Groundless Ground Podcast (Lisa Dale Miller, LMFT SEP)

Evan Thompson discusses Embodied Cognition, 4E Cognition, and the problems with studying the mechanisms of mindfulness from a brain-only perspective. Evan is a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He works on the nature of the mind, the self, and human experience by combining cognitive science, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Asian philosophical traditions. Evan holds a thoughtful, critical view in these times of turbulence regarding mindfulness research and methods of delivery, "Mindfulness is not in the head. Being mindful is an embodied, social practice not a private mental state or special pattern of bring activity. Mindfulness is embodied understanding.”

The best place to find out more about Evan's work is his website.  His books include, Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy (Columbia University Press, 2015); Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind (Harvard University Press, 2007); and Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Perception (Routledge Press, 1995). He is the co-author, with Francisco J. Varela and Eleanor Rosch, of The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (MIT Press, 1991, revised edition 2016). Evan is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Stuart Shanker, PhD is a world-renown author, researcher and scholar on self-regulation science and creator of the groundbreaking Self-Reg method for cultivating mental and physical well-being. His life’s work has focused on the beneficial role that positive stress plays in children’s development and learning, and the harmful effects of excessive negative stress on parents, educators, and children. His new book, REFRAMED: Self-Reg for a just society, explores self-regulation in wider, social terms and unpacks the unique science and conceptual practices that are the very lifeblood of the Self-Reg. I have been a big proponent of the Self-Reg methodology and recommend the Self-Reg books and website resources to patients struggling with poor parenting skills and child behavioral problems. Dialoging with Stuart Shanker was simultaneously humbling and affirming. He felt like both a kindred spirit and a wise elder. This episode presents a doable path for healing societal distress and discord by bravely, collectively solving the existential crises of our time.

Self-Reg website https://self-reg.ca/

Stuart Shanker is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Psychology at York University. An internationally celebrated speaker, thinker, and writer, Dr.  Shanker is one of the world’s leading authorities on self-regulation. Stuart trained intensively in child psychotherapy under Stanley Greenspan; he was the Director of the Milton and Ethel Harris Research Initiative at York University; President of the Canadian Council of Early Child development; Director of the council of Human Development; and has served for many years as an advisor to government and education organizations across Canada and internationally. Since 2012 he has been Founder/CEO of The MEHRIT Centre.

Welcome back to the Groundless Ground Podcast! This first in a series of dialogues on the clinical use of embodied contemplative interventions features Peter Payne, researcher at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, and the co-founder of Bodymind Science and creator of Bodymind Training. Long-time master qigong teacher and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Peter has been a key contributor to theoretical modeling of the interoceptive, kinesthetic and proprioceptive mechanisms of Somatic Experiencing Therapy.

Peter shares his exciting clinical research into the use of Bodymind Training targeted qigong for easing symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and informs us about the history and use of traditional qigong. Then we get a taste of the qigong his research subjects practice by engaging in a simple standing qigong exercise. Lisa and Peter continue their lively discussion with an exploration of neurophenomenology, embodied contemplative nondual interventions and embodied neuroscience.

To find out more about Peter Payne and his research please visit bodymindscience.info

Groundless Ground Podcast is available now on iTunes, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Spotify and TuneIn! 

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Eric Garland, PhD, LCSW, and I discuss exciting new research on the effectiveness of Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE)—his unique mindfulness intervention—for alleviating the cognitive-affective distress associated with chronic pain and co-occurring opioid misuse. We also focus on the value of meditation, expanding consciousness, and experiencing bliss in decreasing reliance on opioids and increasing capacity for ordinary pleasures. Lots of neuroscience and we cover research on the role of psychedelics as adjunctive treatment for chronic pain and opioid misuse.

Eric Garland, PhD, LCSW, is a rare combination of rigorous researcher and compassionate clinician. His unique integration of CBT and mindfulness led him to create Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), an integrative group intervention for treating chronic pain, stress, and opioid misuse. His attention to detail and methodology has made him a trusted researcher. In 2019 he was appointed to the NIH HEAL Multi-Disciplinary Working Group to help guide the HEAL initiative on pain and addiction. Our dialogue was exciting for both of us. We share a sense that helping patients attend to savoring and insight is key to moving beyond the murky grasp of addiction.

About 220 million people will experience a traumatic event and 20% of them will subsequently develop symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Rates of PTSD are even higher among US combat veterans. This dialogue on Embodied Contemplative Interventions features clinical psychologist and researcher Richard Miller, the Founder and Executive Director of the Integrative Restoration Institute. The episode begins with a description of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and then Richard offers an in-depth look at the iRest Yoga Nidra Program and its extensive use in military contexts and the Veterans Administration to help soldiers and veterans alleviate the negative symptoms of PTSD. For more than 40 years, Richard Miller has devoted his life and work to integrating Western psychology with the nondual wisdom teachings of Yoga, Tantra, Advaita, Taoism and Buddhism. It is an honor to have him on the Groundless Ground Podcast. For more information on the iRest Yoga Nidra Program and access to Richard's books and videos, please visit https://www.irest.us/

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

My dialogue with Cuong Lu, Buddhist teacher and prison chaplain in the Netherlands, was by far the most moving experience of my podcasting life. Cuong’s wisdom and limitless compassion brought me to tears several times during our time together. He was born in Vietnam and grew up in the midst of war, only knowing fighting until his mother moved them to the Netherlands when he was twelve years old and he experienced friendliness for the first time. He spent many years as a monk with Thich Nhat Hanh and then became a lay Buddhist teacher in 2009. His is a deeply relational dharma characterized by complete embodiment of interbeing, the  empty inseparability of all beings. His remarkable new book, The Buddha in Jail: Restoring Lives, Finding Hope and Freedom recounts his unique application of the Buddhist teachings for prisoners who, he asserts “are often able to understand the Dharma more quickly than those whose lives have been easier.” Cuong is on book tour July 22 - Aug 2 in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Madison, and several venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can find his schedule in the show notes and I urge any of you who can, to attend and meet this remarkable man.

Cuong Lu's Links:

Mind Only School of Buddhist Psychology

Buy The Buddha in Jail

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

This episode is a dive deep into the extraordinary Tibetan Buddhist teachings on Dream Yoga, Sleep Yoga, and the Bardos, with Andrew Holecek; a longtime Tibetan Buddhist practitioner and expert in offering these teachings via contemporary language and authentic practices. Andrew’s methodology goes way beyond lucid dreaming. He believes that shamatha and vipashyana meditation are foundational to all the advanced practices he teaches, and his purpose for sharing this knowledge is facilitating awakening from suffering, rather than feeding a student’s unconscious or conscious need for power or non-ordinary experience. We talk openly about these profound yogas and their ultimate aim—revealing the ever-present continuity of pure awareness underlying waking, dreaming, sleeping and even death.

Andrew's Website

Andrew's Online Dream School

Global Dental Relief Website

Mingyur Rinpoche's extraordinary new book on the Bardo Teachings

• Listen to this episode on Lisa's YouTube Channel

It's time to say farewell to the GG Podcast.   GG Episodes are now housed on Lisa's YouTube Channel.

This is an invitation to all the GG listeners to subscribe and listen to the new Buddhist Psychology Podcast. Thank you for all your support over these 6 years. See you on BPP which cam be found on all the usual podcast apps and my Integrative Psychotherapy Substack!

Subscribe to the Buddhist Psychology Podcast

BPP Episode 2  Apple podcast link

Psychiatrist James S. Gordon pioneered a mind-body methodology widely used around the world for healing psychological trauma. His latest book, The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma, offers a comprehensive evidence-based program anyone can use to reverse the psychological and biological damage caused by traumatic experience. Dr. Gordon interweaves the latest scientific research, inspiring recovery stories, timeless wisdom and 50 years of clinical experience to help readers suffering with PTSD to meet the challenges of healing trauma, while rediscovering joy, meaning and purpose. Dr. Gordon touched me deeply and our dialogue  expanded my clinical knowledge and skills. I am recommending his book to all my patients who are struggling with the effects of trauma.

James S. Gordon, MD , a Harvard-educated psychiatrist, is internationally recognized for using self-awareness, self-care, and group support to heal population-wide psychological trauma. He is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., a clinical professor at Georgetown Medical School, and was chairman (under Presidents Clinton and GW Bush) of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. 

