In this episode of the Compassion Initiative Podcast, Stan talks to Patrick Berthiaume, a motivational interviewing practitioner, trainer and supervisor based in Montreal, Canada. They discuss the powerful role vulnerability can play in motivation for change in the context of motivational interviewing, and also in the context of compassion focused therapy and the three flows of compassion: for self, from others and self-to-self, or self-compassion.

Dr Stan Steindl reviews the wonderful speech given by Joaquin Phoenix when he was recently awarded the Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Joker. See the video of this podcast here: https://youtu.be/IgrZqQIBNMo . In his speech, Joaquin speaks about love and compassion, gratitude, humility, commonality, forgiveness and much more. You can see Joaquin's speech here: https://oscar.go.com/winners . Write your impressions below!

Episode 2 2020 "Insights from Straddie Retreat" by The Compassion Initiative: Dr Stan Steindl and Dr James Kirby

After a quick dash to Palo Alto University in Northern California last week, Dr Stan Steindl explores the notion of compassion conversations: a listener and speaker, where the listener is interested and engaged and helps the speaker explore their perspective on compassion, both sides of the argument, and ultimately eliciting a commitment for next steps. Through the magic of movie making, this video offers a demonstration of a compassion conversation! Notice the Wisdom Talk at 8 minutes 15 seconds! The original video can be found at https://youtu.be/MziUCQ3pj24 .

Having recently had the chance to discuss the role of the Vagus Nerve in compassionate mind training with Dr Jamin Day and Dr James Kirby, here's my latest video called "Let's Go To Vagus: Vagus Nerve and Compassionate Mind" a brief and concise explainer of the brain, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, the Vagus Nerve and the notion of Vagal Tone, and how to cultivate the compassionate mind. The original video can be found here: https://youtu.be/5li4jA0Q8AQ

Compassion for others takes courage. Receiving compassion from others takes courage. Offering compassion to ourselves takes courage. All three flows of compassion take courage, and in this video Dr Stan Steindl offers some thoughts and musings about courage and how to find it as we cultivate the compassionate mind. If you would like to watch the original video, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/GnbtMEAqlNM

Podcast 18: 2020 Welcome Back & Research by The Compassion Initiative: Dr Stan Steindl and Dr James Kirby

In this podcast, Dr Stan Steindl discusses the role of mind awareness in compassionate wisdom. Specifically, the first step in compassionate wisdom is to be able to become aware of the mind, understand it, and understand how it works. When difficult emotions arise, then we move towards and experience the emotions. Not easy, and takes a lot of courage! But important! The original video can be found here: https://youtu.be/WJsgHZu-IKU

Our minds can so easily get caught up in difficult loops. It can be very difficult stepping out of those loops and into the compassionate mind. Not least, we have reservations that hold us back from compassion towards self and others. So what can take us from reservation to activation of the compassionate mind? In this podcast, Dr Stan Steindl introduces the concept of Wisdom Talk: exploring and expressing our wisdom, insight and understanding of what lies behind our experience. See the original video here: https://youtu.be/OwOBruJ133M

In this podcast, Dr Stan Steindl dives a little deeper into discovering compassionate wisdom and the role it plays in cultivating the compassionate mind. Given the genes that were designed for us, the tricky brains and bodies we were born with, and the experiences that shaped us, so much of our suffering is not our fault. Ultimately, compassionate wisdom is about taking responsibility for the difficulties we may face in our own lives without blaming or shaming ourselves or others, and finding ways that we can be helpful, rather than harmful. The video version of this podcast can be found here: https://youtu.be/9ztCMdO4TEE