Rightful Instagram celebrity Sharon McMahon is known as “America’s Government Teacher.” Her new book, The Small and the Mighty, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. With her trademark warmth and wit, McMahon shares a few historical secrets, her approach to judging people from the past, and her perspective on our current moment in time. She …

Tonights playlist featuring Lady GagaLady Gaga - Bad romanceLady Gaga - A-yoIngrid Michaelson - Hell nojulia deans - RecoveryCAT POWER - Living proofLady Gaga - Stupid loveLady Gaga - JoanneJewel - Jesus loves youElise Davis - Hold me like a gunLady Gaga - Poker faceLady Gaga - Rain on me (featuring Ariana Grande)Holly Humberstone - Lauren Lady Gag…

In this solo episode, I share some things that are on my mind right now, including: An experience I had revisiting my 22-year-old self. A powerful takeaway from a workshop on wanting and desire. And how I’m thinking about personal stories, memoir, and bridges to bigger collective stories. I also answer some listener questions (thank you, and please…

In this moving, live conversation with journalist Clara Bingham, we delve into the incredible stories that make up her latest oral history book, The Movement. Bingham reveals the highs and the lows of second wave feminism from 1963 to 1973, the women who transformed America during that time, and the reverberations that we’re still feeling today. I …

Legendary anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy gave us the term “allomother,” and by extension, “alloparent”—the pioneering idea that mutual care is the reason we’ve evolved to be the humans we are today. Hrdy, who is professor emerita at the University of California, Davis, has just written a new (and stunning) book, called Father Time: A Natural His…

Sharing an episode of Need a Lift?, a show that focuses on bringing people together during a tough time in our culture. Host Tim Shriver talks to wise guests who have transformed painful moments in their lives into purpose through their spiritual rituals and practices. Guests like bestselling novelist Min Jin Lee on why she creates complicated char…

Featuring Eddi Reader - Playlist for you featuring Eddi ReaderEddi Reader - The right placeEddi Reader - Sugar on the pillCarole King - It's too lateLissie - When I'm aloneEddi Reader - New York cityEddi Reader - DandelionFrou Frou - You've only got oneCocteau Twins - BluebeardThe Unthanks - Queen of heartsEddi Reader - Simple soulEddi Reader - Won…

“We need to be open to things that offend or transcend our worldview because they're clearly doing that for a reason,” says Jeffrey Kripal, PhD. Kripal—who holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University—returns to the podcast for a second time. We talk about different ways to understand the deeper realities …

“I think it's good to relive the past and then revise your life,” says Edith Eva Eger. “Go through it, but don't get stuck in it.” The world-renowned psychologist, who survived the Nazi death camps, and went on to be a colleague of Viktor Frankl, just turned 97. And she just released The Ballerina of Auschwitz, which is the YA edition of her major …

Featuring the very marvellous Blondie - Tonight's playlist for you featuring BlondieBlondie - RaptureBlondie - DreamingThe Breeders - CannonballRickie Lee Jones - GravityBlondie - Heart of glassBlondie - AtomicAmy Winehouse - Tears dry on their ownTricky - Black steelBlondie - One way or anotherMartha Wainwright - Love is a strangerBlondie - Tide i…

Dr. Jim Doty is a neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, and the director of Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. Jim is also a bestselling author—his first book, Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart, tells his improbable life story: Jim had a tough sta…

Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis has one of the most illustrious resumés of all the guests on Pulling the Thread—and I think we’re the same age. Lewis is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University where she serves on the Standing Committee on American Studies…

Featuring Wahine Maori artists - Tonights playlist for you featuring wahine Maori artistsAnika Moa - Ka whakahuiDel Girl - Brown girl Maisey Rika - NiaPixie Williams - Blue Smoke (featuring Lisa Tomlins and Kirsten Te Rito)Ladi6 - Give me the lightKirsten te Rito - NekeRita Hall - Te ahi kai poAnna Coddington - Bird in the handBailey Kauri - Dive i…

James Hollis, PhD is a Jungian analyst who is still in private practice in Washington D.C. Hollis started his career as a professor of humanities before a midlife crisis brought him to his knees—and to the Jung Institute in Zurich. The author of 19 books, Hollis is one of the best interpreters of Carl Jung’s work, making it accessible for all of us…

Dr. Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. Jamil trained at Columbia and Harvard, studying empathy and kindness in the human brain, and I’ve been a mega-fan for years, after interviewing him for his first book, The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured Wor…

Featuring the beautiful Nadia Reid - Nadia Reid - RichardNadia Reid - Ruby Rachel Chinouriri - All I've ever askedCowboy Junkies - Take meSara Bareilles - Breathe againNadia Reid - Oh CanadaNadia Reid - The arrow and the aimBANKS - This is not about usThe Chicks - Ready to runMadonna - Runaway loverNadia Reid - Call the daysNadia Reid - The devil o…

