For episode 265, Sharon speaks with and activist and author, Shanon Watts about her new book, Fired Up.

Shannon is the founder of Moms Demand Action, the largest grassroots group fighting gun violence in the U.S. Known as the ‘summoner of women’s audacity,’ she has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, a Forbes 50 over 50 Changemaker, and a Glamour Woman of the Year. Shannon is also an active board member of Emerge America, one of the nation’s leading organizations for recruiting and training women to run for office. Helping to redefine what’s possible when audacious women unite to drive change, she writes regularly about culture, politics and women’s issues for her Substack, Playing with Fire, and outlets like The Washington Post, Elle, Time, The 19th. Her new book, Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark Into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age, is coming out on June 17th, 2025. To learn more about Shannon’s work, or get a copy of Fired Up you can visit her website here.

In this conversation, Shannon and Sharon speak about:

• The impetus for Shannon’s book
• How to live a life on fire
• Shannon’s personal story
• Marrying our abilities, values & desires
• Being burned up by our anger
• Survivors of gun violence
• What holds us back
• Sharon’s fear of public speaking
• The firestarter triangle
• How we find our desires & aspirations
• Sharon and Sharon’s top values
• Living with a sense of what you care about
• How do we sustain our fire?
• Community Building
• Firestarter University

Shannon closes the conversation with a short reading from her book, Fired Up.

Join Sharon for her new online course, Intro to Meditation, starting June 21st. With meditation becoming increasingly popular, it can be hard to know where to begin. This four-day introductory course is designed to teach you the fundamentals of meditation. This course is ideal for beginners who want to establish a practice, as well as experienced students seeking a refresher course. Learn more: Intro to Meditation

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For episode 264, Soren Gordhamer returns to the Metta Hour for our ongoing Anxiety Series. 

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the fifth episode in the series. 

Soren Gordhamer is the founder and host of Wisdom 2.0, the premier conference exploring living with greater mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion in the modern age. He is also a Co-Founder and General Partner of Wisdom Ventures, along with Jack Kornfield and Yung Pueblo, which invests in companies creating a more just and compassionate world. Soren is also the founder of the Lineage Project in NYC, and also spent a year on the Global Walk for a Livable World, a three-and-a-half world walk. He and Jon Kabat-Zinn also co-hosted the Mitigation Retreat, which was a free 3-month course held every weekday offering meditations and teachings during Covid. 

Soren is the author of numerous books. His latest, The Essential: Discovering What Really Matters in an Age of Distraction, was released in May of 2025. 

In this episode, Sharon and Soren speak about:

• The context for cultural anxiety 
• The development of social media
• Becoming aware of our stories
• Do we need a new narrative?
• Redefining our worth
• Revamping our North Star
• Harnessing all our energies
• Dismantling our armor
• How shame drives mental health
• The point of vulnerability 
• Dalai Lama meeting formerly incarcerated
• Living from a place of lack
• Ram Dass’ somebody-ness
• Soren walking the world
• The role information plays in anxiety

Soren closes the conversation with a guided meditation. To get a copy of Soren’s new book, The Essential, visit his website right here.

Listen to Soren’s first appearance on the Metta House from 2020 right here.

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For episode 263 of the Metta Hour, we are continuing our Anxiety Series with a re-release of a conversation with Dr. Richie J. Davidson, PhD, that originally aired in 2023.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers, and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the fourth episode in the series. Richie Davidson is the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds. He is best known for his groundbreaking work studying emotion and the brain. A friend and confidante of the Dalai Lama, he is a highly sought-after expert and speaker, leading conversations on well-being on international stages such as the World Economic Forum, where he serves on the Global Council on Mental Health.

Join Richie’s upcoming course The Science of Flourishing: Well-Being Skills for Daily Life. Save 20% off the course using the coupon code METTA20.

In this episode, Sharon and Richie discuss:

• How Richie came to this path

• Meeting Daniel Goleman and Ram Dass

• How Danny Goleman brought Sharon to her first retreat

• The term “Mental Health”

• Innate Goodness

• Believing in Growth Mindset

• A vision of possibility for ourselves

• The role of systemic oppression in mental well-being

• Intergenerational Resilience

• Richie’s four pillars of well-being

• Personal mental hygiene

• “The road to Lhasa goes up and down” - Mingyur Rinpoche

• The value of community and teachers in mental health 

• Richie driving Mingyur Rinpoche

• Contemplative Neuroscience

• The Science of Flourishing Course

• Richie’s new book project

• The conversation closes with a guided meditation led by Richie.

