Below, June Cohen shares five key insights from her new book, The Great Remembering: Powerful Ancient Practices―And the New Science Bringing Them Back.

Cohen is a pioneer in media and technology, best known as the co-creator of TED Talks, Masters of Scale, and Meditative Story. During her 11 years at TED, she cohosted the flagship event—working with hundreds of speakers on their talks—and launched TED Talks online. She’s earned more than 100 industry awards, including 67 Webby honors, 8 Apple “Podcast of the Year” awards, and a Peabody.

Ancient cultures worldwide developed wisdom systems: embodied practices passed down by example that helped people navigate hardship, build connection, and find happiness. Modern science is now proving they work.

Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Cohen herself—in the Next Big Idea app, or buy the book.

The first wisdom system that fascinated me was the epic physical challenge: a practice of pushing the body to its limits. To the Western mind, it doesn’t always make logical sense. But it was everywhere in the ancient world. In boys’ coming-of-age rituals, the boy might go on a hunt or swim an icy river. That physical challenge marked the emotional transition from boy to man. Or think of pilgrimage—a challenging journey—often taken during a difficult transition, like when you need to release grief or seek forgiveness. There is this ancient pattern of physical challenges pairing with emotional ones.

We still do this today. You get divorced, so you run a marathon.

Source link