In this episode, Belinda Siew Luan Khong shares her thoughts about the connections between secular mindfulness and its Buddhist roots. She describes the training that teachers and therapists need to skillfully introduce the Dharma to a Western audience, offering anecdotes from her own clinical work in teaching meditation and mindfulness to diverse individuals and groups. Listen in to learn about Dr. Khong’s work integrating existential and Buddhist psychology and find out what’s missing from our Western understanding of mindfulness.

Dr Belinda Siew Luan Khong practiced as an attorney before moving into psychology. She holds a doctorate in psychology from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia where her research focused on the role of responsibility in Buddhist Psychology, Heidegger’s philosophy and Daseinsanalysis (Existential psychotherapy). Currently, she practices as a psychologist. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the College of Counselling Psychologists. Australian Psychological Society. She also lectures at the Department of psychology, Macquarie University and is an adjunct fellow of the University. She counsels individuals and families on a range of mental health issues including personal growth, meditation and mindfulness.

Dr Khong serves on the editorial boards of The Humanistic Psychologist and Mindfulness journals. Her practice and research interests include integrating Western and Eastern approaches to psychology, health and well-being, and she has published extensively in these areas. She was the guest editor of several special issues on mindfulness, Buddhist psychology and Heidegger’s philosophy. In 2021, she guest edited a Special Double Issue on Revisiting and Re-Envisioning Mindfulness: Buddhist and Contemporary Perspectives for The Humanistic Psychologist (APA). Dr Khong conducts talks and training workshops on psychotherapy, meditation, and mindfulness in Australia and overseas. 

How do you respond to difficult feedback? Our first instinct is to defend ourselves or our organization, but that only amplifies the frustration of the person who feels wronged. So, how do we change the way we field criticism and complaints? What does it look like to offer a meaningful apology? And how do we work through the process of forgiving ourselves and others?

In this episode of Noble Mind, Dorothy Armstrong joins Kate and Alex to explain how she thinks about forgiveness and discuss the myth that forgiving requires us to forget. She describes how our amygdala is hijacked when we feel wronged and offers strategies for helping a person move out of fight-or-flight by giving them the space to tell their story and offering a meaningful apology. Listen in for Dorothy’s insight on the five As of responding to difficult feedback and learn how to reframe criticism as an opportunity to listen, learn and change.

Dorothy Armstrong serves as Professional Advisor to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and Director of DA Professional, an organization that supports individuals, teams and organizations to enhance communication, leadership and wellbeing. Dorothy regularly presents seminars on the power of apology and learning from feedback, and she leads a Complaints Coaching Program for people in public facing or leadership roles. Dorothy is also a Registered Nurse and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2010.

Would you like the opportunity to begin again in 2022?

Since ​Noble Mind began two years and 50 episodes ago, we have all faced significant challenges. Challenges that may have gotten in the way of achieving our goals. So, what does it look like to slow down, step back and begin again? And how might the skills we practice in meditation help us start fresh in the new year?

On this milestone episode, Noble Mind hosts Katherine King, PsyD, and Alex Gokce, MSW, sit down to explain how meditation gives us the opportunity to practice beginning again, describing how the intentionality, persistence and forgiveness we learn in meditation apply to other aspects of our lives. They challenge us to reflect on the underlying needs behind the goals we set for ourselves and recognize the many different strategies we might use to meet a given need. Listen in to understand why we tend to tamp down our awareness of our wants and learn how being attentive to your own needs helps you recognize and meet the needs of others.

Alex Gokce, MSW has a master’s degree in social work from Salem State University and an undergraduate degree in Comparative Government from Harvard University. He has led psychotherapy groups on topics including mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and mind-body approaches to pain management. He has co-led programs at the Boston Shambhala Center on the topics of trauma and self-compassion. His personal and professional interests center around the individual, societal and intergenerational impacts of trauma, as well as the sociocultural roots of interpersonal harm.

