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Edward Espe Brown: No Recipe

Edward Espe Brown is a renowned chef and Zen teacher who is best known as the first head cook at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. In addition to writing several cookbooks including the classic Tassajara Bread Book, Edward founded Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. With Sounds True, he has published No Recipe: Cooking as Spiritual Practice. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Edward about Zen teachings on what it means to have to feel our way through the dark—both in the kitchen and on the spiritual path. They talk about cooking as a form of offering and why working with food can be one of the most potent ways to express our hearts in wholeness. Edward shares what he learned in his turbulent first days as the head cook for a spiritual community, including insights from his first Zen teacher, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Finally, Edward and Tami discuss what it means to seek out our heart’s true desire, as well as how to embody that search in all that we do. (72 minutes)

Intellectual Diversity

Dawna Markova is an inspirational speaker and writer, and Angie McArthur is one of the creators of the Worldwide Women’s Web, a network intended to retain and encourage women in corporate leadership roles. With Sounds True, Dawna has created the audio series The Open Mind, where she offers a seminar on different learning patterns. Most recently, Dawna and Angie have written a new book called Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently, in which they teach how to recognize mental patterns and use that knowledge for better coordination, teambuilding, and long-term planning. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Angie and Dawna about the different styles of attention, learning, and thinking—and how a better understanding thereof could improve our education system. They also discuss the best methods of collaboration, and the great joy that comes with understanding how to work in concert with someone with a completely different mode of thought.
(69 minutes)

Insights from Ayurveda

Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar is a world-renowned Ayurvedic physician from a family of Vedic healers in India. He is the director of Ayurvedic Healing, an integrative wellness clinic in northern California, and an adviser and consultant at the Chopra Center. With Sounds True, he has released the six-session audio course Ayurvedic Wellness: The Art and Science of Vibrant Health, and the two-session audio Effortless Weight Loss: The Ayurvedic Way. In this episode, Tami speaks with Dr. Suhas about dietary wisdom for long life, Ayurvedic wisdom on fasting practices, and how philosophical insights from Ayurveda can help our personal lives and our overall health care system. (69 minutes)

A Ceilingless Conversation

Alanis Morissette is a Grammy® award-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress who has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. In this special edition of Insights at the Edge, recorded live at the 2013 Emerging Women conference, Tami Simon and Alanis speak on the creative process and the ability to draw inspiration from one’s fears. They also discuss the idea of the divine feminine and how it might be applied to a music industry fixated on the sexualization of women. Finally, Alanis and Tami talk about “ceilingless” conversations and Alanis’s vision for an evolution of “divine union” within the feminist movement. (65 Minutes)

Balancing the Brain and the Power of Choice

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist and the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, in which she describes experiencing a rare form of stroke and her eight-year recovery. In this episode, Dr. Taylor speaks with Tami about the two hemispheres of the brain and how to integrate them, how to maintain a balanced brain, and the importance of nurturing the right brain in today’s left brain-dominant society. (65 minutes)

See Dr. Jill with singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer in August 2014. Visit WakeUpFestival.com for more information.

On the Creative Life

Tami Simon speaks with Julia Cameron, an award-winning writer and director. In addition to her many films, television episodes, plays, and articles in publications such as Rolling Stone, Vogue, and the New York Times, Julia is the author of the bestselling book The Artist’s Way. With Sounds True, she has recorded the audio teaching program Reflections on the Artist’s Way and, along with Natalie Goldberg, The Writing Life. In this episode, Tami speaks with Julia about how to break through creative blocks, how to deal with the internal censor that we all have when we write, and why creativity requires that we take risks. (50 minutes)