Untangle, The Podcast From Meditation Studio

Today’s guest is the amazing Parker J Palmer. At age 82, he is one of the wisest souls I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. It’s our luck that he’s written 10 books that share so much of this wisdom with heart, vulnerability, and authenticity. When I read his work, I know that we are all connected as humans, that we all are both whole and broken at the same time. He is a writer, speaker, activist, poet, founder, and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. He has reached millions worldwide through his books, including the best-selling Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, and A Hidden Wholeness. His latest bestseller is On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old, which is what we discuss today. I devoured this book on my last birthday, feeling the weight of age and time passing. It was like wrapping myself up in a warm blanket. He also holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley and 13 honorary doctorates.

We all crave human connection, but it can be hard to know how to make it. Shyness, introversion, and Covid protocols can get in the way of fulfilling the desire to connect. Behavioral scientist and author Jon Levy shows us simple practical strategies everyone can use to build trust and deeper connections, whether it’s for business or to make and deepen personal connections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toni Bernhard is an author who has written 4 books on issues related to coping with physical and emotional pain and illness. The book we discussed today is called “How to Be Sick. A Buddhist Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers.” Her companion guide is an amazing resource of coping tools. Toni has been living with a viral infection for 20 years and, as such, lives with pain and fatigue every day. She was previously a Law Professor at UC Davis until her life took this unexpected turn. Her books share her personal story but are also compilations of the wisdom and tools that have helped her cope with the physical and emotional challenges she continues to face. I found her to be uplifting, graceful, honest, and wise as she shared how she has navigated and accepted her life journey…for better and for worse. You’ll hear how illness can be a metaphor for life and how we can all handle the mix of joys and sorrows that we inevitably face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc

Andrea Small is a design leader, strategist, educator, and former Stanford University d.school teaching fellow. We discuss her book Navigating Ambiguity. Creating Opportunity in a World of Unknowns. The timing is perfect for this book — as many of us personally, professionally and in the world at large are dealing with unknowns. She shares the differences between ambiguity and uncertainty…and how we can embrace the discomfort of the unknown to create new, innovative, and creative possibilities. She invites us to lean into ‘not knowing’, to be more open to being surprised. The inside cover of the book says it perfectly ‘ The book shows you how to surrender control by being adaptable, curious, and unbiased as well as resourceful, tenacious, and courageous. This book has a lot to teach us beyond its original intention for design and education. These ideas and concepts can be applied to various challenges as we go through our lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that the way you breathe can energize or relax you? That a simple hack can help with snoring and sleep apnea? That your lung volume can relate to your longevity, and that your lung volume can be expanded with simple exercises? James Nestor takes us on a fascinating trip into the breath, explains how and why different breath techniques work and will transform each breath you take for the better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is one of my favorite people in the world. She’s a dear friend… in addition to being a former media executive, angel investor, mentor to hundreds of young women, and now the author of two amazing books. Her first book was a best seller and is called “The Myth of the Nice Girl.” Her recent book is called "Embrace the Work, Love Your Career: A Guided Workbook for Realizing Your Career Goals with Clarity, Intention, and Confidence". This workbook is intended to help women get the most out of their careers and is chock full of advice, strategies, creative prompts, and thoughtful exercises designed to mix action with reflection as you build your plan. I love the meditations and coloring book features that are included to help pause and settle. This holistic mix of actionable tools inspires us to focus on the big things that truly matter so that we can each reach our full potential. One of her supporters says it perfectly; “This book is more than a must-read. It’s a must experience for any woman who

David Richman is an author and an endurance athlete. His book is called Cycle of Lives and covers 15 different stories of people touched by Cancer — in many different ways — from patient, to caregiver, to medical provider, to spouse. David was inspired to ride his bike 5,000 miles as he met and interviewed many impacted by Cancer. He did this in honor of his sister June, who’d recently died of brain cancer. It was a courageous journey and he tapped into a lot of deep grief, but also powerful emotional connections. His stories were intriguing, especially how each cancer journey impacts different people. David refers to trauma and emotional chaos, but the narratives also present the gifts and wisdom that may bubble up during the journey. In 2020, in the US alone, there were more than 1.8 mm new cancer cases and over 600k cancer deaths, so it’s an important topic to explore. I’m always deeply intrigued by how people cope with the most difficult events in their lives. This book was a rich dive into this. Lea

Music has the power to move us deeply. Music can shift our energy on demand, organize our thoughts, stimulate our body to move, reset our emotional state, and allow us to pass through the day in a more relaxed harmonious manner. Using audio examples throughout the podcast, In this episode, we learn how to use it to its full potential with multi-platinum Hollywood composer and music expert Frank Fitzpatrick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) and the author of several mindfulness books. In this interview, we talk about the importance of forgiveness in our lives and why carrying our anger or resentment around with us is like carrying hot coal. Dropping the hot coal can lead us to more freedom, openness, and joy. It doesn’t mean we have to condone or forget, but it is truly an act of self-compassion. It’s simply good for us and the practices she teaches can be really powerful. The first step, she says, is to have the willingness to even start working on forgiveness — whether it’s forgiving another person for hurting you, asking another person to forgive you, or, also extremely important, forgiving yourself. None of this is easy…but it can make a big difference in our own health and ease. Letting go of these difficult feelings is a great way to begin a new year filled with more open, positive, and productive energy. Learn more about your ad choic

