmental determinants of health; epigenetics and intergenerational trauma; biology is not destiny; how we can intervene and promote flourishing; family-level interventions; reducing exposure to adversity; economic interventions (e.g., universal basic income); teaching science and research to Tibetan monastics; studying lucid dreaming with monks; and fruits of the exchange between Buddhism and science. Full show notes and resources