
Exploring Nature, Culture and Inner Life
The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. We are a learning community of 4,000 people in the Bay Area and around the world dedicated to learning what matters.
TNS focuses on the emergent, seeking out the thought and action leaders who are bringing discussion, beauty, and change to the world. We present events and podcast them in many areas: arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. We follow streams of inquiry, including our End-of-Life Conversations, and series on Resilience, Archetypal Psychology, and Healing Circles.
Latest episodes

Dec 21, 2023 • 1h 27min
2023:12.05 - Pat McCabe: Restaurando el corazón de nuestras relaciones
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~
¿Qué significaría "volverse nativos" al lugar en el que estamos ahora? ¿Cómo viviríamos si lo fuéramos? Nuestras comunidades y líderes indígenas tienen una sabiduría antigua que ofrece una visión profunda sobre los desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos hoy en día. A medida que navegamos los cambios culturales, climáticos y de ecosistemas que están ocurriendo en nuestro planeta en la actualidad, necesitamos oír la sabiduría y las ideas que descienden de estas tradiciones. Para poder escuchar y verdaderamente valorar estas ideas, necesitamos continuar cicatrizando las heridas de la división racial y dentro de nuestras culturas y comunidades.
En la tercera parte de esta serie, únete a la anfitriona Brenda Salgado en su charla con Pat McCabe, figura líder Diné y cabeza de ceremonial. Está enfocada en la cicatrización social profunda. Hablarán sobre la labor ceremonial que realizaron juntas en los recientes eventos de Three Black Men (Tres Hombres Negros) ofrecidos a través del Centro de Sanación y Liberación de Commonweal. También y ampliarán el entendimiento de la conexión entre la cicatrización racial y la curación de la tierra. Presentada en inglés con interpretación simultánea.
Pat McCabe, o Woman Stands Shining (Mujer que Resplandece), es respetada líder nativa americana cuyo trabajo explora el punto de encuentro entre el ceremonial y la sanación social profunda. Pat nació en la nación Diné (Navajo), y también recibió preparación espiritual en la tradición Lakota. Viaja y enseña sobre la ciencia indígena de la Vida Floreciente (Thriving Life). Su labor procura renovar el conocimiento humano y la creación de significado mediante la restauración de las prácticas conocidas por los pueblos indígenas sobre la comprensión integral. "Ser intelecto y observador incorpóreos en lugar de participante apasionado y co-Creador armonioso, nos ha llevado a un gran malentendido sobre quiénes somos, dónde estamos y cómo son las cosas”.
Brenda Salgado es la directora del programa Iniciativa para la Cicatrización Racial en el Centro de Colaboración para Retiros de Commonweal. Ella es autora espiritual y de concientización, oradora, guardiana de la sabiduría, sanadora, cabeza de ceremonial y Consultora sobre Organizaciones. Tiene 25 años de experiencia en desarrollo de Liderazgo Transformador, Gestión sin Fines de Lucro, Curación y Ceremonial Tradicionales, Capacitación en Liderazgo Consciente, Salud de la Mujer y Justicia Social. Brenda está en proceso de establecer el Nepantla Land Trust (El Fideicomiso de Tierra Nepantla) y el Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal (El Centro Nepantla para la Sanación y Renovación). Es autora de Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time (La Concientización en el Mundo Real para Principiantes: Cómo se Practica Paso a Paso). Recibió instrucción de sabios ancianos sobre medicina tradicional y ceremonial de curación en el linaje Purépecha, Xochimilco, Tolteca y otros linajes indígenas. Tiene títulos universitarios en Biología, Psicología del Desarrollo y Comportamiento Animal.
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.
#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter

Dec 21, 2023 • 1h 26min
2023:12.05 - Pat McCabe - Restoring the Heart of Our Relationships: Racial and Earth Healing
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~
Our indigenous communities and leaders hold ancient wisdom that offers profound insights into the challenges facing us today. As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities. In part 3 of this series, join Host Brenda Salgado as she speaks with Pat McCabe, a Dine elder and ceremonialist focused on deep social healing. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.
Photo: Stefano Girardelli, Unsplash
Pat McCabe (Dine)
Pat McCabe, or Woman Stands Shining, is a Native American elder whose work explores the meeting point between ceremony and deep social healing. Pat was born into the Dine (Navajo) nation, and has also received a spiritual training with the Lakota tradition. She travels and teaches widely on the indigenous science of Thriving Life. Her work seeks to revivify human knowledge and meaning-making, by restoring the holistic knowledge practices known to indigenous people. “To be the disembodied intellect and observer rather than passionate participant, and harmonious co-Creator, has led to a great mis-understanding of who we are, where we are, and how it is.”
Host Brenda Salgado
Brenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.
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.
#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter #racialhealinginsitute

Dec 19, 2023 • 56min
2023:11.21 - Rachel Naomi Remen & Karen Drucker - The Practice of Gratitude: Finding Meaning
Enjoy another healing hour of stories and music with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. This month, they offer stories and songs for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.
Photo by Alisa Anton_ on _Unsplash
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
Rachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.
Karen Drucker
Karen’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com
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.

