Chris Barker has been a regular and welcome presence in these podcasts as someone who gives dharma talks at Wednesday night's Lotus Bud meetings.

He's also an academic and writer who has turned his attention to the emotional lives of men in his new book. It's also chronicles a very direct view of his own spiritual journey.

Here he's speaking to Bob about the book, and that journey....

"Cultivating Happiness and Joy" was the title of the dharma talk that Ven. Thich Phap Hai recently gave at the Lotus Bud Sangha at the Buddhist Library in Camperdown.

Joking that the Dalai Lama was addressing similar issues when he comes to Australia soon, Ven. Thich Phap Hai went on to give a wide ranging talk that touched on many aspects of his life as an Australian born monastic within the Order of Interbeing.

Please enjoy this entertaining and insightful dharma talk.

Recently at the regular Wednesday night Lotus Bud Sangha meeting at the Buddhist Library in Camperdown, Sydney, Chris Barker gave the dharma talk.

He spent some time discussing the work on Authentic Happiness done by Professor Martin Seligman, and his own approach to Buddhism.

Although he doesn't mention it in this talk Chris has a wonderfully pragmatic view of free will. We should regard other people as being substantially predestined, he says, so that we can be more forgiving of them. But we should regard ourselves as responsible for our own actions.

The picture is of the full moon rising over the Chinese Consulate which is in Church Street next to the Buddhist Library.

The WellSpring has been quiet for some time. But now we're back. In this series of short podcasts Chris Collingwood and Bob Hughes discuss the overlap between Buddhism and NLP.

The Buddhist idea of seeds in our store consciousness is quite similar to the NLP understanding of our unconscious

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/edit_1_buddhist_seeds_and_nlp.mp3

Many meditators work with their breath. In NLP internal propriocentric sensations are often used in inducing trance too.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/edit_1_breath.mp3

If you need to relax, Chris guides you through a simple process that is designed to take you away.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/edit_1_3_points_of_attention.mp3

What's mindfulness? Well it's a little similar to an open eyed no self talk state the NLP calls the State of Grace.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/edit_1_mindfulness_state_of_grace.mp3

Robert Fritz's book The Path of Least Resistance got a big response from listeners to the podcast. Chris and Bob take up one of the themes – about how sometimes we're motivated by fear, but not well motivated.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/edit_1_path_of_least_resistance.mp3

Chris's partner Jules has been studying Cognitive Science at the UNSW – Chris discusses the overlap between the academic and the practical applications of NLP

http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/edit_1_cog_sci_and_nlp.mp3

For more thoughts on subjects like these visit www.zenlp.org

In this episode:

I'm moved by a speech that Linda Stone gave recently, which was carried on ITConversations, about the Connect Connect Connect generation and how that may be changing. Just as I'm about to finally get a BlackBerry I think she's probably right. I also found myself very moved, pardon the pun recently meditating in a 737. The podcast will probably look more closely at the stillness in the heart of things than we have been.

I've also been much stimulated this weekend by Whole Body Meditations from Lorin Roche, who regular listeners will know is a favourite author of mine. He discusses how there are great benefits to be had from just sitting, and suggests that the rituals and rigour of many ancient meditation techniques may be unnecessary.

In News You Can Use – Commsec have found that Australians are spending more money on gadgets, and staying connected than on health and education. Driving while on a mobile phone is as impaired as driving with blood alcohol at 0.08. And Tai Chi (with Qi Gong) is good for you, American scientists say!

Plus Frank Lowe interviews his mate Adrian about the meaning of life.

 

In episode 44:

Welcome if you're a new listener following
the story in Icon from Nick Galvin.

We consider how long spiders have been
weaving the orb web – it could be as long
as 130 million years, and how long humans
have been wearing jewellry – perhaps as
long as 130 thousand years. However that
may be a sign that humans were
'behaviourally modern' that long ago.
And that means that people like you –
your ancestors with thoughts and emotions
like yours were around that long ago.

