Join Andrew and Sanskrit scholar Christopher (Hareesh) Wallis on a deep dive into the heart of nondual Shaiva Tantra, the nature of mind and reality, and the role of the wisdom traditions in the modern world. Hareesh is a rare blend of scholar-practitioner, which means he practices what he preaches. Drawing on his magisterial book The Recognition Sutras, this conversation emphasizes the simplicity and immediacy of the awakened state, how to access it, and how to stabilize it. Beginning with the story of how Dr. Wallis came to his tradition, the discussion turns to Kashmir Shaivism, and the many similarities to “trans-religious” traditions like Dzogchen. The challenge of working with spiritual experiences  -- not turning them into traps – is discussed, along with a look at the massive role of contraction and relaxation on the spiritual path. The extra-ordinary nature of awakening is explored, along with the issue of “path” altogether: do we really need a path? How does striving along the path actually get in the way? Why do some people have awakening experiences that are blissful, while others experience fear upon opening? What is the importance of cultural translation, and how does language trap us? What is the nature of consciousness? This is a wide-ranging conversation with a leading voice in the world of nonduality, certain to stretch your mind and open your heart.

Join Andrew and filmmakers Laurie Polisky and Courtney Sheehan in a futuristic exploration of the dream world. In their research and interviews for an upcoming docu-series, Anybody’s Dream, these intrepid oneironauts have gathered a remarkable group of scientists, shamans, artists, anthropologists, psychologists and startup founders to dive deep into the nocturnal mind and unearth its potentials. They summarize Anybody’s Dream as “the first series about the emergency of dream tech: devices and applications that directly interface with the dreaming mind.” From dream advertising, neuromarketing, consciousness hacking, branded dreams, dream engineering, and the ethics behind “invasive technologies,” this lively conversation goes to the very edge of what is currently possible, and what the future may hold in the world of sleep and dream. This mind-expanding dynamic duo bring a lifelong passion, conjoined with rigorous scholarship and artistic talent, to their unique project that will surely stretch your mind and challenge your boundaries. How far can technology take us when it comes to lucid dreaming? Where do we draw the line – where, in fact, is the line? Courtney and Laurie fearlessly go where no filmmakers have gone before – are we able to keep up?

Join Andrew and philosopher Zachary Stein in an eye-opening and heartfelt look at COVID 19 and how it is changing the world. The virus has stopped economic growth dead in its tracks, and the liminal space we are now in provides an unprecedented opportunity to start afresh. Growth is good, but growth without direction is cancer. As chaos theory (and dissipative structures) has shown, things have to fall apart before they can reorganize at a higher level. How can civilizational collapse be transformed into opportunities for genuine growth? Is home-schooling better than industrial learning? How does understanding the spectrum of our identity help prevent burnout? After these opening topics, the conversation turns to deeply personal ways for how to manage the virus crises: how do we keep our hearts open, what coping mechanisms do we have, how can we use this situation to increase love? Zak shares some moving stories about his path of transforming “tears into nectar,” and “burning in the fire of tragedy.” He then talks about “crying practice” (which was used by the Spartans), how to actually do it, and why it is so helpful. This is immediately conjoined with “laughing practice,” and a look at how reality is touched through tears and laughter. Whether it’s “cracking up” or “breaking down” it’s the cracking and breaking that’s important – a gut-splitting and heart-breaking way to open, to love, and to then share it. How can we “bear the unbearable image” and use that to connect more fully to others? Crying practice is “permission practice;” the permission to be human, to feel deeply, to break down. But the human heart is unique. The more it breaks, the bigger it gets. Join this deep and sensitive thinker in an exploration of coping mechanisms in times of stress, and how to authentically transform obstacle into opportunity. This conversation was seeded by Zak’s recent article, which has caused a stir in the intellectual and alternative community: www.whatisemerging.com/opinions/covi…out-in-heaven--Zak Stein is philosopher of education working at the interface of psychology, metaphysics, and politics. He has published two books, including Education in Time Between Worlds, along with dozens of articles. This writing was done as he worked co-founding a non-profit and think tank, as well as teaching graduate students at Harvard, and consulting with technology start-ups. Zak is a long time meditator, musician and caregiver, which has shaped him more than any professional engagements.Learn more at www.zakstein.org

