Ev’Yan Whitney • The Sensual Self
In this episode (the last episode of Season 1!) we get slow and personal with Ev’Yan Whitney, sexuality doula, podcast host, and author of The Sensual Self. “Sensuality” often gets lumped in with sexuality… Ev’Yan wants to change that, to tease apart these two aspects of being human and demonstrate how everyone can connect with a more sensual version of themselves.
Angelo DiLullo • Direct Pointing
Our guest today is Angelo DiLullo, a medical doctor and author of a fine book called Awake: It’s Your Turn. Angelo points directly to the true nature of self / consciousness / or whatever you want to call this bizarre ululating mystery we all seem to be living inside. He probably wouldn’t even say he “teaches” this, since all he does for his guided practice is describe his own experience of operating in a world without a sense of a panicked separate self running around going “I gotta get more stuff!”
Philip Shepherd · The Body’s Intelligence
In today’s episode, we’re joined by author and embodiment expert Philip Shepherd. Philip is also an actor and thus a wonderfully entertaining tour guide! He takes us into the body’s “grounded sensitivity”, a place of both exquisite intelligence and dependable common sense.
Rima Dib · Unconscious Bias
Today we’re joined by Rima Dib, a good friend of Tasha and Jeff’s who also happens to be an expert in unconscious bias and anti-oppression education. Rima teaches workshops about difference – race, age, gender, sexual preference, ability – to people around the planet. And she makes it fun. Is this possible? Yes, it turns out! We laughed our asses off. In Rima’s words, “If it gets too heavy, we’re gonna want to put it down. By keeping it light, we can carry it longer.”
Shinzen Young · Spontaneous Thinking
Meet Shinzen Young, a long-time instructor of mindfulness, author of The Science of Enlightenment, and now co-director of the “Science-Enhanced Mindful Awareness” or SEMA Lab at the University of Arizona. Shinzen is Jeff’s OG meditation teacher. He is both a scholar of comparative mysticism and a highly creative designer of strange and beautiful (and practical) meditation techniques.
Tatianna Morales · Tarot & the Imagination
Today we hang out with the incomparable Tatianna Morales – aka @tatiannatarot – a Brooklyn-born spiritualist, priestess, and Tarot diviner! Together, we plunge into the imagination, learning how the age-old tradition of reading Tarot cards can give us insight into our personalities and our life situations.
Peter Russell · Effortless Meditation
Today’s Explorer-in-Residence is Peter Russell, who started out as a theoretical physicist (a student of Stephen Hawking’s!) and became one of the West’s early proponents of meditation. Together we explore letting go.
Donna Ray · The Feldenkrais Method
Meet psychotherapist and Feldenkrais teacher Donna Ray. In this episode, she makes us move! Ok, more like she makes us sit in chairs and roll our eyes and turn our heads a bit and suddenly everything feels better. Welcome to the subtle art of micro-movement!
Valerie Mason-John • Addiction & Self-Compassion
Today we’re joined by UK-based Valerie Mason-John, also known as Vimalasara, a leader in the field of mindfulness for addiction and trauma.
This episode is about the ways we get disconnected from our bodies and our lives, and the role self-compassion can play in bringing us home. We explore this in the context of our addictions – even addictions we don’t realize are addictions, like – in Vimalasara’s words – “stinking thinking” and technology. And we explore it in the context of contemporary challenges like coronavirus, and the institutional racism and violence directed to Black bodies.
For Vimalasara, the medicine is self-compassion – delivered with fierceness and strength. She guides us into a 16-minute meditation she calls the “5 basic needs of the heart.”
Baron Short • Tech-Enhanced Meditation
Today we’re joined by Dr Baron Short, an “interventional psychiatrist” at the Medical University of South Carolina, and co-founder of Zendo, a curious electronic headset that purports to enhance both the experience and the long-term benefits of meditation.