New Dimensions

If we had the opportunity to speak to our younger self, what would we say? What wisdom could we give to that younger self about the meaning and purpose of life? What does our experience tell us about why we are here and who we are? This conversation explores these questions and why they may be important to our lives. Jacob Needleman, Ph.D. is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and former director of the Center of the Study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has also served as a research associate at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. His books include Why Can't We Be Good? (Tarcher 2003), The Heart of Philosophy (Tarcher 2003), Time and the Soul: Where Has All the Meaningful Time Gone -- and Can We Get It Back? (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2003), Lost Christianity (Tarcher 2003), Money and the Meaning of Life (Doubleday 1994), The Wisdom of Love: Toward a Shared Inner Life (Morning Light Press 2005), What Is God? (Tarcher 2010), Necessary Wisdom (Fearless Books 2013) and An Unknown World: Notes on the Meaning of the Earth (Tarcher 2012)Interview Date: 6/2/2016    Tags: Jacob Needleman, freedom, ethics, listening, truth, Gurdjieff, essential questions, polarized times, ancient mystical wisdom traditions, Christianity, attention, Denise Levertov poem A Gift, Philosophy, Personal Transformation, Spirituality, Science

Inherited family traumas may be at the core of our inability to succeed in life. Wolynn’s research has shown that unresolved traumatic events in our families can hinder how success flows to us and how well we are able to receive it. Mark Wolynn is the founder and director of The Family Constellation Institute. He has taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the Western Psychiatric Institute, and The California Institute of Integral Studies, in addition to many training centers, clinics, and hospitals. He is the author of It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are And How To End The Cycle (Viking 2016)Interview Date: 5/14/2016   Tags: Mark Wolynn, family trauma, bridging questions, core language of fear, Rachel Yehuda, PTSD, visualization, core language map, core sentence, genogram, core complaint, neuroplasticity, meditation, Relationships, Psychology, Personal Transformation, Self Help, Health & Healing.

Father Tiso gathered eyewitness accounts in Tibet of the dissolution of the material body at the death of Kenpo A Chö. His questions are: Can we bridge the gap between physics and metaphysics, between spirituality and paranormal phenomena? Can we verify the claim that the resurrection of Jesus is not just a metaphor but an actual physical resurrection? Father Francis Tiso holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University, and a doctorate from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary where his specialization was Buddhist studies. He was Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops from 2004 to 2009, where he served as liaison to the Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Sikhs, and Traditional religions as well as the Reformed confessions. He is the author of Liberation in One Lifetime (North Atlantic Books 2014) and Rainbow Body and Resurrection: Spiritual Attainment, the Dissolution of the Material Body, and the Case of Khenpo A Chö (North Atlantic Books 2016) Interview Date: 4/11/2016    Tags: Francis Tiso, Rainbow body, resurrection of Jesus, Dzogchen, Bonpo, Scythian realm, Brother David Steindl-Rast, Shroud of Turin, Bodhisattva, Dudjom Rinpoche, Dalai Lama, Lama Kenpo A Chö, Eucharist, resurrection at the end of time, spiritual body, Thomas Merton, Syro-Oriental Christians, King Gesar of Tibet, contemplative practice, Thomas Keating, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, Chöki Nyima Rinpoche, Buddhism, Religion, Death & Dying, Spirituality

In this warm and thoughtful program you’ll by dazzled by the mystery of Terry’s dying mother’s request for her to read her journals, but not until after her death. Terry found 3 shelves of journals only to discover all of them were blank. Puzzle about this mystery along with Terry in this far-reaching dialogue about finding one’s authentic voice. Terry Tempest Williams is a naturalist, environmentalist, and award-winning author. She is a recipient of the Lannan Literary Fellowship in creative nonfiction and the 1997 Guggenheim Fellowship, and served as naturalist-in-residence at the Utah Museum of Natural History. In 2014, on the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, Ms. Williams received the Sierra Club’s John Muir Award honoring a distinguished record of leadership in American conservation. She divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah, and Moose, Wyoming. She is the author of many books including Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place (Pantheon 1991), Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert (Vintage Books 2002), An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field (Vintage Books 1995) , Leap (Vintage 2001), The Open Space of Democracy (The Orion Society 2004), Finding Beauty in a Broken World (Pantheon 2008), When Women Were Birds (Sarah Crichton Books: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2012) and The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks (Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2016) Interview Date: 5/5/2012    Tags: Terry Tempest Williams, Wangari Maathai, voice, speaking, courage, silence, Mother Tongue, reproductive freedom, language, emotional intelligence, Mormon, birth control, abortion, Carden School, teaching children, Utah wildlands, wilderness, storytelling, Wilderness Society, embodied language, uncertainty, questions, questioning, deep listening, journaling, journal, authentic voice, sisterhood, crisis, ecology of the mind, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Social Change/Politics, Writing, Women's Studies, Philosophy

The Cool Cities Challenge is a non-political grassroots effort that encourages the building of strong communities and support social ties around emergency preparedness and lowering of the carbon footprint. It encourages connections between neighbors block by block. The results translates into higher civic engagement, safer, and healthier neighborhoods. John Crowley is co-founder of Cool City Petaluma 2030 and co-owner of the Aqus Café in Petaluma, California. He’s a social instigator and champion connection-maker. It was his intention in starting Aqus Café to recreate an Irish pub atmosphere with a focus on social dynamics that create opportunities and support the connection of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits by bringing them together with their various interests, talents, and energy. He believes that social capital determines the health and happiness of a community and that as individuals of a town are provided more opportunities to interact and connect the entire town benefits. Leslie Curchack is a nature photographer and block leader of Cool City Petaluma 2030.Interview Date: 8/19/2022    Tags: John Crowley, Leslie Curchack, front porches, air conditioning, TV in 1950s, natural disasters, water stewardship, net-zero emission, Synthetic Limestone, Daily Acts calendar, interdependence, passeggiata, Community, Social Change/Politics

