Meditation Without Borders – Being the Change Podcast

It’s hard to imagine in the western world, but in Nigeria, girls as young as ten are married and four out of every ten girls are married before the age of eighteen, eight out of ten in the northern region. When a girl is forced into marriage, sometimes to a man old enough to be her grandfather, she often cannot continue her education unless her husband allows it, she is likely to live her life ill...

With all eyes on the conflict in Isreal, Lebanon and Gaza, it can be easy to sink into despair witnessing the endless stream of news stories of violence and devastation. However, there are some who are like lights in the darkness, spreading peace and love at the center of the strife.      We are so honored to have one of those people on our podcast, Nechama Shaina, an expressive arts therapist ori...

Recorded October 2024   While it seems like the patriarchy is at its peak and brutality is rampant around the world, it can feel like we’re all tumbling towards darkness. However, when we take a wider view, we see that there is a larger movement at play, and there is hope of a phoenix rising from the destruction–the rising of the Feminine.     In this episode, Isabel and Kristen discuss the nature...

You’ve seen them, people trying too hard, taking themselves too seriously, putting on a show, straining to appear of a higher status or consciousness state or social status than maybe they are. Perhaps you have caught yourself giving off an impression as opposed to just being your sweet but not-always-so-glamorous self.    You’d think in spiritual communities, we’d be beyond this type of behavior,...

Meditation is a solitary practice right? Not necessarily. Our latest guest on our podcast is not only creating community through this individual practice, he is also pioneering a study on the effect of deep meditation on the collective consciousness.                               We are delighted to have Barron Hanson on our podcast. Barron is a fellow Vedic Meditation teacher based in Australia,...

It is hard to imagine violence on the scale that occurred 30 years ago this spring in Rwanda. But for our guest, Odette Nyiramilimo, she doesn’t have to imagine, she can remember.    We are so honored to have Odette on our podcast. She is not only a medical doctor who with her husband founded the first private maternity and pediatrics clinic in Rwanda as well as being a doctor for the Peace Corps,...

Thirty years ago, the world stood by as over 800,000 people were brutally killed in Rwanda over a period of three and a half months. The aftermath seemed insurmountable, yet today, Rwanda stands as one of Africa's safest destinations, boasting a stable political environment. This remarkable transformation is indebted, in large part, to resilient individuals like Mary Kalikungeri. We are so honored...

The world has been a witness to one of the deadliest conflicts in recent memory this fall with the Isreali/Palestinian conflict, and so many of us are feeling an urgency to help with no clear direction as to how.    In this episode, we interview our colleagues, David Lahav and Emily McCarthy, two Vedic Meditation teachers based in Colorado who have recently started an organization called Meditate...

We’re taught from when we are little to be ambitious in order to achieve what we want, but what if what we want is to strive for something that is already within us, enlightenment? In a teaching that expounds not looking to the future for happiness, where does something like ambition fit into such a philosophy? And is enlightenment envy a thing?  In this episode, Kristen and Isabel get personal ab...

Two years ago, we spoke with Tracee Stanley, founder of the Empowered Life Circle, about her book "Radiant Rest," and it was one of the most memorable interviews we’ve hosted on this podcast. We are honored to have her on again to talk about her new book, "The Luminous Self," which comes out in October. Tracee’s new book paints from a palette of her decades of study of the traditions of the Himala...

You deserve the best. Never feel unworthy or      not justified in having the best. I tell you, this is your heritage; but, you have to accept it. You have to expect it;  you have to claim it. To do so is not demanding too much.   These powerful words come from Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, better known as Guru Deva, the master of our tradition from which Vedic Meditation comes. This is one of his...

As teachers of meditation, we’re always talking about the journey inward. But what about the outer journey, is there a spiritual value in traveling the world?  In this episode, we have a delightful conversation with fellow Vedic Meditation teacher and avid world traveler Théo Burkhardt about why we yearn to see far off lands and how the exploration of the globe is also an expansion for the soul. T...

