From her research into female spiritual role models, writer Erica Bassani joins Raghu to discuss her new book which offers an exploration of faith, practice, and feminine power.

Grab your copy of Women in Love with the Divine or join Erica in Awakening Softness, transformational 1 on 1 sessions for rediscovering the sacredness of daily life.

This week on Mindrolling, Erica and Raghu have a conversation on:

• Honoring femininity and presence  through the wisdom of modern female spiritual teachers
• Erica’s inspiration from her father’s spirituality and her year-long monastery stay at 19 years old.
• Gratitude practice towards the divine mother and our own mothers
• Considering how the wisdom of women may differ from the wisdom of men
• The extraordinary warmth and compassion of Garchen Rinpoche
• Moving away from one-dimensional ways of overcoming conflict
• Entering into feminine gentleness and finding our power within ourselves
• How transcending the ego can actually become spiritual bypassing
• Becoming present when we start to doubt the existence of God
• Cultivating inner peace as our individual contribution to the chaos of the world

“I started writing it 3 years ago from a need of meeting living women who dedicate their life to the divine. I really needed in that time of my life, I was going through personal crisis and spiritual crisis, I realized all my teachers had been men. Which, I am very grateful to them, but at that point I started really needing female role models, the examples of women who are today in this world doing the spiritual life.” –Erica Bassani

About Erica Bassani:

Erica Bassani is a writer based in Italy. A graduate of the Academy of Storytelling in Turin, she spent a year living in a Theravadan Buddhist monastery at the age of 23. Since then, she has turned to female spiritual teachers from diverse traditions to help her navigate her inner journey. She created the Women Awakening Project—an initiative that highlights the wisdom of female spiritual role models and explores spiritual practice through the lens of women’s experiences—to share their wisdom and create a bridge between generations of seekers. Bassani is author of Donne che Esplorano il Divino, co-author (with Massimo Bonomelli) of Va Bene Così, and the Italian translator of The Four Noble Truths of Love by Susan Piver.

“Women didn’t follow their own way of coming to power. They followed more the masculine way, the patriarchal way of getting to power. This, of course, creates a very weird shift inside. It creates suffering ultimately because of a disconnection with where actually is the source of power in us, especially as women, and possibly for men as well. The source of power can be in the heart, can be more embodied and exclusive, more aware of the different parts of the situation instead of this focused way which cuts out many other things, it’s a more gentler way.” –Erica Bassani

More Mindrolling Podcasts:

Episode one of Mindrolling with Raghu Markus & David Silver

Using modern tools to support inner transformation, ServiceSpace founder Nipun Mehta offers innovative solutions for turning artificial intelligence into collective heart intelligence.

The Movie of Me to The Movie of We with Duncan Trussell & Raghu Markus

The Teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche with David Silver & Raghu Markus

Middle Eastern Medicine Musician Yehoo Shalem frames life as a psychedelic experience, tracing how sound, prayer, and mindfulness can create intimacy with the divine.

This week on Set & Setting, Madison and Yehoo explore:

• The meaning and dream symbol of “The White Donkey”
• Studying Middle Eastern Music at Maqamat Academy
• Tzfat in northern Israel, the historic hub of Kabbalah
• Music as a form of prayer and intimacy with God
• Seeing life as a psychedelic experience
• The intention behind creating medicine music
• Using music as a navigation to go to a different place
• Seeing yourself as a creator rather than a victim
• Taking time for a morning gratitude practice

“For me the reason for writing music and for playing music is prayer. This is my ultimate aim when I play is to be able to connect to this point of prayer. Prayer for me is beyond asking for something, it’s seeking intimacy with God, with creation.” –Yehoo Shalem

About Yehoo Shalem:

Yehoo Shalem is a singer-songwriter, Middle Eastern medicine musician, music producer, and a devotee of Love. His music invites the listener into a mystical journey of remembrance, opening their hearts and bodies. Yehoo is currently deepening his music study at Maqamat Academy, learning Middle Eastern music. In parallel, Yehoo is traveling and offering concerts, singing circles, and his special creation: ‘Wine Ceremony’ – a night-long deep dive into sacred prayer, devotional music, high-quality wine, heart-opening sharings, and deep revelations. Check out Yehoo’s music on Spotify.

