Linda Graham, MFT is a licensed psychotherapist and meditation teacher in full-time practice in the San Francisco Bay area. She integrates her passion for neuroscience, mindfulness, and relational psychology through trainings, workshops, and conferences. She publishes a monthly e-newsletter entitled Healing and Awakening into Aliveness and Wholeness and weekly e-quotes on resources for recovering resilience, archived on her website. She is the author of Bouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being (New World Library 2013) and Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster (New World Library 2018)

Tags: Linda Graham, resilience, resilient, rewiring our brains, imagination, visualization, guided meditation, negative spiral, AFGOS, Another frickin growth opportunity, curiosity, optimism, awe, gratitude, self compassion, Science, Personal Transformation, Self Help, relationship

Catherine Meeks, Ph.D. is a theologian, educator, and activist whose work weaves together racial healing, spirituality, and socio-cultural analysis. She is the founding Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta, where she helped create “brave space” for honest conversations, formation, and training around racism, reconciliation, and healing across the Episcopal Church and beyond. She is the founder of Turquoise and Lavender, an institute for transformation and healing and was awarded the President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement Award for her decades of work for racial justice. Her many books include:

• Living Into God’s Dream: Dismantling Racism in America (Morehouse Publishing 2016)
• Passionate for Justice: Ida B. Wells as Prophet for Our Times, (Nibs Stroupe) (Church Publishing 2019)
• A Quilted Life: Reflections of a Sharecropper’s Daughter (Eerdmans 2024)
• The Night Is Long But Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations for Racial Healing (Morehouse Publishing 2025)
• Bridging the Rivers of Difference: A Proclamation of Unity in Resistance (Morehouse Publishing 2026)

Interview Date: 7/3/2026   Tags: Catherine Meeks, Racial healing; systemic racism; social justice, spiritual activism, community building, storytelling, collective healing, White supremacy, indigenous wisdom seven generation, community organizing, Social Change/Politics, Racism, Spirituality

Shannon Algeo is an American and Irish writer, psychotherapist, researcher, poet, and Yoga Nidra teacher based in California. Shannon is on the faculty of the Esalen Institute and the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, where he leads digital liberation workshops and offline retreats that help participants reclaim their attention, creativity, and relationships in an increasingly digitized world. Named one of Wanderlust's "35 Under 35 in Wellness to Watch," Shannon has spoken at the United Nations and the Museum of Contemporary Art. His work integrates attachment theory, neuroscience, mindfulness, poetry, and depth psychology to help people cultivate greater presence, resilience, and authentic human connection in the digital age. He is the author of:

• Trust Your Truth: Heal Self-Doubt, Awaken to Your Soul’s Purpose, and Live Your Badass Life (New Harbinger Publications 2021)
• The Power in Your Hands: Liberate Yourself from Attachment to Technology (Broadleaf Books, 2026)

Interview Date: 6/5/26   Tags: Shannon Algeo, attachment theory, technology addiction, smartphone use, digital age, AI, artificial intelligence, human connection, secure attachment, insecure attachment, co-regulation, relational field, therapy relationship, digital detox, attention economy, attachment economy, social media, intermittent rewards, human intelligence, rehumanization, presence, transformational change, Mary Main, Dr. Daniel Siegel, Anne Lamott, Mark Coleman, David J. Wallin, Paul Hewson, Mary Oliver, Nikki Myers, Marianne Williamson, Seane Corn, Victor Ochen, John Bowlby, Technology, Psychology, Relationships

Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Ph.D. is an Irish-born botanist, medical biochemist, and author who bridges cutting-edge science with ancient Celtic wisdom about trees and forests. Orphaned in Ireland and taught by her elders in the Brehon and Druidic traditions, she has become a globally recognized voice for the protection of the world’s forests and an early visionary on climate change. Through her scientific work and her “Bioplan” for replanting the global forest, Dr. Beresford-Kroeger invites ordinary people to enter into a renewed, reciprocal relationship with trees as vital allies in healing the planet. Her books and films include:

Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests (Random House Canada 2024)

Arboretum America (University of Michigan 2003)   and

To Speak for the Trees (Random House Canada 2019)

Her documentary film Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees. 

