Dharma Lab

Dharma Lab
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Modern neuroscience meets ancient contemplative wisdom, with Dr. Richard Davidson and Dr. Cortland Dahl www.dharmalab.co

  1. May 28

    DL Ep. 33: The Left Brain / Right Brain Myth with Dr. Richie Davidson and Dr. Cortland Dahl

    In this episode, Richie and Cort continue their conversation on brain asymmetry by revisiting one of the most popular neuroscience ideas of the 1990s: the divide between the “left brain” and the “right brain.” Was the right hemisphere really the creative side of the brain, and the left hemisphere the logical one? Richie explains where that idea came from, what it got right, and why it was taken too far. Along the way, he explores language, visual-spatial processing, the 200 million neurons connecting the hemispheres, and why real creativity may depend less on one side of the brain than on the coordination between both. Watch on YouTube; Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. If these conversations are useful, please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel. CHECK OUT EPISODE COMPANION FLASHCARDS below! This is the second part of our conversation on hemispheric specialization with Dr. Richard Davidson and Dr. Cortland Dahl. For the first part, see Your Brain Is a Storyteller, where we explore what split-brain research reveals about consciousness and emotion. For more on the popular science misreadings Richie warns about here, see our recent episode on Why dopamine isn't your problem. Dr. Richard Davidson is the William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds and the Healthy Minds App. His new book with Dr. Cortland Dahl, Born to Flourish, was published by Simon & Schuster in March 2026. Podcast Chapter List 00:00:00 – Intro clip: Creativity requires both hemispheres00:01:30 – Welcome to Dharma Lab00:02:47 – Left brain/right brain ideas in popular culture00:04:00 – Where did these ideas come from?00:05:11 – Language, handedness, and hemisphere differences00:07:36 – The myth of the creative right brain00:08:50 – The 200 million neurons connecting both hemispheres00:10:38 – Split-brain patients and the corpus callosum00:11:57 – What surprised Richie in the early asymmetry research?00:13:10 – The resting brain data they almost threw away00:15:15 – Stable patterns in the resting brain00:16:04 – From “noise” to emotional style00:18:23 – The prefrontal cortex and emotion00:19:58 – Could you choose to use one side of the brain?00:21:52 – A grain of truth, taken too far00:22:55 – Sequential vs. parallel processing00:23:50 – Why real creativity requires both hemispheres00:24:51 – Interhemispheric coordination and creativity00:26:08 – Tibetan mudras and two-handed movement00:27:31 – Visualization, imagination, and creativity00:28:34 – Closing Earlier Post on Brain Asymmetry (Part 1) Written transcript for those who prefer to read Lightly edited for clarity and readability. Intro clip: Creativity requires both hemispheres 00:00 Richard Davidson:One of the things that’s true about language, and especially about speech, is that it’s sequential. We can’t say six words at the same time. Just can’t do it. Cortland Dahl:I’m pretty sure my son could when he was really young, but in any case, it’s usually true. Richard Davidson:Usually true. But if you have pictures of those six words — let’s say there are six animals and you present a picture — you can see all six at the same time. That difference is what we call sequential versus parallel processing. There are certain kinds of visual-spatial skills that can be done more in parallel, and other kinds of skills and tasks that require more sequential activity. And of course, real human creativity, I think, requires both. This is why we have this massive fiber bundle that connects the two hemispheres together so they can work in an integrated way. I think it’s really an oversimplification to think that the right hemisphere is creative and the left is not. Every human being has the potential to be creative. When humans are the most creative, we’re harnessing the full capabilities of our brain. It’s not just the right hemisphere or the left hemisphere. It’s both. Welcome to Dharma Lab 00:01:30 Cortland Dahl:Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Dharma Lab. I’m Cortland Dahl. I’m here with Dr. Richard Davidson, who we all affectionately call Richie, one of the great living neuroscientists on the planet. Today we’re going to continue a discussion we’ve had previously about some of Richie’s most important early work. Richie, I’m excited to ask you about this, partly because I myself have always wanted to geek out and hear more about these things. We always have a million things to talk about, but I never get to talk to you about this. In a previous episode, we talked about your very early research when you were just at Harvard, coming out of grad school, and your early work that showed differences between the different hemispheres of the brain — what is most simply referred to as asymmetry