Unconditional Healing with Jeff Rubin
Can a person embrace immense adversity in their life to not only cope, but to thrive and discover their most authentic self?
As a teacher of Buddhist meditation and psychology for four decades, and someone "blessed" with a chronic illness for two of those decades, Jeff Rubin has been obsessed with answering this question. This obsession led him to develop a program called Unconditional Healing, a new model of health that has helped countless people transform their relationship to pain, adversity, and illness, and unlock their own storehouse of confidence and resilience.
In this podcast, Jeff explores the principles of Unconditional Healing with talks, healing practices, and interviews with those who have discovered how to thrive in the face of adversity. He also features guests who are experts or thought leaders in a particular aspect of health and well-being. If you are dealing with an acute or chronic illness, the loss of a loved one or your livelihood, the dissolution of a relationship, or any other adverse circumstance that has you feeling anxious and confused, then this podcast is definitely for you. Especially if you’re looking for a more nuanced, more spiritual way to work with life's inevitable difficulties.
Please note the podcast is currently on hiatus, but all episodes remain available on all the major podcast platforms.
Episodes
39 episodes
Commentary on the 5-line Aspiration for Unconditional Health
This will be my last episode for a while. I’ll be placing the podcast on hiatus to pursue my other interests of writing, working with individual students, and spending more time with family and friends as the pandemic lessens. It’s ...
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Episode 39
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45:52
Interview with Toni Bernhard - On the Art and Science of Living with Chronic Illness
Jeff welcomes Toni Bernhard to talk about her journey with chronic illness, the loss of identity and self-blame that inevitably follow, and her dive into writing. To her surprise, that innocent endeavor spawned
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Episode 38
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1:06:02
Meditation is Not Therapy, Sanity is Not What You Think
This episode is another solo show, featuring a talk Jeff gave at a Healing Circle in June of 2021. The full title is “Meditation is Not Therapy, Sanity is Not What You Think”. Jeff chose this topic because in our materialistic society, ev...
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Episode 37
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30:00
Interview with Gustavo Serafini - Empowering Disability for Himself and Others
Gustavo Serafini was born with an extremely rare birth defect known as proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD). ). At birth, he had only his left arm and two shortened legs, one supported using a prosthesis and the other with a bra...
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Episode 36
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1:00:23
Finding Your True North: Integrating Intention with Mindfulness Practice
This episode is a solo show, featuring a talk I gave recently at the Healing Circle. It’s entitled “Finding Your True North: Integrating Intention with Mindfulness Practice", and is especially timely given the resurgence of the pan...
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Episode 35
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30:38
Interview with Tim James - Nutritional Expert and Health Coach
I’ve wanted to have a cutting-edge dietary and nutritional expert on the show for a while as diet plays such a prominent role in our health and well-being, and has played a huge role in stabilizing my own chronic illness. Enter Tim James...
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Episode 34
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1:03:49
Interview with Jeremy Sherman - On the Power of Language to Enlighten or Destroy
Jeremy Sherman is an out-of-the-box thinker who has made it his life’s work to contemplate and write about humanity’s most challenging dilemmas. He has spent decades of study on the human condition, and is an expert on the many ways we employ l...
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Episode 33
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1:09:13
Interview with Sam Thiara - On the Power of "Story-Sharing"
Sam Thiara is a master storyteller, using that honed skill very effectively in his role as mentor, teacher and coach to thousands of people over the years. This skill was on display in Sam’s two TEDx talks, “Discovering the Extraordin...
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Episode 32
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1:02:07
Interview with Dr. BJ Miller, Palliative Care and Hospice Warrior
I try never to use the word “warrior” lightly. But Dr. BJ Miller is a warrior of the first order, having overcome and thrived after a near-fatal electrical accident took half his arm and both legs below the knee. BJ talks about how ...
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Episode 31
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1:08:18
Interview with Ann Cason - On the Art and Science of Quality Caregiving
Now retired, Ann Cason has spent most of her adult life cultivating, refining, and writing about the art and science of caring for the elderly and the ailing. Her book
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Episode 30
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1:11:02
Interview with Laura Khoudari - Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time
Laura Khoudari came by her profession as a trauma-informed personal trainer through a circuitous route. No gym rat, Laura avoided working out and weight training until the unresolved pain in her spine from a herniated disc while in colleg...
