Episodes
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It has become common to talk about creating safer spaces for healing work. And this is a good thing. Everyone in the field of conscious sensuality, embodiment, and healing work should be looking to improve their practice and rise to higher standards of care, support, awareness, and sensitivity.
At the same time, it has also become common to resist this advancement in favour of the idea that self-development spaces should reflect the level of safety in the outside world. And sometimes, for some people, the world can feel really dangerous. People who take this view might say that this is how we learn resilience, or how we can turn difficulty into growth.
But for our guest in this episode, somatic psychotherapist Shelby Leigh, if we are interested in the resolution of the trauma that affects so many of our lives, the spaces we enter for healing simply must be environments grounded in values of connection, responsibility, and trust.
For Leigh, trauma is anything that overwhelms us, and it can stay with us if we never have a chance to naturally complete our body’s survival response to that overwhelming thing. The feeling of overwhelm can stay with us, separating us from our sense of belonging in the world, and inhibiting our capacity for healthy relationships.
In her conversation with ISTA facilitator, Usha Rose, Leigh speaks about just how important it is to learn skills of self-regulation, stillness, and boundaries in a safe environment. It is then that we are in a great position to step into the revolutionary practice of taking those skills into the dynamic, playful, and perhaps riskier outside world.
Some of the topics covered in this episode are:
Relating with others as the medicine we need.
Understanding your ‘attachment style.’
Growing up with narcissistic parents.
When complex trauma gets misdiagnosed as ADHD or anxiety.
Protocols for people working in healing spaces.
Not pushing past your ‘no.’
Stepping slowly into healing spaces.
Nervous system regulation as meditation.
You can learn more about Shelby at her website: https://www.shelby-leigh.com/And to learn more about ISTA, visit our website: https://ista.life/
Or follow us on social media: @ista.community
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Over the last couple of years, Dave Boda has been really critical of ISTA. He’s composed blog-posts and spoken openly about how some of the people involved need to improve, and how some of the ways ISTA approaches its work need to fall away.
How important it is to take breaks from going to workshops or festivals and integrate what you’ve learned into ordinary life.
In this episode, he talks with ISTA facilitator, the podcast founder, and his old friend, Ria Yoshida, about how important it is to not only have these frank conversations about improving the sacred sexuality space, but to do it in an engaged and loving way.
Although Dave has not attended an ISTA experience himself, he has facilitated hundreds of events in the spiritual self-development space and draws, here, on his experience there. He has also been through an extended mediation process with ISTA in his role with the group, Safer Sacred Sexuality Communities.
For him, it is crucial for communities to acknowledge when it is time to shift with the times, and grow along with those who form them.
Dave and Ria cover many points of wisdom that have arrived for both of them in their journeys of self-exploration, like:
How we need to take accountability for what happens in our lives, and for when we’ve made mistakes.
How important it is to really listen to feedback.
How we often stay working on projects that no longer serve us because it’s what we get rewarded for.
How it is really difficult to genuinely do the work of taking responsibility.
We hope you enjoy this frank, and very real, conversation.
To learn more about Dave, visit his website: https://boodaism.com/To learn more about ISTA, visit our website: https://ista.life/
Or follow us on social media: @ista.community
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There’s a lot of hot debate about the ethics of transformational spaces right now, driven by questions of how power should be held in these spaces. Who should be responsible if something goes wrong? Just what are the limits of what gets taught?
Maybe it would be easier not to create spaces for transformational work, for looking at shadows and how power moves. Maybe making such spaces, if they are still to exist, should be made so anodyne as to neutralize whatever challenges people might feel around these issues (including sexuality).
Our guest, Elica Lorde-Syzygy, a transpersonal counsellor and Internal Family Systems therapist, is on today’s show to discuss these questions. In this conversation Elica explains how we can be so accustomed to pointing the finger at others that we miss many opportunities to pass over the threshold of responsibility to a more sovereign and resilient selfhood.
The reasons we do this are understandable. We don’t want to be exiled from the groups that support our thriving. We’re part of a larger culture that perhaps wants us to remain attached to archetypal figures of the mother and the father. But if we stay like that, we remain dependent!
We might find ourselves getting to a place, in ourselves and in the groups we are part of, where these kinds of subconsciously dependent relations are just simply not working any more, and are causing more harm than good. It’s at this point, Elica explains, that we can get to work…To learn more about Elica, visit her website:
https://www.b-inghuman.com/our-story-1If you loved this episode, share it with a friend!
