Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Tami Simon speaks with Coleman Barks, a leading scholar and translator of the 13th century Persian mystic, Jelaluddin Rumi. Coleman's work was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers'Language of Life series with PBS. He has published numerous Rumi translations, including with Sounds True the audio programs I Want Burning, Rumi: The Voice of Longing, and his new three-CD collaboration with cellist David Darling called Just Being Here: Rumi and Human Friendship. In this episode, Tami speaks with Coleman about the extraordinary friendship between Rumi and his teacher Shams Tabriz, and how translating Rumi requires entering a trance state. Coleman offers insights on grace as he and Tami listen to selections from Just Being Here. (62 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dennis Lewis, an author, teacher, and practitioner of natural breathing, qigong, and meditation. After leaving the corporate world, Dennis studied a number of healing arts traditions, including Taosim, Advaita, and the Gurdjieff work. He is author of the books The Tao of Natural Breathing and Free Your Breath, Free Your Life, and with Sounds True he has produced the audio program Natural Breathing: Teachings and Exercises for Health and Self-Transformation. In this episode, Tami speaks with Dennis about the relationship between our emotions and our breathing, how we can let go into the unknown as we exhale, breathing as a metaphor for living, and what it might mean to “breathe space into space.” (56 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Joseph M. Marshall III, a teacher, historian, writer, storyteller, and a Lakota craftsman. Joseph’s expansive body of work includes nine nonfiction books, three novels, and numerous essays, stories, and screenplays. With Sounds True, he has produced the audio programs Quiet Thunder and Keep Going, as well as the book Walking with Grandfather: The Wisdom of Lakota Elders, which includes a CD of stories. In this episode, Tami speaks with Joseph about the inheritance of wisdom he received from his grandparents, the central teachings of the Lakota people, the sense of guilt and shame that many Euro-Americans feel when reflecting on the tragedies of American history, and a story about the power of awareness and looking back. (47 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Rubin Naiman, an internationally recognized leader in integrative sleep and dream medicine. Dr. Naiman serves as the sleep specialist at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine, directed by Dr. Andrew Weil. With Sounds True, he has produced the audio programs Healthy Sleep (coauthored with Dr. Weil) and The Yoga of Sleep, as well as the online course Ask the Sleep Doctor: Relieve Insomnia, Sleep and Dream Deeply, Wake Up Refreshed. In this episode, Tami speaks with Dr. Naiman about how hyperarousal interferes with healthy sleep, the power of weaning ourselves off the alarm clock, and how we can embrace the deeper dimensions of sleep and dreams. (57 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Dorothea Hover-Kramer, a psychotherapist, clinical nurse specialist, and pioneer of the Healing Touch system of energy medicine. Dorothea cofounded the International Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, and is the author of five books about energy therapies, including with Sounds True her new book Healing Touch: Essential Energy Medicine for Yourself and Others. In this episode, Tami speaks with Dorothea about the scientific evidence supporting energy medicine, how a Healing Touch practitioner interacts with a patient's biofield, and why absolutely anyone can learn to use Healing Touch. (75 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, the award-winning poet, senior Jungian psychoanalyst, and cantadora (keeper of old stories in the Latina tradition). Dr. Estés is the author of the bestseller Women Who Run With the Wolves, along with over a dozen audio programs from Sounds True. Most recently, Dr. Estés has released with Sounds True her first book in over a decade, titled Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother's Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul. In this episode, Tami speaks with Dr. Estés about the different manifestations of the Holy Mother in many cultures, how our relationship with our own biological mother affects how we relate to the archetype of the great mother force, and what it means to live with "an unruined heart." (64 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Judith Blackstone, a licensed clinical psychotherapist in New York and an innovative teacher in contemporary spirituality. With Sounds True, she has published a book called The Intimate Life: Awakening to the Spiritual Essence in Yourself and Others, and a six-session audio learning course called The Realization Process: A Step-by-Step Guide to Embodied Spiritual Awakening, in which she teaches her powerful method for attuning to fundamental (or non-dual) consciousness. In this episode, Tami has an illuminating conversation with Judith about two introductory ways of tapping into fundamental consciousness, how we can relate to others "core to core," and the role of the body in the fullness of realization. (53 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Cyndi Dale, an internationally renowned author, speaker, intuitive healer, and business consultant. Cyndi has written several ground-breaking books on chakras and intuition, including with Sounds True The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy, Illuminating