Love is an inner energy that flows naturally when the heart is open, but people block it by holding onto past pain and resisting reality. The external world does...
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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.
Join the New York Times bestselling author of The Untethered Soul, The Surrender Experiment, and Living Untethered for this free series of curated teaching sessions, recorded at his Temple of the Universe yoga and meditation center.
Reality can be defined as that which has already happened; after all, no one can make it not have happened. Suffering comes from resisting reality rather than accepting it. But acceptance does not mean passively allowing harmful situations to continue; it means letting go of the inner resistance and stored emotional reactions to what has happened, and then acting from a place of clarity. By consistently accepting and processing experiences instead of suppressing them, one releases inner blockages and returns to a natural state of peace, love, and clarity.
What if the most transformative place you could go isn’t a retreat center or a therapist’s office—but complete and total darkness?
This week, Tami Simon speaks with Andrew Holecek—interdisciplinary scholar, longtime practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, and author of the new Sounds True book Total Eclipse of the Mind: Unleashing the Power of Darkness for Creativity, Healing, and Transformation—about the practice of dark retreat: full immersion in sealed, lightless environments used by yogis for centuries to accelerate inner transformation.
Holecek calls it the single most transformative practice of his fifty years of meditation, psychedelic exploration, and three-year Tibetan retreat—and in this interview, he explains why.
Join Tami and Andrew to explore:
What actually happens to the mind in extended darkness—and the neurological science behind why it’s so transformative
The descent of the mind through conscious, subconscious, and collective unconscious layers—and what waits at the bottom
Dark retreat as a “sober psychedelic”: how the brain generates its own endogenous DMT in extended darkness
The practice of enantiodromia—when extreme contraction suddenly flips into extraordinary openness
How to work with panic, trauma, and unwanted experience using the “reverse meditation” principle: feel it, but don’t feed it
Why appearances don’t matter in the dark—and why so many people emerge in tears, feeling safe and held for the first time
The four-step process for integrating darkness into daily life, from sleep masks to dedicated dark rooms
This interview was recorded with both Tami and Andrew wearing blackout masks—making it one of the most immersive listening experiences in Insights at the Edge history.
Listen now and discover what’s been waiting in the dark. →
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.
This episode is sponsored by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Located in upstate New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional trainings, online learning, and more. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true.
Suffering is not caused by external events but by our resistance to reality and our inability to handle what has already happened. Acceptance means acknowledging reality and our internal reactions to it, not through suppression, but through allowing stored emotional energy to release. Through this process, one becomes peaceful, free from ego-driven preferences, and capable of living in harmony with life as it unfolds.
How do we find a sense of stability when everything seems so groundless? Pema Chödrön is celebrated around the world for her ability to help us turn toward things that are difficult and embrace our uncertainty. In this week’s podcast, Pema joins Tami to share her one-of-a-kind guidance, including a special practice she calls “compassionate abiding.” Tami and Pema also talk about how to stay embodied when panic arises, accessing the wisdom inherent in our emotions, and the importance of cultivating “unconditional friendship” and befriending even those parts of ourselves that we want to reject.
Terry Real is a family therapist, author, and founder of the Relational Life Institute, which hosts workshops on family and relationships throughout the country. He has written several books, including The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work. With Sounds True, he is the creator of Fierce Intimacy, an audio training in essential communication skills for couples. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks to Terry about the inherent challenges of being in relationship and the many approaches to addressing those challenges in couples therapy. Terry discusses how men and women relate to one another in different ways, as well as the steps necessary when couples are badly out of sync. Finally, Terry and Tami speak on the Relational Life approach to therapy and the skills we need to develop in order to take our interpersonal relationships up to “full throttle.”
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.
Bronnie Ware is an author and speaker whose bestselling book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, is based on her time as a palliative care worker. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Bronnie outlines these five major life regrets with Tami Simon and discusses the experiences in end-of-life care that inspired them. Bronnie explains how most regrets arise from a lack of courage and why people are willing to share so openly during their last days. Tami and Bronnie speak on the healing power of sharing our most vulnerable selves, even if it’s in a letter that we never send. Finally, they talk about maintaining trust in the flow of life and why happiness is ultimately a choice.(61 minutes)
Sheryl Paul is a counselor in the depth psychology tradition who has helped thousands of people through her website, online courses, and books. With Sounds True, she has released the new book, The Wisdom of Anxiety: How Worry and Intrusive Thoughts Are Gifts to Help You Heal. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Sheryl about why we should consider anxiety “a distress flare from the subconscious” that is meant to alert us to unspoken and unacknowledged inner truths. Sheryl explains why running away or numbing out from anxiety is ultimately futile, and describes how opening to one’s anxious thoughts can summon valuable personal epiphanies. Tami and Sheryl also talk about what it means to develop our wise inner parent and how we can examine the meaning of intrusive thoughts. Finally, they discuss the importance of positive daily rituals and why life transitions are so acutely stressful. (69 minutes)
Frederic Laloux is a business analyst and author whose book Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness is considered one of the most important management guides of the past decade. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon talks to Frederic about what it takes to become a “next-level organization” that meets the challenges and opportunities of expanding human consciousness. Frederic explains that the next stage of human development will be to move beyond ego, elaborating on how this will look in the business world. Tami and Frederic discuss the difficult balance between fulfilling financial obligations and living out one’s fundamental truth. Finally, they speak on the development of open and spiritually nourishing organizations, as well as the movement toward decentralizing authority in business places. (69 minutes)
Suffering comes from resisting and then holding on to life’s experiences, not from life itself. By practicing witness consciousness and allowing experiences to pass through, you stop creating inner disturbances. This leads to unconditional wellbeing, where you can handle anything that happens without fear or attachment.