To learn more about Riche’s work or his different books, you can visit his website and check out the Center for Healthy Minds.

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For episode 262, Sharon speaks with Scott Barry Kaufman as part of the Metta Hour Anxiety Series.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. 

Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., is a cognitive scientist and humanistic psychologist exploring the depths of human potential. He is founder of the Center for Human Potential and founder of Self-Actualization Coaching. Scott is the author of eleven books, including Rise Above, his forthcoming book set for release in 2025. Scott is also host of The Psychology Podcast— which has received over 30 million downloads. 

In this conversation, Sharon and Scott speak about:

• Having growth motivation

• Shifting the narrative of anxiety

• Scott’s childhood experiences

• Curiosity versus grit

• How to shift out of fear

• Creating space around anxiety

• Welcoming our beautiful monsters

• Broadening the Window of Tolerance

• Experiencing a sense of bothness

• Scott’s new book, Rise Above

• Victim versus empowerment mindset

• Learned Hopefulness

• Finding the light within

• Pros and cons of sensitivity

• The blessings of gratitude and awe

The episode closes with Scott leading a Tonglen practice.

You can learn more about Scott’s work right here and check out his new book, Rise Above, right here.

Check out the first two episodes in the Anxiety Podcast Series with Dr. Jud Brewer right here and Dr. Jenny Taitz right here.

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For episode 261, Dr. Jenny Taitz returns to the Metta Hour for our Anxiety Series. 

Jenny is a clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed her fellowship in psychology at Yale University School of Medicine and achieved board certifications in cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy. In addition to treating clients in her private therapy practice, LA CBT DBT, she is the author of How to Be Single and Happy and End Emotional Eating. Her new book, Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes, is now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats. 

Join Sharon for a free live conversation and interactive Q&A exploring the power of real connection—with ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Throughout the discussion, Sharon, Jackie Dobrinska, and Raghu Markus will weave in the wisdom of Ram Dass, reflecting on how intimacy can be a profound path to awakening. Join this free live call on April 7th: Click Here To Learn More

In this episode, Sharon and Jenny discuss:

• Jenny’s approach to anxiety
• Emotions are contagious
• The superpower of emotional regulation
• Cultivating an inner life
• Three-point check-in
• How to break-up with overthinking
• Getting grounding
• Cognitive diffusion
• Naming your inner critic
• Sitting with uncertainty
• Building a hope kit
• Box-breathing
• Lovingkindness 
• Doing good deeds
• Examining assumptions
• Surfing emotional urges

Sharon closes with a hypothetical situation about anxiety which Jenny advises on. You can learn more about Jenny’s work and get a copy of her book, Stress Resets, on her website.

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For episode 260, we are launching a new Anxiety Series on the Metta Hour. Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. To launch the series, Sharon sits down with Dr. Jud Brewer MD, Ph.D.

Dr, Jud is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large. Dr. Jud is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University, and a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In this episode, Sharon and Dr. Jud discuss:

• The neuroscientific definition of anxiety 
• Fear of the future
• How we simulate the future
• The difference between planning and worrying
• Anxious feeling versus thought
• Qualifiers for mental health diagnoses
• The research behind Mental Noting
• The antidote to anxiety is curiosity
• Exploring gratification to its end
• How much does worrying help?
• Thinking isn’t what changes behavior
• We’re wired for happiness
• Neuroscientists don’t talk about willpower
• Internet myths about anxiety
• Deprivation curiosity
• How misinformation fuels anxiety
• Collective anxiety
• Default Mode Network
• Five Finger Breathing
• Noticing our “oh no” moments
• Kindness and curiosity are best friends
• The Unwinding Anxiety App

The conversation closes with a short guided curiosity practice. You can learn more about Dr. Jud’s work and get a copy of his book, Unwinding Anxiety, right here and learn more about his Mindshift Recovery App right here.

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For episode 259, we bring you the second half of a two-part series on the Force of Kindness.

Listen to the first part of this series released earlier in February of 2025 right here.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has stated, “My true religion is kindness.” Although frequently denigrated in our culture as simplistic and weak, the quality of kindness has an inherent power to transform our worldview from one of fear and isolation to one rooted in clarity, courage and compassion in action. Kindness is the fuel that helps us truly “walk our talk” of love. Recording in December or 2024 by the Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion.

