Beyond Names: Spirituality for Anyone and Everyone

Dr. Habīb welcomes spiritual director and emotional-integration practitioner Nina Lau-Branson for a deeply compassionate exploration of the inner life. Nina shares her powerful spiritual story — from growing up in a Chinese immigrant family, to a midlife awakening that led her away from corporate achievement and into a 15-year contemplative “wilderness,” and eventually into transformative work wit...

In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Dr. Habīb Boerger is joined by healer, teacher, and author Debra Mastura Graugnard for a journey into awakening, embodiment, and healing the sacred feminine. Debra shares her extraordinary spiritual opening, the childhood wounds and life events that shaped her path, and the profound moment she met her Sufi teacher, Shaykh Muhammad al-Jamal. Together,...

In this rich and heartfelt conversation, Dr. Habib sits down with psychotherapist-turned-spiritual-healer and painter Yasmine Rahmana Cindy Libman to explore the transformative power of creativity. Cindy shares her journey from lifelong anxiety and illness to profound inner peace through mysticism, healing, and the unexpected emergence of art as a spiritual practice. Together, they reflect on art...

What happens when a meditation retreat unveils a hidden ancestral truth—and transforms how we understand peace itself? In this intimate conversation, Dr. Habib welcomes psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and author Margaret Cullen, whose upcoming book Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly Through the Power of Equanimity explores the heart of balance amid life’s joys and so...

In this profoundly tender conversation, Dr. Habīb speaks with Dr. Frank Rogers Jr.—author, teacher, and co-founder of the Center for Engaged Compassion—about healing from trauma through the steady presence of Divine compassion. Together, they explore the lifelong process of recovering from abuse, the courage to face betrayal and rage, and the transformation that comes from knowing we are held—alwa...

What does it mean to care for ourselves in a way that’s truly spiritual? In this episode, Dr. Habīb explores self-care as sacred practice — a way of honoring the holiness of our minds, bodies, hearts, and souls. Drawing from Sufi wisdom, contemplative psychology, and interspiritual insights, he offers practical guidance for nurturing each dimension of our being. From noticing and nurturing our inn...

Dr. Habīb Boerger welcomes Dr. Ibrahim Jaffe — physician, Sufi master healer, and Chancellor of the University of Sufism — for a profound conversation about healing, truth, and divine unity in a polarized world. Together they explore how to discern God’s comprehensive truth amid conflicting narratives, how personal healing mirrors global healing, and why mercy, compassion, and love are the only pa...

What if friendship itself could be a spiritual practice? In this deeply moving conversation, Dr. Habīb is joined by Dr. Seth Schoen and Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter—co-creators of Racial Resilience —to explore how compassion, contemplation, and community sustain the work of racial and social justice. Together, they reflect on moral injury and healing, the role of the Compassion Practice, and the un...

Author and spiritual director Felicia Murrell joins Dr. Habīb for a luminous conversation about awakening to Divine Love, releasing inherited images of an angry God, and rediscovering the boundless compassion at the heart of all being. Together, they explore the practice of stillness, the wisdom of the body, and the invitation to return home—to Love itself. Drawing from Felicia’s book AND: The Res...

In this episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habīb is joined once again by artist and former imam Abdul-Karim Pinckney (The Man of Real) for a heartfelt conversation inspired by his song “Can We Be Family.” Together, they explore the challenges and beauty of family life—our biological family, our family in humanity, and our family in creation—and how to approach these relationships “in a manner that’s Go...

In this heartfelt episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habib is joined by Rahima Susan Schmall, a psychologist, healer, and Sufi teacher who has spent over four decades weaving together psychology, spirituality, and embodied wisdom. Rahima shares her remarkable spiritual journey—from early awakenings in Al-Anon to the St. Francis Prayer, Buddhist practice, and finally the Sufi path. Together, she and Dr....

In this heartfelt conversation, Dr. Habīb is joined by psychotherapist and family therapist Vanessa McNamara to explore the deep overlap between spirituality and relationships. From Vanessa’s Irish Catholic upbringing and mystical encounters to her discovery of Sufism, Buddhism, and shamanic traditions, she shares how personal crisis and ego-death opened her to an integrated path of spirit and hea...

What if music could be more than entertainment — what if it were a doorway into wisdom, healing, and the unseen world of Spirit? In this episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habīb sits down with award-winning composer and world music artist Yuval Ron to explore the intersection of sound and spirituality. Yuval shares his multi-path journey through Kabbalah, Sufism, Buddhism, yoga, and psychoacoustics, an...

In this episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habib sits down with Dr. Ron Banuelos, licensed acupuncturist and spiritual seeker, for a heartfelt conversation on the intersections of healing, spirituality, and nature. Dr. Ron shares his journey of reclaiming cultural identity, exploring men’s work and shadow healing, and learning from shamanic traditions of South America. Together they reflect on the ways...

In this episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habib is joined by Dr. Dana Maxwell, a family medicine physician, yoga teacher, and retreat leader in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Together they explore the intersections of spirituality, nature, and health—how slowing down, connecting with the body, and spending time outdoors can bring us back to our still center. Dr. Maxwell shares her journey from growing up i...

In this moving episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habīb sits down with Rev. Dr. Aizaiah Yong—minister, scholar, healer, and author of Trauma and Renewal . Together they explore how profound suffering and ecstatic encounters with the Divine can coexist, how communal care transforms trauma, and how love and interconnectedness invite us to begin again and again. Drawing on Aizaiah’s story of surviving a n...

In this heartfelt conversation, Dr. Habīb Boerger sits down with Rev. Julie Davis and Rev. Madison Jones McAleese to explore the journey from exclusion to belonging in faith communities. They share their personal stories of leaving—and then reimagining—the traditions they were raised in, finding inclusive spaces that affirm their full humanity, and rediscovering the beauty of ritual and embodiment...

In this powerful and tender episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habīb Boerger is joined by educator, author, and spiritual health advocate Julia Considine Pierce. Together, they explore the deep connections between spirituality, nature, public health, and the sacredness of the body. Julia shares her spiritual journey—from the mountains of Appalachia to mysticism and public health research—and how it led...

In this deeply moving episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habīb is joined by guest co-host Abdul Karim Pinckney—artist, former Imam, and spiritual teacher—for a rich conversation inspired by his powerful song Grateful . Together, they explore the depths of gratitude: not just as a fleeting feeling, but as a lived practice that shapes the heart, mind, and body. Abdul Karim shares personal stories, spirit...

In this powerful and heart-centered episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habīb Boerger sits down once again with artist and former imam Abdul Karim Pinckney (aka The Man of Real) to explore the deep terrain of forgiveness and reconciliation. Inspired by Abdul Karim’s soulful country song “Sorry” from his AI-performed album Manipulations of the Unreal , this conversation dives into why the simple act of a...

In this deeply moving and thought-provoking episode, Dr. Habib Boerger is joined by artist, former imam, and spiritual thinker Abdul Karim Pinckney to explore one of life’s biggest questions: What does it mean to be human? Blending personal stories, spiritual insight, neuroscience, and poetic reflection, the conversation travels through themes of compassion, purpose, trauma, identity, and the soul...

In this heartfelt and nourishing conversation, Dr. Habīb welcomes chef, spiritual facilitator, and podcast host Aliye Aydin (@soulspacechef) to explore the deep connections between food, spirituality, and the senses. From her Turkish-American heritage to her spiritual awakening through cooking, chant, and movement, Aliye shares how she experiences connection—her definition of spirituality—in every...

What does it mean to live from the heart in a world full of hardship, division, and longing? In this soul-nourishing episode, Dr. Habīb speaks with beloved Sufi teacher and interfaith minister Jamal Rahman about the mystical path of Islam, the sacred work of transforming the ego, and how laughter, silence, music, and service can all become gateways to the Divine. Together, they explore “the inconv...

In this episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habib welcomes artist, former imam, and spiritual teacher Abdul Karim Pinckney — also known as The Man of Real — for a heartfelt conversation on faith, transformation, and his latest project, Project Inspire . From his journey through Islam and Sufism to his love of music as a vehicle for sacred expression, Abdul Karim shares how life itself becomes a spiritua...

In this first episode of Beyond Names , Dr. Habib shares a little from his personal spiritual journey — from growing up in a conservative Christian family in rural Texas to discovering Sufism, embracing Islam, and earning advanced degrees in spiritual healing, spiritual counseling, and spiritual formation. He opens up about loss, doubt, religious wounding, and healing — and how the search for mean...