Dorian's Mode

In this episode, we explore Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed as a framework for understanding education, power, and liberation. We examine how traditional “banking model” education can reproduce hierarchy by treating learners as passive recipients, and contrast this with dialogical, problem-posing approaches that center shared inquiry, lived experience, and collective meaning-making. These...

In this episode, we explore how racial and gender caste systems and social class are interconnected, shaping social power, access to resources, and lived experience. We examine how economic hierarchy, racialized caste structures, heteropatriarchy, and institutional power intersect, highlighting how these forces influence identity, opportunity, and collective well-being. These dynamics situate with...

In this episode, we examine high-control dynamics across interpersonal, organizational, and political contexts, showing how power operates, how autonomy erodes, and how dependency can be intentionally cultivated. The session focuses on recognizing behavioral patterns as a form of harm prevention and collective resilience. The episode also introduces frameworks for understanding fascism as a develo...

In this episode, we explore embodied mindfulness as a core liberatory skill—grounded in trauma-informed practice, somatic awareness, and collective care. We examine mindfulness not as a self-optimization technique or individual coping tool, but as a form of choiceless awareness rooted in lived experience, cultural context, and material reality. Drawing on Buddhist traditions, somatic psychology, a...

In this episode, we examine the foundational concepts of Liberation Psychology and the Praxis Wheel, an activist framework central to this workshop. Today’s session examines strategies for navigating diverse cultures, identities, abilities, and neurotypes. This session is designed for mental health professionals, creative arts therapists, and activists engaged in caring and healing work. This is a...

In this episode, we examine the foundational concepts of Liberation Psychology and the Praxis Wheel, an activist framework central to this workshop. Today’s session examines strategies for navigating diverse cultures, identities, abilities, and neurotypes. This session is designed for mental health professionals, creative arts therapists, and activists engaged in caring and healing work. This is a...

In this episode, we dive deep into the foundational concepts of Liberation Psychology and the Praxis Wheel, an activist framework central to this workshop. Today’s session examines the various types of trauma, how they manifest, and how to navigate them. The discussion covers event-based trauma, relational and developmental trauma, vicarious trauma, and the social dimensions of trauma, including r...

Welcome to Week 2 of the Liberation Music Therapy series! Register for next week’s session“Trauma-Informed/Trauma Sensitive Practice”! In this episode, we dive deep into the foundational concepts of Liberation Psychology and the Praxis Wheel, an activist framework central to this workshop. Today’s session examines the origins of Liberation Psychology in anti-colonial and revolutionary movements wo...

Join Dorian Wallace in the first episode of the Liberation Music Therapy workshop series. This 11-week journey explores how music, mindfulness, and collective care can help demystify capitalist realism and move toward liberation. This session explores the balance between engaged vs. entangled practice , the tension between materialism and spirituality , and how knowledge and wisdom come alive thro...

In this episode of Liberation Music Therapist , we explore the foundations of music and music therapy, focusing on how music influences the mind, body, and spirit. Dorian Wallace discusses key concepts such as rhythm, melody, harmony, and musicking and introduces how these elements connect to healing practices within the context of liberation music therapy. This episode emphasizes the importance o...

In this episode: * The mystica is a collective practice that integrates personal reflection, contemplation, and social action. * Mystica originated in the 1960s through the liberation theology movement in Latin America, emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed and socioeconomic justice. * This practice is meant to bring grounding, presence, and reflection to political events, connecting partici...

In this inaugural episode, Dorian Wallace introduces the Liberation Music Therapist podcast, a series focused on the intersections of music therapy and liberation movements. Dorian, a composer, pianist, and board-certified music therapist, shares his background working with marginalized communities, including prisons, hospice care, and survivors of trauma, while outlining how systemic issues like...

Composer and music therapist Dorian Wallace shares a trauma-informed, liberation-centered approach to music therapy during a time of rising fascism and systemic harm. Drawing from work in prisons, hospice, and cult recovery, Wallace introduces the Praxis Wheel , a framework for ethical, decolonial, and politically conscious healing practices. Dorian’s Mode is a reader-supported publication. To rec...

