Welcome to Season 2 of The Action Field. Let's set it right off and bring a little bit of love into what will hopefully soon be a post-pandemic 2022. We hear first from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and expand on the following: "The fortunate one uses the instrument of deep meditation, and probes deep into his heart. Then the waves of love gain the depth of the ocean, and the ocean of love fills the heart and thrills every particle of being." The great Carl Jung is the focus of segment two: "In my...

We’re squeezing in one more episode to season one of The Action Field. And boy, it’s a good one! When Carl Jung was approached in regards to an autobiography he initially said, “That sort of thing lies entirely outside my range.” The publishers, however, were smart enough to persist and to team him up with Aniela Jaffe (co-writer) who sat with Jung for one afternoon per week from 1957 to 1959. At this point Jung was past his 80th year and though it placed great strain on him to write, he...

We made it to ten episodes. Stoked! And we’ve got 55mins of pure heat in todays edition of The Action Field. In the first segment we take a look at the world according to devoted artist/poet Joshua Yeldham via his beautiful book ‘Surrender - A journal for my daughter’. In segment two we focus on Paul Roos - AFL premiership coach and champion footballer of a measly 356 games. Yep, dude’s got cred! - and his ultra-insightful piece ‘Here It Is’. And we round it out with a look into my own...

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers has been a game changer here at Best Mind. In this week’s episode we look at a few of the big ideas from The Power of Myth and relate them to this very today, to this very moment. We also hear the words of master poet Mary Oliver, and the timeless wisdom of Anaïs Nin. There’s music as usual, there to set the mood and to give you a little thinking time. And in a first for The Action Field we hear words set to a sonic palette in the way of...

I’m a huge fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s timeless essay ‘Self-Reliance’. In this week’s episode we look at some of it’s key idea’s and relate one idea in particular to the famous one-word lecture of Guru Dev, teacher of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (famed for introducing Transcendental Meditation to the West). We also look at the practice of daily rituals and the sense of agency they imbue us with. The Meditation and High Performance Mind Coaching offers at BEST MIND also get a brief mention as does...

This week we look at what it takes to hit the sweet spot between deficiency and excess: Virtue. We'll hear from Aristotle and his Virtuous Mean, plus further advice on which side it is better to err towards: excess or deficiency? Pope Francis makes a brief appearance with some timeless wisdom on the importance of humility (when it comes to holding a position of power). We'll also cop some insight on leadership courtesy of Neil Craig, former Adelaide Crows coach and current advisor to Eddie...

In today's episode we take a look at 'How to be an artist' according to Henri Matisse, Lesson 2 of which is 'Make up your own rules'. We also hear from Ralph Waldo Emerson and his timeless essay 'Self Reliance'. And we round it out with a quick story on how Malcolm Blight came to realise his number one principle as an AFL coach: "It's my way or no way." Arthur Russell sets the mood musically with a couple of beautiful pieces from his 1985 wonder 'World of Echo'. And all in a mere 33 minutes....

Robert Greene's '48 Laws of Power' has been touted as everything from amoral to contradictory and is - according to Wikipedia - popular among celebrities, athletes and prison inmates alike. In this episode we take a close look at Law 34 'Be Royal In Your Own Fashion' and the awareness it can bring us relative to power games or at the very least, it's ability to entertain us. Yep, Greene tells a damn fine historical tale! We'll also hear from Shakespeare, Aurelius and The Buddha along with a...

In the Grand Final edition of The Action Field we take a deep dive into the coaching heritage of Simon Goodwin, head of the Melbourne Football Club. We'll go all the way back to the early 20th century and uncover the original nickname of Melbourne F.C. and how they came to be known as the Demons courtesy of the legendary - but oft forgotten - Checker Hughes. We also hear from the Cocteau Twins with the beautiful melancholia of Heaven or Las Vegas. Loads of goodness in this edition so tune in,...

This week we hit the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix with Ayrton Senna. We'll take a few sound bites from the incredible Senna documentary and hear straight from the man himself. My Bloody Valentine make an appearance with their devastatingly good LP 'Loveless'. We'll also hear sounds from Senna's native Brazil, the likes of Lula Cortes & Ze Ramalho as well as Flaviola. The wisdom of The Bhagavad Gita will return and the Eastern mythology of Hazrat Inayat Khan will also make a brief appearance. A...

This week we head to India and explore The Bhagavad Gita, the classic scripture which translates as 'Song of the Lord'. Eknath Easwaran, whose introduction to the ancient text alone is quite special, says that "after more than thirty years of devoted study, I would not hesitate to call it India's most important gift to the world." Wow! We take a look at how we can use this gift as a guidebook to daily living much like Mahatma Gandhi chose to from his early twenties and right throughout his...

We hit the big guns straight up and dive right in with Marcus Aurelius. We take a look at books 1 & 3 from Meditations and how his powerful wisdom can be applied to this very day. We also hear from Joseph Campbell and his thoughts on the unavoidable nature of suffering and how we must say YES to it all in order flourish in this one precious life. French producer DK sets the mood with a couple of beautiful tracks from his 'Live at the Edge' EP which you can find on vinyl here. And all...