Expanding Consciousness

Spirituality vs. Psychology: Are They at Odds or Two Halves of the Same Path? | Ep. 84

Coming from opposite directions — Nikolas from a hard-science skepticism of anything "woo," Michael from a spiritual high horse that looked down on psychology — the two meet in the middle to ask a deceptively simple question: are spirituality and psychology compatible, complementary, or fundamentally at odds? The conversation moves from spiritual bypassing and hitting plateaus on the meditation cushion, to how psychology's "third wave" (mindfulness, DBT, ACT) quietly absorbed Eastern practice, to the existential terrain — death, meaning, and the fear of the void — where they argue psychology alone may run out of road. From there they get into the harder questions: the risks of untrained spiritual and psychedelic facilitation, safety and trauma-informed containers, the clinicalization of plant medicine, and a genuinely contested back-and-forth on cultural appropriation, decolonization, and what (if anything) gets lost when an indigenous practice becomes a Western framework. A wide-ranging, exploratory dialogue for anyone interested in the meeting point of inner work, psychedelics, mental health, and the existential questions that neither science nor spirituality answers cleanly on its own. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:41 Are spirituality and psychology compatible? 01:40 Two opposite starting points & plant medicine opening the lid 02:57 From engineering to spirituality and back to psychology 04:10 Carl Rogers, unconditional positive regard & Ram Dass 05:08 The third wave: CBT, mindfulness, DBT & Eastern roots 07:05 12-step programs, surrender & shedding the ego 08:25 Where psychology hits its limits: existential questions 09:49 Death through a Western lens vs. a spiritual lens 13:21 Is death just the end? Consciousness, matter & the void 14:45 "Die before you die" & the West's troubled relationship with death 16:57 Plant medicine, joy, and the patterns it revealed 18:50 What psychology brings: precision, containment & safety 21:42 Safety in spiritual ceremony & the trauma-informed gap 24:47 Liberty vs. risk: psychosis, cannabis & applying caution 27:11 Clinicalization of plant medicine — losing the sacred? 28:41 Appropriation, decolonization & "letting it change you" 31:19 Strains, spirits, the entourage effect & synthesized compounds 33:47 Does context make it the same experience? Set, setting & safety 36:22 Clinical rooms vs. cozy containers & the MAPS tension 40:46 Mindfulness, John Kabat-Zinn & where appropriation begins 42:54 You can't monopolize spirituality 44:29 Suffering as the doorway to both paths 45:48 Michael Singer's "Wisdom Untethered" & closing thoughts

The Felt Sense: How Your Body Heals Itself — Eugene Gendlin's Focusing Explained | Ep. 83

In this episode, Nikolas and Michael unpack Focusing, the therapeutic method developed by philosopher and psychologist Eugene Gendlin out of his research with Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy. What began as an attempt to isolate why some therapy sessions succeed and others fail became a powerful practice that has sold half a million copies and helped bridge the gap between the talk-therapy era and today's somatic approaches. At the heart of the conversation is the "felt sense" — that nebulous, hard-to-pin-down space between sensation and emotion where we actually make meaning. The two explore how to get in touch with it, why we resist uncomfortable experiences and store them in the body, and how meaning follows experience rather than leading it. Along the way they walk through the six steps of Focusing, compare it to EMDR and Somatic Experiencing, and dig into a bigger question: what does it actually mean to be wounded, and what does it mean to heal? A thoughtful, exploratory conversation for anyone interested in somatic psychology, trauma processing, and the body's natural capacity to unwind itself — no re-traumatization required. Peter Levine clip mentioned in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdUnCj05RMs Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:41 What is Focusing & its origins with Carl Rogers 03:05 The felt sense explained — between sensation and emotion 06:35 Walking through an example of the felt sense 08:23 The felt shift & why you don't compartmentalize the experience 10:58 Meaning follows experience (not the other way around) 13:12 Body awareness, somatic unfolding & the body's wisdom 15:53 How experiences get stored: overwhelm, dissociation & programming 17:49 Why we reject experiences & store them in the body 20:20 Overload, childhood & falling back to primitive responses 21:48 Re-experiencing the "residue" without reliving the story 23:38 Why resistance exists: aversion to discomfort & habit 25:29 The six steps of Focusing (creating space, felt sense, handle, resonate, ask) 30:48 Comparing Focusing to EMDR & Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing 34:43 Is trauma processing the same across modalities? 36:16 What does it mean to be wounded and to heal? 40:37 Updating a 1970s framework for modern somatic psychology 42:44 Habits as identity & the disorientation of change 45:02 Attitude, intrinsic motivation & creating your own suffering 47:31 Closing thoughts

Annihilating the Ego: A Sufi Path to Inner Peace with Salima Adelstein | Ep. 82

The 5 C's: https://instituteofspiritualhealing.com/5c/ Sufism Foundations Course: https://instituteofspiritualhealing.com/foundations-sh/ Salima Adelstein is a Sufi spiritual guide and emotional healer with 35 years of experience accessing the deeper layers of the heart. After 25 years on a different spiritual path that included meditation and time in India, an unexpected encounter with a Sufi master in New Mexico shifted everything for her. In this conversation she walks us through the core of Sufism: the heart-mind connection, the three inner voices (the ego/nafs, the negative outside voice, and the voice of the divine), the practice of remembrance (dhikr), forgiveness and mercy, ego annihilation, and surrender. We talk about how Sufism strips away the hidden "pictures in the heart" we carry from childhood and ancestry, why peace has to start in your own heart before it can radiate outward, and what a daily practice actually looks like. A grounded conversation for anyone curious about how a heart-centered tradition meets ordinary life. 0:00 Intro 0:41 Introduction to Sufism and Salima's Journey 8:12 The Heart-Mind Connection in Sufism 13:43 Navigating Inner Voices and Discernment 18:55 The Role of Forgiveness and Mercy 26:24 Annihilation of the Ego and Surrender 34:22 Living from an Open Heart 37:29 Practical Steps in Sufism

Rewiring the Subconscious: How Hypnotherapy Heals Trauma at the Root w/ Peter McLaughlin | Ep. 81

What if your biggest struggles weren’t random—but rooted deep in your subconscious… or even beyond this lifetime? In this episode, we sit down with hypnotherapist Peter McLaughlin, who shares his powerful journey from firefighter and EMT to helping people resolve anxiety, emotional blocks, and deeply ingrained patterns through hypnosis. We explore what hypnosis really is (hint: you already experience it daily), how trauma gets stored in the subconscious, and how accessing these states can lead to rapid transformation—sometimes in just minutes. Peter explains how emotional patterns, beliefs, and even guilt or shame can shape our lives without us realizing it—and how they can be rewritten. We also dive into more unconventional territory, including past life regression, spiritual perspectives on healing, and why confronting inner pain (rather than avoiding it) can be the key to lasting change. This episode is a deep and thought-provoking exploration of the mind, healing, and what it really means to transform from the inside out. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction & Peter’s background 01:10 From firefighter to life-threatening diagnosis 02:26 Discovering hypnosis & subconscious healing 04:58 What is hypnosis really? 08:56 How hypnotherapy rewires patterns 09:49 How to enter a hypnotic state 14:44 Processing trauma in hypnosis 15:19 Creating safety in therapy 18:35 Confronting pain vs avoiding it 19:14 Making the unconscious conscious 23:05 Past life vs current life trauma 28:22 Why guilt & shame are so powerful 31:46 Why we carry trauma across lifetimes 36:18 How long does transformation take? 37:55 Are we ever “done” with the work? 41:55 Skepticism: is it just imagination? 45:44 Spiritual implications of healing 50:11 Do clients know what they’re getting into? 53:44 Who is drawn to this work? 54:24 Stanislav Grof 55:44 Birth trauma vs past life regression 58:01 Psyched**ics vs hypnosis 01:00:43 Spiritual attachments explained 01:02:51 How entity attachment healing works

Messages From Beyond: Barbara Banner on Spirits & the Afterlife | Ep. 80

In this episode, we talk with evidential medium Barbara Banner, who shares her personal journey into mediumship and how she began delivering detailed, verifiable messages from people in spirit. We explore what mediumship actually feels like from the inside, how messages come through, and whether this ability is something only a few people have — or something anyone can learn to access. Barbara explains how grief affects the connection to the other side, why signs from loved ones often appear in everyday life, and what spirits supposedly experience after death. The conversation also dives into deeper questions about reincarnation, life reviews, spirit guides, and whether those on the other side can influence what happens here on Earth. Toward the end, Barbara even attempts a live reading during the podcast, showing how unexpected and symbolic these messages can be. Topics include: * How Barbara discovered her abilities * What happens during a medium reading * Signs from loved ones after death * Life after death & reincarnation * Spirit guides and intuition * Can anyone learn mediumship? * A live reading during the episode Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:22 Barbara’s story – how mediumship started 2:46 Crisis work, grief support, and early experiences 5:02 Paranormal events that changed everything 6:41 First readings and learning mediumship 8:35 Mediumship and grief – why timing matters 11:08 What messages from spirits are usually about 14:02 Validations, signs, and surprising details 18:33 How spirits communicate with a medium 20:52 Can anyone learn intuition and connection? 24:30 Teaching clients to connect themselves 26:35 When messages don’t make sense at first 27:59 Who shows up in a reading? 30:52 Burnout and self-care as a medium 32:44 Negative spirits, protection, and safety 35:00 Life after death and the life review 38:57 Reincarnation and why souls come back 42:06 Can spirits influence life on Earth? 45:06 Live reading during the podcast 52:55 When messages make sense later 54:46 Where to find Barbara Banner online 55:38 Outro