#75 - 3 Minute Thursday: Finding Your Freedom

Welcome to our weekly segment, "Three Minute Thursday"  where host Pooja Mottl highlights a piece of wisdom she has come across from her own readings, or shares an inspirational anecdote or insight that can help you lead a more calm and rooted life.

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"The purpose of life is a life of purpose” concludes author Robbin Sharma (Monk Who Sold His Ferrari). But what is your purpose? If you don’t know, you’re no alone. Most people fly through life existing but never living, going through the motions, doing what they think they’re supposed to be doing but never really taking the time to figure out if that aligns with what truly energizes and fulfills them.

If you want to know one thing about your purpose, its about being selfless. Living and doing things that go beyond your individual gain. 

But to get to the heart of your unique purpose, you’ll have to put in the effort. You’ll have to take time out life to find it. And one thing that helps is silence. Often, when we get rid of the noise, the conversations, the technology, and all the stimulations of the material world, our mind calms down just enough for it to reveal to us what it is that we’re here on this planet for. What is it that our talents and capabilities are meant to work on? What is it that energizes us, uplifts us and fills us with joy? Often times, we can’t get these answers if we keep ourselves on the treadmill of life and reaching for distractions. What we need to do is find quiet. Make that time for quiet and it will help you find your purpose. Put it in your calendar if you need to. Turn off your phone – shut down your computer – sit alone with your thoughts. Calm your mind and give it the space it needs to reveal to you what it is that you’re here to selflessly do. 

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If you want to read more of my essays on living calm and free, please sign up to my newsletter by following me on LinkedIn or signing up to at our new website at calmandfreepodcast.com. Please share this episode with someone you love.

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Website: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  www.PoojaMottl.com

Podcast Producer: www.Go-ToProductions.com

Twitter: @PoojaMottl

Instagram: @TheCalmandFreePodcast and @PoojaMottl  

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl

Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro.

Jessica Panian for her help with our graphic design. 

Sufi Kaur for managing and designing our social graphics.

People unconsciously imitate the desires of others—and therefore they value jobs, spouses, brands, viewpoints, and even themselves according to what others around them desire. In his latest book Wanting, my next guest, author, educator and former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Luke Burgis spotlights a theoretical framework to answer why we want what we want and provides antidotes to chasing what leaves you unfulfilled. Luke uses mimetic theory to explore how our technology, relationships, politics, economics, education, and other ecosystems affect what we want and how to change our own desires so that they bring lasting and enduring satisfaction, meaningfulness and love. After living in Italy for 3 years studying classical philosophy and theology, Luke confesses that “He couldn’t continue to start businesses and chase dreams without understanding the truth about the human condition—and myself.”

With keen emotional intelligence, sagacity and courage, Luke brilliantly attempts to explain why our modern world leaves so many feeling restless, unmoored and in a perpetual chase for happiness. I’m so very glad he's shared his ideas with the world in Wanting and this next conversation will leave you contemplating and inspired for days if not years. 

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About Luke:

Luke Burgis has co-created and led four companies in wellness, consumer products, and technology. He’s currently Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Director of Programs at the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship where he also teaches business at The Catholic University of America. Luke has helped form and serves on the board of several new K-12 education initiatives and writes and speaks regularly about the education of desire. He studied business at NYU Stern and philosophy and theology at a pontifical university in Rome. He’s Managing Partner of Fourth Wall Ventures, an incubator that he started to build, train, and invest in people and companies that contribute to a healthy human ecology. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Claire, and her crazy New Orleans cat Clotille.

Follow  Luke:

His Latest Book on Amazon: Wanting

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukeburgis/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lukeburgis

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukeburgis/?hl=en

Web: https://lukeburgis.com/

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More on this Podcast: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter @PoojaMottl: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

@TheCalmandFreePodcast https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

and @PoojaMottl https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl  https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

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Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian https://www.jessicapanian.com/ for her help with our graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/

 Khurshed Batliwala, fondly known by the nickname “Bawa” is a renowned speaker, meditation expert and author of the new book Sleep Your Way to Success. After speaking with him, I found him to be is a beautifully wise, jovial, charismatic and witty teacher, not surprisingly beloved by so many. He has decades of experience teaching with the Art of Living, and organization founded by spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankharji, a volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-governmental organization with centers in more than 156 countries around the world.

This was a beautiful and fun conversation I am so grateful to have had and to share with you now. You will hear him talk about the profound connection between spirituality and science and how the scientists in ancient India were also saints. He says spirituality answers the question" "Who are you?". "Whereas science answers the question what is this?" He also provides a beautiful response to the question of why he meditates 90 minutes every day – listen through to the end to hear it.