In this recording, Sharon teaches on:

• The aspiration of kindness
• Brahma Viharas as a basis for aspiration
• Lovingkindness as Connection
• Our Subway Car
• Reflection on Interconnection
• The definition of Compassion
• Sympathetic Joy
• Gratitude as the energizer
• Equanimity as the secret ingredient
• The eight vicissitudes
• The episode closes with Sharon taking some questions from the audience

Join Sharon’s upcoming ten-day wisdom course exploring Equanimity starting March 5th. Learn more right here.

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For episode 258, we bring you the first half of a two-part series on the Force of Kindness.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has stated, “My true religion is kindness.” Although frequently denigrated in our culture as simplistic and weak, the quality of kindness has an inherent power to transform our worldview from one of fear and isolation to one rooted in clarity, courage and compassion in action. Kindness is the fuel that helps us truly “walk our talk” of love. Recording in December or 2024 by the Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion.

In this recording, Sharon teaches on:

• The conditioning we face
• How our culture defines kindness
• The compassionate witness
• A ministry of presence
• Kindness as a motivational state
• The emergent properties of how we pay attention
• Who do we pay attention to?
• Practicing kindness for ourselves
• Guided meditation on how we speak to ourselves
• Punitive environments cannot sustain growth
• How resilience is developed 
• Sayadaw U Pandita’s trick question

Stay tuned for the second part of this series coming in February of 2025. Join Sharon’s upcoming ten-day wisdom course exploring Equanimity starting March 5th. Learn more right here.

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For episode 257 we are continuing the Fireside Chat Series on the Metta Hour with guest Christina Feldman.

This series features intimate conversations with longtime dharma teachers about the early days of their practice and the most impactful moments with their own teachers. Hosted by IMS Online, the seventh episode in this series. Christina is of the generation of dharma teachers that began teaching in the west in 1975 after spending some years in Asia studying and practice in both the Mahayana and Theravadan traditions. She is a co-founder of Gaia House and served as a guiding teacher of IMS beginning in its early days. She teaches Buddhist psychology in several university settings in Europe, and she teaches both traditional retreats and study programs. Christina is the author of Boundless Heart: The Buddha’s Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity and co-author of Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology, among other books. The conversation begins with a guided practice led by Christina.

In this conversation, Christina and Sharon discuss:

• How Christina accidentally ended up in India 
• First encountering Tibetan refugees
• Christina first learning meditation
• Dharma as an immersive experience
• Sharon’s first attempts to meditate
• Different techniques in Christina’s early practice
• Goenka’s impact on Sharon
• Secular Mindfulness
• Practice versus Path
• Definitions of Dukkha
• What Christina is teaching lately
• Bodhi College
• Sharon’s work with caregivers
• Equanimity as embodied understanding
• How Christina has developed as a teacher

The conversation segues to questions from the audience with a guided meditation from Christina. Sharon and Christina then take questions on specificity of intention, working with physical pain, emptiness as a practice, moving from knowing a truth to living a truth, and Christina’s yearly intentions.

You can learn more about Christina’s work right here. Learn more about IMS Online right here.

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For episode 256, we start off the year in podcasts with a conversation between Sharon and first-time guest Norma Ryuko Kawelokū Wong Roshi.

Norma is a thought partner, a strategist, and a teacher. She is the abbot of Anko-in, an independent branch temple of Daihonzan Chozen-ji and serves practice communities in Hawai‘i, across the continental U.S., and in Toronto, Canada. She is an 86th-generation Zen Master, having trained at Chozen-ji for over 40 years. Norma has decades of experience in organizing, policy, strategy, and politics in Hawaiʻi, particularly in the area of Native Hawaiian issues, serving in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and beyond. In the Fall of 2024, she released the book, “When No Things Work,” telling stories, weaving poetry, and offering wisdom at the intersections of strategy, politics, and spiritual activism.

In this conversation, Norma and Sharon speak about:

• How Norma became an activist
• Taking the long multi-generational view
• How to face discord by seeing the whole
• When Norms found spiritual teachings
• The inspiration for writing her book
• How Norma approaches faith
• Collective versus individual work
• Sharon getting humid in Maui
• Opening to joy and goodness
• Methods to interrupt habits
• The rebuild of the Lahaina fires on Maui

The episode closes with Norma leading a resonant breathing practice. You can learn more about Norma’s work right here.

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