Awakening Humanity: Lessons from 31 Seasons of “Open Minds” – An Interview with Regina Meredith

How do you stay awake in a world that feels increasingly divided, chaotic, and noisy—and still lead with wisdom, clarity, and heart?

For Regina Meredith, one of the most respected voices in conscious media, the journey has been anything but ordinary. From her beginnings as a pioneering ski reporter and one of the first women in U.S. sports broadcasting to her work as a news anchor, documentary producer, and creator of avant-garde programming, Regina has spent four decades following the threads of truth, intuition, and multidimensional awareness. In 2004, she co-created Conscious Media Network, one of the earliest online platforms dedicated to metaphysical and healing-arts conversations—which later merged with Gaiam TV (now known as Gaia). Since 2012, she has served as the host of Open Minds, bringing forward deep, expansive dialogues with thinkers from around the world.

In this conversation, Regina shares what it means to live slightly in the future, how to navigate polarization with compassion, why the heart is emerging as humanity’s new center of intelligence, and how we can reconnect with one another in a time of profound energetic upheaval. She also opens up about her own awakening, the evolution of Open Minds, and the spiritual “back-to-basics” she believes the world urgently needs.

Continue reading—or listen in by subscribing for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or YouTube—to discover how Regina Meredith’s wisdom can help you stay grounded, open, and deeply connected in a rapidly changing world.

In your book The Future Human, the Z’s shared that it would be good to view this period of our existence as “theatre.” What does that mean to you…and what do you sense is unfolding on our planet right now?

Regina Meredith: I think we have to look at life now from a much more macro level and stop taking everything so personally. There’s so much happening at once, so much distraction, and each person is living inside their own silo of information. Some people are seeking ascension, others are simply trying to survive.

But at the core of all this, I believe we’re experiencing the movement of a new consciousness through the cosmos. There is a far greater intelligence than us—one capable of creating at levels we can barely comprehend. To me, it’s almost incomprehensible that an intelligence exists that could give rise to universes, planets, and species like us.

And yet, we are a unique species—not in an Earth-centric way, but in the sense that we’re multidimensional. We’re a blend of a higher-dimensional being once free of physicality and time, capable of creating at the speed of thought, fused with a physical body whose only real concern is survival. This third-dimensional body knows its time is limited, and its subconscious continually pushes us toward old survival patterns.

Meanwhile, this new consciousness that’s moving through all sentient life—and I mean all, even rocks—asks us to rise to a higher level. That means the old powers, visible and invisible, are also being influenced. Many are being tasked with holding onto old patterns.

And media entrenches this—whether it’s mainstream outlets or podcasts. Some of it is wonderful and helps us remember who we are and how to free ourselves from old energy. But much of it reinforces the old.

The Zs said that during this period, leading up to around 2030, old patterns and powers will cling desperately to their positions—whether in media, finance, education, or elsewhere. Humans fear change, and this is the big one. Because as soon as we break free from these systems of control, they’re finished. The game is over, and humanity steps into a new level of intelligence—mental, emotional, and heart-based.

They said this process will unfold no matter what, and much of it will look dramatic or even ugly. Their advice was to sit back, metaphorically get your popcorn, and avoid emotional entanglement in the daily chaos. When you open your news app each morning and think, “What just happened?”—that’s the theater. The old forces are dying, writhing, hissing, doing anything they can to hold onto a sliver of power.

I’m curious about your own journey of awakening. Although you were first inspired to be a nun at a young age…love that chapter in Accidentally on Purpose: Tripping Through Life With Regina, I would love to hear about the season of life following the birth of your son. Can you take us back to that time?

Regina Meredith: I was a news anchor then, which is a very heavy job if you’re becoming conscious—it isn’t a match. You cover whatever comes across the wires or whatever your producer tells you to. Creative or uplifting news rarely makes it into the 10 or 11 p.m. broadcast, and that bothered me deeply.

Fortunately, I had an executive producer who let me explore some unusual stories. One of them was a series on psychic phenomena during sweeps week. This was the eighties—nobody was doing that. But I knew some of the top psychics in town. One of them had her own TV and radio shows and was a respected astrologer who quietly read for members of Congress and the Senate. She and I were close friends, which put me in contact with others at that level.

We covered basic psychic phenomena, including a woman who solved cold cases for the police. But the moment that really shifted my consciousness was when I somehow managed to reach Russell Targ at Stanford Research Institute—the man training military remote viewers.

At the time, I barely understood any of this. I was taking baby steps. But I interviewed him before he left for a major remote-viewing experiment in Russia during the Cold War. Despite public rhetoric about nuclear threats, behind the scenes, the scientific communities of the U.S. and the Soviet Union were collaborating.

The Soviet Academy of Sciences sent a remote viewer named Djuna—she was the private nurse of Brezhnev during his illness and a well-known psychic. Russell brought recording equipment, his daughter Elizabeth, and other American witnesses. Djuna was asked to identify a preselected target. She sat down, closed her eyes, and began drawing: first a large circle, then a rectangle around it, then animals with glass eyes, then water. She described everything she saw.

She was looking at the carousel on Pier 39 in San Francisco.

Wow.

Regina Meredith: And here’s what changed everything for me—what sent me into the study of quantum physics, which is the basis of reality. Russell said, “Regina, the kicker is this: we didn’t choose that target until three hours after she viewed it. And it was randomly generated.”

I don’t understand this, Regina. What do you mean they chose the target after she saw it?

Regina Meredith: That’s exactly what I said back then, and it completely rewired my understanding of time and space. The target wasn’t chosen until three hours after she viewed it—and it was selected by a random generator from hundreds of images. That was the moment I realized there was far more to reality than I had understood as a young mom and news anchor.

So I began reading books on quantum physics, and it resonated with me immediately—clearly some past-life familiarity. Many of us carry ancient knowledge from places we’ve been before. We’re human now, but who knows where we’ve traveled as souls.

What was the response to that first series? It was multiple shows, right?

Regina Meredith: Yes, it was a suite of shows. I think it did well, but honestly, I never pay attention to numbers—that’s just never stuck with me. And remember, this was television, so it was a one-way street. You don’t hear from viewers the way you do with podcasts today.

But I was thrilled simply to put that information out on the nightly news and get people thinking in a new direction—40 years ago.

What were some of the key markers or breakthroughs for you during that period? Events, people you met, books you read—anything that shifted you to the next level?

Regina Meredith: Well, as I mentioned, reading Beyond the Quantum by Michael Talbot really launched my journey into quantum physics. From there, I moved into the Electric Universe and other topics—basically exploring the nature of reality. That path takes you down a very deep rabbit hole, which is exactly where we’re headed collectively now.

I was fortunate to be contemplating these things decades ago—ideas like the power of thought, the ability of the mind to influence physical reality, and the mind’s capacity to travel outward and gather information.

About 10 or 15 years ago, I attended a workshop with Tom Campbell, the physicist who wrote My Big TOE (Theory of Everything). He was one of the original people experimented on at the Monroe Institute for remote viewing. At his workshop, I noticed several people from Silicon Valley, other physicists, and even Russell Targ were there.

Since I was going to interview Tom afterward, he invited me to sit in. At the end of the workshop, we had to view a target remotely. You prepare your mind, let go, and then you have only 90 seconds to two minutes to identify the target—completely spontaneous.

I was pleasantly surprised that I identified it accurately. That helped me understand that if I could do it naturally and easily, so can everyone. It’s just a matter of learning how to work in the quantum field: letting your mind expand into the information you need and then bringing it back into conscious awareness.

After that experiment, I began trusting my abilities much more. I had done remote viewing before, but always questioned whether I had truly seen something. My guides would reassure me that most of what I saw was accurate, though, of course, mistakes happen. That’s why I’m always careful about the information I share.

But understanding how expansive and flexible the mind truly is—that’s something all of us need to get comfortable with and begin using.

You were playing such a public role as a newscaster and producer. At what point did you metaphorically “come out of the closet” with your beliefs and experiences? Was it a slow process or a specific moment?

Regina Meredith: It was right around that time. I was just past my news-anchor days and starting to move into more creative media projects. This would’ve been the mid-eighties—maybe 1986 or ’87.

Someone at The Sacramento Bee somehow knew that I did things like automatic writing. I don’t even remember who the journalist was, but they must have seen me doing it somewhere. Since I was a public figure, they became curious and asked if they could do a feature on me and on automatic writing.

I thought, Oh my God. Here we go.
And it wasn’t small—it was a two-page spread in the Sunday paper.

And at the time, it was the 20th-largest paper in the nation. So I said, “Let’s do it.” They came over, took photos, and I explained how it works and how it feels. And honestly, the first time it ever happened to me was such a wild experience—it’s in the book. But over time, I didn’t even need to write anymore. I could just tap in, listen, and receive the messages. It’s been a progression over four decades.

I have to say, I didn’t expect to see the name Rush Limbaugh in your book.

Regina Meredith: That was an interesting chapter of my life. My book is full of these odd little stories; it’s really just a fun ride through someone’s life. I don’t take myself too seriously.

Back when Rush was just getting started with his commentaries, he would come on my newscast. I didn’t know him personally, but I knew him casually—“Hi, Rush, how are you doing? Okay, let’s get going.” And I would introduce him. I was always kind to him.

Years later—many years later—someone asked him publicly, “What do Regina Meredith, Shirley MacLaine, and another well-known psychic figure have in common?” I thought, Oh no, because of how he was around metaphysics and even around women. I expected him to rip us apart.

But instead, he simply said that we all had an interest in the occult.
I actually thought that was very generous and respectful. I think because our working relationship had always been kind, he extended that kindness back and didn’t trash us.

I’m also curious about the start and vision behind Conscious Media Network. You had many creative projects after news broadcasting—PBS hosting, a vegetarian cooking show… but how did Conscious Media Network begin?

Regina Meredith: Well, even during my PBS days, I had already gone to Alexandria to pitch a show called UFOs: Hard Evidence. By then, I had spent time in the field with Steven Greer—weeklong trips, seeing things, meeting other people in that world—and I felt it was time to start talking about these subjects. This was before disclosure, before any of it was mainstream.

I wanted people to understand that we’re not the most intelligent life, and we don’t need to be afraid of that. Everything they’re trying to do now through Congress and The New York Times—I was just trying to do it 20–25 years too early.

PBS was open to it, as long as I used credible figures. But things weren’t moving, and meanwhile, I was still talking about vegetables. And yes, I love food, but I knew my dharma wasn’t limited to that.

Then I was in London helping a friend after her mother passed away. I reconnected with Scott Meredith—someone I had met earlier in Sedona—and he said, “Look, I know video streaming. I know it can work. You know all this content. Why don’t we join forces?”

And, like I always do, I said, “Sure, let’s do it.” I really am a yes-girl.

Scott built the technical backbone. We used GoDaddy as our platform in the early days. There were no sites like ours then—YouTube existed, but was just home videos. There was no real model for what we were doing.

We called it the Broadband Learning Channel at first, just to stay under the radar. That didn’t last long—we eventually said, “Let’s just call it what it is,” and renamed it Conscious Media Network.

I’ll never forget those early days. Scott tracked the analytics, and one day, one person found us. That was huge. One single person found Conscious Media Network on the internet, with no social media, no algorithms, no advertising. Then a couple more people found us. And by the time Gaia purchased us, we had between 600,000 and 700,000 unique visitors a month—with zero social media.

Did you have multiple shows coming out, or was Conscious Media Network primarily an interview-based platform?

Regina Meredith: It was primarily an interview platform—one-to-one. And intentionally, the camera was focused solely on the guest. I always wished we could have done it the way I first envisioned in the early eighties. A friend had shown me archival black-and-white footage from a British filmmaker who interviewed people who later became icons—like JFK and Dame Edith Sitwell.

He put the camera directly in front of them and had them look straight into the lens as they answered. You could see every subtle gesture, every micro-expression in their eyes. That’s what I wanted—to let viewers read the person energetically.

Instead, as you know, the camera was slightly off to the side, so guests would sit angled like this. It was still good—that’s how Gaia does it, how most platforms do it—but there’s something powerful about having someone look directly into the camera. That’s why, in my commentaries now, that’s exactly what I do.

When you look back on that season of life, what are you most proud of?

Regina Meredith: That we just did it. We put everything on the line. I even took out money on the house to keep it going. We had virtually no income at first—it was donation-based, and people generally don’t donate if they can get something for free.