Lewis Richmond has been a Buddhist meditation teacher, author, musician, and software entrepreneur. In his most recent book, Aging as a Spiritual Practice. A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser, Lewis lays out a vision of the aging process which allows for awakening a spirit of fulfillment and transformation. He shares the key Buddhist tenet that…..YES…everything changes. This acceptance that things do, indeed, change is the foundation and roadmap to accepting both the blessings and challenges that come with growing older. He suggests that we can perhaps learn to chart a course that includes fresh beginnings and new possibilities…even as we face the many losses that naturally and inevitably come with aging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want a Fitter Mind? Better Mental Health? Better Brain Health? Neuroscientist Dr. Jennifer Heisz shows us what kind of exercise will get you there, with an in-depth dive into the mechanisms that make exercise so helpful for brain health and cognition, how it helps decrease anxiety and depression, and how to choose the optimal type of exercise to suit your own brain and mental health needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Alex Auerbach is a Sports Psychologist and Director of Wellness and Development for the basketball team, Toronto Raptors. Before working with the Raptors, he was the Director of Clinical and Sports Psychology for the University of Arizona. He’s a huge fan of Mindfulness and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy —also called ACT — for optimizing both the performance and mental health of athletes. He works with athletes on self-awareness, and emotional regulation and helps them understand and even name and ground their often difficult feelings. Mindfulness is a core pillar in all his work. He shares some of the great research that’s been done suggesting that mindfulness can lead to optimal performance and, possibly, to the all-important flow state. There are so many stressors in the life of a professional athlete — and these tools are a great way to help manage stress and tension as well as being more resilient to the ups and downs that are a natural part of life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap

Scientist, Musician, and Medicine Man, Jeff Firewalker Schmidt shares his experiences diving into the fire of psychedelic medicine in the Amazon Jungle and the wisdom that emerged with him. In the Amazon, he met his now band-mate, John Medeski (Medeski, Martin, and Wood) and they formed St Disruption, who has a new album launching just as we speak with Jeff. Jeff shares his music and shows us why it is what the world needs to hear right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Katy Milkman, Wharton University Professor and author of the national bestseller, How to Change, The Science of Getting from Where you are to Where you Want to Be. The book was named one of the top 8 books for healthy living in 2021 by the NY Times. Katy has devoted her career to the study of behavior change, inspired by the fact that 40% of premature deaths are due to behaviors and habits we can actually change. She discusses the importance of understanding the barriers that stand between you and the change you’re trying to make so that you can find the right solution to each particular roadblock. Turning an uphill battle into a downhill one is one of the keys to success. She goes through the most common barriers which tend to be short-term rewards or instant gratification, procrastination, and forgetfulness. She provides some great research and tools to support habit change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you a little fed up with your partner sometimes? Or looking to be a better partner yourself? Our guests this week are a married couple, Nate and Kaley Klemp, who teach us how to be better, more mindful partners. They are mindfulness and organizational dynamic experts who get real about strategies to show up for the other person, even when the other partner might not be so mindful all the time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taylor is this extraordinary blend of psychotherapist, yoga and mindfulness teacher, and leadership facilitator. She’s also funny and refers to her energy as sometimes feeling like a fire hose. She’s’ a fountain of wisdom. Her year-long program is called Humanity First and is designed to teach us how to be better leaders at work and at home — and to know ourselves and others more deeply. She shares how she sees the potential in all of us — as whole beings— to be radically honest with ourselves and to communicate with compassion and understanding. Her work invites us to shed our insecurities and open our hearts so we can be seen and heard by ourselves and others. She asks that her students and clients risk being courageous so that they can step into their greatness with the peace, ease, and freedom they all want and deserve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judson is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author of the book, Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal your Mind. He has combined his expertise in mindfulness, habit, behavioral change, and neuroscience to create practical tools to help unwind anxiety. The interview offers several ways to uncover what triggers anxiety and how to identify and break these anxiety habits using a variety of methods, including mindfulness and reward-based learning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Eagleman is a prolific perception neuroscientist. He’s interpreted the stock market through a sensory vest, hosted a PBS series on the brain, and written several bestselling books. He tells us how to boost creativity and discusses his plans to expand our senses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monique Billings is a professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association. She was drafted into the WNBA in 2018. She shares her personal story about growing up with a strong family foundation, her meditation practice, her commitment to self-care, and her healthy routines. She has an amazing inner compass and an ability to follow her gut, her intuition, and her spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martha is a Ph.D., Harvard-trained sociologist, world-renowned coach, and New York Times bestselling author. She has published nine non-fiction books, one novel, and more than 200 magazine articles. She’s also known as Oprah’s life coach. Her most recent book, The Way of Integrity, Finding Your Path to Your True Self, is an Oprah book club selection and a NY Times bestseller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices