Shows
Movies That Don't Suck and Some That DoMovies That Don't Suck and Some That Do: Poor Things/The Iron ClawNeil and Chris present the Poor Things/The Iron Claw review!The dudes review the last 2 movies of 2023! First, after the intro, the guys enter a fantastical steampunk world about a woman's liberation in Poor Things starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Then, after some news, Neil gets all wrasslin' nerd when they talk The Iron Claw starring Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White about the Von Erich wrestling dynasty.Poor Things is a 2023 science fantasy black comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Tony McNamara. It is based on the 1992...2024-01-051h 34
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 93: The Gentle PlaceDaniel and I sit down at the kitchen table to talk about travel and filmmaking, the magic of strangers, and the death of our friend Christophe. You can find us online at MauraJames.com and DanielFox.tv. [“The Greater Wings” - Julie Byrne]2023-08-051h 42
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 92: Following the Mystical Thread w KasemMy friend Kasem joins for a tender, deeply personal conversation about his lifelong dance with the mystic. From a childhood rooted in the Missionary Baptist church to his last 13 years as a practicing buddhist, Kasem has been following the radical meme of self-discovery. We talk about everything from putting Jesus back in context and learning to examine the nature of reality, to the “double dutch” of code switching and navigating the American Dream as the child of immigrants. If you want to connect with Kasem, you can email him at ricanarab@gmail.com. More podcasts at MauraJames.com a...2023-03-162h 00
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 91: Ketamine Counseling w Kenton Bartlett“Nerdy rebel” Kenton Bartlett discusses starting Alabama’s first psychedelic studio where he shepherds people through therapeutic ketamine sessions. We talk about leaving behind traditional talk therapy models, holding space, curating music, legality, and combatting drug war propaganda. “If I had to summarize my current philosophy, it would be: trust yourself. And everything I’m trying to do as a therapist is just get out of the way.” You can find photos of Kenton’s meticulously designed trip spaces on Facebook and learn more about his offerings on his website. Listen to the higher consciousness playlist here. More podcasts a...2022-09-231h 33
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 90: My Body Knows the Way w Phil CookMusician and human laser beam of positive energy Phil Cook comes to the woods in Alabama for an intimate conversation by the creek. We talk everything from space and swing, to dad’s ski tapes, to getting diagnosed with ADHD at 40, and learning to respect the power of plants. It’s been a big time of reflection and setting new direction. Welcome to Phil’s big, beautiful world. You're part of the family now. Watch Phil’s new documentary Stay Prayed Up and listen to his new album All These Years. He’s on IG @philcookmusic. More podcasts at...2022-07-111h 53
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 89: Looking at the Hollow Within w Chase BauerMy dear friend Chase Bauer returns to the podcast with a deeply personal exploration of the nature of mind. In telling the story of a recent psychedelic ceremony, Chase reveals how a constellation of wisdom including nonviolent communication (NVC), guru yoga, and the witness of LSD helped him understand his relationship to addiction in a radically new way. Along the way we contemplate cults and spiritual abuse, whiteness, codependence, the value and limitations of constructing mental models, and doing whippets in your 30s. Watch Chase’s short films Calling For Home Care and Pleasant Valley Black and Bl...2021-04-051h 46
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 88: Not Here to Make Pretty Pictures w Kathy NidaKathy Nida is an artist most well known for her quilts, which depict potent visions of the human experience. She describes quilting as a form of meditative practice that is essential to her mental health. She has intentionally prioritized it throughout her life, including while also being a mother and a full-time middle school science teacher. In this conversation, we explore truth-telling and censorship, art and capitalism, pantyhose revolt, and finding hope for the future in critically-thinking 12-year-olds, among much more. You can connect with her at kathynida.com and on IG @knida. More podcasts where podcasts are found...2021-01-221h 10
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 87: Below the Brine w Hasan OswaldHasan Oswald is a filmmaker who made the documentary film HIGHER LOVE in Camden, NJ with no professional experience, no budget, and no crew. Using YouTube to learn all things film and selling his blood plasma to make ends meet, he somehow pulled off a zero-budget hit. Higher Love tells the story of a blue-collar father tries to bring his pregnant, heroin-addicted girlfriend home from the streets. Oswald shares stories about the making of the project, as well as his next feature about Yazidi families in the Middle East seeking reunification after thousands of people were kidnapped by ISIS...2021-01-1852 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 86: The Magnificent Journey w Susan AtehSusan Ateh is a breathwork facilitator whose goal is for all people to experience love for themselves. An Irish-Cameroonian living in LA as a working actor for many years, Susan realized that the misogyny, materialism, and judgment inherent to the film industry had worn down her love for her craft, and she found herself paralyzed by depression. She shares how breathwork reconnected her to the beauty of her emotions and helped her begin to release decades of unprocessed emotion, a journey into reconnection that she now holds space for others to walk. We talk about the socialization of “the go...2020-12-181h 35
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 85: “Anti-trap” Trap with Mullyman & NikStylzMullyman returns to the podcast (episode 49!), this time with his sister NikStylz. Together they are the duo MicBroSis, releasing an album of consciousness lifting “anti-trap” trap music called “Godspeed" this winter. We dive into the current zeitgeist of deep questioning, exploring how we recognize manipulation, discern wisdom, and attain liberation. I get an education in how violence came to be associated with modern black music (spoiler alert: the prison industrial complex has a stake in it) and how Mully and Nikia are readjusting their values away from the mainstream. You can find them on IG: @iammullyman @NikStylz @MicBroSis. More podcas...2020-12-061h 22
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 84: Freedom Is Possible w Jeanette WaddellJeanette Waddell is a storyteller and wise elder based in middle Georgia. She returns to the podcast (catch her on episode 37!) to share her experience as a black woman in America, from confronting racism in intimate relationships to underrepresentation of black bodies in the media to learning to keep her heart open with healthy boundaries through ongoing oppression. She shares the stories of community organizing and individual vision that ground her in her own agency: Malcolm X, MLK, the organizers of the bus boycotts, and the community of the black church. Through it all, she presents storytelling as a...2020-11-081h 35
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 83: Seeking Comfort w Nick NailNick Nail is a musician, painter, gentle soul, and friend of ours in Birmingham. Here Nick explores his lifelong quest for comfort and belonging after experiencing a painful split in his consciousness in the wake of early childhood sexual abuse. At times Nick has found relief in long distance running and creating music and art and at other times in codependent relationships and regular heroin use. Nick has a tremendous capacity for compassionate observation. He talks with radical transparency about the gifts and limitations of addiction, choosing homelessness, bearing the stigma of being a “bad person,” discovering the permission to e...2020-10-291h 16
