Sounds True Logo

Trusting the Gold

    —
November 30, 2021
Self-Compassion

Trusting the Gold

Tara Brach — November 30, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tara Brach has been practicing and teaching meditation since 1975, as well as leading workshops and meditation retreats throughout North America and Europe. She has a PhD in clinical psychology, is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW), and is the author of Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Radical Compassion, and most recently, Trusting the Gold. 

In this podcast, Tara Brach speaks with Sounds True founder Tami Simon about rediscovering the inner “gold” of our intrinsic goodness, love, and purity. In addition, they discuss Tara’s teachings on the “trance of unworthiness” and how we can break free from it; recognizing the secret beauty in others and mirroring it back; relaxation for the go-getters; working with difficult emotions; how shame can become a portal to freedom; the RAIN practice for self-compassion; the power of the phrase “this belongs”; the practice of “softening” in response to contractions of fear or anger; and seeing the sacredness in all things.

Tara Brach has been practicing and teaching meditation since 1975, as well as leading workshops and meditation retreats at centers throughout North America and Europe. She has a PhD in clinical psychology, is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW), and is the author of Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Radical Compassion, and Trusting the Gold. Tara’s weekly podcasts of talks and meditations are downloaded more than three million times each month. For more, visit tarabrach.com.

Author photo © Jonathan Foust

Posted November 30, 2021
[ss_social_share]

600 Podcasts and Counting…

Subscribe to Insights at the Edge to hear all of Tami’s interviews (transcripts available too!), featuring Eckhart Tolle, Caroline Myss, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Adyashanti, and many more.
Apple Podcasts
YouTube
Spotify
RSS

Meet Your Host: Tami Simon

Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.

Photo © Jason Elias

Products By Author

Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program

Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program

In-Depth Program

Starting at: $7700.00

The Power of Awareness

The Power of Awareness

Online Learning

Starting at: $297.00

The Self-Acceptance Summit

The Self-Acceptance Summit

Online Course

Starting at: $267.30

Also By Author

See All
podcast
Post Views: 7,066
Mindfulness

Tara Brach: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times

Tara Brach — June 23, 2026


What if the bravest thing you can do right now is refusing to close your heart?

This week, Tami Simon speaks with Tara Brach—beloved meditation teacher, clinical psychologist, and bestselling author of Radical Acceptance and Trusting the Gold—about her new inner workbook with Sounds True, The Courageous Heart: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times. At a moment when so many people feel pulled between despair and action, Tara offers a grounded path through both.

Join Tami and Tara to explore:

  • How to stay spiritually engaged—without burning out or spiritually bypassing the reality of suffering
  • The bodhisattva path as a living practice: what it means to be an “awakening being” in ordinary, everyday life
  • Why grief is often covered over by anger—and how moving through grief unlocks the capacity for love and action
  • The RAIN practice (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) for working with armoring, fear, and excruciating pain in the heart
  • The shift from head space to heart space—and a brief guided meditation to experience it directly
  • How aspiration becomes the fuel for the spiritual path—and why Tara “sandwiches” her day with it
  • The practice of seeing basic goodness in others—including stories of Father Gregory Boyle and John Lewis that illuminate how this changes everything
  • What to do when you feel alone, disconnected, and uncertain where to start

Whether you’re overwhelmed by current events or searching for a more engaged and openhearted way to meet this moment, Tara Brach offers both the courage and the practical tools to begin.

Listen now and choose to love. →

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.

Enter for a chance to win the Monthly Magic Subscription Journey. It includes 12 months of tea, a loose leaf starter kit, monthly virtual classes, and free shipping worth $673. Learn more at ClubMagicHour.com/TRUE (no purchase required). Get 20% off your first order of Magic Hour tea at ClubMagicHour.com with the code TRUE.

podcast
Post Views: 10,555
Health & Healing Spirituality

“Showing Up For Each Other” | Tami Simon & Ta...

Tara Brach — October 23, 2025

Join Tami Simon and renowned meditation teacher and clinical psychologist Tara Brach for this special episode of Insights At The Edge as they explore the intersection of spirituality and therapeutic practices and thank the many therapists of the world who accompany us on these deeply meaningful journeys within.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Listeners of Insights At The Edge get 10% off their first month at www.betterhelp.com/soundstrue

podcast
Post Views: 19,277
Self-Compassion

Trusting the Gold

Tara Brach — November 30, 2021

Tara Brach has been practicing and teaching meditation since 1975, as well as leading workshops and meditation retreats throughout North America and Europe. She has a PhD in clinical psychology, is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW), and is the author of Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Radical Compassion, and most recently, Trusting the Gold. 

