Faith Hunter has nearly 20 years of experience as a yoga and meditation teacher. She is the founder of Embrace Yoga DC and Embrace OM, as well as the creator of Spiritually Fly, a lifestyle philosophy that celebrates our inherent vibrancy and worth. With Sounds True, Faith has written a new book called Spiritually Fly: Wisdom, Meditations, and Yoga to Elevate Your Soul. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Faith about what it means to be Spiritually Fly and how we can all live an authentic, joyful life of spiritual flyhood. They discuss the life-changing effect yoga had on Faith’s life and the courageous way she empowered herself to blend classic yoga lineages with sound, ritual, and African traditions to create a practice that is true to her. And Faith describes the “golden glitter”—the inner brilliance—that lies beneath our fear, shame, and other “demons,” waiting to be released into the world.

Karla McLaren is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and renowned expert in emotions and empathy. Her work focuses on her grand unified theory of emotions, which reconsiders how we think of “negative” emotions and opens new pathways into self-awareness, communication, and empathy. With Sounds True, Karla is the author of the landmark book The Language of Emotions, a book on The Art of Empathy, and a new book called The Power of Emotions at Work: Accessing the Vital Intelligence in Your Workplace. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Karla about why the full range of emotions is necessary for us to bring forth our best thinking. They discuss the “toxic positivity bias” that has become the norm in the contemporary workplace, how this leads to widespread suffering and dysfunction, and how we can achieve an “emotionally well-regulated” workplace that works for all of us.

Joyce Marter is a therapist, entrepreneur, speaker, and adjunct professor at Northwestern University. She's the founder and CEO of Urban Balance, a nationwide counseling practice that provides trainings on mental health and success for Fortune 500 companies. With Sounds True, Joyce has written a new book called The Financial Mindset Fix: A Mental Fitness Program for an Abundant Life, which offers practical exercises for cultivating greater financial literacy and resilience. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Joyce about how our thoughts and emotions around money shape our financial reality. They discuss how low self-esteem holds us back financially and how we can shift into a “mindset of abundance” that shatters the limitations we’ve created for ourselves. Joyce and Tami also talk about the realities of financial trauma in our society, setting boundaries in our relationships with money, transforming toxic notions we may have of “success,” and mindfulness practices for managing financial shame or anxiety in a healthy, healing way.

Briana Saussy is a writer, teacher, and founder of the Sacred Arts Academy, a school dedicated to the restoration, remembering, and everyday practice of the sacred arts. With Sounds True, she’s written Making Magic: Weaving Together the Everyday and the Extraordinary, as well as Star Child: Joyful Parenting Through Astrology, where she invites us to recognize how the zodiac’s archetypes live within each of us, to honor these differences, and to joyfully raise our children by the stars. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Briana discuss the many practices that make up what Briana calls the “sacred arts.” They explore why many of these practices, such as ritual and astrology, have been relegated to the sidelines in modern Western culture, how myth and folklore act as the primary source material for the sacred arts, and how we can participate in the current revival of these practices. They also discuss how astrology can help us better understand our children and the full range of humanness we all embody.

Rha Goddess is an entrepreneurial soul coach and the CEO and founder of Move The Crowd, a movement galvanizing over three million entrepreneurs to reimagine work as a vehicle for creative expression, financial freedom, and societal transformation. She’s the author of the book The Calling: 3 Fundamental Shifts to Stay True, Get Paid, and Do Good, as well as a new audio program with Sounds True, Making Money, Making Change: Build Your Business, Make a Profit, and Serve the World. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Rha Goddess talk about the ways so many of us have been indoctrinated into a disempowering relationship with wealth, and how we can break free from this indoctrination by examining six unchecked beliefs almost everyone holds. Tami calls Rha “the liberator” in this conversation, a nod to Rha’s remarkable ability to help us recognize where we need to heal, do the work, and co-create a life in which we make good money doing what our souls are here to do.