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 82: Ibogaine & Harm Reduction w Juliana MulliganJuliana Mulligan is the founder of Inner Vision Ibogaine, where she coaches people before and after treatment sessions with the powerful entheogen ibogaine. Her call to devote her life to helping others formulate a new healing life structure is deeply personal: after seven years of struggle with opioid dependency, which forced her into the further trauma of the mainstream rehab system, from methadone and Suboxone to 12 step programs and the justice system, Juliana finally found freedom with ibogaine. Although the treatment was a success, the clinic did not followed proper safety protocols and Juliana nearly died several times during...2020-10-191h 06
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 81: Purifying Poison Into Wisdom w Sophia RemoldeSophia Remolde aka Lobsterbird is a nomadic creator, performer, writer, and energy worker who helps guide spiritual creatives to phase out of their jobs and into careers they love and that serve the world. During lockdown at her parents house this year, she answered an unexpected internal call to start growing her own food, something she had no previous experience with aside from once killing some bamboo. Several months later, she is the proud cultivator of a thriving food forest and on her way to a permaculture certification. She has started a mycelium education initiative to support people around...2020-09-3000 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 80: You Are Not Alone w Maura JamesIn honor of the two year anniversary of Unbroken Chain, I took a moment to look back on the journey. In a sweet conversation with my partner Daniel, I share my intentions for starting the podcast and touch on some of the things I’ve learned along the way: deep listening, connecting with the unbroken part of another’s soul, confronting suffering, reckoning with whiteness, psychedelic tools, plant medicine teachers, and other juicy goodness in between. I’m sending this out with much gratitude and love for the dear ones who have joined me on this ride. I see you, a...2020-09-181h 43
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 79: It’s Alright To Be True w Daniel FoxDaniel Fox is a filmmaker, music curator, cosmic coordinator, and deep lover of humans who also happens to also be my partner. The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, Daniel grew up deeply formed by evangelical conditioning in the Deep South: toxic masculinity, the eternal threat of hell, overt racism, sports as religion, rabid materialism, sexual shame, and so much fear. He talks about the suicidal depression that overtook his life when he finally left the only community he had ever known and speaks publicly for the first time about coming to terms with childhood trauma that he spent...2020-08-282h 18
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 78: The Powerful Example w Royal ParkerRoyal Parker is an activist based in New York’s Hudson Valley. On July 18, 2020, he lead a rally of 400 peaceful protestors in support of voting rights and police oversight. The event became the subject of national news when his group was met with hate speech and violence from counter-protestors representing the Duchess County Conservative Party and pro-police supporters. In this thoughtful and transparent conversation, Royal reflects on his experience as a highly visible black leader in the movement for justice. We talk about learning to integrate non-violence into practice, the psycho-emotional fallout of violent confrontation, and the call to se...2020-08-211h 28
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 77: Body Sovereignty w Samantha ZipporahSamantha Zipporah is an educator and support person for rites of passage related to reproductive and sexual health. She helps people understand the power, pleasure, and magic available in fertility and sexuality, particularly centered on wombs and ovaries. On her website and Patreon, you can find an abundance of resources related to conscious contraception and ovulation awareness, holistic healing after abortion and miscarriage, and non-medicalized reproductive health. In this conversation we explore the intersection of physiology and spirituality, reclaiming our bodies from pharmaceuticals, and becoming attuned to the natural cycles of our internal ecology, touching on PMS, grief, and...2020-08-111h 15
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 76: Making Love with the Universe w AnandaAnanda is my housemate and one of the kindest, most beautiful old souls in a young body I’ve ever met. He has spent the last five years teaching himself to play music and channel it into the world as an expression of love and healing. In this hang from my kitchen, we explore what it means to be alive in a human experience in this world, from the nature of reality to the relationship between matter and consciousness, all deeply informed by relationships with psychedelic medicines. Ananda shares what he learned growing up surrounded by addiction and other destructive en...2020-07-231h 09
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 75: Loving Out Loud w Voice PorterVoice Porter is a poet, muralist, and master gardener, among many other creative roles. He is a founding member of Ensley Alive, a collective movement dedicated to the renaissance of Ensley, a neglected neighborhood where he grew up in Birmingham, Alabama which became synonymous with violence and poverty in the city’s imagination. He heads the Color Project, which creates gardens and public art that have transformed the area into a destination space for creativity, physical and mental wellbeing, and community for residents and visitors. In this expansive conversation, he talks about his experience of America as a black ma...2020-07-121h 18
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 74: Calling Each Other Toward Healing w Cameron WhetstoneCameron Whetstone is a tarot reader and intuitive based in Brooklyn, NY. In this juicy and expansive conversation, she shares her journey into the work of being human—resolving trauma and honoring her ancestors. From growing up biracial in America, to climbing the corporate fashion ladder and numbing out to reality TV and alcohol until her immune system could no longer tolerate it, Cameron shares valuable insights about awakening to her conditioning and freeing herself from it. She offers a comprehensive understanding of the physiology of trauma through the nervous system and how we can create a conscious, compassionate re...2020-07-061h 39
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 73: White Privilege and the Criminal Justice System w Jarmel ReitzJarmel Reitz is a Philly-based artist, font of sunshine and rainbows, and convicted felon. Here she tells the intimate story of her arrest over 16 pounds of cannabis and her subsequent experiences in jail, where she received a radicalizing education in systemic dehumanization and white privilege. This conversation was originally recorded and briefly released in 2018 before we took it offline. Today, on what would have been her release date from prison if not for a plea bargain extended because of her whiteness, Jarmel decided it was time to make this conversation public. It is more prescient than ever as we...2020-07-031h 11
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 72: Listening As a Form of Love w Jasmyn StoryJasmyn Elise Story is an international Restorative Justice Facilitator and founder of The People’s Coalition, an organization that aims to provide information, access, and resources to lower the impact of structural violence experienced by historically marginalized groups. Jasmyn recently bought a 15 acre farm in the heart of Alabama, which will be home to Freedom Farm Azul, a retreat space in the tradition of Fannie Lou Hamer and Frida Kahlo. In this powerful offering, Jasmyn walks us through transformative justice process as an alternative to traditional law enforcement and punitive justice, exploring communal listening, accountability, forgiveness, relational culture, plant me...2020-06-091h 42
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 71: Trauma and the Shadow w Emma ZeckEmma Zeck is a writer, mystic, complex trauma survivor, and recovery coach for womxn. She writes and teaches about self-love, social change, and coming into wholeness by embracing and becoming lovers with the shadow as much as the light. In this conversation, she shares some of the wisdom she has gleaned on her journey to break the generational wounds that deeply formed her early life. We talk about gaslighting, covert narcissism, dealing with feeling unsafe in your body, spiritual bypassing, and the intersection of privilege and healing. You can find her online at EmmaZeck.com and IG @emmazeck_. More...2020-05-2656 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 70: Deconstructing Purity Culture w Emily VinoEmily Vino is an artist, Human Design reader, and ex-evangelical Christian now helping women from all walks of life reconnect to their intuition and sensuality. Born out of her personal experiences dealing with sexual repression and shame in the church, Emily is currently developing a project about purity culture. She has started conducting informal phone interviews with others who have experienced its harm and together explore new ways to ground back into the intelligence of the body. In this vulnerable conversation, Emily shares her journey out of the church and into embodiment, undoing harmful programming around “virginity,” pre-marital sex, and...2020-05-191h 23
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 69: Alchemizing Suffering Into Beauty w Johanna WarrenJohanna Warren is a musician, artist, and healer. Her newest album, Chaotic Good, came out on May 1. In this sweet and vulnerable conversation, we dive into the shadows and gifts of the creative life, touching on the karmic drives that inform self-expression, and how her understanding of her most challenging experiences has shifted as she has healed her body and spirit, releasing damaging beliefs and stepping into stories of magic and wisdom. From discipline to self-annihilation, musical ancestors to herbal wizards, this is a tender exploration of personal catharsis and the call to service as an artist. You can...2020-05-101h 11
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 68: The Mycelial Tree of Life w Michael Stuart AniMichael Stuart Ani is a farmer, writer, and advocate for the protection of the environment. He has lived and worked intimately with some of the most remote indigenous communities of Central and South America and has been carrying the ritual steps of the Ghost Dance for decades. In the 1960s and 70s, he was the only outsider allowed into Mexico's Sierra Mazateca cloud forest where he developed a lifelong relationship with an entheogenic mushroom called Deshetō. He later spent 12 years with the Yanomami tribe of Venezuela, fighting epidemics. He is featured in the 1992 documentary, ”Yanomami: Keepers of the Flame” and w...2020-04-291h 40
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 67: Reporting on Prison w Beth ShelburneBeth Shelburne is a journalist who specializes in investigative long-form reporting on criminal justice and mass incarceration. Formerly a reporter with WBRC in Birmingham, AL, Beth left television news to focus full-time on amplifying the voices of those who are stuck inside the system and often silenced. Her recent essay on conditions inside the largest maximum security prison in the nation, “Angola’s Angst,” can be read in the Bitter Southerner. In this conversation, Beth shares wisdom from her friends and collaborators inside the system and honors the incredible odds they have overcome to develop emotionally and spiritually while impris...2020-04-141h 11
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 66: Anarchy & the Rise of Mutual Aid w Cindy MilsteinCindy Milstein is an anarchist organizer and writer long engaged in contemporary social movements and collective spaces. She is the author of “Anarchism and It’s Aspirations”, coauthor of “Paths toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism,” and editor of the new anthology “Deciding for Ourselves: The Promise of Direct Democracy.” For the past couple years, Cindy has focused on doing support work for the J20 defendants and others facing state repression, touring extensively with her latest edited anthology, “Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief,” and co-organizing the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair. Currently, Cindy co-organizes the Institute for Advanced Troublemaking and i...2020-04-081h 31
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 65: Entering the Age of Aquarius w Juliana McCarthyAstrologer and author Juliana McCarthy returns to the podcast (find her on Episode 2)! We talk from our offices in bed, quarantined 2,000 miles apart. I called Juliana to get some context and grounding for our current situation: to understand more about 2020, an unprecedented year of transformation, and the new age of individual liberation. And she gives us a massive download on Saturn, lord of karma, Chiron, the Wounded Healer, and the new Age of Aquarius. We talk about loneliness and aloneness, retreat mentality, looking our demons in the eyes, making our healers our heroes, and building peaceful Queendom. This is...2020-03-311h 23
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 64: Psychedelic Ministry w Dave BarnhartDave Barnhart is a writer and Methodist pastor who leads a network of house churches as well as a monthly psychedelic integration meet up in Birmingham, AL. In addition to maintaining a beautifully thought-provoking blog, he is the author of two books, What’s in the Bible About Church? (2008) and God Shows No Partiality (2012). This conversation, recorded the week before COVID-19 and global recession, is as relevant now as ever. Dave shares his experiences participating in a psilocybin study at Johns Hopkins University and his journey to find transparency and vulnerability as a spiritual leader. We talk about guilt cultu...2020-03-191h 12
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 63: Write to Heal w Salaam GreenSalaam Green is the founder and director of the Literary Healing Arts Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama. After writing helped her recover her sense of self during the lowest point in her life, she has devoted her life to helping others use their voice and tell their stories as a healing tool as well. In this uplifting conversation, we talk about worthiness, resilience, rewiring trauma triggers, letting joy drive our lives, and following the blueprint for social change left for us by indigenous and enslaved ancestors. This is a beautiful exploration of our inherent ability to heal ourselves with the...2020-03-101h 09
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 62: Psychedelic Addiction Treatment w Dr. Peter HendricksDr. Peter Hendricks is a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham currently conducting a study on psilocybin facilitated psychotherapy for cocaine dependence. He talks about the nature of addiction, the benefits and challenges of the scientific approach, the history of psychedelic research and its suppression, and the proliferation of psychedelic culture at large. The conversation opened up beautifully to explore the search for meaning in our modern times, creativity, unconditional love, Hildegard von Bingen, Viking invaders, and much more. More podcasts where podcasts are found and MauraJames.com or IG: @maurajames. [“Ma...2020-02-231h 49
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 61: Peyote and Prison w Damian WarrenDamian Warren is a new Birmingham friend we met in peyote ceremony at the Native American Church of Inner light. A beautiful and kind spirit, Damian has been undergoing a radical year of growth and healing with the help of plant medicine sacraments. He is also a corrections officer at a notoriously violent prison in Alabama that was recently cited in federal court by the Equal Justice Initiative for "severe overcrowding, understaffing and dangerous conditions” at high safety risk to its guards. In this deeply vulnerable conversation, Damian talks about his experience in the system, both as an officer an...2020-02-131h 33
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 60: Healing America’s Broken Bone w T. Marie KingT. Marie King is a community organizer and activist based in Birmingham, AL who has devoted herself to addressing bias and oppression by helping people become “custodians” of their thoughts. In this inspiring hang, we explore inaction, defensiveness, reconciliation, atonement, and inclusion among much more. She shares pragmatic tools that all of us can begin using today to address the broken relationships that this country was built on and that persist today. She is a beautiful living example of our personal responsibility and opportunity to heal ourselves and our communities. You can find her on twitter @tMKing1 and instagram @tmki...2020-02-051h 22
