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Deep Transformation

Deep Transformation

Written by: Roger Walsh and John Dupuy
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Deep Transformation offers dialogues with cutting-edge thinkers, artists, contemplatives, and activists who combine big-picture, integrative perspectives with profound, contemplative depths. With these remarkable people, we explore the great questions of our time, such as how best to live, and how best to heal, learn, create, and contribute in our era of unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Visit our website at https://deeptransformation.io/ to learn more.Copyright 2026 Roger Walsh and John Dupuy Philosophy Self-Help Social Sciences Spirituality Success
Episodes
  • What We Can Do for Our Brains: Practical Ways to Cultivate Healthy, Agile Minds & Also Reduce the Risk of Dementia

    What We Can Do for Our Brains: Practical Ways to Cultivate Healthy, Agile Minds & Also Reduce the Risk of Dementia
    Oct 1 2026
    Ep. 243 | In this outstandingly useful and timely conversation, Dr. Roger Walsh (more often the co-host of the Deep Transformation podcast) is our expert guest, sharing his passion for brain health and his knowledge about what we can do to keep our brains active, high-functioning, and well. With a Ph.D. in neuroscience and several awards for brain research, Roger was also on the first research team to discover the older brain’s neuroplasticity, and he has been excited about the possibilities and developmental implications of this ever since. Whether we’re talking about the body’s physical capabilities or the brain’s cognitive ones, Roger explains that a lot of what we thought was “normal” aging is actually “disuse atrophy”—in other words, use it or lose it—and beyond that, cultivate it and enhance it! Roger would like to write a book on all the helpful information he has learned about brain health, but with people he cares for beginning to acknowledge they are wrestling with cognitive decline, he decided it’s time to get this information out now.After establishing the brain’s inherent potential for growth, Roger dives into the practicalities—outlining actions we can take that research shows will make a significant difference in either enhancing our cognitive functioning, increasing our longevity, reducing the risk of dementia, supporting a life of physical and mental well-being, or all of the above. From the startlingly beneficial effects of green tea to the harmful effects of plastics, pesticides, and wildfire smoke, Roger covers all the bases: exercise and diet, supplements and sleep, environmental risks and medical interventions, friendships and nature, meditation and service—in a way that feels inspiring and doable. This is brain health for everyone in a comprehensive nutshell, presented with Roger’s signature clarity, astuteness, warmth, and humor. Listen and reap the benefits. Recorded September 3, 2026.The information about brain care in this dialogue is not meant to constitute personal medical advice for any individual. Rather, it is information that listeners can take to their personal physician to discuss and assess with the physician.“If you’ve got to pick one thing, exercise is probably the best thing we’ve got for maintaining the brain and the body.”Topics & Time StampsIntroducing Roger Walsh, an MD with a PhD in neuroscience, several awards for brain research, author & professor emeritus of psychiatry, philosophy & anthropology (00:35)What we thought of as normal aging is actually “disuse atrophy” (02:10)What’s good for the body is good for the brain (05:37)Changing our cultural stereotype of aging (08:36)What affects us most: lifestyle choices + the genes we are born with (09:26)Neuroplasticity is the context our potential swims in (10:34)Care & maintenance of the brain falls into 5 major categories (11:42)Meditation’s significant benefits are both physical & mental (14:07)Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes: first comes exercise (16:18)For depression, exercise is both prophylactic & about as effective as antidepressants (19:29)Initiating new habits is the hardest part (21:24)The importance of friendships (24:17)The effects of our continuously fragmented attention (26:22)Sleep clears toxins—including plaques & tangles that can cause Alzheimer’s (29:02)The bad effects of light pollution (30:32)Purpose, service & contribution: people who serve live longer, happier, healthier lives (31:52)Being in nature cleanses psychic toxins: we are biophilic (38:19)Fluid intake has immediate as well as long-term benefits (47:55)Following the 3 main principles of diet (50:07)Environmental risks: we live in a chemical soup (54:11)Inhaling wildfire smoke particles moves them right into our brains (58:18)The overwhelming amount of plastic everywhere—including in our brains (1:00:18)Pesticides should be banned (1:03:27)Coffee, alcohol & the enormous benefits of green tea (1:04:21)Supplements: lithium, magnesium L-threonate & fish oils (1:07:23)Get regular medical work-ups! And correct any hearing loss or visual loss (1:15:48)Vaccinations have a significant benefit in reducing the risk of dementia (1:17:01)Olfactory enrichment can increase our olfactory capabilities but also enhance cognitive function (1:17:43)Poverty: reducing inequality is more important than ever (1:19:33)Roger’s motivation for getting this information out now (1:23:47)Resources & ReferencesRoger Walsh’s website: https://drrogerwalsh.comRoger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and MindGerontologist Kerry Burnight on the Deep Transformation podcast: From Lifespan to Joyspan: Embracing A Growth Mindset for AgingKerry Burnight, Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second HalfDeep Transformation’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom SeriesGloria Mark, Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and ProductivityEdward O. Wilson, ...
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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • Midwifing the Diamond Approach: How the Teaching Found and Transformed Hameed Ali & Karen Johnson

