New Dimensions

Salh is the last person in her direct lineage to have lived as a nomad and keeper of her family stories. Her beloved country of Somalia was changed forever by a civil war. Her grandmother imbued her with resilience, courage, love of poetry, and storytelling. Salh shares her journey from the deserts of East Africa to the green pastures of Northern California. Shugri Said Salh was born in Somalia in 1974. In 1992, she immigrated to North America after civil war broke out in her home country. She attended nursing school at Pacific Union College and graduated with honors. From her grandmother and the nomadic community in which she spent her early years, she heard stories and learned of their power to entertain, teach, and transform. She now lives in Northern California with her husband and three children and works as a post-operative nurse and infusion specialist. She is the author of The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert (Algonquin books 2021) Interview Date: 9/24/2021   Tags: Shugri

Buddhism is not a religion but is an engagement with “real” reality. The entire Buddhist tradition is built on a philosophical scientific foundation. The Buddha was more a scientist than a religious teacher. Here we explore how we can tap into “real” reality by removing the veils of ignorance and make our life count with evolutionary skill. Robert Thurman, Ph.D. is the retired professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University as well as cofounder and president of Tibet House, which is dedicated to the service of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet. He’s been a close friend of the Dalai Lama for over 50 years and is a passionate activist for the rights of the Tibetan people. He is a skilled translator of Buddhist texts and an inspiring writer of many popular Buddhist books, including Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet (graphic novel co-creator) (Tibet House 2016) , Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot Hap

Glenn Parry believes that the way to cure our planetary challenges begins with a return to original thought. The way we think and interact with nature and each other, he says, affects everything. He believes that the shift to linear thinking is not our natural way, and explains that our rational thought is different from the kind of thought that connects us to the universe. Glenn Aparicio Parry, Ph.D. is an educator, international speaker, entrepreneur, and visionary whose life-long passion is to re-form thinking and education into a coherent, cohesive whole. He’s the founder and past president of the SEED Institute, and is currently the president of the think tank: The Circle for Original Thinking. Parry organized and participated in the groundbreaking Language of Spirit Conferences from 1999 – 2011 that brought together Indigenous Native Elders and Western scientists in dialogue. This series of conferences was moderated by Leroy Little Bear. Parry is an avid outdoorsman and makes his home in the foothills o

Brant Cortright brings brain research into a new dimension by putting it into a holistic health context. Cortright’s lessons about brain health incorporate body, heart, mind, and spirit. He clarifies some common misconceptions, and shares how we can help our brains thrive and grow, including what we might be doing to unknowingly cause harm. Brant Cortright, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies. His consulting practice specializes in brain health and neuroscience-informed depth therapy. He is the author of Psychotherapy and Spirit: Theory and Practice in Transpersonal Psychotherapy (Suny Series, Philosophy of Psychology) (State University of New York Press 1997), Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth, and Opening the Heart (Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology) (State University of New York Press 2007) and The Neurogenesis Diet & Lifestyle: Upgrade Your Brain, Upgrade Your Life (Psychic Media 2015).Interview Date: 8/11/2

Brenner says we are not limited, damaged or inadequate. She critiques the self-help movement as perpetuating the idea that we are in need of fixing, and holds the provocative view that nothing needs to be changed or fixed to be happy. She posits that we have the capacity to spontaneously find inner peace by shedding the stories and negative emotions that cause us pain.  Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and blogger. She is the author of The End of Self-Help: Discovering Peace and Happiness Right at the Heart of Your Messy, Scary, Brilliant Life (Ananda Press 2015)Interview Date: 6/25/2015    Tags: Gail Brenner, self-help, happiness, searching, curious, curiosity, changing our thoughts, meditation, thought, story, recurrent thoughts, habitual thoughts, conditioned thinking, beliefs, “hello dread”, anxiety, label the emotion, underneath the emotion, couch process, fear, allowing, conditioning, seeking, control, worry about the future, end of resisting, unfolding, Self Help,

“Awake-ism,” in Nichtern’s view, means to be aware, open, and compassionate. He looks at Buddhist thought as a useful psychological, philosophical, and ethical system that anyone can make use of. His advice for living in these times is to maintain our awareness as we move between very personal spaces and collective spaces. Ethan Nichtern is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and the founder of the Interdependence Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to secular Buddhist study as it applies to transformational activism, mindful arts and media projects, and Western psychology. Nichtern has taught meditation and Buddhist studies classes and retreats across the United States since 2002. He is based in New York City. His books include One City: A Declaration of Interdependence (Wisdom Publications 2007) and The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path (North Point Press 2015)Interview Date: 5/20/2015    Tags: Ethan Nichtern, awakeism, heartmind, interdependen

Poetry can play a transformative role in our lives. It gives us an opportunity to ask questions and open up to the unknown. Hirshfield shares her love of poetry, her take on beauty, and she treats us to some of her poems. She takes us into the mind of the poet and reminds us that a reader can benefit from a poem without knowing what the poet is thinking. Jane Hirshfield is the author of nine books of poetry and two collections of essays. She has edited and co-translated four books presenting the work of world poets from the past. Her books have received the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and the Donald Hal-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. Her poems appear in a wide range of prestigious outlets. A resident of Northern California, she is a chancellor emerita of the Academy of American Poets. She presents her work at literary and interdisciplinary events worldwide.Interview Date: 5/9/2015  T.ags: Jane Hirshfield, poetry, poems, The Beauties, beauty, darkness, suffering, ampli

How often have you exclaimed, “There isn’t enough time.” Albert Einstein once wrote: “People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Lisa Broderick says “Once you understand the science of time, you understand that our experience of time is one part physical and one part perception.” She goes on to give us many insights as to how we can be liberated from the illusion that time is strictly linear and is our enemy. This deep dialogue explores how time is less limited than we think and it can be stretched and bent. Broderick describes the difference between selective attention and focused perception, “Selective attention is our ability to tune out that which is not important to us. Focused perception is our ability to focus on, to the exclusion of all other things, one thing. Complete opposites. And focused perception is what we use to change and control our experience of time.”  Lisa Broderick earned her BA from St

Patten has a deep comprehension of the sacred global rite of passage that we, and all humankind, are going through in these liminal times and shares how we can be of help in an insane world. He gives us a context for spiritual friendship, for turning outward in service, and for doing what we can to brighten everyone we come into contact with. He is the founder of A New Republic of the Heart, a co-creative social experiment in Being of Benefit. He’s a philosopher, activist, social entrepreneur, and teacher of integral practice and transformation. He has taught Integral Life Practice to over ten thousand people. Terry also founded the consciousness technology company Tools for Exploration and led the team at the HeartMath Institute that developed their first heart-rate variability monitor. He advises businesses addressing restorative forestry, fossil-fuel alternatives, collective trauma, and the reclaiming of personal data and power. His books include: Biocircuits: Amazing New Tools for Energy Health (co-author

This moment in our social history compels us to invite ourselves into a path of discovery, learning, and practices to transform our collective racist karma. As a Black man residing in America, Larry Ward says to those who say, “I am not racist” …We are invited to dismantle the systems that perpetuate that profound misperception of what it means to be human. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was the catalyst that sparked Larry Ward's journey into a life of planetary peacemaking. He's been subjected to racial profiling and has experienced a bombing in his home in Idaho. He was able to move past these traumas when his path led him to the introduction of Buddhist practice in Calcutta in 1977. When he met Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in 1991, the practice of Buddhism became truly central to his life. He was ordained as a Dharma teacher in Plum Village in 2000 and is the co-founder of the Lotus Institute, which offers Buddhist practice for change makers on the journey of individual and collective liberation

