Proactive 12 Steps

Proactive mindfulness involves being aware of what prevents us from being present and engaged in what we do.

Eric Wolterstorff discusses the complexities of transference and counter-transference in therapy, particularly in the context of trauma.

Julie Nelson is a Zen teacher who has also thought and written about economics, gender, ethics, and ecology. We talk about abuse of authority in a spiritual community.

We know that being more engaged in our lives is good, but we often struggle to do so. We explore this process from a proactive mindfulness perspective.

Steve Hayes is a developer of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Here, we talk about going beyond the specifics of any given therapy

Brenda Shoshanna and I are having a conversation informed by Zen, being present with our experience, as we discuss authority.

 The Feldenkrais method teaches people to be aware of how they move so that they can change ineffective habits. Here, we're using these tools to put the method into practice, live.

Ven. Losang Gendun tells the story of a Buddhist monk who had been put in jail and tortured. The point of the story was how he responded to the situation.

Jeff Warren has an iconoclastic approach to meditation and what it's like to be human. Here, we discuss coming into the present, practicing what we preach.

Owen Flanagan is an expert in the philosophy of mind and ethics. For many years, he was also an addict. Here, we talk about addiction from both perspectives.

I share here what has shaped my understanding of what I now call Proactive Mindfulness.

Gregory Kramer and I set about to embody the attitude of not knowing as we stay present with what happens moment by moment.

This approach blends moments of meditation and moments of sharing our experiences of meditating.

I want to find a down-to-earth experience that helps me relate to non-duality.

I am going to describe to you a one-minute practice. Now, when I say one minute, it could be 50 seconds or five minutes.

Koshin Paley Ellison and Serge Prengel talk about connecting with others as a healing spiritual practice.

I invited my friend and colleague Leslie Ellis tohave a conversation about Active Imagination in therapy and in life.

Peter Levine talks with Serge Prengel about his personal journey through trauma and how he came to develop Somatic Experiencing.

What does it mean to pay attention to our body? A lot opens up when we bring our awareness to the silent, invisible parts.

Serge Prengel talks with photographer Pablo Márquez about his meditative approach to photography. Pablo describes how his art emerges from his being present.

Serge Prengel talks with Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer about their gentle, inspiring approach to meditation practice and self-discovery.

Serge Prengel talks with Raja Selvam about developing the capacity for emotions by making more room for them in the body.

Serge Prengel talks with Seth Zuihō Segall about his journey, making sense of life through the practice of psychology, Buddhism, and philosophy.

Maia Szalavitz blends personal experience and years of investigative research into an inspiring perspective on addiction. Conversation with Serge Prengel about her perspective on addiction.

We do our best to avoid anxiety, and in so doing, risk missing out on the best of the depth and mystery of existence. We also risk compounding the very anxiety we hoped to avoid and becoming destructive as a result.

How does the Polyvagal Theory affect our understanding of mindfulness? Blake O'Connor, Education Director of the Polyvagal Institute, interviews Serge Prengel.

Lee and Serge talk about how a conversation need not be stimulating. They discuss how paying attention to the slowing down of the voice and the body helps to find a soothing and relaxing rhythm of connection. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and […]

Serge and Lee discuss what makes conversation safe and spontaneous.  Then they realized that they were modeling the concepts.  This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years […]

Lee and Serge share their enjoyment of conversation and what it means to them. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years and enjoys coaching people. Published October […]

Serge and Lee talk at length about how to handle the intense emotions that are triggered when we confront somebody about their dangerous behavior.   We talk about how focusing on the moment-by-moment experience makes us more present and effective. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist […]

Serge and Lee discuss what to do when we feel frazzled or overwhelmed.  We describe a simple way to take a mindful pause and feel present.  This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has […]

Lee and Serge talk about Lee's imagery of a Pendulum in codependency to describe shifting from being people-pleasing to intolerant and then eventually finding balance. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has […]

Serge and Lee talk about coming from self-absorption and moving into a place of noticing others.  Not as an exercise in being altruistic but as a way of life that actually feels better.  This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve […]

We talk about freeing meditation from pressures and welcoming every aspect of our inner experience.

Serge and Lee talk about the moment-by-moment experience of sharing with someone who can relate to our situation.  This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years and […]

Antonio Damasio described Nora Arikha as a poet and a painter with the soul of a scientist.

Lee & Serge talk about the darkness of isolation and how important it is to share with another person.  This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years […]

We discuss how we make sense of the world and our place in it, i.e. what is usually called spirituality & philosophy.

Lee and Serge talk about how we can deal with things that we cannot control that result in unbearable loss and lasting consequences.  This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery […]

Lee and Serge talk about things that make them happy and reflect upon how connecting it feels to share with another person what brings you joy. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has […]

Serge and Lee discuss the nature of healing.  We talk about becoming aware of the patterns we have learned in order to adapt to our circumstances. We learn to pause. We are no longer compelled to identify with these patterns. Little by little a broader sense of who we are begins to emerge. This podcast features conversations […]

Lee & Serge explore spirituality as an experience, as opposed to an idea. We don't see spirituality as necessarily related to religion or any sort of dogma. In fact, we let go of the need to label it as spirituality at all. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: […]

We explore a concept that is very important to Bruce Gibbs, finding the right distance from our experience.

We want to do things and we commit to them but then we discover the toll they can take on us. Serge and Lee explore this dilemma and how to deal with the trade-off between integrity, responsibility, self-care, and being true to yourself. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 […]

In this 13-minute conversation, we talk about prayer, and how it need not be religious. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years and enjoys coaching people. […]

In this 7-minute conversation, we veer away from talking about problems and talk about when things go well. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years and […]

In this 6-minute conversation, we talk about when things feel so bad that we'd rather not be present. This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years and […]

This conversation with Ken Benau serves as an introduction to shame and pride-informed psychotherapy with adult survivors of relational trauma

In this 4-minute conversation, we talk about feeling overwhelmed: “It's a lot.” This podcast features conversations about mindful recovery and personal growth, from 2 perspectives: Serge Prengel is a therapist and the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Lee Renee McGinnis has been in recovery for 10 years and enjoys coaching people. Published February 2022

We share with you what we like about the notion of "inquiry," and to do so by giving you a flavor of what we mean by it.