    Midwifing the Diamond Approach: How the Teaching Found and Transformed Hameed Ali & Karen Johnson
    Sep 17 2026
    Ep. 242 | What a gift to have Karen Johnson and A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali) together in conversation to explore their extraordinary journeys of awakening and share the remarkable ways presence found to transform their hearts and minds—all of which culminated in the contemporary spiritual path known as the Diamond Approach. Karen’s book, The Jeweled Path (the basis for this Jeweled Path Series), chronicles Karen and Hameed’s spiritual adventures from the beginning: what happened in their childhoods, how they first met, the emerging realization that what they were experiencing was shaping into a unique path of awakening that others could follow and benefit from also, through the establishment of the Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach. In this dialogue, Karen tells how incredible spiritual experiences would come to them right in the midst of life—in the grocery store, on the way to work, in a bar… And we hear the resonant story of when Hameed poured a life-changing transmission of presence into her hand. Karen and Hameed’s vivid descriptions of what they experienced—“explosions of consciousness,” “streams of awakening,” “becoming a body of light, fullness, and presence, nowness embodied”—are awakening transmissions in their own right. And the point they drive home—that they were not the founders of the Diamond Approach, rather the teaching found them—has the magical effect of opening us to see reality in a different way. Listening to Karen and Hameed discuss their experiences, insights, and the emergence of the Diamond Path is simply an amazing experience on its own. Recorded August 13, 2026.“The interesting thing about presence is, if you talk about it when it’s not there, it’s just an idea—because presence is only now.”Topics & Time StampsIntroducing Karen Johnson, co-founder of the Diamond Approach, who joins Hameed Ali in The Jeweled Path Series which focuses on her book The Jeweled Path: The Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization (00:42)How did it come about that Karen & Hameed were able to found a spiritual path together? (01:51)The personal element in the Diamond Approach allows for the spiritual possibilities of relationship (10:01)Hameed & Karen’s conversations evolved into the student/teacher practice of inquiry so essential to the Diamond Approach (15:42)How Hameed switched from training to be a scientist to investigating the nature of reality (17:16)Hameed kept disciplined notes which allowed them to track their experiences, make sense of them over time, and realize this teaching was for others too (20:51)For Hameed, it wasn’t one awakening but a stream of awakenings (22:39)If Hameed talked about an experience, Karen would start to feel it (28:28)Karen’s experience of Hameed pouring a transmission into her hand (30:36)For some an awakening flushes out blocks & barriers, for others not (34:18)Hameed was able to collect presence in his hand and then give it away (36:53)For Karen, the transmission wasn’t just an experience, it was realizing: this is what you are (37:47)When a bubble of pure awareness came to Karen & Hameed in a bar (38:49)What is a transmission? (40:56)How Hameed’s motorcycle accident brought in the diamond structure (46:08)This is a spiritual path of felt understanding, not merely intellectual understanding (49:24)A teacher isn’t just transmitting all the goodies, they’re also transmitting all the grit (51:19)Hameed would receive transmissions from other teachings encompassing their whole path (52:32)Hameed & Karen were sure they would find explanations for their experiences in other teachings (54:40)Other twosome spiritual relationships: Aurobindo & the Mother, the founders of A Course in Miracles, Rumi & Shams, and more (56:19)Resources & ReferencesA. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali) and Karen Johnson, co-founders of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond ApproachKaren Johnson, The Jeweled Path: The Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner RealizationA. H. Almaas & Karen Johnson, The Power Of Divine Eros: The Illuminating Force of Love in Everyday LifeA. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations ApproachThe 16th Karmapa and the Black Hat CeremonySri AurobindoA Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner PeaceThe Jeweled Path Series is based on Karen Johnson’s wonderful, in-depth recounting of how the Diamond Approach came into being through Hameed Ali and herself in her book The Jeweled Path: The Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization, so listeners may want to get a copy of this book to study and follow along on this journey of awakening to presence.---Karen Johnson is the co-founder of the Diamond Approach as it is taught in the Ridhwan School today, having worked alongside Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) for the last 50 years. Karen was trained in art and dance and began the journey into the spiritual universe at 14 ...
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Transmuting Life’s Tragedies: Embracing a Post-Tragic Perspective

