Deep Transformation Deep Transformation Podcast

Ep. 130 (Part 1 of 3) | World renowned EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy pioneer and trainer Dr. Laurel Parnell has used EMDR therapy with clients for decades with truly remarkable success. Laurel relates how EMDR therapy dissolves blocks caused by trauma, freeing clients from negative constructs so they can develop their own felt sense of truth, and express from and know their own true nature. After EMDR, she says, “singers sing, writers write, dancers dance.” Not only are clients freed, but the endpoint of EMDR therapy quite often rests in a transpersonal space that is invariably characterized by an upwelling of self-love and compassion for others, an opening to mystery and boundless possibility. Interestingly, because of the resonant field between therapist and client (interpersonal neurobiology), the therapist experiences the transpersonal opening when it happens as well. More often than not, Laurel tells us, the way the session unfolds is a surprise to both client and therapist, with long forgotten little “t” traumas turning out to be responsible for the client’s blocks rather than the expected major life traumas. 
Laurel makes it clear that the goal of EMDR is to empower the client; the therapist must allow the wisdom to reside in the client rather than in their own interpretation of what unfolds, and adhere strictly to a process of open inquiry. She describes how the therapist’s beliefs can limit the outcome and outlines the advantages of a therapist who has a spiritual practice and transpersonal awareness. Laurel’s leading edge at this point involves Multidimensional Integrative Healing, an evolution from her longtime experience with EMDR, where further dimensions of reality have so often emerged in her work, and her own spiritual journey. It is fascinating to hear her describe how we can not only install helpful inner resources for ourselves, but also counter intergenerational trauma by calling forward ancestral wisdom. A deeply intriguing, eye opening, and impactful conversation with a very wise, enthusiastic, far thinking trailblazer of a teacher. Recorded April 15, 2024.
“How many trauma therapies have the upwelling of compassion for self and others as the typical endpoint?“
(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)
Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1Introducing world renowned EMDR therapist & trainer, leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR, author, and longtime spiritual practitioner Dr. Laurel Parnell (01:11)What is EMDR (Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy) and the power of alternating bilateral stimulation (03:20)EMDR: a highly efficacious trauma therapy that rapidly processes our frozen memories/experiences and moves us toward health and wholeness (05:15)Humanistic psychology theory underlies EMDR, and the difference between EMDR and other therapies based on similar theories (06:48)EMDR clears what isn’t true; it eliminates places of holding in the mind/body, creating space for living in a free, fluid way & allows the expression and knowing of our true self (07:55)Beyond theories, beyond talk therapy (10:30)More often than not what underlies current symptoms and problems is a complete surprise: small “t” traumas (11:31)What is important in any good therapy is the right brain to right brain connection between therapist and client...

Ep. 129 (Part 2 of 2) | Environmental philosopher, public health scientist, and corporate malfeasance researcher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is dedicated to understanding, communicating, and addressing the psychological, social, political, and economic barriers that keep us from treading a solid path toward sustainability. One of the areas Yogi is extremely knowledgeable about is the dynamics and drivers of corporate decision making. An underlying belief that the planet is indestructible makes it okay to prioritize profit above global health, or companies may find themselves in a double bind where they would actually prefer to be more strictly regulated but that would mean corporate suicide unless their entire industry was regulated. Interestingly, Yogi has found that learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility, citing how some of the most powerful people in the world are saying, “What can I do?” when Indigenous groups with very few resources find ways to thrive in a sustainable way.
Yogi points out that changing the world is not an event but a process—and delves into how we can make real changes to get off the destructive path we are on, overshooting the limits of our biosphere on every metric. We can create circuit breakers for our habitual, counterproductive routines, we can cultivate skillful communication that allows our defense mechanisms to drop away, we can recognize our fundamental need for community and connection, and we can use spiritual practice and psychedelics to help us regain a sense of wonder and reverence for life. Yogi believes that decolonization and creating ecologies of discourse that reward honesty, vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and asking for help is the way forward. This is an earnest, thought provoking, heartfelt, and inspiring discussion of the way things are, the barriers to change, and hope for the future. Recorded January 11, 2024.
“All human beings have a fundamental capacity for change and growth, evolution and divinity.”
Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2Decolonizing the psychedelic renaissance: protecting the sacraments & cultural traditions that have been part of psychedelic use for millenia (00:45)Psychoplastogens and the theory that one can engineer a psychedelic trip to fit a 1-hr therapy session (02:21)Ensuring low abuse liability for all our experiences: community and connection are the best way to do this (05:19)The skillful use of psychedelics: including them as part of a larger spiritual practice and the trap of thinking the psychedelic is doing “it” (08:25)Future holiness: psychedelics can help pull us toward the future we know in our hearts is possible; but there are many spiritual paths to help us evolve (11:29)The Buddhist parable of looking for water (14:14)Changing the world is much more than just an event (15:45) Our systems are all based on efficiency of the wrong kind—we need to learn how our actions affect others (17:12)What are Yogi’s spiritual practices? Vipassana, Buddhist meditation/Taoism, Indigenous practices & ceremonies & more (21:27)A lot of people who are challenging dominant narratives feel lonely (25:45)Stepping up compassion and learning how to be a better communicator & disarm defense mechanisms in others (29:58)Allowing individuals as well as corporations to “save face” (33:11)Creating ecologies of discourse: rewarding honesty, vulnerability, and admitting mistakes (33:50)The value of systems theory and the need...

Ep. 128 (Part 1 of 2) | Environmental philosopher, public health scientist, and corporate malfeasance researcher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is dedicated to understanding, communicating, and addressing the psychological, social, political, and economic barriers that keep us from treading a solid path toward sustainability. One of the areas Yogi is extremely knowledgeable about is the dynamics and drivers of corporate decision making. An underlying belief that the planet is indestructible makes it okay to prioritize profit above global health, or companies may find themselves in a double bind where they would actually prefer to be more strictly regulated but that would mean corporate suicide unless their entire industry was regulated. Interestingly, Yogi has found that learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility, citing how some of the most powerful people in the world are saying, “What can I do?” when Indigenous groups with very few resources find ways to thrive in a sustainable way.
Yogi points out that changing the world is not an event but a process—and delves into how we can make real changes to get off the destructive path we are on, overshooting the limits of our biosphere on every metric. We can create circuit breakers for our habitual, counterproductive routines, we can cultivate skillful communication that allows our defense mechanisms to drop away, we can recognize our fundamental need for community and connection, and we can use spiritual practice and psychedelics to help us regain a sense of wonder and reverence for life. Yogi believes that decolonization and creating ecologies of discourse that reward honesty, vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and asking for help is the way forward. This is an earnest, thought provoking, heartfelt, and inspiring discussion of the way things are, the barriers to change, and hope for the future. Recorded January 11, 2024.
“We live disconnected from each other because we don’t need each other.”
(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)
Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1Introducing environmental philosopher, public health scientist, professor & corporate malfeasance researcher, Dr. Yogi Hendlin (01:05)Yogi has coined the term “chemical anthropocene” in reference to the indelible legacy we have created in changing the composition of the earth’s chemistry (and our bodies) (02:18)“Forever chemicals” bioaccumulate in our systems and persist up to 7 generations (04:18)Humans are already bearing a toxic load, and we’re creating a path dependency of toxicity for future generations (06:09)How can we evolve collectively to respond effectively? (07:51)All day, we are called into being in different ways, some very tension inducing, and we have erected barriers to our unmediated appreciation of the world in response to these demands (12:12)We can practice different ways of attending (i.e. fasting from media, eating, work, routine) that act as circuit breakers to our culture’s destructive habits (13:57)The age-old separation between understanding the world through analysis and understanding reality by becoming part of the mindset of the other (15:20)Being open to novelty (apophatic) while also reaffirming the knowledge we already have (cataphatic): the rise of LGBTQ, for example (17:37)Does the “arc of the moral...

Ep. 127 (Part 3 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 
This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.
“The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan.”
(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)
Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3A definition of the metacrisis: the polycrisis (the multiple interrelated crises) plus the consciousness in which the polycrisis arises and is ultimately made up (00:56)What is beyond (meta) all the elements of the polycrisis? Consciousness (02:32)We cannot engineer our way out of the metacrisis: we will have to heal, mature, and awaken ourselves individually & collectively if we are to make our way through the bottleneck we have created; furthermore, this is a permacrisis (05:11)The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan (09:00)Default (inherited) purpose vs soul-level purpose (11:48)Purpose goes through a number of developmental stages—what are the characteristics of a mature, service-oriented, worldcentric purpose? (16:17)The difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality (20:26)The embodiment piece of nonduality is key (22:31)Updating our spiritual traditions and koans to 2024; asking, What is the metacrisis? (24:01)Jonathan’s open letter to nondual teachers inviting them to integrate the metacrisis into their teachings (33:07)Integral Conference in North America (ICON): Future Human, Denver, May 16th-19th (35:28)
Resources & References – Part 3Terry Patten, founder of A New Republic of the Heart, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real,” the Importance of Being Kind, and Waking Up to the...

Ep. 126 (Part 2 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 
This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.
“The metacrisis is non-separate from meditation, from spiritual awakening, from your soul purpose.”
(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)
Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2Vision questing, praying for guidance, being the open space where insight can enter: “Show me the path that my people can live” (00:52)The benefits of outdoor meditation: “Throughout the universe, one body revealed” (02:58)Nonduality and forest activism (07:40)Can we be responsive to the suffering of the whole, wherever it may be? (09:59)Skillful ideals are pointers, not destinations: it’s all a journey (10:39)Developing collectively to where everything is sacred again (14:36)The consequences of the delusion of separation awaken you to wholeness: being wholeness, expressing wholeness (17:15)The shadow of nonduality: responsibility, the soul piece, activism (20:02)Why are nondual teachers not talking about the metacrisis? (24:40)Traditional spiritual teachers were practicing on deeply local levels; we are now living in a world of global crises, all interrelated, all creating exponential growth of more crises (31:45)How can we talk about the metacrisis? How can we not talk about the metacrisis? How comfortable do we need to allow people to be? (35:52)The beauty of the word “both”: can we hold two people, two perspectives, opposite aspirations at the same time? (39:19)Skillful communication: listen, ask people to explain their positions, do these conversations as a spiritual practice (41:26)Practicing karma yoga: using our work and relationships—our life—as the vehicle of awakening (43:54)It’s going to take every mature person possible to power us out of our adolescent stage (46:38)
Resources & References – Part 2Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, a...

Ep. 125 (Part 1 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 
This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.
“When we wake up, we wake up to a love and a responsibility for all things.”
(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)
Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1Introducing meditation teacher, activist, nondual student/teacher, and founder of the Purpose Guides Institute & the Green Sangha organization, Jonathan Gustin (00:51)What inspired Jonathan to adopt climate change as a spiritual practice: Jonathan’s vision of whole person midwifery (02:20)A passion for bringing spiritual practice and activism together (04:20)How can the metacrisis inform nonduality? How can nonduality inform the metacrisis? (05:27)Why does a nondual experience not effect more change in people? (07:43)Nonduality defined: “not two;” the difference between separate and individual, and the underlying unity of reality (09:42)The responsibility aspect: expanding our circle of care, the realization that we are responsible to life brings us to our purpose (12:50) Marrying liberation (moksha) and service (dharma) into one: liberation/service (15:03)Purpose discovery falls between self-actualization and self-transcendence (17:04)Native American nondual wisdom and Jonathan’s daily practice (19:45)“What is this?” Seung Sahn and Kalu Rinpoche (23:16)For the first time in history we can access all the world’s wisdom: YouTube is the new Alexandria (24:12)Privilege, the top 1%, and the option of service (26:11)Handling the overwhelm of the world’s suffering (29:10)Awakening soul-level purpose and mythopoetic identity (31:09)Understanding and implementing whole person midwifery: Who are you at a soul level? Who are your people? What are you good at? (34:27)“Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” – Frederick Buechner (37:51)
Resources...