Tara Mohr is a coach, educator and the author of Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead, which is celebrating its 10th birthday this fall. I first met Tara a decade ago and was so taken with her and her insights that we did four stories together—stories that were deeply resonant with women everywhere. These s…

Dr. Katie Hendricks is the co-founder of The Hendricks Institute and the co-author of 12 books, including the bestseller, Conscious Loving: The Journey to Co-Commitment. Katie and her husband, Gay, have been leading seminars and workshops for individuals and couples for decades—moving them from their definition of co-dependence into co-commitment. …

Todays playlist featuring the glorious Ellie GouldingEllie Goulding - On my mindEllie Goulding - LightsSheryl Crow - Weather channelGarbage - MilkEllie Goulding - Wind drunkEllie Goulding - Anything could happenEllie Goulding - ArmyFeist - SealionKimbra - 90's musicBritney Spears - My prerogativeEllie Goulding - Don't say a wordEllie Goulding - Pow…

Amanda Montell is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, as well as Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism and Wordslut. Amanda is a linguistics major from NYU and all of her work centers around the way that words—and thoughts—shape our minds, and how our minds are permeable to other…

Jerry Colonna is the founder of Reboot and one of the most sought after CEO coaches in the world. Before he began coaching executives, Jerry was a burnt out VC, convinced that there must be a better way to impact the world—and also convinced that if he could influence the upper reaches of corporate structures, if he could help leaders heal, he coul…

Featuring the beautiful Hope Sandoval - Playlist for you featuring Hope SandovalMazzy Star - HalahHope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions - The rest of our lifeNina Simone - He needs meEmma Dilemma - Co-operateLizzo - JuiceMazzy Star - DisappearMazzy Star - Flowers in DecemberJoss Stone - Jet lagBaskery - The braveBrittany Murphy - Faster kill pussyc…

Spiritual teacher Thomas Hübl is back for the second part of a series we’ve decided to undertake. If you missed part one, I’d recommend giving it a listen—it ran last week—though there is no test! You can pick up with this episode and you won’t be lost. Thomas is one of my favorite thought partners because of his presence—he can build and hold an i…

Dr. Carol Gilligan is an esteemed professor and developmental psychologist, who is the author of a landmark book called In a Different Voice—a book that I talk about and write about all the time. Back in the ‘80s—Gilligan is 87 now and still working—she looked at all the research from the likes of Lawrence Kohlberg and Piaget and made a stunning an…

You’ve likely heard spiritual teacher Thomas Hübl on my podcast before. This conversation actually happened on his podcast, The Point of Relation, and we went so deep, we decided we needed to do a Part Two, which is coming to you next week. Thomas is the author of two excellent books on collective trauma and resonance: Attuned: Practicing Interdepe…

Jenny Lewis - Todays playlist for you featuring Jenny LewisRilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis - Silver liningJenny Lewis - Acid tongueNataly Dawn - AraceliThe Staves - No you no me no moreJenny Lewis - The big gunsJenny Lewis - The next messiah (featuring Jonathan Rice)Adele - Rumour has itSarah Blasko - [Explain]HER Music - Lost soulsRilo Kiley - Breakin'…

Long-time listeners will recognize Carissa Schumacher from this podcast. Carissa is an incredible forensic medium—which means that yes, sometimes the police call on her for assistance in solving crimes and yes, she also talks to people on the other side. But as of the end of 2019, she’s also a full-body channel for Yeshua, or Christ Consciousness. …

Poet and author Mark Nepo has now written nearly 30 books, including mega-bestsellers like The Book of Awakening. In this latest book, You Don’t Have to Do It Alone, Mark explores the power of friendship to lend life both vital energy and more meaning, likening friends not to the boat, but to the oars that can help you reach the other side of the w…

Dr. Harvey Karp is the author of The Happiest Baby on the Block which has Bible-like status in the world of parenting. As a beloved Los Angeles pediatrician, Harvey punctured the mainstream with the 5 S’s—swaddling, shushing, swinging, sucking, and holding the baby on its side—all simple interventions that helped parents help their newborns sleep. …

Sarah Bessey is the author or editor of five books, including Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith. Sarah writes most prominently about leaving her evangelical upbringing and working through the deconstruction of her religious beliefs to create something that feels more true to her in its wake—as part of this, she co-foun…

Annie Lennox from Eurythmics - Playlist for July 10th show featuring the very marvellous EurythmicsEurythmics - Sweet dreamsTaylor Swift - WillowEurythmics Love is a strangerThe Pretenders - Talk of the townA Fine Frenzy - What I wouldn't doEurythmics - Here comes the rainEurythmics - Would I lie to you?Massive Attack Elizabeth Fraser - Black milkE…

Dr. Niobe Way is an internationally-recognized Professor of Developmental Psychology, the founder of the Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity (PACH) at NYU, and the Director of the Science of Human Connection Lab. She is also a Principal Investigator of the Listening Project, funded by the Spencer Foundation, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initi…

