Saturday, December 27, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #172 - 27DEC14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • First Hour: A conversation with David Richo, Ph.D., M.F.T., psychotherapist, teacher, workshop leader, and writer who works in Santa Barbara and San Francisco California. He combines Jungian, poetic, and mythic perspectives in his work with the intention of integrating the psychological and the spiritual. He is the author of more than 15 books, including his most recent title The Power of Grace: Recognizing Unexpected Gifts on the Path, as well as How To Be An Adult in Love, Daring to Trust, Coming Home to Who You Are, How To Be An Adult in Faith and Spirituality, Being True to Life, When the Past Is Present, Mary Within Us, The Sacred Heart of the World, The Power of Coincidence, Shadow Dance, When Love Meets Fear, and How To Be An Adult.

  • Second Hour: Mystical Positivist co-hosts Stuart Goodnick and Robert Schmidt elaborate on the themes of Grace raised in the first part of the show, and they also reflect upon and discuss some of the most memorable Mystical Positivist interviews from 2014.
More information about Dave Richo's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, December 20, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #171 - 20DEC14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Stuart Perrin, an American spiritual master of Kundalini Yoga. Stuart Perrin has been quietly teaching small groups of students around the world for the last forty years, and he is a direct disciple of Swami Rudrananda, more commonly known as Rudi.

    Stuart’s training with Rudi was filled with profound and ancient teachings, “streetwise yoga”, humor, and more than a few sword strokes to the ego. After four years of intense training Stuart became a teacher in Rudi’s lineage in New York and eventually Denton, Texas. Besides the formal technique of deep inner work, a technique that uses the mind and breath to strengthen the chakra system and build a link between the spiritual practitioner and Higher Creative Energy in the Universe, Rudi taught Stuart the necessity of using spiritual work in everyday life.

    In February 1973, Stuart and Rudi were in a plane crash in the Catskill Mountains, a plane crash that took Rudi’s life. “I never feel he is gone,” Stuart wrote of his guru. “When I wish to be with him, to learn from him, I just open my heart. He is there, sitting, smiling, sharing his teachings. The moment he died, I felt his soul pass into me.”

    Stuart moved back to New York City in 1980 and continued his work as a spiritual teacher. He continues to train many more people, and has meditation centers in the U. S., Israel, and Brazil.

    A well-known and respected author, Stuart has published The Mystical Ferryboat (1983), Leah (1988), A Deeper Surrender: Notes on a Spiritual Life (2001), Moving On: Finding Happiness in a Changed World (2004), an essay for Kundalini Rising (2009), and most recently Rudi: The Final Moments (2011).

More information about Stuart Perrin's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, December 13, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #170 - 13DEC14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Traktung Yeshe Dorje. For 23 years Traktung Yeshe Dorje has transmitted the essence and methods of Tantric Buddhism’s science of transformation. During that period he has guided the Tsogyelgar spiritual community outside Ann Arbor, Michigan. Traktung’s root Lama was Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and he is considered a tulku of Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje. Traktung has started a school for yogis on the Tibet border in Guru Rinpoche’s hidden land of Pemakö and lends great support to an orphanage school in Varanasi, India.

    Traktung does not commercialize dharma by charging for teachings offering quick hit, drive through, workshop self help seminars as if the great questions of life can be bought and sold in the market place of spiritual materialism. Instead he teaches in the style of the ancient sages who simply offered teachings and example of living realization to those with a true thirst. He is willing to meet with, and discuss the spiritual process with, sincere, earnest people and he does offer two retreats a year. Traktung teaches from a combination of deep personal realization of the methods of the Nyingma lineage of Tantric Buddhism and a profound knowledge of the world’s spiritual traditions. He is the author of two books: Eye to Form Is Only Love: A Journal of 100 Days; and his most recent title, published in 2014, Original Innocence.

More information about Traktung Yeshe Dorje's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, December 6, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #169 - 06DEC14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Swami Chetanananda. Born and raised in the Midwest, his life was transformed, in an instant, upon his first meeting with his guru, Swami Rudrananda (Rudi), in New York City in 1971. He studied with Rudi until Rudi’s death in 1973. At age 24, after Rudi’s passing and at Rudi’s direction, he became the head of the ashrams established by Rudi. Swami Chetanananda is now the abbot and spiritual director of The Movement Center, based in Portland, Oregon. Like Rudi, Swami Chetanananda works with students to awaken their creative energy and support them in the process of its unfolding. He teaches eyes-open meditation, a direct transmission practice in which teacher and student share the experience of the underlying unity of all things.

