Sounds True: Producer's Pick

Kundalini is identified by traditions worldwide as a key to the most profoundly transformative experiences we can have—yet if we don’t know what’s going on or how to deal with it, a Kundalini awakening can be challenging and confusing. That’s what Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute learned when he recorded Awakening Kundalini with Dr. Lawrence Edwards. “His teaching helped me to give a name to processes I’d already begun to experience in my own body,” Mitchell says. “Because he was able to help me alleviate the fear that arises with such powerful movements of energy, this ended up being one of the most personally valuable programs I’ve recorded.” In this week’s episode, Dr. Edwards shares some of the many ways Kundalini can be experienced, and explains how it serves the larger purpose of our own ultimate freedom.

This week’s Producer’s Pick comes from the audio program The Fear and Anxiety Solution by Dr. Friedemann Schaub. Steve Lessard, a producer at Sounds True, joined Dr. Schaub in Seattle for this recording session and chose this selection after noticing how many people struggle with fear or anxiety. In this selection, Dr. Schaub discusses how fear and anxiety seem to intensify over time, why seemingly small things can set us off, and the role of the subconscious mind in this process. Dr. Schaub also explains how we can use fear and anxiety as an early warning system to better deal with our emotions.

In this week’s Producer’s Pick, we listen to the opening minutes from the audio program Transforming Trauma by authors Caroline Myss and James Finley. Mitchell Clute, a producer at Sounds True, chose this selection after editing the program, which was recorded before a live studio audience. In this selection, Caroline Myss introduces the idea of a profound alchemy between trauma and transformation. This view of trauma as an agent of spiritual transformation, she says, is unique to our times. Myss explains how the journey of healing and transformation is ultimately a mystical challenge and not a psychological one.

This week’s Producer’s Pick comes from Living Without Stress or Fear: Essential Teachings on the True Source of Happiness, an audio program with Nobel Peace Prize nominee, poet, and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Mitchell Clute, a producer at Sounds True, chose this week’s selection, noting the “directness and luminous clarity” that distinguish Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings. In this selection, Thich Nhat Hanh pinpoints our underlying fear of death, our lifelong efforts to avoid this fear, and the potential transformation and awakening that can arise from facing and understanding it. Through examining the inevitable reality and implications of death, we can ultimately experience complete liberation.

This week’s Producer’s Pick comes from David Whyte’s audio program When the Heart Breaks: A Journey Through Requited and Unrequited Love. With a poet’s insight into the landscape of the soul, Whyte offers a deeply moving exploration of how we experience love and loss and how, with resilience and time, we can rise again each time we are broken. Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute chose this selection after attending its live recording. He appreciated the bittersweet quality that Whyte captures and how Whyte explores beyond our personal experience to discover an “unrequited love affair with existence.”

The magic of Pema Chödrön—and what makes her such an exceptional teacher—is how she can take a subject that could be heady or conceptual and teach it in a way that makes it sink directly into the heart of her listener. Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute says that this selection from Pema’s audio program Coming Closer to Ourselves is a perfect example. Here Pema talks about Tibetan Buddhism’s five skandhas—the mental and physical characteristics that create and sustain the ego—and offers a simple lesson. If we start by being playfully curious, she teaches, we can find the gaps in our own preconceptions and thoughts—and by following that thread of curiosity, we can let go of our attachments and discover who we truly are.

Mario Martinez is the founder of Biocognitive Theory, which synthesizes insights from medicine, psychology, and spirituality to address questions about physical and psychological wellness. Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute, who recorded Mario’s audio course The Mind-Body Code, says, “I particularly love his approach to relationships, which is grounded in science and informed by the insights of spiritual practice.” In this excerpt, Mario speaks to how our relational wounds—such as shame or abandonment—can be healed by their antidotes. “Mario’s advice is simple but never simplistic,” says Mitchell. “The approach he outlines requires a lot from the listener but offers deep, authentic change in return for our efforts.”

We tend to fear the idea of a midlife crisis as the time when we have to give up the vigor of youth. But Dr. James Hollis teaches that what we give up when we enter the second half of life is actually our false identity. When recording the audio course Through the Dark Wood, Sounds True producer Randy Roark was struck by Dr. Hollis’ revelation that this shift can happen at any point in our lives when we reject the identity imposed on us by our families, peers, and culture. In this week’s episode, Dr. Hollis talks about the fundamental questions that emerge when the cracks begin to appear in our old identity—and we begin to question who we are, what we want, and what is the deeper meaning of the journey of our life.

