This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Eating Meat — the nutritional, ethical, and environmental questions that choice raises, and how we’ve come to our own answers.

From the vegan-vs.-paleo propaganda to the disconcerting realities of factory farming, we consider both the pros and cons of meat consumption.

We wade into some of the controversies and conundrums that polarize many well-intended eaters, and we shed light on some little-considered factors that we think deserve more attention.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you explore on the question of how meat-eating fits into your own life, or doesn’t.

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Clutter — the oppressive burden all that excess stuff represents, and the some strategies for dealing with it constructively.

We talk about clutter’s underlying causes and its real-life impacts.

We explore some of its deeper meanings.

And of course, we offer you some experiments to help you deal more consciously with the clutter that’s been collecting in your life.

Unwanted touches. Inappropriate jokes. Mortifying propositions. Depending on when and where they occur, they can all be forms of the abusive dynamic known as sexual harassment..

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about the recent spate of high profile sexual harassment revelations. We’re also talking about the much lower profile cases of sexual harassment that many of us have suffered — and witnessed — for as long as we can remember.

We share our personal perspectives and experiences, including my own recent "hey-that's-my-thigh!" incident. We address the increasingly charged topic of physical contact and sexually charged banter among friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. We explore the anxiety and growing sense of outrage that pervade this emerging conversation about power, politics, and our scandal-crazy culture.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you tune into your own thoughts and feelings about unwanted sexual attention — and its real-life impacts.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/sexual-harassment/

There’s so much merriment, so much anticipation, and yet … the holidays can also feel like a lot of pressure to perform, to conform, to consume.

Here, we share our thoughts on navigating this season with your sanity and sense of inner peace intact.

From challenging the shop-and-spend cycle, to speaking your truth without inciting unnecessary conflict, we advocate for creating a satisfying holiday experience — your way.

And of course, we offer you some experiments to get you started in that direction, even as the holiday madness kicks into full swing.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/holidays/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about the health of others — the struggles we face in trying to influence the choices of those we care about, and the opportunities we have to offer appropriate support without creating unhelpful stress and resentment for all involved.

From dealing with the real impact that others’ health-depleting habits can have on our lives, to acknowledging the folly of trying to move anyone before they are ready, we explore the sometimes painful space of meeting and loving people where they are — even when we see them going downhill fast.

Sharing insights from well-respected behavior-change models as well as our own real-life experiences, we offer strategies for making peace with what is, while still holding open the door to healthy evolution — if and when our loved ones seem ready to embrace it.

And of course, we offer you some experiments to help you re-frame your own approach to addressing the health challenges of the ones you love.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/the-health-of-others/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking Conscious Eating — the art of more fully enjoying your eating experiences and relating to your food in healthier ways.

We explore how rushed and unconscious eating tends to stoke body’s stress response, and also how it undermines digestion.

We look at how distracted eating robs you of satisfaction and numbs you to your body’s natural satiety signals.

We share some practical techniques for bringing more awareness to your pacing, posture, breathing, and sensory experience.

Finally, we offer you some experiments that invite you to begin developing your own approach to conscious eating — starting with your very next meal.  

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/conscious-eating/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Body Image, and exploring the challenges of maintaining a positive self-regard in our body-shaming culture.

From disturbing statistics about widespread self-loathing to pop-culture and media trends that appear to be making matters worse, we explore the individual and collective costs of promoting unachievable, hyper-perfected body ideals.

We also share some of our own body-image insights, including the places we struggle to shape healthy values and viewpoints in the face of dysfunctional social programming.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you develop more awareness about your own sense of body-image, and to evolve it in ways that work for you.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/body-image/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Astroturfing — the insidious and increasingly common strategy by which special interests create the illusion of grass-roots movements in order to manipulate public opinion, promote unpopular policies, and even subvert elections.

From shady mis-information campaigns waged by Big Business to the rise of “fake news” and fake social-media feeds created with the express purpose of dividing a nation, we’re seeing the emergence of a new and highly effective form of public brainwashing.

So here, we explore the potential this sort of dis-information has to undermine our media and democracy. We look at how astroturfing is being used to mess with our minds, influence our behavior, and to subvert our common interests.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you get wise to how astroturfing works, and where it might be showing up in your own life.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/astroturfing/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Television — the often too-dominant role it has in our lives, and the opportunities we have to right-size its presence in our reality.  
 
We take a look at just how much time Americans are spending watching TV, and why that might be. We also look at the high cost of all that screen time, and we explore some more rewarding alternatives.  
 
Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you evaluate your own relationship with television, and how you might like to see it evolve.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/television/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Feeding Healthy Kids — the challenges involved with doing that, and the choices that matter most.

We talk about overcoming the unhealthy eating habits today’s children are culturally programmed to adopt, and how parents can successfully sway their children toward healthier preferences — even in the face of dietary mixed messages and misinformation.

We explore how nutrition can influence both kids’ current health status and their future health outcomes.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you nudge your own family in healthier directions.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/feeding-healthy-kids/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Autumn. This is the final installment in a series of episodes we’ve built around Dallas’s Seasonal Model of Health, and if you’ve listened to the others, you know they all include explorations of the physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of the season.

In this episode, we consider Autumn’s contracting energy. We look at how it encourages our bodies and minds to wind down the high energy of summer and, as Dallas puts it, "start coming home" for the winter to come.

From seasonal nutrition, fitness, and sleep recommendations to self-care and decluttering wisdom based in Chinese Five Element Theory, we share suggestions rooted in science and personal experience.

And of course we offer you some autumnal experiments to help you make the most of this beautiful season in your own way.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/autumn/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Breaking Up — the factors that shape our decisions to end a romantic relationship, and the strategies that can make that a somewhat better experience for all involved.

We talk about the difficulties of knowing when to call it quits, the pains involved with that process, and also some opportunities that decision represents.

We share some of our own break-up insights, and as always, we offer you some experiments to help you evaluate your own breakup experiences in ways that serve your relationships now, and in the future. 

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/breaking-up/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Asking — the art and importance of making requests based on your authentic desires, and the role that sort of enlightened asking can play in helping you create a more satisfying life.

We explore the perceived risks and fears of loss we tend to encounter in asking other people for anything — whether favors, changes, or resources. 

We also address the opportunities that asking gives us to create more intimacy and connection with others, even as it helps us build a more compassionate and courageous relationship with ourselves.  

Finally, we suggest some tips for more successful asking experiences, and we offer you some experiments to help you explore the transformative possibilities that asking might open up in your own life.  

More show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/asking/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Intuition — the signals we get from our unconscious mind, and the powerful part they can play in directing us toward our own best choices.

From the science of intuition and its intimate relationship with our intestinal tract, to the concept of “thin slicing,” in which our brain processes more data than our conscious awareness can keep up with, we explore the essentials and finer points of what many call our sixth sense.

And of course, we offer you experiments to own and hone the signals your intuition is sending you.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/intuition/

This week on The Living Experiment, we bring you the fourth and final episode in our special series featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse.

For the background on this series, check out the introduction to Lafayette Morehouse Episode 1, on “Resistance to Pleasure.”

In this episode, Pilar talks to teachers Boris Shekeloff and Sugar Goens-Baranco about a concept they call “Winning Cycles” — a friendly, productive way of asking for what you want, and of creating a positive experience for the other person in the process.

A lot of the Morehouse philosophy focuses on creating and sustaining satisfying, mutually pleasurable relationships with others, and particularly in intimate relationships. Here, Sugar and Boris explain how Winning Cycles work, and why they can be a valuable tool for achieving that goal.

A quick reminder that all the episodes in this special series were recorded live on location at the Lafayette Morehouse campus, in Lafayette, California. You can find out more about the place, and the courses offered there, in the show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/winning-cycles/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Therapy — the role it can play in our personal healing and evolution, and our suggestions for employing it in the service of your highest goals.

We both share a little about our own positive experiences working with therapists, and what we took away from our sessions.

We also talk about how therapy is different from coaching, why both can have a role in our growth and success, and how to go about finding a qualified therapist that’s right for you.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you explore whether therapy might benefit you.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/therapy/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Summer — a season so full of potential, projects, and activities, it can leave you feeling exhausted.

So in this episode, we talk about how to make the most of summer, while coming through it as healthy and happy as you want to be, and while setting yourself up for the fall season to come.

Dallas shares wisdom drawn from his seasonal model of health, including tips for nutrition, fitness and sleep. Pilar offers a few summer insights for managing your physical and emotional energy.

And of course, we offer you some experiments to help you enjoy summer’s best gifts in ways that work for you.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/summer/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Forgiveness: The important role it plays in our health and happiness, and the rich opportunities it can offer — if and when we’re ready to embrace them.

We talk about our own personal experiences with forgiveness, and we share some expert recommendations for approaching forgiveness in ways that are healthy, safe, and rewarding.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you more fully explore the potential of forgiveness in your own life.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/forgiveness/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Non-Toxic Bodycare — the importance of having some personal safety criteria for the products we put on our skin, and some strategies for avoiding the chemical compounds most likely to negatively affect your health.

From phthalates to fragrances, we talk about the long list of commonly used ingredients known to cause trouble in the human body, and why regulatory organizations like the FDA don’t provide anywhere near as much protection as most people think.

We suggest some guidelines for selecting better, safer options, and we offer some experiments to help you upgrade your own use of bodycare products in ways that work for you.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/non-toxic-bodycare/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Aging Gracefully — what that means to us, why it matters, and how to go about doing it well.

From challenging dominant cultural norms and anti-aging messages to feeling comfortable in our own skin as the decades pass, we discuss what it means to grow older in a culture that tends to glorify youth.

We offer suggestions for reclaiming your own aging experience. And we offer some experiments to help you expand your assumptions about aging, to release some of your judgments about it, and to more fully embrace its positive possibilities.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/aging-gracefully/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Satisfaction vs. Success — the sometimes surprising tensions that can exist between our pursuit of those two goals, and the ways we can redefine both in the service of our own health and happiness.

In a world where it can seem like everybody on your social feeds is oozing wealth and glamour, it's easy to feel like you should be keeping up somehow — striving harder, achieving more.

At the same time, slogging away at a dead-end job or a feeling stuck in a not-quite-right career can also be a soul-crushing endeavor.

So here, we talk about our own relationship with our work and our ambitions, and we share the insights and open questions that we’re still exploring in establishing our own definitions of a life well-lived.

Finally we offer you some experiments to help you experience more satisfaction and success in your own life.

Full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/satisfaction-vs-success/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about the art of the Commute — the strategies that can make our daily trips less stressful and more rewarding, and the subtle shifts of attitude that can make them easier on your body and mind.

From redesigning your commuting environment to being more mindful of your media, we explore the skills and techniques that can rescue commuting from the realms of drudgery and elevate it to a daily practice you actually enjoy.

Finally, we offer you some experiments that can help you make your commute work better for you.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/commute/

In this episode of The Living Experiment, we go on a One-Year Ramble, reflecting on what we've learned over the course of our first year of doing this podcast, warts and all.

We explore what we've both taken away from our conversations and our friendship, and from our personal and professional journeys over that time.

From observations on the state of health media, to insights about our own strengths and weaknesses, we consider the body of work we've created, and where we see ourselves going next.

Finally, we offer an experiment that gives you the opportunity to connect and reflect with a friend on the nuances of your own life experience.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/one-year-ramble/

This week on The Living Experiment, we bring you the third in a series of four special guest episodes featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse. For more background on this series, check out the introduction to the first Lafayette Morehouse episode, "Resistance to Pleasure".

In this episode, Pilar talks to teaching trio Judy St. John, Colin Selig and Janet Ribaldi about Intimacy and Connection - our human longing for it, the fears and social programming that get in the way, and the steps we can take to create the deeper sense of authentic connection that most of us desire.

A lot of the Morehouse teachings focus on the value of relationships, and the opportunity we have to amplify our enjoyment of life by relating to others with more attention, awareness and authenticity. Morehouse teachings also focus on sensuality as an important aspect of a gratifying life, so we touch on that, too.

Get full show notes and resource links at http://livingexperiment.com/intimacyconnection/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Attractiveness. What makes us attractive? What do we find attractive in others, and why?

From health and beauty to intelligence, kindness, confidence and self-esteem, we explore the whole-person factors that come into play as we size each other up — and evaluate our own mojo.

We also consider some of the psycho-emotional and scientific underpinnings of those factors.

Finally, we suggest some experiments to help you expand your awareness of what attractiveness means to you.

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/attractiveness/