Guru Viking Podcast

In this interview I am joined by Dr Willoughby Britton, an Associate Professor at Brown University, the Director of Brown’s Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, and founder of Cheetah House which provides support to those experiencing meditation-related difficulties. Dr Britton recounts her unusual childhood interest in consciousness, why a friend’s suicide drove her to meditation, and how a psychedelic peak experience changed her view of the world. Dr Britton considers the overlaps between spiritual experience and mental illness, why deconstructing the sense of self in search of enlightenment can lead to lasting psychological damage, and questions if experiences of fear are a necessary part of the meditative path. Dr Britton also covers the neurobiology of attention, reveals the hidden religious messaging woven into mindfulness techniques such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and shares how she deals with the negative responses from meditation enthusiasts towards her work. … V