Episodios

  • Exploring Jewish Mysticism With Rabbi Tirzah Firestone

    Exploring Jewish Mysticism With Rabbi Tirzah Firestone
    Nov 24 2025
    Tirzah Firestone is an author, a Jungian psychotherapist, and a rabbi. She has been a leader in the international Jewish Renewal movement and a scholar and teacher widely known for her groundbreaking work on Kabbalah, depth psychology, intergenerational trauma healing, and the re-integration of the feminine wisdom tradition within Judaism. She lectures and teaches about how harvesting ancestral wisdom can help us at what she considers a critical time in world history. Her books include With Roots in Heaven: One Woman's Passionate Journey Into the Heart of Her Faith; The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom; and her most recent, Wounds Into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma, which combines research in depth psychology, neuroscience, and collective traumatology. We dove into the little-known treasures of Jewish mysticism and the spiritual implications of intergenerational trauma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 2 m
  • The Power of Spiritual Imagination with Rodger Kamenetz

    The Power of Spiritual Imagination with Rodger Kamenetz
    Nov 10 2025
    Rodger Kamenetz is an award-winning poet, author and teacher. He has authored nine books of poetry and several nonfiction books, including (not in chronological order) The History of Last Night’s Dream, which earned him an interview with Oprah Winfrey on her “Soul Series” program; Burnt Books; Stalking Elijah, which won the National Jewish Book Award; and his best known book, The Jew in the Lotus, about an historic dialogue between the Dalai Lama and a group of rabbis that became an international bestseller and prompted a reevaluation of Judaism in the light of Buddhist thought. He is also the founder of Natural Dreamwork, an approach to using dreams for spiritual growth. Now he's written a new book, Seeing Into the Life of Things, which is about the use of imagination in the spiritual life. We spoke mainly about that book, but also about many other intriguing and practical topics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 6 m
  • Pure Unlimited Love With Stephen Post

    Pure Unlimited Love With Stephen Post
    Oct 27 2025
    Professor Stephen G. Post is one of the world’s leading scholars on altruism, love, compassion, and the science of giving. A professor of preventive medicine, he has held leadership positions at various medical schools and is the founder of the Institute for Research on Pure Unlimited Love, which is active across the us and worldwide. Quoting from his bio, “His work bridges science, spirituality, and ethics with a mission to understand how unselfish love heals, uplifts, and transforms both individuals and cultures.” He is also the author of several books, including God and Love on Route 80 and the best-selling Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving. Now he has a new book, Pure Unlimited Love: Science and the Seven Paths to Inner Peace, with a Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We talked about that book, altruism, unlimited love, and other topics that couldn't be more relevant today. Learn more about Dr. Post here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 10 m
  • Karmic Relief Revisited with Phil Goldberg Interviewed by Beryl Bender

    Karmic Relief Revisited with Phil Goldberg Interviewed by Beryl Bender
    Oct 14 2025
    This is the second episode in which Spirit Matter's host, Philip Goldberg, moves to the other side of the interview table. The occasion is the publication of his latest book, Karmic Relief: Harnessing the Laws of Cause and Effect for a Joyful, Meaningful Life. In it, he dives into what karma is, what it is not, and all the practical implications of understanding the laws of karma. His interlocutor this time is Beryl Bender⁠, who has been teaching yoga and meditation since 1971 and has been training yoga teachers through her school, The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute, for nearly 50 years. She’s also the best-selling author of several books on yoga, including ⁠Power Yoga⁠; ⁠Beyond Bower Yoga⁠; and ⁠Yoga for Warriors: Basic Training for Strength, Resilience, and Peace of Mind. She also co-founded the Give Back Yoga Foundation has been a leader in addressing the relationship between yoga practice and activism and service. [Listen as well to an earlier interview about the book with Rabbi Rami Shapiro interviewing Phil.] ⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 12 m
  • The Wisdom of the Kashmir Sages with Paul Muller-Ortega

