The New Dimensions Café

Diana "Di" Percy is the founder of the internationally acclaimed Organisation Development Australia, a director of Vogel Percy and past chair of the Dharma School, with experience in psychology, Gestalt Therapy, business, leadership education and governance. She has served as a corporate advisor working with Boards of Directors and CEOs. She is also a poet, leads pilgrimages to oceans and forests and participates in a project she calls, “The New Elders” which centers on the positive development of elders and changing a negative community mindset. She resides in Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of: Becoming an Elder: Practicing the Wisdom Arts.Interview Date: 8/3/2019     Tags: MP3, Diana Percy, Di Percy, elderhood, reevaluating meaning and purpose, perfect your love, Jack Kornfield, courage, hope, Personal Transformation

Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher and a most eloquent spiritual teacher. In 2015, he was given a Life-Achievement Award by AgeNation and in 2016 was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the Most Spiritually Influential Living People. He was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.He is the author of many audio learning projects and over 20 books including Reduced To Joy (Cleis Press 2013), Seven Thousand Ways To Listen: Staying Close To What Is Sacred (Free Press 2012), The One Life We’re Given: Finding the Wisdom That Waits in Your heart (Atria Books 2016), The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True 2016), Drinking from the River of Light: The Life of Expression (Sounds True 2019)Interview Date: 8/10/2019     Tags: MP3, Mark Nepo, making a living as a poet, poetry, metaphors, waves and undertows, fish breathing with gills, inner spiritual practice, naming things, the three friendships, wisdom of source, river of experience, friendship with each other, personal expression, perfection, Antic Hay, Aldous Huxley, Personal Transformation, Spirituality, Writing, Philosophy, Art & Creativity

Lama Palden Drolma is a licensed psychotherapist, spiritual teacher, and coach. She has studied Buddhism in the Himalayas with some of the preeminent Tibetan masters of the twentieth century, including Kalu Rinpoche, who authorized her to become one of the first Western lamas. She is the founder of thae Sukhasiddhi Foundation, a Tibetan Buddhist center in Fairfax. California.She is the author of Love on Every Breath: Tonglen Meditation for Transforming Pain into Joy (New World Library 2019)Interview Date: 7/16/2019    Tags: MP3, Lama Palden Drolma, Buddhist Meta Meditation, transforming suffering, Tonglen, Niguma, Jetsuma Tenzin Palmo, taking refuge, on the spot meditation, Dilgo Khyentse, Chenrezig, three jewels, Buddha, Sanga, Dharma, sin, Matthew Fox, mantra, Kalu Rinpoche, 16th Karmapa, Meditation, Personal Transformation, Buddhism

Martin Shaw, Ph.D. is a storyteller and mythologist. He’s a wilderness rites-of-passage guide and is internationally regarded as one of the most exciting proponents of the mythic imagination. He tells “prophetic stories” that speak deeply to the challenges we face today, in the world and in our personal lives. He has devised and led the Oral Tradition course at Stanford University, is a visiting fellow at Schumacher College, and the Director of the Westcountry School of Myth, a Learning community in Dartmoor in the far west of the United Kingdom. His books include A Branch from the Lightning Tree: Ecstatic Myth and the Grace in Wildness, (White Cloud Press 2011), Snowy Tower: Parzival and the Wet, Black Branch of Language (White Cloud Press 2014), Scatterlings: Getting Claimed in the Age of Amnesia (White Cloud 2016), The Night Wages: Bidden or Unbidden Initiations Come, (Cista Mystica Press 2019).Interview Date: 6/4/2019    Tags: MP3, Martin Shaw, fairytales, folk tales, monsters, Beowulf, Lindworm, feral, Siberian tale, underworld, naïveté, Baba Yaga, decent, underworld, Robert Bly, efficient initiation rites, grief, innocence, experience, rite of passage, self esteem, Mythology, Philosophy, Personal Transformation

Stephen G. Post, Ph.D. is among a handful of individuals awarded the distinguished service award by the National Alzheimer's Association. In 2001 he founded The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, which researches and distributes knowledge on kindness, giving and spirituality. Post served as a co-chair of the United Nations Population Fund Conference on Spirituality and Global Transformation. He's a professor in the Department of Preventative Medicine at Stony Brook University and founder and director of the Stony Brook Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics. He's a leader in medicine research and religion and the author of several books, including The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer Disease: Ethical Issues from Diagnosis to Dying (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2nd edition 2000), Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving (Broadway Books 2008), God and Love on Route 80: The Hidden Mystery of Human Connectedness (Mango 2019), Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People (Johns Hopkins University Press 2022) and Pure Unlimited Love: Science and the Seven Paths to Inner Peace (Morehouse Publishing 2025) Interview Date: 8/22/2025   Tags: Stephen Post, mirth, sadness, kindness, generous love, Marty Seligman, laughter, Joe Foley, mistakes, Personal Transformation

