Deep Transformation

Ep. 165 (Part 2 of 2) | Tami Simon, founder of the highly regarded multimedia publishing company Sounds True, covers a lot of inspiring ground in this heartening, lively, candid conversation. She tells the extraordinary story of how she came to devote herself to disseminating spiritual wisdom; about finding the edges and growing into them on her own path of awakening; the spiritual teachers she has encountered whose teachings have affected her the most; the wholeness of spiritual vision and psychological health; and discovering that, like all of us, spiritual leaders can be both luminous and in need of healing at the same time. Tami is an ardent torchbearer for the conscious business movement, explaining that business can be the way we give our gifts—that the endeavors of an inspired entrepreneur can be expressions of love and provide an incredible way of connecting with other people.

What is so striking throughout is the depth of Tami’s clarity about what matters in life and her unwavering commitment to acting with integrity. Tami has a remarkable ability to translate her spiritual insights and principles into action—as co-host Roger Walsh points out, she is a beautiful example of a karma yogic life, where being of service is the fuel, the inspiration, and the content of her life, as she continuously works towards furthering both her own spiritual awakening and the awakening of all. Tami offers a lovely, poetic rendering of the effects of living a true and meaningful life: “The litmus test is always somebody’s wake, the ripples of their life, how they’ve impacted others . . . the beauty, love, and justice that live in the wake of a person.” A genuinely engaging, illuminating, memorable conversation. Recorded October 17, 2024.

“What I feel I owe people is the truth.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• What are some of the people and ideas that really stand out to Tami? (01:14)
• Every podcast guest has given a gift (02:01)
• Learning somatic practices from Reggie Ray (03:30)
• Meeting Adyashanti, the ‘goodest’ human Tami ever met (04:31)
• A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach: the possibilities for expanding knowledge in the spiritual universe (06:10)
• Coming into the notion of original voice with Clarissa Pinkola Estes; Caroline Myss’ illumination of shadow work (06:45)
• Discovering that spiritual teachers can be luminous and also have parts that are harmful and need healing (09:52)
• How spiritual vision & psychological health seamlessly come together in the Diamond Approach (13:38)
• Psychotherapist Bruce Tift’s idea that we alternate between spiritual vision and the developmental work of psychology (16:00)
• The litmus test is what lives in the wake of a person (17:13)
• Tami’s practice: asking what is needed now, moment by moment (19:26)
• Paying attention to what is being said to us by others and our environment (23:58)
• The Integral movement: we benefit from having it in our consciousness (25:43)
• The Internal Family Systems (IFS) movement: the notion of being self-led in any given moment: compassionate, courageous, curious, calm (27:14)
• Conscious business: the movement for business to be a crucible for personal growth (29:05) 
• What were the darkest times for Sounds True? (33:40)
• What does it mean to be true? That’s what matters (37:22)

• Tami Simon, founder of multimedia publishing company Sounds True
• Tami’s podcast, Insights at the Edge
• Tami Simon, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love (audio program)
• Reggie Ray, The Awakening Body: Somatic Meditation for Discovering Our Deepest Life*, The Practice of Pure Awareness: Somatic Meditation for Awakening the Sacred*
• Adyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate Sangha
• A. H. Almaas, founder of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series
• Clarissa Pinkola Estés, About Original and Wild Voice in Speaking and Writing 
• Caroline Myss, The Shadow Course, Part 2, with Andrew Harvey and Tami Simon
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home*
• Bruce Tift, Buddhist psychotherapist, Already Free*
• Sally Kempton, Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience*
• What is the Integral Movement? (Integral Life YouTube video)
• Richard Schwartz, The Founder of Internal Family Systems