Katherine King, PsyD is a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at William James College. She was trained in evidence-based treatments within the Veterans’ Administration and has a private practice specializing in geropsychology. She is also a member of the Boston Shambhala Center Board of Directors, a vajrayana student of Buddhism, and has practiced meditation for over 20 years. Learn more about Kate at www.drkateking.com.

Buddhist yogi Drukpa Kunley is the embodiment of crazy wisdom. And while the stories of his behavior seem crazy to us, Drukpa Kunley’s outrageousness comes from a place of insight. From his point of view, we’re the crazy ones—trapped in our thoughts about reality and unable to see things as they actually are.

In this episode, Lama Liz Monson joins Kate and Alex to discuss the Tibetan roots of crazy wisdom. She introduces us to fifteenth-century Tibetan yogi Drukpa Kunley, describing his commitment to exposing religious hypocrisy and leveraging outrageous behavior to wake people up. Listen in to understand how crazy wisdom is misunderstood in the West and learn how the bawdy stories of Drukpa Kunley can lead us to a spiritual awakening.

Lama Liz Monson is the Spiritual Co-Director of the Natural Dharma Fellowship, a Dharma organization based in the New England area and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, a Buddhist meditation retreat center in Springfield, NH. She has been studying, practicing, and teaching Tibetan Buddhism in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages for over thirty years. Liz holds a PhD in the Study of Religion from Harvard University and an MFA in Writing and Poetry from Naropa University. She is interested in developing practical methods for incorporating the Buddhist teachings into everyday life through the practices of kindness and compassion, through direct engagement in the natural world, and by focusing on ways to recognize the natural state in every moment of our lives. Liz is the co-translator of More Than a Madman: The Divine Words of Drukpa Kunley (Kuensel Press, 2014), a translation of the autobiography of the Tibetan yogi, Drukpa Kunley, and author of Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley (Snowlion, 2021). Liz is currently writing a book on Tantra for Shambhala Publications. 

Noble Mind explores mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, and psychology. Get more details, join our list, and get show notes at www.noblemindpodcast.com.

When pain persists, over time it changes our brain. As pain-related neural connections grow stronger and stronger, ultimately our experience of pain worsens. But what if we could leverage mindfulness-based interventions to rewire our brains and reduce the impact of pain over time?

On this episode of Noble Mind, Dr. Melissa Day joins Kate and Alex to discuss the neurological roots of pain and explain how the meaning we make of pain impacts the amount of pain we feel. She describes how mindfulness retrains the brain to process pain differently and ‘turns the volume down’ on our suffering. Listen in for insight on the relationship between pain, self-efficacy, and acceptance. Listen in to hear about Dr. Day’s innovative program for treating chronic pain with the principles of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy.

Dr. Melissa Day completed her MA and Ph.D. in Clinical Health Psychology and post-doctoral research fellowship in pain psychology at the University of Washington. She is now an endorsed Clinical Psychologist and Health Psychologist in Australia, and works as an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland. Dr. Day’s program of research has focused on implementing randomised controlled trials to evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of cognitive-behavioural and mindfulness-based interventions for pain. She recently published a sole authored book with Wiley titled, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Chronic Pain: A Clinical Manual and Guide.

Noble Mind explores mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, and psychology. Get more details, join our list, and get show notes at www.noblemindpodcast.com.

In this episode, Willa Blythe Baker joins Kate and Alex to discuss the experiential divide between mind and body that serves as a source of suffering. She describes the difference between the conceptual and feeling body and explains four ways that the body can be a source of wisdom. Listen in for Willa's insight on bringing together body, mind, and breath and stay tuned until the end to hear Willa guide a grounding meditation practice.

Willa Blythe Baker PhD is an author, translator and authorized teacher (lama) in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She is the founder of Natural Dharma Fellowship and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH and has been on faculty at Harvard Divinity School, the Mind and Life Institute, Kripalu Center, Omega Institute, SanghaLive and One Earth Sangha. Her books include The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom, Everyday Dharma, and The Arts of Contemplative Care. 

Noble Mind explores mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, and psychology. Get more details, join our list, and get show notes at www.noblemindpodcast.com.

In this episode, Dr. Steven Hickman shares about his new book, Self-Compassion for Dummies, and describes his love of teaching self-compassion to skeptics and beginners. He explains what mindful self-compassion is, and how it can work as an antidote to our fight, flight, and freeze responses. He also describes the more fierce side of self-compassion, exploring what makes self-compassion a courageous act and how it helps us navigate difficult emotions. Listen in for Dr. Hickman’s insight on the danger in trying to eliminate suffering, learning to see your inner critic in a new way, and motivating yourself through self-compassion.

A clinical psychologist by training, Dr. Steven Hickman is the Executive Director of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion and Founding Director of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. Dr. Hickman is also a certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher and trainer and the author of the new book, Self-Compassion for Dummies.

Noble Mind explores mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, and psychology. Get more details, join our list, and get show notes at www.noblemindpodcast.com.

The inner critic seems like an enemy, viciously attacking our character and fostering self-doubt. But what if that critical voice is really just worried about us? What if we could relate to our inner critic differently by recognizing its fears?

In this episode, Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin discuss how the processes of Inner Relationship Focusing and Untangling facilitate healing and personal growth. They describe the personal experiences that led to the development of these methods and share how cultivating self-in-presence can help us hold space for our most challenging thoughts and emotions. Listen in for Ann and Barbara’s take on the inner critic as someone who wants the best for you and how to work with this part in a radically new way.

Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin have been involved in Focusing since the 1980s. Barbara serves as a Certified Coordinator for the International Focusing Institute and Accrediting Mentor for the British Focusing Association. Ann is internationally known as one of the leading innovators of Focusing, and she has written several books on the topic, including the bestseller The Power of Focusing. Together they have co-created both Inner Relationship Focusing and Untangling. Learn more at http://www.focusingresources.com.

Noble Mind explores mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, and psychology. Get more details, join our list, and get show notes at www.noblemindpodcast.com.

We tend to think of self-compassion as an act of gentleness, and the tender side of self-compassion is all about soothing, reassuring and accepting ourselves. But sometimes getting angry, saying no and taking action is the most compassionate thing you can do for yourself, and that’s where fierce self-compassion comes in.

In this episode of Noble Mind, Dr. Neff joins Kate and Alex to discuss her new book, Fierce Self-Compassion, explaining how fierce self-compassion gets expressed as protecting, providing for and motivating ourselves. She introduces us to the difference between fierce and tender self-compassion, describing how gender role socialization hinders our ability to access both. Listen in for Dr. Neff’s insight on self-compassion as a spiritual practice and learn how the expression of anger can serve as an act of compassion.

Kristin Neff is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She’s a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the 1st empirical studies on self-compassion nearly 20 years ago. She’s author of the bestselling book Self-Compassion. Along with her colleague Chris Germer, she developed the Mindful Self-Compassion program, taught worldwide, and co-wrote The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook. Her newest book is Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive. To take a self-compassion test, find research articles, or download guided meditations, go to www.self-compassion.org.

In this episode, Noble Mind co-host Katherine King, PsyD describes the Four Reminders, a traditional Buddhist teaching that can inspire us to engage more fully in mindfulness, meditation, and other meaningful practices. Sharing from her own experiences, she describes how appreciation of the preciousness of life, awareness of our own freedoms and privileges, as well as the realities of death, impermanence, and karma, can all help move us to practice and study with more commitment and enthusiasm.

Katherine King, PsyD is a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at William James College. She is a member of the Boston Shambhala Center Board of Directors, a vajrayana student of Buddhism, and has practiced meditation for over 20 years. She writes a blog for Psychology Today and has been featured in such publications as Buddhadharma, Women's Health, and American Public Media's Marketplace. Learn more about Kate and sign up to stay in touch at www.drkateking.com.

Noble Mind explores mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, and psychology. Get more details, join our list, and get show notes at www.noblemindpodcast.com.