The Middle Way with Dr. Matthew Goodman

Cold exposure helps to reset our autonomic nervous system. It can enhance our physiological resilience and ability to deal with stress. These practices have been popularized by Wim Hoff  and have become somewhat of a global sensation. I was skeptical initially... but now cold exposure is an almost daily ritual for me. 

Ways to practice:

-Take a cold shower. Start slow: maybe introduce 5 seconds of cold at the end of your shower. As you develop greater tolerance of the cold, work your way up for 30 seconds - 2 minutes.

-Dip your hands in a bucket of ice. Again, start slow and work your way up. 

Check out Hoff's app for more on cold exposure and breathing exercises. 

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

Book: Simple Stress-Reduction: Easy and Effective Practices for Kids, Teens, and Adults (Amazon)

The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

We have, and continue, to make strides towards racial equality in the U.S. and beyond. Yet a debate has been growing in recent years - especially since 2020 in the wake of protests sparked by George Floyd's death - about how to best achieve the equality, justice, and equanimity we long for. Are our current approaches working... or have we created more polarization and division? Alongside changes in cultural norms, narratives, and policies, have we fundamentally altered people's minds, and, more importantly, their hearts? Is inner change keeping up with outer change? How can we reconcile competing ideologies about healing racial pain and polarization? 

In this episode, I argue for a "middle way" approach to race that is neither solely "anti-racist" nor "color blind" (but indeed contains elements from both competing philosophies). I draw on both behavioral science and Buddhism to spell out how (in my view) our current approaches are leading to increased political polarization, increased identification with race (i.e., seeing more of it), and potentially counterproductive cognitive strategies for eradicating racism. I suggest that we are already kind, compassionate, and wise human beings that should be focused on bringing out these inherent qualities in one another. I advocate for an approach rooted in pragmatism rather than ideological identification. 

Topics covered: 

*There is an error in the Apple Podcasts title of this episode. It should read "The Middle Way to Racial Equality: The Psychology of Polarization and a More Compassionate Path Forward." All other players seem to have it correct. 

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aVj8b26ND6o

Read the Blog Post: "The Middle Way to Racial Equality: The Psychology of Polarization and a More Compassionate Path Forward": https://www.the-middle-way.com/blog/the-middle-way-to-racial-equality-the-psychology-of-polarization-and-a-more-compassionate-path-forward

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Interested in wellness workshops or consulting for your organization? Schedule a free consultation with Dr. Goodman and The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-goodman-ph-d-18599330/

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

This is a super simple but powerful practice to ground us in the present moment! Helpful for dealing with intense emotions such as anger. 

1. Feel your feet on the floor. Notice sensations of being connected to the ground.

2. Let you attention hang out there for a few seconds! 

Use this in moments of stress alone or in the context of others. 

Enjoying the podcast?? Leave a rating or review! This helps the show grow and allows it to be discovered by more people 😀

Questions or comments?? Reach out! [email protected]

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

Book: Simple Stress-Reduction: Easy and Effective Practices for Kids, Teens, and Adults (Amazon)

The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

Kwame Christian is the founder and CEO of the American Negotiation Institute, where he conducts training that helps make difficult conversations easier. He’s the host of the world’s most popular negotiation podcast, Negotiate Anything. The show has over 5 million downloads and listeners in +180 countries. His book, Finding Confidence in Conflict, has helped countless individuals navigate difficult conversations and was inspired by Kwame’s popular TEDx Talk with the same name.

In this episode we discuss: 

-The biggest barriers to having conversations about race in the workplace and beyond.

-Why it is important (even though counterintuitive) to listen and show empathy for people we don't agree with, even those who we might fundamentally disagree with or even consider "racist."

-Why persuasion is ineffective without empathy, understanding, and trust.

-How Kwame mediates differences in perception about race (e.g., between individuals and police officers).

-What to do when there is a disagreement about whether race "played a role" in a certain situation.

-Moving beyond identity-based thinking to discover shared goals in a conversation (from the micro to macro).

-Why debating the "facts" of a situation is ineffective unless there is a validation of people's experiences.

-The compassionate curiosity framework:

1) acknowledge and validate emotions 

2) get curious with compassion

3) joint problem solving 

Watch Kwame's TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Zg65eK9XU

The American Negotiation Institute: https://www.americannegotiationinstitute.com/

Download the "How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race" Negotiation Guide: 

Follow Kwame on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwamechristian/

Negotiate Anything Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/negotiate-anything/id1101679010

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/I3_mDF7gzhs

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Interested in bringing wellness to your workplace? Schedule a free consultation with Dr. Goodman and The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

This is a great practice to support parasympathetic activity; balance left/right hemisphere activity in the brain; and is my go-to practice for supporting sleep! 

1. Take your left thumb and cover your left nostril. Breathe in deeply through your right nostril. Briefly hold your breath at the top of your inhale.

2. Now close your right nostril with one of your fingers, and release your left thumb from your left nostril (alternating nostrils). Breathe out through the left nostril. Exhale all of the air out.

3. Now breathe in through that same left nostril. Hold at the top.

4. Switch again - cover your left nostril and open your right nostril. Breath out through your right nostril. Exhale all of the air out.

5. Repeat this sequence for a total of 5-10 rounds.

Note: You will complete one exhale and one inhale before switching nostrils.

