Unbroken Chain Podcast

Chase is a filmmaker, buddhist practitioner, and dear friend of mine. In this wide open conversation he shares stories from a lifetime of seeking, from an unintentionally massive psychedelic trip at age 16, where an unknown amount of liquid LSD blasted him off into space (and police custody) to several years in the "fucking hell" of severe alcoholism. His subsequent search for grounding and a workable context of reality lead him to Buddhism and Trungpa Rinpoche, his beloved and "incredibly controversial" teacher. We talk about the scandals that have recently rocked his spiritual community at Shambala and his ongoing navigation of truth, power, harm and healing, the sacred and the mundane. This is a generous offering on addiction and sobriety, meaning-making and self-knowledge. You can find Chase on instagram @cosminomena. More podcasts where podcasts are found and maurajames.com.

["Buzzing in the Light" - Dr. Dog]

Huey D. Jackson is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan living in Macon, GA. Now a creative on the path of healing and self-knowledge, he generously shares the deeply personal story of how he ended up in combat and what he has learned in the process. From a lonely childhood as a "7-year-old nihilist" raised by his grandmother in post-9/11 America, to the toxic military culture that celebrates murder and cheap Hollywood heroism, Huey drops truth after truth. This is a view behind the curtain at the wages of our culture's values through the story of one kid's emergence from that matrix. Join us for the powerful dose of reality. More podcasts where podcasts are found and at MauraJames.com.

["Ramona Reborn" - Delicate Steve]

Robert Rosenberger is a philosopher of technology, author of "Callous Objects" (2017), and associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. A major line of his research and career has been exposing an anti-homeless agenda built into public spaces. In this conversation recorded at his home in Macon, GA, he reveals how our environments subtly encode and support the criminalization of poverty, whether we are conditioned to recognize it or not. From dominator culture to bike lanes, feminist epistemology to "trickle down Silicon Valley attitude," this is an awakening conversation about what and how we perceive in the deceptively communicative world around us. Connect with Robert and read "Callous Objects" at https://rosenberger.spp.gatech.edu/. More podcasts where podcasts are found and at MauraJames.com.

["Blue Haze" - Alan Parker & Alan Hackshaw]

Patricia Hurley, also known as Grandmother Red Hawk, is a Pipe Carrier in the Bear Tribe tradition and a Water Pourer for the Stone Peoples Lodge. She also offers Elemental Divinations and Rituals from the Dagara People of West Africa, as well as Plant Spirit Healing, a modality based upon two ancient healing traditions of Classical Chinese Medicine and Shamanism. In the Shamanic tradition, Patricia teaches how to journey to the Upper and Lower Worlds to meet with animal, plant, and spirit guides. In this intimate conversation, she shares her magical journey into healing and truth, the rituals and initiations that have opened her connection to deep knowing, and the struggle to "trust the process" amidst wild loss and grief. You can find her at patricia9hawk.com or call her directly: 828-551-0840. More podcasts where podcasts are found and maurajames.com.

["The Secret Kissing of the Sun and Moon" - Hang Massive]

MullyMan is a motivator, infinite student of life, and one of Baltimore's most recognized hip hop artists, bringing truth and purpose to a time of confusion and emptiness. After first meeting during a Lyft ride, we hung at his place in Atlanta to go deep on waking up to our truth and de-conditioning from the bullshit narratives perpetrated by institutionalized healthcare, education, policing, and propaganda. He talks about the controlled environment of the hood where he grew up in Baltimore and the freedom he found in hip hop, which has become part of the solution for healing on an international level. Along the way he touches on the myth of Christopher Columbus, the history of Black Wall Street, defying ignorance, cultural appropriation, reparations, the dangerous comforts of the "infinite argument," and so much more. Find him on IG @iammullyman or [email protected]. More podcasts where podcasts are found and MauraJames.com.

["Happy Jazz Piano Oldschool Hip Hop Instrumental" - CJ Beats]

Shanté Paradigm Smalls is a scholar, artist, and writer focusing on Black popular culture in music, film, and the arts. Dr. Smalls' first scholarly manuscript "Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City" is forthcoming, as well as a podcast called Fantastic Blackness! In addition to teaching at St. John University, Dr. Smalls has been a meditation instructor since 2015 in the Shambala tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. In this generous offering, Dr. Smalls makes a wide and deep contemplation of suffering and transformation, exploring the historic and contemporary pain of slavery, war, and police brutality alongside the entwinement of dharma and capitalism. Step into the rehabilitation of the human heart. More from Dr. Smalls at shanteparadigm.com. More podcasts where podcasts are found and maurajames.com.

["Children Hold On (To Your Dreams)" - William WeeGee Howard]

Arielle Crawford (Ep 3!) returns to the podcast, this time to talk sustainability, consumerism, and revolution in the streets. Arielle is the founder of ARIELLE, a conscious womenswear collective focused on sustainable textiles, domestic manufacturing, and fair-trade practices. She runs it single-handedly from design and sourcing to production and sales. She also created "Plastic Free in NYC: a Guide to Living Less Trashy," which is available digitally for free. In this conversation, Arielle shares the impact of her first year as a plastic-free citizen on her kitchen, bathroom, and closet, and shares insights about how she has reconsidered her legacy and recalibrated her joy. Find her at www.shop-arielle.com and on instagram @shop_arielle. More podcasts where podcasts are found and www.maurajames.com.

["Nostalgia" - Piero Umiliani]

Vanessa Cuccia is a pioneer in the sex toy industry. She is the founder of Chakrubs, the original crystal sex toy company and author of “Crystal Healing and Sacred Pleasure." As a certified crystal healer and reiki practitioner, Vanessa integrates her knowledge of crystals and metaphysical modes of healing to help those who have experienced sexual trauma or simply wish to deepen pleasure and connection to self, spirit, and others. She is an advocate for sex positivity, self-love, and personal awareness by bridging the gap between sensuality and spirituality. We talk about relearning to experience pleasure after trauma, navigating boundaries, remaining open to wonderment, and her current interest in “anti-mindfulness." You can connect with Vanessa on instagram @vanessa_cuccia and at www.chakrubs.com. More podcasts where podcasts are found and MauraJames.com.

[“Alegría” - Elia y Elizabeth]

Tom Patterson has been curating and writing about contemporary folk, visionary, and outsider art for more than 30 years. He is known for his biographies of Georgia visionaries Howard Finster and Eddie Owens Martin, aka St. EOM, as well as "Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" (2001) and countless articles in Aperture, BOMB, Folk Art, Public Art Review and Raw Vision, among many others. Here we explore the relationship between artist and source, transformative experiences of expanded consciousness, rewiring social conditioning, trapping spirits, synchrotism, and the singular obsession that grips some of us to pull down experiences from visionary planes of consciousness into visual language.

Tom shares a selection from his forthcoming memoir describing his psychedelic awakening in Huautla de Jimenez in 1975 (working title: Chance Operations: Cultural Adventures of a Fledgling Scribe. Copyright by Tom Patterson, 2019). You can email him at [email protected] and find many of his articles online. More podcasts where podcasts are found, at MauraJames.com, and on instagram @maurajames or @unbroken.chain.

["This Must Be The Place" - Talking Heads]

Morgan Caraway is the founder of the Sustainable Life School alongside his wife Mary Jane. At their off-grid property in rural North Carolina, they've build themselves an earth bag home and started an intentional community called Bottom Leaf. Morgan teaches regular workshops on earth based dwellings and is the author of several books including "Ecological Awakening." In this frank and funny conversation, he shares his self-education process into sustainability, non-duality, and self-care for counterculturalists. He offers practical advice for homesteaders and discusses his recent steps to stop "swallowing big chunks of despair" through the news and social media. You can find Morgan at MorganCaraway.com and SustainableLifeSchool.com. More podcasts where podcasts are found and at MauraJames.com.

["Summer Nights" - Lonnie Liston Smith & the Cosmic Echoes]