Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Ever feel like you're built for the wild — but terrified the moment you actually step into it? Filmmaker and My Octopus Teacher naturalist Craig Foster joins Tami Simon to unpack that strange paradox: why our bodies crave wildness even as we recoil from it. His answer might be the gentlest permission slip you'll get to start reconnecting with your own wild side, one backyard animal at a time. Take...

What does it take to keep hoping when hope keeps breaking your heart? Tami Simon speaks with Marisa Renée Lee—New York Times bestselling author of Grief Is Love and Waiting for Dawn: Living with Uncertainty —about what she calls a "ruthless, stubborn commitment to hope": the conviction that something better is coming, and the willingness to do whatever is necessary to make it so, even in the darke...

We've all been there — wide awake at three in the morning, brain running the instant we wake up and no chance of getting back to sleep. This week we hear from Martha Beck and her answer when Tami asks the question: "What Do I Do At Three In the Morning?" Martha shares her expertise on anxiety, calming our nervous systems, and why beds are just the best. Excerpted from Insights at the Edge . This e...

What if the God you've been taught to believe in is the very thing that’s keeping you from finding God? Tami Simon speaks with Sister Ilia Delio—Franciscan theologian, scientist, and author of The Not Yet God —about the evolutionary vision of Teilhard de Chardin, why monotheism is giving way to a new religious consciousness, and how AI, far from threatening our humanity, might be the unexpected ca...

In this clip from Insights at the Edge , Tami asks Rainn Wilson — Emmy-nominated actor, author of Soul Boom , and devoted Bahá'í — why he never became an atheist. His answer moves from humor to philosophy to genuine vulnerability, landing on an idea that surprised even him: that "the Great Mystery" might be enough. A rare, honest conversation about faith from someone who had every reason to stay q...

What does it mean to keep your heart open when the world feels most dangerous? Tami Simon speaks with beloved meditation teacher Tara Brach—author of Radical Acceptance and Trusting the Gold —about her new inner workbook The Courageous Heart: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times . Tami and Tara discuss how to stay engaged without being overwhelmed, why grief is often the doorway to love, and what it...

In this clip from Insights at the Edge , Tami asks Thích Nhất Hạnh — revered Zen master, founder of Plum Village, and father of modern mindfulness — what lies beneath all of the world's suffering. His answer is both radical and surprisingly intimate: the root of social change is inner awakening, and it begins with you, right now. Recorded more than two decades ago; somehow more urgent today. This...

How do you hold true to your convictions to be good in a world that’s on fire? Tami Simon speaks with Buddhist meditation teacher and author Lodro Rinzler about his new book, You Are Good. You Are Enough , exploring the practice of basic goodness: how to free ourselves from the trap of doubt, extend that recognition to others, and find wholeness even inside a fractured society. This conversation o...

What happens when a man runs out of purpose—and doesn't collapse? Tami Simon speaks with wisdom teacher and bestselling author David Deida about his new book, The Man of Zero: A Guide to Primal Power, Boundless Sex, and the Freedom Beyond Ambition —exploring the phase beyond drive, ambition, and meaning-making, and what becomes possible when a man learns to live from the depths of pure presence. T...

What if the greatest preparation for the changes ahead isn't physical, but spiritual? Tami Simon speaks with Jasper Young Bear, wisdom keeper and member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, about the Indigenous prophecies pointing to this moment in time, the sacred knowledge held within oral traditions, and how returning to the Creator—and to each other—is the only path through. This conver...

What if the most transformative practice available to us requires nothing but complete darkness? Tami Simon speaks with interdisciplinary scholar and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner Andrew Holecek—author of Total Eclipse of the Mind —about the ancient practice of dark retreat: what happens to the mind when all light is removed, why it's been called "meditation times a thousand," and how to bring its...

What does a lasting spiritual partnership actually look like—behind closed doors? Tami Simon speaks with nico and devon hase—married Buddhist teachers and co-authors of the new Sounds True book This Messy, Gorgeous Love: A Buddhist Guide to Lasting Partnership —about why real intimacy requires the willingness to be a little volcanic, a lot forgiving, and always, beautifully finding your balance ra...