Enjoying the podcast?? Leave a rating or review! This helps the show grow and allows it to be discovered by more people 😀

Questions or comments?? Reach out! [email protected]

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

Book: Simple Stress-Reduction: Easy and Effective Practices for Kids, Teens, and Adults (Amazon)

The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

"Your symptoms make sense." This is what Dr. Omid Naim tells his patients, many of whom have struggled with chronic mental or physical health issues for years. He also tells them that he thinks they can "get fully better." Dr. Naim's approach to psychiatry turns the medical model inside out by viewing illness through the lens of ecology and empowerment. He takes into consideration the contextual factors that contribute to illness such as childhood trauma, disconnection from community, and lack of meaning, while empowering and inspiring patients to achieve greater health by allowing their nervous systems to do what it is designed for: healing. In this episode, Dr. Naim and I discuss how he works with patients to reorganize their internal stories in order to initiate a journey of holistic healing. 

Dr. Omid Naim is an integrative psychiatrist and Founder of HOPE Psychiatry. He is also co-founder of La Maida Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rewriting the story of what it means to be healthy through an understanding of trauma and stress via an ecological lens, and to rediscovering our human nature and our innate capacity to heal. Dr. Naim completed medical school at the USC Keck School of Medicine and went on to complete residency at UCSF and a fellowship at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. 

In this episode we cover:

HOPE Integrative Psychiatry: https://hopepsychiatry.com/

Learn more about La Maida Project: https://lamaidaproject.org/

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j83tclHSGwY

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Interested in bringing wellness to your workplace? Schedule a free consultation with Dr. Goodman and The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com 

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

There is often so much happening for us in our lives that things get pushed into the background of our awareness. These experiences live in the cells of our body. "Focusing" is a technique that helps us get in touch with "what is going on" for us on a somatic level. Accessing this bodily intelligence contains so much wisdom about our "problems" and is the first step to dealing with them skillfully.

1. Close your eyes. Take a couple deep breaths. 

2. Ask yourself, "what is going on for me right now in my life?" Notice what arises. It might be an image, body sensation, word, or phrase. 

3. Stack all of your problems in front of you (like a pile of books). Don't go inside it, but put it in front of you. 

4. Choose one problem to focus on. Where do you feel this in your body? What sensations do you notice?

5. Can you come up with a word or phrase to describe this problem?

6. Now you have a conscious "handle" on this issue, and can return to it skillfully as you go about your day. 

Adapted from Gendlin, E. (2007). Focusing. Bantam. 

Enjoying the podcast?? Leave a rating or review! This helps the show grow and allows it to be discovered by more people 😀

Questions or comments?? Reach out! [email protected]

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

Book: Simple Stress-Reduction: Easy and Effective Practices for Kids, Teens, and Adults (Amazon)

The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

This episode is a bit different. Here, I explore the nature of being "addicted to ego" from my own personal experience. When working on the "Addiction to Separation" episode about addiction to separateness in the world, I started thinking more about how this manifests in the individual ego. 

Through this exploration, I open up about my experience of having OCD. I use this is a prism for examining some of the ways ego manifests itself - for example, the need to control, to "know," and to be perfect. I think that addiction to ego manifests itself in many different ways - as many ways as there are human beings on the planet. This looks different in everyone. But we can funnel these things down to some fundamental processes that we all share (e.g., self-judgment, the need for control, the desire to avoid pain). At the heart of it all is the sense of separation from all of life; that is what we're addicted to... and also perhaps our task here on earth, manifesting in billions of different pathways of coming home. 

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

Monday Mini: Metta (Loving-Kindness) 

1. Think about someone close to you (who you have a positive relationship with). Bring the image of that person to mind as clearly as possible. 

2. Extend wishes of loving-kindness and goodwill towards that person. For example (use your own authentic words/phrases):

"May you be happy"

"May you be healthy"

"May you live with ease and joy"

"May you be free of suffering"

3. Bring a neutral person to mind (someone who you sort of know, or even a stranger). Extend those same wishes of goodwill towards them.

4. If you'd like, bring a difficult person to mind (someone who challenges you - this may be someone you know, or don't know). Extend those same wishes of goodwill towards them.

5. Finally, and most importantly, turn your loving-kindness around towards yourself. Repeat the same words/phrases and include your self in your circle of compassion. 

Enjoying the podcast?? Leave a rating or review! This helps the show grow and allows it to be discovered by more people 😀

Questions or comments?? Reach out! [email protected] 

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

Book: Simple Stress-Reduction: Easy and Effective Practices for Kids, Teens, and Adults (Amazon)

The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~

B. Lorraine Smith is a writer, speaker, consultant, and coach whose vision is an economy that works in service of life. Through her decades of experience as a corporate sustainability and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) consultant across multiple industries worldwide, Lorraine began realizing that superficial changes would not fundamentally repair our ailing world; despite working with Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, and other leaders to improve sustainability (e.g., "lowering carbon emissions"), Lorraine witnessed the stagnate and, in many cases, backwards "progress" of companies and the world itself. A paradigm shift is needed—one that serves the health and well-being of people and ecosystems, not the exploitation of them. That is what Lorraine's work is now focused on. And that is what this episode is about! 

We discuss: 

Lorraine's website: https://www.blorrainesmith.com/

Read Lorraine's work on Medium: https://blorrainesmith.medium.com/

Check out Matereality assessments on Google and TD Bank: https://www.blorrainesmith.com/matereality

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9S7kxi7VC-Q

Follow Dr. Goodman:

Instagram: @matthewgoodmanphd

The Middle Way Consulting: the-middle-way.com

Your support for the show helps! Donate as little as $1/month. Or leave a RATING/REVIEW or SHARE it with someone who would find it valuable! Thanks for listening!

~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~