More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:

Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation

JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body: First Foundation Guided Meditation

Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service

Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh

]]> https://beherenownetwork.com/bhnn-guest-podcast-ep-256-the-ever-changing-nature-of-identity-with-coral-short-vincent-moore/ Wed, 20 May 2026 22:50:00 +0000 https://beherenownetwork.com/ep-256-the-ever-changing-nature-of-identity-with-coral-short-vincent-moore/ Embracing the ever-changing nature of identity, queer somatic experiencing practitioner Coral Short discusses Buddhism’s place in polyamory, trans-embodiment, and more. Today’s podcast is brought...]]>

Embracing the ever-changing nature of identity, queer somatic experiencing practitioner Coral Short discusses Buddhism’s place in polyamory, trans-embodiment, and more.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

In this episode, Coral Short and Vincent explore:

• Bringing Buddhist insights into polyamory
• Encouraging others to share their truth
• Anattā (non-self) and accepting the fluidity of identity and body
• Performance art and celebrating community through joint creativity
• Digital dharma offerings and eco-somatic hikes
• The importance of sangha and exploring what forms of Buddhism resonate with you
• The book Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices
• Taking the practice off the mat and into the world
• Coral’s performance art and the somatic element to many of their creative avenues
• The radical act of taking up the full space of your body

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.

“I think I am just at home in my body. I’ve been on testosterone, I’m off testosterone. I’m aging, I had a menopause party with my friends. I am constantly changing, hormones, aging, whether you like it or not everything is changing. This idea when I was younger of an attachment to gender, I remember teachers telling me this gender will shift, and watching gender shift as people age across genders and sexualities is fascinating.” –Coral Short

About Coral Short:

Coral Short is a queer, non-binary, white settler born in 1973. They completed their Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) training in March 2023 with Dea Parsanishi. They specialize in working with LGBTQIA+ folks, recovery, activism, creativity, and all forms of radical sexuality.

They are a graduated active Community Dharma Teacher at True North Insight in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal and co-lead a weekly Queer Sangha. Coral has been working with the Stretch Festival in Berlin for several years at the Somatische Akademie/ Village Berlin and at the Montreal Somatics Festival. They offer anti-racist courses, somatic workshops, and eco-somatic walks to international communities. They have been an organizer, activist, and artist for the last two decades.For more information about Coral, please visit the following website: https://www.coralshort.com/

“Knowing that there is that freedom inside my body and that there’s sangha members who also know, people coming together and being like ‘this is possible’. We can be super gay and also in a state of bliss. It is possible to get these glimmers of joy in the body.” –Coral Short

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Masters of Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.

More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:

Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation

JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body: First Foundation Guided Meditation

Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service

Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh

In this deeply moving talk offered to those living through war in Ukraine, Jack Kornfield reminds us that even in the most difficult conditions, the human heart has the capacity to remain open, compassionate, and free.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield shares:

• Creating inner peace in the midst of external conflict
• The practice of self-compassion in times of overwhelm
• How to work with suffering without internalizing it
• Reconnecting with inner resources like nature, community, and intention
• The teaching that “hatred never ends by hatred”

“Even though there is war around us, it is possible to create an island of peace in the middle of it all—and not let the war take over our hearts.”  –Jack Kornfield

The episode was originally filmed for Mantra Ukraine, you can learn more about them on Instagram

Photo by yongkiet

About Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year’s worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

“If the suffering of the world has now taken over your body, it’s in the wrong place. You need to leave it outside andnot carry it inside your heart.”  –Jack Kornfield

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

In this 1980 talk, Ram Dass explores how we aren’t who we think we are and leads a meditative experience to help us quiet down enough to become statements of the universe’s wisdom.

Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self.

This episode of Here and Now is from a retreat at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1980. Check back soon for the second half of this talk.

• In the City of Angels, Ram Dass wonders what he might say to a gathering of angels. He talks about how we aren’t who we think we are and accepting our humanity in order to fully awaken.
• Ram Dass reads a story to help us understand how we can listen clearly to another human being. He explores how our desires color everything we see, and how we can break identification with them.
• Ram Dass talks about how the guru is like a pure mirror that lets us see who we truly are. He leads a meditative experience to help us quiet down enough to become statements of the wisdom of the universe.

“If everything in your life had come out the way you expected it to, your life wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as it’s turned out to be, would it?” – Ram Dass

The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox.

About Ram Dass:

Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org.