In this podcast, Tara Brach speaks with Sounds True founder Tami Simon about rediscovering the inner “gold” of our intrinsic goodness, love, and purity. In addition, they discuss Tara’s teachings on the “trance of unworthiness” and how we can break free from it; recognizing the secret beauty in others and mirroring it back; relaxation for the go-getters; working with difficult emotions; how shame can become a portal to freedom; the RAIN practice for self-compassion; the power of the phrase “this belongs”; the practice of “softening” in response to contractions of fear or anger; and seeing the sacredness in all things.

You Might Also Enjoy

podcast
Post Views: 7,406
Personal Growth Self-Compassion

Kristin Neff & Caverly Morgan: Self-Compassion as...

Caverly Morgan
Kristin Neff — February 24, 2026

Can the simple act of being kind to yourself actually be a doorway to awakening?

In this special episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon brings together two remarkable teachers whose friendship has sparked a revolutionary approach to inner transformation. Kristin Neff—the researcher who first measured self-compassion and author of Fierce Self-Compassion—joins Caverly Morgan, a meditation teacher and former Zen monk, to explore how self-compassion practices can become what they call “a lifeboat” to our deepest nature.

Together, they reveal why self-compassion isn’t just a psychological tool for feeling better—it’s a direct path to recognizing who we really are beyond our limited sense of self.

In this interview, Tami, Kristin, and Caverly explore:

  • Why every moment of self-compassion is a moment of “letting go of identification with the small, separate, limited self”
  • The difference between witnessing awareness and embodied loving awareness—and why it matters
  • How gender conditioning shapes our relationship to both compassion and awakening practices
  • The power of “relational dharma” and why we sometimes need another person to help us access self-compassion
  • A guided practice for moving from suffering into the “stance-less stance” of presence

If you’ve practiced self-compassion but sensed there’s something deeper available, or if awakening teachings have felt too abstract or disembodied, this conversation offers a bridge between heart and awareness that could transform your practice.

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.

podcast
Post Views: 582
Health & Healing Self-Compassion

[ENCORE EPISODE] Anne Lamott: Radical Self-Care Change...

Anne Lamott — October 30, 2025

**SPECIAL ENCORE PRESENTATION IN SUPPORT OF WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY**

Anne Lamott is the celebrated author of many books of fiction, essays, and memoirs. Her works include Bird by Bird, Hallelujah Anyway, and Crooked Little Heart. In this special edition of Insights at the Edge originally recorded for The Self-Acceptance Summit, Tami Simon speaks with Anne about acts of “radical self-care” and how they are essential for anyone’s well-being. Anne talks about self-acceptance as an inherently feminist concept, especially around issues of body image and self-esteem. Finally, Anne and Tami discuss how it is necessary to fully accept oneself before being able to show up for others, and why modern society often argues the opposite.

Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Listeners of Insights At The Edge get 10% off their first month at www.betterhelp.com/soundstrue.

podcast
Post Views: 4,850
Self-Compassion

Valarie Kaur: Sage Warrior

Valarie Kaur — October 1, 2024

Through the eyes of the sage, all of humanity is kin. And all of our ancestors are available to support us if we relate to them with integrity and respect. So teaches social activist and author Valarie Kaur in her new book, Sage Warrior. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Valarie about how we can navigate the time of cultural transition that we find ourselves in by “reclaiming love as a force for justice, healing, and transformation.”

Give a listen to this conversation that is at once highly informative and deeply inspiring, as Tami and Valarie discuss: bringing together the heart of devotion and the fist held high in the name of liberation; taking our saints and sages off of the pedestal; a brief history of the Sikh tradition; the city of Punjab in the 15th century; the warrior-mystic; dismantling hierarchies; walking the path of love without following a leader; the legendary female sage warrior, Mai Bhago; acts of love that change everything; the power of story; sustaining one’s energy throughout long labor; releasing that which does not serve you; the Revolutionary Love Bus Tour—and how you can get involved in this work; and more.

Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

Sounds True Logo

Sounds True is a multimedia publishing company founded in 1985 by Tami Simon, with the mission of disseminating spiritual wisdom. The company is based in Lafayette, Colorado.

Menu

Listen to Sounds True playlists on

Spotify Logo

Connect With Us

Facebook Youtube Instagram Pinterest

© 2024 Sounds True. All rights reserved.

Accessibility  | Privacy Policy  | Terms & Conditions