Spirit Matters Talk

Tenzin Priyadarshi is the Founding President and CEO of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a non-partisan collaborative think tank focused on interdisciplinary research and programs related to the development of human and global ethics. Born in India, he entered a Buddhist monastery under his own volition at the age of ten. He studied traditional Indo-Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism and was ordained by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, who is his spiritual mentor. While receiving traditional Buddhist training he also had a secular education. He completed graduate studies in Comparative Philosophy of Religion at Harvard in 2003. His keen interest in inter-religious conversation led to meetings with Popes John Paul II and Benedict, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and other religious leaders. He is also the Founding Director and President of the Prajnopaya Institute and Foundation, which offers innovative health, education and social welfare programs

Tenzin Priyadarshi Discussion by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Rameshwar Das is a photographer, photo-journalist, environmentalist and writer. In 1968 he met Ram Dass, soon after the renowned spiritual teacher returned from India, and learned yoga and meditation from him. He traveled to India and spent time with his and Ram Dass’s guru, Neem Karoli Baba, (aka Maharaj-ji) from 1970-72. His working life has been primarily as a photographer, including freelance work for the New York Times and other publications. He has also taught photography and photo-journalism. Ramesh collaborated on several projects with Ram Dass, including the original collection of manuscripts that became the seminal Be Here Now and the Love Serve Remember box set of recordings. He is the co-author of Ram Dass’s last few books, Be Love Now, Polishing the Mirror, and the newly released memoir Becoming Ram Dass. We spoke about how Harvard psychologist Richard Alpert became Ram Dass, what it was like to work with him on an intimate memoir, Ram Dass’s final days, and more. Learn more about Ram Dass here,

Rameshwar Das Discussion by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Craig Hamilton is a pioneer in the emerging field of evolutionary spirituality and a leading voice in the movement for conscious evolution. As the guiding force behind Integral Enlightenment, Craig offers spiritual guidance and teachings to a growing international community spanning 85 countries. His courses, “designed to support people who are committed to evolving themselves and our culture,” have more than 14,000 graduates to date. To support these pioneers, Craig created the Academy for Evolutionaries, which offers practical spiritual tools and training in step with our times and informed by an up-to-date understanding of the human condition. He brings together core insights and approaches based on decades of on-the-ground research at the leading edge of spiritual practice and inquiry. Craig’s programs integrate his decades of intensive spiritual practice with insights gleaned during his eight years as Senior Editor of What Is Enlightenment? magazine. He is a founding member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Insti

Craig Hamilton Discussion 2 by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Jeffrey J. Kripal is the Associate Dean of the Faculty and Graduate Programs in the School of the Humanities and the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. Jeff is the author of eight books, including Kali’s Child, Roads of Excess, The Serpent’s Gift, and Esalen, a definitive history of the landmark institute in in Big Sur, California, where he currently serves as Associate Director of the Center for Theory and Research. His most recent book is The Flip: Who You Really Are and Why It Matters, which contemplates the central importance of the humanities. He is presently working on a three-volume study of paranormal currents in the sciences, modern esoteric literature, and the hidden history of science fiction. We spoke about a wide range of topics related to his wide and far-reaching academic interests. Learn more about Jeffrey Kripal here: http://jeffreyjkripal.com

Jeffrey Kripal Discussion by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Sara Ivanhoe, M.A. is the Director of YogaUSC, a program designed to support the campus life of students and faculty at the University of Southern California. She has been teaching yoga since 1995 and has been the Yoga Spokesperson for “Weight Watchers,” “Yoga for Dummies,” and “Crunch Yoga,” and she has appeared as a series regular on “Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab” as the therapeutic instructor. She served as the yoga columnist for Health magazine for three years and has written and appeared in almost every yoga and health publication. Sara earned a master’s degree in the inaugural class in the historic Yoga Studies program at Loyola Marymount University, where she served as Senator of the student body for Bellarmine College. She currently serves as the Yoga and Meditation Content Curator for Glo, teaches in the LMU Yoga Studies department, leads an ongoing class called “Sleep” for the MindfulUSC program, and presents at conferences internationally. We spoke about her diverse career as a yoga instructor, her

Sara Ivanhoe Discussion by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Acharya Shunya is an award-winning and internationally renowned spiritual teacher and scholar of Advaita (nondual) Vedanta, as well as a classically-trained master of Yoga and Ayurveda. The first female head of her 2,000-year-old spiritual lineage from northern India, she has dedicated her life to disseminating Vedic knowledge for the spiritual uplifting of all beings. She is the driving force behind an online wisdom school and worldwide spiritual community; the president of the Awakened Self Foundation headquartered in San Francisco; and founder of the spiritual nonprofit Vedika Global. Acharya Shunya demystifies and contextualizes sacred concepts for modern life through her books—Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom: A Complete Prescription to Optimize Your Health, Prevent Disease, Live with Vitality and Joy and the recently published Sovereign Self: Claim your Inner Joy and Freedom with the Empowering Wisdom of the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita—as well as her podcast Shadow to Self and the award-winning online

Acharya Shunya Discussion by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

ames Martin is a Jesuit priest, the author of numerous books, the editor at large at America, the national Catholic review, and a Consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. Father Martin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1982 and worked for six years at General Electric before entering the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). During his training he worked in a hospital, a hospice, an orphanage, a homeless shelter, a school for inner-city boys, an outreach program with street-gang members, a community center with unemployed men and women, in East Africa with refugees. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1999, and in 2009 pronounced his Final Vows. Among Father Martin’s books are the bestsellers The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life and Jesus: A Pilgrimage. His most recent book is Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone. A sought-after commentator on matters of religion and social issues, he has written for major publications an

Father James Martin Discussion by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and founding Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, the first program of its kind in the US. A specialist in the religions of India, he has published more than twenty books, including the recent Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Yogas. He serves as advisor to multiple organizations including the Forum on Religion and Ecology, the Ahimsa Center, the Dharma Academy of North America, the Jain Studies Centre, the South Asian Studies Association, and International School for Jain Studies. He teaches online through the Center for Religion and Spirituality at LMU and YogaGlo. In Chris’s second visit to Spirit Matters, we spoke mainly about the relationship between spirituality/religion and climate change and global ecological challenges in general. Learn more about Christopher Chapple here: https://bellarmine.lmu.edu/yoga/people/meetthedirector/

Christopher Key Chapple Discussion 2 by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Khyati Y. Joshi is a Professor of Education at Fairleigh Dickinson University and a social science researcher whose work informs policy-makers, educators, and everyday people about race, religion, and immigration in 21st century America. She has lectured around the world and published ground-breaking scholarly and popular work in her field, while also serving as an advisor to policy-makers and a leader in the South Asian American community. She also created the Institute for Teaching Diversity and Social Justice, which offers professional development programs for educators. Her most recent book is White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America. Previously, she was the author and co-editor of Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, one of the most widely-used books by diversity practitioners and social justice scholars, and the author of the award-winning New Roots in America’s Sacred Ground: Religion, Race, and Ethnicity in Indian America. Dr. Joshi is also the co-editor of the f

Khyati Josh Discussion by Discussion by Dennis and Phil

Andrew Harvey is an internationally renowned religious scholar, writer, teacher, and the author of more than 40 books, including the critically acclaimed The Hope, Son of Man, and his latest, Radical Regeneration: Birthing the New Human in the Age of Extinction (coauthored with Carolyn Baker). Born in south India in 1952, Andrew has devoted much of his life to studying the world's mystical traditions, including intensive study of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sufi mysticism. He has taught at Oxford University, Cornell University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, The California Institute of Integral Studies, and the University of Creation Spirituality as well as at various spiritual centers throughout the world. He is the founder and director of the Chicago-based Institute of Sacred Activism. We spoke mainly about Radical Regeneration, the challenge posed by climate change and looming issues, the need for spiritual activism, and much more of immediate relevance. Learn more about Andrew Harvey here: http://www.andre

Andrew Harvey Discussion 2 by Discussion by Dennis and Phil