Category: Podcast

Podcast: Episode 86: Rev. Cameron Trimble: Progressive Christianity and Spiritual Leadership

Podcast: Episode 86: Rev. Cameron Trimble: Progressive Christianity and Spiritual Leadership

On this episode, Laura interviews Rev. Cameron Trimble – author, pilot, CEO, and Co-founder of Convergence, an international church consultancy. Cameron is part of a progressive movement in Christianity and spiritual leadership and on this episode she talks with Laura about her activism and the importance of diversity in spiritual movements. In her over 25 years as an out queer woman minister, she reflects on the changes she’s seen in the Christian church and offers her view of the future.

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Podcast: Episode 85: Thupten Jinpa: Mindfulness in the Modern Era

Podcast: Episode 85: Thupten Jinpa: Mindfulness in the Modern Era

On this episode, we reach back into the archives for this talk by esteemed author and Buddhist scholar, Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D., given at the Sacred Stream Center in Berkeley, CA, in 2018. Jinpa is a longtime friend and advisor to the Sacred Stream and he is the author of several books, including A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives and Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows. In this talk, Jinpa discusses the universality of spiritual traditions, his relationship with the Dalai Lama, and the modern mindfulness movement.

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Podcast: Episode 84: Geshe Namgyal: Holy Women of Great Perfection

Podcast: Episode 84: Geshe Namgyal: Holy Women of Great Perfection

On this episode, Laura Chandler interviews Geshe Dangsong Namgyal, the founder of Kungsong Dar Meditation Center in Santa Cruz, and author of the book, Holy Women of Great Perfection: Thirty Signs and Meanings of Ultimate Nature in the Ancient Tibetan Tradition. And she is joined by a special guest co-host, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D., author of The New Return to the Great Mother and Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream.

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Podcast: Episode 83: Vinitha Watson: Zoo Labs & BIPOC People in the Arts

Podcast: Episode 83: Vinitha Watson: Zoo Labs & BIPOC People in the Arts

On this episode, Laura interviews Depth Hypnosis Practitioner and Zoo Labs Co-founder, Vinitha Watson. The success of Zoo Labs is in no small part to Vinitha and her husband, David Watson, whose vision to build startup entrepreneurship infrastructure for BIPOC artists began in 2013. To date, the Zoo has run 26 residencies, and created a strong and vibrant community of over 250 artists and 350 mentors. Recently, they have moved to directly funding artists with grants and providing high-quality video education and mentorship. Vinitha has had an impressive and varied career with a common theme of helping others. In this conversation, Vinitha shares about her early years studying Indian classical dance and carnatic music, her interest in the arts and helping empower BIPOC communities, as well as her interest in wellness from Ayurveda to Depth Hypnosis.

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Podcast: Episode 82: Spiritual Emergency

Podcast: Episode 82: Spiritual Emergency

On this episode, Laura Chandler talks with Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. about Spiritual Emergency, a type of healing crisis that can occur when a person has an encounter with psychological, emotional, or spiritual states that lie outside their usual ways of organizing experience. There is a spectrum of response that people who have with Spiritual Emergency – from a state of collapse to a state of acceleration and everything in between. Based on her years of clinical practice, Isa offers her perspective on Spiritual Emergency, examining its causes, and offering helpful suggestions on how to navigate it. Isa is the author of two books, and the creator of the spiritual counseling model Depth Hypnosis. She is also the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream.

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Podcast: Episode 81: Paul Denniston: Healing Through Yoga

Podcast: Episode 81: Paul Denniston: Healing Through Yoga

On this episode of the Sacred Stream Radio Podcast, Laura Chandler talks with author, yoga instructor, and the creator of Grief Yoga, Paul Denniston. In his new book, Healing Through Yoga: Transform Loss into Empowerment, Paul teaches the groundbreaking process of Grief Yoga in an accessible way. In their talk, Paul explains the concepts behind Grief Yoga, a process that uses yoga, movement, breath, and sound to help people move through and release pain and reconnect to life and love.

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Podcast: Episode 80: Shamanism and the Inner Experience

Podcast: Episode 80: Shamanism and the Inner Experience

On this episode, Laura Chandler highlights an excerpt of a talk given by Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. called Shamanic Paths to Inner Experience. Traditional shamanic cultures have long held an understanding of nature, spirit, and non-ordinary realms of being that contemporary cultures have lost touch with in the larger mainstream of experience. In this fascinating talk, Isa Gucciardi explores some of the ways healers from indigenous traditions have accessed larger aspects of consciousness and the realm of the unseen, for guidance, healing, and insight and speaks about their relevance for us today.

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Podcast: Episode 79: 2021: A Retrospective

Podcast: Episode 79: 2021: A Retrospective

On this episode, Laura Chandler takes a look back at a collection of interviews from 2021. She explores the idea of how we create a more inclusive experience of dharma with Spring Washam, the difficulty of growing up as an interracial adoptee and the healing power of music with cellist and clinical psychologist Mia Pixley, and reflects on Michael Schauch’s experience of karma in the mountains of Nepal and his uneasy relationship with yak butter tea. She also revisits her talk with renowned empath and channel, Paul Selig, their discussion of his bestselling book, Alchemy, and how his guides describe the nature of these times and the function of the current pandemic from the perspective of spiritual evolution.

Our featured musical artists are Christopher Tait, Home Learning, Mia Pixley, and Sapphron Obois.

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Podcast: Episode 78: Lisa Broderick: All the Time in the World

Podcast: Episode 78: Lisa Broderick: All the Time in the World

Description: On this episode of the Sacred Stream Radio Podcast, Laura Chandler speaks with author, senior executive, and founder of the non-profit Police 2 Peace, Lisa Broderick. Lisa is an accomplished senior executive whose career has been defined by understanding how technology impacts society and changes behavior. She teaches that life is about constant change, in which energy and matter are the basis of transformation. Her passion lies in helping others with little or no scientific or spiritual training master their innate abilities with practices designed to improve their lives, their relationships, and the world.

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Podcast: Episode 77: Mia Pixley: Margaret in the Wild

Podcast: Episode 77: Mia Pixley: Margaret in the Wild

On this episode, Laura Chandler is joined by composer, musician, and clinical psychologist, Mia Pixley, who has just released a new album, Margaret in the Wild. Mia has a degree in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She has performed in award-winning off-Broadway musicals, on GRAMMY award-winning records, and she has collaborated with HERE Arts in NYC, Pixar Studios, and The de Young Museum. Most recently, she performed on Barbara Higbie’s latest album, with whom she tours regularly on the annual Windham Hill Winter Solstice Tour.

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Podcast: Episode 76: Christopher Tait: Passenger Recovery

Podcast: Episode 76: Christopher Tait: Passenger Recovery

On this episode, Laura talks with Christopher Tait of Passenger Recovery and Detroit rock bands Electric Six, Belle Ghoul, and Palace Pier. Chris has been with Electric Six since 2002 and has earned a gold record among other accolades. Sober since 2011, he formed Passenger Recovery in 2016, a small non-profit based in Detroit, to help sober artists and crew that are on the road connect with resources for traveling in recovery, including transportation to meetings locally. Since its inception, it has grown into an international organization helping artists worldwide.

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Podcast: Episode 75: Michael Schauch: A Story of Karma

Podcast: Episode 75: Michael Schauch: A Story of Karma

On this episode, Laura Chandler talks with writer, mountain climber, and entrepreneur, Michael Schauch, about his new book, A Story of Karma: Finding Love and Truth in the Lost Valley of the Himalaya. Part travel memoir, part spiritual quest, it begins with his love of mountain climbing and his pull to climb a mysterious mountain in the Himalayan region of Nepal. On that quest he encounters many adventures until one day he finds himself in a remote Nepali village where he meets a young Tibetan girl named Karma and his life is changed forever. The story of Karma is his own karma and that of his relationship to this young girl. The book reveals the hardships of so many Nepali mountain people, lack of access to education, running water, roads, healthcare, and also the joys and indomitable spirit of these remarkable people.

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Podcast: Episode 74: Isa Gucciardi: The New Return to the Great Mother

Podcast: Episode 74: Isa Gucciardi: The New Return to the Great Mother

On this episode, Laura Chandler is joined by writer, teacher, and co-founder of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, Isa Gucciardi Ph.D., and they are talking about her latest book, The New Return to the Great Mother: Birth, Initiation, and the Sacred Feminine. The book is an updated and expanded version of Isa’s acclaimed book, Return to the Great Mother. In this new edition, Isa offers a fresh perspective on birthing as a sacred initiatory process. She takes the reader on a journey to rediscover the transformative feminine power at the heart of childbirth and teaches methods of tapping into this ancient wellspring of power to create a birthing experience that is deeply intuitive and empowering. The book is filled with inspiring true stories, and helpful tools and exercises for connecting with the wisdom and power of the Great Mother.

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Podcast: Episode 73: Dena Merriam: When the Bright Moon Rises

Podcast: Episode 73: Dena Merriam: When the Bright Moon Rises

On this episode, Laura Chandler is joined by writer, activist, and Founder of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, Dena Merriam, to talk about her latest book, When the Bright Moon Rises: The Awakening of Ancient Memories. The book spans several periods from Vedic India to the Han and Tang Dynasties of China. It is an eloquent testimony to the evolution of a soul and the lessons learned over lifetimes. Dena and Laura discuss the remarkable awakening that was the impetus for writing the book, as well as the significance of the times we are living in and the part past lives play in understanding our current life.

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Podcast: Episode 72: Martin A. Lee: The Essential Guide to CBD

Podcast: Episode 72: Martin A. Lee: The Essential Guide to CBD

On this episode, Laura Chandler is joined by activist and writer Martin A. Lee, co-founder and director of Project CBD, to talk about his latest book, Reader’s Digest: The Essential Guide to CBD: Everything You Need to Know About What It Helps, Where to Buy It, and How to Take It. Martin explains the history of cannabis, the different ways cannabis works to assist in our own body’s ability to heal, current medical studies, and the myriad of ailments it can help with – everything from cancer, to brain injuries, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, anxiety, addiction, and so much more. There is a lot to understand about CBD and Martin provides a clear map for understanding and navigating its history and usage.

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