Unbroken Chain Podcast

Salaam Green is the founder and director of the Literary Healing Arts Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama. After writing helped her recover her sense of self during the lowest point in her life, she has devoted her life to helping others use their voice and tell their stories as a healing tool as well. In this uplifting conversation, we talk about worthiness, resilience, rewiring trauma triggers, letting joy drive our lives, and following the blueprint for social change left for us by indigenous and enslaved ancestors. This is a beautiful exploration of our inherent ability to heal ourselves with the power of our imagination. You can find Salaam at literaryhealingartsdotcom.wordpress.com. More podcasts where podcasts are found, MauraJames.com and IG: @MauraJames.

["A Place" - Nils Frahm]

Dr. Peter Hendricks is a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham currently conducting a study on psilocybin facilitated psychotherapy for cocaine dependence. He talks about the nature of addiction, the benefits and challenges of the scientific approach, the history of psychedelic research and its suppression, and the proliferation of psychedelic culture at large. The conversation opened up beautifully to explore the search for meaning in our modern times, creativity, unconditional love, Hildegard von Bingen, Viking invaders, and much more. More podcasts where podcasts are found and MauraJames.com or IG: @maurajames.

["Mam Yinnie Wa" - Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy]

Damian Warren is a new Birmingham friend we met in peyote ceremony at the Native American Church of Inner light. A beautiful and kind spirit, Damian has been undergoing a radical year of growth and healing with the help of plant medicine sacraments. He is also a corrections officer at a notoriously violent prison in Alabama that was recently cited in federal court by the Equal Justice Initiative for "severe overcrowding, understaffing and dangerous conditions" at high safety risk to its guards. In this deeply vulnerable conversation, Damian talks about his experience in the system, both as an officer and a child in juvenile detention, and traces back to his childhood growing up in a "slum of a neighborhood" where he had no positive adult role models. We talk institutional corruption, racism, abuse, and how people end up in cycles of violence. He also shares insights from his journey into healing, his new outlook on life, overcoming homophobia during a ceremony, and much more. This conversation is as honest and generous as they come. You can connect with Damian on facebook and IG @hismajesty0_0.

More podcasts where podcasts are found and at MauraJames.com.

["Babylon System" - Bob Marley & the Wailers]

T. Marie King is a community organizer and activist based in Birmingham, AL who has devoted herself to addressing bias and oppression by helping people become "custodians" of their thoughts. In this inspiring hang, we explore inaction, defensiveness, reconciliation, atonement, and inclusion among much more. She shares pragmatic tools that all of us can begin using today to address the broken relationships that this country was built on and that persist today. She is a beautiful living example of our personal responsibility and opportunity to heal ourselves and our communities. You can find her on twitter @tMKing1 and instagram @tmking79. More podcasts where podcasts are found and MauraJames.com.

["(If You're Ready) Come Go With Me" - Staple Singers]

Shawn Thornton is a visionary artist based in Philadelphia, PA. His paintings are highly detailed and symbolic, often taking him years to complete. He had a tumor in his pineal gland that went undiagnosed for six years and during that time began to experience unusual states of consciousness, including invasive voices and episodes of psychosis, energies which can be seen reflected in his visual language. In this conversation, he describes the experience of losing his mind, navigating western medicine and antipsychotic drugs, and finally finding relief in painting and exercise. He hypothesizes on the damage he did to himself as a young artist and shares what it is like to navigate life now with lasting cognitive repercussions and a new awareness and appreciation of his mental health. Find Shawn's incredible art online at ShawnThorntonPainting.com and on IG @shawn_thornton_paintings. More podcasts where podcasts are found, MauraJames.com and on IG @maurajames.

["Lost My Head There" - Kurt Vile]

Dr. Hannah McLane is a physician, psychotherapist, and founder of the SoundMind Project in Philadelphia, PA. This nonprofit mental health center is poised to become one of the country's first FDA-approved MDMA therapy clinics and will soon offer safe, legal, clinician-supported MDMA treatment for PTSD to the general public. MDMA is showing "incredible efficacy" at tackling treatment-resistant PTSD in Phase 3 trials at MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), with the majority of patients no longer meeting the diagnosis of PTSD and never going back on pharmaceuticals after the completion of the therapy. In this conversation, Hannah talks about what these sessions look like, how the brain deals with trauma, and her mission to provide these revolutionary therapies to the most marginalized communities with the highest rates of PTSD. Join her mission at SoundMindProject.org. More podcasts where podcasts are found and on MauraJames.com.

["Behind That Locked Door (George Harrison cover)" - Jim James]

Sheri Bagwell is a healer and meditation coach who offers support "beyond therapy" for those working to embody their higher self. Sheri discovered these tools in her own life and was able to heal her endometriosis and avoid a hysterectomy by stepping into her own intuition. In this intimate conversation we talk about what it means to be awake in a time of chaos, how to honor the sovereignty of all beings including our children, and how to love our sadness and grief. Along the way we touch on destiny versus choice, epigenetics, psychotic breaks, white guilt, god as energy, eating intuitively, and much more. Find Sheri at SheriBagwell.com, facebook and IG: @sheri_bagwell. More podcasts where podcasts are found, MauraJames.com and IG: @maurajames.

["Dark Thoughts" - East Forest x Ram Dass]

Legacy is the insanely talented Macon-based music duo of Mark and Martaze. Their explosive freestyle flows are powered by an unstoppable DIY spirit and a determination to think and act differently than their default environment. At just 20 years old, they are creating radical community by investing in their own art and using music to open hearts and minds. In this conversation, we discuss the challenges and opportunities facing young people in our current state of the world and touch on living off the land, fame, the NFL, minimum wage, music as energy, and freestyling as meditation, amid much more. Find them on instagram: @478legacy or on soundcloud: @s8ge and @martaz3. More podcasts where podcasts are found and maurajames.com.

["Cay's Crays" - Fat Freddy's Drop]

Duquette Johnston is a musician and creator based in Birmingham, Alabama. This winter, in addition to new music, he is releasing a reissue of "Etowah," an album born from a challenging period of his life 13 years ago, which began with an arrest for felony possession of cocaine. In this conversation, Duquette tells the intimate story of that intense time of growth and shares revelations from his transformation from a "young brat" into a loving human, partner, artist and father. This is an intimate offering from the journey of one artist navigating the war on drugs and the undying need to make music. Find him online at duquettejohnston.com and on IG @rebelking and @clubduquette. More podcasts where podcasts are found and at maurajames.com.

["Don't Go Back to Etowah" - Duquette Johnston]

Kate Boccia is the founder of the National Incarceration Association. When her son was arrested for armed robbery despite not having a weapon, he was snatched into the machinery of the criminal justice system and she along with him. In her effort to bring him home from prison, she undertook a massive education in mass incarceration and began to relentlessly petition for more human communication among all involved: prisoners, COs, lawmakers, and families. In this conversation she shares her deeply personal experience of the toll that our current system takes on millions of families just like hers. From mandatory minimum sentencing to the criminalization of poverty, visitation room vending machines to prisons without air conditioning, Kate presents an aging and inefficient system that dehumanizes not only its inmates, but their families as well. Luckily she has a clear vision for how it can be transformed. Join her mission at JoinNIA.com. More podcasts where podcasts are found and at MauraJames.com.

["We Got a Race to Run" - Staples Jr. Singers]