the Afterlife: Your Soul's Journey Through the Worlds Beyond, and most recently, Energetic Boundaries: How to Stay Protected and Connected in Work, Love, and Life. Tami speaks with Cyndi about how we can assess our energetic health to locate the "holes" in our own boundaries, what healthy energetic boundaries might look and feel like, and how healers and other sensitive people can keep their center and maintain the integrity of their energetic boundaries. (79 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Dr. David Schnarch, a licensed clinical psychologist, certified sex therapist, and clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. David is the author of the books Intimacy and Desire, Passionate Marriage, and Resurrecting Sex, and with Sounds True he has published a two-session audio program called Secrets of a Passionate Marriage: How to Increase Sexual Pleasure and Emotional Fulfillment in Committed Relationships. In this episode, Tami speaks with David about the four drives of sexual desires, his understanding of integrity and its importance in a healthy partnership, and what it might mean to "hold onto yourself" in relationship. (67 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Sobonfu Somé, a teacher, author, and leading authority on African women’s spirituality in the West. Originally born into the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso in West Africa, Sobonfu is the founder of Ancestors Wisdom Spring. She has written the books The Spirit of Intimacy, Welcoming Spirit Home, and Falling Out of Grace, and with Sounds True she has published the six-session audio learning program Women's Wisdom from the Heart of Africa. In this episode, Tami talks with Sobonfu about the use of rituals for our health and happiness, how we can see our wounds as potential gifts, and what we can do to invoke help from the spirit world and connect directly with our ancestors. (67 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Tessa Bielecki, former Mother Abbess of the Spiritual Life Institute, and founder of the Desert Foundation, an organization dedicated to fostering interfaith peace and understanding. She is author of Teresa of Avila: Ecstasy and Common Sense, and with Sounds True, the six-session audio learning program, Wild at Heart: Radical Teachings of the Christian Mystics. In this episode, Tami and Tessa have a heartfelt and honest conversation about how we can bring the vitality of monastic living into our everyday life, why the work of balancing polarities is so important to the Christian Mystic, and the transformative power of courageous acts. (62 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Peter Baumann and Michael Taft. Peter began his career as a member of the acclaimed band Tangerine Dream, and went on to found the Baumann Foundation, an interdisciplinary think tank dedicated to exploring what it means to be fully human. Michael has been a professional writer and researcher for more than two decades. With Natural Enlightenment Press, distributed by Sounds True, Peter and Michael have co-written the book Ego: The Fall of the Twin Towers and the Rise of an Enlightened Humanity. In this episode, Peter and Michael speak about the conceptual revolution that took place 50,000 years ago, the positive evolutionary potential of this particular time in history, and why we may be in the midst of an “enlightenment revolution” right now. (70 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Caroline Myss, a leading voice in the fields of energy medicine and human consciousness. Caroline is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including Anatomy of the Spirit and Sacred Contracts. Her latest audio release from Sounds True is The Power of Prayer: Guidance, Prayers, and Wisdom for Listening to the Divine, which is a training course on what Caroline calls “the ultimate tool we have for sparking our spiritual evolution.” In this episode, Tami speaks with Caroline about faith and divine intervention, who or what hears our prayers, how to work with prayer in the face of illness, and why prayer is a force that counteracts evil in the world. (51 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Julia Cameron, an award-winning writer and director. In addition to her many films, television episodes, plays, and articles in publications such as Rolling Stone, Vogue, and the New York Times, Julia is the author of the bestselling book The Artist’s Way. With Sounds True, she has recorded the audio teaching program Reflections on the Artist's Way and, along with Natalie Goldberg, The Writing Life. In this episode, Tami speaks with Julia about how to break through creative blocks, how to deal with the internal censor that we all have when we write, and why creativity requires that we take risks. (50 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Bruce Tift. Bruce has been a psychotherapist since 1979, a practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism for more than 35 years, and has taught at Naropa University for 25 years. He is the author of the new Sounds True audio learning course Already Free: Buddhism Meets Psychotherapy on the Path of Liberation. In this episode, Tami speaks with Bruce about his perspectives on therapy as informed by Buddhist insights—examining how our "neurotic organization" exists to insulate us from legitimate suffering, why much of our growth comes from acting in ways that are counter-instinctual, and what it might mean to practice psychotherapy with the view that there is no problem we actually need to solve. (66 minutes)