Voices of Esalen

Susan Collin Marks is an internationally renowned peacemaker and peacekeeper. She's worked for nearly three decades forging peace, including in her native South Africa, where she worked intimately with the nation's transition from apartheid after the release of Nelson Mandela from prison. Additionally, she has helped facilitate ongoing dialogue in the Middle East and established peacebuilding programs in Africa. Honors include a Peace Fellowship at the United States Institute for Peace, the Institute for Noetic Science’s Creative Altruism award, a Skoll Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship, President Jimmy Carter’s Waging Peace Award, and an Honorary Doctorate from the UN University of Peace. She is also an outstandingly warm and generous person. Our conversation was far-ranging, and included her insights into how peace functions on a personal level, as well as her history with the Esalen Institute. Our music is Siesta by Jahzzar, licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

Julie Szabo is the coordinator of Web of Change, an organization dedicated to examining the influence of escalating technology on the movement of social change. We spoke about many issues pursuant to being an activist in today's changing landscape, including increased racial diversity, the need for conscious self-care, a diversification of critical issues, the death of click-bait and the return to long-form, and much more. Our music today is Velella Vellella, "3 to the 6 to the 0," licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

Michaela Boehm is a teacher and clinician specializing in deep intimacy and the art of maintaining healthy polarity within self and relationship. She received a formal, classical Tantric education from a female teacher in a Kashmiri Shaivism tradition from the age of 16. She is also the co-founder of a Malibu celebrity drug rehabilitation center, and for 13 years has been a co-teacher of David Deida's. Our conversation was a lot of fun, and touches upon her life and her ten-year marriage, the possibility of healthy sexual media, polygamy and its pitfalls, and ways to maintain a healthy balance with a partner. Our theme song today is Daily Beetle by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) , Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Thanks!

Dr. Rick Hanson, author of "Buddha's Brain" and "Hardwiring Happiness" joins us to discuss neuroscience, love, happiness, and wisdom. We get into a wealth of topics, including neuroplasticity, contentment, mindfulness, and basic practices that can enable us to better find happiness. Our theme music come from Bensound.com. If you feel up to it, please leave us an honest iTunes review.

Ann Randolph is a solo performer, a playwright, a talented teacher, and a comedy genius. She stopped into Esalen this fall to co-teach a workshop with Alanis Morrisette. While she was here, I begged her to talk to me about her hilarious new autobiographical solo show, "Inappropriate In All The Right Ways." Our theme music come from Bensound.com. If you feel into it, please give us an honest iTunes review!

Peter Meyers is the creator of High Performance Leadership Communication. In this interview, he presents several basic, effective tools to overcome fear of speaking in public. One: self-consciousness may be occurring because you're focusing too much on your SELF. Release from fear by concentrating instead on what you have to GIVE in your speech. And do your hands shake from nerves? Make sure you're not holding any notes - that will only amplify the shakes. Instead, use the energy in your limbs to propel you forward. Forget your lines? Forget about it. Take a moment to breathe, and perhaps admit your vulnerability - your audience may identify with you. Vary your volume, your pitch, to avoid monotones. All this, and more. Please enjoy this conversation with Peter Meyers.