    Transmuting Life’s Tragedies: Embracing a Post-Tragic Perspective
    Sep 3 2026
    Ep. 241 | A deeply engaging conversation in which Alexander Love, adult development expert and coach, and author of the soon-to-be-published trilogy Evolutionary Gestures, introduces us to the post-tragic perspective, with all of its potential to nourish, ground, and open us to a world of possibilities. Alexander explains that post-tragic is not a developmental stage per se, but a dimension available to anyone willing to do the work. It’s part of a triad—pre-tragic innocence, tragic disillusionment, and post-tragic possibilities—encountered in every wisdom tradition, the hero’s journey, and every good story. Post-tragic is not about leaving the tragedy (trauma, pain, loss) behind, but about turning toward it and dropping into a dimension of being that can interface with it in a new way, from a place that isn’t divided or broken. It’s also about asking, what happens next, after the tragedy? How does the story proceed?Shattering our certainty, a tragic event in our lives makes our world more diaphanous, Alexander continues, opening the way for us to lean further into the mystery. Here we encounter the vastness of possibility, the mystery being the first imagined wholeness, the seed of all potentiality, and we begin to see the sacred and the beauty in everything. Though the healing notion of facing our trauma and working through it is not new, Alexander’s pre-tragic, tragic, and post-tragic framework (deeply informed by his own experience) is compelling. With it, he has painted in the entire landscape around the core tragedy or trauma, giving us the full picture, the before and after, and connected us with a dimension of compassion and forgiveness that is liberating and full of promise. A wise, gentle, intense, warm, humble conversation. Recorded April 23, 2026.“It’s not forgive and forget… It’s remember deeply. Become so intimate with what happened, feel every aspect of it, and let it be transformed by love.”Topics & Time StampsIntroducing Alexander Love, adult development expert, coach, acupuncturist & founder of eos, an organization focused on deep transformation (00:52)What brought Alexander to the field of adult development? (02:03)The sacred gap: the space between knower and known (03:46)The alternative to uncertainty and chaos is leaning into the mystery (05:53)Turning away from our traumas deepens our sense of separation (06:59)Meeting with his father’s murderer: an infinite degree of forgiveness is available (09:32)What is forgiveness? (13:00)How do we get closer to our pain? (16:52)Pre-tragic, tragic & post-tragic: innocence, disillusionment, possibility (19:38)Protecting children so they can internalize a sense of fundamental goodness (24:20)With tragic disillusionment our meaning becomes shattered (26:01)Both pre-tragic innocence & tragic disillusionment are within us (33:06)Orienting towards tragedy from an unbroken dimension of being; transmuting our pain by developing relationship (34:15)The arc of transformation requires going beyond awareness of our patterns to embracing them (39:13)The first 3 phases of transformation: fusion, differentiation, relationship (42:20)The post-tragic architecture includes finding sacred beauty in the world (44:20)Primordial purity: even with all the suffering, there is perfection (50:17)The tragic fracturing of meaning makes the world more diaphanous (52:05)Post-tragic possibility is a depth dimension, it’s not just “growing up” (54:04)Compassion is embracing another’s suffering with a quality of loving presence that transmutes the suffering (58:49)The Mystery is the first imagined wholeness, the seed of potentiality (1:04:47)An invitation to be curious, to ask how we are using our capacity to witness (1:07:15)Alexander’s book-in-progress, The Evolutionary Gestures Trilogy (1:13:20)We need a new chapter in history to address the complexity and the horrors of this time (1:17:10)Resources & ReferencesAlexander Love, facilitator, developmental coach, acupuncturist, senior faculty at the Newfield Network & founder of eōs wellness center Alexander Love’s The Evolutionary Gestures Trilogy is expected to be published in the fall of 2026 “The Room: A Story from the Evolutionary Gestures Trilogy” read by Alexander (YouTube video)Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory: What is the Integral Approach? (Integral Life website)Oscar Mandel, A Definition of TragedyJudy Schavrien, “Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and the Mystical Particular: Redemption, Then and Now, for a Disassembled World”Frederick Perls, Gestalt Therapy VerbatimJoseph Goldstein, Living on the Spiritual Edge (Deep Transformation podcast)---Alexander Love, MCC, NCC, M.Ac. is an acupuncturist, developmental coach, and facilitator. He serves as Director of Curriculum Development and Senior Facilitator at the Newfield Network, an international coach training, personal transformation, and leadership development organization, where he facilitates trainings in the United States ...
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    1 hr and 20 mins
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