The Garrison Institute Presents: The Common Good

In this special bridge episode, Steve Varley, Managing Director of the Garrison Institute, introduces a new chapter in the Institute's podcast story. Reflecting on the themes explored in "The Common Good" with Jonathan F.P. Rose, Steve welcomes Gretchen Steidle, director of Garrison Institute's Spirituality and Social Change initiative, as the host of the forthcoming "Inner Works" series. Together, they explore the origins of the Conscious Change Collective, a global initiative mapping organizations that integrate contemplative practice, spirituality, and personal transformation into social change. Gretchen shares her own path into inner work, explains what the Collective has uncovered about the field, and offers a preview of four remarkable conversations that explore how inner transformation can become a catalyst for lasting systems change. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

What does it mean to flourish—not as isolated individuals, but as members of a living web of relationships? In this episode, Indigenous scholar, contemplative researcher, and author Yuria Celidwen explores the wisdom traditions that have shaped her work on collective wellbeing, ecological belonging, and kinship with the more-than-human world. Drawing from her Maya Tseltal heritage and decades of research bridging Indigenous contemplative sciences and Western scholarship, Yuria reflects on language preservation, ancestral knowledge, the healing of historical harms, and the responsibilities we owe future generations. Hosted by Garrison Institute co-founder Diana Calthorpe Rose, this episode examines the principles behind Yuria’s groundbreaking book Flourishing Kin and consider how Indigenous perspectives can help us reimagine belonging, stewardship, and the transformation our world urgently needs. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

In this 10-minute guided meditation, Sharon invites you to gather your attention and energy toward the practice of loving kindness. Through the use of select phrases, you'll have an opportunity to direct your heart's energy toward those around you, toward yourself, and ultimately toward all creatures and beings. You can find more meditations and contemplative resources like this at GarrisonInstitute.org, along with information about our Contemplative-Based Resilience initiative and other programs supporting those who serve our communities. You can find more meditations and contemplative resources like this at ⁠GarrisonInstitute.org⁠, along with information about our Contemplative-Based Resilience initiative and other programs supporting those who serve our communities. Follow the podcast at ⁠https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/podcasts/⁠ Sign up for the newsletter to receive upcoming show previews and special resources heard on the podcast ⁠here.⁠

In this special in-person conversation recorded at the Garrison Institute, Cynthia Bourgeault and David Frenette explore the transformative practice of Centering Prayer, nondual consciousness, and the spiritual legacy of Father Thomas Keating. Drawing from decades of teaching, retreat leadership, and personal friendship with Keating, Bourgeault and Frenette reflect on prayer not as escape, but as a path toward compassion and deeper participation in reality. Intimate and searching, yet grounded, this conversation offers a rare opportunity to hear two influential contemplative teachers thinking together in real time about what it means to awaken, let go, and fully inhabit the world. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

In this conversation recorded not long before her death in 2025, activist and systems thinker Joanna Macy joins Jonathan at a Garrison Institute Pathways to Planetary Health forum to discuss how we can stay present and purposeful in a time of ecological and social crisis. Drawing on Buddhism, systems theory, and decades of activism, she shares insights on interdependence, non-linear thinking, and what she calls “the Great Turning”—the shift from a destructive industrial growth society to a life-sustaining world. Macy speaks candidly about despair, climate grief, gratitude, and the courage to feel deeply without becoming paralyzed. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

In this episode, Judy Lief—a longtime student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and a leading voice in bringing Tibetan Buddhist teachings to the West—reflects on a life shaped by curiosity, unexpected turns, and deep contemplative practice. She shares her early search for meaning, her transformative path into Buddhism, and decades of work editing and preserving Trungpa Rinpoche's teachings. Judy explores how practice shows up in real life—from ordinary moments to end-of-life care—helping us stay present, face uncertainty, and connect with others more genuinely. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

