Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Tami Simon speaks with Nicki Scully, an author, healer, and teacher. She has been teaching shamanic arts and the Egyptian mysteries since 1983 and is the author of several books, including the Sounds True audio learning program Becoming an Oracle: Connecting to the Divine Source for Information and Healing. Nicki discusses her role in which she facilitates people engaging with shamanic journeys, or "oracular journeys." Visit http://becominganoracle.com/ (52 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Michael Beckwith, a humanitarian, peace activist, and founder and spiritual director of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. He is the author of the Sounds True audio learning program Life Visioning: A Step-by-Step Process for Realizing Your Highest Potential. Here Michael Beckwith shares the story of his own spiritual awakening and the discovery of what he calls “eternal truth.” (51 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Sharon Salzberg, one of America's leading meditation teachers, about some of the insights she has had in her nearly four decades of practice. Sharon is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and is the author of many books, including The Kindness Handbook, as well as several Sounds True audio learning programs, including Guided Meditations for Love and Wisdom. (48 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, poet, peace activist, and the author of over 100 books and numerous Sounds True learning programs, including The Art of Mindful Living and Living Without Stress or Fear. In this interview, Thich Nhat Hanh talks about his experience as a young monk, the engaged Buddhist movement, and the core of the Buddhist teachings: liberation through mindfulness. (45 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Tara Brach, an author, clinical pychologist, and founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (District of Columbia). She's the author of the Sounds True audio learning program Radical Self-Acceptance: A Buddhist Guide to Freeing Yourself from Shame and Meditations for Emotional Healing. Tami and Tara discuss radical acceptance in the face of difficult emotions. (54 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Jack Kornfield, the author of The Wise Heart and one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Kornfield reflects on four decades of personal meditation practice and how this has informed how he works with students. He also explores how Buddhist insights can help us during challenging times, whether or not it is possible or not to be liberated even in spite of our neurosis, and what he means by "the crystal of liberation." (48 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Linda Howe, founder and creator of the Center for Akashic Studies and author of How to Read the Akashic Records. They discuss her experiences accessing what she calls "the records," a dimension of consciousness that holds the vibrational archive of every soul in its journey. By exploring the records, we learn who we are, to what we connect, and how we can enter into a conscious relationship with our own soul. (51 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Parker J. Palmer, author of the bestseller The Courage to Teach and Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, as well as being the founder of  the Center for Courage and Renewal. They discuss Parker’s perspectives about what he calls “an undivided life: seeking wholeness in ourselves, our work, and our world.” (79 minutes)

Tami Simon speaks with Geneen Roth, author of the best-seller Feeding the Hungry Heart and the Sounds True audio learning course When Food Is Food and Love Is Love. We discuss the spiritual lessons which resulted from Geneen’s financial losses with disgraced investment advisor Bernie Madoff, and how this experience caused her to re-examine many of her long-held beliefs about money, loss, and the preciousness of this moment. (67 minutes)

Tami Simon interviews leading futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard who explains that we are currently in a time where the "thinking field of humanity"—what Teilard de Chardin called the noosphere—is in the process of opening its eyes. Or in other words that the process of evolution is becoming conscious of itself... (43 minutes)

Tami Simon interviews scientist Carl Johan Calleman, PhD about his unique take on the significance of the Mayan Calendar. He shares with us some of the keystones of his view, including the 9 galactic underworlds and the all-important tree of life. (37 minutes)

Tami Simon interviews journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, the author of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, in an exploration of the various views on the meaning of 2012 and examine their validity. By doing so we dive into the broad array of different perspectives, held across the world, on the importance of this quickly approaching date. (49 minutes)

Tami Simon interviews long-time social change agent and the co-author of Spiritual Politics, Corinne McLaughlin. Corinne explains the coming changes of 2012 in terms of their economic, political, and spiritual significance. She describes the unfolding of a higher evolutionary plan, and the growth in socially responsible businesses and non-adversarial, transpartisan politics. (49 minutes)

Tami Simon interviews world-renowned systems theorist, Dr. Ervin Laszlo. He uses the principles of systems theory as a dynamic framework for understanding the coming changes we face as we approach the year 2012. Find out why dramatic shifts, called tipping points, in Earth’s living system are becoming more and more likely each day. (43 minutes)

Tami Simon and Jean Houston discuss the nature of time and change in relation to 2012, a date that Houston finds humorous, yet important. She sees this time as a critical juncture point for humanity, which she calls "jump time," and explains that throughout human history we have dealt with many such times, but that this one may have the greatest importance of all. (32 minutes)