We also contemplate the possibility that
there will be a CJD epidemic some
decades from now, and the likelihood
of an earthquake in Southern California.
It's when not if the scientists say.
Both are reminders of the chaos that lurks
under the surface of our lives and the
notion of impermanence.

Frank, one of our Podcast course students,
offers his view of the meaning of life,
and his lilypad theory.

We also take a lesson from Lorin Roche's
book Breath Taking on wandering minds.

Find out more about his wonderful work
on meditation and breathe at
www.lorinroche.com

www.wellspringflow.net

Thanks to the story by Nick Galvin in the Sydney Morning Herald's Icon section, we've had a lot of visitors recently. If you're seeking information of the Podcast classes we run in Sydney please go to NetCastNow.Net

You'll find the podcasting information on the upper right hand side.

Or for more information email podcastlikeapro@gmail.com

If you're looking for corporate podcasting information, our sponsor Corpcoms.com provides media relations, corporate training and inhouse podcasting communication advice.

But before you go, please feel free to have a good look and listen around here.

If you'd like to offer feedback. email me at bob (at) wellspringconnection.net

thanks for visiting

 

 

This episode is mostly recorded on the
banks of the Hawkesbury River near
where it flows into the Pacific Ocean
north of Sydney.

In this episode we discuss how
self-esteem makes a difference in the
way we see others. People with lower
self esteem tend to view those close to
them as all good or all bad.

DNA tests now allow you to trace your
ancestors with great accuracy. Are you
descended from someone famous?
What might you learn about yourself
from your family tree? The scientific
basis shows where our antecdents lay.
Get ready for this to become really
popular, combining as it does our genes
 and celebrity, the International Herald
Tribune predicts.

As we get older we mellow, a lot,
Sydney Univesity's Brain Dynamics
Centre says. Maybe we accentuate the
positive as the negatives in our lives
accumulate.

Our picture is of the Hawkesbury -
it is the shot that I wandered off to take
after musing on the tree and rock spirits
with Limin.

www.wellspringconnection.net is your
connection to the WellSpring

In episode 42, we don't discuss the
meaning of life. But we do consider
how far back life goes on earth. It
may be almost 4 billion years! Now
that deserves some contemplation.

There's a mini meditation on
losing your worries. And Limin
Mao joins us to rethink antibiotics.
You may not need to take the full
course. Plus an anti-smoking vaccine.

Robert Fritz has some tips on living
creatively, from his book The Path
of Least Resistance.

Music: Satori's Relaxation CD from
www.magnatune.com

blog.myspace.com/wellspringflow

In this episode:

We explore the idea that plants under stress produce a chemical, resveritrol, that helps people live longer. David Ewing Duncan raised the idea on a recent Biotech Nation on NPR and ITConversations, and David Sinclair, who heads the aging study at Harvard, is behind the research.

If you motivate yourself by worry, or by setting up big fears about the bad things that are going to happen to you, then you may find that that strategy doesn't work in the long run. Robert Fritz's book The Path of Least Resistance has some interesting observations, which we share this week. You may recall Frances Amaroux recommended the book last week. We got it and she was right

We hear about the meaning of life from leading IT, Marketing and Business journalist Brad Howarth. That's him in the picture, taken by Limin.

And take some tips on meditating from one of the masters: Lorin Roche from his book Whole Body Meditations.

Plus News You Can Use - the latest science research about your health. This week items on exercise, alcohol, dementia and siestas.

In this re-edited episode:

Do you sabotage your present because of patterns you've inherited from the past?

The Love Coach, Frances Amaroux joins us to talk about how we can change those patterns, based on her recent reading of Robert Fritz's The Path Of Least Resistance. She's not offering a quick fix, but she does say that the process has given her great insight into herself. Find out more about Frances, and her Life Partner Quest at http://www.turning-point.com.au/

New research from the University of Leicester's Kim Drake shows that adverse life experiences, like major illness, work problems, being a victim of crime or family misfortunes can shake people's beliefs in themselves. Life's hard knocks may not toughen you up they may just as well leave you more easily influenced.

