Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

In 2018, Mary Firestone survived the tragic Montecito mudslide caused by 200 million gallons of rainfall in 15 minutes, washing away her home and more than a hundred others. In the wake of this experience, Mary began a healing journey that led to the creation of her new book, Trusting the Dawn: Choosing Freedom and Joy After Trauma. In this podcast, Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, speaks with Mary about her personal story and the lessons she offers in the book, including how we share the narratives of our past traumas; the difference between being victimized and remaining in victimhood; reframing our experiences versus spiritual bypassing; the importance of integration for the healing of trauma; MDMA, ketamine, and holotropic breathwork therapies; the “personal I” and the “depersonalized I”; initiation experiences; overcoming fear around speaking your truth; hypnosis and past-life regression as a pathway to wholeness; meditation, EMDR, flower essences, and other widely accessible alternative healing modalities; the power of choice; and more.

4 Okt 202256min

In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Dawson Church about Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and the technique known as “tapping”—and its amazing efficacy in trauma healing and post-traumatic growth. Tune in to this hope-giving, possibility-expanding conversation that explores bringing energy therapies into mainstream primary care, the proven effects of tapping acupuncture meridians to calm limbic activity, the history of tapping and the steps involved in practice, the importance of self-acceptance, avoiding retraumatization through memory reconsolidation and emotional extinction, the impacts that tapping has on our brain waves and sleep patterns, resilience and post-traumatic growth, meditation practice and the experience of “bliss brain,” the power of compassion, and much more.

27 Sep 20221h 5min

For decades, New York Times bestselling author Cheryl Richardson has been renowned as a self-care coach for professionals and other high achievers. But when she entered her elder years, life surprised her. All of her many achievements became less important than a new landscape of joys and aspirations that began emerging. “The journey through midlife and beyond,” Cheryl says, "is a shift from less ego to more soul.” In this uplifting episode, she joins host Tami Simon to share practical insights for anyone, at any "calendar age," to move beyond outer accomplishments and approval, and nurture a deeper life of pleasure and purpose.

20 Sep 20221h 4min

Ceremonies for honoring the departed are crucial parts of our lives, but few people know where our traditional practices come from—and what they reveal about our history, culture, and beliefs about death. In today's podcast, Tami Simon speaks with funeral director, embalmer, and certified postmortem reconstructionist and cremationist Todd Harra to talk about the roots of the Western funeral and to remove some of the fears that surround it. Their riveting conversation looks at: the myths and misconceptions about the funeral director, the sacred responsibility of handling the deceased, the rise in home funerals in our time, the origins of the practices of embalming and coffin burial, the different shades of the "green" cemetery and burial, why there is great value in permanent memorialization, making a ceremony sacred, why simply showing up is the greatest way to support those in mourning, mushroom suits and the controversy around them, the process of natural organic reduction (NOR), and much more.

13 Sep 202258min

In this podcast we join Sounds True founder, Tami Simon, in conversation with Acharya Shunya, a master of Ayurveda and an internationally renowned spiritual teacher and scholar of Advaita (nondual wisdom). Give a listen to this informative dialogue to hear about Acharya Shunya's book, Roar Like a Goddess, and her empowering insights into : Awakening the inner goddesses of the Vedic tradition; the progressive revelation of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati; "ugly power" based on ignorance, and the devas (or light bearers) who cultivate power ethically; how symbolism helps you discover your power; healthy rage and "correctional, super-conscious anger"; the divine, ultimate truth of nonduality at the core of Vedic wisdom; the river of light that flows within all of us; and more.

6 Sep 20221h 3min

Join Sounds True’s Tami Simon in conversation with author and teacher Oren Jay Sofer, as he shares his innovative method for productive discourse and authentic connection. In “Stretch Your Heart and Say What You Mean,” Tami and Oren explore how contemplative practice is an essential ingredient for healthy conversations and relationships, and vice versa; three foundations for mindful communication; the practice of pausing a conversation; the art of the “do-over”; the power of intention in conversation; curiosity, humility, and kindness; how focusing on what matters transforms reactivity and allows us to speak our truth; the shift from projecting blame to identifying and expressing our needs; the heart of compassion and nonviolence—seeing one another in a deeper way; three layers of needs—physical, relational, and spiritual; freeing our hearts from animosity and hostility, and becoming a force for loving unification; and more.

30 Aug 20221h 6min

Join Sounds True’s founder, Tami Simon, in this compassionate podcast with Dr. Sherry Walling about her new book, Touching Two Worlds, as they discuss navigating the duality that exists on the opposite spectrums of our lives, the healing practice of writing about our experiences of grief, overcoming the stigma and silence around suicide, the just-world hypothesis and how traumatic events change our view, accepting limitations in life while taking responsibility for finding our own sense of meaning, accessing a sense of calm and grace to release the unresolved shock of grief, finding closure versus finding the place "where grief lands with love," and more.

23 Aug 202256min

In this podcast, Sounds True founder Tami Simon speaks with "the relationship turnaround guy" and bestselling author Terry Real about: the origins of his two-day relationship intervention; the groundbreaking—and rule-breaking—approach of Relational Life Therapy; dealing with shame and grandiosity, and the contempt underlying both; the skill of "joining through the truth"; what healthy self-esteem looks like; why "there's nothing that harshness does that loving firmness doesn't do better"; speaking to and from the mature, wise adult instead of the adaptive, wounded child; relational mindfulness; recognizing your tendency toward "fight, flight, freeze, or fix"; our toxic culture of individualism and the shift to "soft power"; why an invitation works a lot better than a complaint; the essential rhythm of relationships: harmony, rupture, and repair; honoring the ecological system of your relationship while having your individual needs met; and more.

16 Aug 20221h 6min