This is a recording of a dharma talk Lisa Dale Miller gave March 19, 2003 at Marin Sangha.  Recently neuroscientist Richard Davidson reiterated a long-held tenet of Tibetan Buddhism that all human beings share the same wish to be happy and free of suffering, and that this wish emerges from innate basic goodness. This goodness is often viewed in Mahāyāna and Vajrayana Buddhism as an expression of Buddhanature, the fundamental awakened mind of all beings. There is not much in the Pāli Canon to support the notion of innate goodness. However, the Buddha did teach unconditioned mind—a mind purified through contemplative effort, not an innately awakened mind. This dharma talk compares these two frameworks and explores the cultivation of ethical goodness using specific suttas and findings from affective neuroscience. And I am joined by a co-teacher ChatGPT, which explicates historical references to goodness and investigates its own sense of how to engage in ethical conduct. Lisa's catalogue of Dharma Talks can be found on the <a href="https://groundlessground.comn" target="_blank">Groundless Ground </a>and those done prior to 2020 are available on my <a href="https://lisadalemiller.com" target="_blank">clinical website</a>.

<description>&lt;p&gt;This is a recording of a dharma talk Lisa Dale Miller gave March 19, 2003 at Marin Sangha. &lt;br /&gt;Recently neuroscientist Richard Davidson reiterated a long-held tenet of Tibetan Buddhism that all human beings share the same wish to be happy and free of suffering, and that this wish emerges from &lt;i&gt;innate basic goodness&lt;/i&gt;. This goodness is often viewed in Mahāyāna and Vajrayana Buddhism as an expression of &lt;i&gt;Buddhanature&lt;/i&gt;, the fundamental awakened mind of all beings. There is not much in the Pāli Canon to support the notion of innate goodness. However, the Buddha did teach &lt;i&gt;unconditioned mind&lt;/i&gt;—a mind purified through contemplative effort, not an innately awakened mind. This dharma talk compares these two frameworks and explores the cultivation of ethical goodness using specific suttas and findings from affective neuroscience. And I am joined by a co-teacher ChatGPT, which explicates historical references to goodness and investigates its own sense of how to engage in ethical conduct. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lisa's catalogue of Dharma Talks can be found on the &lt;a href="https://groundlessground.comn" target="_blank"&gt;Groundless Ground &lt;/a&gt;and those done prior to 2020 are available on my &lt;a href="https://lisadalemiller.com" target="_blank"&gt;clinical website&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
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The Buddha taught unconditioned mind—purification via contemplative effort. Later Buddhism taught innate basic goodness or Buddhanature. I compare these two frameworks using suttas and affective neuroscience, and I’m joined by a co-teacher Chat-GPT!

Basic Human Goodness

Psychologist, researcher, and executive <a href="https://www.cassandravieten.com/" target="_blank">Cassandra Vieten</a> and I dialogue about a wide range of interventions that can shift the mental health crisis into a mental health renaissance. Cassie’s many years of offering patients empirically-based, mind-body tools for sustainable transformation, has taken place at several renowned academic medical institutions and greatly contributed to psychology’s integration of embodied, spiritually-oriented interventions for human flourishing such as: meditation, qigong and tai chi, being in nature, ritual, spiritual exploration, and most recently, psychedelics. This is a jam-packed episode full of practical information for health professionals seeking easy ways to facilitate patient well-being.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6_-1ewy410" target="_blank">Watch Cassie's TED Talk!</a><a href="https://www.johnwbrickfoundation.org/build/" target="_blank"> Build Your Ecosystem!</a>Cassandra Vieten is Director of Research and Associate Scientist at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Executive Director of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, co-founder and Clinical Psychology Director at the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UCSD, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. She is a licensed clinical psychologist. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She was a Scientist at the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group for 12 years, and worked at the Institute of Noetic Sciences for 18 years. She has authored three books and has published numerous articles in scientific journals.

<description>&lt;p&gt;Psychologist, researcher, and executive &lt;a href="https://www.cassandravieten.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Cassandra Vieten&lt;/a&gt; and I dialogue about a wide range of interventions that can shift the mental health crisis into a mental health renaissance. Cassie’s many years of offering patients empirically-based, mind-body tools for sustainable transformation, has taken place at several renowned academic medical institutions and greatly contributed to psychology’s integration of embodied, spiritually-oriented interventions for human flourishing such as: meditation, qigong and tai chi, being in nature, ritual, spiritual exploration, and most recently, psychedelics. This is a jam-packed episode full of practical information for health professionals seeking easy ways to facilitate patient well-being.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6_-1ewy410" target="_blank"&gt;Watch Cassie's TED Talk!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.johnwbrickfoundation.org/build/" target="_blank"&gt; Build Your Ecosystem!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cassandra Vieten is Director of Research and Associate Scientist at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Executive Director of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, co-founder and Clinical Psychology Director at the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UCSD, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. She is a licensed clinical psychologist. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She was a Scientist at the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group for 12 years, and worked at the Institute of Noetic Sciences for 18 years. She has authored three books and has published numerous articles in scientific journals. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
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Cassandra Vieten and I discuss shifting the mental health crisis into a mental health renaissance. Cassie’s work has helped psychology integrate many mind-body interventions for human flourishing. Learn easy ways to facilitate health and well-being

Mental Health Renaissance

This is a very special and quite different kind of episode to finish out the Groundless Ground’s 5th season. I have a frank discussion about the pitfalls of packaging and delivering meditation as a performative act in health contexts with <a href="https://www.donnalsherman.com/" target="_blank">Donna Sherman</a>—clinical social worker and teacher of practical wisdom from yoga sciences, mindfulness meditation and behavioral sciences. Since Donna has studied extensively in the Tantric yoga tradition and I have expertise in Buddhist psychology, we interview each other about the ancient science behind Yogic and Buddhist meditative practices. Donna’s <a href="https://www.donnalsherman.com/facilities" target="_blank">Therapeutic Yoga Nidra</a> is the NSDR (non-sleep deep rest) practice I refer to my patients. And Donna is also a longtime dear friend and colleague from whom I have learned so much. It is hard to imagine a good life without her along for the ride! And wow, 5 years and 60 episodes. What an adventure Groundless Ground has been and much gratitude to every listener! You continue to be my greatest inspiration. Best wishes for the holidays and very happy and healthy New Year!

<description>&lt;p&gt;This is a very special and quite different kind of episode to finish out the Groundless Ground’s 5th season. I have a frank discussion about the pitfalls of packaging and delivering meditation as a performative act in health contexts with &lt;a href="https://www.donnalsherman.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Donna Sherman&lt;/a&gt;—clinical social worker and teacher of practical wisdom from yoga sciences, mindfulness meditation and behavioral sciences. Since Donna has studied extensively in the Tantric yoga tradition and I have expertise in Buddhist psychology, we interview each other about the ancient science behind Yogic and Buddhist meditative practices. Donna’s &lt;a href="https://www.donnalsherman.com/facilities" target="_blank"&gt;Therapeutic Yoga Nidra&lt;/a&gt; is &lt;i&gt;the&lt;/i&gt; NSDR (non-sleep deep rest) practice I refer to my patients. And Donna is also a longtime dear friend and colleague from whom I have learned so much. It is hard to imagine a good life without her along for the ride! And wow, 5 years and 60 episodes. What an adventure Groundless Ground has been and much gratitude to every listener! You continue to be my greatest inspiration. Best wishes for the holidays and very happy and healthy New Year! &lt;/p&gt;
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Season 5 concludes with a pointed and timely discussion of the pitfalls of packaging and delivering meditation as a performative act in health contexts with Donna Sherman, clinical social worker and yoga and mindfulness teacher. Happy Holidays!

Meditation Beyond Optimization

Alison Ash PhD is a sex and intimacy coach, educator, and creator of many sex positive workshops including her upcoming, very popular <a href="https://TurnON.love/intimacy " target="_blank">Sexual and Emotional Intimacy Skills Mastercourse.</a> This dialogue was stunningly rich and informative for both of us. We freely converse about sex positivity and how consent skills make it possible to skillfully and joyfully give and receive pleasure, flirt and seduce, have more intimacy, and better understand monogamous and non-monogamous relationships. We also discuss how the lingering pain and shame from sexual trauma impedes healthy sexuality and what systemic healing and resolution of sexual trauma entails. Alison clearly explicates the difference between pornography and erotica, and the deleterious effects of widespread porn use by teens, adults and couples. This episode is a romp through a diverse landscape of contexts and practices in which sex positivity is being experienced and enjoyed. <a href="https://www.turnon.love/" target="_blank">Alison Ash PhD</a> is a sex and intimacy coach, educator and creator of many sex positive workshops including her upcoming Masterclass. She coaches individuals and couples in sex positivity. Her book <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Gender_Ambiguity_in_the_Workplace.html?id=booXtAEACAAJ" target="_blank">Gender Ambiguity in the Workplace: Trans and Genderqueer Discrimination</a> was published in 2018. In addition to her private practice she is a Stanford University lecturer in the Wellness Education program teaching <a href="https://www.turnon.love/sexual-and-emotional-intimacy-skills" target="_blank">Sexual and Emotional Intimacy Skills</a> to both undergraduate and graduate students. Her website is <a href="https://www.turnon.love/" target="_blank">https://www.turnon.love/</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;Alison Ash PhD is a sex and intimacy coach, educator, and creator of many sex positive workshops including her upcoming, very popular &lt;a href="https://TurnON.love/intimacy " target="_blank"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Sexual and Emotional Intimacy Skills Mastercourse&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/a&gt; This dialogue was stunningly rich and informative for both of us. We freely converse about sex positivity and how consent skills make it possible to skillfully and joyfully give and receive pleasure, flirt and seduce, have more intimacy, and better understand monogamous and non-monogamous relationships. We also discuss how the lingering pain and shame from sexual trauma impedes healthy sexuality and what systemic healing and resolution of sexual trauma entails. Alison clearly explicates the difference between pornography and erotica, and the deleterious effects of widespread porn use by teens, adults and couples. This episode is a romp through a diverse landscape of contexts and practices in which sex positivity is being experienced and enjoyed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.turnon.love/" target="_blank"&gt;Alison Ash PhD&lt;/a&gt; is a sex and intimacy coach, educator and creator of many sex positive workshops including her upcoming &lt;i&gt;Masterclass&lt;/i&gt;. She coaches individuals and couples in sex positivity. Her book &lt;a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Gender_Ambiguity_in_the_Workplace.html?id=booXtAEACAAJ" target="_blank"&gt;Gender Ambiguity in the Workplace: Trans and Genderqueer Discrimination&lt;/a&gt; was published in 2018. In addition to her private practice she is a Stanford University lecturer in the Wellness Education program teaching &lt;a href="https://www.turnon.love/sexual-and-emotional-intimacy-skills" target="_blank"&gt;Sexual and Emotional Intimacy Skills&lt;/a&gt; to both undergraduate and graduate students. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Her website is &lt;a href="https://www.turnon.love/" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.turnon.love/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description>

Alison Ash PhD educator and creator of sex positive workshops discusses consent skills, sexual pleasure and intimacy, varied forms of coupling, and why erotica is not pornography. We cover harmful effects of sexual trauma and how to heal from it.