Stan Tatkin is an author, therapist, and researcher who guides couples toward more durable relationships. He developed the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT), a non-linear approach that explores attachment theory to help couples adopt secure-functioning principles: In short, Stan and his wife, Tracey, train therapists to work throu…

Hi, It’s Elise, host of Pulling the Thread. Starting next Monday, I’m doing another special series—this one is about growing up, and no, it’s definitely not just for parents. It’s mostly about re-parenting, or understanding the driving factors of how we all come to understand the world. You’ll hear from four very different voices about childhood, s…

Prune Harris has been able to see, study, and shift energy fields since she was born—a gift she didn’t fully realize she didn’t share with everyone else. Prune is an incredible teacher—I’ve been lucky enough to work with her—because can take esoteric and complex energy systems and distill them into metaphors, concepts, and practices that are both e…

Karl Deisseroth is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist and bioengineering professor at Stanford. Karl is also the author of Projections: The New Science of Human Emotion, which is a beautiful revisitation and exploration of his time as a psychiatry resident, where he encountered all sorts of people who didn’t quite understand what was happening to their…

Ken Wilber's work and intellect is difficult to describe. Throughout a long career—and the authoring of 20 books, including A Brief History of Everything, Grace and Grit, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, and The Religion of Tomorrow, Wilber has put together what is essentially a synthesis of every psychological model of development. In fact, he locked h…

Eva CassidyThis show was broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin - oar.org.nz

Nicole Avant is a philanthropist, filmmaker, and former diplomat. In her recent memoir, Think You’ll Be Happy, Nicole describes attending to the grief and shock of her mother’s unthinkable murder—she was shot in the back by a home intruder in 2021—by creating a living legacy in her honor. Her mom, Jacqueline Avant, had turned her Los Angeles home i…

“I think we need each other. I say this all the time, there are some things that are too big to feel in one body. You need a collective body to move them through. And I think that's what we need. We need to come together in spaces to heal, not just to consume together or to watch a movie together, but to feel together and to have human emotion in r…

“This is the richness of the traditional wife explosion, right? There's this simple idea that you get to choose. Now you're choosing to emulate a situation that's a fiction in that those women didn't choose anything. They had to dress like that. They had to live like that. They had to be nice to the men like that, because they had no bank accounts.…

Here is todays playlist for you:Kimbra - Settle downPeking Man - Room that echoesNadia Reid - Ruby..Goldenhorse - Golden dawn..Iva Lamkum - Bankrupt visaTiny Ruins - Olympic girls..Brooke Fraser - ThunderDelgirl - Bonny girlLucid 3 - Westjulia deans - Skin (everything is coming to a halt)Anji Sami - Out for the weekendWhen the cats away - Melting p…

“Here's what I would say: peace will happen when people invest in cultivating peace as opposed to war. Peace will happen. And one thing I know, for me, I know peace, I know I will never see it, but maybe I can put something in place to where I leave something here and my children's, children's, children's grandchildren can nibble off of and feed on…

“There are studies showing that, once your basic needs are met, and you're not worried about losing your house, losing your health care, increases in money don't significantly increase happiness, right? So I think, you know, money helps alleviate the very real biological primitive fear of you're gonna die if you don't have shelter and food and in o…

“There are therapies where the person is made to relive their traumas over and over and over again. It's called flooding. And that's the one type of therapy that I do not agree with. I think it, not all the time, but it can be harmful, again, in somatic experiencing, we titrate the experience, we touch into a sensation in our bodies that have to do…

“In writing my book, I wanted to bring it back to the self because being online allows us to have this inappropriate level of audacity. And I think audacity is a very beautiful thing, but it gets so inappropriate online where you can go into Elise's messages and say, “by the way, I saw you liked this, you should be liking this, prove yourself to me…

Tonights playlist for you celebrating NZ Music Month...Look Blue Go Purple - Cactus clubThe Beths - Future me hates mereb fountain - LacunaSharon O'Neill - WordsLydia Cole - Blind boyAldous Harding - The barrelThe Crocodiles - TearsAnika Moa - Loving youBROODS - Mother and fatherHOLLIE SMITH - Will you be the one?MEL PARSONS - HeartlandLorde - Gree…

“Now the tragedy, in one sense is a tragedy, that often people only become open when they've suffered horribly when that is both the tragedy of trauma, but also the promise. It's one thing to be trauma informed. It's another thing to inform our experience of trauma with some kind of courage and some kind of hopefulness for profound change. That's w…

“I realized I think there's a few things that are in our heads that are so deep in the culture. One of them is the idea that being overweight is a sin. It goes right back to if you look at Pope Gregory I in the 6th century when he first formulates the seven deadly sins, gluttony is there, it's always depicted with some fat person who looks monstrou…

Hi, It’s Elise, host of Pulling the Thread. Starting next Monday, I’m doing another special series—this set is about trauma, specifically trauma and the body. You’ll hear from four important voices in the space. We’re going to start with Dr. James Gordon, who works with groups all over the world who are in crisis, helping them move their experience…