This is a recording of a dharma talk Lisa Dale Miller gave March 19, 2003 at Marin Sangha. 
Recently neuroscientist Richard Davidson reiterated a long-held tenet of Tibetan Buddhism that all human beings share the same wish to be happy and free of suffering, and that this wish emerges from innate basic goodness. This goodness is often viewed in Mahāyāna and Vajrayana Buddhism as an expression of Buddhanature, the fundamental awakened mind of all beings. There is not much in the Pāli Canon to support the notion of innate goodness. However, the Buddha did teach unconditioned mind—a mind purified through contemplative effort, not an innately awakened mind. This dharma talk compares these two frameworks and explores the cultivation of ethical goodness using specific suttas and findings from affective neuroscience. And I am joined by a co-teacher ChatGPT, which explicates historical references to goodness and investigates its own sense of how to engage in ethical conduct. 

Lisa's catalogue of Dharma Talks can be found on the Groundless Ground and those done prior to 2020 are available on my clinical website. 

Though I recorded this episode over two weeks ago, the most recent horrific school shooting has once again highlighted the importance of actively working to end violence in America; especially gun violence. This episode is an exploration of the value of non-harming and its practice in daily life. Learn about the Buddhist psychological view of the causes of human harming and how to avert them, and then engage in a mind training exercise to cultivate equanimity.

From a Buddhist psychological perspective, all acts of harm arise from distorted views and their resulting injurious reactivity. The Buddha famously taught, Hatred never ends through hatred; By non-hate alone does it end. The same can be said of harming which never sees its final end through more harm. That is an awakened view arising from an awakened mind: one that recognizes everything that comes to be, arises dependently upon many causes and conditions. The key to actuating the Buddha’s insight in our daily lives is aspiring to embrace non-violence in body, speech and mind and cultivating equanimity no matter what conditions we may meet. Learn how to accomplish that in this second episode. 

Groundless Ground is now on iTunes Google Play and Stitcher! More information on this episode can be found on the blog page at groundlessground.com 

Stuart Shanker, MD and I address the loss of virtue as a fundamental part of societal and individual conduct and how to reinvigorate it. He notes with sadness the quaint overtones and ironic sarcasm that has infected discussion of virtuous conduct; particularly in politics, journalism, academia, and psychology. We name the war between reason and emotion, rationality and irrationality, and discuss its role in widespread sense of unsafety, outright lying and ‘truthiness’ in media, and the continuing horror of school shootings in America. We discuss solutions for restoring ethical human values so critical for well-being and wholesome relationship. Happy and healthy New Year to every listener and all beings residing on our planet.

Dr. Stuart G. Shanker, is a research professor emeritus of Philosophy and Psychology at York University[1] and the Founder/CEO of The MEHRIT Centre(TMC) 2012. He is also the founder and Science Director of the Self-Regulation Institute (SRI), and an acclaimed author and international speaker.[2] He is best known as Canada's leading expert in the psychophysiological theory of self-regulation. His latest book is REFRAMED: Self-Reg for a just society.

Psychologist, researcher, and executive Cassandra Vieten and I dialogue about a wide range of interventions that can shift the mental health crisis into a mental health renaissance. Cassie’s many years of offering patients empirically-based, mind-body tools for sustainable transformation, has taken place at several renowned academic medical institutions and greatly contributed to psychology’s integration of embodied, spiritually-oriented interventions for human flourishing such as: meditation, qigong and tai chi, being in nature, ritual, spiritual exploration, and most recently, psychedelics. This is a jam-packed episode full of practical information for health professionals seeking easy ways to facilitate patient well-being.

Watch Cassie's TED Talk!

 Build Your Ecosystem!

Cassandra Vieten is Director of Research and Associate Scientist at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Executive Director of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, co-founder and Clinical Psychology Director at the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UCSD, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. She is a licensed clinical psychologist. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She was a Scientist at the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group for 12 years, and worked at the Institute of Noetic Sciences for 18 years. She has authored three books and has published numerous articles in scientific journals. 

This episode features an in-depth dialogue with Kathy L. Kain, on how to work somatically and psychotherapeutically with patients suffering the effects of developmental trauma and complex trauma. Kathy has recently co-authored a groundbreaking book on this topic titled, Nurturing Resilience. Kathy generously explicates the mechanisms of developmental traumatic experiences and their manifestation in adulthood as complex trauma syndromes, somatic shame, and personality disorders. She also shares psychological and affective neuroscience research on trauma, and outlines a roadmap for integrating somatic skills with traditional psychotherapy.

Kathy L. Kain is an expert in integrating touch into the practice of psychotherapy and trauma recovery, with 37 years of clinical experience. She is a senior instructor of Somatic Experiencing Therapy, and spends most of her time training psychotherapists in the physiology of traumatic stress through her popular program, Touch Skills Training for Trauma Therapists. 

Find out more about her work at: http://somaticpractice.net

Buy the book: Nurturing Resilience

More information on Somatic Experiencing Therapy can be found at: https://traumahealing.org/ 

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Psychologist Raja Selvam, discusses his new book, The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Guide for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes.  Raja is the creator of Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™), an effective somatic therapy that encourages optimal mental health by fully embodying emotions. Raja and I explore how clinicians can facilitate patient resolution of difficult emotions by allowing increased recognition of emotion and then expanding that emotion to more of the body. Rather than cognitively down-regulating emotions, this somatic approach of expanding emotion increases affect tolerance and resolves systemic distress. ISP is a complementary modality for all talk therapy methods. It was an honor to dialogue with Raja about ISP and also our mutual interest in non-dual philosophy.

Clinical psychologist Raja Selvam, PhD, is the developer of Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™), an effective somatic therapy that helps clients achieve optimal mental health by fully embodying their emotions. Raja is also a senior trainer at Somatic Experiencing® International. His work is informed by Reichian Therapy and Bioenergetic Analysis, Bodynamic Analysis and Somatic Experiencing, and bodywork systems of Postural Integration and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. His work is also inspired by Jungian and archetypal psychologies, Kleinian and intersubjective schools of psychoanalysis, affective neuroscience, quantum physics, yoga, Polarity Therapy, and Advaita Vedanta (a spiritual psychology from India). He did trauma outreach work in India in 2005–2006 with survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, based on which he has published an outcome study titled “Somatic Therapy Treatment Effects with Tsunami Survivors,” in the journal Traumatology in 2008. Dr. Selvam’s work is also inspired by the work he did in Sri Lanka in 2012–2014 with survivors of war, violence, loss, and displacement, and with mental health professionals engaged in treating them, after Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war ended in 2009.

How can mental health professionals understand mental confusion from a Buddhist psychological perspective? This episode features a dharma talk by Lisa Dale Miller on a profoundly informative Sutta from the Pali Canon which offers answers to that question. Lisa also provides supplementary psychological commentary on the Sutta after the talk is finished.

This episode is an educational and fun dialogue with Ken Wilgus, PhD, the author of Feeding The Mouth That Bites You, a practical guide for parents of adolescents targeted at helping them facilitate their teenager’s autonomy, responsibility, self-efficacy and independence. We touch on many tough subjects: behavior issues, academic performance, helicopter parenting, failure to launch, device culture, teen sexuality, faith and morality, substance and porn use. 

Dr. Ken Wilgus is a sought-after speaker and regularly teaches on a wide range of topics relating to parenting, marriage, family and faith.  He conducts training workshops for educators and has been a consultant with several area school districts as well as private schools. He is also co-founder of RingLeaders, a men’s ministry focused on strengthening the role of husbands in Christian marriage.

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

My second dialogue with Evan Thompson covers his latest and most controversial book, Why I Am Not A Buddhist, which spotlights conceptual and functional problems with Buddhist modernism, Buddhist exceptionalism, Buddhist Empiricism, and neural Buddhism. With philosophical adeptness, Evan argues a cosmopolitan view of not-self and enlightenment, and skillfully slays popular one-dimensional co-options of the Buddhist teachings by Robert Wright and Sam Harris. This episode is dedicated to Evan’s father, writer and scholar William Irwin Thompson who recently passed away; a man who profoundly impacted my life particularly during my 20’s, when I was deeply interested in the cultural evolution of patriarchy and modern human’s loss of connection with the natural world.

Evan Thompson is a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He works on the nature of the mind, the self, and human experience by combining cognitive science, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Asian philosophical traditions. The best place to find out more about Evan's work is his website.  

