The Vital Point: Pathways To Integration

By JONATHAN SCHECTERReligion & Spirituality Spirituality

The Vital Point: Pathways To Integration episodes

June 26, 2022 37. Breath Awareness is Self Awareness with Campbell Will
“Breath awareness is self awareness”. That’s a theme that runs through this wonderful conversation with breathworker and physiotherapist Campbell WIll aka @breathbodytherapy.

We discuss how the breath informs and supports all the other systems in the body,

how we can use the breath to change those systems (especially our autonomic nervous system)

how our modern world is changing our nervous system response and how the breath helps us balance out these changes

Being the driver of our experience rather than the passenger by using our breath to observe and change our state

And how all of this begins with awareness.

In the last 10 minutes Campbell offered a beautiful practice for you to use to reset and pause, and I’d invite you to give it a try so that you can experience how even a short breath practice can shift your state.

Learn more about Campbell:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/breathbodytherapy
Website: https://www.breathbodytherapy.com/

Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
1 hr 10 min
June 17, 2022 36. Empathic Integration with Douglas Finkelstein
Doug Finkelstein is the founder and Chief Empathy Officer for Empathic.Health, which is a psychedelic integration community for people to learn, share, and help others. We talk about the importance of community to the integration process as well as what Doug's thoughts on what integration means in general, his story of coming to psychedelics and what Empathic.Health is all about. I recently joined the community and it's great to connect to people who are interested in supporting and sharing with one another, so if you're into integration like I am (and let's face it, if you listen to this podcast you probably are) then I'd recommend checking out Empathic.Health.

Learn more about the Doug Finkelstein:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglasfinkelstein
Website: www.empathic.health

Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
1 hr 3 min
June 12, 2022 35. Exploring Meditation with Jimmy Wightman
This episode is all about one of my favorite transformational practices - meditation and is a great start if you're new to meditation and have ever been curious about it but maybe have felt overwhelmed about where to begin or felt like you can't do it.
My guest is that_meditation_guy on IG, Jimmy Wightman.
Jimmy is a meditation teacher and genuinely wonderful person, and I really enjoyed getting to know him a bit and learning more about his story and practice.
We talked about the similarities in our journeys in how we found meditation - both of us had a common experience of being involved in the dance music & clubbing scene before discovering meditation and being able to get deeper in to our minds in a more connected way.
Jimmy shared how his curiosity with mindfulness eventually led him to find a teacher who taught him meditation in the Vedic tradition, which entails using a mantra and how that was where he found his meditation home.
We talked about getting started on the path, and some of the common experiences and challenges that people often have when starting meditation and how to navigate those.
We talked about how meditation calms the nervous system and the impact of that in our meditation experience, and we also talked about the meditation experience expanding "off the mat" as our practice progresses and how that is a motivator to keep practicing.
Jimmy was kind enough to offer a simple meditation practice that you can use as well...it starts around the 42 minute mark.
Definitely follow Jimmy and check out his offerings to learn more about meditation.
Learn more about Jimmy Wightman:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/that_meditation_guy
Website: https://www.delvedeep.com/
Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup
Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
1 hr 13 min
June 11, 2022 34. Connecting to your Somatic experience through Dance with Karen Nitsche
On this episode we get into a different dimension of somatic work than we have discussed before with my friend Karen.
Karen is a breathwork facilitator and yoga instructor and also trained in a very interesting dance modality called Contact Beyond Contact that fuses dance, authentic movement, somatic connection, qi gong and more.

I wanted to learn more about this modality because connecting to our bodies aka “embodiment” is a direct method of transformation. It's also something that a lot of us are not very comfortable with...and we talk about that as well.

As Karen mentions, dance and movement practices are a very primal way to connect to ourselves and also can be a catalyst for confronting many sensations stored in the body as well as working with our relationship to different parts of ourselves and others.

I hope this episode inspired you to move!

Learn more about Karen NItsche:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/karen.nitsche
Website: https://karennitsche.com/
Mention:
Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup
Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
50 min
May 25, 2022 33. Tuning into your intuition, Spirit and Mother Aya with Jessica Posillico
My guest on this episode is my friend Jessica Posillico. She is a coach and consultant specializing in helping people transition into a more soul-aligned career path. She is also in the process of launching a healing practice providing Reiki, tarot reading and more. She is a friend and beautiful soul and shared her experience sitting with Mother Ayahuasca @rythmia_ in Costa Rica.

We also talked about choosing a more fulfilling career and the energetic impacts of the Great Resignation and what’s been happening in the world during the last couple years.

Going inward and working with our bodies internal support and coping systems and how to change them with medicine and our daily experience is another topic that came up throughout the conversation.

Last but not least we discussed tuning into spirit and our intuition, how to develop that sense and using receivers like tarot and even movies to tune into our intuition, feelings and experiences.

Many thanks to Jessica for the conversation, I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did!

Learn more about Jessica Posillico
Instagram: https://instagram.com/jessica_posillico
Website: https://instabio.cc/JESSPOS for all her links

Learn more about Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
1 hr 14 min
May 19, 2022 32. Using journaling to integrate with Jenny Dion
Journaling is one of the most powerful ways to integrate our work with psychedelics, and really any changes you are trying to make in your life. I recently found this out on a retreat - during a journaling activity some strong energy from a journey I had over a year ago came up and has been calling me to write more so that I can unpack it and really figure out what to do with it. My guest on this episode is no stranger to this practice - in fact she was moved to create a company that makes journals for inner exploration. Jenny Dion of Wakeful Travel is the creator of 2 amazing integration journals, one focused on specific psychedelic journeys and another on a microdosing protocol. These journals are really cool - incorporating art therapy, preparation and more that Jenny gets into in the interview. We also get into how to work with challenging experiences, the power of intention and consistency in your practice, different integration ideas (in addition to journaling), the magic of 5MEO, set & setting recommendations, and future psychedelic journals that Jenny has in the works.

Learn more about the Guest: Jenny Dion
Instagram: https://instagram.com/wakefultravel
Website: https://www.wakefultravel.com/
Mentions: Yoga Playlist
Ceremony playlist

Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
55 min
May 19, 2022 31. Exploring High Dose Mushroom work with Dave Hodges
For about as long as I have been working with plant medicines, I have been fascinated with people who are exploring the upper limits of psilocybin. I consider them to be true psychonauts - explorers on a final frontier beyond what you may think of as reality. This type of exploration is not for everyone, I am certainly not endorsing it, nor is the guest on this episode, Dave Hodges. Dave is the founder of The Church of Ambrosia and Zidedoor in Oakland - which is a nondenominational, interfaith religious organization that supports the use and safe access of all Entheogenic Plants, with a focus on Cannabis and Magic Mushrooms. As Dave states several times in the podcast - this high dose work that he focuses on is not for everyone, it's not something that you should jump into without serious consideration, safety protocols and assistance. If you are still curious after listening to his experience and story I would recommend reaching out to Dave directly - he is very accessible. And even if you're not called to jumping into high dose mushroom work, this episode is still very fascinating - with plenty of useful information on how to breathe, the importance of set and setting, why mushrooms are here and what their "purpose" is and more. I found it to be one of the most interesting interviews I've had the pleasure of being a part of - and certainly is at home here on the Vital Point which is about transformational practices. I hope you enjoy listening to Dave as much as I did.

Learn more about the Guest:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/davehemp
Website: https://ambrosia.church/
Mention: https://zidedoor.com/
If you want to learn more about this work, in addition to Dave who is a fantastic resource, I feel I would be remiss to not mention the work of the late, great Kalindi Iyi. Kalindi's work was how I first learned about people working with high dose psilocybin, and was an inspiration to Dave as well. His talks on Youtube are fascinating, and should definitely be viewed if you are curious about this subject. Click here

Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
1 hr 3 min
May 05, 2022 30. Questions from the Audience
On this solocast episode to close out Season 3, I take some questions from the audience:

How did I start working with breathwork and what called me to do this work?
What makes someone who is avidly opposed to drugs take the leap to try psychedelics?
How to work with a strong psychic shift?
Do I think it's important to remember trauma, or is a bodywork approach enough to overcome it?
How to give space to negative emotions while maintaining a positive outcome in daily life?

Thanks so much for these questions, and I hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast!

Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
1 hr 12 min
April 08, 2022 29. Sacred Mushrooms & the Journey of the Deified Heart with Acacea Lewis
On this episode my guest is Acacea Lewis, and what an incredible episode it was.

Acacea shared about her school Divine Master Alchemy and her beautiful mission.

We talked about the Aztec and Mazotec history of sacred mushrooms, how their use and the place within their culture, philosophy and spirituality has been covered up by the Spanish colonizers.

Acacea shared about the mushrooms role in The Journey of the Deified Heart - a representation of our spiritual journey as shown thru Quetzalcoatl. This is a topic that wasn't completely new to me, but the depth of Acacea's knowledge is really fantastic and I learned so much from the conversation.

She also shared about what we can do as practitioners and students to be better aligned with our ancestors, the earth and the energy around us.

And really I’m only scratching the surface! I think this is a conversation that I will be coming back to many times because there was so much to get into and digest.

Thank you so much Acacea!

Learn more about the Guest:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/acacea_lewis
Website: https://divinemasteralchemy.com/

Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
47 min
March 30, 2022 28. Humor & Intuition in the Integration Process with Daniel Shankin
On this episode my guest is Daniel Shankin, founder of Mt. Tam Integration

Daniel shares a lot of humor and wisdom, which is something I appreciate about him.

We also talk about intuitive integration,

finding a meditation practice that works for you and the importance of meditation in the integration process

why it’s important to have an integration practice and how it is both a short and long term journey

how memes can convey wisdom and humor

how we get caught in our own perceptions and stories

and being human

I really enjoyed this chat, and am looking forward to the upcoming Tam Integration Jam- go to the link below to sign up for this awesome conference.

Learn more about the Guest:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/tamintegration
Website: https://tamintegration.com/
Mention: https://2022.integrationjam.com/

Learn more about the Host: Jonathan Schecter
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluemagicalchemy
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup

Learn more about the Podcast:
Listen on Major Platforms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thevitalpointpodcast
34 min