Untaught Essentials

Today's guest is Robert Walter, executive director and board president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation (JCF), an organization dedicated to preserving, protecting, and expanding on the works of Joseph Campbell.

We explore the power and relevance of myth in today’s world and how you can live a heroic life.

Find more about Robert Walter here:

Robert Walter is an editor and an executive with several not-for-profit organizations. Most notably, he is the executive director and board president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation (JCF), an organization that he helped found in 1990 with choreographer Jean Erdman, Joseph Campbell's widow

In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson, write, teacher, and cancer survivor. They discuss how humor helps enrich our lives through moments of pain.

Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson is the founder of Heartwood Healing and the creator of the Heartwood Self-Mastery Programs. She’s an award-winning author and motivational speaker who has offered individual mastery, mindfulness, and resilience training and coaching to thousands of people through her work with organizations including Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, UnitedHealth Group, OptumHealth, Weight Watchers, Senior Care Communities, the Carver College of Medicine, and many more.

Learn more about Jacquelyn at

This episode, David Peterson discusses how to develop leadership skills in the face of uncertainty to not only survive, but to thrive as a leader. David has been recognized as a world-class executive coach and thought leader in executive development for over 25 years. In 2019 he was selected as the #1 Corporate Coach in the world and in 2020 received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant contributions to the field of Executive Coaching.

Since leaving Google in 2020, he continues to provide executive coaching to senior leaders from leading companies, ranging from Amazon and Apple to Zoom, on topics such as leading in complexity, strategic thinking, high-velocity decision-making, and building leadership agility and resilience.

Contact David here:

This episode is the second time we have visisted with Vidyamala Burch. Vidyamala is the co-founder of Breathworks in the UK, that specializes in helping people deal with pain, illness, and stress. Her life circumstances make her a unique powerful teacher. She lost the full use of her legs 45 years ago and uses crutches and a wheelchair for mobility for decades. She also lives with a paralyzed bowel and bladder. Despite that, you will see she is a radiant human being. This conversation is meant to help people face whatever circumstance they may be in, and perhaps even grow from it.

Contact Breathworks:

Today's guest is Vidyamala Burch. Vidyamala is the co-founder of Breathworks in the UK, that specializes in helping people deal with pain, illness, and stress. Her life circumstances make her a unique powerful teacher. She lost the full use of her legs 45 years ago and uses crutches and a wheelchair for mobility for decades. She also lives with a paralyzed bowel and bladder. Despite that, you will see she is a radiant human being. This conversation is meant to help people face whatever circumstance they may be in, and perhaps even grow from it.

Contact Breathworks:

Parneet Pal, M.B.B.S., M.S. is a Harvard- and Columbia-trained physician working at the intersection of lifestyle medicine, technology and behavior change. An educator and science communicator, she applies her subject matter expertise to optimize human health and its impact on business leadership and planetary wellbeing. She strongly believes we can create a compassionate society where health is the default.

As Chief Science Officer, Wisdom Labs, she focuses on solving for stress, burnout and loneliness in the workplace. Wisdom Labs aspires to build wiser workplaces using the science of mindfulness and scaling the skills of mental resilience, emotional intelligence and compassionate leadership across organizations.

Parneet's Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/parneetpal/

In this episode, we explore the topic of wellbeing and health at the collective level. This is the second part of a two-part interview.

Parneet Pal, M.B.B.S., M.S. is a Harvard- and Columbia-trained physician working at the intersection of lifestyle medicine, technology and behavior change. An educator and science communicator, she applies her subject matter expertise to optimize human health and its impact on business leadership and planetary wellbeing. She strongly believes we can create a compassionate society where health is the default.

As Chief Science Officer, Wisdom Labs, she focuses on solving for stress, burnout and loneliness in the workplace. Wisdom Labs aspires to build wiser workplaces using the science of mindfulness and scaling the skills of mental resilience, emotional intelligence and compassionate leadership across organizations.

Parneet's Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/parneetpal/

In this episode, we explore the topic of wellbeing and health at the individual level. This is the first part of a two-part interview. Some themes covered in this episode:

7:06 - Message for those wanting to take control of their health

For this episode we are talking to Larry and Peggy Ward, senior teachers in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition of Zen Buddhism. They have also written a book, In Love's Garden, exploring the topic of love. Most recently, Larry has published a book called America's Racial Karma, which you will find as a very engaging reading for these times.

In this episode, we explore the topic of love. As the world careens around us, what better topic to explore and talk about and understand at a deep level, what is love.

This interview with Mirabai Bush is a focused conversation on grief. This is a follow-up on episode 1 on death. What happens when other people around my die and how do I deal with death? In this conversation, Mirabai talks about her experiences with dealing with the death of her friends like her close friend and collaborated, Ram Dass.

This interview with Doug Lynam. A partner at LongView Asset Management, LLC, in Santa Fe, NM, Doug is an industry thought leader in ethical and sustainable investing. Doug is a former monk turned money manager and has a compelling perspective on how we relate to money. He explores the various ways money controls and distorts our lives as well as understanding what is a healthy relationship to money. For leaders, this conversation is especially powerful because so many decisions revolve around the use of money. I found this a compelling conversation and think you will too.