Listen to more episodes of the Ram Dass Here and Now Podcast:

Go back to the very beginning of the journey as Ram Dass talks about his early years in life and the psychedelic experience that changed everything in Here and Now Ep. 1.

How does our perception shape our experience of suffering? Ram Dass investigates the many roots of suffering in Here and Now Ep. 132.

We all touch states of transcendence. Ram Dass explores how we can come into contact with the path of awakening in Here and Now Ep. 164.

Ram Dass breaks down the history of psychedelics and helps us understand the risks and rewards of these consciousness-altering chemicals in Here and Now Ep. 183.

Moving beyond the imagined boundary of form, Alan Watts explores the idea that humanity is a microcosm of the universe and that the two are inseparable.

Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/alan and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts discusses:

• Considering whether being part of a whole means that we are the whole
• The radial structure of humanity, Earth, and all beings
• Recognizing that skin is not the boundary of man
• How foreign the inner workings of the human body seem to humanness
• The nature of the mind, likened to the nature of space
• The illusion of an individual operating from himself
• Blending together materialism and mysticism, not getting too stuck in one or the other

This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org for full talks from Alan Watts.

“Any other way of looking at things is kind of schizoid. It looks at human beings as if they arrived in this world like a bunch of birds on the branches of a barren tree. They just got settled there, they don’t belong, a sense of being strangers and pilgrims from another domain altogether. Well, where is this other domain, and how does it relate to this one?” –Alan Watts

Listen to more Alan Watts talks:

Being in the Way Ep. 1: Alan shares a dharma talk on Taoism, the interdependence of nature, and dropping out of karma

Alan Watt’s son, Mark, shares background on Alan’s early life, before introducing two of his father’s specially curated dharma talks focused on karma, in Being in the Way Ep. 2

Therapy, religion, mystical experiences, & Jesus: Being in the Way Ep. 6

The connections between Taoism and relativity, technology and human evolution, culture and separation: Being in the Way Ep. 3

]]> https://beherenownetwork.com/bhnn-guest-podcast-ep-255-fierce-grace-and-the-many-faces-of-god-satsang-with-ram-dass-and-friends-pt-2/ Fri, 15 May 2026 18:10:00 +0000 https://beherenownetwork.com/ep-255-fierce-grace-and-the-many-faces-of-god-satsang-with-ram-dass-and-friends-pt-2/ Ram Dass and Uma Reed lovingly explore bhakti yoga, fierce grace, and the spiritual practice of seeing beyond incarnation to the soul in everyone....]]>

Ram Dass and Uma Reed lovingly explore bhakti yoga, fierce grace, and the spiritual practice of seeing beyond incarnation to the soul in everyone.

“I love you. We are in love. We ARE love.” –Ram Dass

Recorded in 2008 at Studio Maui, this mini-series features Ram Dass and guests from his satsang. To start at Part 1, click HERE.

In this episode, Uma Reed and Ram Dass share insights on:

• The yoga of your life and all roads leading to God
• Fierce Grace and reinterpreting ‘negative’ life events
• How Uma met Maharaj-ji in blue light
• Hinduism and the many faces of God
• Working with the suffering that the mind introduces into our lives
• Not mistaking ourselves with our incarnation
• Singing, chanting, and being brought closer to God
• Bhakti yoga and merging together with the beloved

“Don’t mistake your self with your incarnation. I’m a nurse, I’m a doctor, I’m a student, I’m a yogi. You’re something in this incarnation, but, you really are a soul. You’re a spiritual being. If you are a soul, then you will see souls. If you be one, you will see one and just like that, officer of the law I saw a soul. Your children, souls. Your parents, souls. Your partners, souls. Your enemies, souls. Then, you live in paradise.” –Ram Dass

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

About Uma Reed:

Uma was first exposed to Hindu devotional chanting in the early 1970s, while studying meditation and spiritual practices with Ram Dass and various other teachers. Kirtan was a practice that touched her deeply, and as a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba, she often participated in kirtan gatherings with fellow devotees, as well as in other ashrams and spiritual communities. For years she held kirtan in her home, and for the past dozen years or so, she has led kirtan formally in yoga studios, spiritual centers, and retreat settings. She has taught workshops and led kirtan on numerous retreats and in satsang with Ram Dass and other spiritual teachers in the U.S. and abroad.