Divorce is almost as much a part of life as marriage. Yet most couples are in the dark about pro-social, non-toxic approaches to divorce. Enter Gabrielle Hartley, attorney, mediator and co-author of Better Apart, a practical guide for skillfully executing a divorce and emerging a wiser, more compassionate and resilient human being. The uniqueness of this approach comes from expert integration of sound legal wisdom and teachings on skillful means from yogic and Buddhist philosophies. You will detect my deep appreciation for Gabrielle and this book, as it has radically simplified the way I counsel patients who find themselves in divorce pre-contemplation or ultimately deciding to separate and/or divorce. This episode is inspiring and informative. I ask many difficult questions, many of which I often hear as a Marriage and Family Therapist; particularly in Silicon Valley where divorce can be ugly, protracted and wreak financial devastation and emotional turmoil for all involved parties.

Website: https://gabriellehartley.com

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

This episode features Anna Lembke, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University Medical School and author of the massively influential book Drug Dealer, MD. Dr. Lembke shares her immeasurable expertise in psychiatry, dual-diagnosis and chronic pain treatment, with a heavy dose of unmitigated truth-telling. Our dialogue is a thoughtful, no holds barred look at: The toyotaization of medicine; the devastating effects of opiate over-prescribing coupled with ineffective chronic pain treatments; the ongoing discontents of addiction and dual-diagnosis treatment; the problems with widespread naïveté about the use of cannabis and CBD; and the inequities and ineffectualness of our health care system. We share knowledge about integrative treatment and the need for psychiatry, psychology and general medicine to embrace it or become irrelevant. I think you’ll find this episode eye-opening, enlightening and timely.

Dr. Lembke's website 

Drug Dealer, MD

TEDx Stanford Lecture

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

This episode features Jose Calderón-Abbo, MD. A native of Mexico City, Dr. Calderón is board certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine, with an additional certification in mind-body medicine. In addition to his private practice in New Orleans, Dr. Calderón has served as Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at LSU School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Faculty with Tulane University Department of Psychiatry, and is national faculty for the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C. Last month, Dr. Calderón embarked on a major career transition taking the helm as Medical Director of Behavioral Health for Louisiana with Optum/United Health Group.

Our conversation dives into practice and delivery of mental health care in America covering many topics including: Integrative mental health, the opioid addiction crisis, economic disparity and poor healthcare access, medication use in complementary psychiatry, effects of climate change on healthcare needs, trauma-informed diagnosis and treatment, the application of mindfulness and Buddhist psychology in psychiatric practice, and career/life transitions.

Episode links:

Dr. Calderón's website: mindfulpsychiatry.com

Climate Psychiatry Alliance  http://climatepsych.wpengine.com/

(ITRC) International Transformation Resilience Coalition http://www.theresourceinnovationgroup.org/intl-tr-coalition/

Book by Anna Lembke, MD Drug Dealer MD

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Lama Rod Owens, African-American author and Tibetan Buddhist teacher, describes himself as, “black, queer, cisgender, and male-identified, fat, mixed class, Buddhist teacher and minister, yoga teacher, and s**t-talking Southerner.” When I contacted Lama Rod more than a year ago to have him on the show, his assistant told me he was deep into writing his newly published book, Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger, and to check back in the Spring of 2020. Well, America has been through so much since then, and I am so happy Lama Rod and I got to have this dialogue now, in the midst of a pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and America’s ever-intensifying political turmoil. Love and Rage is a must-read for anyone seeking to grapple with identity: how to know it and the suffering it causes, and use that pain and understanding to walk the path of liberation from human suffering. This is a radical GG dialogue unlike any other. May it be of benefit to all who listen.

Welcome to the end of the year, the end of the decade, and the last episode in GG Season Two. From the creator’s side, GG Season 3 looks like the best is yet to come.

It’s been a challenging year globally in so many ways. And certainly climate disruption tops the list of 2019’s human failures: We utterly fail to comprehend the consequences of our continued denials, delayals and complacency. America is truly the worst offender and I suspect this is because temperature rise is always described in Celsius; a numbering system Americans don’t relate to conceptually or emotionally. We speak Fahrenheit. A 1° Celsius rise doesn’t sound like much to Americans. A correlative 33° Fahrenheit rise sounds terrifying.

This is a dharma talk I gave in September 2019, which lays out the hard truths of inhabitability that come with climate disruption and temperature rise (all numbers are given in Fahrenheit) and offers a Buddhist psychological view of humanity’s continuing denials of and complacency about climate disruption. None of what you are about to hear is conjecture or climate science’s worst case scenario. Nonetheless it is alarming. And I try in this talk to make sense of what about our human evolutionary wiring and our kleshic perceptual habits, that makes it so hard for us to truly comprehend the enormity of destruction we are causing our planet and its inhabitants. I pray this episode inspires others to renounce denial and fully embrace individual and collective actions in this next decade that can, in some way, mitigate the horrors of climate disruption.

Visit Lisa’s website to download more of her dharma talks, view her 2020 Bay Area Teaching schedule, and learn more about her psychotherapy practice and publications.

Listen on Lisa's Youtube Channel

David Vago, PhD offers a neuroscience of mindfulness update providing clarity on what mindfulness is, is not, can and cannot do, and what is known about effective prescribing and dosing of meditation. He is research director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, director of the Contemplative Neuroscience and Integrative Medicine Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and an associate professor in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and department of Psychiatry. Dave’s research focuses on the healing effects of meditative practices for a variety of mental health and physical pain disorders. Three years ago, Dave and I recorded in-depth dialogues on awakening, which are still available on my Youtube channel.

Dave's Vanderbilt research page

Osher Center website

Lisa and Dave's Awakening Dialogues

Mindfulness Research Collaborative website

Dave's TED talk

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Eric Garland, PhD, LCSW, is a rare combination of rigorous researcher and compassionate clinician. His unique integration of CBT and mindfulness led him to create Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), an integrative group intervention for treating chronic pain, stress, and opioid misuse. His attention to detail and methodology has made him a trusted researcher. In 2019 he was appointed to the NIH HEAL Multi-Disciplinary Working Group to help guide the HEAL initiative on pain and addiction. Our dialogue was exciting for both of us. We share a sense that helping patients attend to savoring and insight is key to moving beyond the murky grasp of addiction.

Eric Garland, PhD, LCSW,  is Distinguished Endowed Chair in Research, Professor, and Associate Dean for Research  in the University of Utah College of Social Work, Director of the Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development (C-MIIND) and, Associate Director of Integrative Medicine in Supportive Oncology and Survivorship at the Hunstman Cancer Institute. Dr. Garland has had over 150 scientific articles and book chapters published in respected, peer-reviewed outlets, and he currently serves as Associate Editor for the journal Mindfulness.

This is a very special episode featuring Anne C. Klein, PhD, aka Lama Rigzin Drolma; Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, Buddhist Studies scholar and Tibetan translator, author, and Tibetan Buddhist teacher. It was such an honor to discuss Dr. Klein’s groundbreaking book, Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse Foundational Practices and the Transmission of the Longchen Nyingthig. We speak frankly and deeply about Nundro; its practice and relevance for Western Tibetan Buddhist practitioners. Dr. Klein also generously shares her rich history of engagement with Buddhist academia and her long-standing relationship with Tibetan Buddhism as a practitioner and guiding teacher of Dawn Mountain Tibetan Temple and Institute. May this episode be dedicated to the welfare and benefit of all beings everywhere.

Anne Carolyn Klein is Professor and a former Chair of the Department of Religion, Rice University, where she helped developed a contemplative studies concentration for graduate students. Co-founder of the Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism. She is a Lama in the Nyingma (ancient) Buddhist tradition.

Cortland Dahl, PhD exemplifies a rare mix of contemplative and scientific talent. He is a longtime Buddhist practitioner, scholar, translator of Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā Tibetan Buddhist texts, and meditation teacher. Cort has served for many years as the main translator for Mingyur Rinpoche and is the co-founder of Tergar International. He tells us the unusual story of how they met. Over the last 7 years, Cort completed a PhD at the University of Wisconsin Center for Healthy Minds, focused on the psychological and neural mechanisms of different families of meditation practices. In addition to his continuing work at Tergar, Cort currently serves as Chief Contemplative Officer of Healthy Minds Innovations and is the creator of Healthy Minds programs, a well-being research and training program that integrates insights from science with a comprehensive path of contemplative training. A list of his published works can be found on the Groundless Ground blog. 