Dec 14, 2023 • 1h 29min
2023:11.02 - Graham Leicester - Rising to the Occasion: Practical Hope in a Global Poly
Host Michael Lerner joins Commonweal board member Katherine Fulton in conversation with Graham Leicester, who has pioneered new ways to navigate and even thrive in this complex era.
Graham Leicester
Graham is the founding Director of International Futures Forum (IFF), an organization based in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a mission to enable people, communities and organizations to flourish in uncertain and powerful times. He is a former diplomat, now a writer, theorist, and practitioner with over twenty years experience supporting people making a difference in the face of all that stands in the way of making a difference.
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.

Dec 8, 2023 • 1h 29min
2023:11.14 - Sherri Mitchell - Restaurando el corazón de nuestras relaciones
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~
¿Qué significaría "volverse nativos" al lugar en el que estamos ahora? ¿Cómo viviríamos si lo fuéramos? Nuestras comunidades y líderes indígenas tienen una sabiduría antigua que ofrece una visión profunda sobre los desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos hoy en día. A medida que navegamos los cambios culturales, climáticos y de ecosistemas que están ocurriendo en nuestro planeta en la actualidad, necesitamos oír la sabiduría y las ideas que descienden de estas tradiciones. Para poder escuchar y verdaderamente valorar estas ideas, necesitamos continuar cicatrizando las heridas de la división racial y dentro de nuestras culturas y comunidades.
En la segunda parte de esta serie, súmate a la presentadora Brenda Salgado en su charla con Sherri Mitchell, activista Penobscot, autora y abogada Indígena. Hablarán sobre historias que se transmiten, historias que nos transmiten, historias que queremos lanzar en este momento y cómo podemos nutrir narrativas para el futuro. Presentada en inglés con interpretación simultánea.
Sherri Mitchell, o Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset, es abogada Indígena, activista y autora, oriunda de la Nación Penobscot. Es egresada del Programa de Embajadores Indios Americanos y del Programa de Pasantías del Congreso Udall de Nativos Americanos. Sherri es la autora de Sacred Instructions (Instrucciones Sagradas); Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (Sabiduría Indígena para el Cambio Radicado en el Espíritu). Es colaboradora en once antologías, incluyendo All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (Lo único que se Puede Salvaguardar: La Verdad, La Valentía y Las Soluciones en la Crisis Climatologica), así también como Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States (Reconfigurar Nuestro Futuro: Potenciar las Medidas en El Campo del Clima). Sherri es la Directora Ejecutiva de la Fundación para la Paz de la Tierra, se desempeña como Fideicomisaria del Instituto Indígena Americano, miembro del Consejo Asesor Indígena del Programa Tutela de Tierras Indígenas de Nia Tero e integrante de la Junta del Instituto Post Carbono.
Brenda Salgado es la directora del programa Iniciativa para la Cicatrización Racial en el Centro de Colaboración para Retiros de Commonweal. Ella es autora espiritual y de concientización, oradora, guardiana de la sabiduría, sanadora, cabeza de ceremonial y Consultora sobre Organizaciones. Tiene 25 años de experiencia en desarrollo de Liderazgo Transformador, Gestión sin Fines de Lucro, Curación y Ceremonial Tradicionales, Capacitación en Liderazgo Consciente, Salud de la Mujer y Justicia Social. Brenda está en proceso de establecer el Nepantla Land Trust (El Fideicomiso de Tierra Nepantla) y el Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal (El Centro Nepantla para la Sanación y Renovación). Es autora de Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time (La Concientización en el Mundo Real para Principiantes: Cómo se Practica Paso a Paso). Recibió instrucción de sabios ancianos sobre medicina tradicional y ceremonial de curación en el linaje Purépecha, Xochimilco, Tolteca y otros linajes indígenas. Tiene títulos universitarios en Biología, Psicología del Desarrollo y Comportamiento Animal.
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.
#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter

Dec 8, 2023 • 1h 27min
2023:11.14 - Sherri Mitchell - Restoring the Heart of Our Relationships: Racial and Earth Healing
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~
Our indigenous communities and leaders hold ancient wisdom that offers profound insights into the challenges facing us today. As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities.
In part two of this series, join Host Brenda Salgado as she speaks with Sherri Mitchell, a Penobscot activist, author, and Indigenous attorney. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.
Photo: Stefano Girardelli, Unsplash
Sherri Mitchell
Sherri (Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset) is an Indigenous attorney, activist, and author from the Penobscot Nation. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program. Sherri is the author of Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change and a contributor to eleven anthologies, including All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, and Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States. Sherri is the executive director of the Land Peace Foundation, serves as a trustee for the American Indian Institute, an Indigenous Advisory Council member for Nia Tero’s Indigenous Land Guardianship Program, and a board member for the Post Carbon Institute.
Host Brenda Salgado
Brenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.
#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter

Nov 28, 2023 • 2h 20min
2023:06.14 - Oren Slozberg - A Spiritual Biography
Join Oren Slozberg, Executive Director of Commonweal, in a spiritual biography conversation with Host Michael Lerner.
Oren Slozberg
Oren is the executive director of Commonweal and the co-director of Healing Circles Global. He has been a senior program developer in the fields of education, youth development, and the arts for more than 30 years. Oren’s program work explores the intersection of dialogue, cognition, creativity, and community. Through work in different communities, he seeks to deepen our exploration of complex issues in our world—issues that Commonweal programs confront daily. Oren has helped to develop new programs at Commonweal including the Power of Hope summer camp for teenagers, the Fall Gathering, Taproot Gathering, and more.
Host Michael Lerner
Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
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.

