The New Dimensions Café

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

Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter and author of many books, which often include stories of her encounters with animals. During research for her books, films, and articles, Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silver back gorilla in Zaire and bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica. She worked in a pit of 18,000 snakes in Manitoba and handled a wild tarantula in French Guiana. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University System of New Hampshire. Her many books have garnered numerous awards, and include The Curious Naturalist: Nature’s Everyday Mysteries (Down East Books 1991), Search for the Golden Moon Bear: Science and Adventure in Pursuit of a New Species (Chelsea Green Publishing 2009), The Good, Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood (Ballantine Books 2007), Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur (Atria Books 2011), The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness. (Atria Books 2015), How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2018), Becoming a Good Creature (a children’s book) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2020), Condor Comeback (Scientists in the Field Series) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2020), The Hummingbirds’ Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings (Atria Books 2021)Interview Date: 6/4/2021     Tags: Montgomery, hummingbirds, pollinators, Brenda Sherburn LaBelle, grass lawns, milkweed, monarch butterflies, Animals, Ecology/Nature/Environment

Regina Louise is a teacher and coach on advocacy work. Her memoir was featured in a Lifetime movie, I Am Somebody’s Child. She’s a Hoffman Process teacher. She is the author of two memoirs: Somebody’s Someone: A Memoir (Agate Bolden 2008) and Someone Has Led This Child To Believe: A Memoir  (Agate Bolden 2018), as well as Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self-Love (New World Library 2021)Interview Date: 7/19/2021     Tags: Regina Louise, mothering yourself, inner critic, letter of recommendation, character reference, dignity, false modesty, intimacy, journal writing, emotional signature, self-love, unworthiness, primal wound, Personal Transformation

Patrice Vecchione is a poet, author, and artist. She teaches creative writing retreats, and collage and poetry workshops. She has also worked with children, leading classes in poetry and the imagination in elementary, middle, and high schools. She is the author of several books including Writing and the Spiritual Life: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within (McGraw Hill 2001) and Step Into Nature: Nurturing Imagination and Spirit in Everyday Life (Beyond Words Publishing 2015)Interview Date: 5/12/2015    Tags: Patrice Vecchione, backpacking, nature, woods, starlight, owl, trees, holding mass in nature, the natural world, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Personal Transformation, Spirituality

Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ph.D (1929-2019) shares with us ways we can be conscious evolutionaries. She was a visionary futurist and evolutionary educator. She was the cofounder and chair of the board of The Foundation for Conscious Evolution and was a guide and teacher for The Shift Network's Agents of Conscious Evolution training. She was the author of : Birth 2012 and Beyond: Humanity's Great Shift to the Age of Conscious Evolution (Shift Books 2012)Interview Date: 6/29/2012  Tags: Barbara Marx Hubbard, Conscious evolution, Philosophy

Laura Basha, Ph.D. holds a combined doctorate in clinical and organizational psychology. She’s an international consultant in leadership development and a personal coach. And she is a fine artist whose paintings reside in many private collections. She is the author of The Inward Outlook (Xlibris 2014)Interview Date: 4/9/2015   Tags: Laura Basha, creating your response to your experience, choice point, victim, creating our experience, creating our reality, value system, your personal purpose, silence, a quiet mind, Muir Woods, Philosophy, Personal Transformation

Bodhipaksa was born Graeme Stephen in Scotland and currently lives and teaches in New Hampshire. He is a Buddhist teacher and author who has been practicing within the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order since 1982 and has been a member of this order since 1993. Bodhipaksa runs the online meditation center, Wildmind, to increase awareness of the positive effects of meditation. His published works include The Wisdom of the Breath (CD) (Sounds True 2009), Wildmind (Windhorse 2010) and Living As a River: Finding Fearlessness in the Face of Change (Sounds True 2010)Interview Date: 10/22/2010  Tags: Bodhipaksa, retreats, mindfulness, happiness, consciousness, Spirituality, Buddhism, Science, Meditation

Priscilla Stuckey is a writer, book editor, scholar, and Earth-advocate. She teaches humanities at Prescott College and holds a Ph.D. in religious studies and feminist theory from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is the author of Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature (Counterpoint 2012) Interview Date: 1/21/2013   Tags: Priscilla Stuckey, Ph.D., Fox, wild animals, reading trees, natural world, biodegradable, plastic, trash, techno-nutrients, eating close to home, zero waste, Peralta Creek, gratitude, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Community

Dr. Jed Diamond, Ph.D., is a licensed psychotherapist, a founding member of the American Society of Men’s Health, and an internationally respected leader in the men's health movement. He’s the Founder and Director of MenAlive, a health program that helps men live long and well. Though focused on men’s health, MenAlive is also for women who care about the health of the men in their lives. Jed Diamond is the author of many books including: The Irritable Male Syndrome (Rodale Press 2004), Mr. Mean: Saving Your Relationship from the Irritable Male Syndrome (Numina Press 2010). MenAlive: Stop Killer Stress with Simple Energy Healing Tools (Fifth Wave Press 2012), My Distant Dad: Healing the Family Father Wound (Lasting Impact Press 2018) and 12 Rules for Good Men (Waterside Productions 2020).Interview Date: 5/27/2021  Tags: MP3, Jed Diamond, Man Box, isolation, loneliness, Men’s groups, Robert Bly, male cells sing, rite of passage, Men’s Studies, Personal Transformation, Relationship/Partnership/Sexuality

Rabbi Paul J. Citrin has served various congregations as a rabbi for over 40 years. He is retired from the pulpit, but continues to teach in synagogues and community centers. He is the author of several books including Gates of Repentance for Young People (Paul Abrams, Judith) (CCAR Press 2009), Ten Sheaves: A Collection of Sermons and Articles (2014), Lights In The Forest: Rabbis Respond To 12 Essential Jewish Questions (editor) (CCAR Press 2016) and I Am My Prayer: A Memoir and Guide for Jews and Seekers (Resource Publications 2021)Interview Date: 5/20/2021  Tags: MP3, Rabbi Paul J Citrin, prayer, Sabbath, Torah, metaphor, Avi HaRachamim, Father of Mercies, Mother Father God, metaphor as springboard, shekinah, Jewish tradition, Judaism, Hindu Kālidāsa, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Religion, Spirituality, Meditation, Community