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Last week a patient greeted me with these words, “2020. Clear vision.” That declaration of clear knowing, exemplifies every wish I have for our world as we step into a new decade. See clearly, care deeply, act wisely. Though I infrequently feature two dharma talks in a row on this podcast, this one epitomizes the power of imparting wisdom at a time when our world is in such disarray. As part of a series of talks on the Four Noble Truths, I was tasked to teach on the First Noble Truth: the Buddha’s clear seeing of inherent unsatisfactoriness and its key role in giving rise to all forms of human suffering. True understanding of this teaching liberates habitual tendencies to harm oneself, others and our world. May this dharma talk awaken as many beings as possible to the interconnected nature of our human existence, and set an equal number on the path of Seeing clearly, caring deeply, and acting wisely.

Lisa Dale Miller, LMFT, LPCC, SEP is licensed to practice psychotherapy in California. New York. Oregon, and is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. Her office is located in Los Gatos, CA. In 2014 Lisa authored Effortless Mindfulness: Genuine mental health through awakened presence, a highly regarded textbook on Buddhist psychology for mental health professionals. Lisa has been an outpatient clinician for the Veterans Administration San Jose and a teacher of Mindfulness-based Interventions. She presents at conferences and trains clinicians in the clinical applications of mindfulness and Buddhist psychology. Lisa is a dharma teacher and has been a yogic and Buddhist meditation practitioner for over four decades. Lisa is the creator and host of the Groundless Ground Podcast.

If it is not by now fully apparent how much I love science, this conversation, well more accurately this rare chance to sit at the feet of a science master, is proof that there is nothing more surprising and profound than the physics of space, time, information, and quantum reality. Cosmologist, UCSC physics professor, science activist, and author Anthony Aguirre, generously discusses the intricacies of deep reality he shares in his astonishingly creative new book titled, Cosmological Koans: A Journey to the Heart of Physical Reality. His book transported me into a multifaceted explanatory world of historical fiction, mathematics and mind-blowing truths about our cosmos and the nature of reality itself. It should be at the top of everyone’s gift giving book list. Anthony is a rare jewel. In addition to his teaching and research, he has co-founded two seminal institutes: One supporting cutting-edge physics and other focused on the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Biotech, energy and climate disruption. Links to both websites are included in the show notes and I urge every listener to visit these resources. The last part of our conversation probes the perils and promise of AI, a tidal wave of change every human should be both excited and concerned about.

Listen on Lisa's YouTube Channel

Anthony Aguirre is a professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the associate scientific director of the Foundational Questions Institute a nonprofit organization that he co-founded and co-runs He is also co-founder of Future of Life Institute. Anthony received his doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University in 2000 and then spent three years as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton before accepting a professorship in the physics department of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has worked on a wide variety of topics in theoretical cosmology (the study of the formation, nature, and evolution of the universe), including the early universe and inflation, gravity physics, first stars, the intergalactic medium, galaxy formation, and black holes.

Lisa Dale Miller starts this episode with an explanation of why the Groundless Ground Podcast has been on hiatus for the last year. Then the episode presents a dharma talk Lisa gave at Marin Sangha one month ago. Her talk is a reminder that every moment is an invitation to decrease the mass of human suffering by seeding the world with at least one more quiescent, wise, and compassionate mind committed to non-harming. Lisa explicates why cultivation of Bodhicitta is the ultimate path to accomplishing that aim, right in the midst of ordinary daily life. 

Longchenpa's Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind

Lisa Dale Miller, LMFT, LPCC, SEP specializes in working with high-performing professionals (engineers, scientists, executives, physicians/psychologists, first responders) struggling with unresolved traumatic experiences: particularly medical trauma, C-PTSD, combat and war trauma, moral injury, high-impact injuries, burnout, workplace harassment, traumatic grief, and challenging life transitions.
Lisa authored Effortless Mindfulness: Genuine mental health through awakened presence a highly regarded textbook on Buddhist psychology for mental health professionals. Lisa has been an outpatient clinician for the VA San Jose, has taught a variety of Mindfulness-based Interventions, and is an AAMFT Clinical Fellow. Lisa is a Buddhist teacher and has been a yogic and Buddhist meditation practitioner for over four decades.

Psychiatrist, renown mindfulness and habit change researcher, Jud Brewer, MD, PhD once again disrupts conventional framing of mental health disorders and their treatment. This time the target is anxiety. Jud says you cannot think your way out of anxiety.  Because anxiety is actually a habit loop—an unrewarding reward that experientially and neurobiologically mirrors addiction. Jud unpacks this brilliant and effective revisioning of anxiety and a radically beautiful treatment model, which is featured in his NY Times Bestselling new book, Unwinding Anxiety.  Then Jud and I switch gears and discuss the intersection of meditation and psychedelic research. How these treatment models can complement each other and what top academic psychedelic researchers are learning from seasoned meditation researchers like Jud. This jam-packed episode delighted us both and we expect you too will love being along for the ride. 

Unwinding Anxiety Book
Unwinding Anxiety App

Jud Brewer, MD PhD is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center and associate professor in psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University, as well as a research affiliate at MIT. Before that, he held research and teaching positions at Yale University and the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness. Read more about his research here. Dr. Jud also serves as the executive medical director of behavioral health at Sharecare. He has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including both in-person and app-based treatments for smoking, emotional eating, and anxiety (Eat Right Now, Unwinding Anxiety and Craving to Quit). Dr. Jud is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large.

This is a very special and quite different kind of episode to finish out the Groundless Ground’s 5th season. I have a frank discussion about the pitfalls of packaging and delivering meditation as a performative act in health contexts with Donna Sherman—clinical social worker and teacher of practical wisdom from yoga sciences, mindfulness meditation and behavioral sciences. Since Donna has studied extensively in the Tantric yoga tradition and I have expertise in Buddhist psychology, we interview each other about the ancient science behind Yogic and Buddhist meditative practices. Donna’s Therapeutic Yoga Nidra is the NSDR (non-sleep deep rest) practice I refer to my patients. And Donna is also a longtime dear friend and colleague from whom I have learned so much. It is hard to imagine a good life without her along for the ride! And wow, 5 years and 60 episodes. What an adventure Groundless Ground has been and much gratitude to every listener! You continue to be my greatest inspiration. Best wishes for the holidays and very happy and healthy New Year! 

This dialogue with Jeremy Lent is chockfull of insights and guidance on how individuals can make lasting, positive impacts and change the collective current disastrous course humanity appears to be on. Jeremy is a modern-day renaissance man. Educated at Cambridge University and University of Chicago, he founded and IPOed an early internet company, and then due to distressful life circumstances, left the business world to engage in deep inquiry into the confluences of meaning and truth pervading modern science and ancient wisdom traditions. Jeremy is an award-winning novelist and the author of The Patterning Instinct, a non-fiction work which investigates the patterns of thought that have led our civilization to its current crisis of sustainability. He is the founder of the Liology Institute, a non-profit dedicated to fostering a scientifically rigorous and intrinsically meaningful integrated worldview; one that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth. 

https://www.jeremylent.com/

https://liology.org

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

This dialogue with visionary psychotherapist Gina Ross—a pioneer in understanding and healing collective trauma—is both informative and deeply moving. A Syrian Jew with empathy for both Israeli and Arabic cultures, and founder of the International Trauma Healing Institutes, Gina has devoted her life’s work to resolving the societal and individual dysregulation that underlies trauma and ultimately feeds all forms of violence and hatred. 

Gina discusses the role of trauma in conflict zones such as the Middle East, and how to heal that trauma and bring about personal and collective peace using integrative methodologies. Her Ross Model and its practical application Emotion Aid, have been successfully deployed in Israel and Palestine, and other conflict zones to help heal traumatized citizens and military personnel. In collaboration with an Israeli clinical research team, Gina recently published a widely-read, peer-reviewed control-group study of Somatic Experiencing.

Gina Ross was on my 'podcast guest bucket list'. Her wisdom is a result of a lifetime of personal and professional experience with Middle East conflict and the trauma that underlies its seeming intractability. The episode starts with Gina’s personal history and how it informed her genuine understanding of collective trauma. She then offers in-depth information about successful treatment of PTSD using SE, somatic psychotherapy, Emotion Aid, and integrative medicine. We finish with a frank discussion about the lack of robust SE research and how that can unfortunate situation can be remedied.