The personal mind creates suffering by making everything be about “me,” which generates fears about the future and attachments to the past. These stored impressions form the ego, which distorts reality and causes continuous psychological disturbance. Liberation comes from letting go of these patterns and practicing acceptance—learning to handle whatever arises without resistance.
Suffering is not caused solely by external events, but by the internal impressions we have stored from the past. Spiritual growth comes from letting go of these stored disturbances by relaxing through discomfort instead of trying to control life to match our preferences. True surrender is internal—it is the process of releasing what we hold inside and allowing natural peace, love, and energy to flow..
The mind is constantly trying to solve disturbances that originate in the heart, but the mind cannot truly resolve them. These disturbances come from stored emotional impressions that must be released through awareness, relaxation, and non-resistance. Spiritual growth occurs by working at the level of the heart—allowing energy to rise, be processed, and ultimately transformed into higher states of consciousness.
Suffering arises because we try to make reality match our conditioned preferences, which are based on past experiences stored in the mind and heart. By identifying with these inner patterns, we become reactive, disturbed, and unable to find lasting peace. Liberation comes from stepping back into the seat of awareness, handling reality without resistance, and consistently letting go of stored impressions so they no longer control our lives.
You are not your thoughts, emotions, or experiences—you are the consciousness that is aware of them. Spiritual growth is the process of ceasing to be distracted by all the inner commotion and learning to let go of the stored blockages that keep you identified with the personal self. When you release these blockages, consciousness naturally expands back into the state of freedom, peace, and unity.
What do psychology and spirituality have in common? In this podcast, Michael Singer discusses how both psychology and spirituality help us illuminate the nature of the human mind and the mystery of consciousness. When we resist experiences we find uncomfortable, he explains, we begin to “make a mess” of our inner lives. Through the teachings and practices made available in spirituality and psychology, we can do the work of cleaning things up, purifying the flow of our life-force energy and returning to the ecstatic states we were meant to live in.
In this season opener, Michael Singer guides us into the understanding and practice of what he calls “the highest technique,” that of relaxing in the midst of your resistance to life’s events—and then fully experiencing the present moment.
Even when you’ve devoted yourself to spiritual work, it can be difficult to maintain mindful awareness. In this episode, Michael speaks on the difficulty of maintaining consciousness and equanimity when we seem hardwired to be hooked by outside stimuli.
A filthy home is an open invitation for rats and roaches to move in. In the same way, Michael reveals that neglected thoughts and emotions attract destructive unconscious behaviors.
Who are you in the eyes of the universe? Here, Michael talks about our perceptual relationship with the universe—illuminating how we project ourselves onto the unfolding of reality.
Gratitude is not about getting what you want but about appreciating the profound gifts of existence that are freely given to you. These include the flow of your breath, the beat of your heart, the ability to think and feel, and above all, the gift of conscious awareness. Suffering stems from ignoring all of this and fixating on your personal preferences. Liberation lies in shifting your focus from the personal self to the vastness of existence, where appreciation, joy, and love are the natural state of your being.
Life’s deepest purpose is not to get what you want or avoid what you don’t want, but to use every moment between birth and death to evolve spiritually. By being open to life’s challenges, instead of resisting and storing them as blockages within you, your entire life can be a fantastic journey to liberation. True spiritual evolution comes from using life as a school for growth, facing each moment without resistance, and ultimately merging individual consciousness with its source—Eternal Conscious Ecstasy.
The essence of yogic teachings is that the universe is a single field of consciousness vibrating at different rates, manifesting as everything from physical matter to thoughts and emotions. At the human level, consciousness is the unchanging witness of our thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences. Our sense of freedom is lost when we identify with what we are conscious of instead of consciousness itself. Suffering is created when we develop a false concept of self and try to make the outside world match this concept. Spirituality is not about controlling life to match our concepts but about freeing ourselves from them so consciousness can rest in its true nature, which is one of unconditional joy and peace.
The fundamental spiritual question is not “How do I be okay?” It is “Why am I not okay?” Our inner discomfort is not caused solely by external events but by what we have stored inside: past disturbances, fears, and self-concepts that continually distract us from our natural state of well-being. The ego, built from these stored impressions, causes us to demand that life always match our preferences, which it never can. Spiritual freedom comes from letting go of these inner blockages so our natural state of openness and joy can shine through.
The personal mind is a self-created mental construct formed by holding on to past experiences we have tagged with like and dislike. Whatever we experience passes through this layer of mind, which has the effect of distorting our perception and causing suffering. Liberation requires recognizing that you are the awareness noticing these thoughts, not the thoughts themselves. You can then learn to stop storing new personalized impressions while allowing old ones to pass. In this freedom, you can live in harmony with reality, guided by clarity and peace rather than personal preferences.
Deep spirituality is not about techniques, beliefs, or outer practices. It is about recognizing that you are already pure consciousness—whole, infinite, and one with the universe. But your awareness is constantly distracted by the outside world and your thoughts and emotions. You are unlimited, but what you are looking at is limited to the tiny sum of your past experiences—forming your false concept of self. Liberation comes by ceasing to identify with what you are looking at and identifying with who you really are—this is Self-realization.