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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In 1985, at 22 years of age, Tami Simon founded Sounds True, a multi-media company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation which creates equitable access to Sounds True’s programs and the Inner MBA, an immersion learning program that teaches the inner skills of conscious business. Tami hosts a popular weekly podcast called “Insights at the Edge,” where she interviews Sounds True authors, delving deeply into their discoveries and personal experiences. With Sounds True, she has released the audio program “Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life, and Love.” Tami lives with her wife of twenty-three years, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Raspberry and Bula, in British Columbia.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 164 (Part 1 of 2) | Tami Simon, founder of the highly regarded multimedia publishing company Sounds True, covers a lot of inspiring ground in this heartening, lively, candid conversation. She tells the extraordinary story of how she came to devote herself to disseminating spiritual wisdom; about finding the edges and growing into them on her own path of awakening; the spiritual teachers she has encountered whose teachings have affected her the most; the wholeness of spiritual vision and psychological health; and discovering that, like all of us, spiritual leaders can be both luminous and in need of healing at the same time. Tami is an ardent torchbearer for the conscious business movement, explaining that business can be the way we give our gifts—that the endeavors of an inspired entrepreneur can be expressions of love and provide an incredible way of connecting with other people.

What is so striking throughout is the depth of Tami’s clarity about what matters in life and her unwavering commitment to acting with integrity. Tami has a remarkable ability to translate her spiritual insights and principles into action—as co-host Roger Walsh points out, she is a beautiful example of a karma yogic life, where being of service is the fuel, the inspiration, and the content of her life, as she continuously works towards furthering both her own spiritual awakening and the awakening of all. Tami offers a lovely, poetic rendering of the effects of living a true and meaningful life: “The litmus test is always somebody’s wake, the ripples of their life, how they’ve impacted others . . . the beauty, love, and justice that live in the wake of a person.” A genuinely engaging, illuminating, memorable conversation. Recorded October 17, 2024.

“If our spiritual vision doesn’t translate into treating ourselves and other people, and the environment and the world well, and building a just society, I’m not interested in it.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Introducing founder of the multimedia publishing company Sounds True, author, entrepreneur & popular podcast host, Tami Simon (00:53)
• What is the spirit or ideal animating Tami’s venture? Broadcast awakening! (02:20)
• Tami was given 3 words right at the start: disseminate spiritual wisdom (03:47)
• The origin of Sounds True: synchronicities, altered state experience, and the concept of transformational economy (05:30)
• How Vipassana retreats changed Tami (10:10)
• Tami wanted to understand Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory in her body, in her bones (12:24)
• Meditation felt like a homecoming, a sense of belonging as never before: this is how it feels to feel okay (15:03)
• Sounds True has been Tami’s “ground of growth,” an incredible crucible—because it’s so stressful (18:12)
• Heart opening experiences keep on going (20:20)
• Entrepreneurial endeavors as an expression of love (23:05)
• Service is inherent in the energy of the human heart (26:30)
• Integrity is critical: a grace field rooted in the central part of the body (30:29)
• Responding to the many problems of contemporary media and our media-ted lives (36:43)
• What is the most strategic and economic way I can serve? (41:20)
• Technological change and Tami’s willingness to adapt (42:33)

• Tami Simon, founder of multimedia publishing company Sounds True
• Tami’s podcast, Insights at the Edge
• Tami Simon, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love (audio program)
• Eugene Gendlin, Focusing*
• Karen Johnson, The Jeweled Path: A Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization*
• S.N. Goenka, Vipassana Meditation
• Tami’s interviews with Ken Wilber: Kosmic Consciousness
• Dr. Gunapala Dharmasiri, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist scholars, Fundamentals of Buddhist Ethics* 
• Melissa Bernstein, Entrepreneur in Residence of Sounds True’s The Inner MBA certification program
• Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
• Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
• The Social Dilemma (docudrama)
• The A.I. Dilemma (Aspen Institute YouTube video)

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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In 1985, at 22 years of age, Tami Simon founded Sounds True, a multi-media company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation which creates equitable access to Sounds True’s programs and the Inner MBA, an immersion learning program that teaches the inner skills of conscious business. Tami hosts a popular weekly podcast called “Insights at the Edge,” where she interviews Sounds True authors, delving deeply into their discoveries and personal experiences. With Sounds True, she has released the audio program “Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life, and Love.” Tami lives with her wife of twenty-three years, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Raspberry and Bula, in British Columbia.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 163 (Part 2 of 2) | In the sixth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali tells us that whereas pure consciousness is already perfect and does not change or grow, individual consciousness is an impressionable organism—alive, changing, moving, developing. Hameed explains that because the soul is impressionable, the impacts of experience are imprinted upon it, shaping our very consciousness. Ego structures form from repeated impressions, and although they are necessary for survival and to function in a relational world, these structures make it difficult to experience the living presence of our true nature. We experience the ego self instead, mistaking our self-image for what we truly are. When we loosen our conditioning, with help from practices like inquiry and bodywork, our soul becomes free of its imprint and our true potential arises naturally, along with greater compassion and other qualities of the soul. 

Simply and clearly, Hameed brings us to a deeper understanding of our soul, elucidating what holds us to our limited self-identity and describing what we have to look forward to as the myriad imprints hammered into us by experience become diaphanous, and new impressions no longer make indelible imprints. Hameed also delves into the different ways various traditions talk about the soul, the difference between ordinary knowledge and “knowing,” or gnosis, and tells us that sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment are an artificial dichotomy, sharing a story of a sudden enlightenment experience of his own. Once again, Hameed transmits an extraordinary amount of wisdom in a relatively short time, and we emerge brighter, hopeful, and inspired as to our boundless spiritual potential. Recorded November 14, 2024.

“When the soul becomes free of its original imprint, it becomes open to its inner potential – and inner potential is mostly spiritual potential.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Relaxing the tension in the soul and body is important: working with body armor (00:49)
• Mature impressionability: when the soul is more free, impacts don’t leave lasting imprints (03:16)
• When the soul becomes free of its original imprint, it opens to its inner potential (08:34)
• The enlightenment drive and our spiritual potential (11:41)
• Psychology and spirituality are not separate in our consciousness (13:51)
• The different ways different traditions and psychology talk about the soul (15:43)
• Unique particularity becomes very important in Zen: a flower is a flower (20:43)
• Gnosis: I know myself without reflection, without memory; I know what I am (23:13)
• Nonconceptual and transconceptual knowing (25:24)
• Sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation are an artificial dichotomy (28:21)
• What does gradual enlightenment mean? (30:51)
• Hameed relates an experience of “sudden enlightenment” (31:21)
• How the evolution of the universe relates to awakened consciousness (33:40)
• Roger’s acknowledgment of this conversation as uniquely impactful (36:48)

• A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
• Wilhelm Reich, Reichian therapy, Reich’s Segmental Armouring Theory (Energetics Institute) 
• Alexander Lowen, developer of Bioenergetic Analysis
• Stan Grof & Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy*
• Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being*
• Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy*
• Bruno Bettelheim, Freud and Man’s Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory*
• The Chittamatra or “Mind Only” School of Mahayana Buddhism
• The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
• Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
• Gnosis
• Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*

The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 162 (Part 1 of 2) | In the sixth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali tells us that whereas pure consciousness is already perfect and does not change or grow, individual consciousness is an impressionable organism—alive, changing, moving, developing. Hameed explains that because the soul is impressionable, the impacts of experience are imprinted upon it, shaping our very consciousness. Ego structures form from repeated impressions, and although they are necessary for survival and to function in a relational world, these structures make it difficult to experience the living presence of our true nature. We experience the ego self instead, mistaking our self-image for what we truly are. When we loosen our conditioning, with help from practices like inquiry and bodywork, our soul becomes free of its imprint and our true potential arises naturally, along with greater compassion and other qualities of the soul. 

Simply and clearly, Hameed brings us to a deeper understanding of our soul, elucidating what holds us to our limited self-identity and describing what we have to look forward to as the myriad imprints hammered into us by experience become diaphanous, and new impressions no longer make indelible imprints. Hameed also delves into the different ways various traditions talk about the soul, the difference between ordinary knowledge and “knowing,” or gnosis, and tells us that sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment are an artificial dichotomy, sharing a story of a sudden enlightenment experience of his own. Once again, Hameed transmits an extraordinary amount of wisdom in a relatively short time, and we emerge brighter, hopeful, and inspired as to our boundless spiritual potential. Recorded November 14, 2024.

