Integral Being

What does embodiment actually mean? The word is used constantly in meditation, movement, psychology, and wellness, yet it often remains vague or misunderstood. In this episode of Inner Life Talks , Mark V. Wiley explains embodiment as something far deeper than body awareness or mindfulness. Drawing from decades of study in martial arts, qigong, contemplative practice, and the Inner Life framework,...

In this episode of Integral Being, Mark Wiley speaks with Aikido and Tai Chi instructor Bob Noah about the deeper transformative potential of internal martial arts practice. Drawing from nearly six decades of Aikido and over fifty years of Tai Chi training, Bob explores the relationship between awareness and embodiment, nervous system regulation, energetic development, pressure training, inner alc...

Most practice begins with imitation. Genuine practice begins when imitation gives way to perception. In this Inner Life Talk, Mark Wiley explores how sustained practice transforms the body from something we control into something that teaches us. Discover why: • Practice begins with imitation but matures into perception • The body becomes a source of continuous feedback • Embodiment is different f...

What does Orthodox Christianity teach about the inner life? In this conversation, Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff explores the ancient Christian path of transformation through watchfulness, repentance, prayer, forgiveness, and spiritual discipline. Rather than presenting faith as a collection of beliefs, he describes Orthodoxy as a lived way of life rooted in embodied practice and continuous participation. T...

In this Integral Being conversation, renowned Taoist teacher, author, and translator Stuart Alve Olson reflects on a lifetime devoted to Taoism, Tai Chi, Qigong, meditation, and spiritual cultivation. A longtime student of Master T.T. Liang and disciple of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, Stuart became one of the most influential voices bringing Taoist wisdom and internal arts traditions to Western aud...

What happens when spirituality is approached not as inherited belief, but as lived experience? In this conversation, poet, artist, and scholar Kythe Heller joins Integral Being host Mark V. Wiley to explore poetry, mysticism, transformation, and the search for direct encounter with the sacred. Drawing from her work in contemplative arts, scholarship, and the Sufi tradition of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Ky...

What if suffering arises not from life itself, but from our identification with the personality? In this episode of Integral Being, Mark V. Wiley speaks with psychologist and meditation teacher David Parrish about awareness, conditioning, meditation, self-realization, and the challenge of integrating awakening into everyday life. Drawing on decades of experience as a psychologist, prison administr...

What if healing begins not with technique, but with perception? In this episode of Integral Being, Mark V. Wiley sits down with acupuncturist, teacher, and scholar Felix De Haas to explore the deeper dimensions of Chinese medicine, Daoist cultivation, meditation, and the practitioner's state of awareness. Drawing from more than four decades of clinical experience and study, Felix discusses the dif...

In this episode of Integral Being, Mark Wiley speaks with Father Francis Tiso — Catholic priest, theologian, and author of Rainbow Body and Resurrection — about one of the most provocative questions in contemplative spirituality: What if resurrection was not merely symbolic, but transformative in a literal sense? Drawing from Christian mysticism, Tibetan Buddhist accounts of the rainbow body, eyew...

What is Tai Chi actually training? In this episode of Integral Being , Mark V. Wiley speaks with fourth-generation lineage holder Alex Dong about what real Tai Chi is—and what most modern practice misses. Beyond choreography, performance, or relaxation, traditional Tai Chi is a precise method of internal development. It trains structure, alignment, connection, and the integration of body, breath,...

In this deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation, Swami Kripananda reflects on addiction, recovery, yoga, Kundalini, mystical experience, and the search for direct spiritual realization. Drawing from decades of study with figures such as B. K. S. Iyengar , Vipassana teachers, Catholic priests, and Indian swamis, he shares stories of transformation through suffering, discipline, prayer, and pr...

What are we actually searching for—and why does the search so often fail to resolve it? In this episode of Integral Being , Mark V. Wiley speaks with Sufi philosopher and teacher Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri on the nature of presence, the role of the ego, and the deeper realities that lie beyond both. Across traditions, human beings pursue meaning through knowledge, identity, achievement—even spirituali...

In this Integral Being conversation, Acarya Vimalananda Avadhuta introduces Ananda Marga, the "Path of Bliss," as a disciplined system of spiritual development rooted in meditation, tantra, mantra, neo-humanism, and the expansion of consciousness. Rather than treating bliss as pleasure or emotional intensity, this conversation explores bliss as a stable state of expansion cultivated through practi...

What if martial arts were never just about fighting? In this episode of Integral Being , Mark Wiley sits down with Guru Yogi Shivan to explore Kalaripayattu , one of India's oldest and most complete systems of training. This conversation moves beyond combat to reveal how Kalari practice develops the body, breath, nervous system, and perception as a unified field . Rooted in Siddha lineage and trad...

What if transformation doesn't begin in the mind—but in the body? In this episode of Integral Being , Mark V. Wiley sits down with Dr. Baffour Jan to explore a direct, experiential model of human transformation grounded in balance. Rather than focusing on thoughts, beliefs, or self-improvement strategies, this conversation reveals a different orientation: real change emerges when the body, breath,...

Daoism is often misunderstood as philosophy or belief. But in practice, it is something else entirely. In this conversation, Dr. Livia Kohn presents Daoism as a lived process—one that reorganizes how experience unfolds. Rather than striving toward outcomes, Daoist practice cultivates the conditions for experience to arise naturally. Through breath, stillness, and the release of cognitive fixation,...

You don't see reality—you see your interpretation of it. In this conversation, Mike Faff explores how perception, belief, and memory construct the world we experience. In this Integral Being conversation, Mike Faff explores a simple but destabilizing insight: perception is not direct contact with reality, but interpretation shaped by belief, memory, and conditioning. What we take to be the world i...

What if human consciousness is not the final stage of development? In this Integral Being conversation, Santosh Krinsky explores the life, awakening, and evolutionary vision of Sri Aurobindo. In this episode, Santosh Krinsky traces the turning point in Sri Aurobindo's life—from political revolutionary to a figure of profound inner transformation following a decisive awakening during imprisonment....