The New Dimensions Café

Shugri Said Salh was born in Somali in 1974. And in 1992, she immigrated to North America after civil war broke out in her home country. She attended nursing school at Pacific Union College and graduated with honors. From her grandmother and the nomadic community in which she spent her early years, she heard stories and learned of their power to entertain, teach, and transform. She now lives in Northern California with her husband and three children and works as a post-operative nurse and infusion specialist. She is the author of The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert (Algonquin books 2021).Interview Date: 9/24/2021    Tags: MP3, Shugri Said Salh, Somalia, storytelling, refugee, making yogurt, camels, herding goats, infusion nursing, Personal Transformation, Global Culture, History, Women’s Studies

Robert Thurman, Ph.D. is the retired professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University as well as cofounder and president of Tibet House which is dedicated to the service of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet. He’s been a close friend of the Dalai Lama for over 50 years and is a passionate activist for the rights of the Tibetan people. He is a skilled translator of Buddhist texts and an inspiring writer of many popular Buddhist books, including: Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet (graphic novel co-creator) (Tibet House 2016), Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot Happier (co-author Sharon Salzberg) (Hay House 2013) and Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life. (Hay House 2021)Interview Date: 8/20/2021  Tags: Robert Thurman, enlightened, enlightenment, awakened, inter-being, freedom from suffering, eightfold path, critical wisdom, Nicholas Negroponte, conversation, perception, relative truth, deep listening, dark matter, fake absolutes, the Buddha, Buddhism, Personal Transformation, Spirituality, Education

Glenn Aparicio Parry, Ph.D. is an educator, international speaker, entrepreneur, and visionary whose life-long passion is to re-form thinking and education into a coherent, cohesive whole. He’s the founder and past president of the SEED Institute, and is currently the president of the think tank: The Circle for Original Thinking. Parry organized and participated in the groundbreaking Language of Spirit Conferences from 1999 – 2011 that brought together Indigenous Native Elders and Western scientists in dialogue. This series of conferences was moderated by Leroy Little Bear. Parry is an avid outdoorsman and makes his home in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, NM, with his wife, dog, and cat. He is the author of Original Thinking: A Radical ReVisioning of Time, Humanity, and Nature (North Atlantic Books 2015). Interview Date: 8/18/2015   Tags: Glenn Aparicio Parry, Original thought, thoughts, intent, Hopis, hydraulic cycle, David Bohm, fragmented thinking, Grandfather Leon Secatero, The Circle for Original Thinking, assumptions, vision quest, conspiracy with nature, Native Americans, Language of Spirit Conference, brain, David Bohm, Leroy Little Bear, Dan Moonhawk Alfred, sacred ratio, golden mean, map story, rational thinking, rational thought, New Mexico, Navajo, Grandfather Leon, Orlando Secatero, campfire, spirit dialogues, Science, Self Help, psychology, Ecology/Nature/Environment

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