Robert Wing Sensei is the founder of the Mountain Warrior Institute, Warrior of the Heart seminars, and the director of Wise Actions. As an Aikido practitioner, Wing Sensei is a student of both Koichi Kashiwaya Sensei and Hiroshi Ikeda Shihan, and founder of the Aikido curriculum at Naropa University, where he continues as the senior teacher of its…

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone is a fellow student of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, an author and psychotherapist focusing on intergenerational trauma, and one of the senior rabbis of the Jewish Renewal movement. Tirzah is the author of Wounds into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma, The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom, and the n…

Rory McEntee is the the President and Executive Director of Charis Foundation for New Monasticism and Interspirituality, which he co-founded with Netanel Miles-Yépez and Adam Bucko. Rory holds a Ph.D. in Theological and Philosophical Studies in Religion from Drew University, has co-authored The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Conte…

Dr. Judith Simmer-Brown is Professor Emeritx of Religious Studies at Naropa University, where she has been on the faculty since 1978. She has practiced Tibetan Buddhism for almost 50 years and is a direct student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She serves on the steering committee of the American Academy of Religion’s Contemplative Studies Group, and …

Ramon Parish, a returning guest, is associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Naropa University and works on climate justice initiatives with his wife Michelle Gabrieloff-Parish. In this episode, we discuss ‘radical futures’—novel ideas of how humanity will evolve into the future—looking at ethno-spiritual futurism (in particular, Afro-fu…

In this episode, we have a roundtable discussion of spiritual issues with educator Carla Burns. In Part I, we talk about how to slow down and make the ’space’ to hold complexity in our society. In Part II, we discuss the film The Martian and what it has to say about humanity and humanity’s needs. And in Part III, we explore the idea of our planet’s…

In this episode, Netanel plays hooky, and Daniel is joined by Deepa Patel, a teacher of Inayati Sufism, partner of the Charis Foundation, and recurring guest, to share poems close to each of their hearts. In the course of reading and reflecting on the poems listed below, they explore coping with harrowing world events, honoring the preciousness of …

The Venerable Dr. Pannavati Bhikkuni is the founder of Heartwood Refuge, an intentional spiritual community in North Carolina, and abbess of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage, a 21st century trans-lineage Buddhist Order. A former Christian pastor, the Venerable Pannavati is often thought to be the only fully-ordained African-American woman in the Ther…

In this episode, we do a retrospective on a dialogue that took place in 1974 during the first summer session of the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. The dialogue was called “Psychology East and West” and explored a number of differences in understanding and approach to the notion of ego between so-called “Western psychology” and what were the…

In this episode, we have a roundtable discussion of spiritual issues with psychotherapist, Lisa Chatham. In Part I, we talk about the complex legacies of brilliant spiritual teachers, like Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who are associated with inappropriate behavior or scandals. In Part II, we explore the spirituality of our most distant past in Europea…

Born in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Grandmother Arapata is a healer who holds the indigenous lineages of both the Maori and Samoan ancestral bloodlines. In this episode we talk about Grandmother Arapata’s upbringing with traditional teachings, the stigmas of colonization, the different challenges of indigenous peoples in the United States and New Zeala…

Nataraja Kallio is a scholar-practitioner of Yoga and Hindu tantra. He is the Chair of the B.A. Yoga Studies program at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and the co-designer of Naropa’s M.A. Yoga Studies program. In this episode, we discuss Kallio’s upbringing in an American Hindu spiritual community, his travels in India and meetings with hi…

Lily Fangz is a respected Colorado-based hip-hop artist and freestyle performer, who brings an authentic presence to the stage. Her lyrics are playful, introspective, and often spiritually-oriented. Lily is also a talented visual artist and public speaker with a background in science. In this episode, we explore the connections between public artis…

Rabbi Or N. Rose is a scholar of Hasidism and Neo-Hasidism who is deeply involved in interreligious dialogue. He is the Director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership at Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, and co-editor of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi: Essential Teachings. In this episode, we explore Rabbi Ro…