“Finally I screamed out loud, ‘I’ll do anything for God’, and everything stopped and got very clear. There was this, almost like a rain, a very light sprinkle, and everything was completely peaceful. My mind was completely quiet. I opened my eyes and sitting in the room was Neem Karoli Baba. This was not a dream, not a vision, he was sitting there, bathed in blue light. I was looking at him and I noticed that he wasn’t speaking out loud, but he was mouthing some words. I understood I was to repeat it with him. I realized he was saying Om Namah Shivaya.” –Uma Reed

More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:

Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation

JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body: First Foundation Guided Meditation

Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service

Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh

Author, journalist, and co-founder of DoubleBlind, Madison Margolin, joins Raghu to explore her latest project: creating a roadmap to tripping, microdosing, and beyond.

Grab your copy of The DoubleBlind Guide to Psychedelics

In this episode, Madison and Raghu step into the world of:

• Emerging theories of Ibogaine use in Parkinson’s treatment
• Defining ‘psychedelics’ and Dr. Ben Malcom’s (aka The Spirit Pharmacist) view on psychedelic & somatic awareness
• What the clinical world can take away from indigenous plant medicine rituals
• Ram Dass’s journey from psychedelic research to spirituality
• Spiritual seekers: from India to South America
• How regular practice helps us connect to deeper layers of reality
• Feeling beyond time and space
• Punctuating psychedelic experiences with spiritual practice
• Altered states in the history of Judaism
• Psychedelics for war zones, trauma, and religious leaders
• Accessing your set, setting, and mental health dispositions

“Doing psychedelics under the stewardship of an indigenous culture is equally legitimate to doing it in a clinical context, and it’s also legitimate to do it at a Grateful Dead show. What I really want to get at is that the way the tribes or indigenous cultures regard these medicines is through community, song, prayer, connection to nature, reciprocity, those are all values that even the clinical world can borrow and emulate as they design their trials.” –Madison Margolin

About Madison Margolin:

Madison is an author and journalist who straddles California, New York, and the Israel-Palestine region, with a focus on psychedelics, cannabis, and Judaism — jokingly referring to it as “Jews & Drugs.” Her reporting also spans culture, policy, and science. At the center of her work is a sustained curiosity about how people transcend the mind to access something larger than themselves, whether through psychedelics, spirituality, meditation, art, or somatic practice. Much of her writing explores the different ways people nourish the soul. Madison is the co-founder of DoubleBlind, the print and digital magazine that covers psychedelics and their intersections with mental health, spirituality, environmental justice, and social equity. She also co-founded the Jewish Psychedelic Summit and hosts the podcast Set & Setting on the Be Here Now Network. She has worked in journalism since 2014, with bylines in outlets including Rolling Stone, Vice Media, Playboy, High Times, Tablet Magazine, and Nylon.

She began her journalism career with a cannabis column at The Village Voice shortly after graduating from Columbia Journalism School. Before that, she lived in Tel Aviv, where she worked with Israel’s African refugee community. Earlier in her life, she lived at the Cloyne co-op while studying rhetoric and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.

She is a language enthusiast who speaks or dabbles in French, Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. Outside of work and writing, she is usually dancing, spinning a hula hoop, or practicing yoga.

Madison Margolin is also the author of Exile and Ecstacy, a book on Growing Up with Ram Dass and Coming of Age in the Jewish Psychedelic Underground. Learn more about Madison’s work at madisonmargolin.com

More Mindrolling Podcasts:

Episode one of Mindrolling with Raghu Markus & David Silver

Using modern tools to support inner transformation, ServiceSpace founder Nipun Mehta offers innovative solutions for turning artificial intelligence into collective heart intelligence.

The Movie of Me to The Movie of We with Duncan Trussell & Raghu Markus

The Teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche with David Silver & Raghu Markus

Teaching listeners how to get out of the mind and trust in the heart, RamDev guides us through embodied faith practices.

“Faith is not certainty, it’s steadiness inside uncertainty.” –RamDev

This time on Healing at the Edge, RamDev explores:

• Having faith within our hearts rather than only our minds
• Using sensation as a gateway into experiencing presence
• How talking about something trivial can allow us to enter the heart space
• The moving, changing nature of the mind
• Softening into the body and releasing tension
• Maintaining steadiness in the midst of uncertainty
• Trusting in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
• Noticing the subtle changes in the fields of our 5 senses
• Wisely and compassionately responding to the next moment
• Guru Yoga: Installing the deity into your body

“To trust in the heart has a lot to do with trusting being in the body. It’s very difficult to be thinking and be with your sensations at the same time. The heart is a felt experience.” –RamDev

About RamDev Dale Borglum:

RamDev Dale Borglum founded and directed the Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the first residential facility in the United States to support conscious dying. He has been the Executive Director of the Living/Dying Project in Santa Fe and since 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the co-author with Ram Dass, Daniel Goleman and Dwarka Bonner of Journey of Awakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook, Bantam Books and has taught meditation since 1974.

RamDev offers lectures and workshops on meditation, healing, spiritual support for those with life-threatening illness, and caregiving as spiritual practice. He has a doctorate degree from Stanford University. RamDev’s passion is the healing of our individual and collective fear of death so that we may be free.

Learn more about RamDev’s work via the Living/Dying Project and follow him on Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok.

Photo by wirestock

Listen to more from RamDev Dale Borglum:

RamDev gives a dharma talk about cultivating enough faith to face things as they are, and leads a meditation centered on the power of the grounding breath in Healing at the Edge Ep. 49.

Building a bridge from separation to connection, RamDev offers practices for staying grounded, working with emotions like grief, and transmuting fear into love, in Healing at the Edge Ep. 67.

RamDev shares stories of his time with Ram Dass from the early days of the satsang and reflects on what Ram Dass meant to him as a teacher and friend in Healing at the Edge Ep. 42.

RamDev shares a dharma talk on how we can ease our suffering by offering compassion to our fear, in Healing at the Edge Ep. 46.

]]> https://beherenownetwork.com/metta-hour-with-sharon-salzberg-ep-287-engaged-compassion-parker-j-palmer-jerry-colonna/ Thu, 14 May 2026 01:45:00 +0000 https://beherenownetwork.com/ep-287-engaged-compassion-parker-j-palmer-jerry-colonna/ The Buddha taught a path of awakened living, but how does that manifest in today’s world of constant connectivity and widespread suffering? How do...]]>

The Buddha taught a path of awakened living, but how does that manifest in today’s world of constant connectivity and widespread suffering?

How do we keep our hearts open without being defined or hardened by the pain that surrounds us, whether personal, collective, or historical? How do we navigate the paradox of holding both pain and joy, without mistaking suffering for punishment or personal failure? Can we infuse our compassion with wisdom and perspective to find the agency to take meaningful action in our communities?

In her new series, Engaged Compassion, Sharon delves into these questions and more, engaging in candid conversations with a diverse group of teachers, activists, and changemakers. For the fourth episode in the series, Sharon speaks with Parker J. Palmer and Jerry Colonna.

Parker J. Palmer is a writer, speaker and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He is founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. Parker holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as fourteen honorary doctorates, two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educational Press Association, and an Award of Excellence from the Associated Church Press. Parker is the author of ten books—including several award-winning titles—that have sold nearly two million copies and been translated into ten languages, including “On the Brink of Everything,” “Healing the Heart of Democracy,” and “The Promise of Paradox.”

Jerry Colonna is a renowned coach, writer, and speaker who specializes in leadership, business, and the practice of radical self-inquiry. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Reboot.io, a company inspired by the belief that work need not destroy us. He is also the author of two books: “Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up” (2019) and “Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong” (2023). For more than two decades, Jerry has championed the idea that work should be non-violent to the self, the community, and the planet.

In this conversation, Sharon, Parker and Jerry speak about:

• Parker’s approach to suffering
• Responsibility is the ability to respond
• John Rogers’ forms of suffering in the world
• The pain of denying that which is true
• Why humans are drawn to “othering”
• The innate desire to grow
• What it means to lead a fuller life
• Looking for happiness in the wrong places
• Deconditioning a control mindset
• Is the world actually worse right now?
• How to face our fears
• How to reverse othering
• We need stories about overcoming fear
• It helps to do hard things together
• Revamping institutions to support
• Getting involved in your local community

Additional Resources

You can learn more about Parker’s work right here and check out his Substack right here. You can learn more about Jerry’s work and his organization, Reboot.io, right here. This episode is also being released on the Reboot Podcast, available right here.

Related Metta Hour Episodes

The complete Engaged Compassion Series

Episode 209 with Parker Palmer on the Metta Hour from 2023