Exploring Nature, Culture and Inner Life

John Lennon once described Yoko Ono as the world’s most famous unknown artist. Join us for a conversation with David Sheff—author of this intimate and revelatory biography of Yoko Ono, and the #1 New York Times bestseller, Beautiful Boy. David’s biography delves into her groundbreaking art, music, feminism, and activism. Join us for a conversation about the book, exploring how she coped under the most intense, relentless, and cynical microscope while being falsely vilified for the most heinous cultural crime imaginable: breaking up the greatest rock-and-roll band in history. Hosted by Steve Heilig, who once bowed respectfully and silently to Yoko Ono in New York City’s Central Park, and she bowed back. Co-presented with Point Reyes Books. David Sheff In 1980, David Sheff met Yoko and John when Sheff conducted an in-depth interview with them just months before John’s murder. In the aftermath of the killing, he and Yoko became close as she rebuilt her life, survived threats and betrayals, and went on to create groundbreaking art and music while campaigning for peace and other causes. Sheff shows us Yoko’s nine decades—one of the most unlikely and remarkable lives ever lived. Host Steve Heilig Steve Heilig is an editor, epidemiologist, ethicist, environmentalist, educator, and ethnomusicologist trained at five University of California campuses. He is co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics and of San Francisco Marin Medicine at the medical society he has long been part of. A former volunteer and director of the Zen Hospice Project, AIDS Foundation, and Planned Parenthood, he has helped improve laws and practices in reproductive and end-of-life care, drug policy, and environmental health. He is a longtime book critic and music journalist and emcee of the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. He’s been part of Commonweal for 30 years now. *** The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts. #commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #yokoono #yoko

Rest and renew in a rich sonic atmosphere. Deborah creates deep, resonant sounds through evocative vocal tones accompanied by alchemy crystal bowls and antique Himalayan bowls. This is a time to let go of social engagement while being together in sacred space. Find something to lie or sit upon and anything else to make yourself comfortable. You are also welcome to sit in a chair or stand and quietly move. Deborah Koff-Chapin Deborah has been holding sacred space through sound since she began using her voice and drum to facilitate Touch Drawing workshops in 1980. Her early vocal openings developed in the 1970s within the practice of Long Dance with Elizabeth Cogburn. She later trained in classical voice with Maestro David Kyle. Deborah’s alchemy crystal bowls and antique Himalayan bowls now serve as a harmonic foundation for her improvised vocal attunements. She offers Song Bath Sanctuary weekly online and monthly at Healing Circles on Whidbey Island. Deborah is the originator of Touch Drawing and creator of SoulCards. Find out more. #commonweal #artheals #healingart #soundbath #deborahkoffchapin #touchdrawing

We are living through prophetic times—what some call the metacrisis, others name as a rupture, others see as an opening. What does it mean to navigate this moment with wisdom? And what role does wealth play in this transition? This panel brings together cosmologists, system architects, scholars, and funder-activists to explore: How do we make sense of where we are and what is being asked of us in these times? What is the role of wealth holders and funders in this time of unraveling? How might wealth be liberated from extractive systems and reoriented toward life-affirming transitions? Moderated by Lynn Murphy. Bayo Akomolafe, PhD, rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden Abayomi, the grateful life-partner to EJ, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, self-styled ‘trans-public’ intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak (along with Professors Molefi Kete Asante and Augustine Nwoye). Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining) is of the Diné Nation (often known incorrectly as “Navajo), and was also adopted into the Lakota Spiritual way of Life. She is a mother, grandmother, activist, artist, and international speaker. She identifies as a “radical bridger” of worlds and paradigms, with a focus on sharing from her own deep inquiry into Thriving Life Paradigm. Matthew Monahan is the founder of Ma Earth (maearth.com), an emerging initiative to bring more funding into community-led nature protection and restoration. He is also a co-founder and steward at Biome Trust (biometrust.earth), a philanthropic foundation devoted to ecological health and education, and Mangaroa Farms (mangaroa.org), a regenerative farm and forest project in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Baljeet Sandhu is a Punjabi-British knowledge weaver, community organiser, and equity designer with more than 30 years of experience in social and economic justice, innovation, and systems change work. Baljeet founded the Centre for Knowledge Equity to serve as an ecosystem space for practitioners creating life-affirming alternatives for the future. Julian Corner has been CEO of the UK-based Lankelly Chase Foundation since 2011. Lankelly Chase is a 60 year old social justice foundation that was the first in UK philanthropy to test systems change approaches. It has since been in a process of deep inquiry and evolution which culminated in 2023 with the announcement that it would end its work within 5 years and redistribute its assets. Taj James is a father, poet, practitioner, strategist, designer, and philanthropic and capital advisor. He is the Founder and former Director of the Movement Strategy Center, Curator at Full Spectrum Labs and Principal at Full Spectrum Capital Partners. Taj thrives building community around the shared questions that matter most in our lives: how can we build the relationships and express the love needed to transform our world? Moderator Lynn Murphy Lynn is the co-director of Transition Resource Circle and co-author of Post Capitalist Philanthropy, Healing Wealth in the Time of Collapse. She is an educator, strategic advisor, and organizer among funders and activists, with a focus in the geopolitical South.

John Fox speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. John Fox, PPM John is a poet and Practitioner of Poetic Medicine. He is author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem Making and Finding What You Didn’t Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making. His work is featured in the PBS documentary, Healing Words: Poetry and Medicine. John presents in medical schools and hospitals including Stanford, Harvard, Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Vahalla, NewYork, The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington and many others. John is President of The Institute for Poetic Medicine, a nonprofit he founded in 2005. IPM funds poetry projects that serve marginalized persons throughout the United States and internationally. IPM offers training programs for those who want to facilitate the practice of poetry & healing. He lives in Mountain View, California. The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Robin Daly speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. Robin Daly is Chairman & Founder of Yes to Life, a UK Registered Charity. Robin has no training or background in healthcare, but was plunged into the arena in 1990 when his youngest daughter Bryony was diagnosed with cancer, aged 9. She went on to be re-diagnosed twice with treatment-related cancers, eventually dying at 23. The immense difficulties the family faced introducing treatment choices that reflected their own understanding of health and wellbeing prompted him to set up Yes to Life in 2004 to help others in similar situations, and to advocate on behalf of patients for what is now called Integrative Oncology. Yes to Life is now celebrating its 20th Anniversary having helped many thousands with cancer with a wide range of supportive resources, and continues to play a key role in changing the discussion around cancer care. The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Dr. Mark Renneker speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. Mark Renneker, MD Mark is assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Renneker has developed a San Francisco-based private medical consultative practice which, since 1988, has provided intensive research and advocacy services to hundreds of patients, family members, and other healthcare providers. About half of the cases he works with are cancer-related, most often dealing with high-risk, recurrent, and metastatic disease. The general approach he takes in his practice is to try to put the patient (and family) in charge of their overall case (and health) by learning to be in charge of their case with him (such as patient-directed consultations). To accomplish this necessitates, from the outset of the work, his going to where they are, meaning that he needs to do everything possible to understand their feelings, fears, confusion, frustrations, hopes, and desires, as well as their physical symptoms and suffering; he needs to take up their side in dealing with the disease, their doctors and the healthcare system—his alliance, his bond, is to them, less so the profession. He finds that doing this work by phone actually facilitates empowerment and intimacy—their being at home, rather than in a doctor’s office, using such a familiar communication medium as the telephone, which many of them use professionally and with great authority. The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Jen Green speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. Jen Green, ND, FABNO Jen Green is a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) who is board certified in Naturopathic Oncology (FABNO). She received her Arts & Science degree from McMaster University, and graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in 2000. Dr Green founded the Naturopathic Department at Beaumont Hospitals, Michigan in 2008 and served as the department head for five years. Jen wrote the cardio-oncology chapter in the Textbook for Naturopathic Oncology and has published papers in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, American Urology Association Update Series, Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, and the Natural Medicine Journal. Jen Green lectures in both the US and Canada: https://drjengreen.com/conference___lecture Dr Green currently serves as a Research Director for KNOW, the Knowledge in Integrative Oncology Website (www.knowoncology.org). KNOW is an educational platform that supports decision making in cancer care. The KNOW database is updated quarterly with human studies on natural agents or nutrition and cancer care. Dr Green has served on the board of the Oncology Association Naturopathic Physicians and Michigan Association of Naturopathic Physicians. She currently sits on the advisory board of Cancer Choices. After practicing integrative oncology for 24 years, Jen underwent chemoradiation for head and neck cancer in 2024, which deepened her understanding of what it is to be a cancer patient. She is dedicated to teaching a heart-centered, evidence-based and individualized approach to integrative supportive cancer care. The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Diana Lindsay speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. Diana Lindsay Given a prognosis of a few months, Diana Lindsay has now lived nearly 19 years following adiagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. She is the co-founder of Healing Circles Langley andHealing Circles Global. She is also the author of Something More Than Hope: SurvivingDespite the Odds, Thriving Because of Them. The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Mark Taylor speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. Mark Taylor is the CEO and founder of Patient Led Oncology. An organisation that studies alternative cancer treatments from four pillars. Through collating and digesting published research. Working with some of the world's leading experimental oncology doctors and alternative healers. Following patients doing alternative treatments volunteering through his Patient Led Oncology Facebook group and his own personal experience with treatments and alternative healing methods, including learning directly from with Gabor Mate, Shamans from the Amazon, Shaolin Monks and Qi Gong masters. The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Dale Borglum speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. Dale Borglum RamDev Dale Borglum is a pioneering figure in the conscious dying movement, known for his contributions to end-of-life care and spiritual support. As the Founder and Director of the Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he established the first residential facility in the United States dedicated to supporting conscious dying experiences with clients. Collaborating closely with luminaries such as Ram Dass, Stephen Levine, and Elizabeth Kubler Ross, RamDev played a pivotal role in laying the foundation for the conscious dying movement. Since 1986, RamDev has served as the Executive Director of the Living/Dying Project, initially in Santa Fe and later in the San Francisco Bay Area. With an unwavering commitment to integrating Eastern spirituality and Western psychology, the organization has guided countless individuals through the sacred journey of death with compassion and wisdom. His expertise in meditation, honed since 1968, has been instrumental in his teachings and inspirational workshops, where he shares insights on meditation, individual healing, and spiritual support for those in transition. Within his teachings, RamDev also places emphasis on living consciously and compassionately to overcome our individual collective fear of death. Throughout his career as both a meditation and spiritual teacher, RamDev has collaborated with esteemed figures such as Joan Halifax, Robert Thurman, Joanna Macy, Jack Kornfield, Anne Lamott, Jai Uttal, Duncan Trussell, and many others. RamDev co-authored Journey of Awakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook with Ram Dass, Daniel Goleman, and Dwarka Bonner, published by Bantam Books. In his popular podcast, Healing at The Edge, hosted on the Be Here Now Network channel, he spreads his unique dharmic teachings and routinely interviews esteemed teachers and professionals within the field of conscious living and dying. His book How To Live So You Can Die Without Fear will be released in 2025. The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.