In this episode, Dr. Tawni Tidwell shares the latest research into the meditative state of Tukdam. Tukdam is the practice of realizing mind's innermost essence at the moment of death. Pratcitioner's who die in the Tukdam state exhibit minimal signs of bodily decomposition, sometimes for weeks.

Tawni Tidwell is a biocultural anthropologist (PhD 2017, Emory University) and Tibetan medical doctor (Kachupa degree 2015, Qinghai University Tibetan Medical College). She is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Healthy Minds of University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tawni’s research facilitates bridges across the Western scientific tradition and Tibetan medical tradition along with their attendant epistemologies and ontologies. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, where her work focused on pharmacological innovations in Tibetan medicine and training practices for medicine compounding. Her doctoral work detailed the entrainment process for learning Tibetan medical diagnostics of Tibetan medical conceptions of cancer and related metabolic disorders. She is currently the Science Lead for Field Study of the Physiology of Meditation Practitioners and the Tukdam Meditative State (FMed/Tukdam Study) and serves as Principal Investigator for both the North American COVID-19 Tibetan Medical Observational Study (NACTMOS) and the Examining Individual Differences in Contemplative Practice Response Project (ExamID-Biome). Her published works focus on diagnostic/treatment paradigms, pharmacological synergies, and cultural practices for wellbeing and resilience. She maintains a private clinical practice in Madison, Wisconsin and Vienna, Austria. You can learn more about her work at: www.centerhealthyminds.org/about/people/tawni-tidwell. You can learn more about the Tukdam Study at: centerhealthyminds.org/science/studies/the-field-study-of-long-term-meditation-practitioners.

Episode: https://sites.libsyn.com/484860/tukdam-the-practice-of-awakening-at-the-moment-of-death

Podcast: https://gomde.eu/kind-heartfulness-podcast/