Now retired, Ann Cason has spent most of her adult life cultivating, refining, and writing about the art and science of caring for the elderly and the ailing.  Her book Circles of Care is generally accepted as the benchmark for how to provide at-home care for an elder,  but at the time of publication (2001) was still considered somewhat revolutionary.  Ann’s involvement with the elderly was an accident. Suffering from a hallucination, (not all that uncommon in the go-go 1970's), Ann’s psychiatrist told her “I don’t think you need Psychiatry, I think what you need is a path” and introduced her to Alan Watts. From there, she made her way to Boulder, CO, then a hotbed of spirituality, where she met Chogyam Trungpa and learned to meditate.  While in Boulder, Ann started working with a friend, providing elderly women with care at their homes, a radical idea at the time, thus avoiding the move into a nursing home.They created an around-the-clock care program for their clients, which led to them starting a business even though both were complete novices in the business world. They called the startup Dana Homecare – “Dana” being a Sanskrit word translated as “generosity”. Ironically, they soon realized that it was “ the elders in our care who were being so generous to let us into their worlds”.  Within a year, they had forty clients and soon expanded to Chicago and Boston. Fast forward many years and Ann’s company is reborn as Circles of Care, based on the principle of creating completely coordinated care with the client in the middle surrounded by all the various roles of that person’s world. Ann brings her mindfulness and awareness practice to bear in this work writing that “you can’t just go in and look at someone… it could be as simple as asking where I should put my coat, or asking if you like tea and can I make you a cup of tea?  This soup-to-nuts approach of care included family members, caregivers, health care workers, the maid, and even the veterinarian.  As Ann says, “That was our task, to meet and take care of each other, and meet the mail carrier and all the people in that old person’s world, so that there was a little world around the elder”. We also talk about death and dying, where Ann feels that “expertise” is one of the worst things you can have when working with those who are dying.  Thoughts we hold about death and the actual experience of dying are often very different.  But we also discuss the very practical details of preparing for death - the power of attorney, the listing of assets and their location, etc.  Finally, we discuss probably the most important element of all, bringing a sense of worthiness to the forefront of care. Ann has used situations, exercises, workshops, and other educational materials to let the persons in her care discover their own worth and self-esteem.   Since she is now retired, the best way to reach Ann is: [email protected] you listen, you can learn about and register for our next online Healing Circle here.  It's free,  and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being.  If you’d like to help support this podcast and Jeff’s other projects, while also receiving benefits and admittance to events not available to the general public, please check out our Patreon page .Finally, you are always invited to join our Unconditional Facebook group page here.

Laura Khoudari came by her profession as a trauma-informed personal trainer through a circuitous route.  No gym rat, Laura avoided working out and weight training until the unresolved pain in her spine from a herniated disc while in college left her no choice.  Today, she works exclusively with clients who identify as living with trauma and uses embodied strength training and other mindfulness practices to help them heal and transform. In Laura’s own words she describes her work as “turning strength training from just a movement practice into a healing practice”.  She does that by helping clients focus on how they feel rather than the more conventional benchmark of focusing on physical results alone.  Many of Laura’s clients share her former belief of feeling that they don’t belong in a gym.  While healing trauma is a multi-dimensional process, including talk therapy and other modalities, Laura cautions against defining ourselves as our illness or disability.  Especially with regard to trauma and PTSD, this is so vitally important. As one dives into the work of self-exploration, it’s so easy to see oneself as hopelessly and irreparably damaged, losing sight of the other qualities that define us as wholesome, healthy human beings.  In our conversation, we cover topics elucidated in Laura’s groundbreaking book with the adroit title, Lifting Heavy Things. She defines trauma, how it manifests in the body and the mind, and how strength training can heal the physiological and psychological aspects of one’s being. More than strength training alone, Laura uses other modalities like journaling and even haiku writing to help clients “come to their senses”, and learn to view the body as a wellspring of wisdom and sensitivity.  It is a scientific fact that unprocessed emotions, as exhibited with trauma, are stored in the body and embodiment work can help to access these repressed impressions.  Having coincidentally just added weight training to my own physical therapy regimen, I can attest that it adds a level of confidence and self-assurance into the mix not seen with simple resistance training exercises.  However, it’s important to work with a professional fitness trainer or physical therapist at the beginning.   More on Laura here.After you listen, you can learn about and register for our next online Healing Circle here.  It's free,  and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being.  If you’d like to help support this podcast and Jeff’s other projects, while also receiving benefits and admittance to events not available to the general public, please check out our Patreon page . Finally,  you are always invited to join our Unconditional Healing Facebook group here. 

This episode is a very special one! I so wanted to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11, when the World Trade Center Towers shockingly came down twenty years ago on this day.  Being that I live in close proximity to New York City, it’s impossible to ignore the anniversary each year, and it is especially hard this year with the end of the “Forever War” in Afghanistan that was launched in response to the 9/11 assault. My guest this week is a gentleman who was in the Tower that day and lived to tell about it, the first survivor of 9/11 I have ever spoken with directly.  Kushal Choksi, who came to America from India, was working for Goldman Sachs at that time, and was realizing the so-called “American Dream”.  He was ascending the corporate ladder, and avidly integrating into the company’s go-go culture until that fateful day dramatically changed his life.  Kushal’s accounts of that day are compelling and visceral:Seeing the second tower get hit with his "naked eye" and being right underneath it as it happened. The grey cloud outside looking just like an apocalyptic movie, with splinters and embers falling from the sky.Running mindlessly through the streets, and leaping onto a ferry that had already left the dock.There are so many wonderful lessons in this episode. Kushal’s story is so much about negotiating life when we face unexpected difficult circumstances. He is a genuine example of the Unconditional Healing ethos, where difficulties force us to get in touch with ourselves in a much deeper way and reach a level of healing that was heretofore unimagined. During our conversation, Kushal describes:His initial time working 70 hour weeks “in a blind race to get to I don't know where”How Sky-Breath meditation practice, which while not eliminating his memories of 9/11, has helped to lessen their grip. Feeling like he was driving with a foot on both the gas and the brakes, and how he decided to take his foot off the brakes in order to really live life. Today, Kushal and his wife, (also a Wall Street trader originally),  have created and built Elements Truffles, a company that creates unique artisanal chocolate products inspired by the healing science of Ayurveda.   And as part of his healing process, Kushal has just completed an autobiographical novel, “On a Wing and a Prayer” which tells a heartwarming story of spirituality, redemption, and self-exploration. And after you listen, you can learn about and register for our next online Healing Circle here.  It's free,  and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being.  If you’d like to help support this podcast and Jeff’s other projects, while also receiving benefits and admittance to events not available to the general public, please check out our Patreon page here. Finally,  you are always invited to join our Unconditional Healing Facebook group here. 

When we experience great difficulty in our life, we tend to panic and “catastrophize”, because we’re so stuck on expecting our life to unfold in a certain way.  So, this talk, originally given to a Healing Circle, is very much about looking at our attitudes and realizing just how much we are addicted to comfort and security, and how little we are prepared for the opposite - discomfort and uncertainty.  It is based upon Buddhist teachings first formulated by an 11th century master from India named Atisha.  The talk’s original title, “Transform Bad Circumstances into the Path”,  is one of fifty-nine slogans or aphorisms called Lojong teachings that are designed to train the mind in compassion and resilience.  Atisha initially brought these teachings to Tibet from India over a thousand years ago, but they still hold tremendous wisdom and resonance for our modern culture. In truth, this particular teaching only makes sense when we adopt a non-gaining, non-materialistic view of life, rather than adopting a rigid version of what should happen. Otherwise, any variance to what we expect to happen in life will be seen as something to deny, ward off, or remove, with no redeeming qualities at all.I use examples from my own twenty-year history with a chronic illness, and how my experience led me to adopt the much broader model of health that we use today in Unconditional Healing.  I also discuss the concept of reverse meditations which strive to see the nature of things rather than just the superficial appearance of things. There are two books I’d like to cite if you’d like to learn more about these Lojong teachings. One is called, “Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong”. by Norman Fischer and the other is called “Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness” by Chogyam Trungpa. After you listen, you can learn about and register for our next Healing Circlehere.  (It’s virtual, there is no charge, and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation, and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being).  To help support this podcast and Jeff’s other projects, while also receiving benefits and admittance to events not available to the general public, please visit our Patreon page here. And you are always invited to join our Unconditional Healing Facebook group here. 

How does one bring spirituality to the task of counseling clients at moments of crisis or loss?  Can one move beyond the standards of traditional counseling to identify what a person needs and wants in life and then design a plan to achieve it?   These are the questions that Dr. Jeanne Michele attempts to answer during each of her counseling sessions with individuals and couples. Jeanne is considered part coach, part teacher, part mentor, part change agent, but spirituality is at the heart of what she does.  Raised as a Catholic, Jeanne made a profound mystical connection to Mary Magdalene at a tender age, which to this day, informs her work and her life.   In our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss:How spirituality aids individuals and couples in moving forward after setbacksThe what, why, and where of holding courageous conversationsHow these conversations can release blockages and soften deeply held belief systemsWhy a life crisis can help to strengthen, awaken, and transformThe importance of self-discipline (taking a sacred pause) when fighting the impulse to lash out and blame We also discuss the loss of Jeanne’s brother, Michael, to AIDS, almost thirty years ago. This was at a time when AIDS was a certain death sentence, and those so afflicted were considered society’s pariahs.   Her brother’s illness and passing had profound impacts on Jeanne’s life and future calling. It also revealed the importance and power of community support when one is in dire straits, and the transformative power of suffering to awaken and heal.For more info on Jeanne, click here.After you listen, you can learn about and register for our next Healing Circle here.  It’s virtual, there is no charge, and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation, and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being.  To help support this podcast and Jeff’s other projects, while also receiving benefits and admittance to events not available to the general public, please visit our Patreon page here.   