Interview Date: 6/19/2026      Tags: Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Montenegro, E.O. Wilson, sapsucker, Bloodvein River, Pimachiowin Aki preserve, Apios Americana, potato, forest restoration, tree planting, climate change, Celtic wisdom, bioplan, oxygen production, fulvic acid, redwoods, sequoias, ancient knowledge, biodiversity, photosynthesis, cancer prevention, environmental sustainability, global forest, cedars, Hop tree, Hairy hickory, Ecology/Environment/Nature, Indigenous Wisdom, Science

David Ulrich is a college level professor and co-director of the Pacific New Media Foundation in Honolulu, Hawaii. He teaches frequent classes and workshops and is an avid photographer and writer whose work has been published in numerous books and journals. His photographs have been exhibited internationally in more than 75 one-person and group exhibitions. He blogs about creativity and consciousness. He is the author of The Widening Stream: The Seven Stages of Creativity (Beyond Words 2001) and Zen Camera: Creative Awakening With a Daily Practice in Photography (Watson-Guptill 2018)

Tags: David Ulrich, silos of opinions, empathy, Kent State shooting, presence, Afghan woman’s photograph in National Geographic Magazine, Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, getting permission to take a photograph, Tiananmen Square photograph, Art & Creativity, spirituality 

Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher and a most eloquent spiritual teacher. In 2015, he was given a Life-Achievement Award by AgeNation and in 2016 was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the Most Spiritually Influential Living People. He was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship. He is the author of many audio learning projects and over 20 books

Interview Date: 5/22/2026    Tags: Mark Nepo, healing, compassion, reflection, conflict resolution, paradox, Ubuntu, interdependence, honor, honey bird guide, poetry, careless language, John Paul Lederach, datsu, tadasu, paradox, tsundoku, Personal Transformation, Philosophy, Spirituality

JJ Flowers is a screenwriter, playwright, and a lifelong yogi who teaches pranayama and Metta meditation, also known as the Loving Kindness meditation. She identifies as an experienced metaphysician, psychic medium, and animal communicator.She is the author of numerous books including: Juan Pablo and the Butterflies (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 2017) and The Spiritual Dog: Emissary of Unconditional Love and Healing (Findhorn) 

Interview Date: 5/6/2026      Tags: JJ Flowers, Bill Phillips, evidentiary medium, Jane Roberts, Seth Speaks, Paul Selig, channeling, Melchizedek, pranayama yoga, telepathic communication with dogs, syncing energy systems with our dogs, chakra systems, getting a 16 week old puppy is ideal, dogs feel grief, euthanizing your dog, Animals, Relationship, Spirituality

Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist with a deep interest in neuroscience and mindfulness. He is a senior fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California Berkeley and creator of the year-long course The Foundations of Well-Being. He is the author of many books including Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (New Harbinger 2009), Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time (New Harbinger 2011), Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence (Harmony Books 2013), Meditations to Change Your Brain - CD Set (Sounds True 2009), Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness (Harmony Books 2018)

Tags: Rick Hanson, Compassion, Golden Rule, Resilient, Resilience, Self-Compassion, Loving Ourselves, Inner Critic, Internal caring Committee, Inner Victim, Inner Attacker, Inn Protector, Cravings, Psychology, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation, Self Help

Phil Cousineau is a freelance writer, filmmaker, photographer, art and literary tour leader, teacher of creativity, mythographer, storyteller, and an all-around Renaissance man. He's published over 40 books and has over 25 documentary film writing credits. He is also host and co-writer of "Global Spirit," a nationally broadcast television series. 

Interview Date: 6/12/2026     Tags: Phil Cousineau, The Odyssey, Homer, lost soul, getting home again, Troy, understory, trauma, wounds, Eumaeus, friendship, hero, wisdom, hasten slowly, The Underworld, Circe, Tiresias, kleos, Achilles, soldiers, myth, fashion and glamour, grieving, grief, Mythology, Personal Transformation, Philosophy

Terry Patten is a community organizer and has dedicated his efforts to the integral practice of evolving consciousness through the marriage of spirit and activism. He founded and leads Bay Area Integral, which gathers and supports an integral community in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the co-author with Ken Wilber and core team at the Integral Institute, of Integral Life Practice (Integral Books 2008). He is the author of: A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries (North Atlantic Books 2018)

Tags: Terry Patten, Black swan events, wicked problems, Bill McKibben, Climate Change, denial, humility, curiosity, mutual respect, affection, love, feat, evolution, Darwin, thriving, Einstein, William McDonough, questions, paradox, Rilke, uncertainty, Peace/Nonviolence,Social Change/Politics

Albert Flynn DeSilver is an American poet, memoirist, novelist, speaker, and leader of writing workshops. He is the author of several books of poetry including Letters to Early Street (La Alameda/University of New Mexico Press 2007) and Walking Tooth & Cloud (French Connection Press – Paris 2008). He has also published a memoir: Beamish Boy: (the Owl Press 2012) and is the author of Writing as a Path to Awakening: A Year to Becoming an Excellent Writer and Living an Awakened Life (Sounds True 2017). 

Tags: Albert Flynn DeSilver, Silence, Awakening, absence of language, poetry, photography, Ted Berrigan, Nisargadatta Maharaj, language, editing process, Bill Birkson, Writing, Self Help, Art & Creativity, Meditation, community, personal transformation