Did you know that you have a nerve that runs from your brain stem to nearly all of your organs, that helps you shift from fight to flight, to freeze? Well, my guest this month, Dr. Stephen Porges, originator of the Polyvagal Theory, certainly does. Together we discuss the importance of this nerve in your mental health, or ill-health, and how autonomic nerve system regulation undergirds much of the way we feel.

https://a.co/d/fXjacXM

In Episode 51, I speak with Anson Whitmer, co-founder of the men’s mental health app, Mental. We talk about Anson’s graduate research, depression in men, mental health culture, how the mental health app can provide a comfortable space for men, the multitude of things that effect mental health, what bonding looks like in men, the usefulness of cold water, Anson’s personal interest in mental health, rates of suicide in men, the future of AI coaching, the AI infrastructure of Mental’s coaching models, and more.

https://www.getmental.com/

In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Oren Jay Sofer about his brand new book, Your Heart Was Made For This. Oren is a teacher of buddhist mindfulness and author of the previously featured Say What You Mean, which appeared on the podcast as Episode 23. In this episode, we discuss:

• Oren’s motivation for writing the book
• The external expression of the dharma
• The benefits and skill of renunciation
• How equanimity is not about managing expectations, but instead about being more fully with reality, i.e. enthusiasm is not in conflict with equanimity
• The merits of marrying equanimity with beginners mind
• How formal practice creates opportunities in the present moment
• The value of ritual according to the buddha
• Judaism and relationship to the sacred

https://www.orenjaysofer.com/

https://a.co/d/drecH1G

In this episode, I am joined by therapist, author, and professor Mary Pipher to discuss her memoir, A Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence. We discuss her early childhood, participation in activism during the Vietnam War, her tenure as a therapist, her relationship with nature, light and grace, her focus on her family and, more recently, on non-attachment.

https://a.co/d/gpozZHG

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Martha Sweezy, IFS therapist, author and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. We discuss her book, Internal Family Systems Therapy for Shame and Guilt. These topics are covered:

• The multiplicity hypothesis of IFS
• The difference between some Buddhist traditions and IFS
• The ontology of IFS
• The shame cycle
• Soothing parts
• Shaming parts
• Outward shaming parts
• “Scouting” managerial parts
• The kinds of burdens of parts
• How children are self-referential
• Karlen Lyons-Ruth’s research
• The usefulness (or not) of shame

In this episode, I talk with trauma specialist Dr. Frank Anderson about his book Transcending Trauma: Healing Complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems. We discuss:

- What is complex post traumatic stress disorder?

- How widespread some kind of trauma or overwhelming experience is

- The usefulness of empathy vs compassion, especially in clinical settings

- The importance and non-importance of distance between client and clinician

- The difference between IFS and other modalities with regard to the clinician’s mental capacities, or “therapist parts”

- The multiplicity hypothesis of internal family systems

- The difference between grasping the tools of IFS while learning the model and grasping the core message

In this episode, I chat with Sharon Salzberg about her latest book, Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom.

We discuss how useful self compassion is, the difference between remorse and guilt, urge surfing, the limits of mindfulness, the practice of looking directly at difficult feelings, why we might not label hardships as gifts, and the difference between equanimity and resignation, among other topics. Enjoy!

In this episode, I chat with Amy Edelstein, author and creator of the Inner Strength System -- a program for teaching mindfulness to high school aged students. We discuss her book, The Conscious Classroom, and about the impact of her program (over 20,000 students in Philadelphia), the intricacies of its implementation and the special challenges facing teenagers today.

https://amyedelstein.com/

https://innerstrengtheducation.org/

The Conscious Classroom