Join Andrew and Ben Williams for a dazzling overview of the main schools of Hinduism, emphasizing Advaita Vedanta, Saiva Tantra and Kashmir Saivism. Discover where the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali fit in, and classic Sankhya Philosophy. Learn about deity principle, and an inner look at the power of mantra. The discussion then turns to what these wisdom traditions can do for us today, especially in terms of helping us with COVID 19. What are the everyday application of these ancient traditions? Professor Williams is a unique blend of scholar-practitioner, who walks the talk and shares the immediate and practical applications of these wisdom traditions. Anything is workable, and can be brought to the path – even accelerating the path – if it is related to properly. How does understanding the levels of identity help us with difficult situations? And what are the skillful means offered by these traditions that help us work with others? Dr. Williams then turns to a deep look at beauty, and the cosmic play (lila) of reality – even when that play turns into a tragedy. The discussion closes with a look at some of the powerful lessons that are being pointed out with the Corona virus; how deeply interconnected human animals are to the animal kingdom and the biosphere; the decentering of all our contracting centrisms; and the clarion call – the harsh wake-up call -- being presented with the virus. See why Professor Williams is a brilliant light in the yogic and intellectual traditions, and be ready for a warm surprise with his concluding comments about the open heart.--More about Ben WilliamsDr. Ben Williams is an intellectual historian focused on Indian religions and the history of Śaiva tantra. He has received extensive training in Indian philosophy, literature, and aesthetics in Sanskrit sources. Ben received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Vermont, a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and completed his PhD in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Hinduism at Naropa University, where he has recently co-created a low-residency MA program in Yoga Studies that will launch in fall 2020. Ben also serves on the academic advisory council of the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute, which is dedicated to the preservation of scriptural and philosophical texts of classical India.Learn more: www.yogicstudies.com/ys-107

Join Andrew and David Jay Brown for a delightful romp through a host of topics that surround lucid dreaming and altered states of consciousness. David writes a great deal about non-ordinary states, so the conversation begins with a look at whether waking consciousness is the altered state, and the unconventional idea that traditional altered states actually point out aspects of the natural state. David then shares his “go-to” induction methods, and a battery of practical tips about having lucid dreams. The conversation transitions into his area of expertise, which is supplemental agents for initiating lucidity (like Mexican and African dream herbs, velvet bean, mugwort, vitamin B-6, galantamine), and tips for how to use these available substances. The dialogue shifts into a discussion of psychedelics, and their extraordinary potential. Emphasis is placed on how to bring these mind-altering experiences onto the path. What’s the best thing to do before and after a trip? What is the promise and peril of these agents? What’s the safest way to use them? David then shares some of his most transformative lucid dream experiences, and closes with how to use lucid dreams for healing (including surrogate healing). David’s work around lucid dreaming is among the most radical, innovative, controversial, provocative, researched, and mind-expanding approaches I’ve seen. No stone is left unturned.Because David was unable to do this recording with our usual platform, the audio is a bit compromised. We apologize for this, but had no other options. After a technical hiccup about seven minutes in, the conversation proceeds without interruption.--ABOUT DAVID JAY BROWNDavid Jay Brown is the author of Dreaming Wide Awake: Lucid Dreaming, Shamanic Healing and Psychedelics, and The New Science of Psychedelics: At the Nexus of Culture, Consciousness, and Spirituality. He is also the coauthor of five other bestselling volumes of interviews with leading-edge thinkers, Mavericks of the Mind, Voices from the Edge, Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse, Mavericks of Medicine, Frontiers of Psychedelic Consciousness, and of Women of Visionary Art. Additionally, Brown is the author of two science fiction novels, Brainchild and Virus, and he is the coauthor of the health science book Detox with Oral Chelation. Brown holds a master’s degree in psychobiology from New York University, and was responsible for the California-based research in two of British biologist Rupert Sheldrake’s books on unexplained phenomena in science: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and The Sense of Being Stared At. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Wired, Discover, and Scientific American, and he was the Senior Editor of the special edition, themed MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) Bulletins from 2007 to 2012. In 2011, 2012, and 2013 Brown was voted “Best Writer” in the annual Good Times and Santa Cruz Weekly’s “Best of Santa Cruz” polls, and his news stories have been picked up by The Huffington Post and CBS News. To find out more about his work see: www.davidjaybrown.com