Contracts are used to lay out expectations and responsibilities of the parties involved. We take them very seriously in business and law. Joel Fotinos says that we should take our own goals just as seriously and create personal contracts to hold ourselves accountable in our pursuit of excellence. He shares methods and ideas for committing to a Personal Life Contract. Joel Fotinos is a vice president at Penguin Random House Publishers and publisher of the Tarcher/Penguin imprint. He’s also a licensed minister with the Centers for Spiritual Living. He is the author and coauthor of several books including The Prayer Chest (coauthor August Gold) (Doubleday Religion 2007), Multiply Your Blessings (coauthor August Gold) (Hampton Roads 2012), A Little Daily Wisdom (Paraclete Press 2009), Think and Grow Rich Starter Kit (coauthors Napoleon Hill, August Gold) (Tarcher 2014), The Think and Grow Rich Journey: Enhance and Enrich Your Path to Success (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2013 and My Life Contr

From 1342 to 1415, Julian lived through the bubonic plague that killed one out of three humans in Europe. She did not deny suffering but found goodness in all things and was a feminist 700 years before the current movement. She held God as Mother and deconstructed patriarchy pulling the rug out from under dualism of body as separate from soul. Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, scholar of mythology, and student of ritual in traditional cultures. He has scoured the world to bring to us meaningful folk tales that tap into ancestral sources of wisdom and acts as a guide to connect them to the stories we are living today. Meade is the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation. He also offers regular Living Myths Podcasts and is the author of many books including: Why the World Doesn't End: Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss (GreenfirePress 2012), Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul (GreenFire Press 2012), The Genius Myth (GreenfirePress 2016), Awakening the Soul: A Deep Response to a Tr

The pandemic of 2020-21 has given humans a worldwide, collective initiation of separation, ordeal, and return. This deep dialogue explores a critical moment of renewing, not only of ourselves but of the culture in which we are embedded. Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, scholar of mythology, and student of ritual in traditional cultures. He has scoured the world to bring to us meaningful folk tales that tap into ancestral sources of wisdom and acts as a guide to connect them to the stories we are living today. Meade is the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation. He also offers regular Living Myths Podcasts and is the author of many books including: Why the World Doesn't End: Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss (GreenfirePress 2012), Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul (GreenFire Press 2012), The Genius Myth (GreenfirePress 2016), Awakening the Soul: A Deep Response to a Troubled World (GreenFire Press 2018), The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul (GreenFire P

Hear Montgomery’s fascinating encounters with gorillas, snakes, and spiders. She takes us from the largest bird in the world, the Emu, to the smallest, the hummingbird. With their jewel-like foliage hummingbirds are capable of the most unique and astonishing feats such as flying backward and even upside down. Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter and author of many books, which often include stories of her encounters with animals. During research for her books, films, and articles, Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silver back gorilla in Zaire and bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica. She worked in a pit of 18,000 snakes in Manitoba and handled a wild tarantula in French Guiana. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University System of New Hampshire. Her many books have garnered numerous awards, and include The Curious Naturalist: Nature’s Everyday Mysteries (Down East Books 1991), Search for the Golden Moon Bear: Science and Adventure in Pursuit of a New Species (Chelsea G

As a young Black woman, Regina Louise was born poor, supposedly unwanted, neglected, marginalized, stigmatized, disenfranchised, and labeled crazy. What led her to not accept these factors in her life and reject that they were going to define all her life? Be uplifted by her story as she moves with fierce determination from shame to dignity. Regina Louise is a teacher and coach on advocacy work. Her memoir was featured in a Lifetime movie, I Am Somebody’s Child. She’s a Hoffman Process teacher. She is the author of two memoirs: Somebody’s Someone: A Memoir (Agate Bolden 2008) and Someone Has Led This Child To Believe: A Memoir  (Agate Bolden 2018), as well as Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self-Love (New World Library 2021)Interview Date: 7/19/2021      Tags: Regina Louise, adultification, predators, bullies, loneliness, aloneness, Ann Richards, unconditional self-love, Margaret Paul, curiosity, triggered, shame, W.E.B. Du Bois, Be

