Mind & Life

Ed Taylor – Leading by Example

In this episode, Wendy speaks with University of Washington vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Ed Taylor. Ed has made major contributions in the areas of contemplative education and leadership, with a focus on moral and integrative education and social justice. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• growing up embedded in community and giant sequoias;
• learning to be still with the mind;
• teaching meditation amidst anger dysregulation;
• embodying contemplative skills in the classroom;
• the gap between our mind's story and our body in the moment;
• the relevance of contemplation to wise and effective leadership;
• moving from ego-system to ecosystem awareness (systems thinking);
• implementing systems change in university settings;
• normalizing failure and modeling vulnerability;
• letting students lead in defining the community they want;
• imagining the world you want to live in when things are not OK (reflections on the days after George Floyd was killed);
• understanding critical race theory in education;
• and the central role of community in healing.

Full show notes and resources

 

David Creswell – Exploring Equanimity

In this episode, Wendy speaks with social psychologist and contemplative researcher David Creswell. David has been studying the effects of meditation on stress and resilience for over a decade, and has conducted some of the most rigorous studies to date investigating which aspects of mindfulness interventions bring benefit. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• integrating psychology and Buddhism since high school;
• understanding stress and resilience;
• acceptance and equanimity in mindfulness;
• bringing scientific rigor to the study of mindfulness through dismantling trials;
• effects of equanimity on the stress response and positive emotions;
• how contemplative skills spill over from the cushion into daily life;
• how practice changes the brain and why those changes matter;
• a risky study with a president's daughter;
• the promise of apps to deliver mindfulness;
• how acceptance differs from passive resignation;
• and viewing biology and psychology as two sides of the same coin.

Full show notes and resources

Jenny Mascaro – Compassion in Healthcare

In this episode, Wendy speaks with biological anthropologist and contemplative researcher Jenny Mascaro. Jenny's work weaves together meditation, compassion, psychology, and healthcare, and moves us toward a deeper understanding of interconnectedness. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her interest in social cognition in animals - and humans;
• what compassion is, and how it's different from empathy;
• biological basis of compassion, and the role of oxytocin;
• how social factors and context shape compassion;
• training compassion and the skills underlying it;
• understanding self-compassion;
• the under-appreciated role of hospital chaplains;
• compassion training for chaplains;
• preparing for interpersonal interactions;
• how compassion shows up in language;
• how compassionate care can help anxiety and depression;
• responding to healthcare provider stress;
• how meditation has changed her;
• and building awareness of interdependence.

Full show notes and resources

Elissa Epel – Mind, Body, and Stress

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative health psychologist and stress researcher Elissa Epel. Elissa studies how mindfulness, meditation retreats, and breathing techniques can help buffer stress processes, biological aging, and promote both physical and mental health. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her early roots of interest in the mind-body connection;
• bringing contemplation into health and stress psychology research;
• two key aspects of stress;
• learning to deal with uncertainty;
• uncertainty in the body;
• acute vs. chronic stress response;
• why we might want to intentionally induce acute stress to boost our health;
• cell aging systems (telomeres);
• contemplative practices as a way to reduce stress;
• how our minds influence our cells;
• the concept of cellular safety;
• rest, retreat, and vacation;
• how contemplative benefits can transfer to the next generation;
• what it means to have a sensitive nervous system;
• and the importance of focusing on joy and gratitude.

Full show notes and resources

Matthieu Ricard – Compassion and Care

In this episode, Wendy speaks with the renowned Buddhist practitioner and author Matthieu Ricard. Matthieu was integral to the founding of contemplative science, serving as both a participant and co-investigator in many early studies, and has deep expertise in compassion, altruism, and well-being. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his roots in both science and Buddhism, and his appreciation for rigorous inquiry;
• his role as a participant and collaborator in contemplative science;
• lessons from research on compassion vs. empathy;
• how the self shows up (or doesn't) in compassion;
• links between self-focus and vulnerability;
• hedonia, eudiamonia, and self;
• altruism and our current crises;
• reconciling three time scales of concern;
• sentience, life, and interdependence;
• caring for our whole interconnected system;
• the practice of awe;
• using photography to share basic human goodness;
• balancing fame and monastic life;
• and a poignant example of his own personal experience of care.