Join Andrew and Jeff Warren for a warm-hearted, playful, and personal tour of meditation, lucid dreaming, and consciousness. The discussion begins with a look at Jeff’s book The Head Trip, and his personal experiences related to research for the book. Jeff talks about “the silo brain,” and how beliefs prematurely foreclose our contact with reality.The conversation then turns to hypnosis, the power of narratives, and the story lines we constantly tell ourselves to create the illusion of certainty – and ego itself. The “awakened ones,” in this regard, are also the “de-hypnotized ones.” We succumb to trances of our own making, and suffer the consequences of buying into our storylines.Jeff then talks about “good art vs bad art,” and how good art brings you into a type of trance to wake you up from trance altogether. The discussion peppers in a host of obstacles on the path – like ADD, bi-polar disorder, and wind (prana) disorders – and how obstacles are the path if we relate to them properly. The need to pace ourselves, to titrate challenging experiences, and to practice maitri  (loving kindness towards ourselves) is a key to progress on the path.The relationship of absolute and relative aspects of the path is discussed, and the importance of finding “the middle way.” Jeff then shares how hyper-lucid dreams were the most transformative experiences of his life, and also his experience with liminal dreaming (hypnogogic and hypnopompic states of consciousness). The conversation closes with a look at synchronicities, meaning, and how we can replace karma with auspicious coincidence. Jeff concludes with his “desert island” tip, or his irreducible instruction.With his rapid-fire intellect, relentless humor, and good heart, you will see why Jeff is such a beloved force in the world of meditation, and its application in the modern world. --Jeff Warren is a meditation instructor and journalist, celebrated for his dynamic and accessible style of teaching. He is co-author of The New York Times bestselling Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, author of The Head Trip – a travel guide to sleeping, dreaming and waking – and founder of The Consciousness Explorers Club, a nonprofit meditation adventure group based in Toronto. His mission is to empower people to take responsibility for their own mental health, through the realistic, intelligent and sometimes irreverent exploration of meditation and personal growth practices.Jeff has taught meditation to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, US Army cadets, Arizona cops, Google executives, distractible teens, suspicious journalists, burned-out caregivers, formerly- incarcerated youth, and every other conceivable demographic of freethinker, including squirmy six- year old kids. He tries to do this in a way that’s rigorous and clear and adventurous. He is passionate about democratizing and de-stigmatizing meditation and other mental health practices, and is honest and very funny about being a meditation teacher – a a supposed paragon of mental health – who struggles with both ADD and bipolar disorder. Jeff talks refreshingly about what is realistic in a practice – what traits and behaviors we can change, and also what traits and behaviors we can’t change. His core subject is what it actually looks looks like for each of us to become our own teachers and mental heath authorities.Dubbed the “Meditation MacGyver”, Jeff’s charismatic meditations in the Ten Percent Happier app were listened to by over 150,000 individuals in 2018. He has appeared on Good Morning America, ABC’s Nightline, The Joe Rogan Experience and other popular media outlets. He is a regular presenter at many corporations, universities, speaking venues, meditation centers, hospitals and health clinics.Learn more at https://jeffwarren.org/