“Self-image is not just in the mind, it actually shapes our consciousness.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Introducing the 6th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, beginning with chapter 7 of The Inner Journey Home: the impressionability of the soul (00:51)
• One of individual consciousness’ properties is impressionability; without it, there would be no learning (02:39)
• It’s not easy to experience the soul as a living presence because of its impressionability (05:43)
• The mind is just one of the faculties of the soul (08:10)
• Like a child, the soul retains affect, feelings, impacts; these traces make it possible for individual consciousness to be structured (10:19)
• Self-image, self-identity, come from more long lasting types of impressions (12:49)
• Without impressionability, there wouldn’t be trauma (13:23)
• Painful, pleasurable, or neutral, some impressions become patterns of behavior (13:47)
• When we study the soul, we can find the ego structures: rigid, unchanging, the impressions have made an indelible imprint (14:29)
• Self-image affects consciousness by limiting it: the medium of presence is hidden by the accumulation of impressions (17:35)
• Self-image actually shapes our consciousness: the soul mistakes itself for the self (23:32)
• The malleability of the soul is responsible for both conditioning and learning (25:31)
• How open we are depends on our early experience; also, different souls come in with different capacities (nature/nurture) (26:05)
• It is natural and necessary for the soul to develop into an ego (30:38)
• We resist changing our self-image without knowing we are resisting (33:59)
• The soul believes it is fighting for its life, when actually it is fighting for the life of the ego self (35:15) 
• Not everyone needs psychotherapy (37:50)
• The shift from struggling to maintain our ego structures to a state of basic trust (40:21)

• A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
• Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
• Wilhelm Reich, Reichian therapy, Reich’s Segmental Armouring Theory (Energetics Institute) 
• Alexander Lowen, developer of Bioenergetic Analysis
• Stan Grof & Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy*
• Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being*
• Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy*
• Bruno Bettelheim, Freud and Man’s Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory*
• The Chittamatra or “Mind Only” School of Mahayana Buddhism
• The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
• Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
• Gnosis
• Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*

The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

---

Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 161 (Part 2 of 2) | In this profoundly moving and inspiring conversation, GRIP Training Institute CEO, Kim Moore, and facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, Sr., also a GRIP graduate, educate us as to the power and magic of the GRIP prison movement, based on Jacques Verduin’s model: Leaving Prison Before You Get Out. This yearlong trauma healing and accountability program is unique in the degree of radical transformation it aims for—and delivers. It is about freeing minds, and as Kim points out, goes beyond the duality of teacher/student, inmate/not inmate, victim/offender to where everyone joins in a mutual journey of healing, transformation, and liberation.The program is so transformative that ripple effects from GRIP students can be felt throughout the prison, and GRIP graduates often struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out.

Kim and Fateen shine a bright light on the inestimable value of a caring, compassionate community, pointing out that deep personal transformation and taking responsibility doesn’t happen in isolation. They share illuminating stories of their own experiences, and the dedication and gladness they exude in this talk is itself impactful and inspiring. There is something in this conversation, maybe because it touches our deepest brokenness and then lifts it up and redeems it, that reaches right into one’s heart and infuses it with inspiration, hope, compassion, and love. Recorded November 21, 2024.

“Who have you left out of your heart? How can you expand your sphere of human concern?”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Roger acknowledges the power of GRIP’s processes (01:20)
• What are the most impactful processes that participants go through? (02:18)
• Transforming shame into remorse: you are not your crime (05:17)
• The importance of self-care for facilitators: what practices do Kim & Fateen do? (06:39)
• Reminding participants who they truly are: you can give love and you can receive love (10:36) 
• Moving beyond the duality of giver/receiver, victim/offender, teacher/student (12:31) 
• Transforming belief systems: You are not in prison because of what you did, but because you believed the thoughts that justified the actions you took (14:06) 
• A longing to hear a genuine apology (16:40)
• Opening your heart to every offender, no matter what they’ve done (18:25)
• The transformational power of this work: engendering hope, compassion, redemption, wisdom (21:22)
• GRIP graduates struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out (24:25)
• Can people accept that you are a changed, transformed individual? (25:03)
• The diversity of this program: everyone is welcome, everyone learns from everyone else (26:29)
• Meditation: stopping the violence with awareness (29:40)
• The wisdom that is born in these groups goes way beyond prison (32:56)
• If you would like to be part of the GRIP family (34:12)
• What is the vision for GRIP’s future? GRIP’s scaling strategy; connecting with incoming lifers from day one (35:15)

