Mind & Life

In this episode, Wendy speaks with action researcher, changemaker, and thought leader Otto Scharmer. Otto is a world leader in systems change, and his work across disciplines highlights how awareness and the quality of our relationships are critical for the change we need today. This conversation covers many topics, including: regenerative farming, social change movements, and the "social soil"; inspiration from Francisco Varela; presencing and the role of awareness in systems change; three divides that contribute to our current crises; the untold story of regeneration and renewal; action learning and action research; trends towards goodwill and lack of agency; institutions vs. individuals; the blind spot of the mindfulness movement; speaking and listening across ideologies; non-doing, action vs. reaction; the need for holding spaces and building trust; leading by letting go and letting come; releasing old ways of thinking (ego) and shifting to more integrated mindsets (eco); sensing and engaging with future possibilities; fourth-person awareness; the influence of Mind & Life on his career trajectory; and resources for learning consciousness-based transformation. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with psychologist and cognitive scientist Molly Crockett. Molly is a leader in studying moral cognition, with an emphasis on ethics, knowledge, and power in the digital age. This conversation covers many topics, including: the limits of quantitative (scientific) ways of knowing; the importance of narrative in shaping ideas and behavior; moral outrage on social media; who benefits from a culture of outrage; the role of scientists in our narratives about human nature; how artificial intelligence influences what we consider as human; using artificial intelligence for compassion; a Dalai Lama chatbot vs. the real Dalai Lama; the importance of embodiment in human communication; studying transformative experiences at Burning Man; technology and "Paleolithic" emotions; epistemic injustice; and the critical importance of valuing multiple ways of knowing. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with psychiatrist and mental health researcher Chuck Raison. Chuck’s work centers on understanding how ancient practices can change our conscious experience. He’s a leader in studying the links between inflammation, stress, and depression, and how meditation and other practices can influence those dynamics. This conversation covers many topics, including: ancient practices and conscious experience; Tibetan tummo practice; the role of inflammation in depression; sickness behavior; links between stress and inflammation; the placebo response; psychedelics as a novel treatment for depression; investigating the role of memory in transcendent experiences; body temperature and emotions; and the precious gift of awareness. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with psychiatrist and contemplative researcher Zev Schuman-Olivier. Zev has been working for more than a decade to integrate mindfulness and compassion into health care, with a focus on addiction, depression, and chronic illness. This conversation covers many topics, including: weaving mindfulness and compassion into clinical settings; lessons from his own experience of chronic illness; the key role of behavior change in health; balancing individual responsibility for health with systemic factors; mindfulness and addiction; making interventions trauma-informed, inclusive, and broadly accessible; how signals from the body help motivate action and emotion; how mindfulness enhances trust in the body and changes the brain in depression; Internal Family Systems and the critical role of acceptance; and next steps for integrating mindfulness and compassion into complex healthcare systems. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative neuroscientist Dave Vago. Dave has been studying the brain, meditation, and the self for over two decades, and has developed several models of how mindfulness might work from cognitive and neurobiological perspectives. This conversation covers many topics, including: his intertwined interests in brain, mind, self, philosophy, and religion; the temporal nature of memory; mindfulness for fibromyalgia and chronic pain; unconscious attentional bias; sticky thoughts and how they change with meditation; the role of the self in contemplative practice (S-ART model); meta-awareness and decentering; the centrality of inhibitory control in contemplative practice; dissolving the self/other divide; integrating wisdom to create meaning; how meditation can shift attentional bias at very early levels of processing; the deeply interconnected nature of brain function; self-pattern theory and (in)flexibility in the mind; mindfulness and the glymphatic system, and implications for sleep and neurodegenerative disorders; and the new academic society for contemplative research (ISCR). Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with neuroscientist and trauma researcher Brian Dias. Brian is one of the pioneers in understanding how trauma can be transferred between generations. Research in this space has helped fuel a major revolution in biology, because itmeans that not just our genes, but some aspects of our experiences can be inherited. This conversation covers many topics, including: his path into studying trauma; how trauma can pass through generations; links with the Buddhist concept of karma; understanding epigenetics & the interplay between genes and environment; implications for inheritance and evolution; whether such intergenerational transmission is helpful or harmful; epigenetic clocks in our cells; how trauma affects brain development; sociocultural, developmental, and biological pathways for transmission of experiences; creating legacies of flourishing; lessons learned from collaborating with Tibetan monastics; providing resources to parents to try to halt legacies of trauma; impacts of stress on our mitochondria and microbiome; and scientists as humans first. Full show notes and resources