The MindThatEgo Podcast

Har-Prakash Khalsa started as a student of Zen meditation in 1984 and went on to become a certified Kundalini Yoga instructor and teacher of Mindfulness meditation in the systematic style of Shinzen Young (whom Har-Prakash has studied intensively with since 1999). He has written Cultivating the Jewel of Mindfulness, a comprehensive practitioner curriculum, offers private online mindfulness coaching, and supervises solo retreatants at his off-grid farm near Owen Sound, Ontario. Our conversation covers the spectrum from suffering to enlightenment, from core wounds to Buddha nature, in an approach that will resonate with seasoned practitioners and those looking to relate better to themselves and others. Topics include the value of introspection, the scale of meaning, cultivating wholesome states, embracing the full human experience, and the key markers of balanced awakening. Resources Har-Prakash’s website. Shinzen Young’s Expand Contract YouTube channel.

I’m joined by Judith Blackstone. Judith has 35 years experience as a psychotherapist and teacher of the realization process, a direct path for realizing fundamental consciousness, as well as the application of nondual realization for psychological, relational and physical healing. She currently has seven books in publication, including her latest, The Fullness of the Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spiritual Awakening. Judith explains the importance of inhabiting the body and developing a strong connection to the core, to integrate the fullness of the self, cultivate wholeness, and connect deeply to life, rather than dissociate or numb through misguided attempts at transcendence. We discuss the value of modalities such as talking therapy, somatic work, and meditation, the risks of catharsis, maintaining boundaries as consciousness expands, as well as subtle distinctions between non-dual awareness and energetic dimensions. Resources The Realization Process website. Judith's writing and media.

I’m joined by Dr. Harald Atmanspacher, a theoretical physicist with more than three decades of experience in interdisciplinary research. He is known for his work on complex systems, the philosophy of science, mind-matter relations, consciousness, and quantum theory. Harald co-authored Dual-Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning with Dean Rickles, which forms the basis of our conversation. We look at the differences in philosophical frameworks, including dualism, materialism, idealism, and how dual-aspect monism links to synchronicity, where events transcend the mind-matter boundary, connected through meaningful coincidence. I ask Harald how this model fits with non-dual approaches, such as Advaita Vedanta, and how practices such as meditation could open the door to dimensions beyond mind and matter, into what Carl Jung referred to as the psychoid.

Dr. Michele DeMarco, an award-winning writer and author of Holding Onto Air: The Art and Science of Building a Resilient Spirit. Michele is a trained therapist, clinical ethicist, and researcher. Her research includes moral injury, psychology, trauma, neuroscience, and somatic and creative art therapies, world wisdom and spirituality. She has taught Creative Nonfiction and Conflict Transformation at California Institute of Integral Studies. We focus on the subject of Michele’s series: How to Tend and Befriend Conflict. If we accept conflict is natural and necessary, what transformation becomes possible? We explore the errors of conventional conflict resolution, how to connect to the body’s wisdom, detecting underlying issues, defense mechanisms, and the five conflict styles. We then go deeper into the nuances, such as accommodating other points of view without losing integrity, opening to feedback, and giving and receiving grace. I found our conversation immensely invaluable and I’m sure, if you’re also human and struggle with other humans, you will too. Enjoy! Resources and References: Michele’s website: https://micheledemarco.com/ Psychology Today blog ‘Soul Console’: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/soul-console Medium blog: https://michelejdemarco.medium.com/ Book: Holding Onto Air: The Art and Science of Building a Resilience Spirit Conflict Styles Assessment Tool: https://www.usip.org/public-education-new/conflict-styles-assessment

Tori Franklin is an Olympic triple jumper, a public speaker, the author of You Anthem: Stories and Reflections of Celebration, and the founder of the non-profit Live Happi retreats, which empowers youth through travel, mental wellness, and movement. In 2022, Tori became the first American woman to medal at the World Championships, winning bronze in the Triple Jump. Her success came a year after performing below her usual standard at the Tokyo Olympics. I was inspired by an article Tori wrote, describing how she turned her career around by trusting guidance from the universe, and taking a huge leap of faith by moving to Athens, Greece. As you will hear, the spiritual athlete’s path to success isn’t conventional. Tori shares her path of resilience, overcoming setbacks, sacrifice, and the conviction required to make success a living reality. In less conventional terms, Tori explains how she manages subtle energetics to harmonize mind, body, and spirit, in order to perform at peak level from a space of playfulness and joy. Resources and References: Tori’s Medium profile: https://medium.com/@torifranklin Tori’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livehappii/ You Anthem (Book): https://store.bookbaby.com/book/you-anthem Live Happii Retreats: https://livehappiiretreats.org/

