Spirit Matters

The prolific and provocative priest, Matthew Fox, returns to Spirit Matters to speak about two totally different but strangely relate new books. Fr. Fox earned a doctorate in the History and Theology of Spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and was a priest in the Dominican order for more than 30 years before running into trouble with the Vatican. He subsequently became an Episcopal p...

Dana Sawyer is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and World Religions at the Maine College of Art & Design and the author of biographies of both Aldous Huxley and Huston Smith. His primary expertise is in Hinduism and Buddhism but his work has focused on comparative mysticism, theories of the “perennial philosophy,” and the value of psychedelic experience in the study of mysticism. His most recent b...

This episode's guest is Michael Schauch . Michael is an alpinist—meaning he climbs high mountains—and an award-winning author who, in his words, “lives to explore the depths of nature and the human spirit and share the beauty of connection he discovers along the way.”A resident of Canada—specifically the mountains of British Columbia—he is a world-traveler and explorer and a Buddhist practiti...

Mirabai Starr returns for her third visit to Spirit Matters. Mirabai is an award-winning author of creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught philosophy and world religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. I first became aware of Mirabai because...

Cynthia Abulafia is an author, an academic, and a devotee of the Goddess. She is, in her words, committed to giving language to the divine feminine and restoring the experience of embodiment as the heart of spiritual practice. A longtime student and teacher of non-duality, she guides people through kundalini awakenings and spiritual emergence with grounded tools rooted in embodiment, breath, and t...

Rabbi Rami Shapiro is our returning champion. This is his third appearance on Spirit Matters (fourth if you count the time he interviewed me about Karmic Relief). Rami is a self-proclaimed “Jewish practitioner of perennial wisdom.” He was ordained by Hebrew Union College and earned a Ph. D. in religion from Union Graduate School. He’s the co-director of the One River Foundation, writes the co...

If you've ever contemplated the link between spirituality and music, or between consciousness and musical improvisation, this is the episode for you. My guest is Ed Sarath, a longtime professor of music at the University of Michigan—specifically, in the Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation department at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He is also director of the university’s Program in Creativ...

A Hindu Chaplain and a Buddhist Chaplain walk into the Spirit Matters podcast ... and talk about counseling today's generation of students. Vineet Chander graduated from the George Washington University Law School, earned an MA in religious studies at Rutgers University, and a doctorate in education from New York University. He is now an assistant dean in the Office of Religious Life at Princeton,...

Stephan Bodian studied and practiced for many years with masters in the nondual wisdom traditions of Zen, Dzogchen-Mahamudra, and Advaita Vedanta, and in 2001 received authorization to teach from Adyashanti. He offers webinars, retreats, videos, books, and spiritual counseling that, his words, “make profound spiritual teachings and practices accessible to a global audience.” He has taught at major...

Anantanand Rambachan is an eminent scholar of religion, currently Emeritus Professor of Religion at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota. He has also served as Visiting Professor at the Academy for the Study of World Religions at the University of Hamburg, in Germany, and as the Keating-Schachter World Wisdom Teacher-in-Residence at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. His scholarly interests includ...

Deborah Santana is an author, activist, philanthropist, and business leader dedicated to peace, justice, and women’s empowerment. The founder of the nonprofit, Do a Little, she advocates for women and girls through global education and health initiatives and has worked with the Smithsonian Institution, The Children’s Defense Fund, and other important organizations. She has also produced five docum...

Jeremy David Engels is the liberal arts endowed Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, the co-founder of Yoga Lab, and a longtime mindfulness and yoga teacher. His academic research reimagines democracy as a communal practice rooted in care, deliberation, and shared responsibility, emphasizing mindfulness as a core civic skill. His work has appeared in numerou...

Peter Russell is a long-time contributor to our understanding of spirituality,  consciousness, meditation, and related matters, who believes "the critical challenge of today is freeing human thinking from the limited beliefs and attitudes that lie behind many of our problems — personal, social, and global.” He is a public speaker, a retreat leader, a teacher of online courses, and the author of a...

Oneika Mays is a yoga and meditation teacher who was formerly the mindfulness coach at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York. With roots in Buddhist and Yogic teachings, she specializes in making mindfulness accessible to marginalized and excluded communities. She is the author of Sit with Me: A No-BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation, which explores metta (lovingkindness) as a tool...

One of our favorite guests, ⁠Andrew Harvey⁠, returns to Spirit Matters. A leading voice for inclusive, universal, spiritual wisdom, Andrew is an internationally acclaimed writer, poet, translator and mystical teacher. He is the author of over 40 books, including ⁠Son of Man⁠, ⁠The Hope⁠, ⁠Love is Everything⁠, ⁠Turn me to Gold⁠, ⁠Engoldenment⁠, and ⁠Radical Regeneration ⁠(with Carolyn Baker). He ha...

Elaine Aron is a clinical and research psychologist who received her advanced training at Pacific Graduate Institute and the Jung Institute in San Francisco. Her research on sensory processing sensitivity and, along with her husband, Arthur Aron, the study of close relationships, is widely published in academic journals. She is best known as the world’s leading expert on the “Highly Sensitive Pers...

Dean Radin is chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), an associated distinguished professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and the cofounder and chairman of the biotech company, Cognigenics. His advanced degrees include an MS in electrical engineering and a Ph. D. in psychology from the University of Illinois, and an honorary doctorate from the Swami Vivekanan...

Julie Nelson has been practicing Zen Buddhism for more than 20 years. Along the way, she was deemed accomplished enough and dedicated enough to become a teacher in the Soto tradition. Hence her other name, Seido Sensei. She has contributed articles to Tricycle magazine, writes on her own blog, and she’s the author of a book titled Practicing Safe Zen: Navigating the Pitfalls on the Road to Liberat...

Parvati Markus is a developmental editor who has been midwifing spiritually oriented non-fiction books and memoirs going back to her early friendship with the late spiritual leader Ram Dass and working with him on his iconic Be Here Now. Later books she either authored, coauthored, or edited include Dying to Know, Whisper in the Heart, Love Everyone, and the children's book, Isabella Castaspella....

Robert A. Jonas is a a multifaceted spiritual practitioner and teacher: psychotherapist, a Christian mystic, a leader in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, an environmental activist, a retreat leader, and the director and host of The Empty Bell, a contemplative sanctuary in Northampton, MA. , as well as a husband, father, and grandfather. He’s also a master of the Shakuhachi (a Japanese bamboo flute) an...

Stephanie James is a psychotherapist, a transformation coach, an international speaker, a filmmaker, an author, and the host of the podcast “Igniting the Spark,” on mindbodyspirit.fm, where you will find interviews, (including one with me). Her new book, which we talk about here, is Your Big Fat Juicy Life (And Everything After). The book, according to the press material, “illuminates how we perce...

Craig Bullock (aka Isha Das) is the Spiritual Director of the Assisi Institute in Rochester, New York, where he integrates mystical Christianity and teachings from the Kriya Yoga tradition. He has an advanced degree in religious studies from the University of Notre Dame and another in clinical psychology from Duquesne University. He is also an authorized Kriya Yoga teacher, having been trained by...

Mark Nepo returns to Spirit Matters for a conversation about spirituality in the second half of life. Mark is a poet, a spiritual teacher, and a bestselling author of some 26 books, including You Don't Have to Do it Alone: The Power of Friendship; Falling Down and Getting Up; Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity; and best-known of all, The Book of Awakening, which has sold more than a million co...

Tirzah Firestone is an author, a Jungian psychotherapist, and a rabbi. She has been a leader in the international Jewish Renewal movement and a scholar and teacher widely known for her groundbreaking work on Kabbalah, depth psychology, intergenerational trauma healing, and the re-integration of the feminine wisdom tradition within Judaism. She lectures and teaches about how harvesting ancestral wi...

Rodger Kamenetz is an award-winning poet, author and teacher. He has authored nine books of poetry and several nonfiction books, including (not in chronological order) The History of Last Night’s Dream, which earned him an interview with Oprah Winfrey on her “Soul Series” program; Burnt Books; Stalking Elijah, which won the National Jewish Book Award; and his best known book, The Jew in the Lotus,...