What happens when a cancer research institution invites energy healers into the laboratory? In this special feed takeover, Insights at the Edge presents the debut episode of Phenomena: The Science and Stories of Energy Healing —a new six-part Sounds True podcast hosted by Ivy Ross. In this episode, you’ll learn about astonishing research from MD Anderson Cancer Center and the story of one patient...

After decades of therapy, retreats, and every healing modality available, Geneen Roth discovered that her fraught relationship with her 97-year-old mother wasn't actually about her mother. Tami Simon speaks with the bestselling author of Women, Food, and God about her new book Love Finally —and the six-step process that transformed her most painful wound into her most unexpected liberation. This c...

Your body has been sending the signals. You've just been too busy to listen. Tami Simon speaks with Zabie Yamasaki—founder of Transcending Trauma through Yoga and author of Protect Your Energy —about nervous system regulation, somatic boundaries, and why the most powerful act of resistance in troubled times isn't pushing harder. It's learning, finally, how to rest. This conversation offers genuine...

What if the answer to every question life throws at you comes down to a single practice? Tami Simon speaks with Michael Singer—beloved author of The Untethered Soul —alongside Tony and Sage Robbins to celebrate the release of Wisdom Untethered: The Time for Questions . Together they explore letting go, the nature of intuition, the highest form of prayer, and how to honor the irreplaceable miracle...

What if flourishing isn't something you have to achieve, but something you were born to do? Tami Simon speaks with neuroscientist Richard Davidson and contemplative scientist Cortland Dahl, authors of Born to Flourish: How New Science and Ancient Wisdom Reveal a Simple Path to Thriving , about four trainable skills—awareness, connection, insight, and purpose—that can transform your wellbeing in as...

What if the pain you've carried your whole life didn't begin with you? Tami Simon speaks with Richard Schwartz—founder of Internal Family Systems—and psychotherapist and IFS lead trainer Tamala Floyd, author of Listening: When Parts Speak , about the intersection of IFS and ancestral wisdom, and how healing legacy burdens can liberate not only ourselves, but the generations that come after us. Thi...

What does it mean to be fully here and fully surrendered at the same time? Tami Simon speaks with Banafsheh Sayyad—master Iranian sacred dancer, choreographer, transformational teacher, and founder of Dance of Oneness—about whirling as a spiritual practice, the marriage of discipline and surrender, embodied healing through movement, and how presence itself can become a form of devotion and resista...

Are the patterns you formed surviving a chaotic childhood still running your life today? Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Tian Dayton—trauma expert, psychodramatist, and author of Growing Up with Addiction —about how addiction doesn't just happen to one person, it happens to the whole family, and why healing the wounds it leaves behind requires more than insight. It requires discipline. This conversatio...

The world is accelerating faster than the human mind was built to handle. So what do we do with that? Tami Simon speaks with Peter Russell—physicist, consciousness pioneer, and author of How to Meditate Without Even Trying, featuring a foreword by Eckhart Tolle. Together, they discuss navigating exponential change, the stresses of an AI-driven world, the possibility of our species' extinction, and...

What happens to your creativity when your attention is fractured—and what becomes possible when you reclaim it? Tami Simon speaks with writer, artist, and movement practitioner Cody Cook-Parrott about their new Sounds True book, The Practice of Attention: Cultivating Presence in a Distracted World —exploring social media addiction, the art of the attention audit, soft structures for creative pract...

What if the natural world isn’t a warehouse of resources—but a landscape of gifts? Tami Simon speaks with Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist, author of Braiding Sweetgrass , and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, about living in reciprocal relationship with the earth, overcoming brain chauvinism, and why the most radical act in a time of climate crisis may be remembering who we truly are...

What if the secret to better writing isn’t more technique—but more truth? Tami Simon speaks with beloved author Anne Lamott and her husband Neal Allen—writer, spiritual coach, and author of Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences —about the craft of finding your voice, writing toward compassion and truth, and why the most powerful sentences come not from the polished mind but from the real...

What does it take to truly master yourself—not just your body, but your mind, your roles, and your relationship to suffering? Tami Simon speaks with Shi Heng Yi, a 35th generation Shaolin master and author of Shaolin Spirit, about the ancient warrior path to inner freedom. Together they explore self-mastery, the illusion of identity, elevation beyond suffering, and the surprising yin within one of...