Links and downloads for Gina Ross, MFCC, SEP International Trauma Healing Institutes

Peer-reviewed Somatic Experiencing Study in ISSTS Journal

Emotion Aid Brief Guide

Trauma Vortex in Action in the Middle East (article)

Gina's books on Amazon

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

This episode is a dharma talk I gave online at Marin Sangha on 9/13, when we were experiencing insane wildfires burning throughout our area. The talk uses the Fire Sutta to explore collective conduct and personal responsibility in the midst of extreme life circumstances such as 2020 continues to bring many of us. My intention in releasing it now is to incline every eligible American to vote with the preservation of our democracy foremost in mind. Our President and Senate leaders have failed us in so many ways: 200,000 unnecessary deaths from COVID-19, their complete lack of interest in the obvious effects of climate disruption such as the massive wildfires here in the West, and their direct attempts to undermine voting and American democracy. Every American must wake up and out of complacency. It is time to remove these harmful, self-serving leaders from power. We each have the power to restore our nation to sanity, restore our government to health, and restore wisdom, intelligence and collective care as the central motivation for our nation. May every voter have an easeful, meaningful voting process! 

Lisa's website

Richard Hill and Matthew Dahlitz have written a comprehensive, definitively modern psychotherapy textbook titled, "Practitioners Guide to the Science of Psychotherapy". Their book covers basic neuroscience, body-brain systems, genetic processes and the application of integrative psychotherapy modalities for mental health disorders. This is the textbook I wished for many years ago when I attended graduate school. I was so excited to dialogue with these two brilliant men about the current sad state of standard psychotherapy, and the need for updated curricula and therapist retraining that rests upon scientifically validated patient-responsive treatments. This episode is a critical rallying cry in support of transforming a psychology/psychotherapy profession that fails to adequately meet the needs of so many patients. 

Richard Hill  is managing editor of The Science of Psychotherapy  magazine and lives in Sydney, Australia.  at 42 (1996) beginning with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in linguistics. This triggered a curiosity that led to a diploma in counselling and a new career in psychotherapy. Studying continued and he has added three Masters degrees – an MA in Social Ecology; an MEd in Social Ecology; and a Masters in Brain and Mind Sciences (MBMSc) from Sydney University. Richard is also fortunate to be mentored by the esteemed Ernest Rossi PhD who has invited Richard into the International Psychosocial Genomics Research 

Matthew Dahlitz  is editor-in-chief of The Science of Psychotherapy magazine. He founded The Neuropsychotherapist in 2013 and lives in Brisbane, Australia. autodidactic, whose knowledge spans across the arts, technology, psychology, neuroscience, emergency medicine, and business. Studied psychology at the University of Queensland and gained a Master of Counselling postgraduate degree–now a specialist in neuropsychotherapy and the Editor-in-Chief of The Neuropsychotherapist, has taught post-graduate courses in neuropsychotherapy, and is author of the book The Psychotherapists’s Essential Guide to the Brain.

This episode features a dharma talk given by Lisa Dale Miller at Marin Sangha in March 2019. The talk begins with a discussion of teachers and their fallibilities, and the ethical standards the Buddhist teachings require teachers to uphold. The second part of the talk focuses on human beings who spend their lives engaged in wrongdoing, realize their misconduct, endeavor to transform internal suffering, and consequently end further wrongdoing. How do we hold such individuals accountable for their actions without getting lost in generating hatred toward them and their wrongdoing? How can we develop a compassionate view of those who have been harmful are no longer a source of harm? The wisdom of how to accomplish this is a big part of the Buddhist teachings on wise view, wise intention, wise action and compassionate recognition of human suffering.

An example of the Buddhist teachings on transforming harm is found in a sutta featuring a teaching by Angulimala, a mentally disturbed murderer who became a monk, renounced violence, and then served as attendant to the historical Buddha.

"Who once did live in negligence

And then is negligent no more

Who checks the evil deed he did

by doing wholesome deeds instead

He illuminates the world

Like the moon freed from a cloud

There are some that tame with beatings

But I was tamed by such who has no rod nor any weapon

Harmless is the name I bear

who was dangerous in the past

The name I bear today is true

I hurt no living being at all."

Are non-human animals conscious? Do non-human animal minds have concepts, intelligence, memory, intentionality, ethics, and social behavior? Kristin Andrews, professor of philosophy, author, and pioneering researcher in moral cognition, discusses non-human animal consciousness and the ethical problems of using non-human animals, like rats, as research subjects. To celebrate the newly released Second Edition of Kristin’s seminal textbook, The Animal Mind, we dive deep into philosophical inquiry on animals and consciousness—how and what animals think, what skills they possess, what moral and social structures they create and live by, and throughout our conversation she tackles the minefield of ethical questions about animal rights and using animals in scientific and medical research. Kristin also candidly describes how she conquered obstacles most women face navigating and succeeding in the largely male-dominated world of academic philosophy. This episode will broaden your perspective on our animal brothers and sisters, and how closely related we truly are.

https://kristinandrews.org/   

Psychedelic-assisted interventions appear to be all the rage these days. Though there are many psychedelic evangelists I wanted to find a credible medical resource to discuss these treatments. Deep gratitude to my friend Ron Purser who introduced me to my esteemed guest, Sylver Quevedo, MD, a pioneer in integrative family and internal medicine, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford and UCSF, co-Founder of Polaris Insight Center for Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and Principle Investigator in the FDA clinical trials on MDMA for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Our conversation was enlightening and it was fascinating to hear about Dr. Quevedo’s long history of work in public health, his devotion to providing medical care for indigenous populations in the American Southwest and Africa, and his enduring personal and professional interest in clinical use of psychedelic plant medicines. He beautifully explicates the biologic mechanisms of psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, ayahuasca, mescaline and how these substances differ in effect and usefulness in psychotherapy. Dr. Quevedo is limited in discussing outcomes of the current phase 3 MDMA trials but he shared results of previous MDMA for PTSD trials, as well as use of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for end-of-life anxiety, depression, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for suicidal depression and chronic pain. So sit back and enjoy the journey this amazing physician takes us on.

https://www.polarisinsight.com/

https://maps.org Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies 

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ NIH MDMA Studies

Sylver Quevedo, MD, Internist Polaris Co-Founder and Medical Director has been in continuous practice of medicine for 40 years and practices nephrology, family, internal, and integrative medicine. He serves as Assistant Professor  at Stanford and UCSF.  He has played pivotal roles in several global health projects, including planning and development of medical and nursing school in Africa. The staff at Polaris Insight Center are dedicated to the ethical and compassionate clinical use of ketamine-assisted, and psychedelic-assisted, psychotherapy. Our founding members are all MAPS (Multi-disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) trained clinicians who have participated in both Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.

It’s been a very disturbing few weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine. Coincident with the initiation of war, clinician, author and dharma teacher Lisa Dale Miller taught two weeks in a row at Marin Sangha. These two dharma talks explore, from a Buddhist point of view, what it means to be wise, compassionate, and even awakened in the midst of difficult circumstances. The second talk, which starts at 27:00, dives deeper into what the Buddha called, the rod of violence, as well as its causes and alleviation. May these talks benefit all beings everywhere and contribute to the end of all war and violence.

Consciousness remains a scientific puzzle: what it is, what creates it, and though all known conscious systems are alive, not all living systems are conscious. These days cortical-based theories of consciousness are all the rage. However, renown neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Mark Solms has put forth, in his book “The Hidden Spring”, a radically convincing theory for the subcortical, homeostatic origins of consciousness rooted primarily in feeling or what is known as affect. Dr. Solms explains why a particular area of the brainstem is his choice for where the lights of consciousness get switched on and off and deftly explains the difference between mind and consciousness, and why humans have evolved a mind to mediate between the needs of the visceral body, the self, and the objects in the world that satisfy those needs.Dr. Solms’ research on consciousness has recently pivoted toward bridging affect into artificially intelligent systems and yes we do talk about the ethics of that frightening possibility. This episode is fascinating and mind-blowing and I am so grateful to have had time with such a compassionate and brilliant researcher, clinician. 

