Gin And Tantra

Based on some recent reading I have come to some conclusions about the nature of some aspects of our personas, ie our EGOS.  I give my definition of this term and compare it to the general understanding in everyday language and in psychology in hopes of illuminating a facet of ourselves in a new and meaningful way.

In this episode we circle back to a topic that we talk about a lot... Enlightenment!  We do give the Buddhist ideology but we also go into detail about the practice of Shamanism and its correlates to other traditions, how they influence our lives and how we can be drawn towards one path or another.  Additionally we discuss the 4 main aspects of the Transcendent form... The Natural State,...

In this episode we discuss magical times of year as practiced by a number of traditions.  Inspired by the Western cultures' openness to change at the new year we wanted to look at some other cultures views on various times of year and what they can inspire.  We also take a look at rituals around the moon, the podast's year in review, setting intentions and obstacles to success from a Bud...

In this episode we again have on friend of the show, Priscilla Peach Lang to discuss the details of what we believe to be a pair of deep facets of our mental and emotional lives... the feeling of boundary and vulnerability.  I would be remiss of I did not also take the opportunity to discuss the inter-connectedness of everything at the outset of our conversation.  However we move from de...

In this episode we have on friend of the show Joe Barhoumeh.  Joe is the owner and operator at D2 Fitness. D2 Fitness offers training and nutrition coaching online and in person in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.  His passion for this work started with a  self-transformation process that began over twelve years ago.  With each step he grew to be more confident and so...

In this episode we have on friend of the show, Priscilla Peach-Lang once again.  We begin the episode by discussing the book, The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo.  We discuss a particular passage in which the author makes reference to looking out onto the horizon during turbulence to help aid in one's perspective during difficult life moments... However this was merely the runway to the H...

In this episode we talk about Yule!  What is it?  Where does it come from?  We get into the separation of city and rural, followers and heathens and doing things to excess this time of year as a celebration of the Return of the Sun! aka the winter solstice.  Mary Kay gives examples and explanations of  some Archeo-Asctonomy sites across the world.  We also discuss see...

In this episode we discuss the current and forthcoming merger between psychedelics and pharmaceuticals and how they are and will be used to treat various ailments but mostly involving mental health.  We discuss the concept of natural medicines, the side effects of various therapies, a Ketamine casualty, the relationship of plants... people... and nature.  We examine how these natural therapeutics...

We continue our discussion from our previous episode on the Dalai Lama's take on enlightenment.  We discuss how believing IS being and again how meditation is a dress rehearsal.  We go over discovering your natural state and how that can facilitate a more comfortable and effective way of being.  We also highlight the aspect of us that is transcendent of space and time in addition th...

In this episode we give the down low on the Dalai Lama.. a little bit of his history and such.  We more poignantly highlight his views on meditation as a rehearsal for enlightenment.  We discuss the idea of a sudden vs a gradual approach to enlightenment, self-improvement and other forms of realization.  We create a new term... SHENGASM! and talk about love as a tool to connect to t...

In this episode we bring in friend of the show, Todd Love Ball Jr.  Todd is known as so much to so many... author of a new book, Kasia's Love Purpose,  husband of 20 years, father of two, professional fitness trainer and coach, , bodybuilder and a pillar of international relations.  We not only detail the story of his new book but we discuss interracial love, cross-cultural experien...

In this episode we continue our debate and discussion on the notion of human existence being viewed as a combination of hardware and software.  The body as the hardware and the Psycho-Spiritual aspects as the software.  This came up in our last episode as a sort of reference but it drove the conversation in a meaningful way and thus we wanted to do it justice and give it a little more ai...

In this episode we continue our discussion of the Buddhist view of the deeper aspects of ourselves and the enlightened states.  We give a brief story of a historical TIbetan Buddhist figure, Padmasambhava.  We discuss pure and total consciousness as the source of all.  Ironically we spar a bit over the Hardware/Software debate of the human condition...Are we more than just our bodie...

In this episode we discuss some different takes on reality, God, The Holy Spirit and Original Sin.  We then move our discussion to the main topic of this episode, mainly that of the story of the 6th Zen Master and The Platform Sutra.  It was a fascinating story with some deep lessons for us all.

In this episode Daniel is recording live from Florence, Italy.        As a sort of continuation on our discussion and breakdown of the 3  aspects of our Enlightenment/Buddha Nature we address the notion of  Killing the Buddha... But why?  We discuss this and more!

In this episode we continue our discussion on the practice of Enlightenment but we also go into some experiences we have had recently around this topic.  

In part of an ever growing conversation and inquisition on enlightenment and developing the self we take a deep look at some of what the various traditions say about Enlightenment.  We then look more deeply into how the Tibetan Buddhist tradition views this and how they describe the various aspects or dimensions of Enlightenment and the abilities that it has to manifest itself through various...

We continue our discussion on the Tibetan Book of the Dead or the Book of the Bardo as its known.  We continue to illuminate the deeper aspects of the conscious and subconscious states of our human condition, known as the 8 dissolutions.  We covered the initial aspects or dissolutions as they are known in a previous episode with a similar title (Separation of Yin and Yang) for those who...

In this episode Daniel is joined by friend of the show Priscilla, acupuncturist, Yogi and mother of two for a breakdown of a passage from the book, The Prophet written by Khalil Gibran.  The passage that we will be breaking down is featured below. "Then a mason came forth and said, Speak to us of Houses.      And he answered and said:      Build of your...

In this episode we continue our discussion on Empowerment.  We discuss the potential for the development of oneself to best help others.  We highlight how this path is designed for passionate people, for curious people and for those who have great desire to know...  Additionally, we get into some of the afflictions of our human experience such as anger, attachment and desire.

In this episode we discuss empowerment... What is it?  Why it is practiced?  For reference, we can say that it is a radical learning opportunity.  Additionally we talk about cultural initiations, admiring the Will of the compassionate beings and coalescing minds.

In this episode we get into the Book of the Between, also known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  We also discuss the Kabalistic text the Bahir in addition to finding one's personal life riddle and the practice known as the 8 dissolutions.

In this episode we continue our discussion on the finite nature of our human existence as we bring a little focus on some formal contemplation on dying from the Buddhist tradition.  We highlight the vulnerability of our bodies,  the impermanence of our things, loved ones, ourselves and more.  If everything seems to be of a such a transitory state, what stands the test of time? &nbsp...

In this episode we discuss our expiration, but more specifically the physical degradation that can occur and the ways in which we can be of service to those whom are going through that process in the ways we know how.  This life is finite, these bones hollow and our flesh mortal... we highlight the raw experiences of this process with our loved ones and bring to light the everyday heroism of...

One of the members of our GNT community has had a personal loss so just in recognition of that, and as moral support, we wanted to do a special episode on dealing with loss.  We had done some things on this before, but it is a deep subject and is always worth taking a revisit and in this particular conversation we look at grief specifically from the perspective of a Chinese Medical practitioner.  ...