This is a very special episode where we honor the memory of Nicole LeVeck McCracken who dropped her body this past September after a long battle with cancer. Nicole was a Vedic meditator on her way to becoming a teacher of the practice she loved so dearly as well as an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor who had passed the steps to hundreds of people looking for a path to recovery. In this conversation,...

It’s no secret that our lack of awareness as a society is doing great harm to the planet as well as all of its creatures. In this episode, we are thrilled to speak with one of those who are holding back the tide of destruction, Rachel Hogan, director of Ape Action Africa . Rachel has devoted the last 20 years to primate conservation in Cameroon and is well known for her work in the rescue and reha...

Meditation is all about letting the light in. In this episode, we speak with Joh Jarvis, Vedic Meditation teacher and founder of the Light Inside, who is on a mission to let the light find its way into prisons and jails. Joh talks about what it was like teaching men in maximum security at Rikers Island Correctional Center in New York as well as women prisoners in Philidephia who were recently rele...

There is one constant in the human condition and that is the desire for growth. However, we all have these different issues, habits, or patterns that seem to hold us back and keep us from living life to the fullest. But what if it were those very traits that held the secret to our evolution?    In this episode, Isabel and Kristen explore this revolutionary perspective and how to look at your setba...

Boundaries are a fascinating subject because according to the Vedas, they don’t really exist. When we want to manifest, boundaries are created, when we want to unify, boundaries are dissolved. What that looks like in our own lives is setting healthy personal boundaries while at the same time dissolving all boundaries in meditation as well as witnessing the dissolving of boundaries between civiliza...

There are some that proudly proclaim they are on a spiritual path while others want nothing to do with it. However, spirituality is not something you can be "into" or not, everything is spirit. We are all devoted something, the question is what do you worship? What is getting the bulk of your attention? Do you worship your problems by thinking of them constantly? Do you worship your stress by serv...

Every day the news seems to get worse and worse. The sense of urgency builds and yet for most of us ordinary people who live thousands of miles away, we feel helpless.    In this episode, Kristen and Isabel confront their own moments of helplessness in the face of global tragedy and discuss how meditation itself works to cool the collective. Listen in to hear how to overcome feelings of helplessne...

So much of what we want out of life does not require more effort and struggle, we simply have to stop resisting and allow what already is. As they say, “what we resist persists.” But how do we learn to let go and simply relax and enjoy?   In this episode, Kristen and Isabel examine the root causes for our resistance and define how the inner resistance that is keeping us down differs from pain, ave...

If you had to pick a word to describe how you want to experience this new year, what would it be?  2022 seems to have us all cautiously optimistic. While we’re all still licking our wounds from the last two years, we also seem to be eager to make the most of what’s to come, hence New Year’s resolutions.  However, instead of making resolutions which tend to be based on external goals with a high li...

There’s that famous quote by Ram Dass, “If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a week with your family.” It is an almost universal condition that spending time with family at the holidays can be triggering like little else, even for avid meditators. In this episode, Isabel and Kristen explore their own journeys with relating to their families and how they handle walking into family gatherings w...

These past couple years, it could be argued that loneliness is like a second epidemic. And with the holidays coming up, feelings of isolation are intensified. But being alone does not necessarily cause loneliness.   In this episode, Isabel and Kristen look at the line between loneliness and solitude from many angles. They look at how stress causes a sense of isolation and how even there can be a t...

There are those among us who are shining light in the darkest of dark places. In this episode, we speak with Saskia Niño de Rivera, who is basically a one-woman revolution to reform the Mexican penal system. Through her organization, Reinserta, Saskia works with kidnappers, incarcerated mothers and children brought up in prison as well as teenagers released from prison who need extra support among...

When we become a mother, we take on an ancient role that extends far beyond simply feeding and clothing our children. In this episode, we speak with our good friend and colleague Jess Osie, Vedic Meditation teacher and the founder of the Vedic Mamas Circle, a group she created specifically to support meditating mothers in all stages of motherhood. Between laughter and tears, Isabel and Kristen dis...