meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Mindrolling with Raghu Markus

Ep. 619 – Sanity and Sainthood: Integrating Meditation and Psychotherapy with Tucker Peck, Ph.D.

Mindrolling with Raghu Markus

Be Here Now Network

Religion, News, Mindrolling, Mindpodnetwork, Mindpod, Meditation, Society & Culture, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Consciousness, Mindrollingpodcast, Psychedelics

4.7543 Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Raghu sits down with clinical psychologist and meditation teacher Dr. Tucker Peck to explore the meeting point of dharma and psychotherapy.

If you are in the U.S., you can directly purchase a paperback copy of Sanity & Sainthood HERE. Otherwise, head over to Amazon for both paperback and ebook formats. 

In this episode of Mindrolling, Raghu and Tucker discuss:

  • Tucker’s first mind-altering meditative experience on the beach
  • Including the dharma in psychotherapy and Tucker’s work in meditation as a therapeutic modality
  • How Tucker developed a relationship with Sharon Salzberg and learned mindfulness techniques from her
  • The eccentric story of Grandma Allegra: enlightenment, humor, and being in love with the world 
  • The question of psychedelics—are they ‘necessary’ for elevating consciousness?
  • Working with the mind and the difference between content and process 
  • The pros and cons of the ego and why we need to first know ourselves before dissolving the self
  • The Elephant Path, a nine-step practice for building concentration, insight, and awakened awareness

About Tucker Peck, Ph.D.:

Dr. Tucker Peck is a meditation teacher, clinical psychologist, and bestselling author of Sanity and Sainthood.  His specialties include working with advanced meditators and using meditation to help those suffering from psychological disorders.  He hosts the podcast Teaching Meditation. Tucker began formal training in meditation in 2005 and has studied with, among other teachers, Sharon Salzberg and Upasaka Culadasa.Tucker received his undergraduate degree in Psychology from Brown University, and he received his Masters and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the College of Science at the University of Arizona. Tucker is a published author on the scientific study of meditation, focusing on how meditation affects the brain. He is a former faculty member of both the University of Arizona Department of Psychology and College of Medicine, and he is the founder and former Director of Palo Santo Psychotherapy & Wellness.  He is the founder, treasurer, and past president of the Open Dharma Foundation, which provides scholarships to meditation retreats, and for four years served as the president of the Tucson Community Meditation Center.  Keep up with Tucker and his upcoming retreats HERE.

“The trouble is, the ego is trying to protect you from threats and it is very, very unclear on what does and doesn’t constitute a threat. It tends to think any sort of emotion constitutes a threat, any sort of insight into how the mind or perceptual system works is more than you can handle, so what you want is to slowly get to know yourself.” –Tucker Peck, Ph.D.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, it's Raghu, and I am back with Mind Rolling, and I'm with Dr. Tucker Peck, who wrote a book that I liked called Sanity and Sainthood.

0:22.8

Otherwise, it could have been, maybe here's a different title, Tucker.

0:27.2

Like, it's hard to be a saint in the city.

0:30.6

I have seen Bruce Frickstein more than 30 times.

0:34.6

Right. Well, I've seen him a bunch too. It's hard to be a saint in the city.

0:40.3

Anyhow, welcome to the podcast.

0:43.3

Thank you, Raghu. I'm so glad you're a Bruce fan too.

0:48.3

Yeah, well, music has always been everything for me, transformational and otherwise.

0:57.0

So, all right, a little bit about now, everybody, I met Tucker through Sharon Salzburg,

1:03.0

and Sharon said, you should do a podcast with my friend Tucker.

1:08.0

And I said, okay, any friend of yours is a friend of mine and here we are.

1:15.4

But so, yeah, how did you even get to the point where I'm talking about when you were younger than you are now?

1:25.8

How did you even start to realize there was a path to something beyond senses,

1:33.3

etc.? Yeah, I had a few key moments. There was one I don't have a good explanation for. I was in sixth grade, so 11 or 12 years old or whatever. And the teacher was teaching world religions.

1:47.3

She put Buddhism on the board and the Four Noble Tuss,

1:50.7

and I was just like, that's the most important thing I've ever heard.

1:53.7

I'm converting to that as soon as I'm old enough.

1:56.4

And they pass the Buddha idol around the classroom,

1:58.5

but I didn't pass it.

1:59.6

I kept it on my desk for like a week, which in retrospect is not a terrifically Buddhist thing to do.

2:07.0

And then I dropped it for a little while when I was 19.

2:11.5

I had mono, and so I couldn't do much.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Be Here Now Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Be Here Now Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.