The Pastor & Priestess

Our series on integral philosophy and adult development continues with Beena Sharma who combines the worlds of adult development and polarity wisdom. Beena shares moments of mystical insight and conceptual breakthrough that married ego development with polarity wisdom. For us, such an intersection inevitably involves the sacred task of bringing into union elements of ourselves and the whole world.

Our series on Integral Spirituality continues with Cindy Wigglesworth, corporate veteran, consultant, and bestselling author of SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence. She proposes that there are skills to be developed that can make us more like those great exemplars of Spirit, living with wisdom and compassion.    

How does one move from simple adulthood to maturity? As a former Harvard lecturer and now Senior Monk and Integral Zen Dharma Holder, Rob McNamara brings the academic and the subtle spiritual to the question. Moving from basic stages of development to the farther reaches of growth, McNamara suggests there is much to be discovered after adulthood, even in a paradoxical stage known as ensoulment.

To kick off our series on integral spirituality and adult development is guest Santiago Jimenez, a Zen monk who teaches in the lineage of Zen Master Genpo Roshi, and Shinzen Young. Santiago is also an accomplished musician, industrial engineer, integral facilitator, and serves as the current director of the Integral Center Colombia, one of the pioneer integral institutions in Latin America. 

A Christian psychedelic society? Yes, there is one! After his own experience in a psilocybin study of religious leaders, The Rev. Hunt Priest founded Ligare, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the church about psychedelics and their potential benefits. Hunt shares his psychedelic and faith journeys with us as well as what lies ahead.

Joe Tafur is not your everyday physician. Both a trained physician and a trained Ayahuascero, Dr. Joe Tafur researches mind-body healing, leads a new kind of spiritual community, and directs a nonprofit. In this episode, he shares his understanding of healing and spirituality and of the role of psychedelics in supporting healing. Spoiler Alert: Love is what heals.

Dr. Randy Scharlach is a radiation oncologist, trained at Yale and UCLA medical schools. Randy holds a unique position as both a medical doctor and a spiritual guide offering support for those seeking healing from psychedelic medicines. Having personally recovered from a deep depression thanks to plant medicine, he is giving back to the plants by serving as Director of Consciousness Studies for the for-profit company, Field Trip Health. In this conversation, we explore Randy's personal and professional journey and what it tells us about plant medicine and spiritual life.

This episode begins a series on Psychedelics and Spirituality. In this episode, Pastor JT and Priestess Allison share their own stories of sacramental prayer and explain how and why plant medicines can be a powerful spiritual practice, when held wisely. If you're interested in the psychedelic renaissance, start here!

Anahita Joon has known both the darkest oppression and fullest expression of the feminine.  She was born in Iran during the revolution and grew up during the Iran Iraq war, where women were highly oppressed. As a young girl, she only wanted to dress up and dance, and longed for more self-expression, but that was forbidden in Iran at the time.  At age 14, Anahita moved to America to find freedom. As an immigrant, she tried desperately to fit in – she dyed her black hair blond and straightened her curls. She rejected her natural Goddess-given beauty in hopes that the world would finally accept her. Divorced by 22, she faced an addiction to food and illegal substances. She experienced severe depression and contemplated suicide. She spent years taking antidepressants before eventually becoming medication-free. Her divorce catapulted her into a 'dark night of the soul' that would lead her to a spiritual awakening. She had a mystical initiatory experience with the Divine Feminine that led her to find her liberation on stage as an exotic dancer. Now a credentialed spiritual counselor and coach, and a wife and mother, she is dedicated to unleashing the power of the feminine for women. In this episode, Anahita shares her spiritual journey and how she is learning to bring love and boundaries, separateness and togetherness into Sacred Union. She shares how liberation comes from owning it all, in a radical recognition of "I Am That."

Kimberly is the Founder of Wildfire Global, a boutique firm for high-impact, conscious leaders and entrepreneurs. She envisions a world where a diverse slate of empowered, intuitive leaders are guiding the top corporations, businesses and political offices.  Kimberly has mentored, advised, coached and sponsored hundreds of leaders over the years. Her clients are courageous leaders with a proven track record of success and who also have a deep longing to experience unfettered power, so they can experience more love, money, power, pleasure and respect in their lives with ease and grace. After more than 20 years at a Fortune 7 firm where she led teams as large as 10,000 employees and managed portfolios valued at more than $14B, Kimberly traded in her golden handcuffs to put her hand at leading her own successful company.  She's been a senior executive, married, divorced and married again. She's been highly sought after and she's been fired. Today, Kimberly is devoted to bringing all of her experiences to the table in service to her clients in their quest to lead, live and love as their most authentic and divinely-empowered selves.