Eric Maisel is a retired, licensed psychotherapist and an internationally respected coach specializing in creativity, existential wellness, and relationship coaching. He trains coaches and offers workshops and webinars nationally and internationally. The author of more than fifty books, he also writes the long-running “Rethinking Mental Health” blog for Psychology Today and contributes to outlets such as The Good Men Project and Fine Art America. His books include:

• Night Brilliance: The Sleep Thinker's Guide to Powerful Problem-Solving (BTSL – Jim Dandy Publishing 2026)

• Brave New Mind: The Art of Serene Readiness (BTSL- Jim Dandy Publishing 2025)

• Choose Your Life Purposes: A Step-by-Step Guide to Self Awareness, Empowerment, and Success (TMA Press 2024)

• The Coach's Guide to Completing Creative Work: Top Tips for Working with Procrastination, Perfectionism and More (Lynda Monk) (Routledge 2023)

• The Coach’s Way: The Art and Practice of Powerful Coaching in Any Field (New World Library 2023)

• Why Smart, Creative and Highly Sensitive People Hurt: A Toolkit for Thriving in a Chaotic World (TMA 2023)

• The Great Book of Journaling: How Journal Writing Can Support a Life of Wellness, Creativity, Meaning and Purpose (Conari Press 2022

• The Power of Daily Practice: How Creative and Performing Artists (and Everyone Else) Can Finally Meet Their Goals (New World Library 2020)

Interview Date: 1/30/2026 Tags: Eric Maisel, serene readiness, anxiety, emotional balance, self-awareness, imagination, personal responsibility, life purposes, breath exercises, cognitive exercises, emotional balance, habits of thinking, serenity, mindfulness practices, somatic practices, busyness, distractions, cognitive mind, heart mind, persistence, Personal Transformation

Angela Manno is an award-winning visual artist based in New York City whose work weaves together spirituality, ecology, and contemporary iconography. A Bard College graduate, she also studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and Parsons School of Design. She has also trained in Byzantine-Russian iconography with master Vladislav Andrejev. Her work has been exhibited at major institutions, including the Smithsonian, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and NASA’s collections. She is especially known for her series “Contemporary Icons of Threatened and Endangered Species.” She is the creator of The Sacred Biodiversity Oracle (Bear & Company 2026)

Interview Date: 1/9/2026 Tags: Angela Manno, automorphism, biocentrism, Carl Safina, Laudato Se, empathy, Thomas Berry, orangutan, animal sentience, Council of All Beings, Art & Creativity, Personal Transformation, Spirituality

Jane Hirshfield is the author of nine books of poetry and two collections of essays, and has edited and co-translated four books presenting the work of world poets from the past. Her books have received the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and the Donald Hal-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. Her poems appear in a wide range of prestigious outlets. A resident of Northern California, she is a chancellor emerita of the Academy of American Poets. She presents her work at literary and interdisciplinary events worldwide. She has authored many books including The October Palace (HarperCollins 1994), Lives of the Heart (Harper Collins 1997), Women in Praise of the Sacred (HarperCollins 1994), Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry (Perennial 1998), After (Harper Collins 2006), Given Sugar, Given Salt (Harper Collins 2001), Come, Thief (Knopf 2011), Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (Alfred A. Knopf 2015), The Beauty: Poems (Alfred A. Knopf 2015), Ledger (Alfred A. Knopf 2020)

Interview Date: 4/16/2020 Tags: Jane Hirshfield, poetry, pandemic, sheltering in place, illusion of normality, muse, uncertain times, isolation, beauty, suffering, space station, Robert Rauschenberg, refugee crisis, Art & Creativity, Social Change/politics

Judith Prager, Ph.D., CHT, is a clinical hypnotherapist with a Ph.D. in psychology and a practice in the Los Angeles area. As a consultant to Cedars-Sinai Medical center, she developed a “Guided Imagery for Surgery” series of pre-, intra- and post-operative and ICU creative imagery CDs that has been used with significant results in a pilot program in the Cardio-thoracic Surgery Unit. She’s trained physicians, nurses and first responders across the U.S. in hypnotic language for pain and stress relief in emergencies and interactions with children. She presents keynotes and talks at conferences and medical centers. She is the author of:Journey to Alternity: Transformational Healing through Stories and Metaphors (iUniverse 2000), What the Dolphin Said (Self published 2017) and The Worst Is Over: Verbal First Aid to Calm, Relieve Pain, Promote Healing and Save Lives (revised edition) (Judith Acosta) (Self Published 2014)

To learn more about the work of Judith Prager go to www.judithprager.com

Host: Justine Willis Toms Tags: MP3, Judith Prager, Judith Acosta, stopping bleeding with verbal suggestions, coronavirus pandemic, sheltering in place, fear, isolation, laughter, teenagers, anger, frustration, punishment, figuring ways to be together while sheltering in place, wolf howling in Mill Valley, exercise, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Parenting, Health & Healing

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 including Reduced To Joy (Cleis Press 2013), Seven Thousand Ways To Listen: Staying Close To What Is Sacred (Free Press 2012), The One Life We’re Given: Finding the Wisdom That Waits in Your heart (Atria Books 2016), The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True 2016), Drinking from the River of Light: The Life of Expression (Sounds True 2019) and The Book of Soul: 52 Paths to Living What Matters (St. Martin’s Essentials 2020)

Interview Date: 1/14/2020 Tags: MP3, Mark Nepo, wisdom, quest for wisdom, joy, curiosity, wonder, sage, Naropa, embodied wisdom, Martin Heidegger, Nazis, being hypocritical, sphere of influence, shortcomings, The awakened teacher within, Personal Transformation, Spirituality, Philosophy, Psychology

BJ Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician who has worked in many settings, inpatient, outpatient, hospice facility and home and now sees patients and families at U.C.S.F. Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Miller speaks all over the country and beyond on the theme of living well in the face of death. He’s also the founder of the Center for Dying and Living. He is co-author, with Shoshana Berger, of A Beginners Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death (Simon & Schuster 2019)

Interview Date:12/3/2019 Tags: MP3, BJ Miller, caregiving, dementia, Alzheimer’s, etiologies of dementia, physician assisted death, physician aid in dying, VCED, voluntary cessation of eating and drinking, unplugging from life-sustaining treatments, comfort care, getting out of the way of death, Death & Dying

Regina Leffers, Ph.D. is the retired Director of the Center of Excellence for the Built Environment, and Professor of Sustainable Construction for the College of Engineering at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her undergraduate degrees are in Psychology and Philosophy, and her doctoral degree is in Philosophy from Purdue University. She teaches classes on consciousness and meditation and has practiced meditation since 1980. She is the author of: Sustainable Construction and Design (Pearson 2009), I Am A Miracle Magnet: (In Ten Easy Steps) (CreateSpace 2016), The Green Age: Transforming Your Life Choices for the 21st Century (Green Age Press 2011), What Is Consciousness (Regina Leffers 2019), Rethinking the Heart of Being Human (CreateSpace 2013), My Darling: Memoirs of a Buddha Girl (Regina Leffers 2023) and This Is Consciousness (Regina Leffers 2025)

Interview Date: 12/5/2025

Tags: Regina Leffers, consciousness, facets of consciousness, Spiral Dynamics, love and fear, gratitude practice, meditation, alpha brainwave, beta brainwaves, heart coherence, body awareness, embodiment, vagus nerve, nervous system regulation, fear to love, expanded awareness, interbeing / oneness, nature as teacher, redwood grove / big nature, personal altar of gratitude spiritual growth, self-development, unconscious patterns, emotional regulation, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Science