To learn more about the International School of Temple Arts, visit our website or follow us on social media:
ista.life@ista.community
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In this episode, Ria talks with Dr. Jen Howk about the collision of science and mysticism in the field of evolutionary psychology. With her feet planted firmly in both worlds, Dr. Jen delves into the how and why of our psychological quirks, revealing some of the mysteries of our development as a species.
In particular, she tackles the intriguing phenomenon of cancel culture. In doing so, she explores the historical roots of our collective drive to create ‘in’-groups and ‘out’-groups, explaining that it was a crucial strategy in ancient communities for protecting against threats.
Conformity, she argues, often stems from a deep-seated fear of being relegated to one of these 'out'-groups—a survival instinct that persists, even when it may no longer be necessary.
It turns out that there are many unhelpful characteristics of contemporary culture which derive from our instinct to survive and reproduce. According to Dr. Jen, we can feel a sense of freedom, and find compassion for ourselves and others, when we understand that it might be these instincts pushing us towards behaving in one way or another.
We can feel similar feelings when we acknowledge our ability to choose alternatives.
In this conversation, Ria and Jen also cover:
Coercion as a defining mark of cultsThe ‘Big Five’ personality characteristicsHow our behaviour can often be explained by what evolutionary goals we are trying to achieveThe problems with ‘blank slate’ thinkingThe importance of connecting with natureIf you love this episode, share it with your friends!
And if you want to learn more about ISTA’s retreats and workshops, check out our website, ista.life
Go follow us on social media @ista.community
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Do you ever feel like you’re being held back in life by events and circumstances that are out of your control? Maybe you find yourself in uncomfortable, even terrible, circumstances thinking to yourself: how did I even get here? And, how do I get out?
These are questions that arrived powerfully in the life of Carolyn Elliot, transformational guide and author of the book, Existential Kink. We won’t give too much away, but as she explains in this episode, she was really in a bind. And then, almost by accident, she had the realisation that ‘having is evidence of wanting.’
Elliot had to come to terms with the idea that some part of her had wanted to be in the difficult, unpleasant situation she was in. Maybe not on the surface, but deeper down.Her journey was then about being able to unravel what she has come to call her ‘existential kink,’ which she defines as a desire for something that others might think too edgy, or outright bad. It’s ‘existential’ because the kink is about life, not just sexy stuff.
For her, the key is to bring consciousness to what we enjoy in even the ‘bad’ parts of our lives. This can help release their hold over us.
Stay tuned all the way to the end of this lively and fascinating conversation to be guided through the existential kink practice that Elliot details in her runaway classic book of the same name!
To learn more about Carolyn, please visit her website and join her email list:
https://carolynlovewell.com/
If you love this episode, share it with your friends! And if it want to follow ISTA on social media, you can find us @ista.community on all good platforms. -
In this, his third episode with the Spiritual, Sexual, Shamanic Podcast, ISTA Lead Facilitator and member of ISTA’s governing council, Raffaello Manacorda, speaks about shamanic leadership.
What is shamanic leadership? Raffa explains that it’s an essential component of taking responsibility within groups of people. Instead of competing for powerful positions within organizations and then ruling through domination and manipulation, he says, what we can do is understand the role of the leader as similar to that of the shaman.
A shamanic leader has the capacity to sense and respond to the subtle energy moving within a group, and to make decisions based on a felt sense of what needs to occur. This, Raffa says, is only possible when those called into leadership are able to bring the power in their own bodies along for the ride.
Shamanic leadership is also based on a fundamentally different leadership culture than many of us are used to. Raffa paints the picture of a ‘cloud’ roving over a group of people, a cloud which will stop above the head of the person who is being called into leadership and strike them with shamanic lightning. An investment of great power indeed, and often only for a temporary period of time...
If you're a practitioner, facilitator, or entrepreneur who's leading a group of people (or sees a future in it), this is especially for you.
Join us for this deep and enlightening conversation, where Simon and Raffa explore the benefits and inevitable dangers of this kind of leadership.
If you love this episode, please rate it and share it with others who need to hear it!And if you want to learn more about ISTA, visit our website: ista.life
Or follow us on social media: @ista.community
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ISTA Facilitator Nimai Sun Ra grew up without a father. As a result, he has felt, perhaps more urgently than most, the need to become his own father figure. To provide himself stability, guidance, and the strength that a biological father might often provide.
In recent years, he has been on a journey of extending that experience of fatherhood from himself to his own two young sons. As he tells us in this conversation with Usha, the journey of fatherhood has been the best, most important, thing he has ever done. Every initiation he has been through in his life, he says, has been a preparation for the initiation of fatherhood.