Kristin Leal is a yoga teacher and a sadhaka in the ISHTA lineage, as well as a licensed massage therapist, Reiki practitioner, and author. Her popular MetaAnatomy workshops, classes, and online trainings blend serious scientific knowledge, a sense of humor, and a deep connection to the divine within us all. With Sounds True, Kristin has written MetaAnatomy: A Modern Yogi’s Practical Guide to the Physical and Energetic Anatomy of Your Amazing Body. In the book, she helps readers develop a new level of body literacy―a deep and vital relationship with the physical, emotional, and energetic aspects of your being. In this podcast, Kristin guides Tami Simon and listeners into the world of wonder that is the human body, as she unpacks elements of our anatomy on physical and poetic levels. Kristin also guides listeners through three fascinating practices, where you’ll learn to experience and regulate your subtle anatomy in profound ways.

Diana Winston is the director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, where she developed the Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPS) curriculum. With Sounds True, Diana is the author of a new book, The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness, and the creator of a new audio teaching series called Glimpses of Being: A Training Course in Expanding Mindful Awareness. In this experiential episode of Insights at the Edge, Diana introduces us to what she calls the “spectrum of awareness” through a series of guided practices. She talks to Tami Simon about the various ways we can access and experience awareness, from narrow and focused to effortless and spacious—states we are constantly moving between. They touch on ways to deepen and explore awareness through “glimpse practices” and discuss how we can work toward making natural awareness our default state. Finally, Diana explains why tapping into the full range of awareness can act as a good antidote for those feeling stuck or restless in their meditation practice.

Dr. Arielle Schwartz is a clinical psychologist, author, teacher, and widely sought-out voice in the healing of trauma and complex trauma. She offers workshops for therapists on EMDR and somatic therapy, and maintains a private practice in Boulder, Colorado. She has written a book called The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook, and with Sounds True, has created a new audio teaching series called Trauma Recovery, A Mind-Body Approach to Becoming Whole. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Arielle about reframing the narrative of trauma recovery to one of growth and meaning-making, rather than an effort to regain something we’ve lost. Arielle offers a look into different types of trauma, and explores how the body shapes itself around these wounds. She shares strategies for adapting to adversity and attending to trauma in ways that help victims return to a felt sense of safety within themselves. Finally, Tami and Arielle discuss how we can embrace the hero or heroine’s journey in our own lives as we grow from trauma.

Michelle Maldonado is founder and CEO of Lucenscia, a firm dedicated to human flourishing and mindful business transformation. She is a graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University and The George Washington University Law School, as well as an internationally certified mindfulness teacher and founding faculty for Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Coaching Certification Program. With Sounds True, she’s on the faculty of our Inner MBA program. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks to Michelle about how a brush with mindfulness at a very young age instilled her with a sense of presence that has guided her personal and professional path. They discuss why nurturing authentic connection and deep, intuitive care in the workplace leads to better human and organizational outcomes, and some of the challenges businesses face in making sustained change. She explains how unconscious bias seeps into our perceptions “like melted butter into nooks and crannies” and offers insights for addressing bias from a place of healing. They also discuss treating others as “human beings rather than human doings,” the journey of discovering our own power, embracing “compassion projects” as a means of public service and emotional release, and how we can best bring our care and attention to matters that affect us all.

Richard “Dick” Schwartz earned his PhD in marriage and family therapy from Purdue University. He coauthored the most widely used family therapy text in the United States, Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, and is the creator of the Internal Family Systems Model, which he developed in response to clients’ descriptions of various “parts” within themselves. With Sounds True, Dick has written a new book titled No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks to Dick about the transformation that occurs when we welcome every part of who we are. He explains that even our most destructive parts have protective intentions, put in place to shield us from unprocessed pain, and details his method for accessing and mending these inner wounds. They also discuss the myth of the “mono mind,” and why the mind is naturally multiple; how “exiled” trauma can manifest as bodily pain; connecting with our core Self and letting it lead us in our healing; and how the language of “parts” can be useful in our relationship dynamics.