Mark Solms is a renown South African psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist best known for discovering forebrain mechanisms of dreaming, and neuropsychoanalysis, his unique integration of psychoanalytic theory with neuroscientific methodology. He holds the Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology) and is the President of the South African Psychoanalytical Association. He is also Research Chair of the International Psychoanalytical Association (since 2013). Solms founded the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society in 2000 and he was a Founding Editor (with Ed Nersessian) of the journal Neuropsychoanalysis. He is Director of the Arnold Pfeffer Center for Neuropsychoanalysis at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.

Two recent dharma talks given by Lisa Dale Miller at Marin Sangha explicate what kindness is from Buddhist psychological perspective and how it radically differs from niceness. To lay the groundwork of what kindness is, the first talk employs a very challenging sutta, “The Simile of the Saw”, where the Buddha proscribes wholesome conduct in all manner of difficult relational engagements.  The second talk investigates kindness and niceness and clarifies their differences. Niceness though pleasing or agreeable, is only intended to avoid discomfort and is deceptive and disingenuous. Kindness is genuine benevolence enacted through skillful application of presence and discerning wisdom. Due to its engaged and other-centered nature, kindness isn’t always easy and navigating the discomfort it can bring is the common ground of both talks. May these talks lead to the awakening of all beings everywhere. 

This is a very special episode with Beverley Kane, MD, discussing her book Equine-imity: Stress Reduction and Emotional Self-Regulation in the Company of Horses, which introduces us to somatic horsemanship—a therapeutic practice for exploring the physical relationship between humans and horses, on the ground and on the horse, to promote body-mind-spirit well-being in both species. Dr. Kane portrays horses as consummate teachers of healthy embodiment and emotional resilience and describes interventions like medical qigong that help patients learn how to regulate and heal nervous system and psychological dysfunction.  She tells us about somato-intuitive skills horses naturally use like presentiment and going back to grazing which we can model and implement to enrich our daily lives. This is an informative and enchanting dialogue to kick off 2022 with a heartfelt wish for total health.

Beverley Kane, MD, is Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine and an integrative medicine physician in the Stanford Division of Primary Care and Population Health, Palo Alto, California. She is the founder and Lead Mare of Horsensei Equine-Assisted Learning and Therapy (HEALTH). 

Psychologist Jim Hopper and I discuss the neurobiology of trauma, MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, the critical role embodied treatment modalities play in trauma healing, and use of Buddhist psychology and Internal Family Systems (IFS) for trauma resolution. He fully explicates the process used in the FDA-approved and MAPS-sponsored MDMA phase 3 trials, discusses the results, and clarifies for whom MDMA, Ketamine or psilocybin sessions could be adjunctive trauma treatment. We also discuss a habit model of understanding trauma response as well as an updated ethical view of addiction. Jim is a consummate communicator. That, coupled with his depth and breadth of knowledge about trauma therapy, make this episode a critical listen for every clinician working in the trauma field. 

JIm's website

Jim's publications

Jim Hopper, PhD is most often sought for his expertise on the neurobiology of trauma and sexual assault, and on the unique experiences and needs of males who have experienced sexual abuse or sexual assault. He trains others in contemplative practices that transform the brain to bring healing and genuine happiness, and is co-editor of Mindfulness-Oriented Interventions for Trauma: Integrating Contemplative Practices. He is a sub-investigator at the Boston site of the FDA-approved and MAPS-sponsored phase 3 trial of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD. Jim is a Teaching Associate in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School, and a consultant to the Outpatient Addictions Service of the Cambridge Health Alliance.

Depression is a relapsing disease and preventing future depressive episodes is critical for lifelong mental health. Psychiatrist and UCSF Professor Emeritus Stuart Eisendrath’s new book, When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough: Harnessing mindfulness to alleviate depression, is a layperson’s guide for depression relapse prevention. His book offers detailed psycho-education on depression and anxiety (something most patients rarely receive) and features an easy-to-follow program of targeted breath exercises, meditations, and innovative visualizations from Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), an evidence-based, 8-week course offered for many years at the UCSF Depression Center. It was a great honor to have time with Dr. Eisendrath and I know this conversation will be deeply informative for both clinicians and people suffering with depression and anxiety.

Stuart Eisendrath, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences is a psychiatrist who cares for patients with depressive disorders and treatment resistant depression, and was  UCSF Depression Center's founding director. A distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, he has authored many books on psychiatric disorders and using mindfulness to treat depression.

In this year of radical loss, Opening to Grief: Finding your way from loss to peace is an essential guidebook for anyone navigating grief and loss. Claire B. Willis, author, clinical social worker, ordained lay Buddhist chaplain and yoga teacher talks about her journey writing this book and shares expert counsel about the many ways to honor any form of loss you might be experiencing as 2020 comes to a close. This is an invaluable episode for closing a horrifically strange year, and doing what we can to bravely move into 2021 renewed and ready for change. 

https://openingtogrief.com/

Claire B. Willis is a clinical social worker and an ordained lay Buddhist chaplain and yoga teacher. She has spent over two decades working with oncology patients with a focus on end of life issues, therapeutic writing and bereavement counseling. A co-founder of Facing Cancer Together: A Community of Hope, Claire is also an adjunct faculty member at the Andover Newton Theological School and a former group facilitator and instructor at The Wellness Community. She earned an M.A. from Episcopal Divinity School and a MSW and a M.Ed from Boston University. Claire lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Clinician Paula Scatoloni returns to the Groundless Ground 6 years later, to share the evolution of her clinical work which now integrates sound therapies and energy medicine techniques along with somatic psychotherapy. This is a fascinating episode covering several kinds of sound modalities, such as: The Safe and Sound Protocol a unique listening experience that has been filtered through a patented, evidence-based algorithm highlighting specific sound frequencies which help regulate the autonomic nervous system and stimulate the vagus nerve. Binaural beats and Bio-lateral beats whose proponents assert these sound waves enhance certain beneficial brainwaves, though those claims lack good clinical research. And Biofield Tuning which utilizes a tuning fork to identify and resolve energetic disturbances in the subtle body nervous system. While all of this may sound far-fetched, Paula and I try our best to present it with the clarity and levelheadedness you deserve. 

Paula Scatoloni LCSW  holds a degree in social work and is certified in Somatic Experiencing, Biofield Tuning, Reiki, Brain Spotting, and many other forms of somatic therapy. She integrates her Western framework with earth-based practices for sound journeying and her gifts in vibrational healing

Soul initiation is an essential and hazardous spiritual adventure that most modern cultures have forgotten. Eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin discusses this mythopoetic, life-altering journey which he beautifully explicates in his new book, Journey of Soul Initiation. I chose to commence GG Season Four with this riveting, deep and edgy dialogue on the transformative and profound path of forging a true adult. Bill’s wisdom, humility and radical honesty shine through as he describes his own soul journey and the evolvement of guiding others through the mind-heart-and-life-transforming process of preparation, descent, metamorphosis and enactment. His book also features an in-depth exploration and radically new understanding of Carl Jung’s Red Book. May this episode inspire and awaken all who hear it.

Bill Plotkin, Ph.D., is a depth psychologist, wilderness guide, and agent of cultural evolution. As founder of western Colorado’s Animas Valley Institute in 1981, he has guided thousands of seekers through nature-based initiatory passages, including a contemporary, Western adaptation of the pan-cultural vision quest. Previously, he has been a research psychologist (studying non-ordinary states of consciousness), professor of psychology, psychotherapist, rock musician, and whitewater river guide. Bill is the author of Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche (an experiential guidebook), Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World (a nature-based stage model of human development through the entire lifespan), Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche (an ecocentric map of the psyche — for healing, growing whole, and cultural transformation). He has a doctorate in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Describing what is ultimately indescribable, that which transcends language, is really challenging. Yet psychologist John Astin accomplishes this daunting task so beautifully in his new book, This Extraordinary Moment. And John and I try our best in this rich dialogue to entice you into a process of profound inquiry into nondual reality and its usefulness in psychotherapeutic contexts for going beyond suffering, enlivening inner freedom and generating systemic well-being. I could not think of a better person to do this with. A lifelong meditation practitioner, John has had a long career in health psychology research on mind-body interventions and continues to teach in graduate psychology programs. This dialogue was a real treat for me. May it inspire you to land in the timeless wisdom of experience as it is.