• Guiding Rage into Power program, the GRIP Training Institute (where you can watch a moving and impactful short video of a group in process)
• Jacques Verduin, founder of GRIP, Leaving Prison Before You Get Out: A Transformational Healing Journey for Incarcerated People to Learn How to Guide Their Rage Into Power (GRIP)
• john a. powell, director of The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, advancing groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality
• MC Hammer, Pray (Just to Make it Today), YouTube music video

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Kim Moore has spent more than two decades working to make the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community through her work as a community organizer on issues of affordable housing, healthcare, immigration, violence prevention, and criminal justice reform. She has dedicated the last eight years to The GRIP Training Institute, a restorative justice organization serving hundreds of incarcerated individuals across seven California prisons, where she serves as Executive Director, and the entirety of her career to advancing justice and building a Beloved Community. A strong believer in the principle, “The first revolution is internal,” Kim considers meditation and the Dharma the foundation of her work for justice in the community. Kim is also a Buddhist chaplain in the Theravada tradition, and holds degrees in anthropology from Stanford University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

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Fateen Jackson, Sr, is from Long Beach, California, and currently resides in Northern California. Fateen completed the GRIP program as a student while still in San Quentin, in 2013. After graduation, he went on to facilitate several groups while still inside. He performed a spoken word piece called the Apologetic Salute, at a TEDx event, which was held at San Quentin in 2016. The spoken word piece was dedicated to the people who have suffered violence at the hands of another person. Fateen regained his freedom in 2019 after former governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. He joined the GRIP staff the same year, and is now a Senior Facilitator as well as the Senior Facilitator Trainer/Coordinator for the GRIP organization. He goes inside several institutions to deliver the GRIP program and to train people in the work.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 160 (Part 1 of 2) | In this profoundly moving and inspiring conversation, GRIP Training Institute CEO, Kim Moore, and facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, Sr., also a GRIP graduate, educate us as to the power and magic of the GRIP prison movement, based on Jacques Verduin’s model: Leaving Prison Before You Get Out. This yearlong trauma healing and accountability program is unique in the degree of radical transformation it aims for—and delivers. It is about freeing minds, and as Kim points out, goes beyond the duality of teacher/student, inmate/not inmate, victim/offender to where everyone joins in a mutual journey of healing, transformation, and liberation.The program is so transformative that ripple effects from GRIP students can be felt throughout the prison, and GRIP graduates often struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out.

Kim and Fateen shine a bright light on the inestimable value of a caring, compassionate community, pointing out that deep personal transformation and taking responsibility doesn’t happen in isolation. They share illuminating stories of their own experiences, and the dedication and gladness they exude in this talk is itself impactful and inspiring. There is something in this conversation, maybe because it touches our deepest brokenness and then lifts it up and redeems it, that reaches right into one’s heart and infuses it with inspiration, hope, compassion, and love. Recorded November 21, 2024.

“The wisdom that is born in these groups goes way beyond prison.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Introducing GRIP CEO Kim Moore, facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, and the remarkable program Guiding Rage into Power (01:15)
• How did Kim come to have a life purpose of facilitating transformation? (04:06)
• Moving out of privilege into direct relationship with the realities of criminal justice (06:25)
• Fateen’s story and how GRIP allowed him to source the trauma that led to prison and transform it (09:19)
• The morning Fateen was released and the ripple effects of GRIP (16:03)
• 4 foundations of GRIP: cultivating mindfulness, developing emotional intelligence, doing no harm, understanding victim & survivor impact (19:39)
• The importance of building a safe container and building trust (20:52)
• GRIP assignments: the unfinished business letter, apology to the victims letter, and more (22:18)
• The emotional/energetic arc the group goes through, ending with a deep sense of empathy for the survivors or victims (25:33)
• What is the power and the magic of GRIP? 1) instruction, 2) practice/tools, 3) processing (28:36)
• The incredible power of a healing community (30:07)
• Leaving prison mentally, emotionally, spiritually can happen even while still in prison, without hope of release (30:55) 
• The healing itself is the reward—that’s where the freedom comes from (32:12) 
• How GRIP students affect the rest of the prison: flipping the culture of the yard (33:20)
• Becoming peacemakers: taking responsibility for your own healing doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens in community (34:39)
• What happens when you get out of prison? (36:22)
• Recidivism and Fateen’s story of looking for a job (37:46)
• GRIP’s reentry support for prisoners who are released (42:50)
• The extraordinarily low 1.7% recidivism rate of GRIP students (46:28)

