Redeeming Disorder

Join me for this unwieldy conversation about intensive meditation, spiritual paths, the history of medicine, psychiatry, psychedelics, psychedelics-gone-wrong, metaphysics, epistemology and essentially everything. To make it just a little more 'wieldy,' check out the time stamps at the end of the show notes.

If anyone is up for such a wild conversation, it's my guest Daniel Ingram. Daniel has meditated for over 25 years, teaching around the world while working as an emergency care doctor at home, and finding the time to write the book "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha."

Richard Hatch, the original Survivor winner, pops in just past the 4-hour mark to offer some healthy skepticism and a surprising personal story that dovetails with the larger conversation.

TIME STAMPS:

24:41 – The Dark Side of Meditation

34:32 – Categorical vs. Dimensional Thinking about Mental Disorder

54:18 – Spencer's First Mystical Experience Meditating

1:12:30 – Why Ego isn’t 100% “Bad”

1:14:34 – Mystical Math: e, π, i and the Fractal Nature of Meditative Insight

1:32:37 – The Stigma of Talking about the Deep End of Meditation

1:44:23 – Why it’s Tough to Talk About our Internal Experiences

1:52:55 – (Admittedly Crude) Advice for Getting into Meditation with Mental Health Challenges

2:20:32 – The Disconnect between Spirituality and Modern Medicine

3:04:03 – Psychedelic and Ergotism Origin Stories of Buddhism & Christianity

3:20:15 – The MMA Analogy: Mixing Spiritual Practices

3:23:55 – Daniel’s Dream of Secular, Cross-Tradition, Longitudinal Meditation Research

3:27:30 – Today’s Psychedelic Renaissance

3:37:05 – Hardcore Practices: Fire Kasina Meditation, Darkroom Retreats

4:01:37 – How Much Depth of Knowledge is Appropriate?

4:06:08 – Segue to Conversation with Richard Hatch

5:40:27 – Downsides of Conceptual Knowledge

5:48:17 – My M.A. Thesis Findings on the Usefulness (or Lack Thereof) of the Maps

6:00:01 – Meditation Cultures in Asia vs. the U.S.

6:08:55 – Double-Edged Swords: The Good and the Bad of Everything.

"You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story."These are words that the nonprofit, TWLOHA, and its founder, Jamie Tworkowski say over and over to their audiences.

Since beginning his journey with mental health advocacy in 2006, Jamie has learned a thing or two about how to share hope with others and how to get help when you need it. Listen in to hear how a simple of message of hope has transformed countless people.

Stigma, is a word that Nick Becker has dealt with most of his life, especially surrounding mental illness. As a spoken word artist, Nick leads his audience through this stigma to raise awareness and empathy around mental disorders.

Listen in as Nick shares about his life, and performs some of his most popular works.

Is the medical world correct to diagnose and treat mental illness? As controversial as this question is, this week's guest, Eric Maisel tackles this subject head on, and his views might surprise you.

Eric is a former family and marriage therapist, frequent Psychology Today contributor, and renowned creativity coach. Suffice it to say, he's an expert in his own right and has a lot to add to this conversation.

We all know that signing up for a reality show is pretty crazy. But signing up for the CBS Survivor reality show takes it all to another level- something that Hannah Shapiro of Survivor Season 33 has in common with our very own, Spencer Bledsoe.

Not only did Hannah make it far into her season, she was also vulnerable and talked about her anxiety. Listen in as she talks about her experience with anxiety before, during, and after her Survivor experience.

"Shame never works," says Ian Cron when asked about self-awareness and inner-transformation. As an Episcopal priest, psychotherapist, Enneagram expert, and a person who's openly dealt with addiction, Ian speaks from a long list of life experiences.

How can we learn to accept ourselves and others in the midst of pain and suffering? How can we use mental diagnoses and personality tests, without holding too tightly to the results?

In this episode, Ian, Laura, and Spencer cover questions like these to better understand the complexity of people and mental disorders.

As human beings, trauma happens to us all. Even the best childhood contains pain and loss that require healing. Listen as Danny Bryant, an Anglican priest in the Nashville area, shares his experience of growing up in a religious cult, and how he found healing as an adult.

What you see on the outside, isn't always indicative of whats going on in the inside. That was the case for Caety Klingman when she was a college student at University of Chicago, and diagnosed with OCD.

What looked like laziness and disinterest to her professors and classmates, was in actuality a full-blown battle with obsessive thoughts and behaviors.

Listen as she shares her journey with OCD, and the help she found that has transformed her life.

If you or a loved one is experiencing OCD, here are some resources that may help:

• Help Guide for OCD
• International OCD Foundation

What do you think about Caety's story? Can you relate, or have you experienced something different? Comment below or tweet Spencer and Laura.

What if you're a person who feels things deeply? What do you do when all you see is injustice and you feel alone? Do you try to handle it all alone, while the world goes on, seemingly without a care? Filmmaker, artist, writer, and entrepreneur, Tyler Simmonds grappled with these questions early on in his life as he faced depression and anxiety.

Out of these struggles, he found the healing power of mindfulness.

Listen to the first episode of Redeeming Disorder's 2nd season to receive inspiration, and a crash course on how to use mindfulness in your daily life. Our interview with Tyler will give you yet another perspective on mental illness, and the many therapies and tools available if you need help.

Here are links to some of the things we mentioned in this episode:

• Sam Harris on mindfulness and our thoughts
• Invisibilia: The Secret History of Thoughts
• Elizabeth Gilbert: Big Magic
• Tyler Simmonds film and blog

Also, be sure to check out more music from Hetty and her newest album, In Search of the Sea. Big thanks to Hetty for letting us use her music for our podcast!