Mind & Life

Amy Cohen Varela – The Power of Undoing

12.02.2022 - By Mind & Life InstitutePlay

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In this episode, Wendy speaks with clinical psychologist and contemplative Amy Cohen Varela. In addition to her work as a psychoanalytic therapist, Amy is also the widow of Francisco Varela (co-founder of the Mind & Life Institute), and continues to share his vision and work through the offerings of Mind & Life Europe. This conversation covers many topics, including:

her dual interest in biology and literature;

the contemplative aspects of psychoanalysis;

skills learned from listening deeply to yourself and to others;

how she met Francisco Varela;

enaction, meaning, and participatory sense-making;

links between Francisco's ideas and Buddhist philosophy;

subjective and objective viewpoints, and how we oversimplify Buddhism and science in that dynamic;

how more than a decade with Francisco has changed her;

the power of curiosity and openness;

doing and undoing the self in psychoanalysis;

Francisco's reflections on the Chilean civil war, and implications for polarization;

the need for systems to be able to "undo" themselves;

and Mind & Life Europe's latest offerings.

Full show notes and resources

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