In this episode, Gwenith Kikkawa sits down with composer, pianist, and music therapist Dorian Wallace to reflect on his recent album release concert for Laeh Su Tel!—a two-part improvised piano project exploring the intersections of personal healing, collective memory, and political resistance. Together, they discuss the energy and emotional impact of the live performance, the creative process beh...

Dorian Wallace (he/him) is joined by philosophy professor Anthony Vernon to explore the intersection of fascism, capitalism, labor relations, and dehumanization. They unpack how fascist rhetoric manipulates working-class consciousness, pits workers against each other, and normalizes cruelty in economic structures. The discussion ranges from lived experiences at a food pantry to academic insights o...

In this episode of This Machine Kills Fascists, Dorian Wallace reflects on the emotional and spiritual toll of liberation work in environments shaped by trauma, violence, and systemic harm. Reading from his Substack essay Engaged, Not Entangled, he explores the personal cost of witnessing suffering—from hospice to prison programs—and shares how Buddhist-inspired practices help him stay rooted. Dor...

F**k Donald Trump. F**k Elon Musk. F**k the NYPD. F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Peace. In this solo episode of This Machine Kills Fascists, facilitator Dorian Wallace (he/him) guides listeners through a deep dive into The Praxis Wheel, his framework designed for liberation-centered, trauma-informed facilitation and healing arts practice. Drawing from his work in hospice care, carceral spaces, and trau...

In this episode, Dorian Wallace (he/him) reads his latest essay from Substack, Understanding High-Control Dynamics: From cults to toxic workplaces, many high-control environments share similar patterns of manipulation and abuse . Drawing from his work in cult recovery, hospice care, and prison music therapy, Dorian explores how coercive control operates across various environments—cults, gangs, ab...

In this episode of This Machine Kills Fascists , Dorian Wallace sits down with philosopher and adjunct professor Anthony Vernon for a deep dive into how fascism manipulates postmodern ideas, exploits social forces, and evolves beyond caricatures of the past. Together, they explore the pseudo-intellectual tactics of modern fascists, the dangers of hypernationalism, and the role of class in sustaini...

In this solo episode, composer and music therapist Dorian Wallace breaks down the concept of fascism—what it is, how it evolves, and how to resist it. Drawing from his essay on Substack, Dorian explores key frameworks by Robert Paxton, George Jackson, Umberto Eco, Mark Bray, and others to unpack fascism's social, psychological, and political dimensions. He connects historical theory with lived exp...

In this episode of This Machine Kills Fascists , Dorian Wallace is joined by Bonita Oliver and DeMarisa Steeley for a deep, multigenerational conversation about coalition building, protest participation, media narratives, and the radical possibilities of Black community care. Together, they explore ageism, capitalist realism, and the erasure of Black elders in movements—while lifting up the healin...

Bonita Oliver, Gwenith Kikkawa, DeMarisa Steeley, and Dorian Wallace dive into class struggle, systemic oppression, cultic power dynamics, and movement-building through critical dialogue and lived experience. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doriansmode.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to The Liberation Music Therapist , a teaching podcast outlining 30 key concepts for Liberation Music Therapy. I'm Dorian Wallace, a composer, pianist, and board-certified music therapist. My work spans prisons, hospice care, marginalized communities, labor groups, artist communities, and survivors of abusive power and coercive control. Because of these experiences, I've witnessed the pres...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit doriansmode.substack.com Grounded Insight: 10-Day Mindfulness Meditation Course https://doriansmode.substack.com/p/grounded-insight-10-day-mindfulness-94e Starting Monday, August 26, I will be releasing episodes of my mindfulness meditation course, Grounded Insight, running through September 4, 2024. I'm Dorian Wallace, a board-certifie...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit doriansmode.substack.com Grounded Insight: 10-Day Mindfulness Meditation Course https://doriansmode.substack.com/p/grounded-insight-10-day-mindfulness-94e Starting Monday, August 26, I will be releasing episodes of my mindfulness meditation course, Grounded Insight, running through September 4, 2024. I'm Dorian Wallace, a board-certifie...