In this episode, we have a roundtable discussion of spiritual issues with our friend, Deepa Patel. In Part I, we explore the question of what it means to take a vow of silence in our world, and talk about the value and meaning of silence. In Part II, we talk about the difficulty of changing ourselves or anyone else when we are not necessarily vulne…

Dr. Edward W. Bastian is an American-born filmmaker, scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, member of the Snowmass Conference, founder of the Spiritual Paths Institute, and the author of Interspiritual Meditation and Mandala. In this episode, we discuss how he found his way to Buddhism, the importance of learning-styles in religions, his meeting with Father …

Chris Maddox is the founder of The Wild Woman Project where she teaches women how to utilize the gifts of the Wild Woman Archetype in their everyday lives & how to lead women’s circles in their local communities. She is the organizer and facilitator of the beloved annual WILD WOMAN FEST, a women’s retreat-festival hybrid which fosters a deep connec…

Though a professor of religion at Naropa University, and the author of numerous books on spirituality (and a frequent dialogue partner for our guests), Netanel Miles-Yépez is also a well-known artist, philosopher, and spiritual teacher. On this episode, we have asked Netanel to discuss his life at the crossroads of art and spirituality, the archety…

Dr. Amelia Hall is a British-born scholar-practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and professor in the Department of Wisdom Traditions at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. In this episode, we discuss the issues of taking on a religious tradition that comes from another culture, cyclical and linear orientations, cultural ‘exotification,’ the evolutio…

Father Adam Bucko is a Polish-American Episcopal priest who serves as the director of The Center for Spiritual Imagination at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York. He is a committed voice in the movement for the renewal of Christian Contemplative Spirituality and the growing New Monastic movement, and the author of th…

Brenda Salgado is a Nicaraguan-American curandera and Toltec healer, who emphasizes ceremony and traditional circle work for healing conflict and building community. She is the former director of the East Bay Meditation Center, and the current director of Nepantla Healing and Consulting. She is also the author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginner…

Ramon Gabrieloff-Parish is an assistant professor at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and a leading voice in environmental justice, sustainability issues, contemporary rites of passage, and bringing the sacred into everyday living. In this episode, we explore and dialogue on the issues of sacred ecology, our paradoxical separation from natur…

In this episode we are joined by Alejandra Warden, an educator, interspiritual teacher, and founder of the Essential Oneness Feminine Wisdom Project. We focus our discussion on Alejandra's newest book, Remembrance: A Vision of the Sacred Feminine and the Renewal of the Earth, in which she shares, for the first time, the powerful visions on the sacr…

From the Intro: “In the 1970’s, long before podcasts like our own, there were radio shows whose reach was perhaps more limited, but whose impact was still powerful. Among the best of those shows was “In the Spirit” on WBAI in New York City, in which Lex Hixon interviewed some of the best, most interesting spiritual teachers and thinkers of the 1970…

In this fourth episode (actually our first recorded episode), we interview Tessa Bielecki, former Mother Abbess of the Spiritual Life Institute and a Carmelite hermit in Tucson, Arizona. Tessa talks with us about her Polish Catholic background, founding a Carmelite reform movement, and four Carmelite wilderness monasteries. She also discusses her l…

In this episode, we are joined by Reverend Matthew Wright, a leading figure in the dialogue on contemplative life and interspirituality. With Reverend Matthew, we talk about Karl Jasper’s notion of the “Axial Age”and Ewert Cousins’ idea of a “Second Axial Age.” We also discuss the inherently interspiritual matrix from which religions are ‘birthed’ …

In this episode, we are joined by Deepa Patel, a teacher of Inayati Sufism who works with Charis Foundation on the Future of Religion and Interspirituality dialogues. With Deepa, we explore alternate sources of spiritual guidance (e.g., influential books and family members) which serve to connect us to ourselves, as well as the function of teachers…

In this episode, we are joined by Rory McEntee, a leading figure in both the new monasticism and interspirituality movements, with whom we explore the origins of Charis Foundation, ‘old’ and ‘new’ ways of teaching spirituality, the idea of new monasticism and what is ‘new’ about it, interspirituality and its pioneers, the “growing edge” as spoken o…