Somewhere between the human being you know yourself to be and something you can only call mystery—that's where this one lands. In this Point of Insight, Tami Simon follows...
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Tami Simon’s in-depth audio podcast interviews with leading spiritual teachers and luminaries. Listen in as they explore their latest challenges and breakthroughs - the leading edge of their work.
Tami Simon’s in-depth audio podcast interviews with leading spiritual teachers and luminaries. Listen in as they explore their latest challenges and breakthroughs – the leading edge of their work.
Spiritual growth is not about reaching for higher states; it’s about releasing the ego that keeps pulling you down. The mind and heart are conditioned by past experiences, and reacting to them creates endless suffering. By observing and letting go instead of resisting or controlling, you naturally rise into peace and alignment with something greater.
Can the body become a doorway to the divine—not by transcending it, but by fully inhabiting it?
This week, Tami Simon speaks with Banafsheh Sayyad—master Iranian sacred dancer, choreographer, transformational teacher, and founder of Dance of Oneness—about her new Sounds True book, Dance of Oneness: Embody Love and Luminosity to Transform Your Life. A trailblazing innovator of Sufi dance forms previously performed only by men, Banafsheh draws from flamenco, Persian dance, Tai Chi, Sufi whirling, and her background in Chinese medicine to guide practitioners into deeper embodiment, healing, and spiritual presence.
Join Tami and Banafsheh to explore:
The Dance of Oneness modality—its three interwoven streams of movement, wisdom teachings, and energy healing
What it means to be “100 percent present and 100 percent fully gone”—and why both are essential
Whirling as a portal: the trance state it opens, the stillness it reveals, and what it means to be danced rather than to dance
The ascending and descending currents of energy in the body—and their marriage at the heart
How flamenco gave Banafsheh a form for grief, anger, and sovereign feminine power after leaving Iran
The three layers of the heart—and how movement can break through armoring to restore openness
Discipline as the foundation of surrender: why a sturdy chalice is what allows you to receive
A guided embodiment practice you can do right now
Whether you’re a seasoned movement practitioner or have never considered dance as a spiritual path, this interview is an invitation to come home to the body—and discover what can move through you when you do.
Listen now and begin dancing toward oneness. →
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.
The world around us unfolds in accordance with the vast universal forces of cause and effect, which have been going on throughout time. In contrast, our inner world is created by the tiny sum of our individual experiences. Human beings create suffering by filling the space between themselves and reality with their likes and dislikes. By practicing acceptance, surrender, and non-resistance, one can live freely, engage fully with life, and act from a place of openness rather than personal preference. True peace arises when one stops resisting reality and instead honors and participates in it fully.
Christian Conte, PhD, is a mental health specialist and leading authority on anger management. With Sounds True, Christian has published Walking Through Anger: A New Design for Confronting Conflict in an Emotionally Charged World. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks with Christian about his Yield Theory of emotional management, focusing on the process of “listen, validate, explore options.” Christian explains the events that led to his interest in anger management, as well as the origins of Yield Theory. He emphasizes the importance of meeting others where they are, giving them the opportunity to drain anger’s charge from their limbic system. Christian and Tami discuss why it’s necessary to cultivate humility and how Yield Theory might be applied to our currently divisive culture. Finally, they speak on “the cartoon world” that angry responses often create, as well as the importance of watching what we add to our minds.(63 minutes)
Dr. Jeffrey Rediger is a licensed physician and board certified psychiatrist who also has a master’s of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. An assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the medical director at McLean Hospital, Dr. Rediger has spent almost 20 years researching the factors present in cases labeled as spontaneous healing—the topic explored in his bestselling book Cured: Strengthen Your Immune System and Heal Your Life.
In this eye-opening, hope-giving podcast, Sounds True founder Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Rediger about his personal journey—from an upbringing in a traditional Amish household, to how he “ran away to college” and began a deep exploration of the connection between faith and medicine, and what is truly possible on the journey toward health and healing. Tami and Dr. Rediger discuss the sometimes competing, sometimes cooperating worldviews of science and spirituality; the unfortunate absence of curiosity in so much of science and medicine; lifestyle illnesses as the root cause of most health challenges in the Western world; his four pillars of health: nutrition, immunity, stress response, and what he calls “healing your identity”; retraining the beliefs that are holding us back; understanding and healing trauma; facing our shadows and waking up to our own inherent value and dignity; and much more.
Diana Winston is the director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, where she developed the Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPS) curriculum. With Sounds True, Diana is the author of a new book, The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness, and the creator of a new audio teaching series called Glimpses of Being: A Training Course in Expanding Mindful Awareness. In this experiential episode of Insights at the Edge, Diana introduces us to what she calls the “spectrum of awareness” through a series of guided practices. She talks to Tami Simon about the various ways we can access and experience awareness, from narrow and focused to effortless and spacious—states we are constantly moving between. They touch on ways to deepen and explore awareness through “glimpse practices” and discuss how we can work toward making natural awareness our default state. Finally, Diana explains why tapping into the full range of awareness can act as a good antidote for those feeling stuck or restless in their meditation practice.
While some physical suffering is unavoidable, most psychological suffering is self-created. We do this through resisting reality and clinging to preferences, attachments, and past experiences. By learning to let go of these stored emotional responses and fully accepting each moment without judgment, you can overcome this inner suffering. Embracing the present with openness allows for a life rich in genuine experiences filled with love and deep compassion for yourself and others.
Spiritual experiences are inspiring but very different from the permanent state of spiritual realization. Momentary highs are temporary because, afterward, our consciousness is still lost in our thoughts, emotions, and learned preferences, which continue to drive our reactions and struggles in life. Deep growth begins by realizing you are not your thoughts or emotions but the observer of them. The everyday commitment to inner work that releases past emotional blockages, fears, and preferences is how you climb the permanent stairway to heaven. The ultimate goal is transcending the ego and experiencing the eternal oneness of your existence.
The ego is a construct of learned experiences that defines your personal identity, desires, and fears. Trying to transform the ego into something it is not creates a tremendous struggle that could last a lifetime. Instead, by cultivating “witness consciousness,” you can observe the ego without attachment, leading to clarity and compassion toward yourself and others. As judgment fades, seeing others not as their egos but as the divine consciousness behind the ego leads to living in the world with respect, love, and humility while aligning with your deeper spiritual purpose.
Human suffering arises from resisting experiences and holding onto preferences shaped by past events. Liberation is achieved by letting go of attachments and embracing the present moment with openness and acceptance. Through consistent practice and self-awareness, you can transcend psychological pain, rediscover inner peace, and experience a life filled with joy and equanimity. Once you reach this state, you are ready to selflessly serve others.
We live on an extraordinarily amazing planet compared to any others we have seen. Yet, despite this, we are prone to complaining on a daily basis. Personal dissatisfaction arises from judging and resisting reality and suppressing past emotional pain. This creates the buildup of lifelong inner blockages that cause even more suffering and dissatisfaction. By releasing these blockages and transcending the limitations of the personal mind, we can achieve spiritual growth and experience true contentment and joy.
True understanding of consciousness comes not through philosophical thinking or external experimentation but from the direct experience of Self. When awareness is no longer distracted by thoughts, emotions, and sensory inputs, you can remain in the seat of objective observation and directly experience the true nature of consciousness. Ancient yogis achieved this state through practices that quieted the mind and withdrew attention from external distractions. This led to a profound merger with the universal source of consciousness. True spiritual evolution involves turning inward to explore consciousness directly.