The New Dimensions Café

Brant Cortright is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies. His consulting practice specializes in cutting-edge brain health and neuroscience-informed depth therapy. He’s the author of Psychotherapy and Spirit: Theory and Practice in Transpersonal Psychotherapy (Suny Series, Philosophy of Psychology) (State University of New York Press 1997), Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth, and Opening the Heart (Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology) (State University of New York Press 2007) and The Neurogenesis Diet & Lifestyle: Upgrade Your Brain, Upgrade Your Life (Psychic Media 2015)Interview Date: 8/11/2015  Tags: Brant Cortright, Brain, neurogenesis, diet, oxidized cholesterol, oxidized fats, cooking oils, Alzheimers, memory loss, relationships, spiritual practice, meditation, exercise, changing habits, neurotoxic, Health & Healing, Relationships/Partnerships/Sexuality

Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and blogger. She is the author of The End of Self-Help: Discovering Peace and Happiness Right at the Heart of Your Messy, Scary, Brilliant Life (Ananda Press 2015)Interview Date: 6/25/2015  Tags: Gail Brenner, happiness, thoughts and feelings, emotions, law of attraction, attention, negative thoughts, self-criticism, affirmations, we are not our stories, fully alive, suffering, direct experience, cognitive therapies, mindfulness therapies, Personal Transformation, psychology, Self Help

Ethan Nichtern is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and the founder of the Interdependence Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to secular Buddhist study as it applies to transformational activism, mindful arts and media projects, and Western psychology. Nichtern has taught meditation and Buddhist studies classes and retreats across the United States since 2002. He is based in New York City. He's the author of One City: A Declaration of Interdependence (Wisdom Publications 2007) and The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path (North Point Press 2015) Interview Date: 5/20/2015   Tags: Ethan Nichtern, awakism, being awake, millennials, fundamentalist dogma, Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala Tradition, nontheistic, nontheism, theism, rituals, ceremonies, ceremony, Spirituality, Buddhism, Religion, Meditation

Jane Hirshfield is the author of nine books of poetry and two collections of essays. She has edited and co-translated four books presenting the work of world poets from the past. Her books have received the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and the Donald Hal-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. Her poems appear in a wide range of prestigious outlets. A resident of Northern California, she is a chancellor emerita of the Academy of American Poets. She presents her work at literary and interdisciplinary events worldwide. Her many oetry books include The October Palace (HarperCollins 1994), Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (Alfred A. Knopf 2015), The Beauty: Poems (Alfred A. Knopf 2015) and Ledger (Alfred A. Knopf 2020)Interview Date: 5/9/2015 Tags: Jane Hirshfield, unkindness, uncertainty, doorway, I Profess the Uncertain, Two Linen Handkerchiefs, Eros, taking stock, My Life Was the Size of My Life, perspective, poetry as a conversation, Perspective: An Assay, Arts & Creativity, Philosophy

Lisa Broderick earned her BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Duke University. She’s a Transcendental Meditation ™ Sidha and has attended the Monroe Institute for the exploration of expanded states of consciousness. For 15 years she studied imagery and dream reading at the American Institute for Mental Imagery. She currently runs a business consultancy based in New York City that helps socially conscious entrepreneurs manifest their creativity and energy. She is the author of All the Time In The World: Learn To Control Your Experience of Time to Live a Life Without Limitations. (Sounds True 2021)Interview Date: 8/12/2021   Tags: MP3, Lisa Broderick, Time, time is stretchable, Einstein, Einstein Rosen Bridge, Wormholes, spooky action at a distance, particle and wave experiments, speed of light, quantum entanglement, quantum field, super computer that mimics the brain, quantum mechanics, changing the past, multi universes, quantum eraser, Personal Transformation, science

Terry Patten is the founder of A New Republic of the Heart, a co-creative social experiment in Being of Benefit. He’s a philosopher, activist, social entrepreneur, and teacher of integral practice and transformation and has taught Integral Life Practice to over ten thousand people. Terry also founded the consciousness technology company Tools for Exploration and led the team at the HeartMath Institute that developed their first heart-rate variability monitor. He advises businesses addressing restorative forestry, fossil-fuel alternatives, collective trauma, and the reclaiming of personal data and power. His books include Biocircuits: Amazing New Tools for Energy Health (co-author Leslie Patten) (H.J. Kramer 1988), Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening (co-author with Ken Wilber, Adam Leonard, and Marco Morelli) (Integral Books 2008) and A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries (North Atlantic Books 2018)Interview Date: 8/26/2021     Tags: MP3, Terry Patten, grief, heart intelligence, awe, wonder, forgive, forgiveness, be of benefit, Spiritual Friends, gratefulness, generosity; care, courage, creativity, beloved community, Personal Transformation, Spirituality, Social Change/Politics, Community