If you’ve been enjoying these episodes please text or email todays episode to someone you love and tell them to subscribe so we can continue to share these life lessons on finding calm and redefining success to enable freedom with many more people. 

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Follow  Bawa:

His Latest Book on Amazon: Sleep Your Way to Success

YouTube Channel: BnD TV

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/khurshedbatliwala

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/khurshedbatliwala/?hl=en

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More on this Podcast: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter @PoojaMottl: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

@TheCalmandFreePodcast https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

and @PoojaMottl https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl  https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

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Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian https://www.jessicapanian.com/ for her help with our graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/

Gary Russell is the CEO of Winning Profile, a company that helps identify talent and how to maximize performance by focusing on the heart and the mind rather than the just the external optics. He’s worked with world class athletes, the NFL and Team Great Britain prior to the 2021 Olympics. "Everyone can see and recognize exceptional performance" says Gary, "but we have trouble selecting and, most importantly, reproducing it."

If you’ve been enjoying these episodes please text or email todays episode to someone you love and tell them to subscribe so we can continue to share these life lessons on finding calm and redefining success to enable freedom with many more people. 

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Follow  Gary:

https://www.winningprofile.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-russell-698b6915/

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More on this Podcast: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter @PoojaMottl: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

@TheCalmandFreePodcast https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

and @PoojaMottl https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl  https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

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Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian https://www.jessicapanian.com/ for her help with our graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/

Regina Wallace Jones is the former Mayor of East Palo Alto and currently serves on the board of SF based AI company Sama and prior to this she spent many years in leadership positions at blue chip tech companies like Facebook and Ebay, and most recently Mindbody. Over the course of her nontraditional, prodigious career, Regina has made it her priority to bridge the heart and the intellect by having one foot in public service and the other in cutting edge silicon valley. It is this powerful blend of empathy and intellect that make Regina’s stories and insights so relevant, necessary and instructive for us in today’s fast-changing, world.

If you’ve been enjoying these episodes please text or email todays episode to someone you love and tell them to subscribe so we can continue to share these life lessons on finding calm and redefining success to enable freedom with many more people. 

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Follow  Regina:

www.reginawallacejones.com

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More on this Podcast: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter @PoojaMottl: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

@TheCalmandFreePodcast https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

and @PoojaMottl https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl  https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

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Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian https://www.jessicapanian.com/ for her help with our graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/

Welcome to our weekly segment, "Three Minute Thursday"  where host Pooja Mottl highlights a piece of wisdom she has come across from her own readings, or shares an inspirational anecdote or insight that can help you lead a more calm and rooted life.

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In a fast-changing world, news about success runs rampant. It seems society wants to sell us it's own version of success and the fact is, most of us have bought into it.

If you’re connected to the internet, news about people achieving great wealth, respect or fame, grab your attention in the form of posts, tweets, headlines, and alerts. This kind of sensational success is more alluring and seemingly more accessible, than ever before in human history. 

From unicorn founders to voyages into space, stories about success mesmerize us and seduce us into wanting it, and the herd mentality justifies this narrative and keeps it alive.

There’s nothing wrong with working hard for financial freedom and recognition from our peers – but what we’ve collectively done as a society…is taken success to a dangerous level in the context of our mental wellbeing.

Dangerous, because when we make the end game all about success – the fortune, the notoriety, the achievements - we make the biggest sacrifice: we give up our peace of mind.

See, when we’re driven by the promise that success will make our lives better, as the news and our culture want us to believe, we stop feeling grateful for what we have right now, a scientifically proven way to make our minds unhappy.

And in the competitive race for success, we feel inadequate until me make it, insignificant if we never do, and unsatisfied when we arrive, because hitting one benchmark only begins the chase for yet another.

To counter these emotions, we numb ourselves with food, with drugs, with shopping, with alcohol, with social media and by the dopamine hit that comes from just the idea that success can happen to me… if I just keep plugging away. 

So today I’d like to offer you this advice with love and compassion – I want you to ask yourself: is my definition of success bringing me peace of mind at the end of my day? Does it give me energy or does it take it from me? 

Does my definition of success help me sleep well at night? Does it make me the best colleague I can be? The best parent I can be? 

These are the questions you must ask yourself to ensure a calm mind, which by the way, is the foundation necessary to unleash the genius within you.

In the coming days, I will be releasing a full length video to expand on the process I use, personally, to define success in a way that brings me inner peace. It has been inspired by the likes of legendary coach John Wooden, the work of essayist and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and the philosophy inherent in the Bhagavad Gita, the storied ancient Indian poem imbibed with time-honored wisdom . It will be both at my YouTube channel and on my social media channels. I truly hope these messages resonate with you and can add real value to your life.

