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.

The following is a talk Dr. Ed Podvoll gave at Naropa University in 1986. The theme was “countertransference”—a phenomenon that mental health practitioners experience when working with clients. Intense, confusing, or disorienting experiences arise when one is with clients—but what to do with these experiences? Ed describes practices for integrating countertransference into the healing relationship as a path to wakefulness for both client and therapist. The talk closes with a Q&A with Ed.

This talk is the middle in a three-part series Dr. Ed Podvoll gave at Naropa University in 1986 on the concept of “countertransference.” As a pioneer in joining therapeutic discipline with Buddhist psychology, Ed here brings a new dimension to the discussion of countertransference by introducing us to the ancient contemplative practice of tonglen, a Tibetan term literally meaning “exchanging self for other.” The talk closes with a Q&A between Ed and his students.

This talk is the final of three that Dr. Ed Podvoll gave at Naropa University in 1986 on “countertransference.” Ed focuses on the act of interpretation—when a psychotherapist verbalizes to a client their hypothesis of what is psychologically going on for that client. Ed speaks to the pressure that mounts for a therapist to say something meaningful. Ed describes varieties of such interpretations and their effect—for good and ill—on giver and receiver. The talk closes with a Q&A session.

Ed Podvoll brings his three-part lecture on Dreaming and Psychopathology to a close with a special focus on psychopathology. Ed posits that all psychopathology can be viewed as an essential confusion between what is real and what is unreal. Therefore, the reason to do meditation practice, in terms of aspiring to help others, is that we need to practice waking up from dreams and from daydreams so that we can have confidence to enter another’s world.

Ed Podvoll unfolds the phenomenon of dream formation and its implications for considerations of consciousness and the uncertainty and conviction of reality—circling around the ancient question: how do we know when we are asleep or awake? Continuing a description of the discoveries made by the Marquis de Ville deSantane, Ed also explores the traditional eight states of consciousness, Sigmund Freud’s contribution, and several dream practices. The talk closes with a Q&A between Ed and his students.