Join Andrew and Lama Surya Das for a truly delightful romp through a torrent of topics. This is a tour of mind and reality from a Tibetan Buddhist point of view, delivered by a senior figure of this noble tradition in the West. Surya Das starts with the role that dreams have played in his life, and the place of Dream Yoga in his two three-year retreats. The discussion then turns to blind spots (non-lucidity spots), and how we’re all extremists and fundamentalists in our views of eternalism (reified reality). He then talks about the importance of the “Middle Way” between eternalism and nihilism, and not skidding into these ditches on either side of the road to awakening. Surya Das peppers in topics like the dangers of scientism and post-modernism, the joy of “playing jazz with the dharma,” and the place of preservation vs. adaptation in the transplantation of dharma in the West. The conversation turns to “substance abuse” at the level of thought addiction, and a look at the important difference between experience (nyam) vs. realization (tokpa) on the path. After a brief look at psychedelics, and revealing that LSD are his very initials, Lama Surya Das offers a “State of the Union” address about the status of Buddhism in the West: “Buddhism has been reduced to mindfulness, while Hinduism has been reduced to yoga.” A central narrative of the entire discussion is the absolute level teachings of non-duality, and the many “near enemies” that await one on the path. Lama-la talks about the importance of “Swooping down from above [absolute truth] while climbing up from below [relative truth],” and “Being now while getting there.” Sharing the neologisms that he is famous for, Surya Das openly radiates his passion and playfulness for the truth – no matter where it comes from. Don’t let the levity of this conversation hide the profundity. Surya Das shares a lifetime of deep practice and study, delivered with wit and wisdom.--Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars, one of the main interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, and a leading spokesperson for the emerging American Buddhism. The Dalai Lama affectionately calls him “The Western Lama.”Surya has spent over forty five years studying Zen, vipassana, yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with the great masters of Asia, including the Dalai Lama’s own teachers, and has twice completed the traditional three year meditation cloistered retreat at his teacher’s Tibetan monastery. He is an authorized lama and lineage holder in the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism, and a close personal disciple of the leading grand lamas of that tradition.Lama Surya Das is a sought after speaker and lecturer, teaching and conducting meditation retreats and workshops around the world. He is a published author, translator, chant master (see Chants to Awaken the Buddhist Heart CD, with Stephen Halpern), and a regular blog contributor at The Huffington Post, as well as his own AskTheLama.com blog site where he shares his thoughts and answers questions from the public each week.

Join Andrew and Zvi Ish-Shalom for a look at the role of dreams in Judaism. Zvi shares his personal story of how dreams continue to affect his practice and study, and explains their place in the Talumd, Kabbalah, and Kedumah traditions. The conversation then transitions to a deeper look at the “prophetic” mind, and how sleep is 1/60th of death. Zvi then elaborates on how the path is more perceptual than actual, and how this narrative ties into the lucidity principle. Using the archetype of contraction and relaxation, they take an inside look at the “exile principle,” and how the exodus from slavery into the promised land is a potent metaphor for the exile of lucidity, and its eventual return. When we contract we reify, and evict ourselves into bondage by mis-taking mere appearances to be real – exactly what happens in a non-lucid dream. Zvi then shares a mystical Christmas story, and how the Star of Bethlehem shines within each of us. When we open to the natural light within, we are all Messiahs. Join us for this deep dive into the heart of Jewish mysticism, and discover how this tradition connects to Christianity and Buddhism. Zvi’s exploration of ancient Hebrew texts is exhilarating, profound, and beautifully heretical.--Zvi Ish-Shalom, Ph.D., is an ordained rabbi, a professor of wisdom traditions at Naropa University, and is the founder of Kedumah, a universal path of ancient Hebrew wisdom that teaches a step-by-step approach to spiritual awakening and personal development.Zvi is the author of the book The Kedumah Experience: The Primordial Torah and the forthcoming Sleep, Death, and Rebirth: Mystical Practices of the Kabbalah.

