New Dimensions New Dimensions Foundation

Keeping chickens in an urban setting has become increasingly popular in recent years. They not only produce eggs, they give us the delightful pleasure of their company. When feeling stressed and anxious just take a moment or two to pull up a chair outside a chicken coop and let these feathered friends entertain you, erase your anxiety, and connect you to nature. Tedra Hamel (known as Teddi) is a critical care nurse in Washington state and a backyard chicken enthusiast. Through the inspiration of her feathered friends she has become an artist, and her hens have established some fame on Instagram. She is the author and artist illustrator of Therapy Chickens: Let the Wisdom of the Flock Bring You Joy (Quarto Publishing Group 2024)

Interview Date: 3/20/2024  Tags: Tedra Hamel, pecking order, chicken coops, roosting, chicken poop as fertilizer, egg laying, Hen Power, community chicken coops, Animals, Community, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Personal Transformation

Coleman suggests that we take our meditation practice outside. This can move us from an interior-focused self-referential world to one of connecting with the living web that is our ecosystem. He often asks the question of his students: As you are a part of the Earth, what is an effective way to live your life that's an expression of care for the Earth, which is also yourself? Mark Coleman is a mindfulness meditation teacher who has been teaching Insight meditation and nature retreats worldwide since 1997. He regularly leads wilderness retreats through his organization, Awake in the Wild, where he introduces others to nature-based meditation practices. These retreats include a wide variety of contemplative activities like hiking, backpacking, forest bathing, kayaking, river rafting, cross-country skiing, rowing, canoeing, and more. Mark is also the co-founder of the Mindfulness Training Institute, where he co-leads yearlong mindfulness-teacher trainings in Europe and the U.S. He is also a senior meditation teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California. His books include Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery (New World Library 2006), Make Peace with Your Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Your Inner Critic (New World Library 2016), From Suffering to Peace: The True Promise of Mindfulness (New World Library 2019) and A Field Guide to Nature Meditation: 52 Mindfulness Practices for Joy, Wisdom and Wonder (Awake in the Wild 2022)

 Interview Date: 3/6/2024 Tags: Mark Coleman, mindfulness meditation, meandering, John O’Donohue, inner presence, nature, the natural world, Redwoods, silence, eco crisis, attention economy, Buddhism, Meditation, Personal Transformation, Ecology/Nature/Environment

Peterson is directing us to look beyond the companionship we enjoy with our domesticated animal friends and invites us to explore how wild animals can become our guides and fellow travelers, helping us navigate the stresses of daily life in a rapidly changing planet. Here she delights us with her many adventures with dolphins, beluga whales, orcas, and wolves.Brenda Peterson is an award-winning nature writer, memoirist, novelist, and writing teacher. She’s been featured on NPR, and in theNew York Times, Orion Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, and many other prestigious magazines and newspapers. She’s the author of more than twenty books for adults and children. Her books include BuildMe an Ark: A Life with Animals (W. W. Norton 2001), Duck and Cover (Backinprint.com 2004), I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth (Da Capo Press 2010) and Wild Chorus: Finding Harmony with Whales, Wolves, and Other Animals (Mountaineers Books 2024)

Interview Date:3/5/2024 Tags: Brenda Peterson, Noah’sArk, Orcas, beluga whales, dolphins, wolves, animal allies, StuartBrown, Jane Goodall, Animals, Ecology/Nature/ Environment

Beginning with her experience of psychic phenomena from early childhood, Currivan was led on a quest of a life-long exploration of the nature of reality. Her research has come to show that information is as real as anything we call physical reality. Here we explore the reality of informational physics and why this matters in our daily lives. Jude Currivan is the author of The Cosmic Hologram: In-formation at the Center of Creation.

Tags: Jude Currivan, informational physics, quantum physics, black holes, quantum mechanics, Max Planck. Holograms, Ludwig Boltzmann, entropy, the “Big Bang”, pixellation, Planck’s scale, Lewis Carroll, the Red Queen Dilemma, flickering, love, Science, Spirituality, Personal Transformation

The death of someone close to us can trigger questions such as: What is death? Why do people die? Why did this happen to me? Allen Klein has experienced such a loss and the deeply personal inquiry triggered by his grieving process lead him to see anew the preciousness of life and the therapeutic power of humor. Allen Klein is the former Director of Life and Death Transitions in San Francisco. He's a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. He's the author of many books including The Healing Power of Humor (Tarcher/Putnam 1989), The Courage to Laugh, Change Your Life: A Little Book of Big Ideas (Tarcher 1998), Learning to Laugh When You Feel Like Crying: Embracing Life After Loss (Goodman Beck Publishing 2011)

 Interview Date: 12/17/2011     Tags: Allen Klein, forgiveness, grief, grieving, hospice, humor, isolation, laughter, letting go, loss, smile, smiling, Death & Dying, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation, Self Help

Terry teaches the practice of relational mindfulness. He advises us to shift our view of relationship from a zero-sum situation where one person wins and the other loses, one is right and the other is wrong, he gives us examples of how to conduct skillful and effective communication in order to get off the treadmill of repetitive fights with our partners. Terry Real is a family therapist and author. He’s the founder of the Relational Life Institute, which offers Relational Life Therapy (RLT) courses online and in-person workshops for couples, individuals, parents, and professionals. He is the author of I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression (Scribner 1998), How Can I Get Through to You? Closing the Gap Between Men and Women (Simon & Schuster 2002), The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work (Ballantine Books 2008), Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship (Rodale Books 2022)

 Interview Date: 2/14/2024    Tags: Terry Real, hyper-individualism, toxic individualism, relational mindfulness, Relational Life Therapy, RLT, disharmony, repair, James Framo, marriage, patriarchy, non-binary, false binary, Thomas Hubl, wounded child, brain, interconnectedness, Relationship, Personal Transformation, Psychology