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Podcast Episodes
Mark Walsh & Kristina Obluchynska (Part 1) – Trauma Treatment in Ukraine: Facing and Healing the Horrendous Wounds of War
“There is nothing that can prepare human psychology for modern warfare.”
Ep. 170 (Part 1 of 2) | An emotionally powerful and deeply inspiring conversation with renowned embodiment and trauma educator Mark Walsh from the U.K. and Ukrainian psychologist and trauma trainer Kristina Obluchynska, where we learn about effective ways of treating trauma in the middle of an ongoing war, what trauma therapists are left holding, and how beautiful is the human spirit when it embraces right action. When Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Mark went to Ukraine, located willing psychology students, educated them in body-oriented trauma therapy and training, and with Kristina and several other trainees co-founded Sane Ukraine, with the urgent mission of preventing an epidemic of trauma disorders in Ukraine. Beginning with applying trauma first aid and teaching resilience skills in places like the local railroad station where people were coming in from the front lines, and in bomb shelters, Kristina and several other psychologists have now educated thousands of people about trauma—active duty soldiers, veterans, survivors, wives of combatants, and first-line responders such as doctors, teachers, and social workers—and trained hundreds of them to become trauma trainers themselves.
It is an honor to bear witness to Mark’s courageous actions and the humble heroism of Kristina and her team in the face of the devastation being leveled on Ukraine and Ukrainians. “We don’t grieve,” Kristina tells us, “because grief comes after safety. We don’t even use the word safe anymore,” she continues, “only relatively safe.” Mark points out that modern warfare is not just running around with guns—drones hunt civilians and if you move, they kill you. “Do we all have PTSD?” the soldiers ask. With Sane Ukraine, there is someone to answer their questions and teach them what they can do to help themselves and each other. Resilience comes from relationship—from connection to self, others, nature, and spirit. Does the concept of post traumatic growth even apply considering the intensity of this war? co-host Roger wonders. At the end of this extraordinary, heartfelt conversation, when asked what we could do to help, Kristina advises, “Help the army. We are talking here about healing, but what we really need is to survive.” Recorded January 9, 2025.
Keith Witt (Part 2) – Relationship’s Farther Reaches: Exploring the Potentials of Loving, Learning, and Growing Together
Ep. 169 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral psychologist Keith Witt can’t get enough of the magic and beauty that happens in relationships as people begin to develop what he calls “a post-issue consciousness.” He explains that when our executive self, our wise self or witness, kicks in and forges a caring connection with the places where we hold our hurt and our traumas, then integration and healing start to happen, eventually with almost no conscious energy expenditure. “My job is to help people develop the witness,” Keith says, so they can observe their defensive or destructive states and reach for compassionate understanding, for themselves, for their partner, and for others.
Keith tells us the three foundations of the modern marriage are friendship, a love affair, and an ability to resolve issues that come up, and says the shift to a post-issue relationship happens when all three facets become intentional. “Post-issue couples don’t let things get in the way of their love,” he says. Throughout the conversation, Keith shares a goldmine of therapeutic wisdom on the subject of relationships, including the client/therapist relationship, and in true Integral fashion, he includes perspectives from all sorts of interesting angles, such as our evolutionary development, neural development, and moral and spiritual development. This discussion is warm, friendly, cheerful, lively, and chock full of useful information and insights. Keith’s excitement about the evolutionary directionality of human relationships is contagious and inspiring. Recorded August 16, 2024.
Keith Witt (Part 1) – Relationship’s Farther Reaches: Exploring the Potentials of Loving, Learning, and Growing Together
Ep. 168 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral psychologist Keith Witt can’t get enough of the magic and beauty that happens in relationships as people begin to develop what he calls “a post-issue consciousness.” He explains that when our executive self, our wise self or witness, kicks in and forges a caring connection with the places where we hold our hurt and our traumas, then integration and healing start to happen, eventually with almost no conscious energy expenditure. “My job is to help people develop the witness,” Keith says, so they can observe their defensive or destructive states and reach for compassionate understanding, for themselves, for their partner, and for others.
Keith tells us the three foundations of the modern marriage are friendship, a love affair, and an ability to resolve issues that come up, and says the shift to a post-issue relationship happens when all three facets become intentional. “Post-issue couples don’t let things get in the way of their love,” he says. Throughout the conversation, Keith shares a goldmine of therapeutic wisdom on the subject of relationships, including the client/therapist relationship, and in true Integral fashion, he includes perspectives from all sorts of interesting angles, such as our evolutionary development, neural development, and moral and spiritual development. This discussion is warm, friendly, cheerful, lively, and chock full of useful information and insights. Keith’s excitement about the evolutionary directionality of human relationships is contagious and inspiring. Recorded August 16, 2024.
A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Dialogue 7, Part 2) – The Alchemy of Transformation: Exploring the Essence of Presence
Ep. 167 (Part 2 of 2) | In the 7th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us as to the nature of presence. Our path begins with the recognition that spirit is presence, he explains, an insight which all spiritual traditions share; this is where most of their focus lies. But this is not the end of the story, Hameed tells us—discovering spirit is only half the work. The other half is actualizing presence by clarifying and purifying our souls. Presence works as an agent of transformation in this process; appearing in our souls as curiosity and a love of truth, it leads us home. The discussion turns to virtues, the fruition of realization, and how it is that realized teachers can behave in entirely unethical ways: “realization is no guarantee of ethical behavior.”
This conversation is packed with insights regarding many related topics: how ethics most importantly concern our relations with others, that kindness becomes spontaneous for the true master, the distinction between universal grace and specific grace, how inner spaciousness or emptiness is the other side of the coin from presence or fullness, and the question arises, “Why is it that some people are interested in going deeper and others not?” Hameed also speaks of his own experience of unilocal realization, where all time and space are found in the center of the heart and accessing information from the future is possible. It is not so much I am this or that, he says, it’s simply I am. This warm, illuminating discussion has a fascinating flow and sparks many instances of quiet laughter on all sides. Recorded December 12, 2024.
A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Dialogue 7, Part 1) – The Alchemy of Transformation: Exploring the Essence of Presence
Ep. 166 (Part 1 of 2) | In the 7th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us as to the nature of presence. Our path begins with the recognition that spirit is presence, he explains, an insight which all spiritual traditions share; this is where most of their focus lies. But this is not the end of the story, Hameed tells us—discovering spirit is only half the work. The other half is actualizing presence by clarifying and purifying our souls. Presence works as an agent of transformation in this process; appearing in our souls as curiosity and a love of truth, it leads us home. The discussion turns to virtues, the fruition of realization, and how it is that realized teachers can behave in entirely unethical ways: “realization is no guarantee of ethical behavior.”
This conversation is packed with insights regarding many related topics: how ethics most importantly concern our relations with others, that kindness becomes spontaneous for the true master, the distinction between universal grace and specific grace, how inner spaciousness or emptiness is the other side of the coin from presence or fullness, and the question arises, “Why is it that some people are interested in going deeper and others not?” Hameed also speaks of his own experience of unilocal realization, where all time and space are found in the center of the heart and accessing information from the future is possible. It is not so much I am this or that, he says, it’s simply I am. This warm, illuminating discussion has a fascinating flow and sparks many instances of quiet laughter on all sides. Recorded December 12, 2024.