    In 1978, he took sannyas with Swami Muktananda, and took the name “Chetanananda,” meaning “the joy of consciousness.” In the course of his studies with Muktananda, he began to explore the teachings of Kashmir Shaivism. Recognizing that the treatises written by the practitioners of this tradition described much of his own experience, Swamiji studied Shaivism in depth. He has collaborated with scholars and sponsored translations of many Shaiva texts. He has also studied the Shije (Pacification of Suffering) teachings of Padampa Sangye because he came to understand that Padampa Sangye’s teachings and Shaivism shared a common origin. For the last 15 years, Swami Chetanananda has continued to study the tantric tradition in all its forms from the plains of North India to Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley and the steppes of Tibet. He has sought out adepts who preserve powerful lineages. With the experience he has gained, Swami Chetanananda has expanded and refined Rudi’s later teachings, which Rudi called his “tantric work.”

    The fundamental method he teaches uses the power of the breath to circulate the creative energy (kundalini) and intensify its flow so that tensions and obstacles are dissolved, leading to a more refined awareness. As Rudi did, Swami Chetanananda emphasizes the importance of working deeply over time.

    To complement his spiritual practices, Swami Chetanananda has a working knowledge of a range of healing systems and methodologies, from the time-honored traditions of hatha yoga and acupuncture to the more modern techniques of homeopathy and osteopathy. Swami Chetanananda is the author of several books on spirituality published by Rudra Press, including Dynamic Stillness, Vols. I & II ; The Breath of God; Open Heart, Open Mind; Choose to Be Happy; Will I Be the Hero of My Own Life? and There Is No Other.

More information about Swami Chetanananda's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, November 29, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #168 - 29NOV14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Dojin Sarah Emerson and Korin Charlie Pokorny, head priests at Stone Creek Zen Center in Graton, California.

    Dojin Sarah Emerson trained at Tassajara Zen Mountain center and other sites of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1997-2007. She ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest with Abbot Gaelyn Godwin at the Houston Zen Center in 2007. She has worked in the fields of mental health and pastoral care. She is currently delighting in the practice of Dharma in family life with Korin and their two children in Northern California.

    Korin Charlie Pokorny was ordained as a priest by Reb Anderson in 1999. He practiced as a resident at Tassajara and Green Gulch Farm for 12 years, including serving as tenzo and director at Tassajara. He holds a master’s degree from Stanford University in Religious Studies, and currently teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies.

More information about Dojin and Korin's's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, November 22, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #167 - 22NOV14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with noted author and teacher, Ravi Ravindra. Ravindra is Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he served for many years as a Professor in the departments of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and of Physics.

    He was a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, and the Founding Director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge. He was a member of the Board of Judges for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. He is an Honorary Member of the Scientific and Medical Network and a Fellow of the Temenos Academy, England.

    Ravi's spiritual search has led him to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, G. I. Gurdjieff, Zen, Yoga, and a deep immersion in the mystical teachings of the Indian and Christian classical traditions. He is the author of several books on religion, science, mysticism, and spirituality, including his most recent The Pilgrim Soul: A Path to the Sacred Transcending World Religions, as well as Heart Without Measure, Spiritual Roots of Yoga, Centered Self without Being Self-Centered: Remembering Krishnamurti, Science and the Sacred, The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Yoga and the Teachings of Krishna, The Yoga of the Christ, also published as The Gospel of John in the Light of Indian Mysticism.

More information about Ravi Ravindra's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, November 8, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #166 - 08NOV14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Susan Feinbloom, author of the recently published book Clairvoyant Psychotherapy. Susan Feinbloom is a psychotherapist with a strong focus on spiritual and psychic abilities. For the last 30 years she has been weaving meditation and clairvoyance into her practice, looking beneath content, beyond stories to underlying truths revealed through spiritual anatomy. Her background includes hands-on healing, spiritual midwifery, cranial/sacral therapy, Shamanic techniques of healing and homeopathic consultations. In addition to her latest book, which we’ll focus on in this interview, she is the author of Unwinding the Soul, a book of poetry, and has produced two CDs: Heaven and Earth Meditations, and Meditations on the Chakras.

More information about Susan Feinbloom's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, November 1, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #165 - 01NOV14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with John Mann, Professor of Sociology Emeritus of the State University College of New York at Genesee. He is author or editor of some twenty books, including the recently released Before the Sun: Meeting Rudi that recounts his relationship with the remarkable American spiritual teacher Swami Rudrananda. Albert Rudolph, also known as Swami Rudrananda, affectionately known as Rudi, was a spiritual original, a maverick yogi whose teachings transformed the lives of thousands of emerging spiritual seekers. John Mann’s book Before The Sun chronicles the astounding day-to-day events of Rudi’s teaching by one of Rudi's first students.

    John managed to survive the rollercoaster ride of studying Kundalini yoga in the tumultuous 1960s of New York City under the tutelage of arguably one of the most profound and adept masters of inner work. The book represents Mr. Mann's experience as Rudi’s student and friend, taken as an indirect approach to the description of Rudi himself and what it was like to be in his presence. Before the Sun: Meeting Rudi is an expanded version of Mr. Mann's book that was originally published in 1987 as Rudi: 14 Years with my Teacher. But in the course of editing 14 Years about one-third of the first manuscript was eliminated for various reasons. This new edition might be called the author’s cut, reinstating big chunks of the book and adding many never-before-seen images.

More information about John Mann's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, October 25, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #164 - 25OCT14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Shinay Tredeau and Jesse Dean Smith. Shinay Tredeau, a third generation practitioner in the Hohm spiritual community, and Jesse Dean Smith, student of spiritual master Lee Lozowick, describe their journey in finding a spiritual path that answers the call of their hearts. Both Shinay and Jesse are students of body-centered spiritual practices including dance, yoga, and kaya sadhana. Shinay is currently collaborating with Regina Sara Ryan on a project called Women Against Self Hatred (WASH).
For more information about Shinay Tredeau's work, contact her at shinay.tredeau @ gmail.com

Saturday, October 18, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #163 - 18OCT14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with John Suslov about Russian Mystics, Visionaries, and Prophets of the 19th and 20th Centuries. John Suslov holds an MA in Religion and Philosophy from Dominican University and is a former college instructor. He is interested in the revitalization of traditional Western forms of knowledge, culture and aesthetics. To that end, he has been involved in a long term cross-cultural project to reconstruct the symbolic language, concepts, and methods used by ancient societies and civilizations to encode their knowledge in the form of myth and initiatory text.
For more information about John Suslov's work, cantact him at johnsuslov @ yahoo.com

Saturday, October 11, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #162 - 11OCT14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Regina Sara Ryan in advance of her recent workshop, Writing Your Way Home: Practical Steps in Navigating the Inner Life. Of the workshop, she writes: As we each make the journey through life, we frequently come to an interior boundary or edge — we sense that there is more to know, more to explore, more to love, and certainly more to let go of. We may speak of a desire to know myself, or to accept myself, or to take a new risk, or to express my life's purpose. Many of us long for guidance and clarity in taking that next step on the path. This workshop will use simple tools of journal writing (no experience necessary) to explore and celebrate our questions, our longings, and our intuitions for what's next, in an environment of safety, serenity, and creativity. Using quiet self-reflection, gentle awareness exercises, and journal writing, we will share the wisdom, the warmth and the good company of other pilgrims on the way.

    Regina Sara Ryan is a professional writer and book editor. She is the author of numerous books, including the classic Wellness Workbook; The Woman Awake; Igniting the Inner Life, and Praying Dangerously. Since 1985 her workshops in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe have been devoted to issues related to the inner life. For twenty-six years Regina worked closely with her spiritual teacher, the American Baul master Lee Lozowick.

More information about Regina Sara Ryan's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, October 4, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #161 - 04OCT14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Linda Mercadante, author of Belief Without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual But Not Religious. Linda Mercadante knows first-hand how it feels to live without a clear spiritual identity. Born into an immigrant, working class, mixed ethnic, non-religious household in the rough urban environment of Newark, NJ, she experienced prejudice, lack of acceptance, and the uncertainty that comes from not having a spiritual home. She went through years of searching, travel, and exploration in her quest for a spiritual identity. In the process, she earned a Ph.D. in theology from Princeton, became ordained, and found a vocation in seminary teaching. She is dedicated to helping others find a spiritual identity that can allow their spirits to come home.

    Her personal story is described in her book: Bloomfield Avenue: A Jewish-Catholic Jersey Girl’s Spiritual Journey [2006]. Dr. Mercadante is a prolific author of more than 50 articles and six books. She lectures internationally, conducts seminars to a wide variety of audiences, and teaches on such topics as addiction recovery, gender and theology, faith and film, and spiritual memoir writing.

    This year Dr. Mercadante was named a Luce Scholar for her work examining the beliefs and practices of today’s “Spiritual but not Religious,” the subject of her recently published book Belief Without Borders. The coveted Henry Luce III Fellowship in Theology is awarded to only six scholars per year throughout the entire U.S. and Canada.

    Dr. Mercadante is B. Robert Straker Professor of Historical Theology at The Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and an active participant in many professional groups including The American Academy of Religion and The Workgroup on Constructive Theology. She is a Fellow of The Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton and The Ecumenical Institute at St. John’s University. In addition to the Luce award, she has received numerous grants from such groups as The Louisville Institute and The Association of Theological Schools. This year she was elected to the “Theologies of Religious Pluralism” project of the American Academy of Religion. She has also served as Visiting Scholar in Media & Theology at The University of Edinburgh (Scotland).

