Spirit Meets Soil

In this episode Gabriella interviews Dr. Judith Simmer Brown around the origins of the term "contemplative education" and inquires about Judith's work in academia. They cover the design of Naropa's interreligious dialogue course and the difficulty of bringing first-person, contemplative methods into academic settings.

Judith Simmer-Brown, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Contemplative and Religious Studies and a founding faculty member of Naropa University. A Buddhist scholar, meditation teacher, and pioneer in contemplative education, she has spent more than four decades exploring Tibetan Buddhism, interreligious dialogue and the integration of contemplative practice into higher education. Judith is a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founder of Naropa’s Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education (CACE) and author of Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism.

Discernment is the difference between spiritual growth and spiritual noise. In the episode Gabriella unpacks why self-isolation, discipline, and choosing the right teachers may be the most radical practices in modern spirituality - especially when social media archetypes and online identity are quietly shaping who we become.Gabriella challenges the idea that constant community, constant content, and constant consumption automatically lead to evolution. Instead, she makes the case for withdrawing long enough to hear your own mind clearly, notice what your environment is doing to you, and see where your energy is being siphoned into the wrong places. Gabriella also gets personal about projection, colonization in spiritual spaces, and the responsibility of asking whether our beliefs, language, and online personas are actually helping us grow or just making us easier to manipulate. She draws a sharp distinction between real practice and performative spirituality, and she doesn't shy away from naming the cultural and ethical stakes.If you've ever felt overstimulated, spiritually ungrounded, or unsure which voices deserve your trust, this episode is a sharp, timely reset. Essential listening for seekers, creators, and anyone trying to stay authentic in a world that rewards the opposite.Music licensed through Soundstripe.Code: QY0EIUGWUYBSAVAI, AZPQXW3AQL4CIKZP, AECG2DALWZBSVNO2, T2K66FKEVE2FB21N

Topics Covered:

• Do we really have free will?

• How does karma play a role in astrology?

• Masculine and feminine archetypes in astrological architecture

• The spiritual aesthetics of astrology

• Right relationship

  
  

  
  

  Themes:

• Astrology shows the architecture of possibility, not a fixed script

• The carnival effect

• The bigger picture

Connect with Gabriella:

Linktree

email: [email protected]

🎧 "There Is No Life Without Dependent Origination"

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What happens when we really look at how everything arises in relationship?

In this episode, Gabriella Espinoza and Cooper Sims-West explore one of the most foundational teachings in Buddhism: Dependent Origination. Together, they gently unpack how this philosophy points directly to the roots of suffering, and how understanding it can open new ways of walking in the world.

Main themes explored:
• breaking down Dependent Origination
• how causes and conditions shape our inner world
• suffering as something relational, not personal
• using this teaching as a doorway into presence and compassion

A quick head dive into the element of voicing/expressing and the important awarenesses and considerations when doing so. :)

Enjoy!

Song: Instant Playa~ Boztown

New Series!

This episode is a kick-off, birds-eye view of the series ahead. We will be discussing dialogue as a path towards meeting reality and deconstructing the buzzword of Interspirituality.

Working towards digesting what it means to be interspiritual and how to use the tool of dialogue as a way of looking.

Enjoy :)

Song: Night of Arará~ Miki Ikhifa, Nubalix

Self explanatory title….

Quite the juicy one... In this episode, we explore neurodivergence as a form of human evolution, from a variety of angles. Drawing from my latest publication (linked below) we discuss the complacent systems in place.

Enjoy :)

~Link Tree ~

Music Credits

Hear my quick take on the storms that tend to appear in life and how we can tweak our perspectives to appreciate their magnificence.

Enjoy :)

Music: La Tormenta~ Miguel Espinoza Flamenco Fusion, Curandero

Welcome everyone! I am so honored to have hosted this legendary dialogue at Naropa University. We had the opportunity to hear the remarks of our guest speakers pertaining to the notorious statement "I think, therefore I am" by Rene Descartes.

Introducing Ben Williams, Professor of Hinduism and Yoga Studies at Naropa University along with Garrett Bredeson, head of undergraduate philosophy at CU Boulder.

An opportunity to explore the intertwining of Mind-Body Dualism and Sankhya from the exceptional backgrounds of our guests.

Insight Circle Link tree

Gabriella Espinoza Link tree

Music:

"Joy" By: Miguel Espinoza Flamenco Fusion