Into the Stream

Spring's here so I'm here to bring you some Spring-cheer. For the fifth episode of Into the Stream I'm joined by Sam Lee, Mercury Award Shortlisted folk-singer, passionate conservationist, renowned song collector, and successful creator of live events. He's been on the BBC more times than I can count, including the likes of Jools Holland, Jeremy Paxman's soon to be released podcast, BBC Radio 4 (and 3 and 6), BBC news, the list goes on forever...Sam is a bundle of joy, enthusiasm, charm, and also happens to be rather deep in the nature connection world (having learnt from the famous survivalist Ray Mears, spent masses of time in the natural landscape, and has become renowned for his commitment to collecting fragments of land-based folk song from those that have passed it down for centuries.Sam is also the founder of The Nest Collective, an organisation that runs an array of enchanting nature-based and community-cheer events that aim to bring people together to experience extraordinary music in unforgettable places, rekindling connections with nature, tradition and community. Their events include Campfire Club, Fire Choirs, Singing with Nightingale Immersions, Bird-inspired Pilgrimages.This episode is a lovely one. We talk about nature connection for those that feel disconnected to it (often myself), Sam's childhood, Judaism, the richness of his events at Nest Collective, take some hits on current ways of teaching kids about nature (Duke of Edinburgh award we're looking at you) and explore his recently released (last week) debut novel: The Nightingale: Notes on a Songbird.I hope you enjoy the episode as a way to kickstart the Spring and use it as an impetus to spend some more time with your hands in the mud with friends and folk.Some ResourcesThe song I first heard by Sam sung around a New Years Campfire.Courses in the UK by WildwiseJon Young's, The Art of Mentoring and his Coyote's Guide to Connecting with NatureSam's Book, The Nightingale: Notes on a SongbirdIf you want to stay updated with future episodes (released every fortnight on Mondays), then click subscribe, follow the podcast on Instagram, or sign up to the newsletter.The theme music for Into the Stream is 'Good Morning' by Bonaparte and Acid Pauli, who kindly gave their permission for use.

For this episode of Into the Stream I'm joined by the wildly articulate, friendly, and advanced meditation practitioner Jamie Bristow who also happens to be firmly rooted in the world of mindfulness research and associated public policy. We dive into the intricacies of his Jhana practice (profound meditation states available through deeper practice) along with his highly nuanced perspectives on them and their relevance for daily life.This episode is particularly enthralling if you find yourself fascinated by advanced meditation practice (for the specifics of what we go into scroll to the bottom).Jamie's bioJamie Bristow is the Director of The Mindfulness Initiative, a policy institute about mindfulness and compassion training that grew out of a programme of mindfulness teaching for politicians in the British Parliament. Jamie now works with politicians around the world to help them make capacities of mind and heart serious considerations of public policy and has supported the introduction of mindfulness training in over 10 national parliaments. His research, publications and advocacy have had a global influence on the cultivation of inner capacities.  Jamie was formerly Business Development Director for Headspace and has a background in climate change campaign communications and advertising. He is also a teacher-in-training in the Insight Meditation tradition that's associated with Gaia House, IMS and Spirit Rock retreat centres. His teachers and mentors have included Stephen Batchelor, Rob Burbea and Christina Feldman.Some ResourcesIntroduction to Insight Meditation Rob Burbea's Practicing the Jhanas TalksYou can find Jamie on twitter @jamiebristowIf you want to stay updated with future episodes (released every fortnight on Mondays), then click subscribe, follow the podcast on Instagram, or sign up to the newsletter.The theme music for Into the Stream is 'Good Morning' by Bonaparte and Acid Pauli, who kindly gave their permission for use.Timestamps• (2:46) Jamie's professional role working with mindfulness in public policy and UK parliament• (5:22) What are the Jhanas?• (8:00) A deeper definition and how they relate to insight • (10:35) Jamie's first-hand Jhana experiences• (19:30) Who does Rob Burbea's approach speak to and why?• (21:50) Against 'brittle samadhi' and experience junkie-ism and towards life-relevant Jhanas• (25:45) Obstacles to getting into Jhanas• (26:55) Jamie's experience of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)• (27:46) Jamie's first encounters with Jhana and its initially turbulent effect• (31:40) What about Rob Burbea's approach is different?• (41:32) Realisations from Jhana practice• (42:56) Elaboration on how the Jhanas support one's daily life• (43:36) The experience of the later Jhanas and the deeper insights they reveal• (50:38) Do the Jhanas turn you into a reclusive hermit?• (57:35)  How can we navigate our uglier sides as we move towards deeper practice?• (1:02:55) Where should excited listeners go for first steps into Jhanas practice and what qualities are necessary to cultivate beforehand?