More information about Linda Mercadante's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, September 27, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #160 - 27SEP14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • During the first hour, hosts Stuart Goodnick and Dr. Robert Schmidt discuss the book The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, which combines Benjamin Zander's experience as a conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and his talents as a teacher and communicator with Rosamund Stone Zander's genius for creating innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment. Hosts Goodnick and Schmidt delve into related questions of how self help modalities relate to and contrast with spiritual practice. In the second hour of the program, they begin looking at the phenomenon of being Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) in anticipation of next week's interview with Linda Mercadante, author of Belief Without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual But Not Religious.

    Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt helped found and run Many Rivers Books & Tea in Sebastopol, CA. The store is a project of Tayu Meditation Center, where both Stuart and Rob were trained in the fiery alchemy of transformation over decades by Tayu founder Robert Daniel Ennis.
More information about Tayu Meditation Center can be found at:

Saturday, September 13, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #159 - 13SEP14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Ellen Tynan. Ellen Tynan creates opportunities for people to experience their true nature through exploration and contemplation in the wild (www.wildpresence.org). Ellen began exploring Zen and Tibetan Buddhism at a young age. For the past 10 years she has practiced Vipassana, or Insight Meditation and teaches with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC.

    For nearly 20 years, Ellen worked with the World Bank to guide developing countries in protecting the environment and preserving their natural resources. A published photographer, her current project documents traditional boats and boat-builders from across the globe. Ellen also practices contemplative Miksang photography (a Dharma Art teaching of Chogyam Trungpa) which focuses on revealing a pure perception of the world around us. Ellen holds an M.A. from Yale University, an A.B. from Vassar College, and a certificate in Marine Conservation from Duke University.

    She trained in tracking, traditional skills and awareness at the Roots School in northern Vermont, is a certified Wilderness First Responder and a licensed river guide in the state of Utah. Ellen is also an avid rock climber and practices yoga and a variety of Chinese martial arts. She is also a certified teacher of mindfulness for children and teens through the Mindfulness in Schools Project's curriculum.

More information about Ellen Tynan's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #158 - 09AUG14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Maurine Doerken, author of the recently released, award-winning book, Meditations of a Modern Mystic. Based in Northern California, Ms. Doerken is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and trained for three years as a Spiritual Director at Mt. St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. She has also been involved with pastoral care for a number of years and is a Reiki Master Teacher. In her work, Ms. Doerken explores from personal experience the intimate connection between mind, body, and spirit.

More information about Maurine Doerken's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, July 26, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #157 - 26JUL14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Lama Palden Drolma. Lama Palden is the founder and spiritual director of Sukhasiddhi Foundation. She completed the traditional Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat in the Shangpa and Karma Kagyu lineages under the previous Kalu Rinpoche’s guidance in 1985. In 1986 she became one of the first Western women to be authorized as a lama in the Vajrayana tradition. In addition to Kalu Rinpoche, she has studied with many of the great Tibetan masters from all lineages, including the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Bokar Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Dezhung Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama.

    With overwhelming gratitude to her gurus, Lama Palden transmits, trains and mentors students, passing on the profound and precious teachings and practices that enable one to reach full and complete awakening in this lifetime. She focuses on translating Vajrayana Buddhist principles and practices in ways that make them accessible to Westerners. Lama Palden was profiled in Shambhala Sun Magazine as one of the women “changing the face of Buddhism.”

    Lama Palden’s background is in comparative mysticism and psychology. As a licensed psychotherapist she has done groundbreaking work in the intersection of the spiritual and psychological aspects of our humanity. She is deeply committed, as was her root guru, Khabje Kalu Rinpoche, to ecumenicalism and interspirituality.

More information about Lama Palden's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, June 14, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #155 - 14JUN14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Dennis Leroy Stillwell. Dennis Leroy has been a formal devotee of Adi Da since 1977. Since 1986 he regularly lived in hermitage on Naitauba, Fiji, for extended periods during which he participated in cycles of consideration with Adi Da, served as editor, photographer, videographer, communications manager, ashram manager, and personal assistant to the Ruchira Sannyasin Order. He author of Love’s Sacrifice: Witnessing the Self-Revelation of the Divine Person - 30 Years with my Spiritual Master, Adi Da (2014) and For Those Who Call For Light - Learning How to Think about Religion (2013).

