Library
Blog: Healing Post-War Anxiety with Applied Shamanic Practice
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
A young man named Jared had recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was having trouble sleeping and felt anxious most of the time. Jared didn’t like talking about his experience overseas. He felt embarrassed that he was having such a hard time reintegrating into civilian life.
In working with him, I learned that Jared had some problems with anxiety before going to the Middle East, but they had gotten much worse since his return. He had tried a series of medications, but they made him feel “weird,” so he didn’t like taking them. The anxiety made it hard for him to focus. I suggested starting off with a more traditional approach.
Video: Wisdom is Bliss with Robert Thurman: Part 2
Wisdom is Bliss is the title of esteemed Buddhist scholar and bestselling author Robert Thurman’s latest book. This is Part 2 of a talk he gave about the book for the Sacred Stream Speaker Series. Bob Thurman is a leading scholar on Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan studies, and H.H. Dalai Lama. This event was a fundraiser for Tibet House, US. Donations can be made at thus.org.
Podcast: Episode 91: Durga Leela: Yoga of Recovery
On this episode, Laura Chandler talks with Ayurveda Practitioner, Yoga Teacher, and the creator of Yoga of Recovery, Durga Leela. In her new book, Yoga of Recovery: Integrating Yoga and Ayurveda with Modern Recovery Tools for Addiction, Durga offers an innovative and comprehensive exploration of the issues of recovery and how to address them in a holistic way. She takes contemporary tools and theory and introduces important supportive elements that include maintaining health of the mind, body, and spirit. She provides detailed practices, recipes, and easy to understand applications of Ayurvedic medicine to the process of maintaining recovery. Ayurveda is perhaps the oldest holistic medicine system. It was developed in India over 3,000 years ago and has helped millions of people lead healthier, more balanced lives. We talk about all of this and more on today’s episode. To learn more about Durga, her classes, and the Yoga of Recovery, visit yogaofrecovery.com.
Video: Wisdom is Bliss with Robert Thurman: Part 1
Wisdom is Bliss is the title of esteemed Buddhist scholar and bestselling author Robert Thurman’s latest book. This is Part 1 of a talk he gave about the book for the Sacred Stream Speaker Series. Bob Thurman is a leading scholar on Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan studies, and H.H. Dalai Lama. This event was a fundraiser for Tibet House, US. Donations can be made at thus.org.
Scholarship Spotlight: Sebastian S.
Sebastian S. is from Bogota, Columbia, where the currency exchange is so disparate it makes attending US programs nearly impossible. Thanks to the program, Sebastian was able to realize his dream of adding the study of hypnotherapy and shamanic counseling to his tool belt as a psychologist in Columbia, where he will help others on their path of healing and plans to develop a community of healers.
Special Announcement: Mia Pixley’s Passage
Passage is an interdisciplinary call and response poetry, music, and prose project inspired by grief and created at the height of the pandemic. The project hinges around a single poem written by poet, scholar, and psychoanalyst, Forrest Hamer, Ph.D. Dr. Hamer sent me, a practicing psychologist, cellist, vocalist and composer, his poem, Passage, after I had asked if he had any poems about the ocean – the greatest destroyer, life-giver, and in many ways, teacher of loss. Held by his words, Hamer’s poem spoke deeply to my feelings of grief. And I was inspired to create a series of musical pieces from his single poem. Afterwards, I shared the music with him. He was, in turn, touched.
Podcast: Episode 90: Machiel Klerk: Dream Guidance
On this edition of the Sacred Stream Radio Podcast, Laura Chandler speaks with Machiel Klerk, author of Dream Guidance: Connecting to the Soul Through Dream Incubation. Machiel is a licensed therapist, dream expert, and founder of the Jung Platform. He has traveled the world, studying various cultures, their healing traditions, and dream practices. In his book, Machiel teaches how to work with dreams in a practical and profound way.
Special Announcement: Introducing Isa’s Botanicals
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
The Sacred Stream is now offering Isa’s Botanicals, an updated version of our popular space clearing sprays.
I began developing the sprays when our work doing space clearings took us to places where we could not burn dried plants, such as hospitals where oxygen was in use. Although I developed these sprays specifically to help in the process of shamanic space clearings, people find these sprays help them in their everyday lives in unexpected ways.
Every plant has a special gift that nourishes, heals and improves our lives. One of the ways they share their gifts with us is through their essential oils. The sprays are made from the essential oils of plants that have specific healing or clearing properties, plants that help maintain mental and emotional clarity and keep physical spaces clear of interferences and imprints from previous events that have occurred in the space.
Blog: The Lessons of the Equinox, the Earth, and the Sun
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
The fall equinox this year occurs just before the new moon, marking the end of a cycle of growth as the agricultural growing season comes to an end. This year, the growing season ends just as the new moon begins a new cycle of growth. The equinox, of course, is the moment in the year when the day is as long as the night. Just as the moon’s influence begins to expand toward fullness, the sun’s influence wanes as the days become shorter. The sun continues on its path toward the winter solstice, the shortest day.
The dance between the moon and the sun at this fall equinox is one of growth and completion, increase and decrease, promise and reflection. The complexity of this dance is something we must all learn to hold in our awareness if we are to understand what the Earth might be trying to teach us through the complexity of this moment. We are challenged to understand the duality each celestial sphere expresses in relation to the other as we seek to find the moment of balance between them.
Podcast: Episode 89: Hogarth Brown: Neo-Vedic Astrology
On this episode, Laura Chandler talks with author, archetypal consultant, and Neo-Vedic Astrologer, Hogarth Brown. Hogarth is host of a popular YouTube channel, Hogarth’s Global Astrology, where he offers astrological insights into global happenings, historical and contemporary figures, and also collaborates with other readers and astrologers for lively discussions, predictions, and perspectives on the news of the day. Laura and Hogarth cover a variety of topics, including how Neo-Vedic astrology works, some of his mind-blowing predictions, including the January 6th insurrection in the US, and what he sees in the charts of Vladimir Putin, the Ukraine, the upcoming mid-term elections, and more.
Podcast: Episode 88: Paul Selig: Resurrection: The Manifestation Trilogy
On this episode, Laura Chandler talks with world-renowned psychic and channel, Paul Selig, about his 11th channeled book, Resurrection: A Channeled Text: (Book One of the Manifestation Trilogy). Paul channels the Guides, a group of beings, directly and unedited. In the book, he shares the new manifestation of humanity, a vision of alteration and elevation that will shift how we think and move through the world. Building on the success of his Beyond the Known series, this new trilogy gives readers a glimpse into the spiritual underpinnings that govern the world we live in. Resurrection is an astonishing invitation to rethink, reconstruct, and rebirth our world view in a transcendent way.
Podcast: Episode 87: Jim Blake: The Zen Executive
On this episode, Laura Chandler talks with author and CEO of Unity World Headquarters, Jim Blake, about his book, The Zen Executive: Gems of Wisdom for Enlightened Leadership. Jim has held numerous executive positions in the corporate world, including as Director of Customer Operations for Landis+Gyr, a global leader in the utility industry, and as Vice President of Products and Technology for Rhythm Engineering. He currently serves as the CEO of Unity World Headquarters, a spiritual nonprofit that helps people of all faiths and cultures apply positive spiritual principles in their daily lives.
Podcast: Episode 86: Rev. Cameron Trimble: Progressive Christianity and Spiritual Leadership
On this episode, Laura interviews Rev. Cameron Trimble – author, pilot, CEO, and Co-founder of Convergence, an international church consultancy. Cameron is part of a progressive movement in Christianity and spiritual leadership and on this episode she talks with Laura about her activism and the importance of diversity in spiritual movements. In her over 25 years as an out queer woman minister, she reflects on the changes she’s seen in the Christian church and offers her view of the future.
Blog: The Light of the Summer Solstice
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
The sun is strong in the garden now, as it is everywhere else. It remains directly overhead for most of the day, leaving the stained-glass windows in the sanctuary to sparkle their own colors without the sun’s influence. From the depth of the blue, to the heat of the sun, everything is intense right now. The COVID surge here in the Bay Area is at its highest since the pandemic began. The news from Ukraine tells us that the fighting is at its fiercest since the Russians began bombarding. Political polarization is at fever pitch over the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court. For a time known for the vividness of the light that comes with the longest day of the year, this year’s summer solstice seems to be providing us with more intensity than usual.
Video: Bodhisattvas in Training: Patience and Anger with Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
In this series of videos, Isa Gucciardi explores the concept of the bodhisattva, the Mahayana Buddhist belief that refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.