Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel is a Buddhist teacher and teaches throughout the U.S. and Europe. She’s the wife of Tibetan Buddhist master Dzigar Kongtru and has studied and practiced in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition since 1985. After many years of solitary retreat, Dzigar Rinpoche appointed Elizabeth as Retreat Master at Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, retreat center in southern Colorado. Her books include It's Up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path (editor) (Shambhala 2006), Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence (editor) (Shambhala 2009), The Power of an Open Question: The Buddha's Path to Freedom (Shambhala 2010), The Logic of Faith: A Buddhist Approach to Finding Certainty Beyond Belief and Doubt (Shambhala 2018)

Tags: Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, faith, dogma, fundamentialism, analytical meditation, doubt, certainty, interdependent phenomena, faithing, preferences, unconditional happiness, Dalai Lama, grace, Buddhism, Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy, Personal Transformation

Ora Nadrich is a certified Life Coach and Mindfulness Meditation teacher and founder of The Institute for Transformational Thinking. A former actress and screenwriter, Nadrich retired to devote her time to explore in depth psychology and various spiritual approaches to life including Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Siddha Yoga. She is the author of Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change the Way You Think Forever. (Morgan James Publishing 2016).

Tags: Ora Nadrich, negative thoughts, fear based thoughts, beliefs, internal dialogue, journaling, Personal Transformation, Self Help, Psychology, Relationship

Dr. Laura Koniver is an artist, author, holistic physician, and an internationally recognized grounding advocate. She also runs on-line heath classes. She is the author of From the Ground Up (Do Life Right, Incorporated 2012), Health Flow Unleash eBook (www.intuition-physician.com) and The Earth Prescription: Discover The Healing Power Of Nature With Grounding Practices For Every Season.

Interview Date: 7/10/2020 Tags: Laura Koniver, grounding, recharging our body, Schumann frequency, heartbeat of the Earth, cement sidewalks, asphalt does not ground us, grounded fish aquariums, grounding while sleeping, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation

Merlin Sheldrake, Ph.D. is a biologist and writer and with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history of philosophy of science. He received his Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a pre-doctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He's also a musician and a keen fermenter. He is the author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, & Shape Our Futures (Random House 2020).

Interview Date: 5/19/2020 Tags: Merlin Sheldrake, fungi, decomposers, Roundup, soil communities, fungicides, Paul Stamets, bee colony collapse, Steve Sheppard, antivirals, Peter McCoy, amateur mycologists, Mary Hunt, microbial crowdsourcing, fungal architectures, domesticated minerals, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Science, Indigenous wisdom

Shannon Sullivan is an interfaith spiritual teacher and teacher of meditation. She has broad experience with many spiritual traditions from around the world as well as her communion with nature. Trees in particular have a deep significance for her and she's developed a series of teachings and meditations using the metaphor of trees. One of her teachings involves healing our ancestral roots.

Interview Date: 5/12/2020 Tags: MP3, Shannon Sullivan, family wounds, ancestral wounds, forgiveness, chanting, Buddha, Mara, anger, healing ancestral trauma, anxiety, Reiki, Health & Healing, Dreams

Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox is a priest and was a member of the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church for thirty-four years. For speaking out on women’s rights, gay rights, and Native American rights, he was silenced for a year and later expelled from the Dominican Order under the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He then joined the Episcopal Church to work with young people to create postmodern forms of ritual and worship known as the “Cosmic Mass” that incorporates dance, DJ, VJ, rap, and other postmodern art forms. He is the co-founder of the Order of the Sacred Earth and, since Mother’s day 2019, has offered free daily meditations. He holds a doctorate in History and Theology of Spirituality and is founder of the University of Creation Spirituality. He is the author of more than thirty-five books including Original Blessing (Tarcher 2000), Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times (Namaste Publishing 2012), Letters to Pope Francis (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2013), Occupy Spirituality (co-author Adam Bucko) (North Atlantic Press 2013), Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth (HarperOne 1991), The Coming of the Cosmic Christ (HarperOne 1988), Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times (New World Library 2014), Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (HarperSanFrancisco 2015), A Way to God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey (New World Library 2016), Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action (coauthors Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Listug) (Monkfish 2018), Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality (Ixia 2020) and The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times (iUniverse 2020)

Interview Date: 4/30/2020 Tags: Matthew Fox, Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis of Assisi, indigenous thinking, Aristotle, nondualism, feminism, Mary, Magdalene, resurrection, Daily Meditation with Matthew Fox, waking up, eco-theology, ecotheology, preserve things in the good, anthropocentric narrowness, goodness, joy, justice, awe, wonder, wisdom, Rabbi Heschel, Descartes, knowledge, information, History, Philosophy, Social Change/Politics, Spirituality, Religion

Martin Shaw, Ph.D. is a storyteller and mythologist. He's a wilderness rites-of-passage guide and is internationally regarded as one of the most exciting proponents of the mythic imagination. He tells "prophetic stories" that speak deeply to the challenges we face today, in the world and in our personal lives. He has devised and led the Oral Tradition course at Stanford University, is a visiting fellow at Shumacher College, and the Director of the Westcountry School of Myth, a learning community in Dartmoor in the far west of the United Kingdom. Hs books include A Branch from the Lightning Tree: Ecstatic Myth and the Grace in Wildness (White Cloud Press 2011), Snowy Tower: Parzival and the Wet, Black Branch of Language (White Cloud Press 2014), Scatterlings: Getting Claimed in the Age of Amnesia (White Cloud 2016), The Night Wages: Bidden or Unbidden Initiations Come (Cista Mystica Press 2019), Courting the Wild Twin (Chelsea Green Publishing 2020)

Interview Date: 4/23/2020 Tags: Martin Shaw, our wild twin, Robert Bly, Questing Beast, Poets, The Lindworm story, Tatterhood story, fairy tales, desire, Hermes, listening, multitasking, Danny Deardorff, initiation, William Blake, storytelling, coronavirus, lock down, staying in place, Rumi, Lorca, duende, Arts & Creativity, Mythology, Writing, Soul

Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist with a deep interest in neuroscience and mindfulness. He is a senior fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California Berkeley and creator of the year-long course The Foundations of Well-Being. He is the author of many books including: Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (New Harbinger 2009) , Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time (New Harbinger 2011), Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence (Harmony Books 2013), Meditations to Change Your Brain - CD Set (Sounds True 2009), Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness (Harmony Books 2018) and NeuroDharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness (Harmony Books 2020)

Interview Date: 2/24/2020 Tags: Rick Hanson, media, despair, compassion, courage, common humanity, take heart, the fruits of practice, changing the structure of brain, neuroscience, neuroplasticity, inner peace, neural circuitry, letting go of results, 7 practices for happiness, empathic imagination, reacting amygdala, less reactive, somatic learning, somatic markers, steady presence of mind, not being attached to outcome, attachment, tenacity, Fern Hill poem by Dylan Thomas, Social Change/Politics, Meditation, Personal Transformation, Science