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If you want to read more of my essays on living calm and free, please sign up to my newsletter by following me on LinkedIn or signing up to at our new website at calmandfreepodcast.com. Please share this episode with someone you love.

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Website: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  www.PoojaMottl.com

Podcast Producer: www.Go-ToProductions.com

Twitter: @PoojaMottl

Instagram: @TheCalmandFreePodcast and @PoojaMottl  

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl

Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro.

Jessica Panian for her help with our graphic design. 

Sufi Kaur for managing and designing our social graphics.

Our guest today is AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS, best-selling author of the new book Speaking with Spirit. Her previous books include Wake Up to the Joy of You and Unbinding the Heart. In this latest book, Agapi encourages all of us to tap into the power of secular prayer to help us manage our minds and find the calm, tranquility and rootedness we need to flourish in a fast-shifting world. It was a great pleasure to have this dear friend on the podcast again. We talk about the general need for ppl to travel inward as opposed to seeking joy from the material, external world. We also talk about how self-worth can hijacked if we don’t find it from within and how moving beyond your ego is where real peace, grace, surrender and calm lives. 

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About Agapi:

AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS is a best-selling author and speaker who inspires audiences around the world. In her previous book, Wake Up to the Joy of You: 52 Meditations and Practices for a Calmer, Happier Life, she takes readers on a journey and inspires them to let go of what doesn’t work and instead create the lives they really want. Agapi was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and then moved on to receive her master’s degree in psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Her previous books on the Greek archetypes, Gods and Goddesses in Love and Conversations with the Goddesses, were turned into PBS specials. She is currently conducting workshops for Thrive Global, a company founded by her sister, Arianna Huffington, to help change the way we work and live. Agapi has spoken and conducted meditations at many organizations and companies including ABC Carpet & Home, Women’s Health Magazine, Museum of Modern Art, IBM Watson, SAP, Pandora Radio, CVS Corporate, Weight Watchers, PepsiCo, Google, Nike, Starbucks, Fortune Health Conference, and The Heart Association, amongst many. She divides her time between New York and Los Angeles and was born and raised in Athens, Greece.

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Follow  Agapi:

https://thriveglobal.com/authors/agapi-stassinopoulos/

https://www.instagram.com/agapisees/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/agapi-stassinopoulos/

Follow  & Attend the World Happiness Fest:

http://happinessfest.world/

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More on this Podcast: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter @PoojaMottl: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

@TheCalmandFreePodcast https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

and @PoojaMottl https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl  https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

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Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian https://www.jessicapanian.com/ for her help with our graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/

Welcome to our weekly segment, "Three Minute Thursday"  where host Pooja Mottl highlights a piece of wisdom she has come across from her own readings, or shares an inspirational anecdote or insight that can help you lead a more calm and rooted life.

This week, learn all about the Calm & Free Podcast collaboration with the World Happiness Foundation, to bring you 3 special conversations for this year's World Happiness Festival. 

To learn more about the WHF, visit their website. 

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If you want to read more of my essays on living calm and free, please sign up to my newsletter by following me on LinkedIn or signing up to at our new website at calmandfreepodcast.com. Please share this episode with someone you love.

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Website: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  www.PoojaMottl.com

Podcast Producer: www.Go-ToProductions.com

Twitter: @PoojaMottl

Instagram: @TheCalmandFreePodcast and @PoojaMottl  

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl

Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro.

Jessica Panian for her help with our graphic design. 

Sufi Kaur for managing and designing our social graphics.

Our guest today is Dr. Andrew harman, a Professor of Virology and Immunology at the University of Sydney School of Medicine and an ordained Buddhist who has much insight on how Buddhist practices and philosophy can help us deal with change, restlessness and uncertainty in our fast moving world. 

He shares how acceptance of your reality can help bring about calm. Dr. Harman and Pooja talk extensively about how we may need to reset our definition of "happiness" – instead of desperately seeking out happiness through exciting, impermanent experiences, things, people or moments, we might instead think of happiness as a state of equanimity which is defined as mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper. Equanimity, according to Dr Harman, comes from doing the inner work and obtaining wisdom and insight from it.

In other words, from a Buddhist standpoint, real happiness is maintaining a state of inner peace no matter what is happening in the outside world.

In this very special discussion, Dr. Harman also answers how science and Buddhism go hand in hand, why Vipassana mediation may not work for some, and how Albert Einstein may be the best role model to date in helping us see how spirituality or religion can add value along with science in helping us live with more grace, calm, rootedness, and compassion.