    Born in 1947, an American "baby boomer," he grew up the second of three children of a career US Army officer and British “war bride,” living on military bases in Europe and the United States much of his youth. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine with degrees in Biology and French; trained as a medic and psychiatric technician in the US Army during the Vietnam era, serving in Korea; obtained a Master's degree in developmental psychology from the Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, France; then began a professional career in human services. Over the years he has worked professionally in child and family guidance, children's protective services, programs for the blind, programs for severely developmentally disabled children, vocational counseling, and, translation, teaching, and computer technical support.

    Avocationally, he has enjoyed being a soap maker, iguana breeder, and musician. In 1975, Dennis heard about Adi Da. He became a formal devotee in 1977 and first saw Adi Da that same year. In 1986 he became a resident in Adi Da's hermitage (Naitauba, Fiji), where he lived and served for much of the following twenty years. In 2006 he helped found www.adidaupclose.com, for which he is still one of the editors. Presently, he lives in Lake County, California.
More information about Dennis Leroy Stilwell's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, June 7, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #154 - 07JUN14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Krista Bremer. Krista Bremer is the author of My Accidental Jihad - A Love Story, associate publisher of The Sun, and the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation award. Her essay on which her latest book is based, "My Accidental Jihad," received a Pushcart Prize. Her essays have been published in O: The Oprah Magazine, More magazine, and The Sun, and have been translated and reprinted all over the world. She's been featured on NPR and in the PBS series Arab American Stories. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and her two children.
More information about Krista Bremer's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, May 17, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #153 - 17MAY14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Charles Garfield, PhD. Dr. Charles Garfield has been recognized internationally as the founder of Shanti, a widely acclaimed volunteer organization, and the Shanti National Training Institute (SNTI). For over thirty-five years, he has pioneered the development of service oriented volunteer organizations and the training of volunteers in a wide variety of applications. For his work with Shanti and for originating the Shanti model of peer support, Garfield was named National Activist of the Year—one of America’s highest awards to individuals making voluntary contributions in public service. He has also received recognition by cities and organizations large and small including a Mayor’s Day in his honor in San Francisco and many others.

    Dr. Garfield serves as Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco (UCSF). A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, he is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Charles Garfield is the co-author of Training Volunteers for Community Service: The Step-by-Step Guide of the Shanti National Training Institute. He is also the author of Sometimes My Heart Goes Numb: Love and Caregiving in a Time of AIDS. While on the faculty of the Cancer Research Institute at UCSF, he was one of the early contributors to the burgeoning field of psychosocial oncology. Two of his books, Stress and Survival: The Emotional Realities of Life Threatening Illness and Psychosocial Care of the Dying Patient, have been used as texts in many medical and nursing schools.

    Charles Garfield began his career in computer science after receiving two graduate degrees in mathematics from Adelphi University as well as induction into Pi Mu Epsilon, the National Mathematics Honorary Society, and later, the Adelphi University Alumni Academy of Distinction. Dr. Garfield worked as a computer analyst on Apollo Eleven, our first lunar landing. It was as a member of the team that sent the first two astronauts to the moon that he learned how mission-driven teams can band together to accomplish extraordinary results. He then continued his education earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley prior to publishing ten books including the highly regarded peak performance trilogy on high achieving individuals, teams and organizations—Second to None, Peak Performers and Peak Performance. His honorary speeches include: Clinton White House conference; U.S. Olympic Committee and Head Coaches of Olympic Sports; and the Leadership of Oklahoma City following the tragic bombing of the federal building. Charles Garfield was an at-large member of the Board of Governors and is currently an instructor at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. He serves on the editorial board of Greater Good, a national magazine from the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Science and the Greater Good. He is also a founding faculty member of the Metta Institute (formerly Zen Hospice) end of life counselor training program.
More information about Charles Garfiled's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, May 10, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #152 - 10MAY14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Krissy Pozatek. Krissy has had 15 years of experience in the wilderness therapy and adolescent treatment field. She graduated from Middlebury College with a joint undergraduate degree in environmental studies and geography. She started in the therapeutic field as a wilderness instructor at Aspen Achievement Academy, working with both adjudicated and at-risk youth. After working and living in the wilderness for one year, she joined the therapeutic ranch school, Montana Academy, when it first launched.

    Krissy went on to complete her graduate training in clinical social work, at both Smith College School for Social Work and at N.M. Highlands University. In her clinical internships she worked with children and adolescents at the Albuquerque Public Schools, and with individuals and families in Community Mental Health in Bernallilo, New Mexico.

    Krissy then returned to wilderness therapy as a field therapist. She first worked at Aspen Achievement Academy, working with both adolescent boys and girls and their families. She then worked at Second Nature Wilderness Program in Duchesne. Krissy’s clinical experience includes the treatment of depression, anxiety, dual diagnosis, adoption issues, trauma, self-harming behavior, substance abuse, personality disorders, and family system problems. Krissy also worked at True North Wilderness Program in Waitsfield, Vermont.

