In this third of three talks Ed Podvoll gave in the 1980s at Naropa University, Ed frames The Tibetan Book of the Dead to be not as much a book about how to die, but how to live. He warns that there is the possibility of mentally “falling asleep and dreaming and never waking up.” For those in the relational healing professions, Ed here speaks about how to help patients, clients, and ourselves recognize the cycles of the mind and wake up from them through practice and presence.

In this episode, Ed Podvoll continues his journey into one bardo in particular: the bardo of life, which is made up of what The Tibetan Book of the Dead calls the “six realms of existence.” In this second talk in the series, Ed agains brings the material from The Tibetan Book of the Dead to life for psychologist, psychotherapists, and counselors to consider as they conceptualize the nature of the mind. As Ed says, “It is particularly interesting for psychologists to hear this bad news about the realms and about what constitutes a state of crisis. On the other hand, there’s something about a way of talking about the six realms that is also good news … in terms of opportunity. To be able to hear about the six realms and to understand them and perhaps to see through them in their critical points of opportunity is … a blessing.” When presenting, Ed enters and fully embodies each realm so he can describe it from the inside out.

This is the first of three talks Ed Podvoll gave in the 1980s at Naropa University on The Tibetan Book of the Dead. While that text may seem like ancient history, Ed approaches it from the unique perspective of a physician-healer. As these teachings are a distillation of the experience of master practitioners about the psychological phenomena of birth and death, they are relevant today and can serve the transmission of sanity with people in extreme states and those helping them.