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Bio:

Andrew Harman is a Professor of Virology and Immunology at the University of Sydney School of Medicine where he is a level 3 supervisor in the theme of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation. He is a member of the Partnerships Advisory Group and the chair of the High School Liaisons working group. He is also the Deputy Director of the Centre for Virus Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.

Andrew has been working at the Westhead Health Precinct since completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2002. He has extensive collaborations with surgeons at Westmead and other Western Sydney Hospitals who provide his research group with a large range of human tissues with which he conducts all his research. He leads two research groups at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research, in the Centre for Virus Research and Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research. These groups investigate sexual transmission of HIV and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, such as Crohn's Disease.

Andrew’s technological expertise lies in the ability to isolate functionally intact immune cells from human tissue and to visualize immune cells within these tissues. He is an expert in characterizing human tissue immune cells using high parameter single cell technologies including flow cytometry, imaging mass cytometry and RNA sequencing. Andrew also has access to clinically relevant HIV transmission strains derived from infected individuals in sub-Saharan Africa and has developed RNAscope technology to visualise these HIV strains interacting with target cells within 30 minutes of exposure.

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Follow  Professor Harman:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-harman-00a8b3123/

https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/about/our-people/academic-staff/andrew-harman.html#collapseprofileteaching

Follow  & Attend the World Happiness Fest:

https://worldhappiness.foundation/fest/about/

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More on this Podcast: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter @PoojaMottl: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

@TheCalmandFreePodcast https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

and @PoojaMottl https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl  https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

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Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian https://www.jessicapanian.com/ for her help with our graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/

In this special exchange, Pooja and Professor Negi discuss the central tenants and urgency of compassion, a focus of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Dr. Negi expands on how although humans have made tremendous progress from an outward, material standpoint, we have neglected to develop the core inner values that lead to contentment and inner peace. In other words, we have been focused on educating the mind, while forgetting to educate the heart. 

Dr. Negi shares how compassion is linked to the idea of safety and security in a world with so much diverse thought, biases, and differing groups of people. It is in this kind of world, especially, that people need to feel safe. He shares that at the heart of compassion is a sense of meaningful, tender connection with each other, and that creates a sense of security and trust, happiness and love.

Pooja and Dr. Negi also uncover the links between traditional Tibetan Buddhist mind training practices called "Lojong", which systematically look within, closely observing what triggers our emotions. This scientific examination parallels some of the main practices and strategies used in CBT, originating in the 1960's by Dr. Aaron Beck, globally recognized as the father of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and one of the world’s leading researchers in psychopathology.

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LOBSANG TENZIN NEGI, Ph.D. is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University, formerly the Emory-Tibet Partnership. Prof. Negi is also a Professor of Pedagogy in Emory University’s Department of Religion and the founder and spiritual director of Drepung Loseling Monastery, Inc., in Atlanta, GA. 

Over the past two decades, Prof. Negi has been a pioneer of compassion training programs for adults and children and he has contributed to the development and burgeoning of compassion science through his research initiatives and collaborations. 

Through his center, Prof. Negi has developed and now oversees three programs, which are dedicated to expanding compassion and engaging in research. In 2004, Prof. Negi developed CBCT® (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training), a secularized contemplative program based on Tibetan Buddhist mind training practices that deliberately and systematically works to cultivate compassion. He also oversees SEE Learning™ (Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning), a program that develops and implements curricula for kindergarten through university level education for the education of heart and mind. The third program of the center is the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, a program he developed, at the invitation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to develop and implement a comprehensive modern science curriculum specifically for Tibetan monastics. 

 Prof. Negi was born in Kinnaur, a remote Himalayan region adjoining Tibet. A former monk of 27 years, he began his monastic training at The Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamasala, India and continued his education at Drepung Loseling Monastery in south India, where in 1994 he received the Geshe Lharampa degree. Prof. Negi completed his Ph.D. at Emory University in 1999; his interdisciplinary dissertation centered on traditional Buddhist and contemporary Western approaches to emotions and their impact on wellness. His current research focuses on the complementarity of modern science and contemplative practice.

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Follow  Dr. Negi's work:

http://www.tibet.emory.edu

http://www.drepung.org

https://compassion.emory.edu/

https://seelearning.emory.edu/node/5

https://compassionshift.emory.edu/

Follow  & Attend the World Happiness Fest:

https://worldhappiness.foundation/fest/about/

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More on this Podcast: https://www.calmandfreepodcast.com/

For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter @PoojaMottl: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

@TheCalmandFreePodcast https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

and @PoojaMottl https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl  https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

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Special Thanks : 

Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian https://www.jessicapanian.com/ for her help with our graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/