Professor Stephen G. Post is one of the world’s leading scholars on altruism, love, compassion, and the science of giving. A professor

He is also the author of several books, including God and Love on Route 80 and the best-selling Why Good Things Happen to Good

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This is the second episode in which Spirit Matter's host, Philip Goldberg, moves to the other side of the interview table. The occasion is the publication of his latest book, Karmic Relief: Harnessing the Laws of Cause and Effect for a Joyful, Meaningful Life. In it, he dives into what karma is, what it is not, and all the practical implications of understanding the laws of karma. His interlocutor this time is Beryl Bender⁠, who has been teaching yoga and meditation since 1971 and has been training yoga teachers through her school, The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute, for nearly 50 years. She’s also the best-selling author of several books on yoga, including ⁠Power Yoga⁠; ⁠Beyond Bower Yoga⁠; and ⁠Yoga for Warriors: Basic Training for Strength, Resilience, and Peace of Mind. She also co-founded the Give Back Yoga Foundation has been a leader in addressing the relationship between yoga practice and activism and service. [Listen as well to an earlier interview about the book with Rabbi Rami Shapiro interviewing Phil.]

⁠

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Paul Muller-Ortega was a distinguished professor of the Indic religious traditions who retired from academia in 2006 and founded his school, Blue Throat Yoga. Since then, to quote from his website, “Paul has been teaching practices of deep meditation and the theories of meditation studies. His primary theoretical focus is founded on the teachings of lineages of the Śakta-Śaiva Tantra, particularly as brought forward by the extraordinary medieval siddha guru, Rājānaka Abhinavagupta. Paul is particularly committed to  bringing forward deeply authentic and highly

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Dr. Yvonne Kason is a retired family physician, psychotherapist, and faculty member at the University of Toronto. She is also an internationally known expert on near-death experiences, kundalini awakening, and other spiritually transformative experiences (STEs). In 1990, she became the first Canadian MD to specialize in researching and counseling patients with diverse types of STEs, a term she coined in 1994. She is past-president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies and the current president of the organization she founded, Spiritual Awakenings International (SAI). SAI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising

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Judith Carlisle, Ph.D., has a masters degree in Management Information Systems and a doctorate in Computer Information Systems from the University of Arizona. She also earned a masters degree in Yoga Studies from the first-of-its-kind program started by a previous guest on Spirit Matters, Christopher Key Chapple, at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Judith, who began practicing yoga with her grandmother as a young child, is now an adjunct professor in that same Yoga Studies program, She also teaches at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Her teaching integrates the rigorous exploration of yogic and Buddhist texts, philosophies, and history with practices from the Dharmic traditions, e.g. Yoga and Buddhism. Her teaching is dedicated to supporting students and practitioners as they seek to understand how yoga study and practice support personal and worldly transformation, enlightenment, and

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Jacob Kyle is a scholar, educator, yoga teacher, meditation teacher, and writer. He holds a master of philosophy degree in classical Indian religions from Oxford University, an MA in philosophy from the New School for Social Research, an MS in political theory from the London School of

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Ramdev Dale Borglum has been a pioneering figure in the conscious dying movement for decades, beginning when he founded and directed the

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A special episode of Spirit Matters. Regular host Philip Goldberg moves to the other side of the table, turning over hosting duties to Rabbi Rami Shapiro for a conversation about Phil's forthcoming book, Karmic Relief: Harnessing the Laws of Cause and Effect for a Joyful, Meaningful Life. It's an in-depth discussion of the concept of karma, which is at once simple and complex. The term, which is used more and more frequently in ordinary conversation, is often misconstrued. The conversation delves into common misunderstandings of karma and teases out a lot of its nuances and its relevance to everyday life. Karmic Relief will be released in October; click here to pre-order it on Amazon (authors are grateful for pre-orders as they upgrade the book's position on Amazon).

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Kamla K. Kapur was born and raised in India and studied in the United States. Her writing has included plays, novels, poetry, essays and re-imaged Indian and Mid-eastern spiritual writings. She is the author of 8 books, including: The Singing Guru, which is a novel about Guru Nanak,

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Dr. Robert K.C. Forman had a distinguished, twenty-year career as a professor of comparative religion at the City University of New York, during which time he had a major influence on the study of mysticism and authored several books and more than forty academic articles. A writer, popular public speaker, and spiritual counselor, he has shared his insights in Sweden, Iran, Finland, Israel, England, and across the U.S. After retiring from academia, he founded and ran the Forge Institute for Spirituality and Social Change (full disclosure: I was on the board), and also served as a board-certified hospital chaplain, an ordained interfaith minister, and a certified meditation teacher. His academic books include The Problem of Pure Consciousness and his books for the general reader include Enlightenment Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up to Be, and his latest work, which we’ll be discussing here, Christianity Reimagined: A Mystical Approach for Doubters and the Dubious.

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