Women who sleep less under five hours a night are more likely to be overweight than people who get 7 hours or more a night, the American Thoracic Society has heard. Its not because they eat more or exercise less. It may be that lack of sleep slows down the metabolic rate, though.

Listening to music for an hour a day on headphones has been shown in the Journal of Advanced Nursing to reduce pain by up to 21%, and depression by up to 25% in chronic pain sufferers. This follows research that 45 minutes of soft music before bedtime can improve sleep by a third.

Music and sound bits from freesound from bebeto and RHumphries

incidental loops from www.flashkit.com

Adrien Gardner http://www.adg3.com/

and Icebergslim

All played under creative commons licenses.

This is an audio promo for WellSpring Podcast ep 39 - runs 39 seconds. If there's somewhere you can play it I'd be grateful.

Thanks

Bob

In this episode:

Prejudice and gossip. Why we think ill of some people; why we speak badly of others; and the science behind both. Recent brain scan studies from Harvard show that different areas of the brain light up when we think about people who are similar to us and those who aren't.

Plus gossip, spreading negative tales about others, can be a strong bonding force, even among strangers, according to the University of Oklahoma.

Both phenomena are rooted in our need to have in-groups and out-groups to make sense of our identity.

It's the search for a short term gain over our long term interests – a familiar pattern for humans.

Are multivitamins any good for you? Surprisingly the jury is still out despite the amount of the pills that are taken around the globe each day. The National Institutes of Health say that there are a couple of research conclusions (which we tell you about) but mostly more research needs to be done .

Religion and spirituality help black Americans lower their blood pressure and hence the risk of cardiovascular disease, other new research shows.

And a new super antibiotic may solve the problem of antibiotic resistance, researchers at Merck Research Laboratories say.

And Chris Collingwood from Inspiritive talks about the NLP belief that 'the map is not the territory�.

The Promo for episode 38 is at
http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/The_WellSpring_Promo_1.mp3

In this episode:

Rick Farley is dead this weekend, at 53, Grant McLennan passed away in his sleep last weekend, at 48. That's moderately alarming for a fiftysomething male who had met them both.

Ruth Ostrow, writing in the Weekend Australian, tells of a ritual where you spend 12 months making each decision as if you were in the last year of your life.

Sogyal Rinpoche says that we westerners are too caught up in the things of the world, to give sufficient attention to impermanence, which is the real issue. Besides when we glimpse it - we're scared. Krishnamurti says the answer isn't in what we've done in the past, or will do in the future. The key to making the most of life, long or short, is to be in the moment. 'Just be here now' may be the answer to 'How long have I got?'

We hear that they most important precursor of being happy, according to British research is to be content.

And Australia's leading NLP expert Chris Collingwood explains how we can fix the effects of problem people from our past.

The picture is from Elizabeth's bookstore in King Street, Newtown, Sydney.

This is a special edition of the WellSpring Sound Guidance taking you to Cebit 2006 in Sydney.

We explore just two questions:

• what's gee whiz about the gadgets on show?

• and how do they really improve human happiness?

We talk to experts from Panasonic, Netgear, the RFID Association, G3, Blackberry, and the Open Source Association. Good Gadget Guy Peter Blasina wraps us up, too.

Science underpins our ideas on spirituality, and spirituality informs science. But where does technology fit in? Does it increase our control of our lives? Or is it part of an increasing encroachment of our public lives on our private moments? Are we more in control by having a gadget that gets each new email no matter where we are or what time it is, or more controlled by others? We don't answer those questions, really, but we might get you thinking with this podcast.

In this episode:

There's a must listen to story from Peter Wale about memories of his mother and how he's been healing the past.

Dr Mao joins us to discuss what's in your lunch, and what should be. Do you know that 300 grams of hot chips takes a woman 3 hours to walk off?

Can you tell when someone's lying? Mark Frank can, and his system is so good, he has automated it for law enforcement authorities across the world.

New neurological research by Yale University researchers into attraction and aversion shows capuchin monkeys are risk averse. It suggests that we humans are hard wired to be more motivated by the stick than the carrot.

Emory University research into the emotion dread shows that it's a powerful motivating force too. Brain scans show that the pain and attention centres fire up to produce dread.

We have a lovely metaphor about how your conscious and unconscious interact from Jonathan Haidt's new book, The Happiness Hypothesis.

And if you're looking for a job, consider being an evangineer - an evangalist who can engineer the changes they want to see.


Peter Wale's full dharma talk from last week's Lotus Bud Sangha meeting at the Buddhist Library in Camperdown is at
http://media.libsyn.com/media/thewellspring/Peter_Wale_Dharma_Talk.mp3

You can contact us through inbox ...at...wellspringconnection.net

In this episode:

It's dry in Oberon, as the picture shows. Our theme sound effect of thunder and rain belies our desire to hear just that outside.

In News You Can Use: We discuss teamwork why and how it works, according to the American Psychological Association. Teams of three seem to be most effective but what does that imply for marriages? Plus nature not nurture wins as we look at genes and alcoholism and inherited intelligence. There's more evidence that walking is good for you from Prof Robert Thayer author of Calm Energy. And neuroeconomics - how our brains decide on value.

If you're time poor, or you've read Faster by James Gleick, you might be interested in the ideas of 'time porn' and 'time sucks'. Time porn, says www.wordspy.com is what we see when we watch TV sitcoms where characters have vast amounts of unstructured time. That's possibly because they aren't wasting it watching TV. And 'time sucks' is the effect of computer games, the net or TV.

Re-incarnation may be making a comeback, if you believe Prof Charles Tart in shrinkrapradio with Dr Dave. Charles points out that if there is reincarnation then it may make a big difference in how we live our lives.www.shrinkrapradio.com

We also hear from Dr Ian Gawler, the author of You Can Conquer Cancer, who talks about the deeper meaning of meditation in his life. Www.gawler.org

If you're in Sydney this week Peter Wale is speaking at the regular Wednesday night session of the Lotus Bud Sangha at the Buddhist Library in Church St, Camperdown, and we'll be recording it. I hope to bring you an excerpt in the next edition of the WellSpring.

The WellSpring Flow podcasts are an offshoot of the WellSpring satellite audio channel on Foxtel and Austar in Australia. Find out more on www.wellspring connection.net

In this episode:

You can protect yourself against Alzheimers by following a Mediterranean diet you could lower your risk by up to 40%

One American company is pushing its business model for implantable microchips that carry your medical history. Would you have one? Maybe not at their price. But with the history in pets how long can it be before we have a workable model for humans?

Some people call it flow, some call it being in the moment, now Israeli scientists have shown what happens in your brain when overwhelming sensory inputs mean you 'forget your self'.

And we talk to Professor Marc Cohen, Head of Complementary Medicine at RMIT. The alternative therapies that have been proven to work are simple, safe and easy to put into your life, he says.

There's a short extract from Zencast 48 of Eckhardt Tolle talking about forgetting to think and living in the now, and we hear Sandra Lee Patterson's piece in the genius of daring.

Our photo is of Buckemall Creek still green despite the drought.

In this episode:

The 'medicalisation'  of everyday  problems  has been the subject of a Newcastle University conference this last week.  Prof David Henry and  journalist Roy Moynihan  have attracted academics from around the world to examine the corporate sponsored creation of disease which turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and may even cause harm.

The perennial question of nature vs nurture gets some new evidence this week. Yale University Med School shows there is a link between genetics and risk of opiate addiction. Another study, from Cincinnati links snoring from parent to child.

Possibly on the nurture side of the debate the University of Melbourne found that a marriage break up had a major effect on the children's future relationships (especially the women); made a difference to whether the children got degrees, and even adversely affected the household wealth of the children's families.

Another survey  by RMIT on Yoga in Australia paints an attractive picture of people who go to yoga, and why they stick with it. Researcher Stephen Penman tells us about it. More at www.yogainaustralia.com

And prompted by a sleep deficit accumulated over the past couple of weeks we talk about sleep, and why it's so important.

Autumn has arrived in the mountains - the picture above is of poplars just outside Oberon NSW.