In The Miracle of Trust, teachers Nouk Sanchez and the late Tomas Vieira draw upon their insights from A Course in Miracles to help listeners transcend the ego and express their unique love in the world—insights that have been informed and deepened through the hardships of their own relationship. Though Nouk and Tomas were no longer in an intimate relationship when this program was recorded, they share a daughter together and their obvious bond of love made them unique teaching partners. In this week’s episode, selected by Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute, Tomas talks about how their daughter’s struggles with eating disorders helped him to see the mistaken identities that we often project onto others.

For spiritual seekers of many generations, Alan Watts earned a reputation as one of the most accessible—and entertaining—interpreters of Eastern philosophy in the West. For this week’s Producer’s Pick, Sounds True producer Randy Roark offers a selection from You’re It!, a collection from the audio archives of Alan Watts. What Randy finds most refreshing about this material is that instead of trying to explain and direct our spiritual paths, Watts wants to dissolve our insistence on knowing who and what we are—leading us to a place of not-knowing. In this episode from You’re It!—a one-man “spiritual jam session” recorded before a live audience—the legendary “stand-up philosopher” deconstructs the goal of self-improvement.

Shamanic healer and teacher Nicki Scully leads expeditions to sacred spots around the globe. But her Sounds True audio program Becoming an Oracle shows that you don’t need a plane ticket to experience a powerful journey—travels of the spirit can illuminate, inspire, and transform us. Becoming an Oracle includes visits to figures from the Greek, Egyptian, Indian, Tibetan, Nordic, Native American, Hawaiian, Australian aboriginal, and African traditions and invites us to experience sacred knowledge in a variety of ways. Mitchell Clute, a producer at Sounds True, offers this selection from Nicki’s program, which he describes as one of the most unique projects he has been involved with in his twelve years at Sounds True.

Could the difficulties we experience at work be doorways into spiritual and emotional growth? What happens if we reframe the troubles of our daily lives as precious opportunities for awakening? In The Power of Radical Forgiveness, Colin Tipping describes a perspective—along with practices and techniques—to help us embrace our challenges rather than fighting or fleeing. This program has changed the way that Randy Roark, a producer at Sounds True, relates to the difficult moments in his life. Here he offers a selection from The Power of Radical Forgiveness that describes how the conflicts we experience at work can awaken us—and how we may in fact unconsciously create these difficulties for our own personal growth.

Having the ability to choose your spiritual path can be both exciting and daunting. How do you know which ones will be rewarding, engaging, and compatible with your learning style? Jonathan Ellerby has studied many traditions and how people operate within them, and has created a system for determining your unique spiritual personality type. Sounds True producer Mitchell Clute chose this selection from Jonathan’s audio learning course, Your Spiritual Personality: Finding the Path That’s Right for You. Here, Jonathan provides a map for figuring out which path to spirit might best resonate with your beliefs, experiences, and who you really are.

We often feel like the causes of anxiety in our life come from events in the world around us that we can’t control. Yet Dr. Mark Hyman has found that if we learn how to deal with our reactions effectively in the moment they occur, then we can take charge of the forces that create stress and anxiety in our lives. For this week’s Producer’s Pick, Sounds True producer Randy Roark has chosen an exercise from Dr. Hyman’s audio program UltraCalm: A Six-Step Plan to Reduce Stress and Eliminate Anxiety. With this simple practice, Dr. Hyman shows us how we can use the mind’s power to bring instant relief whenever we feel our stress rising, allowing us to shift from a state of anxiety into physical and mental relaxation.

Jack Kornfield has an exceptional gift for translating Eastern thought for Western audiences in a way that is accessible and relevant while remaining true to the original teachings. Sounds True producer Randy Rourke says that he was especially impressed with the way that Jack introduces newcomers to the central practices and timeless wisdom taught by the Buddha in the audio program Buddhism: A Beginner’s Guide to Inner Peace and Fulfillment. In this selection, Jack presents one of those core teachings known as The Eightfold Path, in which the Buddha taught how we can release ourselves from suffering and attain full liberation.