Living Mirrors with Dr. James Cooke
163 episodes - English - Latest episode: 24 days ago -Join neuroscientist Dr. James Cooke as he explores consciousness, science and spirituality with scientists, philosophers, spiritual practitioners and key figures in the psychedelic renaissance.
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Episodes
Gay Hendricks on growing through self love, breathing and conscious loving | Living Mirrors #59
July 14, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 117 MBGay Hendricks is a psychologist, writer, and teacher in the field of personal growth. After completing his PhD at Stanford he went on to become a professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Colorado. With his wife Kathlyn he founded The Hendricks Institute which offers seminars and workshops on the topics that we discuss today. Gay has authored dozens of books by himself and with Kathlyn, including Learning to Love Yourself, Conscious Breathing, Conscious Loving the Big Leap a...
Karl Friston on the Free Energy Principle, consciousness & psychedelics | Living Mirrors #57
July 04, 2021 12:38 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBKarl Friston is a theoretical neurobiologist and Professor of Neuroscience at University College London. He is also an honorary consultant at UCL’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology and is a fellow of both the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society. He is also the most cited neuroscientist in the world. As an undergraduate at Cambridge University he studied natural sciences, with a specialism in physics and psychology, and went on to train as a psychiatrist. He first rose to prom...
Mental health and existential stress | Living Mirrors #56
June 23, 2021 17:00 - 29 minutes - 25.8 MBIn this episode I explore mental health and its relationship to stress.
Jussi Jylkkä on the concrete and ineffable nature of consciousness | Living Mirrors #55
June 09, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 54.1 MBJussi Jylkkä is a philosopher and psychologist based at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. In 2008 he completed a PhD in philosophy at the University of Turku on the relationship between language and reality. He then began studying the hard problem of consciousness and had a transformative mystical experience. After becoming frustrated that he couldn’t express this insight in words, he moved to study psychology and, in 2017, he completed a second PhD at Åbo Akademi University, this time in ps...
Amanda Feilding on psychedelic research | Living Mirrors #53
June 02, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour - 43.5 MBAmanda Feilding is a drug policy reformer, lobbyist and research coordinator. She has been an advocate for psychedelics since the 60s and, in 1998, founded the Beckley Foundation. The foundation supports neuroscientific and clinical research into the effects of psychedelics on the brain and mind and has been behind many of the scientific breakthroughs in the psychedelic renaissance, including first trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression and the first ever scans of the brain on...
Graham Pechenik on psychedelic intellectual property & patenting | Living Mirrors #52
May 26, 2021 17:30 - 1 hour - 47 MBGraham Pechenik is a lawyer who works in the psychedelic and cannabis space. After over a decade of working in patent law in multiple industries, he founded Calyx Law in 2016, a legal practice focused on cannabis and psychedelics. Graham is also the editor-at-large of Psilocybin Alpha, where he provides data for their patent tracker and writes about intellectual property in the psychedelic space. Today we talk about the legal and ethical issues around companies profiting from psychedelics,...
Why isn't enlightenment easy? | Living Mirrors #51
May 19, 2021 17:00 - 29 minutes - 24.3 MBIn this episode I explore suffering and our intuitions around it by asking why enlightenment isn't something we can easily choose to achieve.
Ari Brouwer on pivotal mental states & the neurobiology of psychological transformation | Living Mirrors #51
May 12, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 126 MBAri Brouwer is a researcher in the field of psychedelics who is currently working towards his PhD. In 2020 he published a paper in the journal of psychopharmacology with Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College’s Centre for Psychedelic Research introducing the concept of the pivotal mental state. This paper offered a way of thinking about many types of transformative experience, including spiritual experiences attained by religious ascetics, those achieved through the consumption of psy...
John Butler on spirituality, nature & Christian mysticism | Living Mirrors #50
May 05, 2021 17:00 - 56 minutes - 40.6 MBJohn Butler is a farmer and modern mystic. He has written many books on spirituality and you can join him for meditation retreats in the English town of Bakewell. Today we talk about the core mystical insight and John’s framing on this insight within the Christian tradition.
Christopher Ryan on the price of civilization | Living Mirrors #49
April 28, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 84 MBChristopher Ryan is a bestselling author with a background in psychology. After completing his PhD at Saybrook University, he reached international acclaim with his first book, Sex at Dawn, co-authored with Cacilda Jethá. More recently he authored the book Civilised to Death, which levels a damning critique at modern civilization. He also contributes to Psychology Today and is the host of the podcast Tangentially Speaking with Dr. Christopher Ryan. Today we talk about the idea that, rather th...
Sara Reed on ketamine & equity in psychedelic psychotherapy | Living Mirrors #48
April 21, 2021 17:39 - 1 hour - 46.3 MBSara Reed is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and CEO of Mind's iHealth Solutions. She has trained in multiple forms of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy. She was the first Black therapist to provide MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a clinical trial for MAPS’ Phase 2 study on MDMA for PTSD. She then joined a research team at Yale as a therapist working on a study of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Major Depression. She has also worked extensively on ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Her...
Naturalistic spirituality | Living Mirrors #47
April 14, 2021 18:00 - 41 minutes - 30.2 MBThis week I share my thoughts on a non-supernatural spirituality.
Michael Pollan on the psychedelic renaissance & our relationship with nature | Living Mirrors #46
April 07, 2021 17:58 - 56 minutes - 33.6 MBMichael Pollan is a journalist and author, and is currently the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He has written several books on the social and cultural impact of our relationship with the natural world including The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's Dilemma. In 2018, he wrote How to Change Your Mind, a bestselling book on the current renaissance in scientific research on psychedelics. Today we talk about psychedelics...
Richard Oerton on the harmful myth of free will | Living Mirrors #45
March 31, 2021 18:00 - 32 minutes - 19.2 MBRichard Oerton is a lawyer and author. His legal career involved working in private practice, in legal publishing, at the Law Commission, in the Treasury, and as a consultant with Solicitors and Parliamentary Agents in Westminster, the political centre of the UK. He's been a member of the Howard League for Penal Reform for well over half a century and has agitated against capital punishment and for the legalisation of homosexual behaviour. In addition to legal textbooks, he is the author of...
James W. Jesso on healing depression with psilocybin mushrooms | Living Mirrors #44
March 25, 2021 08:32 - 52 minutes - 31.5 MBJames W. Jesso is an author and public educator whose work focuses on the topic of psychedelics. He has published two books on the healing power of psilocybin mushrooms, Decomposing the Shadow and the True Light of Darkness. He is also the host of the popular podcast, Adventures through the mind. Today we talk about the power of psilocybin mushrooms to heal depression by addressing the emotional material that often underlies depressive symptoms.
Sebene Selassie on belonging | Living Mirrors #43
March 17, 2021 17:30 - 1 hour - 39.8 MBSebene Selassie is a meditation teacher, author and speaker whose work focuses on belonging and identity. You can find her teaching meditation on the popular Ten Percent Happier meditation app, alongside previous guest Joseph Goldstein. Born in Ethiopia and raised in the US, Sebene began studying Buddhism 30 years ago as an undergraduate at McGill University where she majored in Comparative Religious Studies. She went on to receive an MA from the New School in New York in race and cultural st...
Is spirituality necessary for the human race? | Living Mirrors #42
March 10, 2021 17:30 - 45 minutes - 84.2 MBThis week I share my thoughts on the importance of spirituality for the flourishing of society.
Daniele Bolelli on Taoism | Living Mirrors #41
March 03, 2021 19:12 - 1 hour - 39.6 MBDaniele Bolelli is a writer, university professor, martial artist, and podcaster. His books include On Warrior's Path and Create Your Own Religion: A How-to Book without Instructions. He hosts the History on Fire podcast and the Drunken Taoist podcast. He has also produced a series of lectures on taoism that are available on his website. Daniele has many interests, from history to martial arts, but today we focus the conversation on the topic of the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism.
Rick Strassman on DMT: the spirit molecule | Living Mirrors #40
February 24, 2021 17:30 - 1 hour - 40.4 MBRick Strassman a professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico. After 20 years of intermission in psychedelic research, he was the first person in the United States to undertake human research with a psychedelic. He performed groundbreaking research on N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, which he wrote up in his hugely successful book DMT: The Spirit Molecule, which was later made into a documentary. He is also the author DMT and the soul of prophecy and an autobiographical novel called...
Ayahuasca with Wiler Noriega Rodriguez & Tamara Garriga of Ayahuasca Spirit | Living Mirrors #32
February 17, 2021 17:30 - 48 minutes - 29.7 MBWiler is a traditional Shipibo healer working with ayahuasca. He has worked as head shaman at some of the most reputable ayahuasca retreat centres in the world, including Arkana in Peru and Soltara in Costa Rica. After many years of experience he opened his own retreat centre, Ayahuasca Spirit. Tamara is a Spanish healer whose background is in psychology and she and Wiler work together to provide traditional Shipibo ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru but also in Europe.
Sasha Sisko on the legal history of psychedelics and religious freedom | Living Mirrors #38
February 10, 2021 17:30 - 1 hour - 75 MBSasha Sisko is a non-binary author, a student of ethnopharmacology, integration coach, and an advocate for social justice. Sasha advocates for a focus on indigenous communities, environmental justice, marginalized populations and communities that focus on recovery from addiction. In recent years, Sasha has been working on a book called Graced By Nature, a work that focuses on the history of psychedelics, psychedelic research, religious freedom and traditional indigenous use, as well as the mo...
W. Keith Campbell on narcissism, the ego & the psychology of personality | Living Mirrors #37
February 03, 2021 17:30 - 1 hour - 36.5 MBW. Keith Campbell is a social psychologist and leading expert on narcissism. He is a professor at the University of Georgia and is the author of several books on narcissism, including the Narcissism Epidemic and, most recently, The New Science of Narcissism. Today we discuss the psychology of personality and the modern scientific understanding of narcissism both as a personality trait and as a disorder.
Shinzen Young on connecting Buddhism, shamanism & science | Living Mirrors #36
January 27, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 40.4 MBShinzen Young is a meditation teacher who has trained extensively in multiple Buddhist traditions, including the Japanese Vajrayana tradition of Shingon, Zen and vipassana, as well as in Native American traditions. He has also been involved with scientific research into meditation and is the co-director of the Sonication Enhanced Mindful Awareness or SEMA Lab at the University of Arizona. Today we talk about the connections between shamanism and Buddhism and between science and spirituality.
Sharon Salzberg on the transformative power of love & mindfulness | Living Mirrors #35
January 21, 2021 10:53 - 55 minutes - 36.9 MBSharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher and bestselling author. Her emphasis is on vipassanā, or insight meditation, and mettā, or loving-kindness meditation. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein and she has been leading meditation retreats around the world for over three decades. Her books include Lovingkindness, A Heart as Wide as the World, Real Happiness, Real Love and, most recently, Real Change. Today we speak about mindfulness,...
Rob from Adeptus Psychonautica on DMT, Psychedelic education & responsible use |Living Mirrors #34
January 13, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 63 MBMy guest this week is Rob from the YouTube channel called Adeptus Psychonautica. Rob’s channel explores different aspects of contemporary psychedelic culture, from reviewing ayahuasca retreats to encouraging best practices and responsible use in the community. Today we talk about the effects of psychedelics with a particular focus on DMT & ayahuasca, and the risks and dangers of irresponsible psychedelic use.
Suffering in society, domination & the US Capitol siege | Living Mirrors with Dr. James Cooke #33
January 09, 2021 18:03 - 25 minutes - 18.1 MBSuffering in society, domination & the US Capitol siege
Marcela Ot’alora on using MDMA to heal trauma | Living Mirrors #32
January 06, 2021 17:00 - 56 minutes - 35.3 MBMarcela Ot’alora G. is a psychedelic psychotherapist and artist. Marcela has worked as a therapist in the clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy as a treatment for PTSD, spearheaded by MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. She recently served as the principal investigator for MAPS’ phase two and phase three trials for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. She also trains and supervises the psychedelic psychotherapists of the future. Today we talk about MDMA-assist...
End of 2020 reflections | Living Mirrors #31
December 31, 2020 15:10 - 55 minutes - 36.8 MBEnd of 2020 reflections
Lawrence Millman on Arctic Mushroom Shamanism and Santa Claus | Living Mirrors #30
December 23, 2020 17:00 - 52 minutes - 31.1 MBLawrence Millman is an adventurer, writer and mycologist. He is the author of many books, including Northern Latitudes, Lost in the Arctic, A Kayak Full of Ghosts, Fascinating Fungi of New England, Mushroom Apocalypse, Giant Polypores and Stoned Reindeer and most recently Fungipedia: A Brief Compendium of Mushroom Lore. His work has also appeared in Smithsonian, National Geographic Adventure, the Atlantic Monthly and Sports Illustrated. He has won numerous awards and has been anthologized in...
Jerry B Brown on whether Christianity has a hidden history of psychedelic mushroom use | Living Mirrors #29
December 16, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 29.8 MBJerry B Brown is an anthropologist, activist and author. He received his doctorate in Anthropology from Cornell University in 1972 and, until 2014, served as founding professor of anthropology at Florida International University in Miami. Here, in 1975, he started offering a pioneering course in "Hallucinogens and Culture". More recently he has performed field work exploring the possibility that psychoactive mushrooms may have played a hidden role in Christianity and their use is depicted in ...
Jerry B Brown on psychoactive mushrooms in Christian art | Living Mirrors #29
December 16, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 29.8 MBJerry B Brown is an anthropologist, activist and author. He received his doctorate in Anthropology from Cornell University in 1972 and, until 2014, served as founding professor of anthropology at Florida International University in Miami. Here, in 1975, he started offering a pioneering course in "Hallucinogens and Culture". More recently he has performed field work exploring the possibility that psychoactive mushrooms may have played a hidden role in Christianity and their use is depicted in ...
Joseph Goldstein on vipassana & the experience of insight into the mind | Living Mirrors #28
December 09, 2020 17:00 - 1 hour - 38.5 MBJoseph Goldstein is a meditation teacher and author and was one of the key figures in introducing mindfulness meditation to the west. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS), with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, where he is a currently a resident teacher. He has written many popular books on Buddhist meditation including The experience of insight, One Dharma and Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening. He is the lead teacher on the Ten Percent Happier meditation ...
Rabbi Zac Kamenetz on Jewish mysticism & the value of psychedelics | Living Mirrors #27
December 02, 2020 18:00 - 1 hour - 50.2 MBZac Kamenetz is a rabbi, community leader, and aspiring healer. He holds an MA in Biblical literature and languages from UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union and received rabbinic ordination in 2012. Zac is also the founder and CEO of Shefa, a non-profit dedicated to integrating safe and supported psychedelic use into the Jewish spiritual tradition. Our conversation today focuses on Jewish mysticism and the promise of psychedelics for reviving the importance of direct spiritual expe...
Charles Eisenstein on human civilization & the story of separation | Living Mirrors #26
November 25, 2020 17:00 - 1 hour - 42.6 MBCharles Eisenstein is an author, activist and public speaker. His work relates to the intersection of spirituality, ecology, economics and the history of human civilisation. His books include The Ascent of Humanity, Sacred Economics, Climate—A New Story and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible. Our conversation ranges from understanding how human civilization developed to the point of crisis it’s now in through to what we can do to move into a sustainable future.
