The pitfalls of using affirmations and visualization to get what you want, and how manifestation can create even more suffering. Featuring a gentle roast of The Secret, Wayne Dyer, and Louise Hay, and props to Eckhart Tolle. Respect for the New Age OGs.

Pop culture sees karma as a cosmic boomerang, but that kind of mystical thinking gets us off the hook too easily. It's more useful to see karma as our unconscious mental and emotional patterns, often shaped by the past. In this episode we look at how trauma from the past shapes events today, and how the collective karmic baggage of racism impacts our lives.

"There's a difference between supporting me to achieve my fullest potential, and putting me down because I don't meet your standards." Why do we fall short of fulfillment in love? There's a trick to it, and it's the opposite of what many might think.

Sometimes we reach moments that define and change our lives forever. A five-day silent meditation retreat shattered me and completely altered the course of my life. This is my story.

A brain at rest isn't resting at all, as science has discovered. The technology to map the brain has revealed that when we aren't doing something, we lapse into the default mode -- making up stories about ourselves, fantasizing about the future, and reliving the past. But the brains of meditators look different. This episode talks about the neuroscience of meditation, and how this ancient practice helps anxiety and depression.

Advice from a friendly human. The Buddhist Auntie offers a Buddhist perspective on life's problems. In the first episode, we talk about happiness. Is it just the weather, or can we feel happy all the time?