In this episode, it's my third "Mountain walk and talk", so you get the blessing (or curse) of hearing me attempting to catch my breath after hiking vertically for over an hour and rushing to get home (had a deadline, sadly). This walk and talk explores the idea of "giving your shame a deadlier weapon" to beat you over the head with, ie. Self-sabotage. I begin by introducing a metaphor because it's a helpful way of portraying this somewhat elusive concept.

Subtopics that arose:

- The "genesis" of Shame-based parts

- How we further perpetuate shame (giving it the gun)

- Sloppy coaching/therapy

- The role of punishment in shame

- Power dynamics and "shaming into growth"

In this episode, I briefly flow through my journey of substance use, ranging from my introduction to cannabis to being introduced to DMT in my late 20s, eventually leading me to drink ayahuasca in Iquitos in the Fall of 2023.

I tell my story and offer some reflections about what it's like talking about this stuff now, at age 30, and looking back on it all, what a wild ride it's been.

Some subtopics that arise:

- The sociological nature of addiction

- My introduction to Cannabis

- Connecting to nature (while using)

- My "Education" about substance use

- The Skillsets of Alternative School teachers

- My experience with DMT and Ayahuasca

- Why I believe in sobriety

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

In this episode, I begin by leading a guided meditation and introducing the "venue" of this episode, my hammock atop the Coquitlam Lake lookout, 700m up from the Burke Mountain trailhead. I talk about abuse, about bullying, seeing how topics like emotional abuse and gossip tie into various social/relational conflicts. As always, drawing perspective from my understanding of Internal Family Systems, offering insights and reflecting openly.

Subtopics that arise:

- Being bullied and personality development

- How a bully mimics the abuse they suffered

- Gossip vs self-responsible dialogues

- Unstable living situations (sometimes subtly)

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

In this episode I was exhausted and freezing cold atop Burke mountain, after nibbling a little crum of ceremonial cacao. I felt so at peace, breathing in the fresh mountain air, it made for some great authentic reflections! I sat on a mossy rock and had a lovely old time philosophizing and allowing my inner child to play a bit.

Subtopics that arise:

- Owning that I'm a HSP

- Being intentional as a performer

- "The Fool" and fear of being seen as foolish

- My "Jealousy projections" Part

- Noticing needs and learning from "comparison to other"

- Practicing healthy non-attachment

- Being connected to the divine

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

In this episode I have a conversation with my friend Paradox, whom was my tent neighbour at last year's Shambhala music festival. With her compassionate, yet humorous flare, we flow through a conversation around some pretty heavy topics with open hearts and curiosity. Here we do our best to modestly explore the topics of decolonization, addiction, and healing trauma.

Paradox is a multi-media artist, and activist who aspires to become a decolonized somatic art therapist. She currently works as a tarot reader, offering intuitive guidance and advice with her business "DivinationsByParadox". I deeply appreciate her perspective as an Indigenous woman of Nehiyaw & Metis ancestry who has undertaken a long journey of reconnection to her ancestors and culture, whilst navigating the complexities of healing her addictions and traumas.

ᑭᓇᓈᐢᑯᒥᑎᐣ (kinanâskomitin) Nitotem! I appreciate you!

More on her business here:

https://www.instagram.com/divinationsbyparadox?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Subtopics that arise:

- Addiction as a form of numbing emotions

- The "Turning away" from addiction and the DTES

- How the Colonial system is a cage

- Shame, Wetiko and the Realm of Hungry Ghosts

- Reconnection to Spirit and Ancestral wisdom

- My Personal Story: Communities and Recovery

- Starving the "Shame Eater"

- Knitting our "spiritual sweater"

- Reconditioning the "competing" mindset

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

n this episode, I talk about the importance of knowing our values and being open to others having differing values. I'm also not willing to compromise my standards of who I let into my life, and how this can be challenging depending on where I go or who is in my life. I am the leader of my own life, of my inner system and I believe each of us ought to embody a leadership role in our community. What that looks like varies depending on our values, skillset and capacity to represent our values.

Other subtopics that arise:

- Commenting on Political Facebook posts

- Knowing when to "forgive Gollum"

- Lex Fridman's recent podcast with Douglas Murray

- "Being the boring person" at the party

- How in society we reward the predators/abusers

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

Jess Cumming is a Clinical Counsellor and founder of By the Stars Counselling, an innovative space blending counselling and astrology. Jess practices using EMDR, western astrology, and internal family systems-inspired parts work to help clients on their healing journeys. Jess is passionate about creating community and hosts regular in-person gatherings for astrology lovers to connect and learn together.

We talk about astrology, doing our best to separate fact from myth, and getting curious about how people can begin to understand this complex world of interpreting astrological alignment. However, it does start quite simple, learn your Sun sign, Moon sign and Rising sign... and from here the journey begins!

Subtopics that arise:

- Bridging the spiritual and scientific approaches

- The "newspaper horoscopes" and pop-astrology

- Inviting clients into astrology versus diagnosing

- Learning how the language of astrology works

- Embracing the emotional self as a masculine

- Community spaces to explore Astrology

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

In this episode I begin my podcast at about 800m altitude nearing the peak of Burke Mountain trudging through snow banks that were as deep as my legs. I'd been considering doing a podcast episode on community and this adventure atop Burke felt like the perfect venue. I kept the audio raw, you can hear my crunching in the snow, my heavy breathing at times, and I'm even visited by a friendly mountain cyclist, headed out to some high altitude mountain biking. Blended in with the podcast are beautiful river sounds, and it honestly really feels like you are up on the mountain walking with me.

This episode is all about community and inner healing. I reflect on this in a variety of ways, sharing some personal memories that I would usually only share with my counsellor.

However, that's pretty fitting with the theme of community, I'm treating this episode in part, like a community sharing circle. So let's just say, things get pretty real.

Subtopics that arise:

- Being ready to facilitate deeper experiences

- Sharing about my community wounds

- Savior complex and "righting the wrong"

- Embodying emotional maturity

- Modernized archetypes of community

- Setting boundaries when necessary

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

In this episode I re-explore the topic of men's work, introducing my current perspective on what's been coming up in my healing journey around the masculine archetype and my inner wounds. I have been attending men's circles whilst simultaneously diving deep into my feelings around various archetypes that arise in my life or are surfacing collectively and noticing the wounds in leadership and what I call "shadow archetypes" such as the tyrant, the trickster etc.

Subtopics that arise:

- Sexual wounding and Ancestral burdens

- "The Soul Wound"

- Parts that redirect attention

- Non-pathologizing approaches to healing

- Healing "Soul wounds"

- Aggressor archetypes

- Collective shadow and leaders

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.

In this episode I explore the concept of "integration" in preparation for the integration circles I'll be running starting in March. Exploring the use of meditation, drawing, writing or painting prompts in combination with some group sharing of the finished art pieces or additional reflections. I love this topic, because its so close to my heart, and at the epicenter of my personal healing journey. I briefly refer to "The Creative Connection" by Natalie Rogers, and "LSD Psychotherapy" by Stanislav Grof. These books help me contextualize why I see art therapy as a powerful tool for the integration of psychedelic experiences.

Subtopics that arise:

- The "Creative Connection" as defined in Expressive Art therapy

- Protector Parts and retreats vs single ceremonies

- The need to integrate among Western travelers

- The limits to my integration circle in "full releases"

- Perinatal art pieces

- My art workshops in Ecuador

- The purpose of my integration circles

Song in the intro- "Light of the Mountain" by Brandon Tilt

I acknowledge that I learn, grow and heal on the unceded ancestral lands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , the Katzie, the Stó:lō and the Tseil-Watuth First Nations. These lands were never abandoned nor surrendered by those with the ancestral rights to steward and protect these lands.

I honor and respect the elders, the children, the land stewards, the land protectors, the medicine keepers, and the men and women of all Indigenous nations.

Huy ch q’u (thank you) to those who support the indigenous communities and actively decolonize their minds and spirits.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, All my relations.