Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

We all have the power to transform our pain and sorrow into a beautiful offering throughout our lives. This is a deep truth that Susan Cain writes about in her new book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with the bestselling author and lecturer about a new understanding of high sensitivity and the connection between sorrow and joy.  Give a listen to this heart-opening podcast exploring: How an experience of the bittersweet can lead to profound transcendence; the creative stimulation we can access in the gap between what is and what we wish were; stepping out of the paradigm of winning at all costs; the connection between high sensitivity and an attunement to the bittersweet; our human longing for a more perfect and beautiful world; the link between sorrow and kindness; how confronting our sorrows presents a fork in the road; the archetype of the wounded healer; moving on versus moving forward; healing our inherited traumas; leaning into the question, "What am I longing for?"; and more. This episode first aired live and on video on Sounds True One. To watch Insights at the Edge episodes live and on video, and to access additional bonus Q&A, please visit join.soundstrue.com to learn more.

Our sexuality is an integral part of who we are, yet our understanding of sex has been warped by everything from age-old taboos and religious dogma to a popular culture that views sexuality as transactional. In this “edgier” episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Liz Goldwyn about her new book, Sex, Health, and Consciousness, and how we can each reclaim our birthright of pleasure and joy.  Tune in as they discuss why it’s never too late to experience better sex and more pleasure; the metaphor of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi; a much-needed new vision of sex ed; inquiring into your beliefs about sexuality; how your individual relationship to sexuality is as unique as your fingerprint; bringing discipline, mindfulness, and practice to your sex life; creating a safe and healthy ethos around sex; the concept of aftercare; how bondage can become a healing tool; using sex to fill a void in your life; developing porn literacy; Orgasm Breathing—and a guided practice of its first stage; harnessing our sexual energy; and how the integration of sex, health, and consciousness is critical at this time in our collective lives.

What changes when you see yourself and others through a Loving gaze? Everything. With her latest book, How to Be Loving, Danielle LaPorte shares a joyous new framework for bringing incandescent Love to every part of your life. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Danielle about her new book and our individual roles in what she calls “the epic shift of our time.”   Give a listen to this inspiring conversation about shining your inner light, as Tami and Danielle discuss a range of topics including the power of taking a vow, softening a critical attitude, the counterculture nature of self-acceptance, shifting out of misidentification, the shadow side of accountability, the practice of intentional recollection, everyday gentleness, a guided virtue blessing, the epic shift of our time, and more. Note: This episode first aired live and on video on Sounds True One. To watch Insights at the Edge episodes live and on video, and to access additional bonus Q&A, please visit join.soundstrue.com to learn more.

Vanessa Loder was a successful VP at a private equity firm, swiftly making her way up the corporate ladder, when she had a striking realization: Everything on paper looked great, but inside there was this feeling that something was missing… In this paradigm-shifting podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Vanessa Loder about her new book, The Soul Solution, and the "star seeds of awakening" we are called to become at this time. Listen in as they discuss: past-life regression and the insights it can provide; the courage to listen to "the whispers of your soul"; following your "energetic breadcrumbs"—the inner impulses that will lead you to your most fulfilling life; the intersection of creativity, making money, and doing what you love; finding your role models; working with fear, anger, sadness, and other challenging emotions; unwinding the myths we tell ourselves; how to "break up with busyness"; the "power hour" practice; allowing ourselves leisure time and pleasure; visualizing your greatest future; and more.

When was the last time you felt truly relaxed, present, and at peace with everything going on in your life and in our world? In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Melissa Brown about her new audio learning program, Nourishing Your Nervous System, and how we can begin to empower ourselves to choose the state of regulation over dysregulation. Give a listen to this practical and inspiring discussion of the ventral vagal branch of the parasympathetic nervous system—and how we can access it for calm, joy, and vitality; co-regulation with others as a means to move out of dorsal depression; productive thinking versus rumination and other forms of unhealthy thinking; the elongated breath as a tool for shifting out of sympathetic arousal (or the “fight, flight, freeze” response); improving your “vagal tone”; doom-scrolling, binge-watching, and other ways we distract ourselves from what we don’t want to feel—and how we can learn to hold a state of vitality and a state of tension at the same time; the psoas muscles and their connection to nervous system activation; the benefits of “constructive rest pose”; “fixed action patterns” and how the psoas muscles store trauma; attuning to your heart; and more.

