About this episode

Dr. Nicole Wordlaw discusses her memoir and the intersections of psychology, spirituality, and identity.

Clinical psychologist and longtime Buddhist meditator Dr. Nicole Wordlaw joins us to talk about her new memoir, Waking Up Alone: Navigating the Narrow Passage Through Master-Slave Narratives . Nicole came to practice to end suffering, and found instead that enlightenment as an arrival, all bliss, all peace, was one more construction of the conditioned mind. The conversation moves through the single pattern she came to see beneath white supremacy, patriarchy, and the harm spiritual teachers do to their students; writing as prayer; pain as a door; and the intergenerational line of women whose voices run through the book. A tender and unflinching conversation about telling the whole story, uprooting the internal oppressor, and the quiet, still voice that always sounds like Love. Dr. Nicole Wordlaw is a clinical psychologist and longtime practitioner of Buddhist meditation whose work bridges psychology, spirituality, and identity. The daughter of a white mother and a Black father, Dr. Wordlaw brings a deeply personal understanding of belonging and self-discovery to her writing and teaching. A Stanford University graduate with honors and distinction, she went on to earn her Ph.D. in…

People in this episode

Guest: Nicole Wordlaw

Topics covered

• Buddhism
• psychology
• spirituality
• identity
• intergenerational trauma
• self-discovery
• white supremacy

Keywords

• Buddhist meditation
• enlightenment
• internal oppressor
• writing as prayer
• trauma
• awakening
• self-discovery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stanford University, UC Berkeley

Books & works: Waking Up Alone: Navigating the Narrow Passage Through Master-Slave Narratives, Waking Up Alone

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