Black Beryl

Today I sit down with Marleen Thaler, a researcher at the University of Vienna and University of Graz. Together, we investigate the history of the transformation of Kundalini from a Hindu goddess resting at the base of the spine to her modern manifestation as a psychiatric syndrome. Along the way, we discuss the central importance of the Theosophical society, the anti-psychiatry movement of the 1970s, spiritual emergencies, and kundalini as a meeting point for religion and medicine.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Arthur Avalon, The Serpent Power: The Secrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga
• Gopi Krishna, Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man
• Lee Sennella, The Kundalini Experience: Psychosis or Transcendence
• Spiritual Emergence Network (USA | International)
• Marleen's publications: Academia.edu

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• Full English translation of the Hathayoga Pradipika, which includes description of kundalini coiled at the base of the spine and structured practices to direct her energy toward enlightenment.

Today, I catch up with Brandt Stickley, Associate Professor at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland. We discuss his practice of “Chinese medicine anti-psychiatry,” which involves exorcising spirits using acupuncture needles. Along the way, we talk about mass possession, spiritual shark bites, and how to properly unwind a wayward ghost. 

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Brandt's website
• Certificate in Chinese Medicine Psychiatry
• Brandt's courses and mentorship
• Blood, Fire, Light, & Time on Substack

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• Brandt Stickley, "Approaching the Origin: The Diaphanous Body and Classical Chinese Medicine" (2024)

In celebration of the holiday season, here's a bonus episode from the archives. In May of 2023, I sat down with Zachary Lui who is a practitioner of Chinese medicine, magic, and shamanism in the Toronto area. We started by talking about his early work with Chinese martial arts, traditional medicine, and qigong. We then got into Zac’s practice of chaos magic, diverse ritual practices, reiki, and esoteric Buddhist healing. Finally, we discussed his communication with different deities and spirits, as well as the potential dangers of working with them in his healing practice.

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Wuji Xuan Life Wellness 
• Queen City Curio 
• Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole Podcast 
• Andrieh Vitimus, Hands-On Chaos Magic (2009)

Today I sit down with Nick Canby, visiting assistant professor at Brown University and a clinical psychologist specializing in meditation and psychedelics. Together, we dive into Nick’s research on the self — what is it and what it’s like to lose it. Along the way, we mention some of the downsides of experiencing oneness and the complications of defining a mental health disorder.

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Previous episode on meditation challenges with Willoughby Britton and Jared Lindahl 
• List of Publications from the Varieties of Contemplative Experience study
• Canby et al., "The Teacher Matters: The Role and Impact of Meditation Teachers in the Trajectories of Western Buddhist Meditators Experiencing Meditation-Related Challenges"
• Pierce's forthcoming volume, "Meditation Sickness: A Sourcebook on the Dangers of Buddhist Practice" 
• Previous episode on madness and religious experience with Richard Saville-Smith
• Nick's clinical practice
• Nick's profile on Cheetah House
• Complete list of Nick's publications 

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• Article summarizing Nick’s dissertation research on “loss of self” experiences
• 50% off “Varieties of Ego-Dissolution” online course (research overview of the types of self-boundary dissolution and their impacts) 

Today I sit down with Leo Lok, a retired practitioner of Chinese medicine who now teaches and consults with practitioners treating difficult cases of meditation-caused dysregulation. Together, we discuss how to think about the challenging side-effects of meditation through the lens of the ancestral Chinese arts of qi regulation. Along the way, we discuss the surprising power of ocular alignment, how to gradually condition oneself for spiritual heavy lifting, and medieval Chinese emergency treatments for meditation practice gone wrong.

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Leo's chapter on Chinese physicians will appear in Pierce's forthcoming book, Meditation Sickness: An Anthology on the Dangers of Meditation Practice. (Get notified when this is published.)
• Zhiyi's (538–597) magnum opus on meditation in the Chinese Buddhist tradition, translated by Paul Swanson
• Pierce discusses medieval Chinese approaches to meditation sickness, including Zhiyi's advice for meditators, in an open access article in Journal of Buddhist Ethics.
• See Leo's recommended YouTube instructional video on the six healing breaths.
• Leo's new website is under construction

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• Pierce's 2017 translation of the complete "Chapter on Illness" from Zhiyi's Shorter Treatise on Śamatha and Vipaśyanā. 

Today I sit down with Susannah Deane, a scholar of Tibetan medicine, Buddhism, and psychiatry. Together, we delve into her work on Tibetan concepts of "wind disorders" and Tantric practice gone wrong. Along the way, we talk about losing control of spirits, becoming a deity, and how Tibetans choose between religious and medical specialists when spiritual practice goes off the rails.

