Blue Beryl Podcast

Today I sit down with Dr. Tawni Tidwell, a biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medicine doctor at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Together we discuss how Tibetan medicine approaches the challenges that arise in the course of meditation. Along the way, we talk about reconnecting with indigenous knowledge, establishing a more intimate relationship with the body and the land, and the importance of social context in supporting spiritual practice.If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!Resources related to this conversation:* Tawni Tidwell, “Life in Suspension with Death: Biocultural Ontologies, Perceptual Cues, and Biomarkers for Tibetan Tukdam Postmortem Meditative State” (2024)* Tawni Tidwell et al, “Effect of Tibetan Herbal Formulas on Symptom Duration Among Ambulatory Patients with Native SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Retrospective Cohort Study” (2024)* Tawni Tidwell, “Tibetan Medical Paradigms for the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Understanding COVID-19, Microbiome Links, and Its Sowa Rigpa Nosology” (2021)* New open access book! Crafting Potency: Sowa Rigpa Artisanship Across the Himalayas* Tawni’s research profile at the Center for Healthy Minds* Please note that Tawni is not taking new patients at this time, but she recommends the American Tibetan Medical AssociationBecome a paid subscriber on blackberyl.substack.com to unlock our members-only benefits, including downloading:* Tawni Tidwell et al. “Chasing dön spirits in Tibetan medical encounters: Transcultural affordances and embodied psychiatry in Amdo, Qinghai” 2022. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Leo Lok, a retired practitioner of Chinese medicine who now teaches and consults with practitioners treating difficult cases of meditation sickness. Together, we discuss how to think about the challenging side-effects of meditation through the lens of the ancestral Chinese arts of qi regulation. Along the way, we discuss the surprising power of ocular alignment, how to gradually condition oneself for spiritual heavy lifting, and medieval Chinese emergency treatments for meditation practice gone wrong.If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!Resources mentioned in this episode:* Leo’s chapter on Chinese physicians will appear in Pierce’s forthcoming book, Meditation Sickness: An Anthology on the Dangers of Meditation Practice. (Get notified when this is published.)* Pierce discusses medieval Chinese approaches to meditation sickness, including Zhiyi’s advice for meditators, in an open access article in Journal of Buddhist Ethics.* See Leo’s recommended YouTube instructional video on the six healing breaths.* Leo’s new website is under constructionBecome a paid subscriber on blackberyl.substack.com to unlock our members-only benefits, including downloading:* Pierce’s 2017 translation of the complete “Chapter on Illness” from Zhiyi’s Shorter Treatise on Śamatha and Vipaśyanā. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

The podcast known as The Blue Beryl is changing its name to The Black Beryl, as we are embracing the darkness! Please visit and subscribe to the new podcast at blackberyl.substack.com. In today’s episode, we are launching the new pod with the tables turned. Producer Lan Li takes over the microphone to interview me about spirit healing and related practices. Lan has been trying to ask me these questions for the last two years, but I’ve continued to put them off. Now it’s finally time to put some things on the record and clear the air. So in this episode, we dive right in to questions like do spirits exist? Are mystical experiences real? What are the best talismans for healers? We’re also going to talk about different kinds of possession and the benefits of holding more than one ontological perspective at the same time.I hope you enjoy the conversation, and please subscribe to The Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts and at blackberyl.substack.com. Our episodes are going to continue to be free as always, but we now have paid subscriptions where we can make exclusive resources available to members for a small fee. Your payments help us with production costs of the pod, so thanks for your support! Resources mentioned in this episode:* Pierce Salguero, A Lamp Unto Yourself (preorder).Resources provided for members on blackberyl.substack.com:* Full manuscript of the short book book Traditional Thai Medicine: Buddhism, Animism, Yoga, Ayurveda (2106), with chapters on spirit healing, talismans, and other topics covered here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Volker Scheid, an interdisciplinary scholar and longtime practitioner of Chinese medicine. Together, we take an intellectual deep dive into his thoughts about the importance of blurring disciplinary boundaries and how “meta-practice” can make sense of the many different kinds of Chinese medicines. Along the way, Volker and I discuss the commensurability of Chinese medicine and biomedicine, the importance of connecting the self with the ten thousand things, and how premodern ideas can be the basis of a new politics for modern times.If you want to hear more from experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality then subscribe to Blue Beryl and don’t miss an episode!Resources mentioned in this episode:* Volker’s website* Volker Scheid, Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China: Plurality and Synthesis (2002)* Volker Scheid, Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine 1626-2006 (2007)* Paul Unschuld, Chinese Medicine: A History of Ideas (2010)* Annemarie Mol, The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice (2003)* Pierce Salguero, “A Polyperspectival Asian Medicine Practice” (2020)* Slavoj Žižek, “From Western Marxism to Western Buddhism” (2001)* Volker’s blog This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Blue Beryl’s producer, Lan A. Li, a historian of Chinese science, medicine, and the body. We talk about their life-long practice of qigong, the limits of academic critique, and the integration of divergent epistemologies in studying Chinese anatomy. Along the way, we discuss Lan’s new book, Body Maps: Improvising Meridians and Nerves in Global Chinese Medicine, Lan’s relationship to Islam, and how to cultivate wonder through academic study.If you want to hear more from experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality then subscribe to Blue Beryl and don’t miss an episode!Resources mentioned in this episode:* Lan’s website* Lan Li, “The Vital Other: Integrative Medicine and India” (2012)* Lan Li, “Acupuntura e Moxabustão” (2023)* Lan Li and Pierce Salguero, Jivaka Project Philadelphia (2015-2020)* Pierce’s blogs on Ugly Truths about Grad School, Metamodernism, Metamodern Asian Medicine, and Polyperspectivalism* Lan Li, Body Maps: Improvising Meridians and Nerves in Global Chinese Medicine (2025) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

In this episode I sit down with Ruth Westoby a scholar, teacher, and practitioner of yoga. We discuss Ruth’s work on the body in early hatha yoga texts. We talk about the broad diversity of approaches to the material body in these sources, including their ideas about gender, the cultivation of powers, and approaches to liberation. Along the way, we touch on yogic sex, practices to stop menstruating, and the courageous work that modern practitioners have been doing to expose abuse by yoga gurus.If you want to hear more from experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality then subscribe to Blue Beryl and don’t miss an episode!Resources mentioned in this episode:* Preliminary published results from Ruth’s research* Mallinson and Szántó, The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla (2021).* Jason Birch, The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Gorakṣanātha (2023).* Elena Valussi, “The Physiology of Transcendence for Women” (2009)* BBP episode with Dominic Steavu* Hatha Yoga Project* Articles on guru abuse by Pattabhi Jois: Anneke Lucas, Karen Rain, Amanda Lucia* Inform Project* Video footage of Ruth doing historical āsanas* Ruth’s website and email newsletter, Facebook page, Instagram This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today, I sit down with Theodora Wildcroft, a researcher, anthropologist, and long-time teacher of what she calls “post-lineage yoga.” We discuss Theo’s ethnographic research on yoga in the UK, focusing on its connections with animism, paganism, and other somatic practices. We also dive into Theo’s personal approach to yoga as a liberatory practice that allows diverse bodies and minds to thrive. Along the way, we touch on disability, neuro-divergence, cultural appropriation, and the inescapable influence of colonialism for contemporary yogis.Enjoy! and subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes.Resources mentioned in this episode:* Theodora Wildcroft, Post Lineage Yoga: From Guru to #MeToo (2020)* Theo Wildcroft & Harriet Mcatee, The Yoga Teacher’s Survival Guide: Social Justice, Science, Politics, and Power (2024)* Barbora Sojkova & Theodora Wildcroft, Yoga Studies in 5 Minutes (2025)* Theo’s website: https://theowildcroft.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Dr. Brandt Stickley, associate professor of classical Chinese medicine at the National University of Natural Medicine. We talk about Brandt’s approach, which he calls “nondual psychosomatic medicine.” We also explore how perceiving yin and yang moment by moment can be a portal to nondual experience, and how placing needles in a patient can open up a whole imaginal world of symbols and spirits. Along the way, we talk about phenomenology, Chinese herbs, and how premodern texts might literally speak to us.Remember, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes. Please enjoy!Resources mentioned in the episode:* Brandt’s Patreon* Brandt’s personal website This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

In this episode, I sit down with Naomi Worth, a scholar and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism’s postural yoga tradition. We dive into Naomi’s experiences in yogic retreats, highlight the vigorous movement and intense visual elements of the practice, and explore yoga’s role in the Nyingma contemplative path. Naomi also shares how she balances her scholarship and practice of Tibetan knowledge with her current work as a high school teacher. Along the way, we mention wrathful deities, sky-gazing, and how to help teenagers find themselves in today’s modern culture.Remember, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes. Please enjoy!Resources mentioned in the episode:* Naomi’s website* Naomi’s publications on Academia.edu This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Justin B. Stein, a specialist in modern Japanese religion and the preeminent historian of Reiki. We discuss Justin’s new book, Alternate Currents, about the transnational origins of Reiki, and also get into his perspective as a both a scholar and a Reiki practitioner. Along the way, we ask what Reiki has to do with Buddhism, what subtle energy feels like up close, and what kinds of extraordinary experiences might occur when you open up to energy of the universe.Remember, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes. Please enjoy!Resources mentioned in the episode:* C. Pierce Salguero, Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources (2020). Justin’s translation is Chapter 5, “Psychosomatic Buddhist Medicine at the Dawn of Modern Japan”* Justin B. Stein, Alternate Currents: Reiki’s Circulation in the Twentieth-Century North Pacific (2023).* BBP interview with Nathan Michon This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

I sit down with Dominic Steavu, a historian of Chinese religion and healing from UC Santa Barbara. We discuss the central role of the body in medieval Daoist practices, and talk about the Daoist use of psychedelics to facilitate mystical experiences. Along the way, we touch on talismanic tattoos, internal alchemy, and embodied nonduality. Plus, Dominic reveals what he thinks about aliens and the Wu-Tang Clan.Remember, to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl. Please enjoy!Resources related to this episode:* Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face (2009)* Pierce’s blog “In defense of a little romanticism… or, how Mr Miyagi inspired me to become a professor”* Pierce Salguero, Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical (2022)* Dominic Steavu, The Writ of the Three Sovereigns: From Local Lore to Institutional Daoism (2020)* Dominic Steavu, Transforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions (2015)* Dominic’s Academia.edu page This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today, I sit down with Paul C. Wang, a healer and teacher of Chinese medicine and Daoism, and host of the Daology Podcast. We talk about Paul’s practices of “memetic healing” and “clinical cosmology,” and how he works with Chinese medicine, martial arts, neigong, and spirit healing. Along the way, we discover how to communicate with deceased spirits, and how to embody the Dao through everyday practices. Please enjoy! And if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes.Resources mentioned in this episode:* Daology Podcast* Daocenter.com* Dao Center’s Facebook page This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Welcome to the Blue Beryl, a podcast with intelligent conversations about Buddhism, Asian Medicine, and embodied spirituality. In this episode, host Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with BBP producer Dr Lan Li to reflect on Season 1 and look ahead to Season 2. We discuss showing up for scholarly work as a whole person, how studying Buddhist medicine challenges the academic status quo, and what do I mean by calling Season 2 “embodied spirituality”? Along the way, we touch on talismanic chants, poisonous centipedes, dissolving bodies, and the unfolding mystery that this podcast is pursuing.Enjoy! And subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes.Resources mentioned in this episode:* “Human•ities,” Pierce’s blog series on building a more humane culture in the humanities (see also this Facebook group)* Pierce’s publications and blogs about pedagogy* Pierce Salguero, “The Monk and the Centipede” Tricycle (2022)* Pierce Salguero, Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical (2022) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Dr Pierce Salguero is interviewed by James Bae on the Buddhist Medicine & Yoga Podcast. In this extensive and in-depth conversation, we talk about differentiating religion from medicine, what Buddhist medicine can teach contemporary clinicians, current trends in the field of Buddhist studies, and hybridity versus tradition. We also explore Buddhist medicine in America, different kinds of Buddhist healers in the US, and how Buddhist medicine circulates in the contemporary era. Along the way, we dig into the promise of “metadisciplinary” collaborations, and what it means to engage in “pedagogy of the soul.” This episode combines two interviews, abridged and edited together.Enjoy, and please subscribe to Blue Beryl so that you do not miss any episodes in the future!Resources mentioned in the episode:* Link to the original (non-abridged) interview, part 1* Link to the original (non-abridged) interview, part 2* Michael Stanley-Baker, Situating Religion and Medicine in Asia (2023)* Pierce Salguero, Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China (2014)* Pierce’s “Pedagogy of the Soul” blog series* Pierce Salguero, “Beyond Mindfulness: Buddhism & Health in the US” (2022)* Pierce Salguero, “Varieties of Buddhist Healing in Multiethnic Philadelphia” (2019)* Pierce Salguero, “The Role of Buddhist Studies in Fostering Metadisciplinary Conversations and Improving Pedagogical Collaborations” (2021)* Pierce’s “Meta Approaches to Asian Medicine” blog series This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Amy Langenberg, a scholar of South Asian Buddhism, gender, sexuality, and the body. We focus on Amy’s work on misogyny in Buddhist texts, her book on Buddhist embryology, and her current project on sexual abuse in contemporary Buddhist communities. Along the way we discuss miscarriage, menstruation, and the importance of feminist scholarship . . . and also, what does the Buddha have in common with Michael Phelps? Remember, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhism, Asian medicine, and embodied spirituality, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes. Please enjoy!Resources mentioned in this episode:* Amy Langenberg, Birth in Buddhism: The Suffering Fetus and Female Freedom (2017)* Pierce Salguero, “’This Fathom-Long Body’: Bodily Materiality and Ascetic Ideology in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Scriptures” (2018)* Amy’s academic papers, free to download on Academia.edu* Pierce Salguero (ed.), Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources (2017)* Amy Langenberg, “The Buddha Didn’t Teach Consent” (2021)* The Buddhist Bodies Collective* Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg, “Survivor-Centered Solutions: #MeToo and Spiritual Abuse” (CBC Radio)* Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg, “Abuse, Sex and the Sangha: A Series of Healing Conversations” (video playlist)* Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg, “Sexual Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in the Wake of Teacher Abuse” (2023)* Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg, “Supporting Survivors of Abuse” (video)* Amy Langenberg and Ann Gleig, “Sexual Misconduct And Buddhism - Centering Survivors” (2020)* Amy Langenberg, “Late Night Phone Alerts And Other Intrusions: What To Expect When You Write About Sexual Violation In Religion” (2021) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Pamela Boyce Simms, a Buddhist practitioner, herbalist, and cultural healer. We talk about how Pamela’s Buddhist practice enables her to facilitate self-care sovereignty for impoverished rural and urban communities. We also discuss how she uses deep meditation states to navigate the stark racial and political divides facing contemporary America. Along the way, we talk about the multidimensional nature of reality, plant spirits, and how the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa inspired her to get involved in environmental activism. Enjoy, and don’t forget to subscribe to Blue Beryl to ensure that you don’t miss an episode!Resources mentioned:* https://singularitybotanicals.net/* https://communitysupportedenlightenment.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

In this episode, I sit down with Kin Cheung, a scholar of contemporary Buddhism at Moravian University. We talk about his research on a Chinese American community healer who happens to be his father. We discuss how his father’s practice raises challenging questions for scholars, and reveals gaping holes in current academic approaches to Buddhism. Along the way, we talk about how code-switching between different ontologies is a feature of life for Asian Americans, and hear Kin’s father conduct a blessing ritual.Enjoy, and please subscribe so that you do not miss any episodes in the future!Resources Mentioned in this Episode:* First installment of Pierce’s blog series on Meta Approaches to Asian Medicine* Chenxing Han, Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (2021)* Duncan Ryūken Williams, American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War (2019)* Pierce Salguero, Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources (2020)* Jivaka Project Philadelphia (documentary films on Asian American Buddhism in Philadelphia, by Pierce and Lan)* Pierce Salguero, Kin Cheung, and Susannah Deane, Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World (2024)* Pierce Salguero and Andrew Macomber, Buddhist Healing in Medieval China and Japan (2020) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with Rev. Nathan Jishin Michon, a postdoctoral fellow at Ryukoku University and an ordained priest in the Shingon Buddhist tradition. Our conversation touches on diverse Buddhist healing rituals and the role of light in Shingon practice and cosmology. We discuss the playfulness and innovation in modern Japanese Buddhism, and the rise of chaplaincy after the 3.11 tsunami and nuclear disaster. We also talk about Nathan’s ethnographic work in Japan, as well as their experiences volunteering in a “listening cafe.”Resources mentioned in the episode:* Pierce Salguero, Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources (2019)* Jivaka Project* Nathan’s dissertation: “Awakening to Care: Formation of Japanese Buddhist Chaplaincy” (2020)* Nathan Michon, A Thousand Hands: A Guidebook to Caring for Your Buddhist Community (2016)* Nathan Michon, Refuge in the Storm: Buddhist Voices in Crisis Care (2023) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down for an in-depth conversation with my good friend, Michael Stanley-Baker, a scholar of Chinese religion and medicine. We talk about Mike’s international childhood and how his family history influenced his intellectual life, his training as a Chinese medical practitioner, and his book co-edited with Vivienne Lo, the Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine, which is groundbreaking... and open access! We also talk about Mike’s new book with Manchester University Press, Situating Religion and Medicine in Asia, which opens up a critical conversation about how we understand Asian medicine. Then, we look ahead to Mike’s digital humanities project, called Polyglot Asian Medicines. Along the way we talk rabbit-ducks and how fish know that they’re underwater. I hope that you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. And if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes.Resources mentioned in the episode:* Michael Stanley-Baker and Vivienne Lo (eds), Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine (2022).* Michael Stanley-Baker, Situating Religion and Medicine in Asia: Methodological Insights and Innovations (2023).* The Rabbit-Duck (image)* Polyglot Asian Medicines project website* Polyglot Asian Medicines intro video* Mike’s publications This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com

Today I sit down with two guests, Ounkham Souksavanh and Elizabeth Elliott, to talk about community engagement and community health in Laos. We discuss how Elizabeth as a medical anthropologist, and Ounkham as a physician, work together to build trust and improve healthcare access across an ethnically and religiously diverse landscape. Along the way, we learn about Elizabeth’s experience of foraging for herbs and Ounkham’s memories of growing up with traditional medicine in his family. If you want to learn about the landscape of Lao traditional healers and medicinal plants — with a few snake bites and plant talismans thrown in — then this episode is for you!Enjoy! And, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes here. Resources mentioned in the podcast:* Elizabeth’s dissertation: “Potent Plants, Cool Hearts” (2021)* Pierce Salguero, Traditional Thai Medicine: Buddhism, Animism, Yoga, Ayurveda (2016)* Richard Poitier, Yû dî mî hèng “être bien, avoir de la force” (2007)* Elizabeth’s documentary: Traditional Medicine in Southern Laos (2023)* Brand new book released after the interview was recorded: Djaja Djendoel Soejarto et al, Medicinal Plants of Laos (2023) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blueberylpodcast.substack.com