Turn on Love and Intimacy

Psychologist Raja Selvam, discusses his new book, <a href="https://integralsomaticpsychology.com/books/the-practice-of-embodying-emotions-by-raja-selvam" target="_blank">The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Guide for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes</a>.  Raja is the creator of Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™), an effective somatic therapy that encourages optimal mental health by fully embodying emotions. Raja and I explore how clinicians can facilitate patient resolution of difficult emotions by allowing increased recognition of emotion and then expanding that emotion to more of the body. Rather than cognitively down-regulating emotions, this somatic approach of expanding emotion increases affect tolerance and resolves systemic distress. ISP is a complementary modality for all talk therapy methods. It was an honor to dialogue with Raja about ISP and also our mutual interest in non-dual philosophy.Clinical psychologist Raja Selvam, PhD, is the developer of <a href="https://integralsomaticpsychology.com" target="_blank">Integral Somatic Psychology</a>™ (ISP™), an effective somatic therapy that helps clients achieve optimal mental health by fully embodying their emotions. Raja is also a senior trainer at Somatic Experiencing® International. His work is informed by Reichian Therapy and Bioenergetic Analysis, Bodynamic Analysis and Somatic Experiencing, and bodywork systems of Postural Integration and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. His work is also inspired by Jungian and archetypal psychologies, Kleinian and intersubjective schools of psychoanalysis, affective neuroscience, quantum physics, yoga, Polarity Therapy, and Advaita Vedanta (a spiritual psychology from India). He did trauma outreach work in India in 2005–2006 with survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, based on which he has published an outcome study titled “Somatic Therapy Treatment Effects with Tsunami Survivors,” in the journal Traumatology in 2008. Dr. Selvam’s work is also inspired by the work he did in Sri Lanka in 2012–2014 with survivors of war, violence, loss, and displacement, and with mental health professionals engaged in treating them, after Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war ended in 2009.

<description>&lt;p&gt;Psychologist Raja Selvam, discusses his new book, &lt;a href="https://integralsomaticpsychology.com/books/the-practice-of-embodying-emotions-by-raja-selvam" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Guide for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;.  &lt;/i&gt;Raja is the creator of &lt;i&gt;Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™)&lt;/i&gt;, an effective somatic therapy that encourages optimal mental health by fully &lt;i&gt;embodying&lt;/i&gt; emotions. Raja and I explore how clinicians can facilitate patient resolution of difficult emotions by allowing increased recognition of emotion and then expanding that emotion to more of the body. Rather than cognitively down-regulating emotions, this somatic approach of expanding emotion increases affect tolerance and resolves systemic distress. ISP is a complementary modality for all talk therapy methods. It was an honor to dialogue with Raja about ISP and also our mutual interest in non-dual philosophy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clinical psychologist Raja Selvam, PhD, is the developer of &lt;a href="https://integralsomaticpsychology.com" target="_blank"&gt;Integral Somatic Psychology&lt;/a&gt;™ (ISP™), an effective somatic therapy that helps clients achieve optimal mental health by fully &lt;i&gt;embodying&lt;/i&gt; their emotions. Raja is also a senior trainer at Somatic Experiencing® International. His work is informed by Reichian Therapy and Bioenergetic Analysis, Bodynamic Analysis and Somatic Experiencing, and bodywork systems of Postural Integration and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. His work is also inspired by Jungian and archetypal psychologies, Kleinian and intersubjective schools of psychoanalysis, affective neuroscience, quantum physics, yoga, Polarity Therapy, and Advaita Vedanta (a spiritual psychology from India). He did trauma outreach work in India in 2005–2006 with survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, based on which he has published an outcome study titled “Somatic Therapy Treatment Effects with Tsunami Survivors,” in the journal &lt;i&gt;Traumatology&lt;/i&gt; in 2008. Dr. Selvam’s work is also inspired by the work he did in Sri Lanka in 2012–2014 with survivors of war, violence, loss, and displacement, and with mental health professionals engaged in treating them, after Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war ended in 2009.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>

Raja Selvam, PhD, discusses his new book on Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP™), an effective somatic therapy that encourages optimal mental health by fully embodying emotions. ISP is a useful complement for enhancing talk therapy effectiveness. 

Embodying Emotions

Join clinician and author Lisa Dale Miller at the leading edge of integrative mental health! We deliver thoughtful dialogues with innovative clinicians, researchers and contemplatives that unite health science research and profound wisdom traditions, inform about somatic psychotherapies and Buddhist psychology, and we do it all with big dose of intelligence, clarity, curiosity and openheartedness.

Groundless Ground Podcast

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