Nov 18, 2023 • 1h 25min
2023:10.19 - Keith Block, MD: Life Over Cancer: A New Model of Integrative Cancer Trea
~ Co-presented with CancerChoices ~
Join Host Michael Lerner in virtual conversation with Keith Block, MD--long regarded as the “father” of integrative oncology--about his model for integrative cancer treatment. You can find past recordings of Keith at The New School on our website.
Keith I. Block, MD
Keith combines cutting-edge conventional treatments with personalized and scientifically-based innovative, complementary and nutraceutical therapies. In 1980, he co-founded the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Skokie, Illinois, the first such facility in North America. Their model of care continues to set the standard for the practice of a comprehensive, individualized approach to cancer treatment in the United States.
In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Block is the founding editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Integrative Cancer Therapies. He is also the scientific director of the Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Education, where he has collaborated with colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Bar Ilan University in Israel. In 2005, he was appointed to the National Cancer Institute’s Physician Data Query (PDQ) Cancer CAM Editorial Board, on which he continues to serve today. Dr. Block has more than 150 publications in scientific journals and books relevant to nutritional and integrative oncology. He is also the author of Life Over Cancer, published in April, 2009.
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.

Nov 18, 2023 • 2h 34min
2023:10.09 - Cynthia Li, MD: Brave New Medicine: A Spiritual Biography
Join us for another in the Spiritual Biography series, this time with Cynthia Li, MD. Cynthia’s experiences as both doctor and patient through an internal “dark night of the soul” and a medical condition affecting her immune system point to tools for building personal immunity and resilience in the face of crises. She has been deeply involved with Commonweal’s work in environmental health, Healing Circles, and Rachel Remen’s Healer’s Art program at UCSF School of Medicine, which began at Commonweal. Listen to Michael’s past conversations with Cynthia here:
Cynthia Li, MD
Cynthia is a physician and author whose personal healing journey through a disabling autoimmune condition took her from public health in underserved populations, to integrative and functional medicine. For the past 15 years, she has studied and practiced with functional medicine experts, acupuncturists, and qigong masters, weaving together cutting-edge science and the art of intuition. She is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor’s Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness, as well as a free e-booklet, How to Strengthen Your Inner Shield: Science-Based, Integrative Strategies for a Healthy Immune System During a Pandemic.
Host Michael Lerner
Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies(MIT Press).
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.

Nov 14, 2023 • 1h 28min
2023:10.17 - Grace Sesma ESP: Restaurando el corazón de nuestras relaciones
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~
¿Qué significaría “volverse nativos” al lugar en el que estamos ahora? ¿Cómo viviríamos si lo fuéramos? Nuestras comunidades y líderes indígenas tienen una sabiduría antigua que ofrece una visión profunda sobre los desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos hoy en día. A medida que navegamos los cambios culturales, climáticos y de ecosistemas que están ocurriendo en nuestro planeta en la actualidad, necesitamos oír la sabiduría y las ideas que descienden de estas tradiciones. Para poder escuchar y verdaderamente valorar estas ideas, necesitamos continuar cicatrizando las heridas de la división racial y dentro de nuestras culturas y comunidades. En la primera parte de esta serie, súmate a la presentadora Brenda Salgado en su charla con Grace Sesma, practicante cultural Yaqui / mexicana en la tradición del curanderismo. Contarán historias personales, hablarán sobre la importancia de estar conectado con la Madre Tierra en este momento. Nos participarán su sabiduría sobre las formas en que podemos “volvernos indígenas” en nuestro espacio y con los demás. Presentada en inglés con interpretación simultánea.
As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities.
Our indigenous communities and leaders have old ways of thinking about these new changes, and can contribute valueable wisdom to the critical discussions that will determine the future of our land, water, and communities. In part one of this series, Host Brenda Salgado will speak with Grace Sesma, a Yagui/Mexican cultural practitioner in the curanderismo tradition. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.
Maestra Grace Alvarez Sesma
Grace (Yaqui/Mexican) is a cultural practitioner and educator. She provides Indigenous cultural services to individuals and families through her Curanderismo healing practice. Grace works with mental health therapists and other healthcare providers to promote an understanding of Mexican and Indigenous culture-specific interventions and to encourage mutually respectful collaboration. She’s an advisor to the House of the Moon and the Kanap Kuahun Coalition. She serves on the Yaquis of Southern California tribal council, the Consciousness & Healing Initiative Practitioners' Council, and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine BIPOC Committee.
Host Brenda Salgado
Brenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.
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.
#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter
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