Thinking Allowed is a radio discussion programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday afternoons between 16:00 and 16:30 and repeated between 00:15 and 00:45 on Monday mornings. It focuses on the latest social science research and is hosted by Laurie Taylor, who was formerly a Professor of Sociology at the University of York. The programme was first broadcast in 1998. Occasionally, special editions of the programme are produced in co-operation with the Open University.

Stanislav Grof (born July 1, 1931 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of exploring, healing, and obtaining growth and insights into the human psyche. Grof received the VISION 97 award granted by the Foundation of Dagmar and Václav Havel in Prague on October 5, 2007.

Grof is known for his early studies of LSD and its effects on the psyche—the field of psychedelic psychotherapy. Building on his observations while conducting LSD research and on Otto Rank's theory of birth trauma, Grof constructed a theoretical framework for pre- and perinatal psychology and transpersonal psychology in which LSD trips and other powerfully emotional experiences were mapped onto a person's early fetal and neonatal experiences. Over time, this theory developed into an in-depth "cartography" of the deep human psyche. Following the legal suppression of LSD use in the late 1960s, Grof went on to discover that many of these states of mind could be explored without drugs by using certain breathing techniques in a supportive environment. He continues this work today under the title "Holotropic Breathwork".

Jacob Needleman (b. October 6, 1934 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American philosopher. He is professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University.

He has published many books, most of which draw from G. I. Gurdjieff.

Needleman speaks of a mountain that is very high, and being at the top of the mountain is being with God. The base of this mountain is so broad that it extends out to several different climate zones. People in the arctic climate have a tradition about how to climb the mountain, wearing a parka with snowshoes and goggles, etc. The people in the tropical zone teach how it is necessary to wear short pants and a pith helmet with mosquito netting. The people in the arctic, by the time they get halfway up the mountain find that it is warmer than they had thought, so they shed some of their outerwear. The people from the tropics find the need to go back to get a sweater. By the time they get to the top, they're all dressed in a similar way because there is only one top.

Joseph Rael (Tiwa:Tslew-teh-koyeh: Beautiful Painted Arrow) (b. 1935) is a Native American ceremonial dancer, shaman, writer, and artist. He is also known as the founder of a global network of Sound Peace Chambers. Rael has spoken before the United Nations and at the Pentagon on the role of the warrior in the modern world.

Rael was born in 1935 on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. His father, Alfred Rael (Red Fish), was a Tiwa-speaking native of Picuris Pueblo; his mother, Beatrice Head, was a granddaughter of the Ute chief. The family moved to the Picuris Pueblo near Taos, New Mexico when Joseph was about seven. Here he received the name Tslew-teh-koyeh (Beautiful Painted Arrow). By his teens, he was assisting the village shaman in healing rituals. He was educated at the Santa Fe Indian School, and holds a B.A. in political science from the University of New Mexico and an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In 1983, Rael conceived the idea of building a kiva-like structure, which he called a Sound Peace Chamber, "where people of all races might gather to chant and sing for world peace and to purify the earth and oceans". He built the first in Bernalillo, New Mexico. His work inspired others to build a network of Sound Peace Chambers around the world, and there are now such chambers in Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Puerto Rico, Scotland and Wales, as well as in the U.S. states of Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

David Whyte (born 20 April 1971) is an English former footballer born in Greenwich who played in the Football League as a striker for Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, Ipswich Town, Bristol Rovers and Southend United.

He signed his first professional contract with Crystal Palace in 1989 and moved to Charlton Athletic on a permanent basis in 1994. He was the club's top scorer in the 1994–95 season with 19 goals. During that season it was widely reported that Premier League side Coventry City offered £1.5 million for Whyte's services, which the Charlton Athletic board rejected despite the club being deeply in debt.^{[citation needed]}

Whyte retired in 1999 after short spells at several clubs, finishing up with Southend United.