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 59: Battery Acid Brain w Shawn ThorntonShawn Thornton is a visionary artist based in Philadelphia, PA. His paintings are highly detailed and symbolic, often taking him years to complete. He had a tumor in his pineal gland that went undiagnosed for six years and during that time began to experience unusual states of consciousness, including invasive voices and episodes of psychosis, energies which can be seen reflected in his visual language. In this conversation, he describes the experience of losing his mind, navigating western medicine and antipsychotic drugs, and finally finding relief in painting and exercise. He hypothesizes on the damage he did to himself...2020-01-241h 07
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 58: MDMA Trauma Therapy w Dr. Hannah McLaneDr. Hannah McLane is a physician, psychotherapist, and founder of the SoundMind Project in Philadelphia, PA. This nonprofit mental health center is poised to become one of the country’s first FDA-approved MDMA therapy clinics and will soon offer safe, legal, clinician-supported MDMA treatment for PTSD to the general public. MDMA is showing “incredible efficacy” at tackling treatment-resistant PTSD in Phase 3 trials at MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), with the majority of patients no longer meeting the diagnosis of PTSD and never going back on pharmaceuticals after the completion of the therapy. In this conversation, Hannah talks about what t...2020-01-151h 10
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 57: The Year of Embodiment w Sheri BagwellSheri Bagwell is a healer and meditation coach who offers support “beyond therapy” for those working to embody their higher self. Sheri discovered these tools in her own life and was able to heal her endometriosis and avoid a hysterectomy by stepping into her own intuition. In this intimate conversation we talk about what it means to be awake in a time of chaos, how to honor the sovereignty of all beings including our children, and how to love our sadness and grief. Along the way we touch on destiny versus choice, epigenetics, psychotic breaks, white guilt, god as ener...2020-01-061h 16
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 56: Ultra Instinct w Legacy (Mark & Martaze)Legacy is the insanely talented Macon-based music duo of Mark and Martaze. Their explosive freestyle flows are powered by an unstoppable DIY spirit and a determination to think and act differently than their default environment. At just 20 years old, they are creating radical community by investing in their own art and using music to open hearts and minds. In this conversation, we discuss the challenges and opportunities facing young people in our current state of the world and touch on living off the land, fame, the NFL, minimum wage, music as energy, and freestyling as meditation, amid much more...2019-12-301h 13
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 55: Self Awareness in Creativity w Duquette JohnstonDuquette Johnston is a musician and creator based in Birmingham, Alabama. This winter, in addition to new music, he is releasing a reissue of “Etowah,” an album born from a challenging period of his life 13 years ago, which began with an arrest for felony possession of cocaine. In this conversation, Duquette tells the intimate story of that intense time of growth and shares revelations from his transformation from a “young brat” into a loving human, partner, artist and father. This is an intimate offering from the journey of one artist navigating the war on drugs and the undying need to make...2019-12-161h 42
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 54: The Price of Mass Incarceration w Kate BocciaKate Boccia is the founder of the National Incarceration Association. When her son was arrested for armed robbery despite not having a weapon, he was snatched into the machinery of the criminal justice system and she along with him. In her effort to bring him home from prison, she undertook a massive education in mass incarceration and began to relentlessly petition for more human communication among all involved: prisoners, COs, lawmakers, and families. In this conversation she shares her deeply personal experience of the toll that our current system takes on millions of families just like hers. From mandatory...2019-12-101h 26
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 53: Emptiness Luminosity w Chase BauerChase is a filmmaker, buddhist practitioner, and dear friend of mine. In this wide open conversation he shares stories from a lifetime of seeking, from an unintentionally massive psychedelic trip at age 16, where an unknown amount of liquid LSD blasted him off into space (and police custody) to several years in the “fucking hell” of severe alcoholism. His subsequent search for grounding and a workable context of reality lead him to Buddhism and Trungpa Rinpoche, his beloved and “incredibly controversial” teacher. We talk about the scandals that have recently rocked his spiritual community at Shambala and his ongoing navigation of truth...2019-12-021h 20
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 52: When War Was Not a Choice w Huey D. JacksonHuey D. Jackson is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan living in Macon, GA. Now a creative on the path of healing and self-knowledge, he generously shares the deeply personal story of how he ended up in combat and what he has learned in the process. From a lonely childhood as a “7-year-old nihilist” raised by his grandmother in post-9/11 America, to the toxic military culture that celebrates murder and cheap Hollywood heroism, Huey drops truth after truth. This is a view behind the curtain at the wages of our culture’s values through the story of one kid’s...2019-11-231h 19
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 51: The Politics of Perception w Robert RosenbergerRobert Rosenberger is a philosopher of technology, author of “Callous Objects” (2017), and associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. A major line of his research and career has been exposing an anti-homeless agenda built into public spaces. In this conversation recorded at his home in Macon, GA, he reveals how our environments subtly encode and support the criminalization of poverty, whether we are conditioned to recognize it or not. From dominator culture to bike lanes, feminist epistemology to “trickle down Silicon Valley attitude,” this is an awakening conversation about what and how we perce...2019-11-171h 06
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 50: Walking Between Worlds w Grandmother Red HawkPatricia Hurley, also known as Grandmother Red Hawk, is a Pipe Carrier in the Bear Tribe tradition and a Water Pourer for the Stone Peoples Lodge. She also offers Elemental Divinations and Rituals from the Dagara People of West Africa, as well as Plant Spirit Healing, a modality based upon two ancient healing traditions of Classical Chinese Medicine and Shamanism. In the Shamanic tradition, Patricia teaches how to journey to the Upper and Lower Worlds to meet with animal, plant, and spirit guides. In this intimate conversation, she shares her magical journey into healing and truth, the rituals and...2019-11-131h 24
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 49: Transcend Your Conditioning w MullyManMullyMan is a motivator, infinite student of life, and one of Baltimore’s most recognized hip hop artists, bringing truth and purpose to a time of confusion and emptiness. After first meeting during a Lyft ride, we hung at his place in Atlanta to go deep on waking up to our truth and de-conditioning from the bullshit narratives perpetrated by institutionalized healthcare, education, policing, and propaganda. He talks about the controlled environment of the hood where he grew up in Baltimore and the freedom he found in hip hop, which has become part of the solution for healing on an...2019-11-042h 01
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 48: The Dharma of Abolition w Dr. Shanté Paradigm SmallsShanté Paradigm Smalls is a scholar, artist, and writer focusing on Black popular culture in music, film, and the arts. Dr. Smalls’ first scholarly manuscript “Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City” is forthcoming, as well as a podcast called Fantastic Blackness! In addition to teaching at St. John University, Dr. Smalls has been a meditation instructor since 2015 in the Shambala tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. In this generous offering, Dr. Smalls makes a wide and deep contemplation of suffering and transformation, exploring the historic and contemporary pain of slavery, war, and police brutality alongside the entwinement of dharma...2019-10-251h 53
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 47: F*ck Plastic w Arielle CrawfordArielle Crawford (Ep 3!) returns to the podcast, this time to talk sustainability, consumerism, and revolution in the streets. Arielle is the founder of ARIELLE, a conscious womenswear collective focused on sustainable textiles, domestic manufacturing, and fair-trade practices. She runs it single-handedly from design and sourcing to production and sales. She also created “Plastic Free in NYC: a Guide to Living Less Trashy,” which is available digitally for free. In this conversation, Arielle shares the impact of her first year as a plastic-free citizen on her kitchen, bathroom, and closet, and shares insights about how she has reconsidered her legacy and...2019-10-191h 08
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 46: Sacred Pleasure w Vanessa CucciaVanessa Cuccia is a pioneer in the sex toy industry. She is the founder of Chakrubs, the original crystal sex toy company and author of “Crystal Healing and Sacred Pleasure." As a certified crystal healer and reiki practitioner, Vanessa integrates her knowledge of crystals and metaphysical modes of healing to help those who have experienced sexual trauma or simply wish to deepen pleasure and connection to self, spirit, and others. She is an advocate for sex positivity, self-love, and personal awareness by bridging the gap between sensuality and spirituality. We talk about relearning to experience pleasure after trauma, navigating bo...2019-10-1200 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 45: Visionary Art w Tom PattersonTom Patterson has been curating and writing about contemporary folk, visionary, and outsider art for more than 30 years. He is known for his biographies of Georgia visionaries Howard Finster and Eddie Owens Martin, aka St. EOM, as well as “Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum” (2001) and countless articles in Aperture, BOMB, Folk Art, Public Art Review and Raw Vision, among many others. Here we explore the relationship between artist and source, transformative experiences of expanded consciousness, rewiring social conditioning, trapping spirits, synchrotism, and the singular obsession that grips some of us to pull down experiences from visi...2019-09-301h 16
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 44: Decompressing from Despair w Morgan CarawayMorgan Caraway is the founder of the Sustainable Life School alongside his wife Mary Jane. At their off-grid property in rural North Carolina, they’ve build themselves an earth bag home and started an intentional community called Bottom Leaf. Morgan teaches regular workshops on earth based dwellings and is the author of several books including “Ecological Awakening.” In this frank and funny conversation, he shares his self-education process into sustainability, non-duality, and self-care for counterculturalists. He offers practical advice for homesteaders and discusses his recent steps to stop “swallowing big chunks of despair” through the news and social media. You can fi...2019-09-261h 14
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 43: You Can Heal w Maria BenardisMaria Benardis is a Gourmand Award winning author, health coach, teacher, chef, and founder of Greekalicious. After a high flying career in tax accounting led Maria into grave illness and western cancer treatments ravaged her body, she left it all behind and poured herself into healing in body, mind, and spirit by following the intuitive wisdom of the ancient Greek philosophers. She is the author of “My Greek Family Cookbook” and is currently writing a memoir about her healing journey. She now offers coaching and consulting services to help others seeking to radically step into health. In this conversation she a...2019-09-181h 13
Inner Truth with David NewellMaura McNamara: Talking About The Toad (5-MEO-DMT) Maura James McNamara is a filmmaker, writer, and visual artist devoted to exploring the healing, expansion, and sovereignty of consciousness. She is the host and producer of the Unbroken Chain Podcast, where she seeks out voices often overlooked or suppressed by the mainstream and whose lived experiences reveal ways of being that might take us out of collective trauma and toward reconnection. After spending a decade working in independent documentary and television production in New York City, Maura became a full-time nomad in spring 2019, traveling the country and living alongside the people who are her subjects and teachers. She is c...2019-09-1748 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 42: Intuitive Gifts w Ty FenelusTy Fenelus is an intuitive coach and healer. After experiencing a visitation from her grandmother in the days after her death, Ty’s life was forever changed. She now works full time with spiritual guides to channel information from the highest sources, help guide people in their life purpose, and unlock blockages in body, mind, and spirit. In this conversation we talk about the team of beings—archangels, animals, plants, aliens—that are here to support us in our human incarnation. She shares the many tools such as astral projection, lucid dreaming, and meditation that can help us access their...2019-09-041h 11
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 41: A New Navigation System w Megan BaerMegan Baer is a spiritual leader of the Native American Church who lives in Athens, GA. Among many offerings in support of transformation, she hold ceremonies with the sacrament of wachuma (also known as the San Pedro cactus). In this generous conversation, Megan shares how plant medicine has radically changed her relationship to herself, giving her profound relief from a relentless barrage of negative thinking. With a masters in social work, Megan has also worked extensively in the conventional mental health sector. We talk about the place of psychedelics in the evolution of mental health care, love as alignment...2019-08-201h 41
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 40: The Death Bardo w Caroline YongueCaroline Yongue is a lay Buddhist minister in the Soto Zen tradition and director of both the Carolina Memorial Sanctuary, a “green” burial ground in Asheville, NC, and the Center for End of Life Transitions. Much of her work involves helping people prepare for the dying process, assisting with home funerals, and holding space for grief. She has transparent conversation about dying in a death-denying culture that has effectively privatized death. In this deeply heart-opening conversation, Caroline talks about the grace of death as a spiritual community event, buddhist understandings of our transition to and from life, and the prac...2019-08-151h 05
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 39: Spiritual Surgery w Chris RushingChris Rushing is the leader of the Oklevueha Native American Church of Inner Light in rural Alabama. Alongside his wife Janice, and his two sons, he shares sacramental plant medicine ceremonies with those who come seeking healing, reconnection, and prayer. He is also a painter who channels his visionary experiences onto canvas. In this deeply generous conversation recorded the morning after we joined him for ceremony, Chris talks about how plant medicine has deepened his relationship to Creator, radically changing his understanding of the Christian religion, and returned him to Christ’s pure message of love. We talk about me...2019-08-0600 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 38: How to Be Human w Tepahteh “Oso” HutzeTepahteh Hutze, aka Oso, is a medicine man from a lineage of curanderos who carries the wisdom of the Nahuatlakas and the Lakota. Life is a ceremony, he says, and everything we do is prayer. He holds regular sweat lodge and medicine ceremonies for his community, and offers the opportunity for all he meets to return to their earth-based roots and claim the medicine that is our birthright as humans. In this conversation, I share some of my recent experiences in ceremony with him, and he talks about our place in creation, the disconnection that has created abusive relationships...2019-07-2952 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 37: Self-Determining Storytelling w Jeanette WaddellJeanette Waddell is a professional storyteller born and raised in Hancock Co., Georgia. Hancock is a majority black county with a profound sense of community, as well as a history rooted in slavery. She celebrates the radical storytelling that nourished and liberated her enslaved ancestors, and the need to examine how we teach American history today, often by continuing to glorify oppressors and depicting black bodies in contexts of violence and poverty. We talk about the gifts and challenges of life in the rural South: the sense of protection and abundance within black communities, the urgent need for infrastructure...2019-07-201h 00
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 36: Cannabis and Childhood Cancer w Danielle "Yin" DwyerWhen Yin’s six-month old baby Wally was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood eye cancer, she was plunged from the bliss of new motherhood into chemotherapy world. The side effects of the chemicals being pumped into Wally, who had only consumed breastmilk at that point, made him violently ill, so Yin and her husband Brian began looking for any and all resources to help him. This lead them to cannabis oil, and the results were immediate and stunning. This is the story of Wally's healing, and the medicines that saved his life. It is a story that sh...2019-07-061h 07
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 35: By Way of Grace w Jim WhiteJim White is a master storyteller of many mediums: critically acclaimed solo artist of six albums, record producer, visual artist, and writer of award-winning fiction. He is also the narrator and defacto tour guide of the award winning BBC documentary “Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus” (2003), a road movie set in the rural South, which the LA Times described as “decidedly strange, delightfully demented.” Prior to becoming a musician, Jim led an "aimless, diverse life," working countless menial labor jobs: dishwasher, landscaper, lifeguard, cook, surfboard laminator, road builder, culminating with 13 long years driving a taxi cab in New York City. He...2019-06-211h 38
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 34: Heaven on Earth w Jerusha KerenJerusha Keren (Ep 1) returns to the podcast! Jerusha is a pranic healer and former mental health nurse based in the midwest. We spent several days together talking about our growth and service in the evolution of the human species. Jerusha has enjoyed a profound and direct relationship with the divine for her entire life, which her Jewish faith has nourished and supported. She generously helps me unpack some of my negative associations with the institution of religion and answers my long-held questions about the G-d of the Old Testament. We talk about the nature of mind, the cycle of...2019-06-141h 25
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 33: There Is Enough w Rev. Shannon SpencerRev. Shannon Spencer is the founder and director of the Asheville Poverty Initiative and moonlights as a prison chaplain at the Swannanoa Correctional Facility for Women. In rapidly gentrifying Asheville, NC, API seeks to address poverty by facilitating opportunities where the voices and experiences of “the poor” are heard and valued. While society makes various attempts to meet the immediate needs of those impacted, these basic services rarely succeed in changing the unjust systems that cause so many to go without in the first place. API aims to challenge stereotypes and decrease the fear that stems from an “us” and “them”...2019-06-0759 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 32: Radical Dharma w Dr. Jasmine SyedullahDr. Jasmine Syedullah is a feminist political theorist of abolition and co-author of “Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation.” Deeply inspired by the 19th century writings of antislavery abolitionist Harriet Jacobs, Jasmine’s current work explores how women's defense against the surveillance, policing, detention, criminalization, and punishment of everyday practices of self-making pose challenges to the bonds of racial capitalism. In our lively and potent conversation, Jasmine discussed the current landscape of carceral logic, our tendency to protect ideas over people, how we choose to engage with the inevitable trauma of change, and the practices that help us attune...2019-05-301h 25
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 31: Love WITH Accountability w Aishah Shahidah SimmonsAishah Shahidah Simmons is a black feminist lesbian activist and documentary filmmaker devoted to ending sexual violence without relying on the criminal justice system. A survivor of child sexual abuse at the hands of a family member, her latest project is an anthology arriving fall 2019 called “Love WITH Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse,” which includes transformative storytelling by 40 diasporic black voices. Her 2006 film, ‘NO! The Rape Documentary,’ broke taboos that hid heterosexual rape and sexual assault in African-American communities and continues to be used as a teaching tool around the world. In this conversation she puts fil...2019-05-241h 02
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 30: No More Running w Randy Scott CarrollRandy Scott Carroll is a Philadelphia-based musician and radio producer sharing for the first time his intimate story of healing and transformation. The son of a fundamentalist pastor, Randy experienced sexual assault as a child that deeply influenced his perception of the world and his place within it. After running from his past for many years, the Me Too movement sparked Randy to look at his experiences head on and finally begin healing the wounds that had driven him into toxic relationships and self-destructive behaviors that only perpetuated his trauma. In this radically vulnerable conversation, Randy talks about the...2019-05-131h 04
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 29: Sacred Elders w Sarah KnappSarah Knapp is a musician, healer, and traveler who moved home to San Diego three years ago to care for her father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. In caring for him and others at the end of their life, she uses music therapy and an innate love of elder wisdom to bring exquisite calm and peace. “No matter how disoriented he is, music always works. When I put on his favorite songs, he relaxes. He feels safe; he becomes present.” Sarah founded the San Diego chapter of the Resistance Revival Chorus and the community gathering place One House...2019-05-081h 19
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 28: The Least of These w Mia PeanMia Pean is the Executive Director of My Sister’s Place, a non-profit devoted to rescuing and rehabilitating victims of human trafficking. She has opened five homes internationally, including two in her home country of Haiti, and is currently devoted to opening one in Atlanta, Georgia, which has a $290 million human trafficking economy. As a child, Mia escaped an abusive home to raise herself and her younger sister in a squat in Brooklyn, which set her life's course on a radically compassionate mission to protect society’s most vulnerable. She discusses the realities of trafficking in today’s world and ho...2019-05-031h 09
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 27: Walking Persephone’s Path w Kathryn SolieKathryn Solie has dedicated her life to the study and practice of non-duality and inner work. She works one on one with people looking to remember their authentic selves through the use of tarot readings, dream interpretation, herbal medicine, intuition building, shamanic journeying, creative expression, and meditation. Today she takes us on journey into the transformative medicine of poison plants. We go deep into the underworld of datura, hellebore, henbane, belladonna, and amanita muscaria, and explore the myths that help unlock their wisdom. She talks about the pagan origins of Christmas traditions, the loss of our European shamanic lineage, w...2019-04-241h 08
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 26: Reconnecting to Spirit After Trauma w Jennifer PattersonJennifer Patterson is a grief worker who uses plants, breath, and words to explore survivorhood, body(ies), and healing. As a queer and trans affirming herbalist and breathwork facilitator, Jennifer has built an inclusive, sliding scale one-on-one practice called Corpus Ritual, and she also holds group workshops at healing spaces, LGBTQ centers, a needle exchange and harm reduction clinic, veterans hospitals, on college campuses, and online. She is the editor of "Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti- Violence Movement" (2016) and the creative nonfiction editor of Hematopoiesis Press. In this beautifully transparent conversation, Jennifer discusses her surrender to the p...2019-04-171h 15
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 25: Psychedelics and the War on Drugs w Ifetayo HarveyWriter and cultural activist Ifetayo Harvey works in communications at the Drug Policy Alliance. She has spoken widely on her experience growing up with a parent in prison, and she is a passionate advocate for ending the war on drugs and mass incarceration, improving education, sexual health and reproductive justice. In this conversation she gives us a brief history of the drug war before diving into the opportunity presented by our current moment: whether we use the tide of legalization to deconstruct the prison industrial complex and begin to make amends for centuries of oppressive, racists lawmaking. She talks...2019-04-051h 12
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 24: Keep It 100 w Darryl CarterThis is the story of Darryl Carter and of New York City, his home for the last five decades. With the backdrop of a rapidly evolving city, Darryl tells intimate stories from his journey through love, addiction, loss, and transformation with side splitting humor and radical transparency. He shares scenes from the idyllic working class 70s, the crack-ravaged 80s, and the aggressive gentrification that has followed in recent decades. A keen observer of human behavior, he talks corruption of power, corporate tyranny, escapism, nonconforming, sex addiction, satan in a crack pipe, getting humbled by women, and the moments of...2019-03-251h 54
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 23: Invest in Your Authentic Self w Ryann HolmesRyann Holmes is one of the founders of bklyn boihood, a black and brown queer and trans community committed to cultivating and supporting one another’s stories, dreams, and creative work. Ryann is devoted to living a fully authentic life, one free from the expectations and prescriptions of mainstream culture, and in its place they have built a radically safe, inclusive, and healing community. With wisdom gained from over a decade of this work and a lifetime of self-making, Ryann shares their perspective on the use and limitations of labels, combating the erasure of black queerness, the importance of no...2019-03-151h 00
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 22: Lady Be True w Emily "Birdie" BuschEmily “Birdie” Busch is a Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary artist whose creative spirit flows out of her in music, visual art, photography, and a non-linear life devoted to art-making in all forms. From her five full length albums, to the Core Memory Cards she invented to teach emotionally grounded songwriting, to her upcoming show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art featuring her original songs and paintings inspired by Goddess Archetypes and women painters from the museum’s collection, Birdie’s spirit of abundant creativity is undeniable. In this conversation she shares musings from her current projects and talks about what it really m...2019-03-071h 09
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 21: Pack Light w TrendyTrendy is an artist and, as he reminds us of all creation, a divine spiritual being made of light and love. This conversation is an offering in the tradition of open source spirituality. Trendy makes visible the matrices that we live under without knowing it and explores liberating messages that can help us deprogram our conditioning, remind us of our infinite possibility, and “beat the game” as a collective. He shares his current practices, which are derived from a feast of traditions including Buddhist, Hindu, and Toltec wisdom: accessing dream realms, fasting, using fear as a tool, honoring the wisd...2019-02-271h 18
Unbroken Chain PodcastI'm Here w PoPo is an artist, seeker, and lover who has traveled the US with a clipboard stacked with paper, making portraits for over 13,000 pedestrians in his signature two-handed style. He developed this technique after watching his toddler daughter teach herself to draw and has embraced it as a method to overwrite deeply ingrained patterns of trauma in his brain. In this deeply synchronistic conversation recorded in Po’s hometown of Brattleboro, VT, he shares views from his journey through violence and addiction toward healing and self-understanding. He has gained passionate beliefs about how we can all heal collectively by taking ac...2019-02-1800 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 19: Ritual Pain w Yin QYin Q. is a BDSM educator, sex work activist, former professional dominatrix, and writer and creator of the series “Mercy Mistress.” In this generous conversation, she makes a deeply personal reflection on the transcendent element of BDSM practices and how these rituals can help transform the shame and fear accumulated by trauma into agency and self-compassion. She talks about what consent, transparency, and feminism really mean in the context of sex work and makes, among many things, an enthusiastic call for embracing male nipple play. Throughout, she emanates a strong belief that when we decriminalize and uplift the most vuln...2019-02-071h 08
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 18: What Is Life w Daniela GrozaDaniela Groza is a documentary photographer and creator of the movement Be Kind For Real. When she’s not taking pictures, she’s often driving Uber in New York City. Her most recent project captures the lives of queer women in her home country of Romania who are often invisible to the world and to each other. In this vulnerable conversation, she goes deep about her journey to selfhood, from analyzing her childhood and ancestral trauma to learning how to recognize healthy relationships. We talk about her rejection of gurus and self-help books, the judging mind, Jung, being broke in N...2019-01-291h 48
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 17: Everything I’m Not Is Everything I Am w Yis “Noségo” GoodwinYis “Noségo” Goodwin is a painter and muralist who combines fine art technique with a heart-stoppingly intricate surrealist style. As deeply humble as he is talented, Noségo celebrates the act of creation as the divine right of inspiration. Here in one of his first public conversations, he reflects on his growth as an artist and human, exploring how we write our own stories of selfhood by working at the edge of our understanding. We kick around ideas about reincarnation, the purpose of life, and the oneness of all living things. Noségo’s murals can be seen on walls a...2019-01-1939 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 16: Death Is Safe w Tina “Kat” CourtneyTina “Kat” Courtney is an AfterLife coach who has sat in over 1000 plant medicine ceremonies and spent 11 years apprenticing with maestros in the Amazon and United States. She credits ayahuasca with saving her life and has devoted herself to helping others prepare for psychedelic experiences and integrate the sometimes intense, challenging Dark Nights of the Soul back into their lives afterward. In this beautiful offering full of practical wisdom, Kat shares her own journey into healing and talks about “bad trips,” making friends with fear, going “unsane,” purging, Shipibo cosmology, and what it means for westerners to participate in indigenous t...2019-01-141h 14
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 15: From the Provenance of Women w Eliza Hardy JonesEliza Hardy Jones is a musician, textile artist, and self-proclaimed “aggressive feminist.” From her current project transcribing women’s folk songs into sing-able quilts, to the making of her 2016 solo album, “Because Become,” she shares stories about synesthesia, textile as currency, running for mental problem solving, and synchronicity in the Russian Arctic. Throughout, Eliza celebrates the untold story of women as the progenitors of culture, and makes a deeply personal argument for the thorough investigation into who controls the official narratives of our national, social, and personal identities. You may have caught Eliza in the past touring with Grace Potter, Ir...2019-01-071h 24
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 14: Owning Your Sh*t w Sarah TrickerSarah Tricker is a filmmaker and cinematography professor at RISD. In this very intimate conversation, she shares her path to sexual awakening from growing up queer in a small town to embracing polyamory. She talks about confronting some of her deepest fears around being alone, owning jealousy, and communicating honestly about her wants and needs. This path of self-discovery has led her into alcohol recovery, transformed her social anxiety, and helped her recover from recurrent panic attacks. We talk about heartbreak, gender dysphoria, addictive personality, sex parties, and so much more. Find Sarah online at www.sarahtricker.com and...2018-12-111h 06
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 13: Courageous Embodied Beingness w Dr. Lisa ApramianDr. Lisa Apramian is a shamanic educator and guide, licensed psychologist, and coach of spiral awakening pathways. She is also the writer, director, and producer of the 1995 documentary Not Bad for a Girl about female artists of the 90s grunge and Riot Grrrl scenes. In this conversation, she shares her wisdom as a teacher and healer, discussing touch as meditation, tantra as a form of consciousness, and forgiveness alchemy as the key to liberation from the tyranny of our egos. Find Dr. Lisa online at www.spiralawakening.com and more podcasts at www.maurajames.com [“Dreams (Acoustic)” - The Cranberries2018-12-041h 03
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 12: Opening the Doors of Perception w Mr SmilezMr. Smilez is an artist and student of psychedelics who is learning how to translate experiences on the visionary plane into two dimensional art. In this very open conversation, we discuss how psychedelics have taught us to see and represent the world in ways we never imagined, and inextricably, to see and manifest our relationships with new compassion. He shares the practices that keep him grounded in creative flow while navigating the chaos of New York City capitalism, and the surprising liberation he's found in embracing his pain. Find him on instagram @Mr_Smilez. More podcasts and art at...2018-11-2554 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 11: Witch's Marks w Kat HowardKat Howard is a textile and book artist whose work explores how the female body has been viewed over time. In this deeply personal conversation, she describes how learning about the historical persecution of witches under patriarchy has made her feel less alone when navigating her own traumatic experiences, and how making art has been a path to selfhood, healing, and community. We talk about the connectivity of trauma survivors throughout time, why she’s taken the path of transparency, and how the stories of women from 500 years ago are more relevant today than ever. Find her online at ww...2018-11-1650 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 10: The Big Project w Tepahteh HutzeTepahteh Hutze, the “Oso,” is a medicine man who grew up in a family of curanderos from the Bear Clan who completed his first four day vision quest under the supervision of his grandfather at age six. As a young man he moved to United States and joined the Lakota Nation, following the teachings of Wallace Black Elk who adopted him as his grandson. Tepahteh's medicine and ways of life are deeply rooted in his practices of native ceremonies, including temescal(sweatlodge), limpias (cleanses), medicine plants, drum sessions, and energy healing. In this beautiful offering, he shares his philosophy on t...2018-11-101h 14
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 9: Modern Love w Amy Van DoranMeet Amy Van Doran, feminist matchmaker and recent psychedelic wizard. At her east village storefront, Amy has listened to people pour out their hearts nine hours a day, five days a week, for the last 12 years. She shares what she’s learned about modern love, how to manifest your dreams, her un-upbringing among witches in the psychic capital of the world, and how LSD is helping her reboot her creativity. More at www.modernloveclub.com and www.maurajames.com [“Lover of Mine” - Beach House]2018-11-0248 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 8: You Are Your Own Authority w Sondra GoodwinAfter a 25 year hiatus from drug experiences, artist Sondra Goodwin has spent the last year traveling South America on an intense quest into the heart of indigenous psychedelic medicines. She’s on a mission to free her soul from deeply ingrained and limiting belief systems. We traveled to Mexico this month to participate in yagé and bufo ceremonies with her shamans. She reflects on some of the wisdom she has gleaned about the true meaning of tolerance, how fear can keep us from both dying and living, and where to seek the one true voice of authority. More at www...2018-10-271h 25
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 7: Breaking the Cage of Human Submission w John GardnerJohn Gardner is an artist and lover of plants who has died three times. He traded in the American Dream for a radically simplified life atop an “idyllic, strange and somewhat difficult” mountain in remote Southern California. He tells stories from the journey that lead him to his hermitage and the values he now holds dear. We talk about the Akashic Record, the karmic legacy of indigenous genocide, the relationship between soul and meatsuit, and the aliens among us. More at www.maurajames.com ["Western Questions" - Timber Timbre]2018-10-201h 31
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 6: Herbal Allies w Bernadette TorresBernadette Torres is a medicine woman, herbalist, teacher, and grandmother based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Together with her partner Ashéninka Mino, she runs an outdoor garden school and provides healing sessions that treat the roots of trauma. We talk about our ancient relationship to the plant world, her personal journey to healing, and the personalities of her favorite plant spirits. Find Bernadette online at www.shabeta.com and more podcasts at www.maurajames.com [“Love Song” - Lani Hall]2018-10-051h 15
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 5: Divine Offerings w Ra Ma KaurRa Ma Kaur holds spiritual sanctuary for women in Asheville, NC, by blending the practices of Kundalini yoga, Daoist stone medicine, soundscapes, ancestral healing and astrology. We discussed her path of self-invention out of corporate America, her love of academia in spiritual work, and our ancestral past and future. Find her at RaMaKaur.com ["Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole]2018-09-261h 18
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 3: Witnessing Work w Arielle CrawfordArielle Crawford holds beautiful space in the plant medicine community through her role as assistant to a prominent shaman. We talk about her personal journey to healing, reclaiming prayer, treating the deep roots of addiction, whether demons are real, and answering the call to service. More at www.maurajames.com ["Ghost Ship" - Jim Morrison]2018-09-0255 min
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 2: True Calling w Juliana McCarthyJuliana McCarthy is an astrologer and energy healer who calls on the healing potential within all of us to open our hearts to the entire feast of life. We talk about the courage it takes to make ourselves vulnerable to real connection, embracing the wisdom of our emotions, and being ok with not knowing. For more of her beautiful, personal writing on astrology and to preorder her book, The Stars Within You: A Modern Guide to Astrology, visit her at www.EtherealCulture.com and on instagram @etherealculture. More podcasts at www.maurajames.com ["Acid Tongue" - Jenny Lewis]2018-08-221h 00
Unbroken Chain PodcastEp 1: A Love That Transcends Death w Jerusha KerenFor the first time, nurse and healer Jerusha Keren shares the intimate story of epic love that transcended her husband's death and opened her to communication with the other side. Communicating with the dead and dying has taught Jerusha how to live, and she believes this transmission is calling to all of us. We discuss everything from the power of forgiveness to the evolution of the human species. To continue the conversation, email jerushak1983@gmail.com. ["Unbroken Chain" - Grateful Dead]2018-08-061h 14