In this episode, Wendy speaks with social scientist and meditation teacher Eve Ekman. Eve's work integrates contemplative practice and modern psychology to help people learn about and work with their emotions. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her early exposure to Tibetan culture and Buddhism;
• emotion regulation vs. awareness;
• reappraisal and self-compassion;
• labeling feelings & being seen;
• handshake meditation practice;
• mapping an emotion: trigger, experience, and response;
• the complexity of what shapes each moment;
• becoming more sensitive through meditation;
• constructive vs. destructive emotions, and the complexities of anger;
• understanding equanimity;
• leveraging technology to help awareness and tracking of emotions;
• helping Apple incorporate well-being practices into its platforms;
• teaching meditation through the Cultivating Emotional Balance program;
• the Atlas of Emotion (free online resource);
• and life lessons from surfing.

Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative neuroscientist Dave Vago. Dave has been studying the brain, meditation, and the self for over two decades, and has developed several models of how mindfulness might work from cognitive and neurobiological perspectives. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his intertwined interests in brain, mind, self, philosophy, and religion;
• the temporal nature of memory;
• mindfulness for fibromyalgia and chronic pain;
• unconscious attentional bias;
• sticky thoughts and how they change with meditation;
• the role of the self in contemplative practice (S-ART model);
• meta-awareness and decentering;
• the centrality of inhibitory control in contemplative practice;
• dissolving the self/other divide;
• integrating wisdom to create meaning;
• how meditation can shift attentional bias at very early levels of processing;
• the deeply interconnected nature of brain function;
• self-pattern theory and (in)flexibility in the mind;
• mindfulness and the glymphatic system, and implications for sleep and neurodegenerative disorders;
• and the new academic society for contemplative research (ISCR).

Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medical doctor Tawni Tidwell. Tawni's research focuses on living—and dying—with greater awareness and well-being, and integrates multiple biological and cultural perspectives on mind-body systems. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• merging interests in biology, culture, ecology, nature, and medicine;
• how our minds shape our bodies;
• the holistic approach of Tibetan medicine;
• understanding constitutions and individual proclivities;
• the subtle body and consciousness;
• studying monastics who are able to extend the death process (Tukdam project);
• implications for life, death, and the nature of consciousness;
• individual differences and determining which practices might be best for someone;
• studying Tibetan medicine's approach to treating COVID;
• and coming back to our bodies, our communities, and our environments.

Full show notes and resources