Rupert Spira on Advaita Vedanta & the non-dual nature of mind and reality | Living Mirrors #25
November 18, 2020 20:12 - 1 hour - 47.5 MBRupert Spira is an internationally renowned teacher of a direct method of spiritual self enquiry called Advaita or non-duality which has its roots in ancient Hinduism. He holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the US and is the author of 6 books including The Ashes of Love, The Nature of Consciousness and Being Aware of Being Aware. He is also a notable artist who works in the medium of pottery. Our conversation focuses on the core insight of non-duality and the nature of reality.
Michelle Baker Jones on psychedelic psychotherapy and psilocybin as a treatment for depression | Living Mirrors #24
November 11, 2020 16:30 - 1 hour - 38.8 MBMichelle Baker Jones is an integrative psycho-therapeutic counsellor in private practice and is also a lead therapist at Imperial College’s psychedelic research team where she as worked on studies exploring the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for depression. She also co-facilitates a monthly Psychedelic integration group based in London and offers individual integration sessions for people who are struggling to process Psychedelic experiences. Today we speak about her research into using...
Brian Muraresku on whether the ancient Greeks and early Christians consumed a psychedelic sacrament | Living Mirrors #23
November 04, 2020 14:10 - 1 hour - 40.3 MBBrian Muraresku is the author of the new book The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name. Brian initially trained as a classicist gaining a degree in Latin, Greek and Sanskrit from Brown University and since then, as a member of the New York Bar, he has been practicing law internationally for fifteen years. In 2016, he became the founding executive director of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, whose work has been featured by CNN, ESPN, VICE and The Washington Post. In...
B. Alan Wallace on Dzogchen teachings & the contemplative science of the mind | Living Mirrors #22
October 28, 2020 16:30 - 1 hour - 48 MBB. Alan Wallace is a highly respected meditation teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and is a leading voice in discussions on the relationship between science and Buddhist philosophy. In 1971, he moved to India to study Tibetan Buddhism, medicine and language. In India he was ordained by the Dalai Lama and spent fourteen years as a monk where he studied with and translated for several highly respected lamas. In 1984 he studied physics at Amherst College and went on to gain a PhD from St...
Fritjof Capra on the systems view of physics, life and the mind | Living Mirrors #21
October 21, 2020 16:00 - 1 hour - 42.6 MBFritjof Capra is a world-renowned physicist, systems theorist, educator, activist, and best-selling author. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Vienna in 1966 and spent 20 years doing research in theoretical high-energy physics in many respected universities including at the University of Paris, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Imperial College London and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University of Ca...
Françoise Bourzat on traditonal Mazatec psilocybin mushroom healing | Living Mirrors #20
October 14, 2020 15:30 - 1 hour - 64.8 MBFrançoise Bourzat is counsellor trained in Somatic Psychology And body-centred psychotherapy. And she works as a guide for people working with expanded states of consciousness for healing. She now trains others to be therapists and facilitators and teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She trained for twenty years in the indigenous Mazatec tradition of healing with psilocybin mushrooms and is the author of the book Consciousness Medicine: Indigenous Wisdom, Entheogens, an...
Dr. James Cooke on the place of consciousness in the natural world | Living Mirrors #19
October 07, 2020 17:11 - 28 minutes - 17.7 MBFollowing the publication of the Living Mirror theory of consciousness I discuss my thoughts on the place of consciousness in the natural world and the unique difficulties our species has faced in thinking about consciousness. You can read the paper at www.DrJamesCooke.com/Consciousness
Dennis McKenna on the place of psilocybin & DMT in nature | Living Mirrors #18
September 30, 2020 11:04 - 1 hour - 46.4 MBDennis McKenna is an ethnopharmacologist with a special interest in naturally occurring psychedelic substances. He was a cofounder of the psychedelic research non-profit the Heffter Research Institute where he is director of ethnopharmacology. With his brother Terrence he authored the classic books The Invisible Landscape and the Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide and more recently he has written books including a memoir titled The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss. Our conversation focuses on...