between these different hemispheres. We talked a lot about that, and we can put a link to that previous discussion. Left brain/right brain ideas in popular culture 00:02:47 This was back in the late seventies and into the eighties. Then something very interesting happened in the nineties. I graduated from high school in 1992 and was just starting college. There was a book at that time, and there was all sorts of stuff in the popular media about asymmetry, although that word probably wasn’t used. I remember a lot of things about the left side and right side of the brain. There was a book that I think was something like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It was pointing, in many ways, to your work, which you were very much at the forefront of and had been for many years at that point. But I imagine, like many things, there was probably a lot of oversimplification and perhaps even misunderstanding about what the science really says and what’s really going on in the brain. So maybe we could start there, going back to this discussion about asymmetry and what your research and other researchers were really finding about the different hemispheres of the brain — and how that relates to things like creativity, being more logical, and all the stuff that was at work in our popular conversations about the brain at that time. Where did these ideas come from? 00:04:00 Richard Davidson:Thank you for that great introduction. There’s so much to say. Just being primed with that brings back intense memories from that period. I was very much living this. I published more than 100 papers on brain asymmetry in one way or another, and edited two books on brain asymmetry that were published by MIT Press. They were major compendiums at the time, with a scientist in Norway named Kenneth Hugdahl, one of my early collaborators. So yes, there’s so much to say. Let’s begin by asking where these ideas may have come from. In the previous episode of Dharma Lab, where we began to introduce this topic, one of the things we talked about is that the left hemisphere can speak and has language much more so than the right hemisphere — at least in most people. Language, handedness, and hemisphere differences 00:05:11 I should say that these broad generalizations about the left and right hemisphere are roughly true for right-handed people only. They are not necessarily true for people who write with their left hand. That itself is a whole topic of really interesting conversation, and we’ll bracket it. We can come back to it today briefly. But for now — and I apologize to all you lefties out there — since the majority of people are right-handed, roughly 85%, we’ll just stick with that for now. One of the questions scientists posed is this: if the left hemisphere can speak and really is the primary province of language, what is the right hemisphere doing? It’s presumably not just an appendage. It’s not just there to structurally latch on to the left hemisphere and hold it in place. It has to be doing something. Does it have some specialized role? If the left hemisphere is specialized more for language, is there some set of functions for which the right hemisphere may be better than the left hemisphere? Scientists discovered that there are certain kinds of visual and spatial tasks that the right hemisphere seems to be better at. Now, when we say “better,” what we mean is typically a little bit better. It’s not like there are absolute differences. It’s not like the right hemisphere can do this and the left hemisphere can’t do this. Similarly for language, although for language, the lateralization seems to be more definitive, particularly for speaking. For right-handed people, it’s pretty much the case that the left hemisphere can speak and the right hemisphere cannot speak. That’s pretty clear, and there are various ways in which that has been demonstrated. The myth of the creative right brain 00:07:36 Let me get back to the title of this popular book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. There was a lot of hype that the right hemisphere is the creative hemisphere and the left hemisphere is the analytic hemisphere. When it got overgeneralized, it became something like: the right hemisphere is more interesting and the left hemisphere is boring. Those kinds of generalizations, in my view, were taken way too far. The other really important thing to keep in mind is that within a hemisphere, there is a lot of specialization as well. The anterior portions of the cerebral cortex, the prefrontal region, are doing something quite different from the back of the brain. The visual areas and the parietal area are doing different things. The parietal area is where visual information, auditory information, and kinesthetic information are all integrated. It’s kind of a multi-sensory melting pot. So these characterizations may apply to certain specific regions within a hemisphere, and not necessarily to the whole hemisphere. The 200 million neurons connecting both hemispheres 00:08:50 The other thin

    29 min

  2. May 21

    DL Ep.32: Dopamine Isn’t Your Problem with Dr. Richard Davidson and Dr. Cortland Dahl

    In this episode, Richie Davidson and Cortland Dahl unpack a very misunderstood molecule in popular culture: dopamine. Often blamed for craving, scrolling, distraction, and the endless loop of wanting more, dopamine is not something we can “detox” from or simply turn off. It is essential to motivation, aspiration, learning, and even the desire to practice meditation. Together, Richie and Cort explore what dopamine actually does in the brain, why wanting and liking are not the same thing, how novelty keeps us hooked, and how savoring may help us step out of compulsive loops and reorient toward what is genuinely nourishing. Enjoy! Watch on YouTube; Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. If these conversations are useful, please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel. CHECK OUT EPISODE COMPANION FLASHCARDS! Podcast Chapter List (00:00:00) – Dopamine is not something we can turn off (00:03:46) – What is a neurotransmitter? (00:06:04) – Dopamine as neurotransmitter and neuromodulator (00:08:20) – Why the brain is too complex for simple chemical stories (00:12:02) – The awe and mystery of the brain (00:15:51) – Dopamine, motivation, and the myth of dopamine detox (00:17:04) – Wanting vs. liking (00:19:24) – Doom scrolling and the loop of seeking (00:22:32) – Does dopamine explain why we keep scrolling? (00:24:21) – Experiential fusion and mindless behavior (00:25:42) – Why one molecule is never the whole story (00:26:57) – Novelty and reward prediction error (00:29:00) – The Easter egg example: seeking, finding, and disappointment (00:30:23) – Dopamine in different brain circuits (00:35:37) – What actually helps with compulsive loops? (00:37:47) – Savoring as a way out of wanting (00:39:24) – Meditation, breath, and the practice of savoring (00:43:20) – Letting go of seeking (00:43:56) – Gratitude, bodhicitta, and the sweetness of connection (00:45:28) – Renunciation as reorientation (00:48:00) – Closing Related Topics From the Archives: Written transcript for those who prefer to read Lightly edited for clarity and readability. Dopamine Is Not Something We Can Turn Off (00:00:00) Richard Davidson:Dopamine is essential for human life. Cortland Dahl:There’s no turning dopamine off. Richard Davidson:No turning dopamine off. And anyone who thinks they’re going on a dopamine detox and really banishing their brain of dopamine, I hate to burst the bubble, but that would not be compatible with life. Dopamine is essential in motivation, desire, seeking, and anything that is goal-directed. It has been described by the neuroscientist Kent Berridge as central to “wanting,” which he contrasts with something that it is often confused with: “liking.” Many times, we like the things we want. But not all the time. Sometimes we get caught up in a wanting cycle that is not necessarily leading to liking. But dopamine also plays an incredibly positive and important role. When I spring out of bed in the morning, go down to have my cup of tea, and have the strong aspiration to meditate, that is inevitably relying on the dopamine system too. Welcome to Dharma Lab (00:01:45) Cortland Dahl:Welcome everyone to another episode of Dharma Lab. I’m Cortland Dahl, and I’m here with my dear friend Richie, Dr. Richard Davidson, who, as I’m sure most of you know, is one of the most eminent neuroscientists on the planet. We’re incredibly fortunate to have him in discussion yet again, and for a topic that he is especially well suited to talk about, which is dopamine. I never thought dopamine would be a hook for a conversation like this, but it has taken on almost mythic status in popular culture. It has almost become the bad boy of the brain, like the amygdala, which is one brain region that always gets a bad rap and is associated with all sorts of negative things. These days, of course, we hear a lot about dopamine. You might have heard of things like a dopamine detox, which makes it sound like dopamine is some toxic thing in the brain that we want to get rid of or shut off or have less of in some way. So we thought we could get into the science of neurotransmitters generally, and then specifically dopamine. What does the science really say? What function does dopamine actually play, not only in our brains but in our ability to thrive and flourish? Richie, maybe we can start by zooming way out. I’m guessing people have heard the word dopamine. Some may have geeked out a little and learned more or even tried something like a dopamine detox. Other people may have heard about serotonin or other neurotransmitters, but my guess is that people’s understanding is still a little fuzzy. Could we start with the idea of a neurotransmitter, and then zoom in and look at dopamine specifically? What Is a Neurotransmitter? (00:03:46) Richard Davidson:Yes. Thank you so much. This is a juicy topic and very appropriate for Dharma Lab. There is a constellation of molecules in the brain that play many different roles. One of those roles is what you mentioned: a neurotransmitter. A neurotransmitter has a very specific role in mediating the interaction between two neurons. When one neuron fires, it sends an electric potential down the axon of that neuron. You can think of the axon as the wire extending from the cell body. The cell body is where the basic machinery is, and the axon extends from the neuron. Those axons can be short, and they can also be very, very long. If I asked you right now to move the big toe in your right foot, all of you should be able to do that. That is actually a neuron that extends all the way from your brain to your big toe. Cortland Dahl:That’s a single neuron? That’s cool. I didn’t know that. Richard Davidson:Yes, it is a single neuron. Neurons have many different lengths. At the end of the axon, there is machinery that releases a little packet of chemical. That packet binds to what is called a receptor on another neuron, and that initiates an electric change in the second neuron. That is how communication works between two or more neurons. That is called a neurotransmitter. Dopamine as Neurotransmitter and Neuromodulator (00:06:04) There are also neurotransmitters and other molecules that act as neuromodulators. A neuromodulator is different from a neurotransmitter. Dopamine, which is the topic of our conversation today, can serve as both a neurotransmitter and a neuromodulator. What is the difference? A neuromodulator alters the threshold for the firing of a neuron. It is not directly involved in cell-to-cell communication in the same way. It is more like the molecular soup in which the neuron resides, and that changes the threshold for the firing of the subsequent neuron. There are many molecules that serve as both neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, and dopamine is one of them. I think most neuroscientists would agree that we have not yet discovered the full range of neuromodulators and neurotransmitters in the human brain. It is a vast number. In the popular press, we’ve heard about dopamine, serotonin, maybe norepinephrine, maybe GABA. But there are hundreds of these molecules playing complicated roles. This is why, in general, it is extremely hazardous to pin a particular mental state on a single molecule. That is almost assuredly excessively simplistic and wrong. To the best of our knowledge, there is no well-defined psychological state that can be pinned to one specific molecule. It is much more complex than that. Why the Brain Is Too Complex for Simple Chemical Stories (00:08:20) Cortland Dahl:Just as a footnote, I think it’s mind-boggling when you hear how complex our brains are. Could you say a little about the estimates of how many neurons there are, and then beyond that, the connections between neurons? Now we’re talking about neurons communicating with each other. It’s an order of magnitude we can’t even comprehend. Richard Davidson:The estimated number of neurons in the human brain is about 85 or 88 billion. Cortland Dahl:That’s a “b,” everyone. Richard Davidson:Yes, billion. And the estimated number of connections among those neurons is in the trillions. Cortland Dahl:That’s in your head, everyone. Trillions of interconnections, and all these little communications, neuromodulators and neurotransmitters. The number of times that is happening right now, as you’re listening, is beyond what we can actually think about. Richard Davidson:That’s very true. I often reflect on this as a humility induction, because it is so complicated and we really understand so little of it at this point in time. If we pause to appreciate the complexity, and if we are honest with ourselves, it really is a humility induction. It also exposes how gross our measures are. We’ve done a lot of research with EEG, including the first paper we published with long-term meditation practitioners. EEG involves putting electrodes on the scalp surface. We use it because it is non-invasive and has very fast time resolution. But some people have likened EEG to taking a stethoscope, putting it on the hood of a car, and trying to understand how the car works by listening to the sounds from the stethoscope. That is what EEG is like. Cortland Dahl:So by “gross,” you mean it is such a coarse level of analysis for something that is so incredibly nuanced, beyond what our minds can comprehend. At some point in history, we’ll look back and it will seem like the Stone Age, the way we look at the brain now. Richard Davidson:Totally. There is a whole class of research that goes on in animals, and there are serious ethical issues about this kind of research. That could be the subject of another Dharma Lab. We won’t talk about that right now. Putting those ethical issues temporarily aside, those studies in animals are done because they use methods that cannot be used in humans. They are invasive methods that allow scientists to look at a much more granular level of a

    49 min

  3. May 7

    DL Ep. 31: Your Brain Is a Storyteller

    In this episode, Richie Davidson and Cortland Dahl deeply explore the science of the emotional brain: why the mind is a storyteller, what split-brain research reveals about consciousness, how brain asymmetry shapes emotion, why some people approach opportunity with optimism while others withdraw, and what meditation may do to the brain and immune system. Enjoy! See below for FLASHCARDS, Full Transcript Below Watch on Youtube; Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. FLASHCARDS / EPISODE COMPANION HERE Podcast Chapter List (00:00:00) – The brain is a storyteller (00:01:03) – Welcome to Dharma Lab (00:04:05) – Norman Geschwind and behavioral neurology (00:06:31) – The thumbtack story: emotional memory without conscious memory (00:12:12) – Language, the left hemisphere, and the corpus callosum (00:19:04) – Brain asymmetry and emotion (00:22:54) – Why emotion was so understudied (00:29:26) – Brain asymmetry, attachment, and aversion (00:31:19) – The prefrontal cortex and the old divide between thought and feeling (00:37:07) – Studying emotion in newborn infants (00:42:37) – Meditation, brain asymmetry, and the immune system (00:47:04) – Why “it’s not so simple” Written transcript for those who prefer to read Lightly edited for clarity and readability. The Brain Is a Storyteller (00:00:00) Cortland Dahl:The example you gave earlier, with Broca’s area and the split-brain findings, points to something fascinating. Parts of the brain are not always talking to each other. One part of the brain clearly knows something, but the part that communicates doesn’t. And it doesn’t stay silent. It makes something up. That’s the funny thing. In the absence of information, we don’t just stay silent. When we don’t know something, we are not comfortable with not knowing. Some instinctual part of us fills in the blanks almost all the time. Richard Davidson:Exactly. The human mind and brain is a storyteller. This is how we make sense of our world. We create these narratives. Welcome to Dharma Lab (00:01:03) Cortland Dahl:Welcome everyone to another episode of Dharma Lab. I’m Cortland Dahl, and I’m here with Dr. Richard Davidson, who we all lovingly call Richie. As many of you know, Richie is one of the most pioneering and widely studied neuroscientists on the planet. It’s a gift to be in conversation with him. Today we’re going to have a conversation I’ve wanted to have for a long time. I moved to Madison, Wisconsin in 2012 to study with Richie, and over the years I’ve heard many conversations at the Center for Healthy Minds about neuroscience, meditation, and the mind. But one thing that has never really happened, even for those of us who work closely with Richie, is a kind of broad “download” from him about the amazing body of work he has contributed to over the decades. Many people know Richie as a pioneer of contemplative science and contemplative neuroscience, the scientific study of how practices like meditation affect the mind, the brain, and our biology. But he is also a pioneer of affective neuroscience, which you might think of as the neuroscience of emotion. To be a pioneer in one field is extraordinary. To be a pioneer in two is kind of mind-boggling. So today I want to dig into some of those key insights, especially around neural asymmetry, which was a huge part of Richie’s early career and a central theme in affective neuroscience. Norman Geschwind and Behavioral Neurology (00:04:05) Richard Davidson:This topic is near and dear to my heart. It still is something I’m extremely interested in. It really began when I was a graduate student and had the opportunity to study with Norman Geschwind at Harvard Medical School. Geschwind was one of the great towering figures in what we now call behavioral neurology. I took a course with him on functional neuroanatomy, which is basically how different parts of the brain are connected to different behavioral functions. He was a neurologist, so he looked at people’s behavior as an external reflection of what was going on in the brain. He was an extremely keen observer of behavior, and he was also very demanding. He was what we would now call a localizationist, someone who believed in the specific localization of different functions in different parts of the brain. He used to say that if you don’t believe in localization, it’s because you don’t know neuroanatomy well enough. That pushed me to learn neuroanatomy deeply, including doing a human brain dissection. I also went on rounds with him, where he would visit neurological patients in the hospital. He would do these bedside exams that were incredible, using clever ways of interacting with patients to reveal what might be different about their brains. The Thumbtack Story: Emotional Memory Without Conscious Memory (00:06:31) Richard Davidson:One of the most famous demonstrations I saw involved a technique associated with Korsakoff, who described a syndrome of dementia related to alcoholism. Korsakoff showed that there can be a separation between memory for declarative information and memory for emotional information. A person with severe dementia might not recognize you if you came back the day after seeing them. They may have no conscious memory of who you are. But the question was whether the same was true for emotional information. The demonstration was this: a doctor would put a thumbtack in his hand and shake the patient’s hand. The patient would feel the prick and withdraw. The next day, the doctor would return and ask, “Do you know who I am?” The patient would say no. The doctor would identify himself and offer his hand again. But the patient refused to shake his hand. When asked why, the patient confabulated. He said something like, “I think your hand is dirty, and I don’t want to shake your hand.” That’s a beautiful demonstration of the dissociation between declarative memory and emotional memory. The declarative memory was gone. The patient did not recognize the doctor’s face or name and had no conscious memory of having seen him. But the emotional memory remained. Cortland Dahl:That one point has huge implications for life. We often have an interpretation of something and we are completely convinced of it. It seems so real that it doesn’t occur to us that it’s an interpretation. And yet the mind may have limited information, or may not be conscious of something, and it creates a whole story. In some cases, the story is flat-out wrong. But in the moment, it feels like reality. Richard Davidson:Exactly. And this is not just occurring in patients with frank brain damage. This is happening in all of us all the time. This is how our minds work. The mind creates a story about the world, and it’s from that story that we operate. It is not from some veridical perception of things in the world. There is no such thing as that. Our minds are constantly creating these stories. This relates directly to our insight pillar of well-being, which is about the narratives we are constantly creating about ourselves. Language, the Left Hemisphere, and the Corpus Callosum (00:12:12) Richard Davidson:One of Geschwind’s great contributions was his work on language-related lateralization in the human brain. In virtually all right-handed people, which is about 85 to 90 percent of the population, it is the left hemisphere that can speak, while the right hemisphere cannot. There is a key region called Broca’s area, named after Paul Broca. Damage to this area, often through stroke, can impair a person’s ability to speak. What is interesting is that this is one of the most clearly lateralized functions in the human brain. If this area in the left hemisphere is damaged, the corresponding area in the right hemisphere does not simply take over. The two hemispheres of the brain are very similar in many ways, but they have important differences. They are connected by the corpus callosum, a massive bundle of white matter that connects neurons in one hemisphere to corresponding neurons in the other. It is the largest pathway of connection in the human brain. In the past, for some patients with severe epilepsy, surgeons would cut the corpus callosum to prevent seizures from spreading from one hemisphere to the other. This left people with two disconnected hemispheres. When that happens, you can demonstrate strange dissociations. For example, if a split-brain patient is blindfolded and holds a glass in the left hand, the sensory information goes to the right hemisphere. But because the right hemisphere cannot speak, and the information cannot cross to the left hemisphere, the person may not be able to verbally identify the object. If you give them multiple-choice pictures, though, they can point to the glass. Cortland Dahl:That’s the same basic finding. One part of the brain clearly knows something, but the part that communicates doesn’t. And it doesn’t stay silent. It makes something up. Brain Asymmetry and Emotion (00:19:04) Richard Davidson:Most early research on brain asymmetry focused on the back of the brain, where language and some perceptual differences were located. The left hemisphere was specialized for speech and language. The right hemisphere seemed better at certain visual-spatial skills. But another early observation was especially interesting: when patients had damage to the left hemisphere, especially including the left prefrontal region, they were more likely to show depression after the brain damage. Two people could have comparable amounts of damage, but if the damage was in different hemispheres, the emotional consequences could be different. That led to the conjecture that the left hemisphere might play some role in emotions that are antithetical to depression. These patients often seemed anhedonic, meaning they were not experiencing much pleasure. There were also clinical reports of patients with right-hemisphere damage, whose left hemisp

    51 min
  4. DL Ep.30: The Dharma of Relationships with Devon + Nico Hase

    Apr 24

    DL Ep.30: The Dharma of Relationships with Devon + Nico Hase

    Relationships can be one of the most powerful parts of the spiritual path because they reveal the parts of ourselves we cannot easily see alone. In this episode of Dharma Lab, Cortland Dahl and Richie Davidson are joined by meditation teachers and authors Devin and Nico Hase to explore how Buddhist practice can help us navigate love, conflict, vulnerability, appreciation, and repair. Drawing on their new book, This Messy, Gorgeous Love, they reflect on why relationships are inherently challenging, how they become mirrors for growth, and how simple practices like awareness, check-ins, and appreciation can turn partnership into a path of awakening. Podcast Chapter List 0:00 Relationships are rough: using partnership as a spiritual path1:11 Introducing Devin and Nico Hase and This Messy, Gorgeous Love5:36 What can a monastic tradition teach us about relationships?7:05 Devin on translating Buddhist teachings into modern lay life9:53 Nico on bringing Dharma into the gritty reality of family and partnership11:29 Richie on family, feedback, and why Dharma must matter in real life15:23 Retreat, relationship, and why we can’t hide from ourselves18:04 Partners as teachers: what relationships reveal about us19:34 Nico on monastic ideals, friction, and freedom21:29 Richie on being exposed, seen, and changed by relationship22:16 Self-knowledge, co-regulation, and the dance of partnership23:36 Writing the book together and relationship as mirror25:07 Cort on intimacy, fear, and what love uncovered28:40 Relationships are rough: the myth of smooth sailing30:04 Vulnerability, exposure, and becoming resilient together31:21 Dukkha and the “bumpy ride” of partnership34:24 Appreciation, gratitude, and learning to see the good42:42 Conflict styles: volcanoes, diplomats, and dodgers52:19 The trance of nice: kindness, emotion, and authenticity55:12 Practical takeaways: check-ins, fun, and daily connection57:43 Final reflections on relationships, friendship, and the book’s wider relevance This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dharmalab.co/subscribe

    1 hr

  5. Mar 27

    DL Ep.29: Daniel Goleman on Practicing Before Life's Challenges

    Dr. Richie Richard Davidson, Cortland Dahl, Dan Goleman Discussion Chapter Summary: 00:05:51 — Dan Goleman returns from India and meets Richie Davidson at Harvard00:06:38 — Studying meditation in academia when the field dismissed it00:07:11 — Their careers diverge: journalism at the New York Times and neuroscience research00:08:08 — The Mind & Life Institute and first meetings with the Dalai Lama00:09:20 — Paul Ekman’s surprising transformation after meeting the Dalai Lama00:12:03 — Richie’s quiet strategy: exposing scientists to contemplative practice00:13:09 — The birth of a new generation of contemplative scientists00:14:37 — Cort Dahl discovers meditation research in graduate school00:16:10 — Jon Kabat-Zinn teaching yoga in a Harvard Square basement00:17:35 — “The after is the before for the next during” — meditation changes baseline states00:18:43 — The breakthrough 2004 meditation brain study00:20:26 — The Dalai Lama’s lifelong assignment to study and share these practices00:21:47 — Shifting psychology from pathology to human flourishing00:26:09 — Emotional intelligence as a path to well-being00:31:16 — Why practice—not theory—is what actually changes people00:32:37 — Cort Dahl’s experience with social crisis and emotional complexity00:35:31 — The Dalai Lama’s advice on skillfully working with anger00:38:28 — Two contemplative approaches to difficult emotions00:45:24 — “Feel what you are feeling” — a simple practice that changes awareness00:46:11 — Dan Goleman on Vipassana meditation00:47:10 — Scaling well-being beyond formal meditation practice00:50:04 — Mingyur Rinpoche after retreat: “the same, only more so” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dharmalabco.substack.com/subscribe

    52 min
  6. Neuroscience & Practice discussion / takeaways from Nepal

    Mar 20

    Neuroscience & Practice discussion / takeaways from Nepal

    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dharmalab.co/subscribe

    31 min

  7. Mar 12

    DL Ep. 28: Mingyur Rinpoche - Are You Drained Or Are You Energized?

    We are so honored to welcome Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche to another episode of Dharma Lab. In today’s conversation with Cort and Richie, Rinpoche shares practical ways to stay present in a busy life: a powerful metaphor (“time is like a rubber band”), an “inner sky” teaching for working with anxiety and emotional storms, and a simple micro-practice you can try in under a minute. They also explore why meditation can increase energy and effectiveness, how altruistic intention can transform stress into purpose, and what early research suggests about “flourishing” rippling outward into our families, workplaces, and communities. Podcast Chapter List: 00:00 – Mingyur Rinpoche’s “32 projects” and the secret to steady energy00:27 – Why busyness pulls the mind into past/future (and out of the present)00:55 – How stress shows up in the body 01:14 – “Time is like a rubber band”: making practice fit real life03:13 – Retreat, discipline, and why highly productive people still practice deeply05:23 – The “inner sky”: storms of emotion don’t change awareness06:25 – The airplane rule: “Put your mask on first” (service without burnout)08:24 – Altruistic motivation: practicing for the benefit of others08:53 – Richie’s 2-minute post-meditation calendar practice (be more helpful today)09:56 – “Plugging into a power source”: curiosity, insight, and wisdom as fuel10:06 – The trap of endless wants/needs—and why it’s draining10:26 – Service as nourishment: turning a busy day into a meaningful day21:11 – Doomscrolling vs. creating space for wisdom and compassion24:50 – The science question: does flourishing ripple into systems and communities?25:25 – Mexico healthcare study with Atentamente (practice in the real world)26:35 – Randomized controlled trial results: wellbeing, care outcomes, productivity28:30 – 1-minute micro-practice with Mingyur Rinpoche: connect with the wish to be happy, and expanding that intention outward: love, compassion, and shared flourishing In case you missed it, previous conversation with Rinpoche: Cort and Richie’s new book is coming out in a few weeks! Pre-order Born to Flourish and get: * 1 full year of paid access to Dharma Lab ($100 value) with weekly essays, research updates, podcasts, and member-only online events * Live access to an exclusive Born to Flourish Launch Event * Richie and Cort’s personal reading list on the art of flourishing * A daily protocol for training the mind to flourish Other posts referenced in this episode: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dharmalab.co/subscribe

    30 min

  8. Mar 6

    DL Ep. 27: Jon Kabat-Zinn

    Jon Kabat-Zinn joins Richie and Cort for a wide-ranging conversation on mindfulness, science, and what it means to fully inhabit your life. From the launch of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in a hospital basement in 1979 to more than 1,000 scientific papers a year on mindfulness today, this episode traces how a simple practice entered mainstream medicine and reshaped the way we understand stress, healing, and human potential. Along the way, the conversation moves from chronic pain and anxiety to awareness as a trainable capacity, the role of community, and why paying attention may be one of the most important skills of our time. As Jon reflects, if you are missing this moment, what makes you think you will not miss the next? This episode explores how mindfulness can extend beyond stress reduction toward living more deliberately, with clarity, compassion, and connection. Podcast Chapter List: 00:00 – The Gateway: Stress, Burnout & Why We Come to Practice01:08 – Introducing Jon Kabat-Zinn & the Origins of MBSR05:12 – What Is Mindfulness? Dharma, Awareness & Human Potential09:07 – Why MBSR Started in a Hospital Basement18:39 – “They Gave You the Patients No One Could Help”19:58 – How Science and Contemplative Practice Came Together21:42 – The 2003 Randomized Controlled Trial That Changed the Field25:18 – Meeting People Where They Are: Anxiety as a Doorway26:28 – “Are You Your Diagnosis?” Identity & the Shift from Doing to Being30:11 – Why More People Meditate — But Many Still Struggle33:50 – Medicine for Humanity: Mindfulness in a Time of Crisis40:52 – Awareness as a Human Superpower45:00 – Flourishing Is Contagious (And Trainable)46:46 – Awe, Connection & Learning to Pay Attention47:59 – Not Missing Your Life: Thoreau, Walden, & Living Deliberately49:15 – A Rhapsody for Mindfulness Cort and Richie’s new book is coming out in a few weeks! Pre-order Born to Flourish and get: * 1 full year of paid access to Dharma Lab ($100 value) with weekly essays, research updates, podcasts, and member-only online events * Live access to an exclusive Born to Flourish Launch Event * Richie and Cort’s personal reading list on the art of flourishing * A daily protocol for training the mind to flourish This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dharmalab.co/subscribe

    50 min
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4.8
out of 5
57 Ratings

About

Modern neuroscience meets ancient contemplative wisdom, with Dr. Richard Davidson and Dr. Cortland Dahl www.dharmalab.co

Information

  • Creator
    Dharma Lab
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    38
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dharma Lab, LLC TM
  • Show Website
    Dharma Lab

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