For this episode of Into the Stream I'm joined by Biz Bliss, a professional psychedelic experience facilitator (perhaps imagine a really fantastic trip-sitter), whom I met four years ago whilst attending one of her psychedelic integration circles. She is the co-director of Alalaho, an organisation that offers high-dose psilocybin-assisted retreats in a safe, legal, and supportive environment. It's really very cool and I wish I had access to such an organisation earlier in my personal experimentation.I find Biz to be deeply sincere, down-to-earth, and quietly wise; if you listen deeply you'll find  gold in her words here. Not only does she live what she talks about but she has also, along with her colleagues, managed to create a grounding, supportive, and professionally responsible organisation around psychedelic experiences, experiences that are stereotypically chaotic. That is no easy feat. In our conversation we talk about:Where the name 'Alalaho' came from and what it meansThe meaning of facilitating psychedelic experiences for BizThe value of peak experiencesThe importance of deep respectThe place of ritual, cycles, and deep listeningHow community can support individual integrationThe strange tendency of therapists' laughter-filled psychedelic experiencesThe commodification of psychedelicsTimmy's lesson from his bad tripHow psychedelics and ritual supported Biz with her father's deathSome ResourcesYou can find Alalaho here, their cyclical membership program here, and information on their retreats here.If you want to stay updated with future episodes (released every fortnight on Mondays), then click subscribe, follow the podcast on Instagram, or sign up to the newsletter.The podcast's music is Good Morning by Bonaparte and Acid Pauli, who kindly gave permission for use.

For this episode of Into the Stream I'm joined by Catherine McGee, an esteemed Insight Meditation teacher who has had a profound impact on my own practice when it all felt a bit bland, muddy, and robotic.Catherine's gentle, soulful, and down-to-earth teaching inspired me to value qualities of the heart that I previously perceived as a bit far-fetched. Qualities such as soulfulness, devotion, richness, and beauty have all become surprisingly important to me because of Catherine's work and I'm deeply grateful to her for that.Just a heads up, this episode is will be especially appreciated by those with extensive meditation practice - we use quite a lot of Buddhist lingo here. Catherine's wisdom really shines through here (and even shines through the intermittent audio quirks). We explore:Her first (20-day) silent meditation retreat that kickstarted her pathSubtle practice pathologies in young idealistic meditatorsThe Diamond Approach and how to work skilfully with being an arse in daily lifeWays of relating to the body that hold meditators backHer views on AwakeningAnd how to keep love for the path alive over multiple decades.Catherine's BiographyCatherine has been teaching Insight Meditation at Gaia House and internationally since 1997. Her teaching emphasises working with perceptions of the body on the path of awakening and in the healing of the individual and collective crises of our times. She's an advisor to One Earth Sangha, a long term student of the Diamond Approach, and between 2014 and 2020 she collaborated with Rob Burbea in shaping and teaching a Soulmaking Dharma.Some ResourcesYou can listen to recordings from Catherine's retreats freely available online. Here's two: Finding True Refuge in a Modern World and Abiding with a Heart Imbued with Love.You can also listen to Catherine on other podcasts. Two episodes that are specifically good are Deconstructing Yourself's Soulmaking Dharma and Emerge's  Soulmaking in Climate Collapse.If you want to stay updated with future episodes (released every fortnight on Mondays), then click subscribe, follow (on Instagram) , or sign up to the newsletter.The podcast's music is Good Morning by Bonaparte and Acid Pauli, who kindly gave permission for use.

For the first episode of Into the Stream I'm joined by Finbar Shields, poet, steadfast devotee on the path of self-healing, and one of my favourite mind palaces to visit.We reflect on his chronic disease, explore the inevitability of humans falling from the holy heights of spiritual reverie into the sullen troughs of Netflix binges, and recount his love-fuelled adventures in the Peruvian Amazon stumbling into an Ayahuasca healing centre and listening to his lover's orchestral belly-gurglings.If you want to stay updated with future episodes and events you can join this newsletter and follow the pod on Instagram.  You can find a link to Finbar's poems here.The podcast's music is "Good Morning" by Bonaparte and Acid Pauli, who kindly gave their permission for use.