Bethany Butzer is a Lecturer for the Alef Trust MSc programme in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology and the Assistant Director of the Alef Trust PhD programme in Applied Transpersonal Psychology. She has an MA in clinical psychology and PhD in social psychology, spent two years as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School, and was a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of New York, in Prague, where she lives.  Her research includes yoga and mindfulness for youth, transpersonal psychology, synchronicity, parapsychology, and the subject of today’s talk, ecopsychology. Our conversation gravitates around Bethany’s paradigm-challenging paper, Humans as Midwives for the Earth’s Dark Night of the Soul, a Transpersonal Ecopsychology Perspective. The premise that global crises and destruction could be part of the Earth’s evolution toward harmony is provocative, and leads us to cover topics from animism, cosmic and planetary consciousness, the underlying symbolic and imaginal world, ecstatic re-enchantment with nature, the masculine-feminine re-balance, and much more. Resources and References: Bethany’s website: ⁠https://www.bethanybutzer.com⁠ Bethany’s Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/bethanybutzer/⁠

Arabella Thaïs is a writer, speaker, philosopher, and artist, studying for a PhD in cosmology and consciousness. Committed to the evolution of humanity, her work explores the intersection of poetry, mathematics, beauty, and time, which she teaches at her online school of consciousness, The Temple of Truth. She uses various aesthetic mediums – such as music, film, and experience design – in order to communicate ideas and propel human transformation. Our conversation is thought-provoking, inspirational, and at times mind-blowing. We dance around existential topics, such as free will, and explore her theory of non-linear time, and its relationship to the cosmic mind and complex, higher dimensions of consciousness. Could it be that past, present, and future all exist in a single moment, that the Now contains all that ever was, and all that ever will be? Join us for this fun and thought-provoking philosophical journey. Resources and References: Arabella’s website: https://www.arabellathais.com Depth Cosmology (article): https://www.kosmosjournal.org/kj_article/depth-cosmology-new-paradigm-physics/ Remembering the Future: Wild Time and the Cosmic Imagination (Journal): https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol19/iss19/8/ Sacred Wisdom (podcast): https://www.arabellathais.com/podcast Kastrup's article on DID: https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2019/10/the-many-in-our-dreams.html

Jesse Gittler came to my attention through an Instagram reel where he talked about synchronicity and using the quantum dimension as a mode of self-healing. I was having a tough time, and as I watched more of his videos, his voice stoked a dormant part of my psyche. Jesse’s mission is to guide through his spiritual awakening, which he does with no pretense and an abundance of heartfelt passion. His content is refreshing and true. Awakening is full of paradox, with bliss and beauty counterbalanced by spells of confusion, fear, and suffering. Intense feelings of connection can be contrasted by isolation. Jesse talks to all of this with respect and humility, and I thoroughly enjoyed our spontaneous conversation. Jesse shares his awakening story, including his initial suffering and experience of being “pushed by the universe” into embodying his soul, and aligning with the flow of the cosmos. Our conversation explores the way of reading signs from the universe, spiritual reading, the paradox of beauty and sadness, why preparing the body is essential to handle the energy of light, the metaphysics of quantum travel, the nature of partial truth and eternal truth, different types of suffering, and how the experience of pure beauty can inspire a permanent change in perspective. Resources and References: Jesse’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jgitty32

I’m joined by Dr. Daniel Ingram. Daniel’s book, Mastering The Core Teachings of the Buddha, is well-known in spiritual circles due, in part, to a mixture of practical instruction, lucid insight, useful maps, and common sense. His teachings are controversial to some, compelling for many, mostly due his bold declaration that “enlightenment is an attainable goal, once our fanciful notions of it are stripped away.” My interest in Daniel’s work is that he’s clearly one of the most advanced meditation experts alive today, with profound insight matched by a down-to-Earth approach that has consideration for common misconceptions, false promises, ego traps, and the “dark side” of awakening. Our illuminating conversation is inspired by the relationship between awakening and meaning. We cover mental health, the value of Western psychology and blind spots of Eastern traditions, perfectionist models, why not all meditative skills are transferable, synchronicity and the nature of the Now, the World of Experience vs. the World of Meaning, the dark side of wizardry, and the usefulness of philosophy and concepts, plus much more. Resources and References: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: https://www.mctb.org The Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium: https://theeprc.org

Reverend Doctor John Freese returns to the show to share his synthesis of Buddhism and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. John is a Buddhist minister and spent 12 years as a monk with Thich Nhat Hanh. He has PhDs in practical theology and a Master of Divinity. In addition to his Buddhist counselling practice, he teaches contemplative studies at University of the West and Naropa University. As John guides me through his model we stop along the way to discuss practical matters, from discerning genuine values, taking meaningful action, handling difficult emotions, being aware of thought, and how to cultivate wholesome states of mind. This is a comprehensive and useful overview of a pragmatic system that will benefit those just beginning, and those in advanced stages of their spiritual journey. Resources and References: The Virtual Buddhist Temple of the Dhamma Vinaya Order: https://muktivihara.org/ John Freese Academia profile: https://uwest.academia.edu/JohnFreese