Library
Blog: Buddhism Offers a Solution to Hopelessness
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and the epidemic of depression raging across the world will be the single biggest contributor to the overall burden of disease of all health conditions by 2030. Suicides by high profile personalities such as Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, and Kate Spade have triggered a widespread effort to understand what causes people to suffer so much that they find suicide to be a viable option.
When I first began practicing Buddhism, a teacher told me that everything is an illusion – so my suffering was an illusion. All I needed to do was to let go of the illusion of myself and the suffering would go away. This was not helpful. In my view, spiritual practice which encourages the student to “Just let go of the self!” or “Just let go of the pain!” is misguided.
Special Announcement: Yoga Teacher Advanced Studies Seminar with Isa Gucciardi
Join an online community of Yoga Teachers and Practitioners in a monthly exploration of yoga philosophy, anatomy, research, therapeutics, and ethics.
The Yoga Teacher Advanced Studies Seminar is a response to the evolving need for quality continuing education programming in the yoga teaching community.
The level of proficiency in philosophy, anatomy, ethics, and therapeutics is minimal in those teachers who recently completed their 200 hour training, and even in those teachers who have been teaching for a number of years.
This seminar was designed both for teachers looking to keep the learning process alive and for those yoga practitioners who are just plain interested in the fascinating world of yoga philosophy, practice, research and scholarship.
Podcast: Episode 41: Jami Sieber: Part 1
On this episode, Laura Chandler is joined by the multi-talented composer, singer, and electric cellist, Jami Sieber. Jami creates lush soundscapes using her voice and the cello through a process called “looping” that turns her solo instrument into an orchestra of heart-opening sound. Since launching her solo career in 1994, she has performed throughout the Europe, Asia, and North America to rave reviews. Her compositions have appeared in film and television and the critically acclaimed video game, Braid. In part one of this two-part interview with Jami, we discuss her early work in the award-winning pop-rock band, Rumors of the Big Wave, a socially conscious band that came of age during the aids epidemic in the 1980s. She also talks about her solo career, as well as her dedication to social activism, the environment, and her relationship to music, spirit, and the creative process.
Special Announcement: Sacred Stream Video Archival Project
Help us preserve timeless wisdom and culture and make it accessible for free to everyone with our Video Archival Project – now live thru July 18 on IndieGoGo.
Blog: Listening to the Sacred Earth
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
If we listen, the earth has much to tell us. When humans lived closer to the earth, they understood that great wisdom was held in the trees, the plants, the rocks and the sea. They communicated with the earth, and learned ways of listening to the wisdom she had to offer. For example, the shaman of a tribe is often described as talking to the plants to learn the nature of their medicine. Ways of gathering this kind wisdom are still preserved by many indigenous cultures. The vision quest and the shamanic journey are just two examples of these processes that are accessible to us today.
Blog: Healing Your Mind by Dropping into Your Heart
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Sometimes people come into my office struggling with a problem, and whenever they try to address it, they find themselves stuck in “mind loops.” Mind loops are characterized by sequences of labyrinthine reasoning containing dead ends and knotted thoughts that fold back on themselves without producing the hoped-for clarity.
People who experience this type of mental confusion are usually viewed as having a high level of intellectual intelligence, and tend to work in professions that require the use of their intellect. These people are able to generate logic sequences that make them valuable contributors at work. This capacity, however, can often send the same people into mental traps when they try to apply these logic sequences to experiences that do not necessarily respond to logic.
Podcast: Episode 40: Helen Palmer: The Enneagram
This episode features international bestselling author and pioneer of the Enneagram, Helen Palmer, in conversation with Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D., creator of Depth Hypnosis and the author of Coming to Peace. Moderated by The Net and the Butterfly author Judah Pollack, this discussion takes place in front of a live audience at the Sacred Stream Center in Berkeley, CA. Topics covered in this talk include intuition, somatic processes, the early origins of the Enneagram, Buddhism, and how Helen came to be one of the early pioneers of this fascinating model.
Blog: Repatterning Life Transitions and Initiations
By Isa Gucciardi PhD
Within each of our lives, we have important moments of transition, which we experience in our bodies, that can be understood as initiations into a new way of being. Birth, death, puberty, the sexual encounter, becoming a parent, and for women menstruation, menopause, and giving birth, are all potent initiations we experience in our lifetimes. Each of these initiations holds powerful information and the possibility of transforming long held patterns that no longer serve us.
Podcast: Bonus Episode: Introducing American Innovations Podcast
This bonus episode of the Sacred Stream Radio Podcast contains a preview of the newest podcast from Wondery called American Innovations.
DNA science. Artificial intelligence. Smartphones and 3D printers. Science and technology have transformed the world we live in. But how did we get here? It wasn’t by accident. Well, sometimes it was. It was also the result of hard work, teamwork, and competition. And incredibly surprising moments.
Hosted by bestselling author Steven Johnson (How We Got To Now), American Innovations uses immersive scenes to tell the stories of the scientists, engineers, and ordinary people behind the greatest discoveries of the past century.
All episodes are available now. Search for American Innovations on Apple Podcasts, or by visiting wondery.fm/sacred.
Blog: Safeguarding Birth, Invoking the Sacred
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
From the moment we are born until the moment we die, women are constantly engaged in the processes of creation, creativity, and change. For much of our lives, through our monthly cycles, our bodies create forms to prepare to receive new life, and if that new life is not received, a process of destruction of those forms takes place.
When we give birth, in the process of becoming a mother, our old sense of self as an independent being falls away, and, in defining ourselves, we include the needs of another in a very real and intimate way. As a woman goes into labor, however, the new definition of self as a mother who includes the identity of her child as part of her own self-identity has not quite gelled, and the old definition of self as a single, unitary being is challenged. As this challenge occurs, the power that was binding together the old form – the independent woman – is released. This power is then available to create the new form – the mother.
Podcast: Episode 38: Margarita Melville: The Guerilla Nun: Part 2
In this episode, Laura Chandler concludes her extensive interview with Margarita Melville, activist, educator, and member of the Catonsville Nine. Laura met with Margarita in her hotel room in Chula Vista, CA, where they discussed Margarita’s dedication to the Guatemalan people, her time in prison as a result of the Catonsville Nine action, her marriage to former Maryknoll priest Thomas Melville, and how marriage was part of their revolutionary plans. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Catonsville Nine, when nine Catholic activists burned draft files using homemade napalm to protest the Vietnam War on May 17, 1968. They were tried and convicted in federal court and sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison. At age 88, Margarita still exhibits the passion and energy that has been the signature of her life. She tells the story of the murders of student activists that she worked with and her own narrow escape from Guatamala after being betrayed to authorities for her participation in the resistance. Margarita also discusses politics today and how her view of spirituality and Christianity has grown over the years. And she has a special message for the young activists today.
Special Announcement: Upcoming Courses for Parents at Sacred Stream
Sacred Stream is committed to supporting parents in bringing greater consciousness into their relationships with their children, their partners, and themselves. All of our Empowered Living courses are designed to help you get the most from your everyday experience. Several upcoming courses are especially helpful for parents.
Conscious Parenting will help you connect more deeply with your intentions and values as a parent and respond to whatever arises with greater self-understanding and grace. Tracking Spirit in the Birth Environment provides an opportunity to connect to powerful resources for giving birth or integrate the birth experience you already had. The Path of Service strongly connects you with your own needs and how to address them so that you can maintain your energy level while caring for others. And if you find, as you parent your children, that how you were parented is coming up as something you would like to understand better, Relationship and Karma will help you do that.
Blog: Conscious Parenting Part 6: Learning from Our Triggers
By Joanna Adler, Psy.D.
Editor’s note: Joanna Adler, Psy.D. is a certified Depth Hypnosis Practitioner and licensed clinical psychologist. Her two-day workshop on Conscious Parenting will be at The Bodhi Center in Bainbridge Island, WA on the weekend of April 28-29.
Life throws so many difficult things at us as parents. It’s important to find enough time to support ourselves so that we can be resilient and offer that same support to our children. We know this, but sometimes it can feel like yet another thing to do. The good news is that there are practices we can cultivate for when we encounter difficulty in our relationships with our children, practices that allow us to get out of the way and offer the child what is truly needed in that moment.
On the Air: A Meeting of the Ways with Diane Solomon and Helen Palmer: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life
Diane Solomon, host of A Meeting of the Ways on KKUP, and Helen Palmer, bestselling author of The Enneagram, discuss how The Enneagram can help you in understanding yourself and the others in your life
Blog: Conscious Parenting Part 5: Interview with Joanna Adler, Psy.D.
Editors’ Note: We’re delighted to publish this interview with Joanna Adler instructor of the Conscious Parenting workshop that will be offered at The Bodhi Center, Bainbridge Island, WA on April 28 and 29. Joanna Adler is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified Depth Hypnosis Practitioner. She has studied extensively in the fields of Depth Hypnosis, Buddhist Psychology, Shamanism, and Energy Medicine at the Foundation of the Sacred Stream. We asked Joanna about how she helps people with the dizzying array of choices parents face on a regular basis, what the word “discipline” means to her, and what interests her most in her work with families.
Q. How do you work with parents that may be struggling with knowing how to best support their children when there are so many choices, so many potential ways to respond in a given situation?