Join Andrew and esteemed researcher Stephen LaBerge in a rare live interview conducted at the Sedona lucid dreaming retreat, October 2019. This is an unusual interview because Stephen seldom does interviews; it was conducted in front of 50 wonderful participants; and the conversation has a warm-up, or preview. Andrew had prepared a set of questions for Stephen (submitted to Stephen the evening before) that dealt mostly with the science of lucid dreaming. But all those questions fell away as Dr. LaBerge gave his last brief talk at the event, part of which is now included as the prelude to the interview. In other words, Stephen’s concluding comments at the retreat changed the tenor of the originally designed interview, which now became entirely spontaneous and more personal. Andrew realized the direction was being changed as he sat on stage with Stephen, and started recording Stephen’s talk before the interview formally began. The recording was done on a smart phone, so pardon the quality.The recording begins with Stephen addressing (as part of his talk) the question: Who am I? And who are the “others” in your dreams? This leads to a look at dream ethics, and the question: How do identity and lucidity fit together? The interview formally begins with a Big Question about mind and the universe, and Stephen harnesses the principle of complimentarity from physics to address it. “There is room for several views or maps.” Even the way a question is posed sends the mind in a particular direction. In a disarming statement from a scientist, Dr. LaBerge says that “All knowledge doesn’t just come from experiments,” and acknowledges the power of an open question. The conversation then turns to the subtle body -- “Is it just the subjective experience of the autonomic nervous system?” -- and a look at the classic “mind-body” problem. Stephen then shares personal accounts of how his science has changed him (can science be a spiritual path?). The conversation closes with a look at lucid dreaming and its place in evolution, and the promise and peril of the internet: Does the web disseminate knowledge or “noise,” the growth of knowledge or ignorance? In this interview you will see why LaBerge is the father of lucid dreaming in the West, and a unique scientist willing to embrace the wisdom of the East.--Stephen LaBerge received his PhD in psychophysiology in 1980 from Stanford University where he studied consciousness, dreaming and waking for 25 years. He has taught classes on sleep and dreaming, psychobiology, and altered states of consciousness at Stanford, and San Francisco State University. In addition to numerous scientific articles on lucid dreaming, he has published many books on the topic, including the classics “Lucid Dreaming” and “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming,” which have been published into eighteen languages. Widely regarded as the father of lucid dreaming in the West, LaBerge continues his research as an independent scholar and scientist. 

Join Andrew and celebrated philosopher Evan Thompson in a remarkable conversation that covers a vast terrain of topics. The discussion begins with a look at enactivism, the revolutionary concept explored with neuroscientist Francesco Varela in the landmark book The Embodied Mind, co-authored with Evan. The enactive view provides a platform for “I-making” as explored in Dr. Thompson’s most recent book, Waking Dreaming Being – that the self is an ongoing process of construction, a process that can be explored as the sense of self trans-forms when we fall into sleep and dream. The conversation then turns to “quantum phenomenology,” Evan’s term for the highly discerning mind developed by meditators. In this context they explore the difference between access consciousness and phenomenal consciousness, a distinction that is critical for lucid dreamers. The discussion then makes the important distinction between consciousness (which is dualistic) and awareness (which is non-dualistic), and then transitions to examine the place of psychedelics in exploring the nature of mind, and a provocative look at out-of-body (OBE) experiences, which are usually altered-embodied experiences. Most OBE’s are probably lucid dreams, and you can test this in your own dreams. Evan concludes with a look at his next book, Why I am NOT a Buddhist, and the many shadow elements of Buddhist modernism, and the promise and peril of East-West cross-pollination -- which can easily slip into cross-pollution. The discussion ends with a look at Buddhist exceptionalism, and the novel idea of cosmopolitanism. See why Dr. Thompson is one of the most sought after thinkers in the world today.--About Evan ThompsonEvan Thompson is a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He works on the nature of the mind, the self, and human experience. His work combines cognitive science, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Asian philosophical traditions. He is the author of Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy (Columbia University Press, 2015); Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind (Harvard University Press, 2007); and Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Perception (Routledge Press, 1995). He is the co-author, with Francisco J. Varela and Eleanor Rosch, of The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (MIT Press, 1991, revised edition 2016). Evan is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.