Untangle, The Podcast From Meditation Studio

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

On the 20th anniversary of 9-11, we share the inspiring story of 9-11 survivor Kushal Choksi. In this uplifting episode, we learn how meditation took Kushal from 9-11 to new possibilities of purpose, meaning, and joy. He inspires us to helpful perspectives on finding purpose and liberation in the difficult things we all encounter in our lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Angel, author of "Unstoppable, A 90-day Plan to Biohack your Way to Mind and Body Success", shares how his early depression and lack of energy led him to ‘find solutions’ he never imagined would make him feel better. He made it his mission to explore alternatives beyond medicine and ‘self-help.’ His journey paid off! He talks about how you can close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and shows us how to get fired up and focused with some tools that may have the power to change our lives forever! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leah Weiss is a Ph.D., MSW, researcher, lecturer, consultant, and author of the book. How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind.  Leah is also the co-founder of a company focused on workplace health called Skylyte. She’s best known for her teaching at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and her groundbreaking work with Stanford's Compassion Cultivation Program (conceived by the Dalai Lama). She’s an expert in workplace anxiety, burnout, resilience and offers a multitude of ways to support our mental health. Leah shares several practical tools for finding our purpose AND aligning our goals and values so that we can live our best life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to know how to have the unflappable mindset of a Navy Seal? Our guest, retired Navy Seal “Iron Ed” Hiner, was in charge of creating and designing advanced training for Seal teams and crafted some of the highest performing individuals on earth. He has trained thousands of Seals to perform at their peak under grueling conditions and gives insight into how to train your mental and physical skills to handle the toughest things life throws at you and barely even feel pain. And, surprisingly, to do it with emotional grace and compassion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lodro is a Tibetan Buddhist and author. His most recent book is called Take Back your Mind: Buddhist Advice for Anxious Times. He’s also the author of 6 other meditation books including The Buddha Walks into a Bar and Love Hurts. Lodro has several meditations on the Muse app and has been teaching meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for 20 years. Whether inside or outside of meditation, it’s best not to chase after the thoughts that create strong emotions and anxiety. This is often considered the ‘second arrow’ and is filled with the ongoing stories we tell ourselves. This can be like throwing fuel on a fire. He offers tools, practices, and ideas to help us understand ourselves and tend to our minds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nahko Bear is a wildly popular musician and activist whose indigenous ancestors come from Puerto Rican, Filipino, Mohawk, and Apache roots. His lyrics sing of hard truths and optimism for a better world. In this episode, Ariel Garten has the pleasure of speaking and singing with him just 3 days after his new album "Take Your Power Back", released. He shares his startling life story and raw perspective on the world as they played his songs and talked through the stories behind them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yale Psychology Professor Laurie Santos taught "Psychology and the Good Life" first in spring 2018 in response to concerning levels of student depression, anxiety, and stress on campus. It became the most popular class in Yale's history. Next, Coursera offered the course online, calling it "The Science of Well Being" and, to date, over 400k people have taken it. Laurie Santos has definitely hit a nerve. The good news is that we have a lot more control over our happiness levels than we think. Laurie talks about how to put the science of happiness and well-being to work in our own 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

Dr. Fred Luskin is the Director and Co-founder of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project and the author of several bestselling books including "Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness". He dives into what science tells us about the healing powers and medical benefits of forgiveness. Dr. Luskin explains why you don't have to forget, or even feel good, about 'the incident’ in order to forgive, but we do have to change the story we tell ourselves about the inciting grievance. It’s good stuff for those of us who might hold a grudge or two. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we learn about Mindful sex. Our guide is Jessica Graham mindfulness teacher, actor, and author of “Good Sex” A fun, sensitive, and informative guide that shows you how to bring mindfulness into sex for a bigger, richer, and more present life. We also look at how to use mindfulness to unwind some of the difficulties we can have with sex. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kristin Neff is an extremely well-regarded expert and pioneer in the field of self-compassion. Her most recent book is called Fierce Self Compassion: How Women can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim their Power and Thrive. She discusses how self-compassion allows us to be tender with ourselves in difficult situations, but also that it sometimes needs to be fierce — like the mama bear energy that comes from a place of love, service, and a desire to reduce harm. We must, she says, act courageously to protect ourselves from harm and injustice — and to motivate necessary change in ourselves and society. Her message…women can be fierce and tender. Best quote from the book: "Tender Self-Compassion harnesses the energy of nurturing to alleviate suffering while fierce Self-Compassion harnesses the energy of action to alleviate suffering." We need both. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Work has looked very different over the pandemic. In this episode, we look at what we learned in the transition to work from home, and what work can look like when we go back to the office…. Or not. We show employees and leaders how to mindfully create cultures of trust, and how to ask your boss for your ideal work scenario. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Loretta Breuning, Ph.D. is the author of the book, "Habits of a Healthy Brain -- Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, and Endorphin Levels". Loretta shares how we can retrain our brains to turn on the chemicals that make us happier -- and increase our overall feelings of satisfaction. She founded the Inner Mammal Institute where she provides resources that help people rewire their brains and build new neural pathways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 connection, whether it’s for business or to make and deepen personal connections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maureen is a Social Scientist with 35 years of professional experience as an Integrative Psychotherapist, Executive Coach, Organizational Consultant, Spiritual Teacher, and Mystic. She’s the Co-Founder of ShiftIt Institute and a pioneer in the field of embodiment. She shares how we can use embodiment practices as a way to do the deep work of developing a stronger sense of self and to become more aware of the body and its natural intelligence and wisdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Rudy Tanzi is a leading Alzheimer's researcher whose pioneering genetic research changed our understanding of the disease forever. We are also honored to have him as an advisor to Muse. He shares how meditation & supplements change the brain in ways we’re only beginning to understand and provides practical prescriptions for protecting your brain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Ron Siegel is a psychologist, author and has been an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School for over 35 years. He’s a long-time student and teacher of mindfulness meditation, with a particular focus on chronic pain. He created the recent Meditation Studio app course called Transforming Pain. He’s also written and edited several books where he integrates mindfulness practices, rehabilitation, and mind-body approaches to pain. In this interview, he describes the difference between primary and secondary pain, how to break the chronic pain cycle and how we can develop our capacity to be with pain and discomfort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With re-entry to life after covid comes to a lot of excitement, but also some anxiety of its own. After more than a year of living a very different life, what will it be like to “go back to normal?” is there such a thing as normal? Some of us have discovered as much as we hated being stuck home alone, strangely, the idea of going out to see people again may seem odd now. How do we successfully re-enter? And how do we take what we learned from the pandemic, and translate it into post-traumatic growth, rather than post-traumatic stress? Our guest this week, Dr. Diana hill, is here to help thoughtfully guide the way, with practical methods and powerful insights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychadelic Assisted Therapy has the potential to help us overcome our fears and learn from the contents of our subconscious. Dr. Rick Doblin, the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), is at the forefront of this research and advocacy, and working with the FDA to bring psychedelics to legalization. He shares beautiful insights about the mind, fear, war, and how he sees that psychedelics can save us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices