The Integrated Self

Dan Halpern
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Mental Health

Guidance for living a more connected, embodied, and flowing life. Join Dan Halpern—somatic trauma therapist, spiritual counselor, and poet—share questions, wisdom, and inspirations for living a fully human life in current times. Topics include: paths of healing and wellness, paths of spiritual growth and awareness, animism and connecting to the more-than-human world, relationships, art, beauty, music, improvisation, integrative and applied philosophy, and much more. Come, let's grow and live together. I'd love to hear from you. Let me know how the show resonates with you, what doesn't, any questions or comments you'd like to share. Let's let this be a conversation. email: dan@integratedselfcounseling.org For more from me or if you'd like to work together, visit www.integratedselfcounseling.org

  1. Oct 21

    31. Love Pt. 2 - Seeking and Realizing Love

    In the last episode, I said "Humanity is in a several thousand year process of... trying to come back into alignment with Love." But there's a paradox worth contemplating there, which is that while culture seeks to align more with love, love is also all there is. Even in the wars, oppression, and traumas of modernity. With careful nuance and honoring the pain and difficulties of very real suffering, in this episode I invite you to hold paradox with me, to welcome the experience and perspective of Love into your life no matter the circumstances you're moving through. In this episode: The inevitable end of modernity and swing towards balance The paradox of the path and the destination Practicing to reach enlightenment and the recognition that everything is already enlightened The difference between relative and absolute reality The unloving relative reality of modernity The absolute love of all things, including the relative process that is far from loving Living as if everything in relative reality were an angel Viewing relative reality from the absolute dimensionSeeing Love is much easier from a wider, deep-time, developmental perspective How out of alignment the fascist dictator isThe destination is in the journey, so try to have some lightness and enjoyment with the journey

  2. Oct 14

    30. Equanimity and Love

    Drawing from my experiences and wisdom received on two Vipassana Meditation Retreats in the lineage of S.N. Goenka, this episode invites and guides you to experience peace in any circumstance (equanimity), and recognize the eternal power of love flowing through non-attached, neutral reality. There can be a confusion around the Buddhist teachings and practice of non-attachment, if that means we can't care about life. Well, you can be both. Non-attachment actually helps you become even more engaged and present with life, and it can help you experience the unconditionally loving nature of reality. In this episode: Vipassana Retreats in the tradition of S.N. GoenkaEquanimity - being okay while whatever's going on is going onSafety considerations for intensive meditation retreats Unwinding the rope - witnessing without reacting Intimacy with impermanence Non-attachment with care and engagement with lifeEgo judgments, preferences, and mental overlays between you and reality Our capacity for holding paradox correlates to our capacity for feeling equanimity The neutral nature of reality is positiveAll life is fundamentally an expression of LoveViewing humanity as a thousands-of-years developmental process helps to see life through the lens of loveSee and receive whatever supports are available to youThe impermanence of modernity and a vision of culture evolving towards more love Trusting the process based on what you feel, not on what you see in the news

  3. Sep 27

    29. In Service of the Whole

    What happens when we live for the collective, not just for oneself? Modernity's guiding question is: "How can I make MY life better?" I believe a different question leads to a much richer and more fulfilling life: "What does life need now?" Holding this guiding orientation to life creates a radically different paradigm than the hyperindividualism currently leading to planetary and societal collapse, that carries an entirely different energy in the actions taken, and leads to vastly different results. Using the metaphors of making music and conversation, this episode explores how we can attune to reality to discern what's wanted to enhance the whole experience for everyone involved. Not "What can I get out of this," or "What will enhance my own status," but "What does this moment need?" In this episode: Are we live?Musical soloing vs whole band responsivenessATTUNEMENT The silence between the notes The Celestine Prophecy and group conversation Listening for hidden purposes in encounters Socializing to enhance one's own status or to enhance the social eventGroup travel through the needs of the whole

  4. Sep 2

    28. Forgiveness

    Forgiveness is not something we do to let someone else off the hook, it's something we do for ourselves to allow more love into our lives. We can still maintain boundaries and discernment of what we're not okay with while we forgive, while we stop continuing to poison ourselves with the stuck energy of a grudge. In this episode: Preambles before we get to the pointA Course in MiraclesForgiveness is a tool that transform poison into LightA personal example I felt regret for and the need for forgivenessNecessary and unnecessary sufferingGrudges create walls between ourself and life / loveForgiveness as graceThe paradox of unconditional love and things that aren't okayResisting and accepting lifeA guided practice to actualize and experience forgiveness- Feel the effect in you of the thing you don't like- The mind opens to a wider understanding - Our pain around it sequences, digests, and releases- Love comes in and through usHow a long, developmental view of life supports forgiveness

  5. Sep 1

    27. Phish Pt. 3 - The Cosmic Joke

    Providing an encore to the last two episodes, we round out our deep dive into the spirituality of Phish by focusing on the profundity of playing with humor. In this episode: The lineage of humility, humor, and light-heartedness of Phish and the sometimes heaviness of The Grateful DeadThe cosmic joke of seriously mattering and simultaneously not mattering Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig on music critics' valuing serious art more than lighthearted artGrown ups standing still talking at each otherEverything Everywhere All At Once

  6. Aug 24

    26. Spirituality - Phish Pt. 2

    The living spiritual path I'm most connected to, present in and transcending many different traditions, is the path of leaning into life, leaning into the body, the challenges, the relationships, the experiences, the boring and mundane, and awakening the transcendent miracle of life in all things. The band Phish embodies this praxis through the ways they listen humbly to each other and the energy in the room of their concerts; through saying "yes, and" to whatever arises; and through playing with form and freedom to create a cohesive third force of engagement, a relational field in which all who listen to and participate in their music can connect with the paradoxical fullness of life. Their art also expresses a consciousness to these qualities, acknowledging the seriousness of life and the cosmic joke of it all simultaneously. At the core, Phish create a symbolic language I resonate with to connect to higher frequencies of life. After last episode's introduction to the band, this episode uses the band as a springboard to focus more on these spiritual qualities. The episode goes a little "type 2" (Phish speak for when a jam completely leaves the song structure and starts making up new spontaneous compositions) and rambley exploratory, not unlike an exciting Phish jam. I hope you enjoy it, and use it to connect to the higher potential in yourself and your life. a preramble on interpreting life symbolically, finding the high teachings in any phenomena. connecting with a conversation you resonate with. I resonate with the conversation and sense of humor of Phish.how "yes, and" and improvising with life is a spiritual practice the animism of humble listening listening as respecting transpersonal experience and personal feelings, needs, and under the surface realitieshumility dissolves the ego grief rituals hold relational humility in recognition of a larger wholeform and freedom, songs and jams, duality and non-duality, and the third creation behind the binarieshonoring the transcendence of the mundane life experiences a quick encore to focus on safely leaning into the body to access the depth of your spirituality

  7. Jul 29

    25. The Spirituality of Phish

    Why 43 years of friendship, humor, intelligence, and creativity is so meaningful to so many. In this episode, I describe how being present (i.e. surrendering to the flow) is a key ingredient to spiritual experiences. The band Phish offers A LOT to be present with, in caring, inclusive, and endlessly playful ways. Among many insights and experiences, three of the core teachings I've learned from Phish are: 1. Listening humbly and responding powerfully, 2. Balancing form and freedom, 3. Saying "Yes, And" to whatever's happening. This is the Spirituality of Phish. In this episode: What is and isn't "spiritual"?Sustained Presence is a key aspect of spirituality and ceremonyContainers you need to fit into, and containers that naturally fit all of youPhish is 4 friends - humble, kind, genuine, and invitingHow dancing can widen and support listening and understanding what you're hearingThe blended unity of difference Phish are master teachers of listeningMusic as presentation and music as participatory journeyHumility in listening, and sharing the leadBalancing form and freedom, earth and skyThe multi-meaninged abstract nature of Phish's lyricsBringing your personal process into the music listening experience Phish's expertise at "Yes, And"Jamming awkward and any mood (I referenced them playing a song and mistakenly said it was Cannonball, meant to say it was Catapult)Tension and release Phish's career-long and ongoing evolution, musically and personallyGhosts of the Forest and Phish fans' widely varying opinions and criticisms of the bandThe full freedom of the open channel Phish createsPhish's psychically attuned light showThe art of listening and responding simultaneouslyListening to each band member and widening your awareness - teaching owl eyes practice to relax mental fixationsSpecific Phish listening recommendations "Hose" and channeling spiritual experience through music Letting the surreal lyrics and music work on you from the inside over time Growing presence and spiritual awareness by surrendering to the flow of whatever is happening Find and play your notes in the already present music of life

  8. Jul 1

    24. To Death!

    Most of Modern Western culture abhors, shuns, and deeply fears Death. But what if Death is holding the key to the full unblemished experience of Life, and by turning away from Death, we are limiting our ability to live as the full, complete, perfect beings we deep down know ourselves to be? Continuing the contemplation started in Episode 14: Death is Safe, this episode ventures, safely in our breathing bodies, to the doorway that honoring Death can lead us through. When we allow Death to sit at our table... or rather, when we recognize that Death is the one who prepared and is in fact the table, we can relax into more of the fullness and grandeur of life, here and now, than we may have ever thought possible when we tried to live without Death. In this episode: Embracing and honoring death to fully embrace and honor life.A story of a compassionate chicken slaughter.The natural necessity of death in life.Death's portal into ahierarchical freedom.Duality, Binaries, and Masculine / Feminine Energies.Death as a feminine force.The purpose of life is to fully participate in life.The Western approach to hiding death and a more participatory approach to celebrating it.On loving through grief, and grieving as the most appropriate response to life.We're already living and loving through a field cleared and made by death.The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's teachings on death.Embracing the great battle of your time.Beyond binaries, good / bad, into pure engagement with the dance of life and death.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Guidance for living a more connected, embodied, and flowing life. Join Dan Halpern—somatic trauma therapist, spiritual counselor, and poet—share questions, wisdom, and inspirations for living a fully human life in current times. Topics include: paths of healing and wellness, paths of spiritual growth and awareness, animism and connecting to the more-than-human world, relationships, art, beauty, music, improvisation, integrative and applied philosophy, and much more. Come, let's grow and live together. I'd love to hear from you. Let me know how the show resonates with you, what doesn't, any questions or comments you'd like to share. Let's let this be a conversation. email: dan@integratedselfcounseling.org For more from me or if you'd like to work together, visit www.integratedselfcounseling.org

Information

  • Creator
    Dan Halpern
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Integrated Self