In 2018, Mary Firestone survived the tragic Montecito mudslide caused by 200 million gallons of rainfall in 15 minutes, washing away her home and more than a hundred others. In the wake of this experience, Mary began a healing journey that led to the creation of her new book, Trusting the Dawn: Choosing Freedom and Joy After Trauma. In this podcast, Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, speaks with Mary about her personal story and the lessons she offers in the book, including how we share the narratives of our past traumas; the difference between being victimized and remaining in victimhood; reframing our experiences versus spiritual bypassing; the importance of integration for the healing of trauma; MDMA, ketamine, and holotropic breathwork therapies; the “personal I” and the “depersonalized I”; initiation experiences; overcoming fear around speaking your truth; hypnosis and past-life regression as a pathway to wholeness; meditation, EMDR, flower essences, and other widely accessible alternative healing modalities; the power of choice; and more.

In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Dawson Church about Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and the technique known as “tapping”—and its amazing efficacy in trauma healing and post-traumatic growth. Tune in to this hope-giving, possibility-expanding conversation that explores bringing energy therapies into mainstream primary care, the proven effects of tapping acupuncture meridians to calm limbic activity, the history of tapping and the steps involved in practice, the importance of self-acceptance, avoiding retraumatization through memory reconsolidation and emotional extinction, the impacts that tapping has on our brain waves and sleep patterns, resilience and post-traumatic growth, meditation practice and the experience of “bliss brain,” the power of compassion, and much more.

For decades, New York Times bestselling author Cheryl Richardson has been renowned as a self-care coach for professionals and other high achievers. But when she entered her elder years, life surprised her. All of her many achievements became less important than a new landscape of joys and aspirations that began emerging. “The journey through midlife and beyond,” Cheryl says, "is a shift from less ego to more soul.” In this uplifting episode, she joins host Tami Simon to share practical insights for anyone, at any "calendar age," to move beyond outer accomplishments and approval, and nurture a deeper life of pleasure and purpose.

Ceremonies for honoring the departed are crucial parts of our lives, but few people know where our traditional practices come from—and what they reveal about our history, culture, and beliefs about death. In today's podcast, Tami Simon speaks with funeral director, embalmer, and certified postmortem reconstructionist and cremationist Todd Harra to talk about the roots of the Western funeral and to remove some of the fears that surround it. Their riveting conversation looks at: the myths and misconceptions about the funeral director, the sacred responsibility of handling the deceased, the rise in home funerals in our time, the origins of the practices of embalming and coffin burial, the different shades of the "green" cemetery and burial, why there is great value in permanent memorialization, making a ceremony sacred, why simply showing up is the greatest way to support those in mourning, mushroom suits and the controversy around them, the process of natural organic reduction (NOR), and much more.

In this podcast we join Sounds True founder, Tami Simon, in conversation with Acharya Shunya, a master of Ayurveda and an internationally renowned spiritual teacher and scholar of Advaita (nondual wisdom). Give a listen to this informative dialogue to hear about Acharya Shunya's book, Roar Like a Goddess, and her empowering insights into : Awakening the inner goddesses of the Vedic tradition; the progressive revelation of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati; "ugly power" based on ignorance, and the devas (or light bearers) who cultivate power ethically; how symbolism helps you discover your power; healthy rage and "correctional, super-conscious anger"; the divine, ultimate truth of nonduality at the core of Vedic wisdom; the river of light that flows within all of us; and more.