John Astin is a multi-talented psychologist, researcher, professor, author, musician, artist, and life-long seeker. He spent many years researching mind-body interventions and has written extensively in the fields of integrative and mind-body medicine, publishing over 50 scientific papers that have appeared in such journals as American Psychologist, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Annals of Internal Medicine. From 2000 to 2010, his work was influenced by a number of nondual contemplative traditions that emphasized letting go of any attempt to manage or control the flow of experience and instead, simply relaxing into present moment awareness and making no effort to interrupt the flow of mental, emotional and bodily states. His new book is an outcome of that shift.

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

It seems the more mindfulness is mainstreamed, the more its claims are being questioned. Ron Purser, Professor of Management at SFSU and author of the new groundbreaking book, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality, has been a longtime critic of the widespread mainstreaming and overselling of mindfulness practices. He views mainstream mindfulness as an amplifier of Western consumerist individualism and a banal form of capitalist spirituality; one he claims utterly avoids cultivation of social and political transformation. Ron challenges the widely accepted narrative that stress is self-imposed and mindfulness is the cure-all, and offers ways for mindfulness delivery in healthcare and business settings to cast off its neoliberal shackles, and be redirected toward collective awakening.  Ron and I have known each other for quite some time. He is erudite and engaging. I"m sure you will enjoy this stimulating, thought-provoking conversation.

Ron's website

Ron Purser is Professor of Management in the College of Business and the Educational Doctorate in Leadership program in the College of Education at SFSU San Francisco State University. His scholarship currently focuses on mindfulness in organizations, and how Buddhist psychology and Buddhist social theory can inform social change and transformation. In addition, Prof. Purser writings have been exploring the challenges and issues of introducing mindfulness into secular contexts, particularly with regards to its encounter with modernity, Western consumer capitalism, and individualism. Dr. Purser is an ordained Zen Dharma Teacher in the Korean Zen Taego order of Buddhism. Tarthang Tulku Time, Space, and Knowledge

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Lisa Dale Miller, psychotherapist and dharma teacher, shares three invaluable daily practices for maintaining sanity in our “new normal” of staying at home all the time. 
1) Three Gratitudes Practice
2) Awareness Breaks for when you feel agitated or anxious
3) Diligence and Renunciation Practice as helpmates to get good sleep, exercise everyday, and eat healthy food.

Lisa's website: https://lisadalemiller.com

Episode 6 features a dharma talk given by Lisa Dale Miller at Marin Sangha on May 6, 2018. Lisa treads on the somewhat problematic territory of karma and reincarnation as understood in the early Buddhist teachings.

Lisa’s interest in the actuality of karma and reincarnation is purely speculative. She does not find belief in past lives necessary for recognizing right view, ascertaining right intention, or aligning with the Buddha’s instructions for ethical conduct. And of greatest importance, the existence or non-existence of past lives matters little when it comes to the many forms of superlative meditation practices featured in the Theravada, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism.

If you are interested in more in-depth engagement with this topic, Bhikkhu Analayo has just released a new book comparing Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research on past lives and near death experiences.

Lisa’s dharma talks will now be released as Groundless Ground episodes. All past dharma talks are available on her website http://lisadalemiller.com and as iTunes podcasts.

Paula Scatoloni, a somatic psychotherapist and Certified Eating Disorders Specialist, explicates the insufficiency of standardized cognitive and behavioral eating disorder treatment, and introduces Embodied Recovery, a cutting-edge somatically-oriented, trauma-informed approach, which considers the body and embodiment the missing link for effective treatment of disordered eating. Paula provides an overview of the Embodied Recovery training program she co-created with Rachel Lewis-Marlow, and discusses its guiding principles for attending to and helping patients heal the trauma and attachment-related injuries, which often lie at the root of eating disordered behaviors. Join us as we investigate the exciting paradigm shift currently emerging in the field of eating disorder treatment.

Paula practices in Chapel Hill, NC. She also currently serves as a faculty member at the NC Center for Resiliency.

Embodied Recovery website

Paula's website

Trauma Informed Approaches for Eating Disorders Textbook

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

This last episode of the Groundless Ground Season One features two consecutive dharma talks recently given by Lisa Dale Miller on the five aggregates—the main agent of mental and emotional suffering in the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths.

Lisa's first talk deconstructs the illusory ‘heap’ nature of the five aggregates and explicates their pivotal role in both creating and/or liberating us from suffering. The second talk dives deeply into the relationship of the five aggregates to Theravāda teachings on what the Buddha called, deathless or deathlessness, and then tracks this term’s evolution into profound Mahāyāna and Vajrayana teachings on emptiness and buddhanature.

Best wishes for a joyful holiday season and may all beings enjoy a peaceful, healthy, happy New Year!

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Get ready for a microbiome geek-fest with Cornell Professor Emeritus, health scientist, and author Rodney Dietert, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of his pioneering book, The Human Super-organism. Rodney shares the fascinating history of microbiome research and recounts his own life-changing, career-shifting revelations about microbiome-first medicine in reversing the modern epidemic of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) and immune system disorders. We discuss the difference between viruses and bacteria, and because our dialogue took place in June 2021 (pre-Delta-variant spread in the US) he offered surprising views about COVID19, vaccines, and mask-wearing. We also cover the latest research on microbiome testing, probiotics, prebiotics, rebiosis, and fecal transplant interventions for physical and mental health disorders. 

Rodney Dietert, PhD has turned his wide-ranging expertise toward reducing the environmental health risks of children and protecting against chronic diseases by focusing on the microbiome and the immune system. As a full professor at Cornell University in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and a faculty member in the Cornell Institute for Comparative and Environment Toxicology, Dr. Dietert has published peer-reviewed papers in more than 70 different scientific journals ranging from environmental health and pediatric medicine publications to nutrition, metabolism, immune, neurological and reproductive journals. He has been President of the Immunotoxicology Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology and previously led Cornell's programs in immunology, toxicology and risk reduction of breast cancer.  In 2012 Dr. Dietert introduced a new course at Cornell applying contemplative tools for creative problem solving.  This has blossomed into a variety of new educational programs and workshops.

This episode is a celebration of Teja Bell, a lifelong practitioner and teacher of Aikido, Taijiquan, Qigong, Neigong, Buddhism and Taoism. I have studied qigong with Teja for many years and delighted in QigongDharma and Radiant Heart Qigong, his unique integration of Buddhist meditation and qigong. He is an Aikido master (6th degree black belt) and a roshi in the Rinzai Zen Buddhist lineage. Teja shares his remarkable introduction to martial arts as a young teen in Iowa, and long history of study with renown teachers in judo, kung fu, yang style taijiquan, qigong, Liu He Ba Fa, Buddhism, Taoism and hatha yoga. He also describes the evolution of Chinese Internal Arts as they moved throughout Asia and the mechanics of qi, the subtle body and mind. This is special episode, one born from the shared heart/mind of precious teacher and humble student.

https://www.qigongdharma.com/

Kathy L. Kain, PhD returns to share her unparalleled expertise on effective use of somatic interventions in in-person and online psychotherapy. She gets very specific about what interventions work and don’t work, and the kind of patients that may benefit or be underserved when the medium of contact is screen-only. And Kathy gives in-depth analysis of the interplay of awareness and points of contact in somatic interventions; regardless of whether the clinician has physical contact with a patient or not. We also take a deep dive into the role of intersubjectivity in somatic work—the importance of viewing the patient as the expert, and how to skillfully navigate somatic counter-transference while keeping in mind the patient’s benefit and maintenance of therapeutic and relational connection. This episode is appropriate for both somatic practitioners as well as novices who may be interested in the mechanics of this work, particularly in the psychotherapeutic process. Here is the link to hear Kathy's first GG episode.

Kathy L. Kain has practiced and taught bodywork and trauma recovery skills for nearly 40 years. She teaches in Europe, Australia, Canada, and throughout the United States. Kathy is a senior trainer in the Somatic Experiencing training program, an adjunct faculty member of Sonoma State University, and was a senior trainer for 12 years in the Somatic Psychotherapy training program based in Sydney, Australia.

Happy New Year! I am very excited to launch GG Season Two by dialoging with Alaine Duncan, Doctor of Chinese Medicine. Alaine has invented a truly unique approach to trauma-informed acupuncture which integrates the neurobiology of traumatic stress, Somatic Experiencing skills and Daoist Five Element theory. Her new book, The Tao of Trauma, co-authored with Kathy Kain, views trauma through this ancient-modern integrative lens and lays out practical strategies for treating common co-morbidities of traumatic stress such as; chronic pain, autoimmune illness, insomnia, metabolic problems, and mental health disorders.