We have all experienced getting caught up in a thought and identifying ourselves by it. Dr. Laura Basha talks about the ability to bring choice into the thought process. She explains the importance of listening for what’s possible rather than trying to figure it out. We also learn about Transformational Humor, the power of silence, and the two modes of thought. Laura Basha, Ph.D. holds a combined doctorate in clinical and organizational psychology. She’s an international consultant in leadership development and a personal coach. She is also a fine artist whose paintings reside in many private collections. She is the author of: The Inward Outlook (Xlibris 2014)Interview Date: 4/9/2015   Tags: Laura Basha, MP3, Three Principles, Transformational Humor, Process thought, problem solving, flow thought, in the flow, Mind, Consciousness, thought, sound of silence, character of thought, quality of thought, inward outlook, mentally ill, schizophrenia, modes of thought, Everything and No-thing, transform

How can mindfulness allow us to by-pass reactivity? How do we cultivate a sense of spaciousness? Buddhist teacher and author Bodhipaksa helps us find a sense of oneness, stillness, and perfectness. Bodhipaksa was born Graeme Stephen in Scotland and currently lives and teaches in New Hampshire. He is a Buddhist teacher and author who has been practicing within the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order since 1982 and has been a member of this order since 1993. Bodhipaksa runs the online meditation center, Wildmind, to increase awareness of the positive effects of meditation. His published works include The Wisdom of the Breath (CD) (Sounds True 2009), Wildmind (Windhorse 2010) and Living As a River: Finding Fearlessness in the Face of Change (Sounds True 2010)Interview Date: 10/22/2010 Tags: Bodhipaksa, retreats, mindfulness, happiness, fear, terror, management theory, reincarnation, karma, consciousness, self, virtual selves, clinging, Spirituality, Buddhism, Science, Meditation

Stuckey begins this conversation by telling three stories — how an eagle, a bougainvillea bush, and the birch tree of her childhood all communicated with her in some way. We think we are alone, but Stuckey points out “we are deeply connected with all others with whom we share our lives.” Priscilla Stuckey is a writer, book editor, scholar, and Earth-advocate. She teaches humanities at Prescott College and holds a Ph.D. in religious studies and feminist theory from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is the author of Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature (Counterpoint 2012)Interview Date: 1/21/13     Tags: animal communication, animals, communicating with animals, creeks, dog Sapphire, dogs, ecosystems, Gary Snyder, hybrid, keystone species, land stewardship, land use laws, mp3, nature, Peralta Creek, potlatch, prairie dogs, Priscilla Stuckey, reciprocal generosity, relationship, Rudy the fox, watershed, watersheds, Animals, Community,

Diamond has worked with thousands of men who are angry, irritable, and to some degree violent. "There isn't one man that I've ever worked with that when you get to the root, when you look at his early life experience, violence is part of his experience. He's been wounded in some way." He offers many examples of ways men heal cultural and personal wounding. Jed Diamond, Ph.D., is a licensed psychotherapist, a founding member of the American Society of Men’s Health, and an internationally respected leader in the men's health movement. He’s the Founder and Director of MenAlive, a health program that helps men live long and well. Though focused on men’s health, MenAlive is also for women who care about the health of the men in their lives. Jed Diamond is the author of many books including: The Irritable Male Syndrome (Rodale Press 2004), Mr. Mean: Saving Your Relationship from the Irritable Male Syndrome (Numina Press 2010), MenAlive: Stop Killer Stress with Simple Energy Healing Tools (Fifth Wave Press

Prayer can influence our state of mind which then has an effect on our state of body. It’s a portal that connects us with Divine Source and is an intensely personal journey inward as well as an act of conversation with the Presence of the Infinite or what some call God. It can help us to move from a primarily secular, materialistic life into a more spiritual one. Rabbi Paul J. Citrin has served various congregations as a rabbi for over 40 years. He is retired from the pulpit, but continues to teach in synagogues and community centers. He is the author of several books including: Gates of Repentance for Young People (Paul Abrams, Judith) (CCAR Press 2009), Ten Sheaves: A Collection of Sermons and Articles (2014), Lights In The Forest: Rabbis Respond To 12 Essential Jewish Questions (editor) (CCAR Press 2016) and I Am My Prayer: A Memoir and Guide for Jews and Seekers (Resource Publications 2021) Interview Date: 5/20/2021  Tags: MP3, Paul J Citrin, prayer, communal prayer, Judaism, Reform Judaism