    Krissy currently works as a parent coach with parents of struggling adolescents and young adults, in her coaching practice, Parallel Process, established in 2006. Krissy also conducts parent workshops, seminars, lectures and most recently was a visiting professor at Middlebury College.

    Krissy is the author of: The Parallel Process: Growing alongside your adolescent or young adult child in treatment, published by Lantern Books, 2010. Her latest book is Brave Parenting: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Raising Emotionally Resilient Children.

    Krissy grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and in New Hampshire and Vermont. She lived in the West for 10 years working in adolescent programs, and now lives in Vermont with her husband and two daughters.
More information about Krissy Pozatek's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, April 26, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #151 - 26APR14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt review and discuss My Accidental Jihad - A Love Story by Krista Bremer. Krista Bremer is the associated publisher of The Sun, and the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation award. Her essay on which her latest book is based, "My Accidental Jihad," received a Pushcart Prize. Her essays have been published in O: The Oprah Magazine, More magazine, and The Sun, and have been translated and reprinted all over the world. She's been featured on NPR and in the PBS series Arab American Stories. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and her two children. Krista will be joining us live on the Mystical Positivist on June 7, 2014.

  • Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt discuss the upcoming Festival of Conscious Parenting in Santa Rosa, CA, on June 20 - 22nd, 2014. The Festival of Conscious Parenting is an event scheduled for the Summer Solstice Weekend at the Jackson Theater and Sonoma Country Day School campus in Santa Rosa, California. The Festival will showcase spiritual practices and wisdom that can support parents and caregivers in providing consistently loving and nurturing environments for children.

    The Festival is presented in the conviction that spiritual tools (meditation, prayer, mantra, body-awareness practices, etc.) of various spiritual traditions offer resources invaluable to the endeavor of conscious parenting. Those resources can help adults deliberately model loving, generous, and effective behavior for children, help us consistently treat children as we would wish to be treated, and help provide an appropriately elastic yet fully secure foundation for every child’s healthy growth and exploration of life’s possibilities.

    The Festival will be a forum for presentation of resources to bring mindfulness practices directly to children. Other resources offered by the Festival will focus upon enabling parents, teachers, caregivers, and friends to consistently open their hearts to children, and avoid harm through application of the principle of non-violence: the goal of embodying physical, emotional, mental and spiritual non-violence towards children.

    The purpose of the Festival is to make these resources far more widely available than they have been, to audiences that may never have suspected that such resources exist.
More information about Krista Bremer's work and interests can be found at:
More information about The Festival of Conscious Parenting can be found at:

Saturday, April 12, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #150 - 12APR14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Sandra Lee Dennis. Sandra Lee Dennis’ writings have emerged from immersion and inquiry into largely uncharted depths of interior life. She explores her subjective discoveries as a doorway to collective truths about human nature. Bridging the world of scholar and visionary, her work brings light to the shadows—those subtle interior spheres that defy description and often appear obscure or unreal to the logical mind.

    Sandra holds an MA in Counseling Psychology and a PhD in Integral Studies/Psychology and Religion. She has been on the faculty at Portland State University, University of Hawaii, California Institute of Integral Studies, and Meridian University, and as well as the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. Her background includes training in and teaching a number of spiritual disciplines and approaches to the spirit/mind/body connection—including Gurdjieff, Diamond Heart, Vipassana Meditation and Centering Prayer. She is the author of Embrace of the Daimon and the forthcoming Love and the Mystery of Betrayal—Initiation of the Heart.
More information about Sandra Lee Dennis' work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, March 29, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #149 - 29MAR14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Shinzen Young. Shinzen Young became fascinated with Asian culture while a teenager in Los Angeles. Later he enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin.

    Eventually, he went to Asia and did extensive training in each of the three major Buddhist traditions: Vajrayana, Zen and Vipassana. Upon returning to the United States, his academic interests shifted to the burgeoning dialogue between Eastern meditation and Western science.

    Shinzen is known for his innovative “interactive, algorithmic approach” to mindfulness, a system specifically designed for use in pain management, recovery support, and as an adjunct to psychotherapy. He is the founder of Vipassana Support International, a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to aid all those who desire to further and deepen their meditation practice. He leads meditation retreats throughout North America and has helped establish numerous mindfulness centers and programs. He also consults widely on meditation-related research, in both the clinical and the basic science domains.

    He often says: “My life’s passion lies in exploring what may arise from the cross-fertilization of the best of the East with the best of the West.”
More information about Shinzen Young's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, March 22, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #148 - 22MAR14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • Part 1: A conversation with Cassandra Vieten. Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is President/CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Previously she served as Executive Director of Research. She is a licensed clinical psychologist, co-director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, and co-president of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology.

    Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the State of California, and several private donors and foundations, her research has focused on spirituality and health; development and pilot testing of mindfulness-based approaches to cultivating emotional balance (primarily in the areas of addiction and pregnancy/postpartum well-being); and factors, experiences, and practices involved in psycho-spiritual transformation to a more meaningful, compassionate, and service-oriented way of life. Her primary interest lies in how psychology, biology, and spirituality interact to affect experience and behavior.

    She completed her pre- and post-doctoral research training at The University of California, San Francisco, working primarily on the biological and psychological underpinnings of addiction and alcoholism.

    She received her PhD in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where her clinical training focused on the integration of Eastern philosophy and spirituality into psychotherapy. She has conducted workshops, groups, and individual psychotherapy with victims of trauma, adolescent, adult and pregnant drug addicts, violent offenders, transgendered and HIV+ individuals, and adults seeking personal growth.

    She has authored books, chapters, and academic articles, as well as presenting at numerous international scientific conferences, trainings for colleagues and students, and workshops and events for the lay public. She is co-author of Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life and author of Mindful Motherhood: Practical Tools for Staying Sane During Pregnancy and Your Child's First Year.
  • Part 2: Co-hosts Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt continue a discussion of the themes raised in the first hour of the program.
More information about Cassandra Vieten's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #147 - 08MAR14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Purna Steinitz. From a young age, Purna Steinitz stood up for children who were being picked on. He has always been a champion of the downtrodden, and a stand for the truth being told.

    In 1975, Purna was found by his spiritual Master Lee Lozowick. Over the next 23 years, with the perseverance and patience of his teacher, he trained in what it means to live a spiritual life. Along the way, he participated in the early 1990s in a workshop called The Game, lead by transactional analyst Ken Windes, who had been in prison for 16 years and was now leading a transformational workshop. At the conclusion of the workshop, Ken invited Purna to train to offer the workshop himself. This lead to twenty years spent leading personal development programs with individuals and organizations. He is the founder of The Event training and the CAMP program, which have touched the lives of thousands of people. Moved by the horror and need of individuals who live in prison in the United States, Purna also founded the CHANGES program which is dedicated to sowing seeds of dignity and self-respect in this environment.

    In 1998, Purna was empowered as a teacher in the line of Lee Lozowick spiritual Master Yogi Ramsuratkumar. He started the Trimurti community which is devoted to the transmission of a traditional spiritual path as taught by the Bauls of Bengal, India. As a guide for members of Trimurti, he authored the book Upasritan: Nuts and Bolts. Purna strongly believes in community, not in the sense that people have to live with one another, but rather are working closely together for the sake of transformation. This, he has said, is the true healing force available to us on the path in this time of great turmoil on the planet.
More information about Purna Steinitz's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #146 - 22FEB14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with John Suslov. John Suslov is a student of the great wisdom traditions. From an early age John has had the conviction that there is more to our inheritance of myth, tradition and religion than meets the eye. He graduated from a Russian Orthodox seminary, but after having been exposed to the work of Henry Corbin has become an ardent student of many of the great traditions, including the Greek Platonic tradition, Eastern Christianity, Islam and the Chinese and Indian traditions. He is an advocate for the position that the myths and religious traditions speak a language, and refer to a vision of reality, that differs significantly from everyday language and the reality to which everyday language refers.

    He has a Bachelor of Arts in Eastern Orthodox Theology from Holy Trinity Seminary and received his Master’s Degree in Humanities with an emphasis in Religion from Dominican University of CA in 2004.
For more information about John Suslov's work, cantact him at johnsuslov @ yahoo.com

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #145 - 15FEB14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Ji Hyang Padma, author of the recently released Living the Season: Zen Practice for Transformative Times. Ji Hyang Padma combines an academic career as Director of Spirituality and Education Programs at Wellesley College with her role as a Zen teacher. She has done intensive Zen training and teaching in Asia and North America for 20 years, 15 of these as an ordained nun, and has completed several 90-day intensive retreats in Korea and North America. She also teaches Zen workshops annually at Omega Institute and Esalen Institute. While her practice has been situated within the Korean Zen tradition, she has had the benefit of studying with teachers across a wide spectrum of Buddhist lineages.

    Ji Hyang has also served as Director and Abbot of Cambridge Zen Center, one of the largest Zen Centers in the country. Additionally, she has served as a meditation teacher at Wellesley College, Harvard University and Boston University. She is gifted at finding an entry-point into practice for people who are just beginning their journey.

    Currently, Ji Hyang is completing a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University with a research focus on Buddhist practices of healing. She serves on the board of Education as Transformation, an international organization that works with educational institutions to explore the impact of religious diversity and the role of spirituality in the learning process.