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was the catalyst that sparked Larry Ward's journey into a life of planetary peacemaking. He's been subjected to racial profiling and has experienced a bombing in his home in Idaho. He was able to move past these traumas when his path led him to the introduction of Buddhist practice in Calcutta in 1977. Then when he met Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in 1991, the practice of Buddhism became truly central to his life. He was ordained as a Dharma teacher in Plum Village in 2000 and is the co-founder of the Lotus Institute, which offers Buddhist practice for change makers on the journey of individual and collective liberation. Larry Ward, Ph.D. is the author of America's Racial Karma, An Invitation to Heal (Parallax Press 2020)Interview Date: 7/31/2021   Tags: MP3, Larry Ward, racism, Thich Nhat Hanh, Plum Village, mindfulness, unprocessed trauma, systemic unjustice, ancestral trauma, Resmaa Menakem, white body supremacy, racialized trauma, circles of sanity, Social Change/Politics, Buddhism

Joel Fotinos is a vice president at Penguin Random House Publishers and publisher of the Tarcher/Penguin imprint. He’s also a licensed minister with the Centers for Spiritual Living. He is the author and coauthor of several books including The Prayer Chest (Doubleday Religion 2007), Multiply Your Blessings (Hampton Roads 2012), A Little Daily Wisdom (Paraclete Press 2009), Think and Grow Rich Starter Kit (Napoleon Hill) (Tarcher 2014), The Think and Grow Rich Journey: Enhance and Enrich Your Path to Success (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2013), My Life Contract: 90-Day Program for Prioritizing Goals, Staying on Track, Keeping Focused, and Getting Results (Weiser Books 2014)  Interview Date: 5/28/2015   Tags: Joel Fotinos, Personal Life Contract, contract, joy, goals, my life contract, commitment, excuses, consistency, Personal Transformation, Self Help. Writing, Philosophy

Father Matthew Fox, Ph.D. was a member of the Dominican order of the Catholic Church for 34 years. He was silenced for a year and later expelled from the Dominican order under the Papal Sees of John Paul II and Benedict the XVI. He then joined the Episcopal Church to work with young people and to create postmodern forms of ritual and worship known as The Cosmic Mass. He is the cofounder of the Order of The Sacred Earth and is an author of many books including Original Blessing (Tarcher 2000), Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times (Nameste Publishing 2012), Letters to Pope Francis (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2013), Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times (New World Library 2014), Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (HarperSanFrancisco 2015), A Way to God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey (New World Library 2016), Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action (coauthors Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Listug) (Monkfish 2018), Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality (Ixia 2020), The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times (iUniverse 2020), Julian of Norwich: Wisdom In A Time Of Pandemic And Beyond (iUniverse 2020) Interview Date: 7/2/2021   Tags: Matthew Fox, bubonic plague, flagellation, Middle Ages, Goodness, God is nature, dualism, trust, Divine Feminine, Saint Augustine, suffering, wisdom, original sin original goodness, Hildegard of Bingen, web of creation, species extinction, return to normal, common breakdown, new normal, immigration, mass migration, sacred Earth, warriorship for the Earth, compassion, joy, grief, suffering, Spirituality, Philosophy, Social Change/Politics, Women’s Studies, History, Ecology/Nature/Environment

Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, scholar of mythology, and student of ritual in traditional cultures. He has scoured the world to bring to us meaningful folk tales that tap into ancestral sources of wisdom and acts as a guide to connect them to the stories we are living today. Meade is the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation. He also offers regular Living Myths Podcasts and is the author of many books including: Why the World Doesn't End: Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss (GreenfirePress 2012), Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul (GreenFire Press 2012), The Genius Myth (GreenfirePress 2016), Awakening the Soul: A Deep Response to a Troubled World (GreenFire Press 2018), The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul (GreenFire Press 2019)Interview Date: 6/17/2021      Tags: Michael Meade, rite of passage, 3 steps to initiation, ordeal, separation, renewal, community, Jed Diamond, polarization, bone memory, unfinished funerals, coming of age rituals, song, singing, Jill Purce, church steeples, spirit, pandemic, global suffering, Islamic call to prayer, plotline, our individual thread, storytelling, communitas, Social Change/ Politics, Mythology, Personal Transformation, community