Paths of Practice with Nicole Wordlaw, PhD

Paths of Practice with Nicole Wordlaw, PhD

Author: Vincent Moore June 4, 2026 Duration: 58:38

Dr. Nicole Wordlaw is a clinical psychologist, a longtime practitioner of Buddhist meditation, a lover of Spirit, and the daughter of a white mother and a Black father. She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at Stanford University, graduating with honors and distinction in 1992, and then earned a Masters and Doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1999. She is passionate about helping those she serves notice and follow their own inner guide. She is the author of Waking Up Alone: Navigating the Narrow Passage Through Master-Slave Narratives.


For more information about Nicole and the resources mentioned in the episode, please visit the following links:

https://www.nicolewordlaw.com/

https://substack.com/@nicolewordlaw

https://sentientpublications.com/products/9781591813736_waking-up-alone


We discussed:
*Trauma, learning how to not take things personally by recognizing our conditions, and writing Waking Up Alone
*Vipassana and Zen, breathwork, and practicing in the wilderness to connect with our true nature
*Spiritual teachers, misconduct and accountability, and how to become a lamp unto yourself
*And the importance of remembering that awakening is ongoing and unfolds as a process 


Vincent Moore hosts Paths of Practice: Conversations on Journeys into Buddhism, a space where personal stories take center stage. Each episode is built around a simple, profound question: what does it actually look like to live with Buddhist teachings? You’ll hear from people whose lives have been shaped by this path, from long-time monastics and dedicated lay practitioners to those who have just felt a curious pull toward mindfulness and compassion. The conversations avoid dry theory, focusing instead on the messy, human, and often surprising realities of integrating practice into daily life-through family, work, doubt, and discovery. This podcast operates on the belief that there are as many ways to walk this road as there are people walking it, gently exploring that diversity one honest conversation at a time. It’s less about providing answers and more about sharing the map-making process itself, offering companionship and insight for anyone interested in the varied terrain of spiritual life.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Paths of Practice: Conversations on Journeys into Buddhism
Podcast Episodes
Paths of Practice with Zen Master Dae An (Bogumila Malinowska) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:48
Zen Master Dae An (Bogumila Malinowska) is a Guiding Teacher at The London Zen Centre of the Kwan Um School of Zen and currently lives in London. She was born in North-west Poland and met Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1981 on…
Paths of Practice with Shohaku Okumura [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:57
Shohaku Okumura, founder and abbot of Sanshin Zen Community, was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1948. In 1970, he was ordained by the late Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, one of the foremost Zen masters of the twentieth-century. He rece…
Paths of Practice with Arisika Razak [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:53
Arisika Razak is Professor Emerita at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where she also served as the director of the Women’s Spirituality MA and PhD program and as Director of Diversity. She…
Paths of Practice with Žarko Andričević [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:35
Žarko Andričević is the founder of Dharmaloka Chan Buddhist Community and Chan Retreat Centre (Chan centar Hartovski vrh) in Croatia, where he currently lives and teaches. Žarko first encountered Buddhism 1975 and has be…
Paths of Practice with Rev. Devon Matsumoto [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:59
Rev. Devon Matsumoto is a Minister’s Assistant at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. Devon grew up in the Jodo Shinshu community and has a deep interest in understanding how his Buddhist teachings can inform social justi…
Paths of Practice with Queer Leather Meditation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:13
The Queer Leather Meditation group is a peer-led meditation group for those who have a meditation practice and are queer and leather/kink-identified. QLM's intention is to create an inclusive space where participants can…
Paths of Practice with Venerable Pedro Kaiten Piquero [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:21
Pedro Kaiten Piquero was born in 1976, exactly 38 years before the death of his master Gudo Wafu Nishijima, of whom he was the last disciple. In 2017, he received Dharma transmission in Japan from Venerable Peter Rodo Ro…
Paths of Practice with Paula Lazarz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:25
Rev. Shudo Paula Lazarz is a 6th degree Black Sash in Shaolin Kung Fu and an ordained priest in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. Her over two decades of study in the martial arts and Buddhist practice has been an…
Paths of Practice with Mindy Newman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:00
Mindy Newman, MA, MTS, LMHC, is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice. She has an MA in counseling psychology from Lesley University and an MTS in world religion from Harvard University. She is a gradu…