    Ji Hyang’s recent writing has been published in Our Neighbor's Faith: Stories of Interfaith Encounters and Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work.
More information about Ji Hyang Padma's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, February 8, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #144 - 08FEB14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Russell Schreiber, Ph.D. Russell Schreiber has worked with the Gurdjieff system of inner development for over forty years. In his new book, Gurdjieff's Transformational Psychology - The Art of Compassionate Self-Study, he explains, in depth, how modern psychology and Gurdjieff's Work enrich each other. The book explores Gurdjieff's methods within a psychological framework useful for beginner and advanced student. The book advocates for the gradual development of self-compassion, as the foundation of self-study and inner evolution. Practical exercises are given to facilitate the ability to experientially apply self-study in an objective and compassionate manner. Some areas covered in the book include:

    • Attention
    • Self-observation
    • Sensing
    • Development of Inner Life
    • Specific psychological traits as focus for self-study
    • Transformation of Negative Emotions
    • Advanced method of Participation
    • Compassion & Self-Compassion

    Russell Schreiber is a practicing clinical psychologist in a community-based psychotherapy clinic in Northern California. As a staff psychologist, he supervises and trains psychologists and psychotherapists. He specializes in depth psychology and somatic psychotherapy. His recognition of the need for the development of self-compassion in his clients is emphasized in his clinical practice.
More information about Russell Schreiber's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #143 - 25JAN14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Sam Webster, founder of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn. Sam Webster is a writer, Thelemite, a member of the Golden Dawn tradition, as well as an initiate of Wicca. Sam holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Starr King School for the Ministry at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and he is a PhD candidate in History at the University of Bristol (UK). He is notable as one of the pioneers of open source religion - the use of the open source paradigm in the field of spirituality.

    Sam has authored a number of articles and essays on occult and Pagan topics, publishing both online and in periodicals such as Green Egg, Mezlim, Gnosis, and PanGaea. Many of his essays on PaganDharma and Thelema have also been made available online. In 2001, he was one of a number of Neopagans interviewed in Modern Pagans - An Investigation of Contemporary Pagan Ritual, a feature article in the counter-cultural journal RE/Search.

    He has founded (or cofounded) several occult and Pagan organizations, including the Chthonic-Ouranian OTO (1985), and the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn (2002). Webster's book Tantric Thelema was published in January 2010.
More information about Sam Webster's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, January 18, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #142 - 18JAN14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Jim Wilson. Jim Wilson celebrates the 200th anniversary of the publication of the famous Quaker test, The Guide to True Peace with his own publication of The Guide to True Peace - The 1815 Edition. The Guide represents a radical re-introduction into the Christian tradition of a mystical, inner-directed practice of silence that rivals the power and directness of Eastern meditation practices such as Zazen. Jim Wilson has a background in East Asian Buddhist studies, is a member of a Sebastopol Quaker Meeting, has been a Prison Chaplain, and spends much of his free time these days writing poetry.
More information about Jim Wilson's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, January 11, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #141 - 11JAN14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Lama Jampa Dorje, aka Richard Denner. Lama Jampa Dorje is a poet-printer-yogi-monk, who lived in the Sebastopol area for ten years before moving to Tara Mandala Retreat Center, in Colorado, to do a traditional Tibetan three-year solo retreat. As a younger man, Richard Denner taught himself to write poetry over decades, including stints attending UC Berkeley, raising a family in the Alaskan wilderness, and operating a bookstore in a small town in rural Washington. He has been a serious student of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism for more than two decades, and was one of the first two American-born students to complete the traditional Tibetan three-year solo retreat in the US. He publishes D Press chapbooks available at www.dpress.net. His most recent book of poetry, written during his retreat, is A Book From Luminous Peak.
More information about Lama Jampa Dorje's work and interests can be found at:

Saturday, January 4, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #140 - 04JAN14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream
This week's podcast features:
  • A conversation with Carol Lee Flinders, a writer, independent scholar, educator, speaker, and former syndicated columnist. She received a Ph.D. in comparative literature from UC Berkeley, with a focus on medieval women's mysticism. She is currently faculty at the Sophia Center for Culture and Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland, California.

    Her published writings cover a variety of topics ranging from medieval Christian mysticism to the integration of feminist perspectives into spiritual practices to vegetarian cooking to scientific research on meditation. She is a coauthor of Laurel's Kitchen (1976) and its later editions, which in all sold more than a million copies. Her books on spiritual topics include Enduring Grace, At the Root of this Longing, Rebalancing the World, Enduring Lives, and The Making of a Teacher.
More information about Carol Flinder's work and interests can be found at: