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Caverly Morgan

Caverly Morgan was named one of 2025's powerful women of the mindfulness movement, Caverly Morgan is a spiritual teacher, nonprofit founder, speaker, and writer whose practice began in 1995 and has included eight years of training in a silent Zen monastery. She is the author of “The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together” as well as “A Kids Book About Mindfulness.” Caverly is the founder of Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation’s first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. She is also the founder of Realizing Freedom Together, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making practices that lead to liberation for all, accessible to all. Caverly leads meditation retreats, workshops, and online classes internationally. Learn more at caverlymorgan.org.

Kristin Neff

Dr. Kristin Neff is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion more than twenty years ago. She has been recognized as one of the most influential researchers in psychology worldwide. Kristin runs the Self-Compassion Community, an online learning platform where people can learn the skill of self-compassion with the help of others. She is author of the bestselling books Self-Compassion and Fierce Self-Compassion. Along with her colleague Chris Germer, she developed the empirically-supported Mindful Self-Compassion program and co-founded the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. They co-wrote the best-selling “The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook” and have a new book called “Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout” coming out in Fall 2024. For more info go to self-compassion.org.

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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.

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Post Views: 12,575
Spirituality

Caverly Morgan: The Heart of Who We Are

Caverly Morgan — January 3, 2023

When Caverly Morgan reentered society after eight years as a Zen monk, she was confronted with a question many of us are asking these days: Considering the enormity of the problems before us, how can one individual’s spiritual practice make a tangible difference in our world? 

In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Caverly about her new book, The Heart of Who We Are, and the connection between self-realization and collective transformation. Tune in as they explore these topics and more: the difference between the absolute and the relative; introducing teens to inquiry practice; self-improvement vs. self-realization; the core experience of who we are in our depths; the power of community; meeting our deepest needs; “changing costumes within the dance of suffering”; connecting with others “essence to essence”; broadening public access to contemplative practices; escaping the trap of perfectionism; letting go of our conditioning, individually and collectively; egoic behaviors versus “acts of being.”

This episode first aired live and on video on Sounds True One. To watch Insights at the Edge episodes live and on video, and to access additional bonus Q&A, please visit join.soundstrue.com to learn more.

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Personal Growth Spirituality

Just One Question | Connie Zweig: What Does It Mean to...

Connie Zweig — July 16, 2026

You know the object of your addiction is bad for you. So why can’t you stop? Dr. Connie Zweig has spent decades working with people who feel stuck in exactly that gap between knowing and changing.

Zweig is a retired Jungian therapist and the author of the newly republished Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow — the books that helped launch the shadow-work movement, and the reason a new generation is now discovering it on TikTok.

In this clip, she walks Tami through her method step by step, using the story of a client who couldn’t stop eating ice cream every night while waiting for an unavailable boyfriend to call. Awareness alone, Zweig explains, is never enough. You have to name the shadow character, trace it back to where it was first modeled, and uncover the valid need hiding underneath it.

What you’ll take away from this clip:

  • Why awareness of a compulsive pattern rarely changes it on its own
  • How to identify a “shadow character” through its recurring thoughts, feelings, and body sensations
  • Why every addictive or compulsive behavior is protecting a valid, hidden need
  • Zweig’s own story of discovering her “judge” shadow character — inherited from her father

This clip is taken from the full Insights at the Edge conversation with Connie Zweig: “Meeting One of the World’s Leading Experts on the Shadow.” 

This episode is sponsored by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional training, online learning, and more. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true.

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Personal Growth Spirituality

Caroline Myss: Breaking Through Fear—Welcome to Spir...

Caroline Myss — July 14, 2026

Why does the world feel so unstable right now—and why does the fear so many of us are feeling seem to have no clear target?

In this special episode, Tami Simon shares an excerpt from medical intuitive and New York Times bestselling author Caroline Myss’s opening presentation for Spiritual Home Base, the new online community where Caroline serves as spiritual director. In her session, “Breaking Through Fear,” Caroline offers a wide-lens view of this moment in human evolution—and closes with a live Q&A drawn directly from program participants.

Join Caroline to explore:

  • Why humanity appears to be moving through a collective “download” in consciousness—and why so much of today’s fear doesn’t seem to have a clear target
  • The real difference between what causes us pain and what causes us to suffer or break down
  • How our relationship to time, technology, and attention is reshaping our sense of personal power
  • Why an old, punishing image of God is giving way to a more expansive understanding rooted in love, light, and law
  • A practical teaching on staying “impersonal” with fear and old stories—without becoming uncaring
  • Live questions from program participants on grief, loneliness, faith, and staying spiritually grounded amid world events

Whether you’re feeling the weight of the world or searching for steadier ground, this excerpt offers both a map for making sense of the moment and practical tools for meeting it with more trust and less fear. 

Learn more and join at myss.com/spiritual-homebase.

Listen now, and step into Spiritual Home Base. →

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.

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Post Views: 158
Meditation Personal Growth

Just One Question | Craig Foster: Why am I Afraid of N...

Craig Foster — July 9, 2026


We’ve all felt it: the excitement of heading out into nature, followed almost immediately by “wow, that’s a lot of bugs” energy. Turns out, that’s not just you being an urban dweller — it’s a genuine evolutionary paradox, and this week’s guest has spent his whole career living inside it.

Craig Foster is the filmmaker and naturalist behind My Octopus Teacher, and in this episode he tackles a question Tami poses about her own experience: why can she melt into a deep, connected feeling about nature from the safety of meditation, but feel completely terrified and separate the moment she’s actually standing in a wilderness with wolves, cougars, or sharks nearby?

Craig’s answer reframes the whole thing. He explains that we’re each carrying millions of years of “wild” memory, hardwired into who we are, while our conscious, modern selves have only had a few generations to adjust to industrial life. The fix isn’t a heroic leap into the deep wild — it’s small, steady reconnection.

A few takeaways from Craig’s answer:

  • We’re designed for wildness — our discomfort with it is a mismatch, not a flaw
  • Reconnection starts small: get to know the trees, insects, and animals right around your house
  • Comfort with the wild builds faster than you’d expect — sometimes in a matter of months
  • Even one backyard animal can teach you something profound about yourself and the natural world

If this got you thinking about your own relationship with the wild, you’ll want to hear the whole conversation — Craig and Tami go even deeper into what it means to live an amphibious life, split between our tame and wild selves.

Taken from the full Insights at the Edge conversation with Craig Foster. Find the complete interview in this feed or at soundstrue.com.

This episode is sponsored by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional training, online learning, and more. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true.

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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.

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