Sounds True: Producer's Pick

Of all the gifts that come with age, perhaps the greatest is this: as we grow older, we grow more fully into our true identity. This is one of the central lessons that Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés offers in her landmark audio series,The Dangerous Old Woman. As Sounds True’s publisher Tami Simon recorded the second volume, entitled The Power of the Crone, she was deeply moved by Dr. Estés’ gift for encouraging and blessing us to become the wholly unique, one-of-a-kind individual that we were meant to be. In this excerpt, Dr. Estés talks about the essential truths she learned from her eccentric Aunt Edna about the importance of being unreservedly, proudly, and beautifully who you are.

How long does it take to become spiritually awakened? Does it take hundreds of hours of dedicated meditation—or can it really happen in an instant? When Tami Simon recorded Adyashanti’s new audio learning course Falling into Grace, she asked him to shed light on this enduring puzzle of awakening. Adya’s response was more than she even hoped—the insights he offers about the nature of awakening are direct, lucid, and powerfully transformative. In this excerpt, Adyashanti talks about the essential moment in which we “die before we die,” when we completely and wholly surrender to the unknown.

In Western medicine, healing is about addressing problems in the body or mind. In Native American medicine, it is our story that we must learn to heal. This is the underlying premise of what Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona calls “Narrative Medicine.” When recording Dr. Mehl-Madrona’s new audio learning course The Spirit of Healing, Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute began to understand just how powerful this concept can be—and why story is an essential element in a complete understanding of healing. In this excerpt, Dr. Mehl-Madrona talks about the “relational self,” and how the stories we tell to our friends, colleagues, and family influence our ability to heal.

We often think of meditation as a technique, as something that we do. But what if meditation is as much about “undoing ourselves” as it is about “doing” a specific practice?  When editing Pema Chödrön’s new program Natural Awareness, producer Tami Simon was struck by the teaching on what Pema calls “non-meditation”—an approach to meditation which complements and completes the traditional practice of holding our attention on an object, a feeling, or even the breath. In this excerpt, Pema reveals how relaxing and letting go of all focus in meditation can open a doorway to becoming fully present.

If there is such a thing as enlightenment or liberation from ego, why are all the most advanced spiritual teachers so personally different from each other? This was a question that had been confusing Sounds True producer Randy Roark for some time—until Jack Kornfield provided the answer. In this excerpt from The Jewel of Liberation, a 10-CD set of Jack's favorite talks on liberation and the end of suffering, he explains how there are as many different forms of enlightenment as there are individuals—and that one of those forms is yours alone.

When does our experience of meditation start? Is it when we settle down on the cushion for the first time—or does meditation truly begin when we connect with a state of expansive consciousness that we may have only glimpsed before? When recording Sally Kempton's audio training program Beginning Meditation, Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute was surprised and moved by Sally's stories of her own early steps on the spiritual path. In this excerpt, Sally talks about her when she first tuned into the "meditation bandwidth"—a space of great clarity, connection, and sense of "the way life is supposed to be."

Much of our suffering comes from a persistent sense that we somehow "wrong," that we don't belong in this world. Meditation teacher and psychotherapist Dr. Tara Brach calls this the "Trance of Unworthiness," a state of mind that is reinforced by the overt and subtle conditioning we receive over the course of our lives. In this selection from her new Sounds True program Meditation and Psychotherapy, producer Stephen Lessard was particularly moved by Tara's beautiful and eloquent reminder that this trance is an illusion—one that we can awaken from at any moment.

Recording for a full week can be an exhausting experience for the crew and author alike, but Sounds True producer Randy Roark noticed something unusual happening when he worked with Dr. Ann Marie Chiasson—her energy levels actually increased as each hectic day went on. It was a good sign that the practices in Dr. Chiasson’s home study course Energy Healing: The Essentials of Self Care truly could help us boost our vitality and develop a greater connection with our energetic anatomy. In this excerpt, Dr. Chiasson introduces you to your three fundamental energy centers, and reveals a simple exercise for accessing the intuitive wisdom of your body.

When we find ourselves in challenging situations, remembering our highest intentions can provide stability and spare us from the painful consequences of behaving unconsciously. Randy Roark shares an inspirational excerpt from Jack Kornfield's audio program Guided Meditations for Difficult Times: A Lamp in the Darkness. This Producer’s Pick features "Your Highest Intention," an eight-minute guided practice for awakening to the shining beauty and potential of the human spirit.

What makes Sounds True's programs unique? Whether we record in our studio or at a live event, our producers have mastered the art of creating an experience that is as close as possible to a face-to-face encounter with a spiritual teacher. In this introduction to our new podcast series, "Producer's Pick," Tami Simon reveals the unique method we use to capture teachers speaking in their most natural, heartfelt style, and talks about that extraordinary moment when a recording session transforms into an authentic wisdom transmission.