Amy Cohen Varela – The Power of Undoing

Mind & Life

In this episode, Wendy speaks with clinical psychologist and contemplative Amy Cohen Varela. In addition to her work as a psychoanalytic therapist, Amy is also the widow of Francisco Varela (co-founder of the Mind & Life Institute), and continues to share his vision and work through the offerings of Mind & Life Europe. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• her dual interest in biology and literature;
• the contemplative aspects of psychoanalysis;
• skills learned from listening deeply to yourself and to others;
• how she met Francisco Varela;
• enaction, meaning, and participatory sense-making;
• links between Francisco's ideas and Buddhist philosophy;
• subjective and objective viewpoints, and how we oversimplify Buddhism and science in that dynamic;
• how more than a decade with Francisco has changed her;
• the power of curiosity and openness;
• doing and undoing the self in psychoanalysis;
• Francisco's reflections on the Chilean civil war, and implications for polarization;
• the need for systems to be able to "undo" themselves;
• and Mind & Life Europe's latest offerings.

Full show notes and resources