Full show notes and resources

Jamie Bristow – Policy, Practice, and Planet

In this episode, Wendy speaks with mindful policy advocate and contemplative teacher Jamie Bristow. Jamie co-directs the Mindfulness Initiative in the UK, an organization that bridges contemplative practice and public policy, championing the inner dimension of social change. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• why he first started meditating and the surprise that came with it;
• his commitment to climate work;
• integrating advertising talent into policy work;
• mindfulness in the UK government;
• development of the Mindfulness Initiative;
• the nuts and bolts of mindful policy work;
• policy advances in health, criminal justice, and education;
• mindfulness as a foundational capacity (not just a skill);
• how the mind relates to the climate crisis;
• consequences of our failure to see the interconnectedness in the world;
• how mindfulness and compassion can help with reconnection;
• two modes of operating (holistic intuitive vs. verbal conceptual);
• and where to go from here.

Full show notes and resources

Amy Cohen Varela – The Power of Undoing

In this episode, Wendy speaks with clinical psychologist and contemplative Amy Cohen Varela. In addition to her work as a psychoanalytic therapist, Amy is also the widow of Francisco Varela (co-founder of the Mind & Life Institute), and continues to share his vision and work through the offerings of Mind & Life Europe. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her dual interest in biology and literature;
• the contemplative aspects of psychoanalysis;
• skills learned from listening deeply to yourself and to others;
• how she met Francisco Varela;
• enaction, meaning, and participatory sense-making;
• links between Francisco's ideas and Buddhist philosophy;
• subjective and objective viewpoints, and how we oversimplify Buddhism and science in that dynamic;
• how more than a decade with Francisco has changed her;
• the power of curiosity and openness;
• doing and undoing the self in psychoanalysis;
• Francisco's reflections on the Chilean civil war, and implications for polarization;
• the need for systems to be able to "undo" themselves;
• and Mind & Life Europe's latest offerings.

Full show notes and resources

Zindel Segal – Mindfulness and Depression

In this episode, Wendy speaks with renowned clinical psychologist, researcher, and co-developer of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Zindel Segal. Zindel's work has brought relief to many who suffer from depression, by sharing the tools and skills of mindful awareness. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his early experiences with meditation and psychology;
• the development of MBCT and its evolution;
• seeing thoughts as thoughts;
• the power of curiosity, kindness, and an attitude of letting be;
• clinical research on MBCT in depression;
• staying with difficult experiences;
• the latest thinking about how antidepressants work;
• a short guided meditation;
• the importance of sense foraging;
• using digital platforms and increasing accessibility to mindfulness skills;
• adapting practices for the challenges young people face today;
• how MBCT can shift the sense of self and identity;
• and how practice has changed him.

Full resources and show notes

Randima Fernando - Humane Technology

In this episode, Wendy speaks with Randima (Randy) Fernando, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. Over several decades, Randy has worked to integrate technology, mindfulness, and social impact, trying to find ethical solutions to some of our most challenging issues. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• how the strands of Buddhism and technology have woven together throughout his life;
• the challenges we face with tech today;
• parallels between mindfulness and humane technology;
• understanding the "race to the bottom";
• breaking the myth that technology is neutral;
• looking at technology through the Buddhist lens of dependent co-arising;
• problematic incentives in the tech space (e.g., advertising as a business model);
• the attention economy;
• how technology trains our attention, emotions, and even our values;
• technology's impact on the way we view our "self";
• customized realities, echo chambers, and polarization;
• how to avoid tech traps;
• the core principles of humane technology;
• building values/ethics into AI;
• understanding dukkha;
• the pros and cons of using technology to teach mindfulness;
• and the latest resources from the Center for Humane Technology.

Full show notes and resources

Yuria Celidwen - Indigenous Wisdom

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative scholar and Indigenous activist Yuria Celidwen. Yuria has worked across many sectors to bring Indigenous ways of knowing into conversation with Western approaches, particularly in contemplative science. This conversation covers many topics, including: 

• the importance of Indigenous languages;
• her roots in a lineage of mystics, healers, and explorers;
• insights from the Mayan calendric system;
• bringing Indigenous ideas into a dualistic culture;
• her own experience of othering;
• the role of contemplative practice amidst today's challenges;
• opening our awareness to interdependence;
• bridging and safety as we come together across differences;
• kin relationality and ecological belonging;
• subtleties of language and what they reveal;
• implications of the term "mechanism" in the scientific approach;
• Indigenous contemplative science;
• and an inspiring closing poem.

Full show notes and resources