William Arntz is a physicist and filmmaker and creator of the film, “What the BLEEP Do We Know!?” Deirdre Hade is a modern-day mystic, poet and leading visionary in the ancient arts of the wisdom traditions, and creator of “The Radiance Journey” a path to mystical knowledge that unites the magical with the material. Together, husband and wife team William Arntz and Deirdre Hade explore how science merges with mystical prophecy to help us navigate the upheaval and ever-changing surprises in these post-modern times. Arntz and Hade are the co-creators of the book: The (not so) Little Book of Surprises (Waterside Press2016), with the award winning photography of Endre Balogh.Tags: Deirdre Hade, William Arntz, What the Bleep Do We Know, psychic, Age of Surprises, habits, neuroplasticity, dopamine, intuition, rewire the brain, affirmations, mysticism, oversouls, despair, faith, grace, God, super powers, super heroes, Philosophy, Science, Spirituality, intuition/psychic

Philip Goldberg is an acclaimed author, public speaker, and spiritual counselor. He has studied and taught about the world's spiritual wisdom for more than 50 years. Goldberg teaches private online courses on the Bhagavad-Gita, The Upanishads, and other topics. He hosts the Podcast, “Spirit Matters with Philip Goldberg” at mindbodyspirit.fm. His books include: American Veda: from Emerson to the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West (Harmony 2010), The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru (Hay House 2018), Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times: Powerful Tools to Cultivate Calm, Clarity, and Courage (Hay House 2020) and Karmic Relief: Harnessing the Laws of Cause-and-Effect for a Joyful Meaningful Life (Monkfish 2025) Interview Date: 8/8/2025      Tags: Philip Goldberg, karma, consequences, compassion, Bhagavad Gita, complexity of life, karmic bank account, kindness, The Golden Rule, ethical behavior, Tonglen, Buddhism, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Social Change/Politics

Sam Daley-Harris founded RESULTS and the RESULTS Educational Fund in 1980. RESULTS is an international grassroots, citizen’s lobby committed to healing the break between people and government, and creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. He is the author of Reclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen’s Guide to Transformational Advocacy (revised edition) (Rivertown Books 2024).Interview Date: 8/1/2025      Tags: Sam Daley-Harris, political polarization, transformational advocacy, beyond 3-blasts, community building, face-to-face meeting with elected officials, despair, beyond passive politics, Rusty Schweickart, Alex Steffen, Jamil Zaki, civic cynic, walking halls of congress, local politics, Ellie Sparks, Maxine Thomas, celebrating small wins, Community, Personal Transformation, Social Change/Politics, Personal

Charles T. Tart, Ph.D. is internationally known for his psychological work on the nature of consciousness, particularly on altered states of consciousness, and for his research in scientific parapsychology. He is one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology. Tart’s two classic books, Altered States of Consciousness (Doubleday 1972) and Transpersonal Psychologies (Harper Collins 1992), were instrumental in introducing these subjects to modern psychology. He is the author of many books including: Altered States of Consciousness (Doubleday 1972) , Waking Up: Overcoming the Obstacles to Human Potential(iUniverse 2001), and The Secret Science of the Soul: How Evidence of the Paranormal Is Bringing Science and Spirit Together (Fearless Books 2017)Tags: Charles Tart, Near Death Experiences, NDEs, brain chemistry, spontaneous mystical experiences, assassin, altered states of consciousness, Science, Spirituality, Personal Transformation, Philosophy, Meditation

Tara Cousineau, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist at Harvard University’s Counseling and Mental Health Services. She’s professionally trained in mind-body medicine, energy psychology, mindfulness, self-compassion, and other psychological methods. She is the author of The Kindness Cure: How The Science Of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart And Your World (New Harbinger Publications 2018) and The Perfectionist’s Dilemma: Learn the Art of Self Compassion and Become a Happy Achiever (Alcove Press 2025)Interview Date: 7/18/2025   Tags: Tara Cousineau, three types of perfectionism, naming your inner critic, self-compassion, affirmations, kindness, support from friends, how the body speaks, mental health, destress, nitpicker, naming our inner narratives, Scarlet O’Hara, movie “The Help”, be our own cheerleader, allies, Personal Transformation, Psychology