For over 10 years Alaine Duncan served as a clinician and researcher on the complementary medicine team at the Washington, DC VA Medical Center, treating war veterans suffering with combat PTSD and complex PTSD. Our shared clinical history of treating active military and war veterans makes this dialogue both practical and visionary. Alaine uses clinical examples to describe Daoist Five Element theory and its correlation with somatic psychotherapy techniques. The Tao of Trauma is a boon for TCM and acupuncture professionals, somatic psychotherapists and body-centered healers who treat traumatic stress and PTSD.

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Jeremy Lent’s new book, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe offers a coherent worldview of deep interconnectedness by integrating ancient Taoist and Buddhist views of humanness and awakening, with a modern scientific, conceptually-oriented view of human capacity. Jeremy makes the case for reigniting lost ethical values that can shift the disconnection that has led humanity to the brink of ecological and societal destruction. We discuss deep intelligence, wise action, how to expand collective concern to include all humans, our animal and plant brothers and sisters, and our planet. Our practical and philosophical dialogue moved me at the core of my being. May it be an inspiration for shift in all who hear it! 

The US edition is available mid-July but you can get the UK edition now. 
Visit the book website. Visit Jeremy's website 

Jeremy Lent received a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and was a former internet company CEO. His award-winning book, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning, explores the way humans have made meaning from the cosmos from hunter-gatherer times to the present day. He is founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering an integrated worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the Earth. 

This is a very special episode featuring Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, addiction psychiatrist, author, app developer, and associate professor of psychiatry at Brown University School of Medicine. Jud is a seasoned researcher of mindfulness interventions for addiction and developer of novel habit-change apps for abating anxiety and craving. A longtime Buddhist meditation practitioner Jud is a relentless data hound not an evangelist. He was among the first to use real-time neurofeedback and fMRI to study meditation and its effects. Our dialogue is devoid of hype and chockfull of useful insights on addiction, its true causes, and empirically-based self-applied applications for cessating craving, urges, unwanted substance use.

Jud's website https://judsonbrewer.com

Jud's lab Brown University School of Public Health Mindfulness Center

Jud's habit-change Apps

Craving to Quit 

Unwinding Anxiety 

Eat Right Now 

Jud's book The Craving Mind

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Phillip Moffitt, author, yogi, and Theravada Buddhist meditation teacher discusses his most recent book, Awakening Through the Nine Bodies, an explication of extraordinary teachings on yoga and the subtle body, transmitted to Phillip by Himalayan master Swami Sri Premvarni Balyogi. Now eighty-six years old, Balyogi is one of a disappearing group of elder master yoga teachers in India initiated into the Himalayan yoga forest tradition. This episode is a must-listen for all seasoned meditation practitioners interested in advanced energetic mind-body training.

A specialist in shepherding others through life transitions, Phillip recently stepped down from a ten-year tenure as guiding teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He has authored two popular books on Buddhist practice: Emotional Chaos to Clarity and Dancing with Life. Learn more about Phillip's work at http://dharmawisdom.org/  and http://lifebalance.org

Disclaimer: The information in this episode or on groundlessground.com is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and does not claim to be or constitute therapeutic advice or mental health treatment.

Welcome to the first episode of The Groundless Ground Podcast! I have worn many creative hats in my life and I recently decided, in addition to seeing patients in my private practice, why not do what I love most for a wider audience: disseminate leading-edge information that awakens, transforms and heals, and dialogue with really smart, deeply thoughtful researchers, clinicians, and academics. This inaugural episode introduces integrative psychotherapy and Buddhist psychology—two potent modalities for actualizing genuine mental health. In addition to introducing myself, I explore core concepts like wise view, innate reification, 4E cognition, and innate, embodied well-being. 

The COVID-19 outbreak is the very time for meditative practice because chaos and uncertainty are the rich soil of awakening! Of great help is to shift your mindset into a compassionate stance with respect to social distancing and spending more time at home. Lisa Dale Miller, psychotherapist and dharma teacher, shares advice and easy practices for doing this right now, in your life, in the midst of suffering. Learn how to be kind, patient, generous, wise and consider those who are less fortunate.

Lisa's psychotherapy website

Alison Ash PhD is a sex and intimacy coach, educator, and creator of many sex positive workshops including her upcoming, very popular Sexual and Emotional Intimacy Skills Mastercourse. This dialogue was stunningly rich and informative for both of us. We freely converse about sex positivity and how consent skills make it possible to skillfully and joyfully give and receive pleasure, flirt and seduce, have more intimacy, and better understand monogamous and non-monogamous relationships. We also discuss how the lingering pain and shame from sexual trauma impedes healthy sexuality and what systemic healing and resolution of sexual trauma entails. Alison clearly explicates the difference between pornography and erotica, and the deleterious effects of widespread porn use by teens, adults and couples. This episode is a romp through a diverse landscape of contexts and practices in which sex positivity is being experienced and enjoyed. 

Alison Ash PhD is a sex and intimacy coach, educator and creator of many sex positive workshops including her upcoming Masterclass. She coaches individuals and couples in sex positivity. Her book Gender Ambiguity in the Workplace: Trans and Genderqueer Discrimination was published in 2018. In addition to her private practice she is a Stanford University lecturer in the Wellness Education program teaching Sexual and Emotional Intimacy Skills to both undergraduate and graduate students. 

Her website is https://www.turnon.love/

This episode features a rich, in-depth dialogue with Buddhist teacher and author Shaila Catherine on her new book, Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind. Using a Theravada Buddhist approach for cultivating focus, clarity, and wise action, Shaila offers an effective five-step method for changing distorted, habitual thoughts: 1) replace unwanted thoughts; 2) examine the dangers of distracting thoughts; 3) avert distraction; 4) investigate the causes of distraction; and 5) exert dedicated resolve. This informative and enlightening conversation will be of great benefit to anyone seeking a focused, clear mind and also mental health professionals who favor top-down interventions. It was a great honor to spend time with Shaila, a Buddhist teacher and consummate practitioner, whom I respect and admire. 

Loch Kelly’s new book, The Way of Effortless Mindfulness, is a practice manual for living a fully embodied, open-hearted life. Loch insists the goal of effortless mindfulness is not to escape or transcend, but to recognize and embody wakeful pure awareness, which is ever-present in the midst of the full range of human experience. To help listeners directly know effortless mindfulness, Loch offers a few mindful glimpse practices along with in-depth structural descriptions of what differentiates effortless mindfulness from mainstream mindfulness, or what he calls, deliberate mindfulness. The Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism says nature of mind or pure awareness is hard to recognize precisely because it is so close, so subtle, so simple, and so good! Our dialogue cuts though the esoteric clouds of confusion which often pervade instructions on how to recognize this extraordinary yet, so completely ordinary mind. Loch shares the unique framework explicated in The Way of Effortless Mindfulness: The Eight Types of Awareness, the Five Foundations of Effortless Mindfulness, and what he calls no-self Self. And because we are both clinicians, Loch and I also discuss how effortless mindfulness skills can be delivered in clinical contexts to alleviate cognitive, affective and physical distress.

Listen to this episode on Lisa's YouTube Channel

Loch Kelly, M.Div., LCSW has been teaching seminars, supervising clinicians and practicing awareness psychotherapy in NYC for 30 years. Loch is a graduate of Columbia University and Union Theological. He was awarded a fellowship to study forms of non-dual meditation in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal from 1981-1982 and has studied with teachers from around the world. He studied Buddhism with Professor Lily de Silva at the University of Kandy, Sri Lanka, Insight Meditation with Godwin Samararatne and at the Theravada monasteries, Inter-Spiritual Contemplative Meditation with Fr. Bede Griffiths and Anthony de Mello, Advaita at Sri Ramana Ashram, and Dzogchen and Sutra Mahamudra with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in Nepal. Loch spent 10 years establishing homeless shelters and community lunch programs and working in a community mental health clinic in Brooklyn, New York. He also served as Coordinator of Counseling and Interspiritual Chaplain at Union Theological Seminary and worked extensively with families recovering from the trauma of 9/11.