Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ contemplative science bridging meditation, Buddhism, and psychology • neuroscience/computational models: predictive processing, active inference, agency, selfhood, consciousness • compassion training and well-being • pain, grief, death, mental health risks • psychedelics, ritual, altered states • mindfulness in healthcare/education • AI, ethics, meaning
This podcast explores how contemplative and spiritual development can be understood through contemporary science, while also taking seriously the insights and lived realities of traditional practices. Conversations bring together researchers, clinicians, philosophers, and monastics to examine meditation, mindfulness, compassion training, and other contemplative methods through lenses such as neuroscience, psychology, computational modeling, and Buddhist philosophy.
Across the discussions, a recurring focus is how minds construct experience—through predictive processing, active inference, attention, and belief updating—and how these processes relate to well-being, ethics, agency, and the sense of self. The show often investigates challenging or unusual phenomena without defaulting to either reductionism or uncritical belief, including encounters with spiritual “entities,” speaking in tongues, non-dual and peak states, and the destabilizing experiences sometimes described as spiritual crisis or “dark night” periods.
Practical and clinical themes also appear frequently: integrating meditation with psychotherapy, recognizing red flags and potential harms, applying mindfulness in healthcare and education, and using contemplative perspectives to reconceptualize chronic pain, grief, trauma, and end-of-life distress. Psychedelics are another significant thread, discussed in relation to depression, palliative care, ritual and community contexts, and their overlap with meditation and non-dual traditions, alongside attention to hype, risk, and responsible use.
The podcast also widens the frame to questions about meaning, community care, and societal change, including the impact of technology and AI on the human spirit. Overall, it presents an interdisciplinary look at how contemplative practice interacts with mind, brain, culture, and healing.
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Episodes:
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Ecodharma, Dzogchen, and the Politics of Transformation w/ Adam Lobel
2026-Jun-10
46 minutes
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Minds, Models, and Invisible Beings w/ Zach Buck
2026-Apr-27
45 minutes
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Establishing Right View: Meditation, Meaning, and Staying on Track w/ Nicholas Buscall
2026-Mar-02
48 minutes
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Where Science Meets Silence w/Brother Phap Linh
2026-Jan-12
40 minutes
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Purposeful Behaviour Through a Buddhist Lens w Nadav Amir
2025-Nov-24
45 minutes
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How Compassion Works w/ Paul Condon
2025-Nov-03
50 minutes
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The Inner Science of Pain: Compassion, Contemplation, and Healing w/ Richmond Stace
2025-Aug-20
50 minutes
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Being Deeply Well: Dharma, Discomfort, and the Healing Path w/ Melina Bondy & Arti Mehta
2025-Jul-28
43 minutes
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How Compassion Works w/ Lama John Makransky
2025-Jun-05
39 minutes
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Is Meditation Philosophy? w/ Rick Repetti
2025-May-19
33 minutes
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Science and Practice of Dark Retreats w/ Andrew Holecek
2025-Apr-28
49 minutes
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Neurons, Networks, and the Nature of Freedom w/ Adam Safron
2025-Apr-09
35 minutes
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Breaking Free from Mental Ruts: The Science of Sense Foraging w/ Norman Farb
2025-Mar-19
40 minutes
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The Museum of Meditative Practices w/ Mridula Sathyanarayanan
2025-Mar-03
32 minutes
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Dissolving Boundaries - A Computational View of Body-Scan Meditation w Valeria Becattini
2025-Feb-17
45 minutes
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Rewiring Hope: Computational Models, Psilocybin, and the Science of Optimism w/ Beth Fisher
2024-Dec-15
35 minutes
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Mindfulness in Action: Bridging Healthcare, Education, and Wellbeing w/Elli Weisbaum
2024-Nov-13
44 minutes
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The Dawn of Consciousness w/ James Cooke
2024-Oct-23
46 minutes
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Psilocybin and the Brain: A Deep Dive into End-of-Life Care w/ Stephan Tap
2024-Sep-25
41 minutes
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Exploring the Hype and Harm of Mindfulness w/ John Dunne
2024-Sep-11
39 minutes
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Buddhism, Science and Spirituality w/ Brother Phap Linh
2024-Aug-28
50 minutes
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The Intersection of Psychedelics and Non-Duality w/ Daniel Meling
2024-Aug-16
44 minutes
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Expanding Jewish Spirituality w/ Sam Berrin Shonkoff
2024-Jul-29
51 minutes
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Ayahuasca and the Science of the Sacred
2024-Jul-16
38 minutes
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Surviving Tomorrow: AI and the Human Spirit w/ John Vervaeke & Sean Coyne
2024-Jul-01
49 minutes
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Round Up Episode
2023-Oct-03
25 minutes
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The Enlightenment Hack? w/Jay Sanguinetti
2023-Jun-01
28 minutes
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Death and The Information Gap
2023-May-24
35 minutes
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Speaking in Tongues: w/Josh Brahinsky
2023-May-03
26 minutes
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Your Brain and God: The Principles of Neurotheology w/ Andrew Newberg
2023-Apr-25
29 minutes
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UnBroken: How To Deal With Grief
2023-Apr-19
29 minutes
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Kevin Berryman: The Lessons Of A Buddhist Monk
2023-Apr-04
29 minutes
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Meditation: An Active State?
