Mind & Life

Wendy speaks with philosopher Hanne De Jaegher. They discuss sense-making and embodiment in cognition, the primacy of interaction, emotional capacity and dementia, understanding autistic individuals, problems with social media discouraging interaction, the tension between self and interdependence, and applying these ideas to our relationship with nature.

Grant Jones, musician, contemplative, researcher, and activist, discusses blending music, psychology, contemplation, and activism. They explore music and mindfulness for healing race-based anxiety, collaborating with notable musicians, the absence of research on black music, pleasure activism, balancing structure and freedom, the Black Lotus Collective, and the link between psychedelics and meditation.

Psychosocial oncology researcher Linda Carlson speaks about mindfulness and contemplative practices in cancer patients. Topics include early clinical trials, meditation and cancer stress, re-evaluating self and identity, mindfulness and cellular aging, inflammation impacts, increasing accessibility in health care, and building an academic society for contemplative research.

In this episode, social psychologist and contemplative researcher Paul Condon discusses his work integrating Buddhism and psychology, measuring compassion in the real world, meditation's effects on prosocial behavior, understanding attachment styles, and the limitations of viewing meditation as self-help. He emphasizes the relational starting point of meditation, the power of mental simulation, and how these practices can offer in our current moment as a society.

This episode features a conversation with Marieke Van Vugt, who discusses her interests in meditation, dance, and cognitive science. They explore topics such as computer modeling of mind and meditation, distraction and mind wandering, trauma through the lens of predictive models, collaborating with Tibetan monastics, the roots of thinking in the body, and advice for young scholars.

Gastroenterologist Emeran Mayer explores the mind-body connection, microbiome research, gut-brain interactions, and the concept of the 'second brain.' He discusses the impact of stress and diet on gut permeability, the importance of microbial diversity, and the role of antibiotics. Additionally, he delves into the development of the microbiome in pregnancy and infancy, the implications for our concept of self, and the need for a feminine perspective in our world.

To begin our seventh season, Wendy speaks with contemplative educator and developmental psychologist Rob Roeser. Rob has been working to re-envision the educational system for decades, and has been at the forefront of understanding how we can best integrate mindfulness and compassion into school settings. This conversation covers many topics, including: his initial exposure to integrative school systems; educating for life, instead of just participation in the global economy; focus on the body, nature, and our inherent "earthiness"; studying schools in India that integrate meditation; integrating science and viewing contemplative practice as building skills; applying a developmental lens to contemplative education; the key role of educating adults alongside children; changing culture and norms; how social processes drive the development of attention in children; our innate tendencies towards both compassion and othering; attention training as a relational practice; the relevance of a secure base; leveraging developmental "windows of opportunity"; practices that highlight our shared humanity; systems thinking in education; and re-enchanting the gift of learning. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with lawyer, activist, and restorative justice expert sujatha baliga. sujatha’s work reimagines our current legal and justice system in the United States, and emphasizes the full humanity of both those who experience harm and those who cause it. This conversation covers many topics, including: growing up with sexual abuse, and the impacts it had; meeting with the Dalai Lama, and his transformational advice; the power of lovingkindness; her choice to be a public defender; responsibility & causes and conditions; holding two competing ideas simultaneously; problems with the traditional legal system; the paradigm shift of restorative justice; integrating contemplative practice into the process of restorative justice; the role of the self in the experience of harm; how we need to shift our language around labeling people; reflections on forgiveness and justice; and next steps for the movement. Full show notes and resources

Neuroscientist and pain researcher Fadel Zeidan discusses mindfulness and its effects on physical pain relief. He explores topics such as bringing mindfulness to special education, understanding the brain during pain, using 'fake meditation' in research, the role of our natural opiate system, studying psychedelics for pain, and compassion meditation. He also delves into the opioid crisis and the role of contemplation in society.

In this episode, Wendy speaks with Buddhist scholar and contemplative educator and researcher Brendan Ozawa-de Silva. Brendan has been studying and teaching mindfulness and compassion for over a decade, and has lately been focusing on integrating trauma-informed and embodied practices into his work. This conversation covers many topics, including: his interest in contemplation (and an introduction to the Japanese practice of Naikan); adapting contemplative training to a variety of settings; the capacity of young people for compassion, mindfulness, and conceptual frames; what's missing in contemplative research; empathy/compassion as something that arises between people; the embeddedness of researchers in the systems they study; the SEE Learning program; trauma in the body & nervous system regulation; understanding different forms of trauma; healing and forgiveness; barriers to compassion, misunderstandings about the meaning of compassion; how the world is built on compassion; and new teaching endeavors with experiential learning. Full show notes and resources