1 Giant Mind Podcast with Jonni Pollard

Has meditation been ruined by the mainstream? Alida Brandenburg, a daring brand strategist and former Director of Social Media at Refinery29, talks about the commodification of the wellness world. This is an increasingly relevant topic and Jonni delivers a response that trades the cynicism for an outlook of grace and personal responsibility.

Jesse Israel, founder of The Big Quiet and a certified meditation teacher with 1 Giant Mind, asks: Can you teach meditation even if you struggle with stress and anxiety yourself? Jonni explains that meditation teachers don't need to be perfected humans, because the role is not to sell perfection but to teach an elegant process of self-discovery.

Alida, a digital strategist and the daughter of a Zen Buddhist priest, inquires about how to live a life where we're not attached to results but also still be someone who is ambitious and seeks to excel in their life, studies, and career. Does meditation inherently make us passive, or can it help us be passionate, dedicated, and even more engaged with the world around us?

How do we truly heal and recover after a period of self-loathing and self-harm? Aloynka, a Russian born journalist and television personality now living in the US shares her challenges as she recovers from a life-threatening eating disorder. The deepest truth emerges in the end and results in one of the most powerful and insightful 1 Giant Mind podcasts to date.

Alida Brandenburg (digital brand strategist, of a Zen Buddhist household) asks: in times of anxiety or depression, how can one still prioritize a daily meditation practice? We examine the way that personal goal-setting and resources such as friends, family, and even certified professionals, can give us the capability to keep our practice in difficult moments.

Can we change our thoughts with thought alone? Caroline asks Jonni what role meditation plays in shaping how and what we think. In this episode we consider the problems of over-identifying with the "thinking mind" and we explore how meditation leads to a deep form of human intelligence.

Leslie Hoffman (president of New York's Open Center) asks Jonni why we can't stop the chatter in our heads.

How do we remain positive and engaged when we're around friends or colleagues who tend to rant or complain? Olivia is a Canadian lawyer who asks Jonni for advice on how she can maintain her cool and not become affected by people who tend to be negative. In the conversation, Jonni uncovers the truth of the responsibility we all have to each other and ourselves in these situations.

"If I'm not stressed and I'm a generally happy person, why should I meditate?" Nick DiMattina, a recent graduate of the 1 Giant Mind Teacher Training Academy and now meditation teacher explains to Jonni that he sometimes gets this response from people. As Jonni explores the topic with Nick, a deeper insight about why we meditate emerges.

The mind thinks and the body feels. But does the mind tell the body what to feel? This week's question is from Caroline Aulis, who prompts a deep exploration of maladaptation.

Our guest Caroline, a meditation teacher in training asks: How do we use the intellect in conjunction with meditation? Jonni first makes the important distinction between the intellect and intelligence and this provides a foundation for the discussion. The discussion makes it way through our relationship to our thinking and how meditation is an extraordinary tool that causes us to access our intuition, creativity, and sense of ourselves. Jonni explains how that after a regular practice we start to ween ourselves off the addiction of our intellect and the need to control everything.

When does sharing vulnerability cross a line and become exploitative? The most impactful leaders have overcome personal strife, and Jesse Israel is no exception. Once at odds with bouts of anxiety and depression, today Jesse is an influential community leader. Co-founder Cantora Records, signing bands such as MGMT and Francis and the Lights, Jesse now leads some of the world's most innovative mass meditations, through The Big Quiet & Medi Club. And certified as a meditation teacher by 1 Giant Mind, he asks: are there boundaries to how far a teacher should go in revealing their personal vulnerabilities, while teaching and leading others? The discussion opens up a candid look at the growing trend in the wellness world to be profoundly open and vocal about one's vulnerabilities. How much is too much? As a veteran teacher and community leader himself, Jonni provides thoughtful insight on how one can lead and teach in the most human way, without losing sight of boundary and student need. Taking the subject further, Jonni poses examples in which sharing vulnerability with students can be appropriate and effective. "Vulnerability is not necessarily power, but instead a gateway to it." In response, Jesse talks about his own experiences and relates what a minister once told him: "share from the scar, not the wound." Speak about your vulnerability from a place from empowerment, not of victimhood. This is a great episode for anyone trying to find that balance, as a teacher or as leader of any kind.

Why do so many of us get love wrong and struggle to find self-love? Lesley-Anne, a former psychotherapist now Vedic meditation teacher and counselor, and mother to Jonni Pollard, poses this important question. Jonni presents a new definition of love that bucks the common conception that love arrives "only when someone else loves you." Rather, love is our most fundamental nature. It's the spontaneous way we respond to life and treat others, so long as we're not overwhelmed by fear. Jonni suggests that love is a self-referenced phenomenon. Though it can elude us, it occurs within. In doubting our lovability, we disconnect from ourselves, and then from others. The conversation comes to a beautiful ending as Lesley-Anne shares her experience with clients and patients who integrate meditation into their lives, and how this is the backbone of self-love.

Caroline, a meditation practitioner, asks Jonni about the 1 Giant Mind Teacher Training Program and how she can incorporate teaching meditation into the coaching practice that she is developing. Her sincere inquiry about how to do this the right way starts a beautiful conversation around leadership, the role of a teacher, and our desire to help others. This is a great podcast for anyone considering becoming a meditation teacher while continuing their own personal development. Since recording this episode, Caroline has enrolled as a student in 1 Giant Mind's Teacher Training Program.

What is the point of meditation and is there a "best" kind of meditation? Ameena, a practicing Sufi meditator of 20 years shares her experience as a student who was challenged by a teacher who didn't agree with her open-minded perspective on meditation. The story inspires Jonni to explain the 6 categories of mediation and how each stimulates specific functions of the mind. Jonni suggest that meditation, in all of its forms, are processes of increasing our awareness and that it's a modern misconception it is exclusively about stilling the mind. The conversation ultimately reveals 1 Giant Mind's inclusive and sequential model to understanding meditation.