    The Wisdom of the Kashmir Sages with Paul Muller-Ortega
    Oct 3 2025
    Paul Muller-Ortega was a distinguished professor of the Indic religious traditions who retired from academia in 2006 and founded his school, Blue Throat Yoga. Since then, to quote from his website, “Paul has been teaching practices of deep meditation and the theories of meditation studies. His primary theoretical focus is founded on the teachings of lineages of the Śakta-Śaiva Tantra, particularly as brought forward by the extraordinary medieval siddha guru, Rājānaka Abhinavagupta. Paul is particularly committed to bringing forward deeply authentic and highly effective practices and teachings of modern meditation practice in the context of householder spirituality. And doing so always on the direct basis of the theoretical and philosophical teachings of this important ancient esoteric lineage of the Kashmiri śaiva masters.” He is also focused on training teachers to help carry on his work. We spoke about what distinguishes Kashmir Shavism from other systems, the practical value of integrating deep meditation and other transformative practices into daily life, and other vital topics for living a spiritual life. Learn more about Paul and Blue Throat Yoga here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 7 m
  • Spiritual Awakenings with Yvonne Kason

    Spiritual Awakenings with Yvonne Kason
    Sep 15 2025
    Dr. Yvonne Kason is a retired family physician, psychotherapist, and faculty member at the University of Toronto. She is also an internationally known expert on near-death experiences, kundalini awakening, and other spiritually transformative experiences (STEs). In 1990, she became the first Canadian MD to specialize in researching and counseling patients with diverse types of STEs, a term she coined in 1994. She is past-president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies and the current president of the organization she founded, Spiritual Awakenings International (SAI). SAI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about all types of spiritually transformative experiences. Dr. Kason has published six books, the most recent of which is Soul Lessons From the Light: How Spiritually Transformative Experiences Changed my Life. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Learn more about Dr. Kason here, and Spiritual Awakenings International here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 7 m
  • The Yoga of Social Justice with Judith Carlisle

    The Yoga of Social Justice with Judith Carlisle
    Sep 1 2025
    Judith Carlisle, Ph.D., has a masters degree in Management Information Systems and a doctorate in Computer Information Systems from the University of Arizona. She also earned a masters degree in Yoga Studies from the first-of-its-kind program started by a previous guest on Spirit Matters, Christopher Key Chapple, at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Judith, who began practicing yoga with her grandmother as a young child, is now an adjunct professor in that same Yoga Studies program, She also teaches at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Her teaching integrates the rigorous exploration of yogic and Buddhist texts, philosophies, and history with practices from the Dharmic traditions, e.g. Yoga and Buddhism. Her teaching is dedicated to supporting students and practitioners as they seek to understand how yoga study and practice support personal and worldly transformation, enlightenment, and liberation. She is a credentialed yoga teacher, registered with Yoga Alliance, and her work has included the development and delivery of trauma-informed yoga curricula and the training of Yoga teachers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 7 m
  • Embodying Philosophy with Jacob Kyle

    Embodying Philosophy with Jacob Kyle
    Aug 18 2025
    Jacob Kyle is a scholar, educator, yoga teacher, meditation teacher, and writer. He holds a master of philosophy degree in classical Indian religions from Oxford University, an MA in philosophy from the New School for Social Research, an MS in political theory from the London School of Economics (2007), and is currently earning a doctorate at Oxford, researching a philosophy of creativity rooted in Kashmir Shaivism. A passionate advocate and practitioner of Kashmir Shaivism, he is the founding director of Embodied Philosophy, an online learning platform with an extraordinary collection of courses, lectures, and workshops, which is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. He also hosts the podcast “Chitheads” (chit means consciousness in Sanskrit). His guiding mission, he says, is “to re-imagine the modern function of the yoga teacher so as to be in greater alignment with the teachings, texts, and traditions of yoga's rich and profound history.” We spoke about the challenges of doing that, the origin and purpose of Embodied Philosophy, and more. Jacob's website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 13 m