Back to Being Method

Today I’m speaking with someone who’s as passionate as I am about using his lived experience to help others struggling with chronic pain and stress. Peter Studenik’s life was turned upside down after he was diagnosed with tinnitus following a concert. Overwhelmed and frightened, unable to concentrate or even get a good night’s sleep, Peter sank into hopelessness and despair.

After struggling for three years Peter decided to take a more holistic approach, inspired by the latest research into prolonged tinnitus, which affects over 7 million adults in the United Kingdom alone.

Armed with this newfound knowledge, a renewed sense of motivation, and the support of skilled practitioners, Peter was able to completely cure his tinnitus and has been free of that incessant ringing in the ears since 2013.

Together we reflect on Peter’s experience, the framework he found so effective on his path to healing, and his realisation that resolving the underlying causes of his tinnitus was essential to his recovery. 

This episode is essential listening for anyone struggling with tinnitus, or interested in the mind-body connection and the connection between our psychological, emotional and physical health.

In this episode I’m speaking with London-based mindfulness guide, writer, researcher and photographer Menka Sanghvi. 

Today I’m speaking with leadership coach, facilitator, journalist, sustainability expert and Zen mindfulness practitioner Jo Confino. Jo works at the intersection of personal transformation and systems change; His coaching practice focuses on supporting leaders within the climate movement.

Jo has worked closely for the past 16 years with the late great Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and his Buddhist monastic community in Plum Village. He is co-founder and co-presenter of the acclaimed podcast series ‘The Way Out Is In’ and is chair of the board of Parallax Press, which publishes books on mindfulness in daily life.

Jo’s career as a journalist spanned almost three decades, during which he served as executive editor and member of the senior leadership teams at the Huffpost and Guardian

In this episode Jo and I discuss the link between inner work and outer change. He shares his personal journey of discovery and healing, his relationship with Zen, and how mindfulness can help facilitate transformations in ourselves and the wider world.

I got so much out of having this conversation with Jo, and I hope you do too!

Connect with Jo: https://www.instagram.com/joconfino/

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Connect with Karim:

Today I speak with one of the world’s foremost experts on pain management Dr. Howard Schubiner.  Dr. Schubiner is the director of the Mind Body Medicine Center at Ascension Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan, and a Clinical Professor at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He has authored three books: Unlearn Your Pain, Unlearn Your Anxiety and Depression, and Hidden From View.

Dr. Schubiner is also the co-creator of Emotion Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET), an evidence-based, highly effective psychological treatment for chronic pain. He was part of the team that conducted the Boulder back pain study which demonstrated that 75% of the people with chronic back pain treated with Pain Reprocessing Therapy recovered fully and documented the changes in the brain that occurred with this treatment using function MRI scans. 

This is a fascinating and really informative conversation on the nature of pain and how we can overcome the suffering it causes. I hope you enjoy listening.

LINKS:

Today I’m chatting with Pharmacist, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and founder of Chinese Herbal Pantry, Shirley Chong. 

Shirley’s father was also a Traditional Chinese Medicine (or TCM) practitioner and she earned her stripes in his dispensary and clinic before going onto study western pharmacy, Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture.

Shirley and I talk about some of the foundational principles of TCM, how it differs from western medicine in its approach to diagnosing and treating ill health, and why sleeping before 11pm is critical to keep your Qi, or life force flowing.

Connect with Shirley:

In today’s episode I sit down with Mindfulness Teacher, Trainer and Supervisor, Dr. Avinash Bansode.

A medical doctor by training, in 2003 Avinash founded Mindfully Being to pursue his passion for supporting the well-being, happiness, health and effectiveness of all. 4 years later he left medicine to become a full time mindfulness teacher and has not looked back.

Over the past 20 years Avinash has taught mindfulness in both academic and corporate settings. He was the first mindfulness chaplain at the University of Edinburgh, sits on the board of trustees of the mindfulness network in the UK, and in 2017 his unique, Kind And Mindful Approach to Life program was given an Impact Award

Avinash and I discuss his first experiences with mediation, the nuances of mindfulness, and its potential for radically transforming self and the world.

LINKS: 

In this very special episode I speak with musician and composer Jonathan Adams, a.k.a Sonic Yogi about sound therapy.

Jonathan and I talk about his musical journey, the origin story of Sonic Yogi, and how he discovered the healing benefits of sound therapy after experiencing extreme anxiety. Since then Jonathan has become one of the most popular teachers on Insight Timer, the global meditation app with the world's largest free library of guided meditations. 

We also feature two of his tracks which are carefully composed to help listeners relax, de-stress and enjoy deeper meditation. 

To listen to the full tracks - check it out here:

In this episode, I sit down with Meg Chang to talk about Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction MBSR, an 8 week evidence-based program that offers secular intensive mindfulness training to assist people with stress, anxiety, depression, and pain.
 
Meg is also a longtime MBSR instructor who studied and began teaching at the original stress reduction clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center under the supervision of the creator of MBSR, Jon Kabat-Zinn. 

About Meg:
Meg Chang, EdD, BC-DMT, LCAT, NCC, is a board-certified and New York State licensed dance/movement therapist. Core faculty in the Lesley University Expressive Therapy Division. Recently she was adjunct faculty and in 2018-2019 was a visiting scholar in the Dance/Movement Therapy program. A certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher, she teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital Center For Mindfulness, in Worcester, MA for people with a range of medical and psychological concerns.

Today I’m speaking with behavioural scientist turned life coach, poet and podcaster Dr. Jeremy Goldberg.

Jeremy is on a mission to make kindness cool, empathy popular and compassion commonplace. Since leaving academia and research behind and founding Long Distance Love Bombs, Jeremy has used his expertise in human behaviour and his knowledge of how the brain influences our actions to help countless clients, listeners and readers of his work cultivate more kindness and compassion for others and themselves.

Today I’m speaking with sleep psychologist, author, researcher and speaker on evidence-based non-medication treatments to improve sleep, Dr. Jade Wu.

Jade completed her PhD at Boston University and her medical psychology residency and clinical fellowship at Duke University, where her research focuses on treating sleep disorders in those with chronic illness. An interest in sleep runs in the family - Jade’s dad was a sleep scientist with the Chinese Space Agency!

Jade and I discuss what sleep is, why it’s so important, and what we can do to optimize this seemingly unproductive activity that is actually the cornerstone of our mental and physical health.

Today I’m speaking with Vidyamala Burch, who is a mindfulness and compassion teacher, author, disability spokesperson and Co-founder of the leading mindfulness organisation Breathworks. Recently she was honoured as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s Birthday 2022 Honours List for her services to Wellbeing & Pain Management. 

Vidyamala’s story is incredible. She began teaching her mindfulness approach for managing pain and illness following her own personal experience living with health challenges. At age 17, she sustained spinal injuries that required multiple surgeries and left her with partial paraplegia and chronic pain. She began to explore mindfulness and meditation as a way to manage her pain and found the results to be life changing and transformative.

In this episode we talk about the highs, lows and breakthroughs in her journey, the role of mindfulness and meditation in meeting life’s challenges, and how living with chronic pain shouldn’t end with acceptance when flourishing is possible. 

About Vidyamala:

Vidyamala Burch is a mindfulness and compassion teacher, author, disability spokesperson and Co-founder of the leading mindfulness organisation Breathworks. 

In 2001, she developed the world’s first Mindfulness-based Pain Management (MBPM) programme and in 2004 went on to found the Breathworks organisation with Sona Fricker and Gary Hennessey. Today, Breathworks has taught over 100,000 people their mindfulness-approach to coping with pain, illness and stress.