The Mystical Positivist: June 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #74 - 30JUN12

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.

This week's podcast features:

A conversation with Dr. Gene Nathan MD and Oksana Yufa. Dr. Gene Nathan founded and practices at Gene Nathan M.D.Consults. He trained at the University of Rochester and UCSD, and practiced general pediatrics in Chula Vista and with Scripps Clinic for nearly 30 years. He helped to establish two level II intensive care nurseries in Chula Vista, and was President of the local chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics for four years. He served as medical director for the Center for Healthier Communities at Rady Children’s Hospital until 2002, and helped establish the Healthy Developmental Services program for First Five San Diego. In addition to traditional Western medical approaches, Dr. Nathan has studied herbs, nutrition, cranio-sacral therapy and body work, and various complementary medical healing traditions.

Oksana Yufa was born in Moscow, Russia into a family of physicians and healers. Oksana came to the healing professions from her personal journey and work with Toltec master healers and shamans, both here in America and in Mexico. Specifically, she has studied with don Miguel Ruiz (author of the Four Agreements) in the four year curriculum of Toltec Dreaming, and is active in the Cirlce of Teachers in this Toltec lineage. Oksana also trained with Mother Sarita, a curandera (faith healer), where she was prepared as a seer and a medicine woman.

More information about Dr. Gene Nathan and Oksana Yufa's work can be found at:

Oksana Yufa's website: CranioSacral Therapy
Dr. Gene Nathan's website: Gene Nathan MD Consults
Gene and Oksana's talk at Many Rivers Books & Tea: Occupy Your Body

Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #73 - 23JUN12

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.

This week's podcast features:

A talk given by Robert Tindall at Many Rivers Books & Tea in Sebastopol, CA, on May 10, 2012. Robert Tindall is a writer, classical guitarist, and inveterate traveler who has lived in England, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico. With his wife, Susana Bustos, he leads groups into the Amazon rain forest to encounter the indigenous healing traditions there. He and Susana have recently left Northern California for an extended stay in Peru. His book, The Jaguar the Roams the Mind - An Amazonian Plant Spirit Odyssey, is a journey into the vanishing world of Amazonian shamanism - an adventure of initiation and return - that explores the unique reality at the heart of the Amazonian healing system.

More information about Robert Tindall's work can be found at:

Robert and Susana's website: Roaming the Mind

Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #72 - 09JUN12

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.

This week's podcast features:

A Discussion with Adam Dietz, Ph.D. with Mystical Positivist co-host, Nick Egan, Ph.D. Adam Dietz completed his PhD in Asian and Comparative studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies after living and teaching in Hunan, China. Adam's focus is in Chinese Philosophy; Confucianism, Taoism and Ch'an (aka Zen Buddhism), as well as Chinese Language and the philosophy and practice of Tai Chi Chuan. Adam recently published An Introduction to Confucianism: the Self-Cultivation and Personality of the Superior Person. He currently lives in Petaluma with his wife and four year old son.

More information about Dr. Dietz's work can be found at:

Home Page: Adam Dietz on Facebook
Link to book: Original Confucianism
eZine Article: Righteousness, What is it?
Ethics and Spirituality Blog: ethicsandspirituality.blogspot.com

"The Mystical Positivist" Radio Show

The Mystical Positivist is a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP FM 107.3 Occidental, CA, and on the web at KOWS-LP Live Feed, Saturdays from 4 - 6pm PST. Coming up on The Mystical Positivist:

April 20: A pre-recorded conversation with Ken McLeod, Buddhist teacher and author of the newly released book, The Magic of Vajrayana. In this conversation, we plan to explore a compelling quote from Ian McGilchrist's The Matter with Things: If you had set out to destroy the happiness and stability of a people, it would have been hard to improve on our current formula: remove yourself as far as possible from the natural world; repudiate the continuity of your culture; believe you are wise enough to do whatever you happen to want and not only get away with it, but have a right to it—and a right to silence those who disagree; minimise the role played by a common body of belief; actively attack and dismantle every social structure as a potential source of oppression; reject the idea of a transcendent set of values.

One of the more innovative Buddhist teachers today, Ken McLeod is known for his clear explanations, poetic translations, and pragmatic approach to practice. He is one of the first generation of Western teachers in the Tibetan tradition and one of the few to be authorized to transmit the full scope of these teachings to students. In particular, his approach resonates strongly with those whose path lies outside established institutions.

After graduating with a degree in mathematics, Ken cycled across Europe to Istanbul and then continued his journey overland to India. In 1970 he met his principal teacher Kalu Rinpoche at his monastery near Darjeeling. There Ken began a study and practice in Tibetan Buddhism that lasted more than twenty years. He completed the traditional three-year retreat program two times, translated for many teachers, and helped set up Buddhist centers in Canada and the United States. After his teacher's passing, Ken moved away from the hierarchical structures of Asian Buddhism to explore new approaches.

In 1990, he founded Unfettered Mind in Los Angeles. His approach of one-on-one consultations roiled the Buddhist world in the early '90s, but was quickly recognized as a viable way to teach and guide students in the West. He made individual interviews a central feature of the many retreats he taught in California, New Mexico, and British Columbia. Through numerous small groups in Southern California, he developed the materials that became the encyclopedic meditation manual, Wake Up to Your Life.

Now retired from formal teaching, he lives in Northern California where he hikes and writes. His writings and translations include The Great Path of Awakening (1987), Wake Up to Your Life (2001), An Arrow to the Heart (2007), Reflections on Silver River (2014), A Trackless Path (2017), and The Magic of Vajrayana (2022), as well as a corpus of articles and translations in Tricycle and other Buddhist magazines.