And it has been an initiation, with wonderful new realisations mixed in with unavoidable difficulties. In this episode Nimai talks about how his relationship with his beloved, the mother of his children, shifted dramatically, how he could not get through it without the support of other, older brothers, and how he had to deal with failure.
Navigating fatherhood and open relatingThe value of focussing on fatherhood without distractionHow becoming a father can shifts romantic relationshipsThe importance of community when kids come alongThe role of your inner parentDistortions in the role of the fatherHow the father is often the one called on to set boundaries
And he reflects deeply on the spiritual journey of fatherhood, on how important a role it is to be able to play in the world, whether it is with your own children, other’s, or in a more symbolic way.
Nimai also covers:If you loved this episode, share it with your friends!
You can learn more about ISTA at www.ista.life
And via our social media channels: @ista.community
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Growing up in rural Austria, ISTA facilitator Ashisha Arpana’s favorite toy was her imagination. She gleefully played with it, eventually turning what happened in her mind's eye into a career in film and media.
The imagination, she tells us in this deep and exploratory episode, is one of the most important keys for us in letting go of the old, disempowering stories we tell ourselves and getting back into currency with life as it moves through us.
Ashisha explains that we can spark our imagination—our vision of an amazing, vibrant present—through mythology. This is not just a collection of stories from ancient cultures, but living, breathing codes for tapping into the source of our inner worlds. It is where the pulse of life comes from.
And there are some simple things we can do to allow this source of our inner life to pour through us into the world, allowing us to shape-shift and, ultimately, choose how our future will go.Simon and Ashisha also discuss:
how we often out-source our imagination to Hollywoodhow myths are always evolving. They’re not for copywriting!coming back to the child-like sense of wonder in each of usour bodies as instruments of the soulwhat a soul is and how to communicate with itcollective dreaming and shaping culture from therethe imagination of the heart in the Sufi traditionhow to reclaim your own story, step-by-step, without judgementIf you love this episode, why not leave a review and share it with your friends!
And if you want to learn more about ISTA, follow us on social media: @ista.tribe
Or visit our website: ista.life
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In this episode, Usha talks with ISTA Facilitator Aya Kamānakai about reclaiming sexuality as a pathway to personal empowerment and spiritual connection.
Growing up in the Christian church, Aya was taught to shut down her sexuality. As she moved into adulthood, she found herself unable to access pleasure in her body and had resigned herself to a life without it. This was until, in desperation, she sought out a sexual healer who guided her into releasing her full, orgasmic potential.
Almost immediately, she was able to allow this release of repressed energy to literally pour out into other areas of her life: her relationships, her business, and her visions for cultural evolution. Sex magic, as she explains in this episode, is possible when we use pleasure as a doorway to whatever wants to be expressed. We can use the power that comes with this deep freedom of expression to bring what we dream into reality.
Some of the topics Aya and Usha discuss are:
The profound significance of Aya’s first time squirtingThe connection between sexual energy and purposeHow self-pleasure works best when we don’t feel like itFinding our easiest access points to pleasureHow you can transform any aspect of your sexuality, even physiological onesHow to access your sexual energy by yourselfAnd, as a delicious extra, at the end of the episode, Aya leads a beautiful meditation into connecting with life-force (44:00-49:00).
About Aya:
Allured by the wild and the beauty within us, Aya Kamānakai is a passionate advocate for embracing pleasure and reclaiming our sexual energy. With a deep reverence for ancient wisdom and a belief in the intelligence stored inside our bodies, Aya calls upon all beings, but especially women, to reconnect with their innate power and unlock their highest potential.
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Picture this: you’re in a long, long-term relationship with another person. You both have dynamic, ‘larger-than-life’ personalities. You have four kids together, and busy schedules full of big projects. It seems almost impossible to fit in time for each other. Life is interesting, but you’re realizing how easy it is to put off moments of deeper connection. Then, one day, almost out of nowhere, you decide together that you’re going to make love every day.
Every. Single. Day.
This is no imaginary story! In this episode of the Spiritual, Sexual, Shamanic Podcast, ISTA organizer and certified coach, Matilda Gregersdotter, talks with Ria about how her and her husband have had s*x everyday since 2008. That’s 15 years, if you do the math. As she explains, it has been a beautiful journey, with many benefits she is keen to share with others.These are just some of the topics that Matilda and Ria cover:
how regular love-making is nourishing and refreshinghow to effortlessly include love-making in a busy schedulethe idea of ‘meeting each other’resolving conflict that would make s*x impossibleexpanding what love-making meanshow the body and mind become more receptive to touch, not lesshow it’s impossible to get bored when you treat each time as the first timehow to practice the art of coming back to lovethe brilliant Game of “Yes”what happens when we find ways to release unnecessary resistanceIf you loved this episode, share it with your friends and leave us a 5-star review!
To learn more about what we do at ISTA, visit ista.life
You can also follow @ista_tribe on Instagram and Facebook.
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If you've ever been to a spiritual retreat, you might know that they can be totally blissful places. Dancing, good food, vibrant people, deep teaching. Paradise!
Her first ever altered state of consciousnessThe concept and practice of "sonic driving"Our Emotional Guidance SystemThe practice of Aspecting and how to do itHow the emotional body works
Yes, they can involve difficult emotions, and sometimes the teachings can be complex, but that's often part of the experience.
So, what happens when it all comes to an end and you have to head back home and, somehow, put all you learned and experienced into action for real?
Well, in this episode of the Spiritual, Sexual, Shamanic podcast, ISTA Lead Facilitator Crystal Dawn Morris tells us about her own experiences with blissed out states of being and how she integrates them into her ongoing life.
She shares about some important tools she teaches in ISTA trainings for processing tough emotional experiences and maintaining our sensitivity, and goes deep on a unique experience she has designed especially for bringing spiritual training into every day reality, "Living Level One."
She also talks about:If you loved this podcast, leave us a review! And you can follow us on social media @ista_tribe
To learn more about ISTA teachers and our retreats, visit http://ista.life -
In this episode of the Spiritual, Sexual, Shamanic Podcast, ISTA facilitator Aaron Kleinerman delves into the topic of men's work and the importance of creating safe spaces for men to explore their vulnerability and receptivity.
Through many years of holding these kinds of spaces, Aaron has found that there is great benefit in men embracing both their masculine and feminine energies. It can lead to a deeper sense of inner union and empowerment. He acknowledges that societal conditioning often discourages men from fully embodying their feminine side, and that this can hinder their personal growth and evolution. The overall aim is for men to be able to break free from these constraints and unlock their full potential.
In response to criticism of men's work, Argues argues that it is not about reinforcing the patriarchy or promoting conservative gender roles. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity for men to relax into their masculinity, to let go of their fears and insecurities, and to share experiences with other men who may have had similar life experiences. From this more relaxed place, men can show up for themselves, the people in their lives, and their communities in a more healthy way.
Overall, Aaron’s message is one of empowerment and growth. By embracing both their masculine and feminine energies, and by creating safe spaces for exploration and growth, men can achieve a deeper sense of inner union and become better equipped to navigate the challenges of life.
If you loved this episode, leave a review and share it with your friends!
To learn more about ISTA, visit our website: https://ista.life/
Or follow us on social media: @ista_tribe
To learn more about Aaron, visit his website: https://aaronkleinerman.com/ -
In this episode, Usha talks with s*x engineer, Elisa Caro. An Apprentice Facilitator with ISTA, Elisa dives into one of her favorite topics: the many different kinds of orgasm that people in femme bodies can experience.
how femme bodies are wired for pleasurethe importance of breast playthe difference between implosive and explosive orgasmhow you can turn waves of pleasure into states of orgasmhow to access orgasm if you find it difficultprioritizing comfort and pleasureallowing time for arousal to development
Elisa covers some of these juicy and, some may consider, controversial areas of discovery:So much of ISTA's teaching is about coming back to feeling subtle energy as it moves through the body. As Elisa explains, this process of coming back to feeling is a beautiful and profound journey, especially for people in femme bodies.
nipple ones (yum)anal ones (lube and slowness, please)vaginal opening ones (lots of nerve endings)g-spot ones (requires preparation)cervical ones (super deep)clitoral ones (glorious)full body ones (the ultimate)
The kinds of orgasm Elisa talks about are:Get ready to learn a whole bunch about what your beautiful body can do!
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Dos conceptos que suelen encontrarse separados, pero ¿Cuál es la relacion entre ellos?
El uso del Eros como medicina sagrada, su experiencia como figura poliamorosa, coach y madre, y el potencial del chamanismo para sanar heridas sexuales.El matrimonio Interior, y cómo el cosmos está contenido dentro de cada uno de nosotros.El aprendizaje y estudio del chamanismo.Las experiencias "negativas" en los viajes chamánicos.Contenidos de los niveles 1 y 2 de ISTA.
En esta conversación con Luis, KamalaDevi McClure nos habla sobre:Si te ha gustado este episodio, déjanos una valoración y una reseña.
Para conocer más sobre trainings de ISTA o para trabajar con nuestro profesorado, visita www.ista.life , o encuentranos en las redes sociales. FB: ista.life e IG: @ista_tribe -
Initiation is an unavoidable part of life. We’re constantly being initiated into new experiences, whether we like it or not. Sometimes we thrive in these experiences, but sometimes they can be traumatic. Sometimes we get stuck in a loop in the process.
What a dedicated space for initiation can provide is a way to go through important rites of passage deliberately, powerfully, and with the attentive support of a community…
Laura Deva, who is a ISTA + Highden Temple facilitator and psychotherapist, illuminates this on our show. In conversation with Simon, she explores the differences and similarities between therapeutic spaces and spaces of initiation.
Getting stuck on ‘loop’ when life is giving you an initiationThe importance of resolution and integrationThe power of group processesThe element of surpriseLetting our bodies guide usReaching out for help
Some of the topics Laura touches on are:If you like this episode, please leave a rating and review! To find out more about ISTA trainings or to work with our faculty, see www.ista.life, or find us on social, FB: ista.life and IG:@ista_tribe
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When ISTA Apprentice Dane Tomas got started in spirituality, his focus was on ascension. "It was 'go up to the higher realms'; it was Buddhism, it was psychedelics, it was meditation, and it was all so wonderful," he says.
Beginning as a broke Aussie rapperHating the coaching industryHow to use spiritual techniquesThe nervous system's tolerance for changeNavigating open relatingWhy we get rejectedHow paying your taxes is sexy
But he started to realize that, although the people he was hanging out with there "in Rainbow Dolphin Land," were mentally and, maybe, ethereally powerful, "they were all fucking broke and couldn't pay their rent."
What he found, through experimenting with his own life, is that the missing piece was integration. The people who knew a lot about money and how to get it were blocked in their sexuality, and the people who were super juicy in their sexuality struggled to make any money.
So, Dane started working with people on embodiment, creativity, shadow work, and being unapologetically themselves, creating modalities like The Spiral to make this teaching around manifestation stick. Now, he helps people understand what magic actually is: getting your intention and your reality into alignment.
In this episode, hosted by Ria Yoshida, Dane talks about:If you like this episode, please leave a rating and review! To find out more about ISTA trainings or to work with our faculty, see www.ista.life, or find us on social, FB: ista.life and IG:@ista_tribe
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What does my soul really want, and how do I dream it? Then, how do I make it a reality? In this episode, ISTA faculty member and CEO of the conscious dating app, Lua, Makatu Roni, guides us through some answers to these questions. For him, they hold the key to what is missing in the world right now. He tells his story of manifesting his soul-calling in Lua and, before that, the ecstatic dance community in Israel. It is so important, he says, to become aware of where we, ourselves, shine. Maybe it’s in a surprising way, or in an unexpected role. Then, we must be patient. Opportunities will arise. And when they do, go for it! See it all the way through... Tune in for this and more.
You can download the Lua app here: https://www.lua.earth/ -
In this episode, Simon talks with ISTA faculty Stephanie Phillips, who happens to be his biological mother! They dive into issues of inter-generational healing and what it can really look like to address family relationships head-on. Simon explores with Stephanie her signature teaching: “being in the body brings us home.” By coming back to the body, Stephanie says, we give ourselves the chance to be alive to our life-force, our orgasmic energy. Maybe it’s this realisation of the energy running through our bodies that is the key to feeling safety in ourselves, feeling a full range of emotions, getting in touch with our natural innocence, and awakening to exciting future possibilities.
Learn more about the ISTA Family Fusion event: www.istafamilyfusion.com -
"When you know, you know," an old sage once said. And the power of sexual shamanism is one of those things. You can't forget it once you've experienced it. In this episode, ISTA Level 1 and 2 facilitator, Michal Mayan Don, marvels at the rapidly emerging culture of people who now carry this knowledge. As she explains, what we are doing when we train in sexual shamanism is preparing our bodies to be able to hold more energy. To be able to move intense feelings, sensations, and experiences through our bodies with ease. When we do that, we can use that energy for magic!
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The midwest region of the USA is not famous for its radical attitudes towards sexuality. You might usually associate that area of the world with conservative values, fields of wheat, unpredictable weather (hello cyclone season!), sports, and very nice folks. In today’s episode we hear from ISTA facilitator Briana Cribeyer who grew up in the Midwest reveals a different story, one of a land that has been a place for spiritual, embodied emergence for, literally, thousands of years.
In this episode we also get into the the art of group transformation, priestess mothers, what to do with the subtle signs of nature, how to approach life with a generous outlook, the magic of new relationship energy, a beautiful poetry reading, and lot of laughter.
Learn more about Briana at her website: brianacribeyer.com
Sign up for an ISTA Level 1 training at the ISTA website - Show more