2023-Mar-07
29 minutes
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Psychedelics, Trauma and Men's Therapy
2023-Feb-28
29 minutes
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Pain Reconceptualized: w/ Alex Jinich
2023-Feb-21
29 minutes
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Our Guided Meditation: Dr Mark Miller x Lama John Makransky
2023-Feb-08
22 minutes
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Why I'm Not a Buddhist
2023-Jan-31
30 minutes
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Cognitive Biases and Emotional Reactions: with Dr Norman Farb
2023-Jan-24
30 minutes
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Meditation and Psychotherapy: with Ian Singer
2023-Jan-10
30 minutes
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Soul and Interconnectedness: Dr Anna Yusim
2023-Jan-03
26 minutes
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How To Be Human: 2022 Pod Review
2022-Dec-21
32 minutes
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The Dark Night of the Soul
2022-Dec-06
31 minutes
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Constructing Our Lives: with Dr Shamil Chandaria
2022-Nov-30
32 minutes
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Spirituality and Psychic Abilities
2022-Nov-22
32 minutes
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Jhāna and Peak Experiences
2022-Nov-09
32 minutes
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Mental Health and Buddhism: with Dr Elli Weisbaum
2022-Nov-01
36 minutes
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The Dark Side of Meditation
2022-Oct-18
29 minutes
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Psychedelics and Spiritual Traditions
2022-Oct-11
32 minutes
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Flow States and Meta-Awareness: w/ Dr Dave Vago
2022-Oct-04
34 minutes
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You are Not Your Brain
2022-Sep-27
31 minutes
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The Mindful College Student
2022-Sep-20
32 minutes
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Understanding Anxiety
2022-Aug-30
31 minutes
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Compassion, Wisdom and Training
2022-Aug-23
31 minutes
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The Self Made Simple with Dr Monima Chadha
2022-Aug-10
30 minutes
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The Equanimity Factor
2022-Aug-02
30 minutes
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Mindfulness and Education: Professor Craig Hassed
2022-Jul-26
32 minutes
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The Podcast So Far: a fireside conversation
2022-Jul-19
25 minutes
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Dr Ines Hipolito: 'The 'Complexity Wanderer'
2022-Jul-05
32 minutes
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How to Deal with Change: lessons from a Buddhist nun
2022-Jun-28
32 minutes
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Getting The Dose Right: how much mindfullness?
2022-Jun-21
33 minutes
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Guidance, hypnosis and Tibetan practice: Dr Michael Lifshitz on well-being
2022-Jun-14
34 minutes
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Well Being and Psychedelics: caution, potential and meditation
2022-Jun-07
30 minutes
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Self Love and Enlightenment
2022-May-31
32 minutes
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Windows of Tolerance: the science of how to practice gently
2022-May-24
37 minutes
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The 5 Contemplative Landmarks
2022-May-17
34 minutes
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Meditation, the brain and meta-cognitive awareness
2022-May-10
32 minutes
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Collective Trauma and Recovery
2022-May-03
32 minutes
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The Black History of Yoga
2022-Apr-25
31 minutes
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The Science of Romantic Love
2022-Apr-19
33 minutes
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Pain, Brains and Reality
2022-Apr-12
31 minutes
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The Authentic Happiness Episode
2022-Apr-05
29 minutes
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The Well-Being Curriculum
2022-Mar-29
30 minutes
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Mysticism and Modern Healthcare: how Psychiatry and spirituality interact
2022-Mar-22
28 minutes
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Why I'm Not a Buddhist
2022-Mar-15
30 minutes
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An introduction to Indigenous Contemplative Science
2022-Mar-08
28 minutes
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The Meaning Crisis - and what we can do about it
2022-Mar-01
44 minutes
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What is the bottleneck to well-being?
2022-Mar-01
44 minutes
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Welcome to the Contemplative Science Podcast
2022-Feb-23
less than a minute
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