For Life on Purpose Episode #65, my guest is award-winning author Linda Johnsen, a long-time student of religious philosophy. Linda holds degrees in Eastern and Western Psychology, and has post-graduate training in theology and Sanskrit. She is the award-winning author of eight books on spirituality including Daughters of the Goddess: The Women Saints of India, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hinduism.

Linda joined me for an enlightening chat about her new book Lost Masters: Rediscovering The Mysticism of the Ancient Greek Philosophers, in which she offers a fascinating opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the ancient Greek masters, revealing a side of Western philosophy that has been almost completely ignored by traditional academia.

"Ashrams in Europe twenty-five hundred years ago? Greek philosophers studying in India? Meditation classes in ancient Rome? It sounds unbelievable, but it’s historically true. Alexander the Great had an Indian guru. Pythagoras encouraged their students to meditate. Apollonius, the most famous Western sage of the first century c.e., visited both India and Egypt."

About Linda Johnsen: I'm a writer who shuttles back and forth between two universes: the modern Western world and India! I've published over 200 articles on topics related to yoga and Hindu spirituality in many magazines including Yoga Plus, Yoga International, Yoga Journal, Himalayan Path, The Mountain Astrologer, and Light of Consciousness.

I'm also author of eight books so farincluding Daughters of the Goddess: The Women Saints of India, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hinduism.

My essays have appeared in a half dozen anthologies including The Divine Mosaic, Uncoiling the Snake, Science of Breath, Shree Maa: The Story of a Saint, Hindu Astrology Lessons, Yoga Abenteuer Meditation (in German), and In the Footsteps of the Goddess.

I've lectured throughout the U.S. on Goddess spirituality, yoga, Hinduism, and Vedic Astrology. I've suffered through numerous radio and cable TV interviews. I have a Master's degree in Eastern Studies.

For four years I was Manager of the Center for Holistic Medicine in Glenview, Illinois. Later I served as Administrator of the Program in Eastern Studies, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. This was a fully accredited Master’s degree program which focused on the many facets of the yoga tradition: hatha yoga postures, stress reduction and breathing exercises, diet, physiology, ethics, philosophy, Sanskrit studies, meditation and research.

These days I'm still writing, teaching, and introducing people to their Vedic horoscope. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area where my husband, Johnathan Brown, shares my passion for the Vedic tradition.

To learn more about Linda and her work, visit: http://thousandsuns.users.sonic.net/.

For Life on Purpose Episode #64, my guest is Zen priest and teacher Richard Diedrichs, whose work presents basic Buddhist teachings that keep you on the wholesome path of self-realization toward a happy life.

Richard joined me for an inspiring chat about his new book Living in Blue Sky Mind: Basic Buddhist Teachings for a Happy Life, in which he offers simple lessons, anecdotes of personal transformation, and reflective questions to guide us along Buddha’s enlightened way.

We also discussed the opportunity to learn, grow, and practice these principles when host Greg mistakenly lost the audio file of the original interview that was taped and had to admit his mistake and request a second interview.

Says Richard about the book: “Living in Blue Sky Mind began as short talks that I gave to children, parents, and grandparents at Daifukuji Zen Buddhist temple in Kona, Hawaii.  (For the youngest among us in the family gatherings, I read a children's picture book.) To further spread the Dharma, I had the idea of publishing the talks in a blog that I called, "I Can See Clearly Now."

By the time I published about a hundred talks as posts, the blog had amassed nearly twelve thousand views.  Like myself, I think people are searching for ways in which they can think, say, and do things that bring caring and wisdom into their lives and into the lives of everyone around them.  We all want to be happy!”

About: We live with minds as open and spacious as the deep blue sky. Living in Blue Sky Mind presents basic Buddhist teachings that keep us on the wholesome path of self-realization and oriented toward a happy life. Zen priest and teacher, Richard Gentei Diedrichs, offers simple lessons, anecdotes of personal transformation, and reflective questions to guide us along Buddha’s enlightened way.

Richard Gentei Diedrichs grew up in Los Angeles. He edited travel and health magazines in Seattle, worked as an editor at the schools of Engineering and Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and then taught in public elementary schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The author of four books, Richard was fully ordained a Zen priest in 1990 by Genki Takabayashi Roshi. Currently, he is a Dharma teacher at Daifukuji Zen Temple in Hawaii.

To learn more about Richard and his work, visit: https://richardgenteidiedrichs.wordpress.com/ or https://livinginblueskymind.com/.