Josh & Terry Summers

Creative and functional approach to the spiritual path, weaving insights and practices from Yin Yoga, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and ancient wisdom traditions

Interviews on The Everyday Sublime

Interviews on Josh Summers' podcast, The Everyday Sublime: Shedding Light on Yin Yoga and Mediation.

David Barash: Buddhism and Biology

“We do not confront the world; rather, the world confronts itself, temporarily masquerading as each of us.” – David Barash

Robert Wright: Existential Psychological Threats

“I would say that cognitive empathy is a strength that needs to be built, cognitive empathy being the ability to look at things from the perspective of other people. And one thing the explain-excuse conflation does is undermine cognitive empathy.” – Robert Wright

Lauri Glenn: Self-Compassion in Practice

“When we meet difficulty with a kind and loving heart, compassion naturally arises. Often easy to feel for others, self-directed compassion can get blocked by old belief patterns and cultural conditioning. However, self-compassion can be awakened through a few simple steps that echo the Four Noble Truths.” – Lauri Glenn

Linda Modaro: Spiritual Friendship and the Development of View

“So much can go bongo tingo in conversations, what with misunderstandings and mixed intentions… and yet, so much can go right to the heart of the matter. Bringing our meditation sittings into a conversation with another person changes the conversation to a relationship – one of developing trust, care, and collaboration. The Dharma is between us.” – Linda Modaro

Robert Wright: More Dharma of Bob

“It’s hard to build coherent international governance on a foundation of incoherent nations. An America lacking in cohesion, divided along red-blue lines, won’t have the political will to do ambitious, politically difficult things. Such as: crafting and then participating in new forms of international cooperation designed to prevent things like pandemics, environmental calamities, and arms races in space or in bioweapons or in AI.” – Robert Wright

Dr. Ellen Langer: Mindfulness Without Meditation

“Social psychologists argue that who we are at any one time depends mostly on the context in which we find ourselves. But who creates the context? The more mindful we are, the more we can create the contexts we are in. When we create the context, we are more likely to be authentic. Mindfulness lets us see things in a new light and believe in the possibility of change.” – Dr. Ellen Langer

Howard Axelrod: The Point of Vanishing

During his junior year of college, a tragic accident during a game of pick-up basketball disrupted Howard Axelrod’s course in life. As a way to make sense of himself and of life, Howard did what I’ve only fantasized of doing: He went to live in the woods, in utter solitude, for a very long time.

Jenny Odell: How To Do Nothing

“To me, the only habit worth ‘designing for’ is the habit of questioning one’s habitual ways of seeing, and that is what artists, writers, and musicians help us to do.” – Jenny Odell

Robert Wright: Averting the Apocalypse

The rapid acceleration of technological evolution paired with the slower evolution of human psychology poses a serious existential threat. Will human psychology evolve to avert the apocalypse? Robert Wright has thoughts to share.

Vanja Palmers: A Mushroom in the Lotus

Some people in the spiritual world say we don’t need crutches, or that we shouldn’t use crutches. This is true, we don’t need crutches; we don’t need zendos; we don’t need sesshins. But still, many seem to benefit from these supports.

Robin Wang: Yinyang Theory in Chinese Thought

When two things interact, a third dynamic emerges. When two people come together a relationship emerges. When Yin and Yang come to harmony, a Third Way emerges as the Path.

Bernie Clark: Beyond the Binary

“You’re flying the plane and have to figure out what works. We – teachers – are just ground control.”

Dr. Richard Schwartz: Healing the Internal Family

“If you can be an inner Bodhisattva it’s much easier to be an outer Bodhisattva.” In other words, if we can relate to our inner world with care and tender compassion, it’s easier to relate to our outer world with care and tender compassion.

Dr. Judson Brewer: Saving Ourselves From Ourselves

With regard to coming to a better understanding of addiction, “we need to learn how to de-stigmatize the human condition.” Whether the addiction is to alcohol, nicotine, smartphones, this interview with Dr. Judson Brewer holds many insights for our individual and collective freedom.

Loch Kelly: Neuroscience of Non-Dual Mindfulness

Loch Kelly explains the relationship between two distinct neural structures in the brain: The Default Mode Network and the Task Positive Network. Learn how non-dual mindfulness harmonizes these two networks, priming your mind for greater creativity and flow.

Loch Kelly: Self-Realization and Self-Detox

“Let’s introduce the solution before we tackle the problem. Let’s introduce what can bear what seems unbearable – then we can deal with what [seems] unbearable.” – Loch Kelly

Loch Kelly: Everywhere, Nowhere, and Here

“What shifts is not you the meditator, not you the doer, not you the seeker or the small self… the beginning is to invite your already awake awareness which is identified [with something] to separate itself out. Let awareness be aware of the space from the space.” – Loch Kelly

Loch Kelly: The Way of Effortless Mindfulness

“From the cloud [of egoic, thought-based identity] we can drop below it, we can shift above it, or behind it, or to the side of it, to discover that we are also the sky.” – Loch Kelly

Paul Grilley: Psychology, Spirituality, and Yin Yoga

“My approach and my goal in my religious practices is to have a mystical experience. I do not believe that I need to be a perfect human being before I have that mystical experience. I believe that you can have a mystical experience as an imperfect human being.” – Paul Grilley