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Susannah Deane, Tibetan Medicine, Buddhism and Psychiatry: Mental Health and Healing in a Tibetan Exile Community (2018).
• Salguero, Cheung, and Deane (eds.), Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World (2024).
• Susannah Deane, Illness and Enlightenment: Exploring Tibetan Perspectives on Madness in Text and Everyday Life (2025).
• Susannah's Academia.edu profile

Become a paid subscriber on blackberyl.substack.com to unlock our members-only benefits, including downloading:

• High resolution image of the Tibetan subtle body system 
• Susannah's chapter “For This Kind of Thing, the Lama Is Better: Religion, Medicine, and the Treatment of 'Madness' among Tibetans in Amdo," from Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World

Today I sit down with Richard Saville-Smith, an independent scholar of madness, religion, and psychiatry. We discuss Richard’s book Acute Religious Experiences (2023), which argues that frameworks from Mad Studies can get us out from under the academy’s current habit of either pathologizing or sanitizing religious experiences. Along the way, we talk about the power struggle between psychiatry & the humanities, the influence of Queer Studies on Richard’s work, and his reinterpretation of Jesus as a madman.   

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Acute Religious Experiences: Madness, Psychosis and Religious Studies (2023)

Become a paid subscriber on blackberyl.substack.com to unlock our members-only benefits, including downloading:

• Chapter 10 from Richard's book, which presents his D.R.E.A.D. framework for acute religious experiences.

Today I sit down with Willoughby Britton and Jared Lindahl, the interdisciplinary team from Brown University that is responsible for the “Varieties of Contemplative Experience” study on the challenges and adverse effects of meditation. We talk about the design, findings, and outcomes of the study, and how it opened up a new field of interdisciplinary investigation. Along the way we ask: if someone suffers harm from practicing meditation, whose fault is it? What is the ultimate cause? And who gets to interpret the experience? 

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our members-only benefits on Substack.com to see what our guests have shared with you. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Complete Varieties of Contemplative Experience study publications list
• Willoughby on the Mind & Life Podcast
• Willoughby & Jared on The Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Podcast
• “The Varieties of Contemplative Experience: A Mixed-Methods Study of Meditation-Related Challenges in Western Buddhists” (2017)
• “The Roles and Impacts of Worldviews on the Onset and Trajectory of Meditation-Related Challenges” (2022)
• “The Teacher Matters: The Role and Impact of Meditation Teachers in the Trajectories of Western Buddhist Meditators Experiencing Meditation-Related Challenges” (2025)
• “Progress or Pathology? Differential Diagnosis and Intervention Criteria for Meditation-Related Challenges: Perspectives from Buddhist Meditation Teachers and Practitioners.”
• CheetahHouse.org

Become a paid subscriber on blackberyl.substack.com to unlock our members-only benefits, including downloads of these PDFs:

• “Challenging and Adverse Meditation Experiences: Toward A Person-Centered Approach” (2021)
• “Prevalence of meditation-related adverse effects in a population-based sample in the United States” (2021)

Today I sit down with Dr. Daniel M. Ingram, a retired ER physician, co-founder of the Emergent Phenomena Research Consortium, CEO of Emergence Benefactors, and a noted adept in Buddhist meditation. Together we explore “emergent phenomena,” or the spiritual, mystical, magical, energetic, and psychedelic possibilities at the deep end of human experience. Along the way, we discuss dark nights of the soul, ontological fruit salad, brain scans of peak meditation states, and warning labels on spiritual practice. 

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Links to all Daniel's stuff
• Emergent Phenomena Research Consortium
• Emergent Benefactors 
• Daniel M. Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (2018) website | book
• DharmaOverground.org
• Olivier Sandilands & Daniel M. Ingram, Documenting and defining emergent phenomenology: theoretical foundations for an extensive research strategy (2024)
• Avijit Chowdhury et al., Investigation of advanced mindfulness meditation “cessation” experiences using EEG spectral analysis in an intensively sampled case study (2022) 
• Malcolm J. Wright et al., Altered States of Consciousness are Prevalent and Insufficiently Supported Clinically: A Population Survey (2024)
• Pierce Salguero, The Secret Spiritual Lives of Buddhist Studies Scholars (2024)

Become a paid subscriber on blackberyl.substack.com to unlock our members-only benefits, including PDFs of these resources. 

Today I sit down with Josh Schrei, storyteller, sound artist, and host of The Emerald Podcast. Josh helps us to embrace and center the spirit world in our understanding of contemporary Buddhism. Along the way, we talk about Tibetan weather makers, shamanic battle, the trance-inducing effect of stories, and how to diplomatically negotiate with animistic forces.

If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy the show!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Emerald Podcast: Animism is Normative Consciousness
• The Emerald Podcast: For the Divine Mother of the Universe
• The Emerald Podcast: Why Mindfulness Isn’t Enough
• The Emerald Podcast: Guardians and Protectors!
• Josh's Website: The Mythic Body
• Josh's Patreon

Become a paid subscriber on blackberyl.substack.com to unlock our members-only benefits, including a video lecture by Pierce with a detailed introduction to Thai animist culture and healing practices. For other videos, see courses.piercesalguero.com.