Eventually, we created a small premium: for $5 a month, you could watch the newest interviews immediately; otherwise, you had to wait a month. That allowed us to make enough to cover basic bills.

So what I’m proud of is that we built this entirely on our own, without knowing what we were doing, and essentially sparked an industry. Within a year, others saw it could be done—Project Camelot emerged, Red Ice Creations with Henrik appeared, and then hundreds, eventually thousands of people followed.

We helped open that door.

I want to take you to January 2012, when you saw a vision of a television set where you were filming a new show called Open Minds.

Regina Meredith: Well, what happened was this: I had reached a point where doing interviews at events or on the road felt isolating. Even though Scott and I were working together, we were each doing very separate things. I missed being part of a studio—laughing with a crew, creating together the way we used to.

So I began daydreaming about it: a little studio, cameras on risers, a full crew. Then one morning, I woke up with a very clear message: You need to do this. Go do it. And I thought, Do what? But the message was unmistakable—create a pilot.

So I found a studio about fifteen miles away, rented it for the day, and called a few friends I had already interviewed on Conscious Media Network. I said, “Would you come and help me do a pilot?” I envisioned a roundtable—almost like The View—where a couple of other women and I would question the guest from our own perspectives.

I set everything up and then wondered, What should I call this?

And immediately: Open Minds. Because that’s really what it required—just an open mind.

My son, who was living in town at the time, ran out to pick up the mugs I had ordered with the name Open Minds printed on them. We got them just in time for the shoot.

But one of the camera operators shot in PAL, a format that works in Britain but not here, so we couldn’t even edit the footage. I thought, What in the world was that about?

What it was about is exactly what I talk about regarding the quantum field. I had already spun the idea into reality. I created it physically as a template—a magnet. It wasn’t meant to go anywhere as a pilot. It was meant to bring me a real opportunity.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Within about four months, Jay Weidner, who was producing for Gaia at the time, called and said the owner wanted to meet with me—they were launching a network and wanted to talk about shows. I flew out, looked at the operation, looked at the owner, and immediately sensed that what they truly wanted was to acquire Conscious Media Network.

We talked about the show I would do there, and he asked what I’d want to call it.
I said, “Open Minds, of course.”

Did you bring your mug with you?

Regina Meredith: I did not bring my mug. In fact, they made some mugs back then—we already had a few—so that part was easy. They told me they wanted to have another conversation, and eventually, we sold our entire inventory to them because it was fully protected content. This wasn’t like YouTube. We owned everything outright, so we sold it to Gaia.

Was that a hard choice to make, or did it feel like the right time?

Regina Meredith: Oh no, my dear—it wasn’t a hard choice at all. Keeping it alive for seven years without funding was the hard part. I was running out of money, and we needed to either elevate it or do something entirely different. This offer was the obvious next step.

The owner of Gaia had the funding and infrastructure to take it to a larger audience. Social media had started taking off by then—which I didn’t really understand and still don’t engage with much—but I knew it would help. It allowed me to keep doing my work on a larger scale and have a decent income. It just made sense.

I’m curious about how your worldview has shifted—from when you started Conscious Media Network to now. What changes have unfolded in your own consciousness?

Regina Meredith: Well, I tend to live in the moment, but my personal timeline always leans slightly into the future. I’ve always been able to sense what’s going to trend—seeing something in France and knowing it would hit big in the U.S. in a few years, for example.

I think the reason I’ve been able to stay with Open Minds all these years is that I can feel where people are. I genuinely feel my audience behind me, like we’re doing the interview together. I feel what they want from each conversation.

But I also understand you can’t stay stuck in what you’ve already done. Larger organizations often get stuck in numbers—“This guest did great, bring him back.” That’s the game we’re in now, but it needs to shift. Because I live slightly in the future, I’m already familiar with the new energy coming in, and I try to bring content that meets those evolving needs.

In the early days of Conscious Media Network, people were fascinated by things like Mars mysteries—Richard Hoagland, conspiracy theories, hidden bases. People loved digging into that: “They didn’t tell us this!” Of course, half of it is truth and half is illusion. You need discernment, and I brought people into that world because it was intriguing and expanded the mind.

I knew David Icke well—he stayed at my homes in Sedona and California, sometimes starting his books there. I got to know him as a family man, very kind, not angry in the way some perceive him. But he is committed, almost warrior-like, to uncovering darker truths. I explored many of those rabbit holes, too.

Then the journey expanded: What can the mind do? Can we talk to the dead? Can we talk to the unborn? (Which I do.) I interviewed people on those topics so we could normalize these abilities and understand that our mind is far greater than we think. My passion is to understand the architecture of the greater mind so we can use it well.

But now we’re in a completely different place. This is the big change. Great fear is washing over the planet. People need new strategies without losing sight of their souls or the importance of their choices. Families are breaking apart, and people can’t talk to each other anymore. So now there’s a kind of “spiritual back-to-basics,” but at a much higher level.

We need to relearn how to communicate in a time of extreme polarization. It’s a delicate art. And we’ve never had technology actively working against us before. Now it separates us, divides us, and traps us in silos. Many people don’t even know what’s being said outside their bubble. Many have stopped reading books. We’re dropping into ignorance—not cool.

So now my message is: keep the mind open, keep communication open. And this ties directly to the central theme of the book Lee and I wrote, The Future Human: that the new center of intelligence for humanity is the heart.

The heart has a completely different level of intelligence. Many of my recent shows keep returning to the heart from different angles. If we understand that what we call the higher self or higher mind works in partnership with the heart, we can receive much cleaner information and guidance.

Listening to the heart is one of the pathways—especially now. But you must be clear when you approach it. If your heart is bruised or overwhelmed by emotion—a breakup, trauma—you won’t get far. The heart speaks clearly when you set the stage correctly.

The heart’s frequency is love, acceptance, collaboration, and connection—both with one another and with the universe. It’s the first thing that comes online in life and the last thing to go.

It sounds like it’s time for a name change—to Open Minds and Hearts.

Regina Meredith: Yes. I totally agree with you. It should be Open Minds and Hearts. Because everything we’re talking about has to move through the heart. It can’t just be mental—“I’m going to use this strategy to talk to my sister who’s crazy because she believes the opposite,” or “I’ll manipulate the conversation this way.” No.

It’s about saying, I want to speak with my sister with an open heart, with love and acceptance, and see if we can drop into a deeper place together using artful communication—some skill, some discretion, and compassion. Right now, we are in desperate need of compassion for one another.

To me, this is spiritual back-to-basics.

It’s fascinating because so much of awakening can feel individual—my mind opening, my heart opening. But what I hear you saying is that we need to learn how to connect with one another right now.

Regina Meredith: Yes. How do we do this together? There’s a famous Hopi saying about this time. Some say it’s fake—I don’t care if it’s real or not, because the wisdom is sound.

It says: let go of the reeds on the shore—your past, your old stories, your old beliefs—and allow yourself to be swept into the middle of the river. Then look around and see who is there with you. See who had the courage to let go of the past. That’s who you travel with.

That’s what we need now. We need to find one another again.

And the truth is, some people have become so divergent in their viewpoints that our frequencies are vastly different. That shift has already happened. It’s not something coming—it’s here.

When you interview such diverse individuals, many with unconventional or non-mainstream ideas, how do you personally discern what feels true? How do you sift speculative, ungrounded, or imaginative ideas from those with value?

Regina Meredith: I usually focus on the pieces I feel have value. I don’t believe everything my guests say, and I’m not in 100 percent agreement with anyone—very rarely would that ever happen.

But if I sense they have something useful, relevant, or intriguing for my audience—something that might lead them to research more or consider new possibilities—then I stay with that part of the conversation. I simply skip over the areas that feel less valuable or less relatable.

Some might say that’s a bit arrogant—me deciding for my audience—but I only have 45 minutes. I have to choose what to focus on.

And of course, thanks to the editor, you can cut out the parts you don’t prefer.

Regina Meredith: They do cut things when needed, but I try to do the interview straight. Almost nothing is edited out. If I talk for 45 minutes, that’s what airs. So anything removed has to be extremely minimal. It’s essentially a first-take show.

Out of the hundreds of interviews you’ve done—31 seasons—are there a few that were truly transformative for you? Moments where you felt an extraordinary presence or a breakthrough in your thinking?

Regina Meredith: That is so hard. Everyone carries a different message.

And to be honest—and you may have to edit this part—most of what I hear isn’t new to me. I’ve been in this world for at least four decades. What I’m hearing from guests is simply their packaging of what I already understand.

But something that is coming up is an area I’m completely ignorant of: AI. I intentionally haven’t engaged with it. Yes, an AI overview pops up on my phone sometimes, but that’s the extent of it. I’ve stayed away from it on purpose.

But I’m going to be talking with Robert Edward Grant, and together we’re going to engage with his program, The Architect. That will be my first real experience with AI. Many Gaia viewers don’t like the subject, so I’ve backed off in the past—but the reality is that if you have a computer or a phone, you are interacting with AI already. We can’t avoid it.

What we can do is control how we interface with it. That’s the key.

Robert says AI is essentially a mirrored reality. So imagine using it as a mirror—seeing what it reflects back about who you believe you are. Some people might learn a lot from that.

But I’ve also seen wildly inaccurate answers to the same question, even recently, regarding potential Gaia guests. Some responses have been completely wrong. So no, I don’t trust it yet. It’s not ready. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be, or that it doesn’t already have powerful uses—like future medical diagnostics, which I think will be extraordinary once the technology matures.

But something like Gemini giving suicidal responses? That’s not working for us.

I’m excited, though, to explore the healthiest ways for us to interface with it. I’ll be doing that with Robert.

As for your question about specific interviews, there are just too many. I’ve done more than a thousand. What stands out depends entirely on the subject matter.

Yeah, of course. I did ask the AI about you, and it told me you were once a centerfold model on top of a truck. Is that true?

Regina Meredith: Yes. My question is—who fed that in there? I can guess a few people. When I was 20, I was invited to be the cover girl for American Airlines a couple of times and to appear on their billboards. I turned it down because it would have required me to move to New York City.

Shortly after that, Chrysler Corporation invited me to be their “Dodge Girl” for a new line of heavy-duty trucks. This was a big deal—full production crews flown in, New York–style shoots. I was 21, hot pants were in, and they told me to sit on the truck’s hood. I couldn’t get up there with shoes on, so I climbed up barefoot, perched there, and they took the photo. It ended up in magazines that truckers kept in their cabs.

Back to Gaia for a moment—what do you enjoy most about being part of that platform and community?

Regina Meredith: I have the most wonderful production team. Every person there is full of heart. Beth, our makeup artist, is the first person guests see; Rob is the gentle, kind driver who brings them from the airport; Ruben handles the lighting; the two Chrises manage audio and technical details; and Julie, my producer, is someone I absolutely love working with.

We all collaborate beautifully. There’s never drama. Everyone comes prepared. This is a big production with many people involved, and we take that seriously.

I also love that moment when the camera comes on. I drop into another part of myself—my higher mind. Before each show, I briefly close my eyes when the camera rolls. I look with my inner senses around the room: Who’s with us? What energies or guides are present? What’s the tone?

Certain guests bring very specific presences. When I’ve had people like Tais Helliwell or Lorna and David Davidson—who work with devas and nature beings—the studio fills with the joyful energy of nature spirits. Others bring high-level guides who stay at a distance but observe closely.

That moment of sensing the room prepares both parts of my mind to engage. Then the conversation begins. Because I’m in that slightly altered state, I often don’t remember much afterward—it’s similar to doing a reading.

Gaia.com is where people can find Open Minds. Where can people follow you personally?

Regina Meredith: You can find me at ReginaMeredith.com and on Instagram. I’m shifting more of my energy toward my own site, where I’m doing commentaries. After interviewing almost everyone, I feel it’s time to start putting all the pieces together in commentary form. I’ll also be doing more commentary for Gaia.

I know it’s sold out, but you also have an Egypt retreat coming up with Sarah Breskman Cosme in 2026.

Regina Meredith: Yes, I do, and it’s going to be so exciting. She’s been there several times. I’ve put Egypt off for years—I’ve been invited many times and always said no. I know I have a lot of past history there. But finally I said, “It’s time.” So we’re doing it.

Mandy and I just got back from a 10-day trip to Egypt. It was incredible—you’re going to love it.

Regina Meredith: I can’t wait to experience it. Thank you so much, David.