In this episode, Wendy speaks with gastroentorologist, author, and microbiome researcher Emeran Mayer. Emeran is a world renowned expert in the connections between the gut and the mind, and brings a biological lens to the concept of interconnection. This conversation covers many topics, including: his interest in mind-body connection; microbiome overview & current questions; how we've inherited systems of communication from microbes; gut-brain connections, and the concept of the "second brain"; how meditation might affect our microbes; gut-immune connections; the importance of barriers, and what goes wrong in "leaky gut"; barrier compromise as common core of nearly all chronic disorders; stress and diet as key factors affecting our gut permeability; what we can do to protect our gut; equity issues around healthy food access; the gut as a sense organ; reductions in the diversity of microbes on the planet; the role of antibiotics and environmental destruction; development of the microbiome in pregnancy and infancy; implications for our concept of self; balance between reductionism and embracing complexity in science; and the need for more of the feminine archetype in our world. Full show notes and resources

To begin our seventh season, Wendy speaks with contemplative educator and developmental psychologist Rob Roeser. Rob has been working to re-envision the educational system for decades, and has been at the forefront of understanding how we can best integrate mindfulness and compassion into school settings. This conversation covers many topics, including: his initial exposure to integrative school systems; educating for life, instead of just participation in the global economy; focus on the body, nature, and our inherent "earthiness"; studying schools in India that integrate meditation; integrating science and viewing contemplative practice as building skills; applying a developmental lens to contemplative education; the key role of educating adults alongside children; changing culture and norms; how social processes drive the development of attention in children; our innate tendencies towards both compassion and othering; attention training as a relational practice; the relevance of a secure base; leveraging developmental "windows of opportunity"; practices that highlight our shared humanity; systems thinking in education; and re-enchanting the gift of learning. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with lawyer, activist, and restorative justice expert sujatha baliga. sujatha’s work reimagines our current legal and justice system in the United States, and emphasizes the full humanity of both those who experience harm and those who cause it. This conversation covers many topics, including: growing up with sexual abuse, and the impacts it had; meeting with the Dalai Lama, and his transformational advice; the power of lovingkindness; her choice to be a public defender; responsibility & causes and conditions; holding two competing ideas simultaneously; problems with the traditional legal system; the paradigm shift of restorative justice; integrating contemplative practice into the process of restorative justice; the role of the self in the experience of harm; how we need to shift our language around labeling people; reflections on forgiveness and justice; and next steps for the movement. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with neuroscientist and pain researcher Fadel Zeidan. Fadel is one of the leading experts on understanding how mindfulness and other contemplative practices can be used to help relieve physical pain and promote well-being. This conversation covers many topics, including: his interest in self, consciousness, mindfulness and the brain; bringing mindfulness to special education classrooms; historical use of mindfulness for pain; intensity vs. unpleasantness of pain; his early work showing that mindfulness induces pain relief; making mindfulness training more accessible; looking into the brain during pain; using "fake meditation" in research; understanding our natural opiate system and its role in pain relief; bringing rigor to research with placebo controls; the relationship of physical pain to more complex psychological pain; working with families of children who were killed by gun violence; studying psychedelics for phantom limb pain; role of the default mode network in pain and self; compassion meditation and increasing our connection to strangers; the opioid crisis in the United States; and the role of contemplation in larger society. Full show notes and resources

In this episode, Wendy speaks with Buddhist scholar and contemplative educator and researcher Brendan Ozawa-de Silva. Brendan has been studying and teaching mindfulness and compassion for over a decade, and has lately been focusing on integrating trauma-informed and embodied practices into his work. This conversation covers many topics, including: his interest in contemplation (and an introduction to the Japanese practice of Naikan); adapting contemplative training to a variety of settings; the capacity of young people for compassion, mindfulness, and conceptual frames; what's missing in contemplative research; empathy/compassion as something that arises between people; the embeddedness of researchers in the systems they study; the SEE Learning program; trauma in the body & nervous system regulation; understanding different forms of trauma; healing and forgiveness; barriers to compassion, misunderstandings about the meaning of compassion; how the world is built on compassion; and new teaching endeavors with experiential learning. Full show notes and resources