Bill Richards on psychedelic research, psilocybin & mystical experiences | Living Mirrors #17
September 23, 2020 13:20 - 1 hour - 50.1 MBBill Richards is a psychedelic researcher with a special interest in the religious and spiritual experiences occasioned by psychedelics, which he details in his book Sacred Knowledge. Bill was a key figure in psychedelic research in the 60s and 70s and was instrumental in initiating the current renaissance in psychedelic research that began in the early 2000s. Today we talk about the research in this area, all the way from the 60s to the present day, as well as mystical and visionary experien...
Gail Bradbrook of Extinction Rebellion on the climate & ecological crisis + psychedelics | Living Mirrors #16
September 13, 2020 13:28 - 52 minutes - 28.6 MBGail Bradbrook is an environmental activist and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental movement that focuses on the use of nonviolent civil disobedience to create change in how governments are responding to the current climate and ecological crises. She has a background in science with a PhD in molecular biophysics and integrates both scientific and spiritual perspectives into her work on systems change. We discuss the work Extinction Rebellion is doing, the psychospiritua...
Erika Dyck on the origins and history of psychedelic psychiatry | Living Mirrors #15
September 09, 2020 11:20 - 1 hour - 38.2 MBEricka Dyck is a Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. She is a leading expert on the wave of psychedelic research that occurs in the mid-twentieth century and the books she has written and edited include Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from clinic to campus, Psychedelic Prophets: The Letters of Aldous Huxley and Humphrey Osmond, and A Culture’s Catalyst: Historical Encounters with Peyote and the Native American Church in Canada. In today's conversation we explor...
Robert Wright on understanding buddhist philosophy through evolutionary psychology | Living Mirrors #14
September 02, 2020 08:17 - 1 hour - 50.2 MBRobert Wright is a journalist, bestselling author and is currently a Visiting Professor of Science and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Meaningoflife.tv and the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Bloggingheads.tv. His books include The Moral Animal, The Evolution of God, for which he was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize, and Why Buddhism is True which is the topic that we focus on today.
Ex-police officer on his psychedelic therapy and the psychology of policing | Living Mirrors #13
August 26, 2020 10:30 - 1 hour - 65.3 MBThis week’s episode is a conversation with an ex-police officer who recently underwent psilocybin therapy in the Netherlands. We discuss how insights from his experiences led him to gain a new perspective on his history in the police force.
Shamash Alidina on mindfulness meditation, self-compassion and enlightenment | Living Mirrors #12
August 19, 2020 13:06 - 1 hour - 49.5 MBShamash Alidina is an internationally renowned mindfulness teacher and is the author of many books including Mindfulness For Dummies and The Mindful Way Through Stress. In today’s conversation we talk about many different aspects of mindfulness, its benefits, advice for starting a practice, the nature of the mind, free will, self compassion, and much more. You can find his work at https://www.shamashalidina.com/
Shamash Alidina on mindfulness meditation, enlightenment and self-compassion | Living Mirrors #12
August 19, 2020 13:06 - 1 hour - 49.5 MBShamash Alidina is an internationally renowned mindfulness teacher and is the author of many books including Mindfulness For Dummies and The Mindful Way Through Stress. In today’s conversation we talk about many different aspects of mindfulness, its benefits, advice for starting a practice, the nature of the mind, free will, self compassion, and much more. You can find his work at https://www.shamashalidina.com/
Dr. James Cooke on interdependence & separation | Living Mirrors #11
August 12, 2020 18:39 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBIn this episode of the podcast I talk about the concepts of interdependence and separation and how they relate to life, the mind, the physical world, the natural world and the human community.