• Guiding Rage into Power program, the GRIP Training Institute (where you can watch a moving and impactful short video of a group in process)
• Jacques Verduin, founder of GRIP, Leaving Prison Before You Get Out: A Transformational Healing Journey for Incarcerated People to Learn How to Guide Their Rage Into Power (GRIP)
• john a. powell, director of The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, advancing groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality
• MC Hammer, Pray (Just to Make it Today), YouTube music video

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Kim Moore has spent more than two decades working to make the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community through her work as a community organizer on issues of affordable housing, healthcare, immigration, violence prevention, and criminal justice reform. She has dedicated the last eight years to The GRIP Training Institute, a restorative justice organization serving hundreds of incarcerated individuals across seven California prisons, where she serves as Executive Director, and the entirety of her career to advancing justice and building a Beloved Community. A strong believer in the principle, “The first revolution is internal,” Kim considers meditation and the Dharma the foundation of her work for justice in the community. Kim is also a Buddhist chaplain in the Theravada tradition, and holds degrees in anthropology from Stanford University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

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Fateen Jackson, Sr, is from Long Beach, California, and currently resides in Northern California. Fateen completed the GRIP program as a student while still in San Quentin, in 2013. After graduation, he went on to facilitate several groups while still inside. He performed a spoken word piece called the Apologetic Salute, at a TEDx event, which was held at San Quentin in 2016. The spoken word piece was dedicated to the people who have suffered violence at the hands of another person. Fateen regained his freedom in 2019 after former governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. He joined the GRIP staff the same year, and is now a Senior Facilitator as well as the Senior Facilitator Trainer/Coordinator for the GRIP organization. He goes inside several institutions to deliver the GRIP program and to train people in the work.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 159 (Part 2 of 2) | In the 5th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali discusses the dynamic, ever changing, infinitely creative nature of the universe, and explains that our individual souls are in some sense a microcosm of this energy, with endless potentials and possibilities. We can experience creative dynamism, Hameed says, as “a sense of infinite energy, pulsing and throbbing, where we see the whole universe in continual emergence, every moment new.” Although the soul has boundless potential, we tend to take the limited approach that what we already know is the extent of things; the key to loosening the limits we place upon ourselves is to practice inquiry and remain open to all directions of possibilities. Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way, says Hameed. When we are in touch with our true nature, we share in the creativity of the divine. 

In this conversation, Hameed also talks about death: how we can be curious about it, how it is the ultimate in finality, one more possibility of reality, and that he doesn’t presume to know it, only that true nature is the source of time and does not die. Life can be experienced like a fountain rather than a flowing river, Hameed relates. And the more our ego structures are released, the more we can open to its beautiful array of endless possibilities. Another profoundly intriguing, subtly humorous, and absolutely enlightening conversation with Hameed Ali. Recorded October 10, 2024.

“We are thoughts in the mind of God, but God’s thoughts are not like human thoughts, they are creations.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Ordinary knowledge is a subset of basic knowledge, which is implicit in the beingness of what is manifesting; spirituality has to do with basic knowledge (00:59) 
• What Hameed would like to add to the theory of evolution (04:47)
• It is possible for the soul to know itself; nothing else we achieve in life will bring total fulfillment (07:44) 
• The logos is manifesting the potential of reality; part of this potential is for true nature to know itself through the organs of perception of the individual soul (10:06)
• The human being is designed to fill its purpose, but when you get into true nature, purpose doesn’t apply (12:08)
• Beyond Maslow’s motivation of self-transcendence: selfless service, transpersonal spontaneity, and the motivation to go beyond what we know (15:14)
• What about death? Nothing else has the finality of death (21:39)
• True nature doesn’t die; it is the source of time, pure timelessness (24:35)
• Dogen drops causality: ash is ash, wood is wood; life is life, death is death (26:48)
• Death is another possibility of reality (29:06)
• Experiencing life as a fountain rather than a flowing river (31:51)
• The more ego structures are released, the more we open to a beautiful array of possibilities & potentials (36:29)
• The ego is not false, it’s just limited (40:12)
• What the human being is free to actualize is to be open to all directions of possibilities (41:16)

• Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution
• Abraham Maslow called the two major kinds of motives deficiency-based and sufficiency-based 
• Roger Walsh & Lindsay Briner, The Farther Reaches of Motivation: Three Novel Motives from The World’s Contemplative Traditions
• The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde: Kunjed Gyalpo,* one of the original Dzogchen books, translated by Chogyal Namkai Norbu & Adriano Clemente,
• Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “Ash is ash, wood is wood.”
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead,* edited by Graham Coleman & Thupten Jinpa, translated by Gyurme Dorje, with introductory commentary by the Dalai Lama
• A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*

The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

---

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 158 (Part 1 of 2) | In the 5th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali discusses the dynamic, ever changing, infinitely creative nature of the universe, and explains that our individual souls are in some sense a microcosm of this energy, with endless potentials and possibilities. We can experience creative dynamism, Hameed says, as “a sense of infinite energy, pulsing and throbbing, where we see the whole universe in continual emergence, every moment new.” Although the soul has boundless potential, we tend to take the limited approach that what we already know is the extent of things; the key to loosening the limits we place upon ourselves is to practice inquiry and remain open to all directions of possibilities. Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way, says Hameed. When we are in touch with our true nature, we share in the creativity of the divine. 

In this conversation, Hameed also talks about death: how we can be curious about it, how it is the ultimate in finality, one more possibility of reality, and that he doesn’t presume to know it, only that true nature is the source of time and does not die. Life can be experienced like a fountain rather than a flowing river, Hameed relates. And the more our ego structures are released, the more we can open to its beautiful array of endless possibilities. Another profoundly intriguing, subtly humorous, and absolutely enlightening conversation with Hameed Ali. Recorded October 10, 2024.

“The soul is a living expression of the fundamental nature of reality. There’s no end to the potentiality.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Introducing the fifth A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series with Hameed Ali, focusing on the soul’s infinite potential and the creative dynamism of reality (01:07)
• The soul has boundless potential, but we tend to take the limited approach that what we know already is the extent of things (04:07)
• We don’t have to look for the boundless possibilities—we just need to be open (08:16)
• The main tool for fostering this openness is inquiry: what is presenting itself? (10:01)
• We all share the potential; we are all fundamentally connected (12:16)
• Reality, true nature, is in constant creative dynamism (13:34)
• The logos of the integration of spirituality and rational knowing can be applied to every field of knowledge (14:33)
• Imagine a community of scientists who are all realized spiritually, their inquiry powerfully infused by spiritual understanding (15:50)
• We are just at the beginning of understanding the physical world (18:22)
• Just because something is true doesn’t mean it’s complete (21:55)
• Einstein’s theory of relativity and the Riemannian manifold (26:03)
• The nondual is never separate from the dual (28:25)
• Distinguishing between the fundamental nature of pure awareness and the nature of the soul (30:27)
• The close connection between individual potential and creativity and universal dynamism and creativity (32:24)
• We can experience creative dynamism: a sense of infinite energy, where we see the universe in continual emergence, every moment new (34:14)
• Each one of us is a miniature logos (35:40)
• Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way (36:51)
• God’s thoughts are not like human thoughts—they are creations (39:17)

• A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
• Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
• Alfred North Whitehead, “Every moment is a creative advance into novelty.”
• Gödel’s incompleteness theorems
• Einstein’s theory of relativity
• Riemannian manifold
• Kashmir Shaivism
• Heraclitis, pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who had great influence on both ancient and modern Western philosophy

The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

---

Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

---

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 157 (Part 3 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

“I want to come back to how we can operationalize this in our own lives…and how it can inform ourselves as practitioners in our journey of realization.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Is there a process for stabilization of these realizations? (01:25) 
• 4 primary polarities across traditions: the goal, path, context, and practices (04:16)
• 2 types of practice: apophatic and cataphatic (07:06)
• Service is another profound approach to “not two” nonduality (09:49)
• Enlightened action: no self, being in the flow; reality serves itself through awakened beings (11:46)
• What is going on psychologically as people move into nondual experiences? (17:18)
• Like in developmental models, the subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives all evolve in nondual awareness (20:42)
• Invitation to explore the richness of different nondual traditions and the potential for a deeper cross-tradition dialogue (25:47)  
• Sean’s 10-week online course Varieties of Nonduality beginning in January 2025 (26:51)

• Advaita Vedanta
• Kashmir Shaivism
• Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
• David Loy, Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy*, Nonduality in Buddhism and Beyond*, see also Deep Transformation podcast Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva with David Loy
• Alan Watts, The Supreme Identity*
• Understanding the Subject-Object Relationship with Ken Wilber (short YouTube video)
• The 10 Ox Herding Pictures
• Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
• Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

Beginning January 2025

* Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep Transformation podcast listeners who sign up for his course! To take advantage of Sean’s offer, simply email him at [email protected], with the following coupon code in the subject line: NONDUALITY2024DT, and request one hundred dollars off the January to March Varieties of Nonduality course. Sean will then send you a PayPal invoice with the reduced rate of $395.

---

Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. has spent his life developing “metaintegral” approaches to the fields of ecology, mixed-methods research, psychology and consciousness studies, philosophy of science, holistic education, and post-capital models of measuring social impact. He has been a long time serious meditator and practitioner within several nondual traditions: Tibetan Buddhism, The Russian Orthodox Church (Christianity), A. H. Almaas’ The Diamond Approach, The Ceile De Celtic tradition, and the Hermetic tradition. He is the Founder and Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences in Encinitas, CA.

---

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 156 (Part 2 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

“Our nondual traditions are one of the best things people have created – ever!”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

• Science and the new relationship between subject and object (00:50) 
• 6 subject-object strategies that nondual traditions embrace (02:51)
• Roger’s acknowledgment of the enormous contribution Sean is making as the first comparative scholar to differentiate the varieties of nonduality (04:59)
• Provocative patterns in the history of nonduality and the mysterious flourishing of nondual traditions from around the 11th to the 14th century (09:28)
• Nondual texts that only emerged in the last 100 years have expanded our nondual horizons—and there’s a lot more to discover (13:08)
• The ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization (16:04)
• What are our nondual traditions going to look like in 1,000 years? (17:32)
• The concept of endless realizations and awakenings liberates us from needing to find the ultimate nondual realization (18:29)
• Dr. Jeffery Martin’s research: 32 fundamental positions on nonduality (20:29)
• Sequential realizations and why you might go back to a previous realization (21:43)
• What makes a global, comparative nondual analysis so worthwhile (26:04) 
• You have to become someone before you become no one; and now you can become everyone (27:48)
• Merging consciousness with another’s unique realization: all one, empty, while also distinct and unique (30:02)

• The Axial Age
• Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief: The Secret of Gospel of Thomas* 
• Meister Eckhart, Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
• Julian of Norwich, author of Revelations of Divine Love, a medieval book of Christian mystical devotions
• Marshall Davis, Experiencing God Directly: The Way of Christian Nonduality*
• Advaita Vedanta
• Adi Shankara, Vedic scholar
• Swami Gambhirananda, Eight Upanishads, with the Commentary of Sankaracarya, Vol. I*
• A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
• A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (also available on YouTube)
• Dr. Jeffery Martin, The Finders*
• Center for Consciousness Studies’ Science of Consciousness Conference
• Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy* 
• A. H. Almaas with Tami Simon, Endless Enlightenment: The View of Totality in the Diamond Approach
• Marc Gafni, Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment*
• Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
• Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
• Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

---

by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

Beginning January 2025

* Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep Transformation podcast listeners who sign up for his course! To take advantage of Sean’s offer, simply email him at [email protected], with the following coupon code in the subject line: NONDUALITY2024DT, and request one hundred dollars off the January to March Varieties of Nonduality course. Sean will then send you a PayPal invoice with the reduced rate of $395.

---

Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. has spent his life developing “metaintegral” approaches to the fields of ecology, mixed-methods research, psychology and consciousness studies, philosophy of science, holistic education, and post-capital models of measuring social impact. He has been a long time serious meditator and practitioner within several nondual traditions: Tibetan Buddhism, The Russian Orthodox Church (Christianity), A. H. Almaas’ The Diamond Approach, The Ceile De Celtic tradition, and the Hermetic tradition. He is the Founder and Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences in Encinitas, CA.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell