045: Vipassana, Cancer, and the Art of Mindful Living w/ Dace James Hines

This is a very special episode with an old and dear friend of mine, Dace James Hines. Dace and I met in 2014, while living in San Francisco. We spent much time together in those days, so this conversation is a reconnection of old friends. It just so happened that, when I reached out to Dace to have him on the podcast to share what he’s learned about being diagnosed with brain cancer at age 31, I learned that he had recently completed his first Vipassana meditation retreat a few months earlier. Since I just completed my first Vipassana retreat a few weeks ago, we decided to debrief our powerful ten-day meditation retreat experiences while simultaneously taking the opportunity to highlight Dace’s life – in particular the wisdom and insights he’s gained from facing existential questions of life and death so early in life. 

As you’ll hear in the podcast, Dace has lived a unique life. He recently turned 40, and there are so many reasons to celebrate that and the beautiful, artistic way he lives his life. Dace is a travel and event photographer, depolarization advocate, and former technologist. He is also a brain cancer survivor, peer mentor and advisor for UCSF's Sobrato Brisson Brain Cancer Survivorship program. Recognizing the critical lack of psychosocial support for young adults diagnosed with brain cancer, he's the co-founder and facilitator of the country's first Young Adult Brain Tumor Support Group (called YABS for short), and a current coach in training with the Cancer Journey Institute. His focus is on helping individuals (especially young adults)connect with their inner wisdom while navigating the life-changing challenges of a cancer diagnosis, and learn to embrace it as an opportunity for emotional, relational, and spiritual growth, and to live a more meaningful life.

In this podcast, we:

• Debrief what the heck is Vipassana and why one would do it?
• Share our experiences of the 10-day silent meditation retreat
• What the silence brought up for each of us
• Talk about how a meditation retreat can decrease our reactivity (and how decreasing reactivity has many positive effects!)
• Review the importance of equanimity
• Explore Dace’s brain cancer journey and how it has impacted his philosophy of living
• And so much more!

To get in touch with Dace, you can reach out to him via email at [email protected].

You can also find his photography work here: https://dacejames.com/.