Keyword: mindfulness

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The Hidden Cost of Mindfulness October 1, 2014

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Giullian Gioiello, Linda Vanella
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Mindfulness has a dark side: when used to suppress negative emotions rather than process them, it breeds disconnection, stuffed anger, and an inability to be honest in close relationships. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, along with co-host Giullian Gioiello, argue that feeling difficult emotions fully is the real path to intimacy and growth.

The Art of Presence and Silence July 9, 2013

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Baccha Schwartz, Dieter Middleston Scheid
Category: Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy, Personal Growth & Change

Therapy can release old wounds, but can it bring you fully alive? Psychiatrist-turned-retreat-leader Dieter Middleston Scheid and his partner Baccha Schwartz describe their immersive silent retreats in Italy, where open sensory attention, slow-motion movement, and ten days without speech help participants rediscover a wordless inner home.

Occupying Your Own Mind November 29, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

What does it mean to be in your right mind, and how do you get there faster? Armand DiMele examines bitterness, apathy, and the ways we let obsessive thoughts colonize our inner lives, then weighs religion, diet, medication, therapy, and mindfulness as competing routes to genuine calm. Co-host Linda Vanella joins the discussion.

Finding Presence with Dieter Middleston-Scheidt and Batya Schwartz March 16, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Batya Schwartz, Dieter Middleston-Scheidt
Category: Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy, Personal Growth & Change

Therapy helps, but does it free us? Psychiatrist-turned-mindfulness-teacher Dieter Middleston-Scheidt and Batya Schwartz describe leaving biographical therapy behind to build a retreat practice rooted in silence, open sensory attention, and slow motion as a path to direct aliveness.

Sobriety as Being Present December 29, 2009

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Armand DiMele reframes sobriety not as abstinence but as full presence in the moment, arguing that most of us are “drunk” on distraction, worry, and longing nearly all the time. Drawing on a candid conversation with a group of men, he explores why being truly present is so rare and so difficult, and how tears, non-judgment, and even the word “yes” can open a doorway to it.

The Four Day Win with Dr. Martha Beck November 20, 2007

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Martha Beck
Category: Addiction & Compulsion, Personal Growth & Change

Self-loathing drives the very behaviors we are trying to stop. Dr. Martha Beck, author of The Four Day Win, explains how fight-or-flight responses sabotage change, introduces the “dictator” and “wild child” as tools for self-understanding, and offers a Tibetan loving-kindness practice as the surprisingly simple engine of lasting transformation.

Art as a Path to Self Discovery Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Art can unlock emotional breakthroughs that talk therapy alone cannot. Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. explore with psychiatrist Jeremy Spiegel his practice of using deep, sustained engagement with a single artwork to dislodge buried feelings, alongside reflections on mindfulness and the emotional toll of medical training.

Living in the Present Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Natalie Reed
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Worry lives in the future, regret lives in the past, and neither leaves room for now. Armand DiMele argues that most suffering comes from one of these two mental habits, and that being present is not passivity but a kind of willful surrender. Callers share their own struggles to simply stop and arrive.

A Year as a Buddhist Nun with Diana Winstead Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Diana Winstead
Category: Identity & The Self, Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy

Diana Winstead spent a year as a shaved-head, robed Buddhist nun in Burma, meditating in near-total silence. Armand DiMele draws out what she learned about sexuality, surrender, and selfhood by removing almost everything modern life is built on, and what happened when she returned.