Spirit Matters

Jeremy David Engels is the liberal arts endowed Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, the co-founder of Yoga Lab, and a longtime mindfulness and yoga teacher. His academic research reimagines democracy as a communal practice rooted in care, deliberation, and shared responsibility, emphasizing mindfulness as a core civic skill. His work has appeared in numerous

Peter Russell is a long-time contributor to our understanding of spirituality,  consciousness, meditation, and related matters, who believes "the critical challenge of today is freeing human thinking from the limited beliefs and attitudes that lie behind many of our problems — personal, social, and global.” He is a public speaker, a retreat leader, a teacher of online courses, and the author of a dozen books, including Letting Go of Nothing, The Global Brain, From Science to God, and his latest, How to Meditate Without Even Trying. We spoke mostly about meditation and the seemingly paradoxical principal of non-effort, and we also touched on the history and current status of spirituality in America, the intersection of science and spirituality, and other issues about which Peter offers valuable insight.

Oneika Mays is a yoga and meditation teacher who was formerly the mindfulness coach at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York. With roots in Buddhist and Yogic teachings, she specializes in making mindfulness accessible to marginalized and excluded communities. She is the author of Sit with Me: A No-BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation, which explores metta (lovingkindness) as a tool for personal and collective liberation. We spoke about her experience teaching the incarcerated in rough institutions--and what she learned from them, as well the distinction between mindfulness and meditation, and the value of lovingkindness meditation. Make sure you stay tuned till the end, when Oneika leads us in a guided meditation.

One of our favorite guests, ⁠Andrew Harvey⁠, returns to Spirit Matters. A leading voice for inclusive, universal, spiritual wisdom, Andrew is an internationally acclaimed writer, poet, translator and mystical teacher. He is the author of over 40 books, including ⁠Son of Man⁠, ⁠The Hope⁠, ⁠Love is Everything⁠, ⁠Turn me to Gold⁠, ⁠Engoldenment⁠, and ⁠Radical Regeneration ⁠(with Carolyn Baker). He has taught all over the world, led more than 40 courses for the Shift Network and is the founder of the ⁠Institute for Sacred Activism⁠. For 40 years his work has been dedicated to the birth of a divine humanity out of our contemporary global dark night through mystical self empowerment and sacredly inspired radical action. His latest book is T⁠he Magdalene Revolution⁠, which is what we’ll focus on today.

Elaine Aron is a clinical and research psychologist who received her advanced training at Pacific Graduate Institute and the Jung Institute in San Francisco. Her research on sensory processing sensitivity and, along with her husband, Arthur Aron, the study of close relationships, is widely published in academic journals. She is best known as the world’s leading expert on the “Highly Sensitive Person” or HSP, a term she ascribed to a significant minority of people she discovered had the innate trait of high sensitivity. Her book , The Highly Sensitive Person, became an international bestseller, translated into 32 languages, and has been in print for nearly thirty years. She followed that up with other books based on her research

Dean Radin is chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), an associated distinguished professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and the cofounder and chairman of the biotech company, Cognigenics. His advanced degrees include an MS in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Illinois, and an honorary doctorate from the Swami Vivekananda University in Bangalore, India. He is the co-inventor on 12 patents, he’s given hundreds of presentations at prestigious institutions, and he is the author or coauthor of some 350 scientific and popular articles, four dozen book chapters, and nine books. His books include The Conscious Universe; Entangled

Julie Nelson has been practicing Zen Buddhism for more than 20 years. Along the way, she was deemed accomplished enough and dedicated enough to become a teacher in the Soto tradition. Hence her other name, Seido Sensei. She has contributed articles to Tricycle magazine,

Parvati Markus is a developmental editor who has been midwifing spiritually oriented non-fiction books and memoirs going back to her early friendship with the late spiritual leader Ram Dass and working with him on his iconic Be Here Now. Later books she either authored, coauthored, or edited include Dying to Know, Whisper in the Heart, Love Everyone, and the children's book, Isabella Castaspella. She has also worked in various capacities with spiritual organizations such as the Neem Karoli Baba ashram and temple in Taos, New Mexico, the Global Peace Initiative of Women, and the Love Serve Remember Foundation. The focus of our conversation is her new book, There is no Other: The Way to Harmony

https://www.parvatimarkus.com/

Robert A. Jonas is a a multifaceted spiritual practitioner and teacher: psychotherapist, a Christian mystic, a leader in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, an environmental activist, a retreat leader, and the director and host of The Empty Bell, a contemplative sanctuary in Northampton, MA. , as well as a husband, father, and grandfather. He’s also a master of the Shakuhachi (a Japanese bamboo flute) and an author whose books include Rebecca: A Father’s Journey from Grief to Gratitude; two biographies of Father Henri Nouwen; and his most recent work, the award-winning, My Dear Far-Nearness, which explores Christianity’s Holy Trinity as three dimensions of consciousness. We spoke about the mysticism, the grace of grief, his friend Henri Nouwen, and his provocative interpretation of the Trinity. He also gifted us with a meditative performance of a traditional song on Shakuhachi.

Stephanie James is a psychotherapist, a transformation coach, an international speaker, a filmmaker, an author, and the host of the podcast “Igniting the Spark,” on mindbodyspirit.fm, where you will find interviews,