Episode Details

Today, Loretta welcomes Regina Leffers, Ph.D., who is a philosopher, author, meditation teacher, and retired professor whose work brings together academic philosophy, psychology, contemplative practice, embodiment, and human development. She is the former Director of the Center of Excellence for the Built Environment and Professor of Sustainable Construction in the College of Engineering at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Regina holds undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Philosophy and a doctoral degree in Philosophy, and alongside her academic career she has maintained a daily meditation practice for more than 45 years. Her book This Is Consciousness! grew from her concern about one of the defining challenges of our time: our increasing inability to speak civilly, listen deeply, navigate differences, and solve problems together. Regina describes consciousness through a series of “facets”—different perspectives through which human beings experience and interpret reality. Each facet contains gifts, challenges, shadows, and particular ways of solving problems, and difficulties arise when individuals or societies become stuck in one facet beyond its usefulness. Rather than judging one facet as simply good or bad, Regina’s work invites us to understand the developmental purpose of each and learn to move more consciously and fluidly among them. At the heart of her teaching is the distinction between responding from love and reacting from fear, along with the transformative role of meditation, embodiment, self-awareness, and what she calls embodied love. Her work asks us not simply to think about consciousness, but to recognize how consciousness is expressed through our bodies, relationships, choices, communities, and collective life. Learn more and find Regina’s free meditation resources at ReginaLeffers.com