New Dimensions

Gandhi once said, “The most violent weapon on Earth is the table fork.” Dr. Will Tuttle asks us to consider one of the primary driving forces behind a whole network of problems we face as human beings is the mentality of violence, exploitation, exclusion and privilege that is required for us to eat animal foods.   Will Tuttle, Ph.D., is a professional pianist, composer, and teacher who holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. For more than two decades he has presented at progressive churches, vegetarian and human potential conferences, and intentional communities throughout the United States. He trained in Korea as a Zen Buddhist Monk and has worked extensively in Tai Chi, Yoga, and meditation. He also works with his artist wife Madeleine Tuttle who contributes to his presentations, books, and albums. He is the author of many books including: Your Inner Islands: The Keys to Intuitive Living (Will Tuttle - revised 2017), The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony (Lantern Books 2005), He also has many original piano albums including: Ascension: A Journey Beyond and Islands of Light.Interview Date: 1/12/2020    Tags: Will Tuttle, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism, plant based eating, Stephen Gaskin, The Farm, grass fed meat, free-range chickens, animal agriculture, ahimsa, non-harmfulness, compassion, Donald Gilbert, intuition, Buddhist five precepts, Buddhist four immeasurable, microbiome, complex carbohydrates, sacred feminine, Health & Healing, Meditation, Spirituality, Social/Change/Politics, Peace/Nonviolence

Anat Baniel has created an extraordinary and effective process that leads to the improvement of brain functioning and that, in turn, translates to an improvement in motor and cognitive skills of the special needs child or adult. She has found the key to engaging the miraculous capacities of the brain to change and heal. Anat Baniel was born in Israel and worked with the great master of movement Moshe Feldenkrais, who frequently taught classes in her parents’ home. She has established an international reputation for her work with children with special needs. A clinical psychologist who, since the early 1980s, has refined her method for working with children, she now runs the Anat Baniel Method facility in Marin county in Northern California. She’s the author of: Kids Beyond Limits: Breakthrough Results for Children with Autism, Asperger’s, Brain Damage, ADHD, and Undiagnosed Developmental Delays (Perigee Books 2012)Interview Date: 4/24/2012    Tags: Anat Baniel, Anat Baniel Method, attention to movement, awakening the brain, brain, healing special needs children, mp3, special needs children, tummy time, Health & Healing

Next to birth, death is one of our most profound experiences. Dying is not without its pain but it can be meaningful and we can decide to be more aware and more conscious in how we orient ourselves toward the inevitable end of our lives. Dr. Miller advises us to be clear on our “goals of care” and to “participate.”B.J. Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician who has worked in many settings, inpatient, outpatient, hospice facility and home. He now sees patients and families at U.C.S.F. Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Miller speaks all over the country and beyond on the theme of living well in the face of death. He’s also the founder of the Center for Dying and Living.  BJ Miller is co-author, with Shoshana Berger, of A Beginners Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death (Simon & Schuster 2019) Interview Date:12/3/2019     Tags: BJ Miller, hospice, medical directives, advance directives, advance care planning, silver tsunami, Health care systems, chronic pain, suffering, acute suffering, acute pain, resistance, palliative care, hospice, pain management, death certificates, prognosis, Steve Scheier, prognosis declaration, Death & Dying, Personal Transformation

Mackey writes both prose and poetry and has published many novels and books of poetry. She reveals her writing and creative process and how each kinds of writing requires a different approach and describes her process of “creative trance” that helps her to move into her own unconscious. She takes us from Western Kentucky to the Brazilian Rainforest.Mary Mackey is a novelist, screenwriter, and poet. She’s Professor Emeritus of English and former Writer-in-Residence at California State University, Sacramento. During her twenties, she lived in the rain forests of Costa Rica. Recently, she’s been traveling to Brazil incorporating her experiences in the tropical rainforests into her fiction and poetry. She's the author of The Year the Horses Came (HarperSanFrancisco 1993), The Horses at the Gate (Amazon Digital Services 2011), The Fires of Spring (Amazon Digital Services 2011), The Village of Bones: Sabalah’s Tale (Earthsong Series)  (Create Space Independent Publishing 2016) and Immersion (iUniverse 2013)Interview Date: 11/27/2019    Tags: Mary Mackey, poetry, Eric Hoffer Book Award, Harvard, creative trance, automatic writing, Amapa, Richard Evans Schultes, ethnobotany, the Amazon, Jaguars, Western Kentucky, the Brazilian rain forest poems, writer’s block, publishing,  Art & Creativity, Women’s Studies, writing

