The motto of the alchemical tradition, solve et coagula, is the transformation of base metals into gold. It is also the heroic transformation of ordinary life, through trials and adversity. Dr. Miles Neale explains in this clip from Return with Elixir.

Solve et coagula is very encapsulating of the three threads of the psychology, the myth, and the practice. 

What does solve sound like to you? Dissolve. Which is exactly what it is.

What does coagula sound like to you? Coagulate. 

This is the the motto of the alchemical tradition. The alchemical tradition is what what Damian [Echols] might say he represents the magic of. The magical or the alchemical tradition comes out of the attempt to literally transform base metals through a process of purifying them in order to reconfigure them so that they would create gold. That is on the physical level. What it is spiritually or metaphorically, is deconstructing something so that it's essential ingredients can be...

For millennia the contemplative traditions of India and Tibet have taught that the ultimate nature of reality is empty of inherent existence, and thus insists on social engagement based on love and compassion. This paradox is known as nonduality and understood correctly avoids the extremes of absolutism and nihilism, allowing for creative agency in the world.

Join visionary thinker Dr. Amit Goswami for this talk on quantum activism, and discover the transformative aspects of quantum physics, such as nonlocality (communicating without signals); discontinuity (taking quantum leaps without going through intermediate steps); and tangled hierarchy (the capacity for causally circular relationships). Learn how these quantum principles relate to ancient, sacred wisdom and how they can be applied to conflict resolution and reshaping society.

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Visualization is a powerful meditation technique that many people give up on because they think it's too hard and that they can't do it. In fact, we're visualizing all the time. Dr. Miles Neale explains in this clip from Return with Elixir.

You'll get people who say 'I can't visualize' or 'visualization is so hard for me, I can't do it. It's much easier for me to just follow my breath.' The counter to that is that we are actually visualizing all the time. That sometimes catches people off guard because they take for granted the fact that what they're seeing and experiencing is the way reality is when in fact, from a from a brain based point of view, there is a very small window of data input that's happening.

Images, sights and sounds are coming in the doors of perception and actually being fused by the right brain, memory, association and emotion and creating a kind of storyline that we take for granted. That the things we're perceiving are actually out there, when mostly, not...

Like many many spiritual traditions, the lam rim (gradual path) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism teaches how to prepare for death. This is done by three contemplations, designed to evoke a sense of the preciousness of life and a sense of urgency to make it meaningful. Dr. Miles Neale explains in this excerpt from Return with Elixir. 

I think we all can agree that our culture isn't going to prepare us for death yet that's an inevitability that awaits all of us. From the Lam Rim point of view, the gradual stages of the path, the teaching on death has three levels of contemplation. The first one is the inevitability, the fact that death is certain. No matter how much our culture or family system, evolutionary instinct or habit wants to convince us to be in denial about it, from the gradual stages of the path training it becomes essential at the outset of the path to include the reflection, the constant reminder that death is certain and inevitable.

It's not just in the Buddhist...

In this excerpt from Trauma-Informed Dharma, Dr. Miles Neale talks about one of the many possible ways we can use spiritual beliefs and practices to avoid dealing with painful feelings, unresolved trauma, and developmental needs. What follows below is a lightly edited transcript of the video.

Common examples of spiritual bypassing. Here's one for you: Conflict avoidance in the guise of easy-going. Who doesn't like an easygoing person? Isn't the most classic, prototypical spiritual person very easygoing?

Everything is okay... Everything is chill...There's no conflict...That person is so easy... That person's so nice...

I'm not saying it's not possible. Maybe it's my idealized projection on Geshe Tenzin Zopa but I really do think he's an honestly nice guy. I think it's possible to evolve to a place to be genuinely easygoing. But for your own inventory and your own self-introspection, if you know yourself to be very easygoing, then you can shift the lens a little bit on to yourself...

In this excerpt from Trauma Informed Dharma, Miles talks about refuge and how that relates to the creation of sacred spaces in community, what that looks like and how they allow us to learn and grow spiritually, together. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of the video.

There are actually six refuges. There are three that are considered outer and three that are considered inner. But there's only one true refuge.

The three outer ones are the Buddha, the first human being that woke up and discovered the nature of reality. The second refuge is his teachings and methodology that have been preserved in an unbroken lineage from master to student, from mouth to ear to realization, from concept to knowing to becoming from intelligence to something in the heart, to full embodiment for centuries. That is the dharma. And then there is the sangha, the members of community that structure their micro-culture, organize a micro-culture around this pursuit and support each other. And I...

There is no template for the current COVID-19 induced world health and financial crisis.  All of us are trying to maintain balance in an environment of unpredictability and threat.  As part of our commitment to apply ancient wisdom and current science, mental health professionals within the Contemplative Studies Program have developed a technique called R.E.A.C.T. to help community members and their extended relations co-regulate our threatened and overtaxed nervous systems. We think of this as CPR for our emotions; a rapid, standardized, skill-based response that can be applied to and by the general public with efficient training.

R.E.A.C.T. integrates elements of trauma therapy, polyvagal theory, interpersonal neurobiology, contemplative science and Buddhist compassion practice. While the technique is in early development, Buddhist psychotherapist Dr. Miles Neale presents the principles of the protocol, how it can be delivered, and the science...

Inspired by decades of work in the ancient Buddhist culture of Ladakh, Helena...

The most important message the coronavirus offers is that the natural world is...