Here we explore an optimistic and realistic look at how we can and must restore the health of our atmosphere to levels that support all life on this planet. Fiekowsky has extensively researched and come up with specific, concrete steps we can take that can bring about a restoration of the kind of healthy climate humankind has flourished under for 10,000 years. Peter Fiekowsky is an MIT educated physicist and engineer, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a social innovator. He has worked at NASA and the Fairchild/Schlumberger Artificial Intelligence Lab in Palo Alto, California and has taught at MIT. He holds 27 patents and was instrumental in launching the Foundation for Climate Restoration whose purpose is to work with top scientists, innovators, policymakers, and others to create the understanding and policy needed to further climate restoration. He is co-author with Carole Douglis of Climate Restoration: The Only Future That Will Sustain the Human Race (Rivertown Books 2022).Interview Date: 9/25/2022    Tags: Peter Fiekowsky, citizens’ advocacy organization Results, immunization program, Muhammad Yunus, microlending, hunger project, Sam Daley-Harris, Blue Planet Systems, ocean restoration, synthetic limestone, planetary population, CO2, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Science

Dreams embody our hopes, fears, and creativity. They come from our unconscious pool of wisdom as a viable means of knowledge of self as we commit to valuing and honoring them by tracking, recording, and thinking about the messages they’re trying to reveal. They’re a permanent witness to our life’s journey, a portable, practical, and unlimited resource. Linda Yael Schiller, MSE, LICSW is a psychotherapist who has taught dream work and run dream groups for over three decades. She teaches and consults on trauma treatment, PTSD, and nightmares. She is the author of Modern Dreamwork: New Tools for Decoding Your Soul’s Wisdom (Llewellyn Publications 2019) and PTSDreams: Transform Your Nightmares from Trauma through Healing Dreamwork (Llewellyn Publications 2021).Interview Date: 9/15/202    Tags: Linda Yael Schiller, dream work, dreamwork, nightmares, Jeremy Taylor, REM cycles, synchronicity, Dreams, Personal Transformation

Andreotti has noticed that there is way more kindness happening on a day-to-day basis than there is drama, negativity, and darkness. She shares with us ways we can expand our awareness and be a vessel of kindness and suggests that one of the strongest forms of kindness is to be a good listener. She is the founder of several companies and has held leadership positions in small and large organizations, including government, nonprofit and Fortune 500 companies. For many years she served as an organizational development coach, business transformation consultant, and executive coach. She believes that when you are authentic and in your brilliance, you can achieve anything. And she's the founder and host of The Kindness Club. She's the author (with co-author, Brian Hilgendorf) of Sex, Intimacy and Business: A Revolution Has Begun And It's Time To Get Undressed (Brilliance Press 2005)Interview Date: 9/5/2022     Tags: Lindsay Andreotti, kindness, self-criticism, Michael Singer, Surrender Experiment, caterpillar process, imaginal ventures, One of a Kindness™, intention, listening, curiosity, Personal Transformation, Social Change/Politics

Listening is a skill that we have to learn. It takes effort, attention, patience, and practice. It’s a process that requires us to use different parts of our brain. Effective listening can improve our relationships and our jobs, as well as enhance our intelligence. Leslie Shore explains what it takes and what gets in the way. Leslie Shore has worked in the retail industry and personal management fields, as well as being a professor and instructional designer, where she has gained much wisdom in what it takes to be an effective listener. She is the owner of Listen to Succeed, a consultancy that focuses on using listening analytics to help personal and professional clients achieve their highest level of effective communication. She is the author of Listen to Succeed: How to Identify and Overcome Barriers to Effective Listening (self-published 2012). Her book is currently being used as a textbook in several universities.Interview Date: 4/15/2016.      Tags: Leslie Shore, listening, deep listening, effective listening, hearing, life skills, deepening friendships, multitasking, cell phones, communication, external barriers, internal barriers, interrupting, intruding, mind reading, body language, mind map, rehearse, advertising, technology, internet, television, politics, law of least effort, Personal Transformation, Self Help

This deep dialogue explores the embodied spiritual path and what it means to live more consciously in a human body. He says, “The body is 3 billion years of evolution and there's a tremendous wisdom and intelligence in it that moves us towards wisdom, connection, mutuality, and interdependence.Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D. is a coach and consultant on embodied leadership and mastery and has spent more than five decades researching, developing, and teaching Somatics and embodiment practices to organizations in such fields as education, healthcare, leadership team development, military, technology and international peace work, including the United States Marine Corps.He holds a Shihan 7th -degree black belt in aikido and has founded and cofounded several Aikido schools and projects including the Mideast Aikido Project and Training across Borders, organizations that bring citizens from warring countries together to practice aikido. He was advisor to General Jim Jones, the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe from 2003 to 2006 in Afghanistan. He is the founder of the Strozzi Institute, where he teaches courses on somatic coaching and leadership in action. He is the author of many books including In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Fourth Edition: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets (Blue Snake Books 2007), Embodying The Mystery The Art of Somatic Coaching: Embodying Skillful Action, Wisdom, and Compassion (North Atlantic Books 2014) and Somatic Wisdom for Emotional, Energetic, and Spiritual Awakening (Inner Traditions 2022)Interview Date: 8/26/2022    Tags: Richard Strozzi-Heckler, aikido, Sensei Hirata, Morihei Ueshiba, Nisargadatta Maharaj, attention, certainty, vulnerability, wisdom, knowledge, Odysseus, anger, Personal Transformation, Meditation, Spirituality