Unlike our knees and hips, our brains improve with age. This dialogue includes: neuroplasticity, how improving our brain power can prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, why optimism is good for the brain and enhances resilience, the benefits of challenging the brain to do something new, the benefits of meditation on the brain. Michael Gelb, Ph.D. is a leading world authority on the application of genius thinking to personal and organizational development. A pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning, and innovative leadership, Gelb leads seminars for organizations such as DuPont, Merck, Microsoft, Nike and many others. He is the author of Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor (co-author Sarah Miller Caldicott) (Dutton 2007), How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci (Dell 2000), and Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age (co-author Kelly Howell) (New World Library 2012).Date recorded: 2/20/2012       Tags: Michael J. Gelb, Michael Gelb, aging, Alzheimer's, brain, dementia, meditation, mental powers, mind, naps, wine, brain power, neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, optimism, pessimism, optimistic, pessimistic, humor, rewiring your brain, brain grooves, hemisinc, Mozart effect, binaural training, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, brain-sync, brain sync, Business, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation, Science

Johnson is an African American daughter of a preacher. She grew up initially in Louisiana and later in Northern California. Here she tells her story of a severe childhood which left her feeling shame, guilt, bitterness, and a general sense of unworthiness. She shares her journey from a devastating childhood to one of forgiveness and wholeness. She is the author of Coming To Forgiveness: A Daughter’s Story of Race, Rage, and Religion (Ronita Johnson & Associates 2012)Interview Date: 4/6/2012       Tags: abuse, African American, church, circles, daughter, deep listening, forgiveness, Personal Growth

Lake offers a frank inquiry into the causes leading to our current global peril and provides a deep well of hope and profound insight. She regales us with many stories of her adventures in nature including taking inner city young people to the desert where, for the first time in their lives, they experienced the full measure of the night sky filled with stars. She is the author of Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature (White Cloud Press 2010) Interview Date: 1/11/2012        Tags: Osprey Orielle Lake, water, climate, change, new narrative, new story, television, TV, nature, stars, deep ecology, children, vision quest, fracking, Thomas Paine, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Indigenous Wisdom, Social Change/Politics

The death of someone close to us can trigger questions such as: What is death? Why do people die? Why did this happen to me? Allen Klein has experienced such a loss and the deeply personal inquiry triggered by his grieving process lead him to see anew the preciousness of life and the therapeutic power of humor. Allen Klein is the former Director of Life and Death Transitions in San Francisco. He's a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. He's the author of many books including The Healing Power of Humor (Tarcher/Putnam 1989), The Courage to Laugh, Change Your Life: A Little Book of Big Ideas (Tarcher 1998), Learning to Laugh When You Feel Like Crying: Embracing Life After Loss (Goodman Beck Publishing 2011) Interview Date: 12/17/2011      Tags: Allen Klein, forgiveness, grief, grieving, hospice, humor, isolation, laughter, letting go, loss, smile, smiling, Death & Dying, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation, Self Help

When Jan was about to quit graduate school her friend and mentor asked her three questions: “Are you eating and drinking moderately? Are you doing something for your physical well-being? Do you have a spiritual practice?” Her answer to all of them was no. She then said to Jan, “Before you quit school take two weeks and get those things under control and call me.”  That put Phillips in pursuit of her spiritual practice, which involves deep listening and resulted in a flood of creative outpouring as her imagination was fueled. This far-ranging conversation ranges from quantum physics to fear, from “erosphere” to “infosynthesis.” Phillips vibrates with enthusiasm and practical advice for our positive, evolutionary future.  Jan Phillips is an award-winning photographer, writer, multimedia artist, and national workshop leader. She is co-founder and Executive Director of the Livingkindness Foundation, a global network for grassroots philanthropists. She is the author of many books and CDs including The Art of Original Thinking (9th Element Press 2006), Marry Your Muse (Quest Books 1997), God is at Eye Level--Photography as a Healing Art (Quest Books 2000), Born Gay (Jan Phillips 2003),No Ordinary Time: The Rise of Spiritual Intelligence and Evolutionary Creativity – A Book of Hours for a Prophetic Age (Livingkindness Foundation 2011)Interview Date: 11/4/2011       Tags: Jan Phillips, spiritual practice, listening, awe, childhood bliss, joy, being present, fear, infosynthesis, prophetic action, homosentiens, erosphere, negativity, diversity, inherited beliefs, Personal Growth

Explore the resilience and strength of the Artemis archetype in navigating life's challenges. Discover how Greek myths offer inspiration to persevere. Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen shares insights on embracing inner archetypes and advocating for authenticity. Reflect on the indomitable spirit of Artemis in women and the evolution of gender roles in relationships.