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Episode 29
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1:09:01
A 9/11 Tale of Transformation, Awakening and Healing
This episode is a very special one! I so wanted to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11, when the World Trade Center Towers shockingly came down twenty years ago on this day. Being that I live in close proximity to New York City, it’s impo...
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Episode 28
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1:00:40
Transforming Bad Circumstances: What to do When the Roof Caves In
When we experience great difficulty in our life, we tend to panic and “catastrophize”, because we’re so stuck on expecting our life to unfold in a certain way. So, this talk, originally given to a Healing Circle, is very much about loo...
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Episode 27
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38:06
Interview with Dr. Jeanne Michele - Spiritual Change Agent
How does one bring spirituality to the task of counseling clients at moments of crisis or loss? Can one move beyond the standards of traditional counseling to identify what a person needs and wants in life and then design a plan to achiev...
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Episode 26
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1:04:45
Interview with Andrew Holecek - On Demystifying Death and Dying
Andrew Holecek is a prolific author and spiritual teacher who writes and teaches extensively on navigating the Buddhist path. He is able to present this tradition from a contemporary perspective, by skillfully marrying the ancient wisdom ...
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Episode 25
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1:11:38
The Wisdom of Adversity
This episode is about attitude. How do we face adversity when it inevitably comes into our life? What tools do we rely on when the going gets rough? In answering these questions, we need to begin where we are, by looking at ou...
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Episode 24
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31:41
Interview with Madeline Bruser - On the Art (and Science) of Making Music From the Heart
Playing a complicated classical piece on the piano can be amongst the most complex and difficult feats of human hand-eye coordination and cognitive processing. In attempting to master their art with painstaking diligent practice, 75% of p...
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Episode 23
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1:00:26
Interview with Dr. Elaine Yuen - Buddhist Minister, Interfaith Chaplain and Artist
Dr. Elaine Yuen is an educator, interfaith chaplain, Buddhist minister, and artist. She is the former chair of the Wisdom Traditions Department and associate professor at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Now retired, she continues to tea...
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Episode 22
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1:03:39
Chaos and Uncertainty: Steppingstones on the Spiritual (Healing) Path
None of us openly welcomes chaos and uncertainty into our life. Even hearing those words can send a shudder through our bodies. Yet, eventually, they will come unbidden for all of us. This solo episode comprises a talk I gave right ...
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Episode 21
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41:07
Interview with Chungliang Al Huang: Tai Ji Master Extraordinaire
Chungliang Al Huang is a human dynamo and just listening to him raises one’s spirits about what is possible. He is one of the most skilled masters of Tai Ji in the world but has also made his influence known in many other disciplines thro...
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Episode 20
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58:34
Interview with Hackie Reitman - Humble Renaissance Man
Harold “Hackie” Reitman is one of the most interesting and multi-talented folks I've ever met. In his very “out-of-the-box” career, Hackie has been a distinguished orthopedic surgeon, a professional heavyweight boxer, an author of b...
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Episode 19
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59:11
Interview with Peggy Horan - Master of the Art of Massage
Peggy Horan launched her career as a masseuse at a time when a massage was associated with prostitution rather than contributing to one’s health and well-being. She is highly regarded as a pioneer in the profession which has exploded from those...
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Episode 18
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52:00
Living in the Challenge: Beyond the Comfort Zone
We all want to want to feel safe, comfortable, and free of stress. That’s universal. However, without venturing out of our so-called “comfort zone”, we grow stagnant and soft, and unable to handle setbacks and adversity. What’s more, as w...
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Episode 17
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39:45
Interview with Allie Cashel - A Journey of Self-Discovery
This episode is about one young woman’s coming of age while battling a chronic illness (Lyme and tick-borne infections in this case) and her journey of self-discovery. Allie Cashel is a Lyme disease warrior, advocate, and author.
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Episode 16
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57:12
Interview with Erika Berland - Meditation Meets Somatic (body awareness) Education
Erika Berland is a senior teacher and meditation instructor in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and is an expert in applying somatic education and practices to the art of meditation. Somatics, in case you’re not familiar with that term, is ...
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Episode 15
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1:05:43