Andrew Holecek is a prolific author and spiritual teacher who writes and teaches extensively on navigating the Buddhist path.  He is able to present this tradition from a contemporary perspective, by skillfully marrying the ancient wisdom of the East with the scientific findings and knowledge of the West. I first encountered Andrew years ago when I read his first book, The Power and the Pain. Drawing upon his years of intensive study and practice, the book teaches the value and opportunities that exist in obstacles and difficulties on the spiritual path, a philosophy that resonated with me as someone confronting a serious chronic illness. I found his work a perfect fit for my Unconditional Healing teachings, as an approach towards lessening suffering when our life circumstances change and we are faced with painful, unavoidable situations. To back up a bit, Andrew was raised in a Catholic household and had an experience with meditation at the age of 20 that changed the course of his life. Confused by this very blissful experience, he began a quest to explore many of the world’s spiritual and religious traditions that could help explain what had occurred.  Eventually, after years of searching, Andrew’s journey led him to the East where he studied Tibetan Buddhism for years with many masters of that tradition.During our conversation, we then take a deep dive into Andrew’s second book, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition. While encountering our own mortality is both scary and fraught with the notion that “there’ll be time for that”,  Andrew discusses the subject in a matter-of-fact, almost scientific way that expertly covers the topic from both the spiritual and the practical perspective of dealing with end-of-life issues. We talk about what constitutes a good death, the ability to let go of everything, and as Andrew says, “to stop looking in the rear-view mirror”. If you think about it, we spend more time planning our yearly vacation than we do planning for arguably the most seminal event of our lives. We also spend time discussing lucid dreaming, the ability to became self-aware that one is dreaming while in the midst of a dream. Widely recognized as an expert on lucid dreaming and the Tibetan yogas of sleep and dream, Andrew is an experienced guide for students drawn to these powerful nocturnal practices. He makes the case that lucid dreaming is a skill that can be acquired by anyone.  Finally, Andrew offers advice on the many benefits of meditation for anyone from any walk of life or tradition. For more info on Andrew, click here.After you listen, you can learn about and register for our next Healing Circle here.  It’s virtual, there is no charge, and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation, and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being.  And you are always invited to join our Unconditional Healing Facebook group here.  

This episode is about attitude.  How do we face adversity when it inevitably comes into our life?  What tools do we rely on when the going gets rough?  In answering these questions, we need to begin where we are, by looking at our current state of mind. How much of our views of the world are wrapped up in our biases, and what others think about us?  One bias that we typically share is a belief in a solid “self” that seeks to maintain control, and around which, the world revolves. At every moment, that belief is in question, but when things go well, when they go “our way”, it becomes easy to gloss over our doubt. That is where the wisdom aspect of adversity comes in.  Significant adversity in our life reveals that the so-called “controller” is not in control, and at that time, we may lose the entire sense of “who we are”.  However, as painful as this is to live through, there is another side to the story.  Adversity brings with it a golden opportunity to face ourselves, with our defense mechanisms and biases no longer working on auto-pilot.  It might be the first time in our life that we ask deep and profound questions about our life and its purpose.But we needn’t wait for adversity to visit us to start the process.  In this episode, I explain how we can begin the work of seeing how our mind works by bringing mindfulness practice to bear, and by adopting a larger perspective. We can notice how attached we are to our thoughts, and we can question their origin.  We can realize that impermanence and uncertainty are always with us, no matter how hard we try to avoid that fact. We can seek a more “enlightened perspective” through reading and contemplation.There is more to say about the wisdom of adversity in the episode. As someone living with a chronic illness for many years, I have thought deeply about my life and its purpose.  It has changed the way I think about health and well-being and the way we typically view those elements through a very narrow lens.  The notion of unconditional health, an inherent sense of well-being that transcends one’s circumstances, has certainly sprung from those efforts.   And after you listen,  learn about, and register for our next Healing Circle here.  It’s virtual, there is no charge,  and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation, and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being. You are always invited to join our Unconditional Healing Facebook group here.

Playing a complicated classical piece on the piano can be amongst the most complex and difficult feats of human hand-eye coordination and cognitive processing.  In attempting to master their art with painstaking diligent practice, 75% of professional musicians suffer injuries, compounded by trying to play through the pain. Enter Madeline Bruser.  Raised as an exceptionally talented pianist, Madeline performed as a soloist with the Denver and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras at a young age.Confronting a crisis of confidence at a major audition, Madeline sought a means to overcome performance anxiety under pressure, and in so doing, launched a new career helping other musicians. She discovered that mindfulness meditation, with its focus on direct experience of the sense perceptions and attention to one’s body and energy, could have a major impact on one’s confidence and ability to relax. In addition, she discovered that when it comes to practice, less is often more, as long as it’s the right kind of practice. In our conversation, Madeline discusses many of the concepts and exercises outlined in her acclaimed book, The Art of Practicing, Making Music From the Heart. Many of these techniques, such as using active listening to improve rhythm and coordination, learning the effects of biomechanical principles on “right effort”, and methods to move beyond fear can be applied effectively for non-musicians as well. Madeline’s work is such a fit for Unconditional Healing with her emphasis on mindfulness, tuning into the body’s wisdom, connecting to one's heart, and making a healing journey on multiple levels.  Her work has broad application for anyone that needs to perform under pressure.  And after you listen,  learn about, and register for our next Healing Circle here.  It’s virtual, there is no charge,  and you’ll find like-minded folks with whom to practice meditation, and share the journey toward unconditional health and well-being. You are always invited to join our Unconditional Healing Facebook group here.

Dr. Elaine Yuen is an educator, interfaith chaplain, Buddhist minister, and artist. She is the former chair of the Wisdom Traditions Department and associate professor at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Now retired, she continues to teach and write on pastoral caregiving (chaplaincy), contemplative education, and Buddhist studies. She recently moved back to Philadelphia where she was an associate professor, researcher, and interfaith chaplain at Thomas Jefferson University. Our conversation focuses on Elaine’s work as a chaplain, a keen interest of mine and very synchronous with Unconditional Healing since it relates to working with people at often the very worst moment of their lives. Having been trained as an interfaith chaplain, and as a Buddhist minister, we discuss Elaine’s abiding interest in bringing caring and authentic presence to all of our social interactions.  We also discuss Elaine’s early upbringing as a Christian, her interest in spirituality, and how she auspiciously met her Buddhist teacher, (who happens to be my root teacher as well).  We also delve into her work as a skilled artist and teacher of what is known as Shambhala Art or Dharma Art…. as well as the concept of “Art in Everyday Life”, where even seemingly mundane activities can be viewed as artistic endeavors.  Along those lines, Elaine discusses the practice of knitting as a natural mindfulness practice and vehicle for slowing down in an increasingly frenetic world.  We also discuss the ancient Japanese art form of Kintsugi, taking broken pottery and healing and transforming it in both function and form.  With both disciplines, Elaine has created workshops to bring these beautiful practices to both older and younger participants.Information on Elaine's many projects can be found here.Please join me in conversation with a woman whose life and work truly exemplify presence, grace, and compassion. 

None of us openly welcomes chaos and uncertainty into our life. Even hearing those words can send a shudder through our bodies.  Yet, eventually, they will come unbidden for all of us.  This solo episode comprises a talk I gave right before the USA presidential election of 2020 at the New York City Shambhala meditation center when chaos and uncertainty reigned from a global pandemic and a polarized electorate in the United States.  When we face adversity in our life, we often see it through a purely external lens, as if the difficulty was attacking us solely from the outside. In truth, our internal reactions to chaos comprising the mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of our humanity, are the only elements over which we have control. And they are critical in determining whether chaos and uncertainty destroy us or strengthen us.  When seen through a spiritual lens,  adversity presents an opportunity to explore ourselves without our psychological masks on.   In this episode I discuss:The etymological origins of the word “chaos” and its emotional implicationsThe notion that uncertainty is a neutral concept, filled with possibility rather than doomHow chaos and uncertainty act to disrupt our self-identity and how that disruption can have specific benefits Several specific ways for dealing with chaos and uncertainty constructivelyTowards the end of the episode (at 33 minutes: 45 seconds), I lay out a specific four-step practice (called the 4 S's practice)  for managing difficult emotions, drawing upon the Neuro-Emotional Technique and the Traditional Chinese 5 elements system. There is an accompanying video for this practice found here or at the top of every page of the Unconditional Healing website.  It's worth viewing as there are physical gestures accompanying the practice. And please consider joining our Unconditional Healing private FB group: