Dr. Sará King and Duncan Trussell join Raghu at the Ram Dass retreat to talk trust, interbeing, vulnerability, loneliness, and getting contact high.
Dr. Sará King is a UCLA-trained neuroscientist, political and learning scientist, social entrepreneur, public speaker, and yoga and mindfulness meditation instructor. She has over 20 years of experience as a research scientist, and specializes in the study of the relationship between mindfulness, complementary alternative medicine, and social justice. She is the scientific consultant for Peace in Schools, a dharma teacher with Presence Collective, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Neurology, and the founder of MindHeart Consulting, a scientific consultancy offering seminars, research and development, and trauma healing circles.
For more on Sará’s offerings, please visit mindheartconsulting.com and follow her at @mindheartcollective.
Trust, Vulnerability, & Interbeing // Neuroscience of Seperation
Live on Maui at the 2022 Ram Dass ‘Open Your Heart in Paradise’ Retreat focused on ‘Relationship, Interconnectivity, and Interbeing,’ Dr. Sará King and Duncan Trussell join Raghu, who begins the session discussing the trust that encapsulated him the first time he met Ram Dass. From here, Dr. King eloquently explores the deep meaning behind vulnerability and interbeing, before Duncan dives into discerning between absolute and relative reality. Next, through the lens of moving from the ‘movie of me’ to the ‘movie of we,’ Dr. King illuminates the neuroscience of seperation.
“The first time I had real trust was when I first met Ram Dass. He engendered a trust because he was living in a field of no cynicism, no judgement, no blame, and not caring about what he needed. I felt absolutely like I entered into a pool of beautiful hot water, and I could completely let go and swim in it.” – Raghu Markus
For more Dr. Sará King & Raghu talking intergeneration healing, tune to Ep. 400 of Mindrolling
Nature & Transforming Loneliness // The Inner Narc // Neuroscience of Interconnection (24:20)
Raghu invites Dr. King to share about her tumultuous early life and how merging with nature helped offer her connection to transform her loneliness. From here, Duncan talks covid, anger, paranoia, and trust; and Dr. King shares a story of experiencing “narc mentality,” getting triggered, feeding her demons, and coming back to the situation with love. Next, Dr. King explores the neuroscience of our interconnection, sparking Duncan and Raghu to share stories of getting contact high when people take psychedelics around them.
“Maybe it would be better to get covid than to be constantly angry at people who you thought had covid. Maybe covid is less damaging than carrying around that paranoia and anger all over the place.” – Duncan Trussell
“Being present with the ‘inner narc’ – this idea that we are taught to police ourselves in our own meditation practices. In our own contemplative practices we can be policing our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and emotions, judging ourselves. Those demons can really unfurl, so the quality of attention that we’re paying to our inner experience is where the loving awareness comes in.” – Dr. Sará King
Raghu & David Silver discuss how to work with loneliness, on Ep. 54 of Mindrolling
Science, Maharaj-ji, & the Map of Awareness (51:08)
Opening to the audience for questions, the group offers insight around the science of demons, rationalizing feelings, loneliness versus solitude, science’s connection to consciousness, Maharaj-ji’s selfless perception, and Dr. King’s map of awareness.
“That feeling of being in our heads with our egos is part of the experience of being human. So you can have great compassion for yourself around that experience—it’s natural, it’s okay, and it’s part of the practice of recognizing in that moment and bringing yourself that compassion.” – Dr. Sará King