Spiritual Media Blog Podcast

Interview with Carroll Ann Friedmann, author of Practicing the Yoga Sutras

Practicing the Yoga Sutras by Carroll Ann Friedmann combines clear explanations of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with prompts for personal discovery and reflection. The concise instructions and explanations offered by the Yoga Sutras are still powerful and exceedingly valuable for moving toward peace and knowledge of the Self. Practicing the Yoga Sutras also offers space for personal reflections and self-study notes.

I recently had the chance to talk to Carroll Ann about her book and practical ways to apply its teachings and The Yoga Sutras to your daily life. She shares insights about specific group of sutras including samyama, abhyasa, and Vairagya and how they can influence our attitudes and behaviors. She also talks about her background as the owner and yoga teacher at Ashtanga Yoga Charlottesville and the Ivy Yoga School.

I have had my own personal yoga practice now for close to 11 years and found her insights about yoga and the Yoga Sutras to be practical, ways to enhance my own yoga practice, and deepen my connection to my spiritual Self. One of my favorite parts of the conversation with Carroll Ann is talking about how to deepen your own yoga practices by focusing on the spiritual aspects of yoga. She provides clear explanations of how yoga not only affects us physically, but also on a spiritual and emotional level too.

For more information you can visit her website at:
https://www.practicingtheyogasutras.com

Interview with Dr. Yosi Amram, author of Spiritually Intelligent Leadership: How to Inspire by Being Inspired

Growing up in a Jewish home in war-stricken Israel, Yosi Amram received early exposure to religious fundamentalism, war, and trauma that came from them. Now, Dr. Amram is a licensed clinical psychologist, a CEO leadership coach, author, and a pioneering researcher in the field of Spiritual Intelligence.

I recently had the chance to talk to Yosi about his life experiences, research, advice for business owners and employees who would like to implement his insights on spiritual intelligence into their life and work, and his book “Spiritually Intelligent Leadership: How to Inspire by Being Inspired”. In our conversation, we talk about the following:

• What spiritual intelligence is and how it differs from and complements emotional intelligence
• How you can implement principles of spiritual intelligence into your work if you are unhappy, stressed, or considering a career change
• How leaders can use principles of spiritual intelligence to make positive changes in their organization and challenge unhelpful bureaucratic procedures
• How his background in the military, CEO, and Harvard MBA helped influence his teachings and practices on leadership
• How to start and run a business that implements principles of spiritually intelligent leadership

Yosi not only talks about how you can incorporate principles into your spiritual life; but also your work and professional life to make changes on an individual and organizational level.

We also spend some time talking about how to implement these principles to international war, including the current conflict between Israel and Hamas based on what he learned in the Israel military. 

Interview with Donald Harold Young, author of Finding God in Vegas: Reimagining the American Dream

Donald Harold Young was successful business leader, living the American dream, but a very unhappy person. Something was missing from his life. So, he chased what he thought would make him happy: reputation, physical desires, and everything the material world has to offer. However, Don reinvented himself, his heart and his life in his 50s after he surrendered himself to God and to Love. Then, his whole being became
filled with a deep sense of peace and gratitude after years of unhappiness and selfishness.

I recently had the chance to interview Donald about his life and upcoming memoir, Finding God in Vegas: Reimagining the American Dream.

In our conversation Donald talks about:

• His journey from a material life marketing pharmaceuticals focused on worldly success to a more spiritual life
• His decision to pursue his passion instead of money
• How he is able to trust in God throughout his journey
• How his sexuality as a gay man affected his journey and advice for other people who may be struggling with their sexuality
• Suggestions for other people who want to reinvent themselves and follow their passions
• How he believes his purpose is to creating more love; and meaningful actions he has taken to do that such as volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for the Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Donald was very authentic and honest about how his journey from being focused on material success to a more spiritual life has filled him with greater peace and freedom. However, he also shares that he experiences anxiety and doubt about trusting in God. One of the most profound and practical insights Donald shared with me is that it is okay and normal to trust in God even if we are still feeling doubts and anxiety. He also shares his daily practices and helpful beliefs for dealing with his anxiety and doubts. 

Conversation with Oluwaseun Bayode, author of As in Little Things - Finding Answers to the Great Questions of Life from Everyday Experiences

Conversation includes:

• Why we were created and why we are here on Earth
• Major obstructions to finding Truth and how we can overcome those obstructions
• How we can perceive conflict, division, and natural disasters
• How to sharpen your intuition to gain insight for making decisions in everyday life experiences
• How occurrences in nature and everyday lives reveal wisdom and orderliness of creation

 

Interview with Stephen Paul Chong M.Ed., author of The Afterlife, a Journey to: Now You Know What Will Happen

Listen to Dr. Matthew Welsh J.D., Ph.D (Spiritual Media Blog) and Stephen Paul Chong, M.Ed. (https://www.stephenchong.com.au/) as they discuss the majesty of the ‘Laws of Heaven and Earth’ .

These (15) Laws of Heaven and Earth were serendipitously discovered embedded in the text of Stephen’s book, The Afterlife, a Journey to: Now You Know What Will Happen and are presented to us as a gift from the heavenly realms.

Interview with Carl Greer

Carl Greer, PhD, PsyD, is a retired clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst, a businessman, and shamanic practitioner, author, and a philanthropist, funding over 60 charities and more than 850 past and current Greer Scholars. He has taught at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago and been on staff at the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being. He received his PhD from Columbia University and was on their faculty teaching finance and management in their graduate school of business. He is also the author of a memoir: The Necktie and The Jaguar: A Memoir to Help You Change Your Story and Find Fulfillment in Your Life.

In our conversation, we talk about the following:

• Why and how he switched careers as the president of an oil and gas company to become a clinical psychologist, Jungian analyst, and shamanic practitioner.
• What synchronicity is and how you can create more of it in your life.
• His work as a shamanic practitioner and how you can use shamanic practices in your life to connect with your Spirit and create a vision for your life.
• How you can find meaning and guidance in your dreams.
• How to avoid burnout, compassion fatigue, and stay motivated.
• What your mythopoetic self is and how you can connect to it through nature.

During our interview, I actually lost connection with him over Zoom about 18 minutes into the conversation. After about 10 minutes we eventually reconnected, regained connection, and restarted the conversation. Carl looked for the deeper meaning in that experience and remarked, “Life throws us curves and sometimes we can’t overcome them. But sometimes we hang in there and things change.” This is a good life lesson that comes across throughout our conversation and during his memoir: The Necktie and The Jaguar: A Memoir to Help You Change Your Story and Find Fulfillment in Your Life. For more information please visit http://www.carlgreer.com/

Interview with Dr. Sha

Dr. & Master Zhi Gang Sha is an international spiritual teacher, Tao Grandmaster, world-renowned healer, and 11 New York Times bestselling author. He is one of the leading voices today in combining modern science with alternative medicine, alternative wellbeing practices, and spirituality.

In a time of real global upheaval, Master Sha organized a very ambitious online summit with some of the world’s finest thinkers (including none other than Deepak Chopra) to discuss the need for spirituality, consciousness, and the ability to self-heal, in order to create happiness in today’s climate.

The ambitious inaugural science and spirituality online summit, titled Tapping The Source, took place Saturday July 16 featured speakers such as Deepak Chopra, Ervin Lazlo, Master Sha, and quantum physicist Dr. Rulin Xiu.

In our interview, I had a chance to talk to Master Sha about this conference. Additionally, he shared his wisdom on the following topics:

• Dr. Sha’s work on quantum healing and how that can help you heal yourself
• The vertical between science and spirituality
• The Law of Shen Qi Jing and how the soul leads the heart, the heart leads the mind and energy leads the matter
• Dr. Sha believes that when we all have positive information messages and energy, life flows and we can transform our lives physically, mentally, emotionally, and spirituality.
• Specific tools and resources to help create this positive information messages, including a live performance of a healing chant, a reading from his latest book Tao Calligraphy, and a demonstration on creating and using calligraphy to create wealth and happiness.

Dr. Sha has an Instagram Live show with Queen Diambi of The Democratic Republic of Congo every Saturday at 11:30 a.m. ET where he shares a healing. He also has many services, programs, and books, including his latest book, Tao Calligraphy, all available at his website at https://drsha.com. 

Interview with Duncan Cryle and Karen McAllister

Duncan Cryle is Senior Director at a global software company with over 25000 employees where he also leads a company-wide mindfulness program. He was previously one of the pioneers of IBM's mindfulness community. He is founding member of Clear Sky Center in British Columbia, Canada, and is co-executive director there. He co-teaches Clear Sky's Integrating Mindfulness and 3 month residential mindfulness-in-action program.

Karen McAllister is founder of the Mindful Money coaching and is passionate about building the bridge between spirituality and money. She believes that our current relationship with money reflects a spiritual crisis in the human race. She is a founding member of Clear Sky Meditation Center in British Columbia, Canada. She has been Director of Fund Development since 2008 & Board Chair from 2014 to present. She co-teaches Clear Sky's Integrating Mindfulness and serves the community in helping them clean up their relationship with money.

In our conversation we discuss the following:

• What is mindfulness and how people can apply it to their lives
• What are common challenges to integrating mindfulness into our daily busy and chaotic live
• Duncan and Karen's personal and profession journey of integrating mindfulness into their daily lives
• What is Clear Sky Center
• Duncan's role in in his software company and how he teaches mindfulness to other employees at his company
• Karen's work as a mindful money coach
• What is a mindful approach to money and finances
• Why it is important to bring awareness and healing into our relationship with money

For more information, you can find  Duncan Cryle and Karen McAllister on LinkedIn. 

Interview with Mandi Freger

Mandi Freger is a professional counselor, consultant, and author of the upcoming book From Exhausted to Energized: The Autism Spectrum Disorder Caregiver’s Guide. Mandi is not your typical counselor.  Being in a rare position of gaining experience early on with the first generation of Energy Psychology leaders in the field, Mandi has over 20 years of experience making her a master in the art of using energy therapeutic techniques with her clients.

Mandi’s counseling approach is truly individualized, typically blending energy therapeutic techniques and principals of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) to treat a rainbow of issues including but not limited to: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through the lifespan, peak performance, general fatigue, anxiety, depression, trauma, cognitive disorders and managing pain. Her upcoming book From Exhausted to Energized supplies rapid relief tools that are the perfect solution for ASD caregivers! It is the first book to illustrate what hasn’t been talked about – the psychoenergetic dynamics that cause and sustain the emotional, mental, and physical drain on family members and guardians. Freger further provides readers with quick energy psychology tools that address trauma, anxiety, depression, and burnout. In our conversation, Mandi shares with me:

• Why traditional stress management strategies for ASD caregivers don’t always work and why her techniques do
• Specific Energy Psychology breathing techniques caregivers can use to help them manage stress
• How she combines Energy Psychology and Applied Behavioral Analysis in her counseling and consulting work
• How to better communicate and understand people who have ASD
• How she works as a peak performance consultant to help people maintain mind-body wellness and increase performance

For more information on Mandi, you can visit her website at: https://mandifreger.com/

Interview with Karen V. Johnson

Karen V. Johnson is the author of Living Grieving: Using Energy Medicine to Alchemize Grief and Loss. In 2014, her twenty-seven-year-old son, Ben died of a heroin overdose. She shares on her website: “it never occurred to me to see grief as a journey of transformation, or to find the blessings in the grieving process, or about allowing myself to grow into the state of living with grief. I had to figure it out by myself. It was a lonely path of self-discovery that was not mainstream and not accepted.” She decided to retire, sell her house, and went on a two-and-a-half year journey that took her all over the world on a search for meaning in her tragic loss. This was especially surprising to others considering she had spent the previous thirty years as a criminal and energy law attorney and administrative law judge in Washington D.C.

During our conversation we talk about the following:

• How she moved from a state of sadness and despair over her son’s death to finding greater meaning and purpose in it
• Her two year journey across the world learning how to use energy medicine and shamanic healing practices
• Specific advice and ceremonies people can use to help them transform their grief
• How people can better manage sadness, guilt, anger, and despair when they are grieving
• How she transitioned from being an administrative law judge to having a deeply fulfilling career as an author, consultant, and energy medicine practitioner
• How you can follow your dreams and create a deeply fulfilling life