What would it mean to redesign capitalism so it works like a living system? In this powerful conversation, John Fullerton—former Wall Street executive and founder of the Capital Institute—shares his journey from high finance to becoming a leading voice in regenerative economics. Drawing on ecological science, systems thinking, and ancient wisdom traditions, he explains why today’s economic model—rooted in mechanistic, reductionist thinking—is driving climate breakdown, inequality, and social fragmentation. Fullerton outlines the core principles of regenerative economics, including holistic wealth, empowered participation, resilient systems, and the vital role of the commons. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

In this seven-minute guided meditation, Sharon invites you to turn a kind and gentle attention toward any suffering you may be experiencing—meeting pain with compassion, connecting to our shared human experience, and returning to bodily presence and phrases of self-compassion with kindness and acceptance. This meditation was originally recorded for The Garrison Institute's Contemplative-Based Resilience initiative. We will be bringing you smaller practices in your feed each month. You can find more meditations and contemplative resources like this at ⁠GarrisonInstitute.org⁠, along with information about our Contemplative-Based Resilience initiative and other programs supporting those who serve our communities. Follow the podcast at ⁠https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/podcasts/⁠ Sign up for the newsletter to receive upcoming show previews and special resources heard on the podcast ⁠here.⁠

In this expansive conversation, Daniel Goleman—author of Emotional Intelligence and a pioneer in the science of wellbeing—explores how inner awareness shapes leadership, systems change, and the future of our shared world. Drawing on neuroscience, contemplative practice, and decades of research, Goleman explains why emotional intelligence, empathy, and compassion are no longer soft skills, but essential capacities for ethical leadership and resilient societies. Together with host Jonathan F.P. Rose, he examines mindfulness as attention training, the social contagiousness of emotion, and how individual transformation connects to collective responsibility, economics, and climate action. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

What if the way we respond to crisis is part of the crisis itself? In this wide-ranging conversation, philosopher and post-activist thinker Bayo Akomolafe invites us to step beyond binaries, solutions, and moral certainty into a deeper encounter with ambiguity, relationality, and becoming. Drawing on Yoruba cosmology, post-humanist philosophy, and lived experience, Bayo explores fugitivity, post-activism, the role of the trickster, and why “being good” may no longer be enough in an age of climate collapse, inequality, and systemic exhaustion. Together with host Jonathan F.P. Rose, Bayo theorizes the limits of the common good and imagines what it means to live sideways—attentive to the present rather than chasing arrival. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

In this five-minute guided meditation, Sharon invites you to anchor your awareness in the breath while practicing the gentle art of letting go. When thoughts arise, whether pleasant or difficult, you're guided to recognize them as "not breath," release them, and return your attention to the present moment. You can find more meditations and contemplative resources like this at GarrisonInstitute.org, along with information about our Contemplative-Based Resilience initiative and other programs supporting those who serve our communities.

Visionary activist and spiritual teacher Konda Mason joins The Common Good to explore how healing the land is inseparable from healing ourselves. In this powerful conversation with Jonathan F.P. Rose, Konda shares the story of Jubilee Justice, a cooperative reclaiming Black agricultural wisdom through regenerative rice farming and community ownership across the American South. She traces rice’s deep African roots, the resilience of its farmers, and how cooperative economics can restore both soil and spirit. Konda also introduces her transformative Journeys Program, where truth-telling, ancestry, and compassion bridge divides of race, land, money, and faith. The episode closes with a grounding practice of ancestral connection—reminding us that joy and reverence are essential tools for justice. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.

In this illuminating conversation, science writer and Biomimicry Institute co-founder Janine Benyus joins Jonathan F.P. Rose to explore nature’s universals—the deep design patterns that guide all living systems. Benyus, known worldwide for pioneering biomimicry, reveals how life creates the conditions conducive to life through cooperation, self-organization, and elegant networked intelligence. From coral reefs and forests to economic and social systems, she shows how natural principles such as right-sizing and distributed abundance can guide human innovation and ethics. Together, they examine how re-embracing our biological literacy can reshape industry, culture, and Western spirituality—inviting us to see the world not as a collection of parts, but as a living, interdependent whole. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast, please send us a note at podcasts@garrisoninstitute.org to let us know what you think. Produced by The Garrison Institute and The Podglomerate.