(U N) R E A L I T Y-B L O G
Self Knowledge Resources
Home is a 2009 documentary directed by French photographer, reporter and environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand and produced by Luc Besson. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows how tightly linked Man and nature are, and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. The English version of the film is narrated by Glenn Close.
On the most basic level, seated meditation practice is the act of just sitting. How we sit, therefore, is vitally important to the quality of our practice.
If you haven’t given much thought to the way you’re sitting—or if you’ve been experiencing pain or physical discomfort in your practice—then it’s time to take a closer look at your posture.
Join us to discover the principles of meditation posture in this hour-long virtual workshop with Will Johnson, meditation teacher and author of The Posture of Meditation. In the workshop, Johnson will lead a demonstration and share his methods for awakening the body to sit with ease, comfort, and mindfulness. As you’ll discover, learning to sit is about more than comfort and alignment—it’s also about how to use the sitting posture as a vehicle for deep meditation and deep letting go.
Willa Blythe Baker offers practices and teachings for Tricycle’s Online Practice Session series!
In life and in spiritual practice, we will encounter many in-between spaces: times of transition from one stage of life to the next, from one state of consciousness to another, and even from death to rebirth.
How can we navigate these liminal spaces—and unearth the riches contained within them?
Join Tibetan Buddhist teacher and author Andrew Holecek for an hour-long virtual workshop looking to ancient Tibetan wisdom for insights on how to work consciously with the transitory places and processes in our lives. Looking specifically to two realms of the liminal—dreaming states of consciousness as encountered in Tibetan dream yoga, and the bardo teachings, which explore the realms between death and rebirth—he will suggest how we can approach uncertainty and impermanence as opportunities for awakening.
Holecek is the author of numerous books on Buddhist teachings and the teacher of Tricycle’s online courses, Dream Yoga, Living and Dying: Navigating the Bardos, and Transforming Obstacle into Opportunity.
How can out of body experiences be explained? What theory of reality could accomodate such a phenomenon? Today we have the extraordinary topic of the science and physics of Out of Body Experiences to get our head around! Many brain scientists have reduced this common experience to a mix of physiological and brain chemical effects, maintaining that no perceiving consciousness actually leaves the body, rather it is a form of hallucination and distortion of body schema. Not knowing when these experiences will spontaneously occur has made them hard to study in the lab. However, certain researchers have developed a method for inducing the experience, allowing for deeper study. Following that study some new theories of reality have developed that could include such an experience and even others like Near Death Experience or NDE, and Controlled Remote Viewing which we’re evaluating in this second series. One such scientist is our guest today physicist Dr. Tom Campbell! He’s an experimental physicist who’s worked for over 20 years developing US missile systems for the Department of Defence, specialising in developing cutting edge technology, large-system simulation, technology development and integration, and complex system vulnerability and risk analysis. He began researching altered states of consciousness with Bob Monroe at Monroe Laboratories in the early 1970s. He helped design experiments and develop the Binaural Beats technology for creating specific altered states, and became an experienced test subject and trainer too. After many years studying consciousness, and out of body experiences he wrote the book ‘My Big TOE’, as in ‘Theory of Everything’, which describes his model of existence and reality from both the physical and metaphysical points of view.
Conscious Dreaming follows the journey of three beginners as they immerse themselves in the world of lucid dreaming. With the help of experts, they will use a unique method designed to help achieve lucidity, such as practices done in the waking state, meditation, and mobile apps. The ideas and practise behind lucid dreaming and consciousness are dissected by leading experts in the UK, such as Dr. Keith Hearne, Charlie Morley, Caroline McCready and Susan Blackmore. This documentary stands as a well rounded introduction to anyone new to lucid dreaming, and can inspire people to explore the potential of experiencing their own conscious dream.
Today we welcome Dr. Jim Tucker who is a child psychiatrist and the Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is Director of the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies, where he is continuing the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson on reincarnation. He has been invited to speak about his research on Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and CBS Sunday Morning. He recently published BEFORE: Children’s Memories of Previous Lives, a 2-in-1 edition of his previous books.
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Jim Tucker about the science of reincarnation. We delve into his research findings and methodology on children who claim to remember their previous lives. Dr. Tucker notes that these children don’t just recall biographical details of their past, but they also retain feelings and emotions. His findings have important implications for how we understand consciousness. We also touch on the topics of mortality, trauma, quantum physics, and panpsychism.
Want to learn the best, most relaxing way to meditate? Dennis Paul Merzel, also known as Genpo Roshi, is a Zen Priest and teacher in the Soto and Rinzai schools of Zen Buddhism. Since his initial awakening over 45 years ago, his passion and purpose has been to assist others to realize their true nature, and to continuously deepen his own journey to enlightenment. In this truly fascinating and intimate conversation, the author of “Spitting Out the Bones: A Zen Master’s 45 Year Journey” demonstrates his meditation method right down to the breath, so that everyone can experience the relaxing nature of this ancient practice. Genpo and Dave also dig into his Big Mind/Big Heart Process, his spiritual awakenings, his five stages of development, and his views on celibacy, monogamy/polyamory, and honesty. The ultimate guide to meditation and illumination is right here in this hour, so don’t miss it!
From our archives: excerpts from talks by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:
The initial DMT Quest Documentary focusing on the 2019 study published by Dr. Jon Dean from the University of Michigan regarding endogenous DMT. The paper is titled, “Biosynthesis and Extracellular Concentrations of N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in Mammalian Brain” https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159… This episode features appearances by Dr. Jon Dean, Wim Hof, Dr. Mauro Zappaterra, Dr. Rick Strassman, Dr. Dennis Mckenna, Miles Lukas, and Nicolas Glynos. Credit goes to Director, Narrator, Editor, and Sound Engineer Ben Stewart for making the film come to life.