Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #180 - 28MAR15

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:
  • An in-studio conversation with M. Amos Clifford, M.A. Amos Clifford is one of the leading voices for Shinrin-Yoku-inspired Forest Therapy in the United States. He began his career as a wilderness guide in 1972, and taught his first nature connection class to troubled teens in 1973. He served for many years in wilderness adventure programs in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He is founder of Turning Point Youth Services in Tulare County, California, where he developed and managed programs that included pioneering approaches to eco-therapies connecting troubled teens to nature. He moved to Sonoma County, California where he served as Executive Director of Restorative Resources, an NGO focusing on the use of restorative justice and related practices in Northern California. In recent years his emphasis has been on nature connection and restorative dialogue. Amos has practiced Zen meditation and been a student of Buddhist philosophy for over 20 years. He is a founder of Sky Creek Dharma Center in Chico, California. He has trained as a rites of passage guide with School of Lost Borders, and has extensive experience as a trainer and facilitator in the Way of Council. Amos is author of many publications, including A Little Handbook of Shinrin-Yoku, available on his website and through Amazon Kindle. Amos holds a B.S. in Organizational Development and a M.A. in Counseling from the University of San Francisco.
More information about Amos Clifford's work can be found at:

Saturday, March 21, 2015

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #179 - 21MAR15

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:
  • Today hosts Stuart Goodnick and Robert Schmidt tackle a number of topics including a recognition of the first full day of Spring and the esoteric significance of Spring as a spiritual principle in the larger context of the cycle of creation, the changing of personal experience as a consequence of spiritual practice, and the organization of consciousness along the lines of the Qabalistic Tree of Life.

    Dr. Robert Schmidt, spiritual director of Tayu Meditation Center, met and began intensive, 24-hour study with Tayu Meditation Center founder Robert Daniel Ennis in 1977. After five remarkable training years, he received ordination as a minister of Tayu, and co-taught with his teacher until Mr. Ennis’ death in 1998. His work with Mr. Ennis included co-writing and publishing a book entitled God Is Gay: An Evolutionary Spiritual Work. Rob succeeded Mr. Ennis as Tayu spiritual director, a post he still holds, in collaboration with yours truly. With Stuart Goodnick and Jim Wilson he co-founded Many Rivers Books & Tea in Sebastopol in Sebastopol, CA, in 2002.

    Currently he’s collaborating with practitioners of many spiritual traditions to create the Conscious Family Festival, a community event scheduled for 2015 in Santa Rosa, CA. Along the way, Rob completed a Ph.D. in anthropological archaeology at UC Berkeley, where he was co-editor with his grad student colleague Barbara Voss of the award-winning Archaeologies of Sexuality, the first academic edited volume to examine the phenomenon of sexuality as a object of knowledge in archaeological contexts.

    Stuart Goodnick, the Mystical Positivist. Stuart has been a practitioner of Tayu Meditation since 1985 and a Tayu Meditation instructor since 1993. He holds degrees in Physics from Caltech and UCSC, and has been an engineering manager in the electronics and software security industries since 1989. Stuart has also been a student of the shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo flute) under Master Masayuki Koga since 1996. In recent years Stuart has been applying the principles of spiritual practice and transformation in daily life as a senior executive in both Silicon Valley start-ups and global industrial manufacturers. He co-founded Many Rivers Books & Tea with Robert Schmidt and Jim Wilson in Sebastopol in 2002.

    A frequent writer and speaker on spiritual topics, Stuart maintains that rationality is no way the antithesis of deep mystical experience, but is in fact a necessary ally. He is currently working on a compilation of some of his essays and transcriptions of talks to be released later in 2015.
More information about Tayu Meditation Center can be found at:

Saturday, March 7, 2015

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #178 - 07MAR15

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:
  • An engaging conversation with Nicholas Egan, Ph.D. on the Buddha Dharma. Nicholas Egan is a Dharma teacher in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He earned a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies. A student of Tibetan teachers Anam Thubten Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, he is known for his clear and accessible teaching style and is the founder of the Advaya Institute. He has been leading pilgrimages to Asia since 2005, and has lead groups to Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Mongolia, China, and Thailand. Dr. Egan is the Head of School at The Healdsburg School, in Healdsburg, California. For a couple of years, Nick was our colleague in The Mystical Positivist radio show project.

More information about Nick Egan's work and interests can be found at: