Orthodoxy, Spiritual Warfare & the Inner Life | Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff

Orthodoxy, Spiritual Warfare & the Inner Life | Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff

What does Orthodox Christianity teach about the inner life? In this conversation, Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff explores the ancient Christian path of transformation through watchfulness, repentance, prayer, forgiveness, and spiritual discipline. Rather than presenting faith as a collection of beliefs, he describes Orthodoxy as a lived way of life rooted in embodied practice and continuous participation. Together we discuss: • What makes Orthodox Christianity unique • Apostolic tradition and living transmission • Watchfulness (Nepsis) and guarding the mind • Spiritual warfare and intrusive thoughts (Logismoi) • Confession, repentance, and forgiveness • The Desert Fathers and the inner struggle • Why faith must become lived experience rather than mere belief Whether you are Orthodox, from another Christian tradition, or simply interested in contemplative practice and human transformation, this conversation offers a thoughtful exploration of one of Christianity's oldest living spiritual traditions. Integral Being explores the intersection of wisdom traditions, embodied practice, martial arts, contemplative psychology, and human transformation through conversations with leading teachers and practitioners from around the world.

Yielding, gratitude, cultivation, and the wisdom revealed through a lifetime of practice | Stuart Alve Olsaon

In this Integral Being conversation, renowned Taoist teacher, author, and translator Stuart Alve Olson reflects on a lifetime devoted to Taoism, Tai Chi, Qigong, meditation, and spiritual cultivation. A longtime student of Master T.T. Liang and disciple of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, Stuart became one of the most influential voices bringing Taoist wisdom and internal arts traditions to Western audiences. Through decades of study, practice, translation, and teaching, he helped generations of practitioners explore the deeper dimensions of Tai Chi, Internal Alchemy, meditation, and Taoist philosophy. Together we explore: • Taoism and the art of yielding • Why the greatest opponent is often ourselves • Tai Chi beyond fighting and technique • Lessons from Master T.T. Liang • The Nine Steps One Bow pilgrimage • Gratitude as a way of life • Embodiment and direct experience • Aging, mortality, and dying well • What authentic cultivation reveals over time Throughout the conversation, Stuart returns to a simple but profound insight: real practice is not about becoming someone else. It is about removing what prevents us from being fully present to life as it is. Following Stuart's passing in 2025, this conversation stands as both an interview and a lasting record of a remarkable teacher whose work continues to influence Taoist, Tai Chi, Qigong, and contemplative communities around the world.

Poetry, Mysticism & Spiritual Transformation | Kythe Heller

What happens when spirituality is approached not as inherited belief, but as lived experience? In this conversation, poet, artist, and scholar Kythe Heller joins Integral Being host Mark V. Wiley to explore poetry, mysticism, transformation, and the search for direct encounter with the sacred. Drawing from her work in contemplative arts, scholarship, and the Sufi tradition of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Kythe reflects on suffering, creativity, spiritual practice, and the role of living transmission in authentic transformation. Together they discuss poetry as a language of recognition, art as a form of praise, the symbolism of the phoenix, the relationship between suffering and awakening, and the enduring relevance of contemplative traditions in modern life. At its heart, this conversation explores how truth is not merely understood intellectually, but discovered through direct experience.

Non-Dual Awareness, Personality, and the Practice of Freedom | Dr David Parrish

What if suffering arises not from life itself, but from our identification with the personality? In this episode of Integral Being, Mark V. Wiley speaks with psychologist and meditation teacher David Parrish about awareness, conditioning, meditation, self-realization, and the challenge of integrating awakening into everyday life. Drawing on decades of experience as a psychologist, prison administrator, meditation practitioner, and student of human consciousness, Parrish explores the distinction between awareness and personality, why insight alone does not eliminate conditioning, and how genuine transformation unfolds through practice and integration. Topics include: • Awareness and personality • Conditioning and human behavior • Meditation and self-observation • Anxiety and suffering • Awakening and integration • Non-dual understanding • Human transformation and freedom Awareness may reveal what we are. Integration teaches us how to live from it. About David Parrish David Parrish is a psychologist, meditation teacher, and student of human consciousness whose work bridges psychology, contemplative practice, and non-dual understanding. For more than thirty years he worked within the prison system as a counselor, psychologist, assistant warden, and warden while developing transformational programs focused on meditation, self-inquiry, and personal responsibility. Integral Being explores consciousness, embodiment, transformation, contemplative practice, and the cultivation of human potential through conversations with scholars, practitioners, teachers, and explorers of the inner life. www.innerlifewithmarkwiley.com [https://www.innerlifewithmarkwiley.com]

Chinese Medicine, Perception, and Internal Cultivation - Felix De Haas

What if healing begins not with technique, but with perception? In this episode of Integral Being, Mark V. Wiley sits down with acupuncturist, teacher, and scholar Felix De Haas to explore the deeper dimensions of Chinese medicine, Daoist cultivation, meditation, and the practitioner's state of awareness. Drawing from more than four decades of clinical experience and study, Felix discusses the differences between classical Chinese medicine and modern TCM, the importance of palpation and perceptive touch, Japanese acupuncture traditions, and what he calls "the shape of qi." Together they examine how stillness, presence, and internal cultivation influence healing, why practitioners must learn to separate sensation from interpretation, and how Daoist internal alchemy (Neidan) relates to medicine, embodiment, and human development. This conversation moves beyond protocols and techniques into the subtle art of listening—to the body, to experience, and to the deeper processes that shape transformation. In This Episode • Classical Chinese Medicine vs. Modern TCM • Japanese Acupuncture & Palpation • The Shape of Qi • Perceptive Touch and Clinical Awareness • Meditation and Healing Practice • Daoist Internal Alchemy (Neidan) • Presence, Stillness & Receptivity • Cultivating the Practitioner • Embodiment and Consciousness About Felix De Haas Felix De Haas has spent more than four decades studying and practicing East Asian medicine, integrating classical Chinese medicine, Japanese acupuncture, herbal medicine, palpation-based approaches, and Daoist internal cultivation into a deeply experiential clinical practice. He teaches internationally and is known for his work in the Engaging Vitality® approach and the philosophical foundations of traditional medicine.