I have a wonderful guest on today and I'm very excited to share this conversation with you. In thinking about the message of today's conversation I was reminded of a comment I recently heard Jack Kornfield make when he was interviewed by Tim Ferriss. They were talking about Tim's recent silent meditation retreat and the benefits of them, and seekin…

Today on the show we are going to hit mindfulness head on and talk about how we might be getting tripped up by the practice, and how, according to my guest, we might be doing it wrong. Now don't interpret that as a judgement or criticism, but more like permission to take some of the pressure off. I know that over the years of practicing sitting med…

Congratulations, you made it to part 5, the final segment of my epic interview with Atz Kilcher. And while each episode stands on its own, it makes sense to start from the beginning to hear it in sequence to get a full understanding of his journey and the range of wisdom you can glean from his life experience. This episode is a great wrapper for ev…

Today is Part 4 of my interview with Atz Kilcher, and after 3 hours of digging deep into the conflict and trauma that Atz has work so hard to overcome in his life, we finally find his Mother, Ruth. I found it interesting that it took us this long to talk about her, but even more interesting when Atz told me he originally intended to write his new m…

We've made it to the half way point in my interview with Atz Kilcher, and after two and a half hours you might expect we'd be getting close to wrapping up, possibly running out of things to talk about. Not the case here, everything up until this point was really just a warm up. As we enter hour three of our conversation we address PTSD, a debilitat…

Today I continue my interview with Atz Kilcher. This is Part 2 and is where Atz really started to help me personally. I don't know if I mentioned this in the intro to Part 1, but my experience sitting with Atz for a day was life changing, and I don’t say that lightly. I don't do this podcast to report the news, or simply deliver someone else's mess…

Part 1 - Hard Work: Today I'm kicking off my interview series with Atz Kilcher. I felt like I sat down with someone, who at the age of 70, with perhaps nothing left to prove, is on the brink of discovering the true or perhaps ultimate meaning and purpose of his life. Atz is the son of Alaskan homesteaders, gaining unexpected fame late in life on re…

Arrive Where You Started - Part 2 Today I have someone very special on the show, one of the most respected and well-known teachers of mindfulness and meditation. His name is Shinzen Young, and his recent book, The Science of Enlightenment, immediately caught my attention because I've never thought of enlightenment in scientific terms before, and of…

Arrive Where You Started - Part 1 Today I have someone very special on the show, one of the most respected and well-known teachers of mindfulness and meditation. His name is Shinzen Young, and his recent book, The Science of Enlightenment, immediately caught my attention because I've never thought of enlightenment in scientific terms before, and of…

From the moment we sat down for this conversation, my guest today gave me a sense of genuine inspiration to be a better person, to be a more authentic person, living with gratitude, acceptance, and grace. Her name is Pilar Gerasimo, and many of you know her as the founder of Experience Life Magazine, which she ran for 15 years. But now she has emba…

This is the first interview in a special series spotlighting the Inspiring Children Foundation. I'm starting off the series with co-founder Ryan Wolfington. Ryan and I met during a social hour of the Mindful Leadership Summit in Washington DC where I was doing interviews for the Meditate This! Podcast. I'm standing at my table just cleaning up and …

This is the first interview in a special series spotlighting the Inspiring Children Foundation. I'm starting off the series with co-founder Ryan Wolfington. Ryan and I met during a social hour of the Mindful Leadership Summit in Washington DC where I was doing interviews for the Meditate This! Podcast. I'm standing at my table just cleaning up and …

In Their Own Words - An Introduction to the Inspiring Children Foundation Today we are kicking off a series of interviews spotlighting an amazing organization called the Inspiring Children Foundation. You are going to hear from a group of inspiring individuals, many of whom are just teenagers. But let me be the first to tell you that these "kids" h…

Today on the show I bring you someone who is bound to put a smile on your face because of his positive attitude and terrific sense of humor, but he will also challenge you to consider your relationship to what is perhaps one of the most uncomfortable and perplexing problems we face across the globe. Mark Horvath isn't just an advocate for homeless …

My guest today is Emily Esfahani Smith, author of the book The Power of Meaning. As a matter of fact, Emily was the first person I invited as a guest on this podcast and this interview really sets up the perfect framework for what's to come. Pay special attention here as the pillars that support a meaningful life, as Emily defines them, come up tim…

Like all god's creatures, we love each of our guests equally. But we'll admit, when we got on the phone with Robert Thurman, there was something that stopped us a bit in our tracks. Yes, he was completely easy to talk to and, yes, he was willing to answer everything we asked. But his ability to explain the concepts of Buddhism and mindfulness with …

She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not... Ever spent a moment...or several years(!) wondering whether your mate is right for you—or if you're right for them? You're sure as hell not alone. Romantic relationships are seriously confusing, and much of the time we're unaware of our true feelings because our brains work most happ…

When Kaiser met Pete in junior high, he could barely have dreamed he'd appear a quarter-century later not once but twice on a world-renowned podcast co-hosted by his new, lanky, piano-playing friend . For one thing, there were no podcasts back then. Heck, Rubik's Cubes were still the rage. Also, neither of them were exactly the most mindful 13-year…

By trade, Robert Kuhn asks the world's most brilliant people about life's biggest questions. It sounded pretty familiar to us here at Meditate This!—with one small exception: Kuhn has a background that puts him on par with just about anyone he interviews, giving the questions an extra level of potency. Kuhn holds a doctorate in brain research and i…

Nichol Bradford has an affinity for tech—as evidenced by her work as a former senior executive for gaming at Activision Blizzard (for which she managed operations on World of Warcraft in China), Disney, and Vivendi. But the Wharton MBA also appreciates tech's promise because she believes it's our best chance at helping humanity navigate the variety…

Have you updated your bucket list lately? We’re guessing there are a few things you may have overlooked. After this interview, you might decide to add a couple items to your list: the study of transpersonal psychology and achieving self-transcendence. What are those things you ask? Well, Pete had the same questions and got some serious answers from…

It's never happened before that a guest has been daring enough to return to the mic for a second round conversation with Pete and Jay, but Judson Brewer was up for giving it another go. And how lucky for the audience because Judson talks through all the ideas in his new book The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hook…

So, um...about that thing. You know. The thing no one likes to talk about. Yes, that thing. No, not taxes, the other thing. Right. Death. Ok, we all have different relationships to the word and the concept, and we also all have one thing in common: Nobody knows anything about it for sure. But Sensei Robert Chodo Campbell and Sensei Koshin Paley Ell…

Have you ever wondered about the secret to perfecting your meditation practice, increasing your daily degree of happiness, and finding the strength to tackle all those things that scare you? Well, search no more. In less than an hour, Pete and Jay will make every last thing clear and give you the tools to transform your life overnight. Well, it cou…

Another escapade into the world of mindfulness conferences landed Pete at the Mindful Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. In this interview, he sits down with Caroline S. Welch, the CEO of Mind Your Brain, Inc. and the co-founder of MindSightMedia, Inc with her husband Dr. Dan Siegel (episode 112 of MT! Podcast). We cover some key points (4 to be …

JP Sears is trying to raise the planet's consciousness and help people live the most fulfilling life possible. He does this, in part, by making funny videos on YouTube that completely mock the very thoughts and practices that help people realize this kind of change. It leaves many left to wonder, just who is JP Sears? The good news for you—we've go…

As cofounder and president of Happify, giving people a fun way to pass the time is nothing new for Ofer Leidner. He cofounded and built several digital media businesses, including iPlay/Oberon Media, which offered those downloadable games for phones that consume hours and become an obsession for some. But despite his success, Ofer didn’t feel great…

John F. Simon, Jr. was riding high in the New York art scene in the early 1990s as a new media artist using LCD screens to project his computer renderings. His work sold quickly and is now part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, amo…

There are plenty of words that describe Agapi Stassinopolous, but they only go so far. Warm, magnetic, wise, theatrical, and honest—they all say the right thing, but in order to really understand Agapi and what she can offer, you really need to listen. The energy and spirit she projects, the way her smile comes through when she speaks, it all confi…

It's not everyday that you find an MD/PhD who gains as much insight from talking about 2,000-year-old Buddhist philosophy as he does from the latest findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. Judson Brewer is director of research in the Center for Mindfulness at the University Massachusetts Medical School, and holds affiliations at the Yale U…

To paint a picture of Dr. Dan Siegel, we could easily provide you with a long list of highly impressive credentials. But that wouldn’t represent Dan the person. Missing from that list would be how he unwinds at home by blasting his karaoke machine and dancing around the room. Or that he takes steps to include everyone in the big conversations--maki…

Ask someone "what" they are and the answer will often be expressed in a single word to summarize their job: accountant...firefighter...salesperson...electrician...chef. For Elise Carr, founder of StellaMuse, the answer takes a lot longer, and seems to radiate like a sunbeam. Some specific things do come to mind, though: Pioneer of Yoni power, divin…

Back in 2003, people didn't talk much about acupuncture or meditation or aromatherapy–especially not in relation to treating serious illness. But Penny George saw an opportunity. As a breast cancer survivor herself, she was keenly aware of the need for nurturing the mind and spirit while addressing major issues with one's body. She thought: What if…

What does it mean to flourish as a human being? Well, for many of us that might be a question not often asked, but for Aneel Chima it is his life's work to help us figure it out. While Aneel might be just as happy driving a city bus, he's currently very content as the co-leader of the Stanford University WellnessEd Project, which he co-founded and …

What happens when a listener of the Meditate This! Podcast blows out the candles on their birthday cake? Their wish comes true and they appear as a guest on Mindfulness Schmindfulness. We can only assume that's what happened as one lucky listener was invited to the MT! Studios for an interrogation of her life. Meet Ryan, both skeptic and seeker, as…

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast. This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice. Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless. But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not…

In 1996 Micheline Nader hit a wall. Stress had weakened her immune system and resulted in a bleeding ulcer. Facing the bankruptcy of her business, she says, "I was so terrified that I could not get out of bed. My fear was more crippling than my pain." A serial entrepreneur, Micheline couldn't muster one more appearance of "Superwoman" to save the d…

NASA engineer, Stanford University lecturer, TED talker, consciousness hacker—is there anything Mikey Siegel can't do? The answer: We'll soon find out. See, Mikey is on one serious mission—to change the word from the inside out by starting with the alleviation of that nasty little bug that bites us all: human suffering. As Mikey explains: "My focus…

Some couples argue about who should take out the garbage or pick up the kids. Maureen Pelton and Charlie Hartwell only show hints of frustration when insisting that the other should realize how well-rounded they are. It's a nice problem to have, especially since most of their moments together is spent engaged in their favorite pastime: laughing. Th…

Achieving the status of being a regular, average guy might not sound like much. But for Kaiser Clark, it’s the biggest accomplishment of his life so far. Growing up with severe ADHD and struggling with substance abuse from a very young age, Kaiser used to think obtaining mythic powers, changing who he was, and becoming "special" was the answer to h…

Five sure-fire steps to the perfect life. One burrito half-eaten by Ozzie. And Pete making contact. A Schmindfulness for the ages—both here and beyooooond. ..and Happy Birthday Diane!!!! Be sure to tell a friend about this podcast, rate and review on iTunes, and join our mailing list at www.MeditateThisPodcast.com…

The very fact that you're reading this sentence has something to do with R. Adam Engle. No, he didn't invent the internet or anything. He just happened to co-found the Mind and Life Institute and develop, back in the 1980s, the very first Mind and Life Dialogues between the 14th Dalai Lama and a panel of some of the world's most prominent scientist…

The very fact that you're reading this sentence has something to do with R. Adam Engle. No, he didn't invent the internet or anything. He just happened to co-found the Mind and Life Institute and develop, back in the 1980s, the very first Mind and Life Dialogues between the 14th Dalai Lama and a panel of some of the world's most prominent scientist…

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast. This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice. Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless. But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not…

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast. This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice. Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless. But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not…

Whether it be on a retreat into literal darkness that helped her contemplate her life so far or the bright and bustling business she has built over the past three decades, Tami Simon pursues truth in every corner it may hide. As the founder of Sounds True, a multimedia publishing company that offers spiritual wisdom from the likes of Eckhart Tolle,…

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast. This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice. Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless. But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not…

Growing up in Chicago during the 1950s and 1960s, Radhanath Swami (then Richard Slavin) had plenty to be restless about—civil rights injustices, Vietnam, and a general aversion to the trappings of suburban comfort. By 19, he'd had enough. It was time to go in search of something greater. That quest took him—as a penniless hitchhiker—though Greece, …

Welcome to How I Meditate from the Meditate This! Podcast. This series is intended reveal personal experiences with meditation and mindfulness as a way to help others refine, rejuvenate, or even just begin a practice. Meditation can seem weird, creepy, and meaningless. But maybe it helps to hear how it's different for someone else...or how it's not…

Charlie Hartwell has always pursued balance. He complemented his degrees from Brown and Harvard with the education that comes from world travels that included hitchhiking alone by night on desolate roads. While working on Wall Street by day, he spent nights helping start a charity in Africa. He excelled at marketing for the likes of Heinz and Pills…