Category: Isa Gucciardi
Article: The Healing Potentials of Buddhist Philosophy in a Modern Therapeutic Environment
The Healing Potentials of Buddhist Philosophy in a Modern Therapeutic Environment By Scott Menasco, Ph.D. Editors’ Note: Dr. Scott Menasco specializes in applying transformative psychology to support clients in personal growth, recovery from shame, low self-esteem, and trauma. He helps individuals learn to relate to their symptoms and emotions as expressions of inner wisdom, guiding […]
On the Air: The Sober Shaman Podcast: Episode 6: Isa Gucciardi on Shamanism, Buddhism, & the Evolution of Souls
On the Air: The Sober Shaman Podcast: Episode 6: Isa Gucciardi on Shamanism, Buddhism, & the Evolution of Souls On this episode of The Sober Shaman Podcast, host Randal Lyons speaks with author, founding director of Sacred Stream, and creator of Depth Hypnosis, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. Join them in their discussion on shamanism, Buddhism, healing […]
Video: Finding Your Way Beyond Burnout: Redefining Service with Isa Gucciardi
In this talk, Isa Gucciardi challenges us to reimagine the way we approach work, life, and service. Many of us are in a state of distress as we try to grapple with the many collective and personal challenges we are facing. This can lead us to push ourselves too hard as we try to make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. This is especially true for those of us who are trying to manage the demands of family and work and for those of us who are in nonprofit or humanitarian kinds of work. Isa asks us to look at our expectations of ourselves as we try to help others.
On the Air: The Practical Shaman Podcast: Renee Baribeau interviews Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
On this episode of the Practical Shaman Podcast, Renee Baribeau interviews Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D., the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, a school for consciousness.
Blog: New Beginnings, New Potentials at the Spring Equinox
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Since December’s winter solstice season, when the days were shortest and the nights the longest of the year, the days have been growing steadily longer and the nights shorter. Now, at the time of the spring equinox, they are of equal length. The spring equinox is always a time of renewal and rebirth as the earth reaches this point in its relationship to the sun.
In the Sacred Stream Center garden, there is new growth – and new members of the plant community. We have several new pitcher sage plants which are known for their powerful healing capacities in restoring health and well-being. Their beautiful purple flowers are always at the height of their bloom during the spring equinox season. This year, we celebrate their coming as we celebrate the renewal of the year along with the new moon which dawns just after the equinox on March 20.
Article: Healing and Awakening with Buddhism and Shamanism
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
I’ve been exploring Buddhism and plant medicine and psychedelics for about six years now. One area that I find really absent in a lot of the conversations on psychedelics and spirituality is indigenous shamanism, and it’s hard to find people who know much about that, and also have some kind of Buddhist framework. That’s why I was so excited to hear about your work and listen to some of your talks.
The main question I’m working with in this book is how can we engage with plant medicines as tools or technologies to support awakening? How can we understand the psychedelic experience and also the outputs of psychedelics through a lens that is with the intention of awakening? When I heard about Depth Hypnosis and your work, I thought it would be amazing to talk to you and hear your thoughts on this. You’ve spoken about the catalytic power of shamanic practice and how you feel that there’s potential in that to be harnessed by Dharma practitioners in service of Awakening. This seems to be the focus of your work with Depth Hypnosis, so maybe we could start there.
Blog: Sacred Space on the Winter Solstice
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
One thing I do know is that the building has held sacred space for all of us during this complex time of change, dissolution and challenge. As I have continued to teach out of the sanctuary on Zoom, I have felt the power of this sacred space infusing the teachings and supporting students all around the world. In some ways, its role as a refuge and a reminder of the sacred has expanded. As I see all the notices for new condo developments about to rise just blocks away, I feel even more committed to safeguarding and cultivating the peace and heart of the land here.
With so many of the ways we find meaning challenged over the last few years, the importance of cultivating and understanding what is truly sacred to us has been highlighted. Everyone finds meaning in their own ways and everyone encounters the sacred on their own terms. The task is to seek that meaning and that encounter. Even though this is largely an internal exploration, we need reminders, touchstones, in the everyday world to point us inward. Churches and temples provide this.
Special Announcement: Introducing Isa’s Botanicals
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
The Sacred Stream is now offering Isa’s Botanicals, an updated version of our popular space clearing sprays.
I began developing the sprays when our work doing space clearings took us to places where we could not burn dried plants, such as hospitals where oxygen was in use. Although I developed these sprays specifically to help in the process of shamanic space clearings, people find these sprays help them in their everyday lives in unexpected ways.
Every plant has a special gift that nourishes, heals and improves our lives. One of the ways they share their gifts with us is through their essential oils. The sprays are made from the essential oils of plants that have specific healing or clearing properties, plants that help maintain mental and emotional clarity and keep physical spaces clear of interferences and imprints from previous events that have occurred in the space.
Blog: The Lessons of the Equinox, the Earth, and the Sun
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
The fall equinox this year occurs just before the new moon, marking the end of a cycle of growth as the agricultural growing season comes to an end. This year, the growing season ends just as the new moon begins a new cycle of growth. The equinox, of course, is the moment in the year when the day is as long as the night. Just as the moon’s influence begins to expand toward fullness, the sun’s influence wanes as the days become shorter. The sun continues on its path toward the winter solstice, the shortest day.
The dance between the moon and the sun at this fall equinox is one of growth and completion, increase and decrease, promise and reflection. The complexity of this dance is something we must all learn to hold in our awareness if we are to understand what the Earth might be trying to teach us through the complexity of this moment. We are challenged to understand the duality each celestial sphere expresses in relation to the other as we seek to find the moment of balance between them.
Video: Bodhisattvas in Training: Patience and Anger with Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In this series of videos, Isa Gucciardi explores the concept of the bodhisattva, the Mahayana Buddhist belief that refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Video: Bodhisattvas in Training: The Bodhisattva Way of Life with Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In this series of videos, Isa Gucciardi explores the concept of the bodhisattva, the Mahayana Buddhist belief that refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Video: Bodhisattvas in Training: What is a Bodhisattva? with Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In this series of videos, Isa Gucciardi explores the concept of the bodhisattva, the Mahayana Buddhist belief that refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Video: The Sacred Feminine in Buddhist Philosophy with Isa Gucciardi: Tara: Help in Hard Times: Part 2
In this series of videos, we will explore the sacred feminine in Buddhist philosophy and learn how the engaged activism of Tara, best known of the female deities, can help us in our everyday lives. These talks are inspired by the workshops that Isa Gucciardi and Robert Thurman teach called Embracing the Sacred Feminine.
Article: Tara, Bob, & Me
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Robert Thurman and I spent several years teaching a class called Embracing the Sacred Feminine. The class was an exploration of the power of the feminine within Buddhist philosophy. At the beginning, I was surprised that Bob wanted to teach this class together because it was outside of his usual focus in teaching. But it was right in the heart of mine. I had been teaching two classes, the Initiations of the Sacred Feminine and Tracking Spirit in the Birth Environment: The Creative Portal for many years. I was excited to teach what I knew from this perspective and learn more about the power of the feminine within Buddhist philosophy when I accepted his invitation.
At the outset, I realized this was a learning for Bob as well. Although he had an incomparable mastery of Buddhist philosophy, he had never really filtered that mastery through the lens of the Sacred Feminine in the way class required. At first, it was hard to perceive the influence of the feminine beyond the expressions of the female deities, but that quickly shifted for the two of us.
Video: The Sacred Feminine in Buddhist Philosophy with Isa Gucciardi: Tara: Help in Hard Times: Part 1
In this series of videos, we will explore the sacred feminine in Buddhist philosophy and learn how the engaged activism of Tara, best known of the female deities, can help us in our everyday lives. These talks are inspired by the workshops that Isa Gucciardi and Robert Thurman teach called Embracing the Sacred Feminine.