Sounds True: Producer's Pick

We’ve heard that everything we need is in the present moment—yet as Scottish-born teacher Bodhipaksa says, the fact is that the present moment often feels unsatisfactory and incomplete, prompting us to look to the past and the future for completion. Why is that, and can we change our experience of presence? In this selection from the audio program The Wisdom of the Breath, chosen by Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute, Bodhipaksa applies his personal insight, contemporary science, and a grounded understanding of Buddhism to this question—revealing a deeper understanding of what it takes to fully savor the present moment in all its beauty, with complete acceptance.

When we face times of intense loneliness, it often feels like we have forgotten how to reach out and connect to others. Dr. Judith Orloff has found that a deep sense of loneliness may not just mean we’re experiencing disconnection from others, but that we are in a state of separation from some essential part of ourselves. Sounds True producer Randy Roark has selected this excerpt from the audio program Emotional Freedom Practices: How to Transform Difficult Emotions into Positive Energy as an example of Dr. Orloff’s most profound insights on the inner world of our emotions and how we can navigate this terrain to find greater happiness and peace.

Dr. Mark Hyman has found that many of us do not even know what we’re stressed about, because a stressed lifestyle has become the norm in the modern world. To begin to experience UltraCalm—which Dr. Hyman defines as a state of reduced physical, emotional, and mental stress and anxiety—we have to first realize that we are stressed by identifying the symptoms of stress in our bodies and minds. In this excerpt from his audio program UltraCalm, chosen by Sounds True producer Randy Roark, Dr. Hyman offers a self-assessment practice to help us identify the causes and effects of the stressors in our lives, so we may use simple daily practices that can return us to our natural state of physical and mental health.

“I have the greatest respect for Ani Pema’s teachings,” says Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute, “and I was especially interested in the material on When Pain Is the Doorway, because Pema herself had chosen it as representing the current focus of her teaching.” In this audio clip, Pema shares the story of a soldier with PTSD who learned to include and embrace his trauma, and how that trauma eventually became a teacher rather than something to escape. The lesson for all of us is that we can turn towards even the most difficult experiences in our lives—and that these experiences can be the doorway to our awakening.

Sometimes our path of healing takes us to places we could never imagine. For author Terry Tempest Williams, the grief of losing her brother on 9/11 took her to Italy to study the ancient art of mosaic—an art where something beautiful is made out of pieces of broken glass. Then, surprising even herself, she found herself traveling to Rwanda—the site of some of history’s worst genocides—to help create a memorial for those who died. In this selection from her audio program Finding Beauty in a Broken World, chosen by Sounds True producer Randy Roark, Williams shares her discovery that sometimes the only way to get past our own grief to bear witness and be present with another’s—and that in the crucible of our shared suffering, a new life is formed, one strong enough to take us to the unexpected joys that are awaiting us on the other side of sorrow.

Since human experience occurs in the brain, explains Dr. Rick Hanson, the source of suffering can also be traced to certain processes in the brain. In “The Causes of Suffering,” Dr. Hanson identifies six engines that drive suffering—even though these patterns were originally established to boost our chances of survival. Through practices like meditation, we can learn to understand the conditioning of our minds and strengthen behaviors and attitudes that support our success.

With her background in cultural anthropology and comparative religion, Angeles Arrien is a teacher with a wide-ranging knowledge of many traditions and how they approach the subject of gratitude. But as Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute says, “The most important thing about Angeles is her own deep commitment to the practice of gratitude. Her kindness, patience, and generosity mark her as a teacher who walks her talk.” In this selection from her audio program Gratitude, Angeles shares how we can identify the states of ingratitude—including envy, comparison, and narcissism—that keep us from being present to the blessings in our lives, and what simple practices can help overcome them.

Sounds True producer Randy Roark says, “There’s no area of interest more important to me these days than what is known in psychology as the shadow.” Our shadow is understood as the unacknowledged part of us that influences our decisions, undermines our efforts to change, and keeps us repeating the same patterns again and again. Yet if the shadow is by it’s nature everything we cannot see about ourselves, what can we do about it? In this excerpt from the audio program Knowing Your Shadow, Dr. Robert Augustus Masters explains his understanding of the shadow, and how we can actually work towards the seemingly paradoxical goal of reclaiming it in order to become wholly and consciously who we are.

When Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute recorded the audio course Your Money or Your Life with Vicki Robin in her home, he had the opportunity to see a teacher who lives her teachings. As Mitchell says, “Vicki’s choices—from the car she drives to the food she eats—serve as an example of knowing what we value can change the way we live. She doesn’t promise easy wealth or abundance that comes from wishing. Instead, she guides us to see clearly how we interact with money, helping us craft a healthy attitude towards finances so that we can begin to create the life we want with the money we already have.” In this selection, Vicki examines the deeper happiness that comes from making wise choices about how we choose to spend our life energy.

In her private practice, energy healer Cyndi Dale has made an astonishing discovery—up to 80 percent of the complaints that people come into the office with are not really their own, but are issues they have absorbed from those around them. She’s found that we unconsciously internalize many issues from our environment, including thoughts, feelings, financial issues, illnesses, allergies, and even addictions. In this excerpt from her audio program Energy Clearing, selected by Sounds True producer Randy Roark, Cyndi explains that energetic boundaries are meant to both protect us from harmful influences and invite positive ones, and reveals her key principles for maintaining our boundaries to enhance our emotional, physical, and spiritual health.

Eckhart Tolle’s audio program Meditation: Practicing Presence in Every Moment of Your Life begins with a warning. Eckhart says he rarely teaches meditation because he sees that the practice often becomes an end in itself, and sometimes doesn’t lead to further growth. In this excerpt, selected by Sounds True producer Randy Roark, Eckhart describes how meditation can be used as a model for the way we live in every moment of our lives, not something that we reserve for the time we spend on the cushion. He then offers practical ways that we can use what we learn in meditation to embrace what happens in each moment with complete acceptance—because if that isn’t why we meditate, then we may have missed the point.

Not many Sounds True authors have a secret identity, but there’s a reason that physicist Fred Alan Wolf also goes by the superheroic name of Dr. Quantum. “I’ve worked with Fred on several occasions,” says Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute, “and he never fails to simultaneously entertain me, educate me, and completely blow my mind.” Perhaps more than any other author, Fred Alan Wolf has a nearly superhuman ability to translate the weird and wonderful intricacies of quantum physics to laypersons, along with insights about how this science can impact our lives. In this selection from Dr. Quantum Presents: Do-it-Yourself Time Travel, he shows us why time is stranger than we realize—and how we can use that knowledge to free ourselves from the limits of linear time.

As Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute says, “Sally Kempton has a gift for articulating esoteric concepts in a language that is specific, grounded, and engaging.” In this week’s Producer’s Pick from the audio program Shakti Meditations: Guided Practices to Invoke the Goddesses of Yoga, she explores the many ways we can choose to relate to deities, including as helping powers within ourselves or as external forms of light and consciousness. She then leads you on a brief practice to connect you to the power of the divine feminine.

“One of my fondest memories of working in the studio,” say Sounds True producer Randy Roark, “was during this recording with Sharon Salzberg. We ended up finishing one of her other projects ahead of schedule. So I told Sharon that we could either take a well-earned day off, or we could use the day to record her favorite guided meditations. What emerged from that impromptu recording was a beautiful meditation retreat with Sharon that became one of my favorite audios from Sounds True. We called the program Guided Meditations for Love and Wisdom. The excerpt I’ve chosen today is a guided meditation on compassion—something that nobody does better than Sharon Salzberg.”

Karma is one of the most recognized concepts from Buddhism, yet is also perhaps the most misunderstood teaching for Western audiences. When Sounds True recorded the audio program Karma: Finding Freedom in This Moment, the goal was to have Pema Chödrön present the Western concept of karma so her teacher, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, could shed light on the meaning of the Buddha’s original teaching. As Sounds True producer Stephen Lessard says, “These two remarkable teachers work in concert to break down the complex topic of karma into wisdom that is both understandable and practical. I chose this selection because it provides a wonderful definition of karma, and reveals the importance of viewing our actions in terms of the karma they produce.”