May This Channel Self-Destruct
Video essays and conversations centering contemplative, therapeutic, and creative practices as foundations for embodied wellness in daily living. mtcsd.substack.com
V6 ~ Teacher Heron
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → E5: Practice is Political
Overview
Today I share a brief story about a lesson taught to my son and I by Teacher Heron, and encourage us to turn to the Natural world in order to absorb Her deepest lessons.
Chapters
* 00:00 Introduction: Nature as Teacher
* 02:25 A Meditation Lesson from a Heron
* 06:21 Small Moments, Many Times
References
* 01:33 American Transcendentalism, Wikipedia
* 01:40 Emerson’s Nature (PDF), Project Gutenberg
* 02:42 Habitat Education Center & Wildlife Sanctuary, Mass Audubon
...
C5 ~ Bridge Kiley
Find Bridge at www.bridgekiley.com
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → C5 ~ Bridge Kiley
Overview
Today, I speak with psychotherapist, writer and teacher Bridge Kiley. We discuss Internal Family Systems, relational practice, trauma, and connection in the therapeutic process, as seen through the IFS lens of internal multiplicity.
Chapters
02:20 IFS & Multiplicity10:50 Needs & Shame17:55 Approaches to Suffering22:20 The Importance of Real Connection27:00 Polarizations30:40 Bridging the Thinking Mind and Feeling Body39:55 Holding Experience, Childhood Trauma46:00 Exiles and the Unconscious52:26 Limitations of Individualized Healing1:01:0 Self Connection & Self-Leadership
References
<...V5 ~ Practice is Political
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → E5: Practice is Political
Overview
In this essay, I look at the rise of Global Techno-Feudal Brahmanism and its dissociated relationship with the social body and earth. I offer thoughts on individual practices and collective reform I perceive as necessary to overcome the chronic deterioration of basic universal human rights, and cultivate a sustainable society capable of supporting deep practice and progress.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction: Practice is Political02:05 A Story About Motivation & Ownership05:12 Rise of the Techno-Brahmins07:08 Plato & Democracy08:52 Ignorance & Evil10:56 Practice as Remedy12:48 The Ca...
V4 ~ Cultivating Resilience in Times of Change
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → Essay #4: Cultivating Resilience in Times of Change
Overview
In this essay, I propose that we move away from conversations, languaging, and activities that could fall under the umbrella of “doomsday prepping,” and instead shift/reframe our views and efforts as practices of cultivating individual and collective resilience, cohesiveness, wellbeing, togetherness, and resourcing as we navigate profoundly disruptive times of global change.
Chapters
* 00:00 Introduction
* 04:20 Epistemic Humility & the Zen Farmer
* 08:55 Stress & Interdependence
* 13:35 Resilience & Seasonality
* 20:15 Micro-Tribes & Collapse
* 31:45 Taking...
C4 ~ Dr. Broderick Sawyer
Find Broderick at www.brodericksawyer.com
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD C4: Dr. Broderick Sawyer
Overview
Today, I speak with Dr.Broderick Sawyer about skillfully navigating relationships and egoic attachments, practices for cultivating attention and compassion, sex and sexuality, working with the energies of emotion, masculinity, shame and trauma.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction 04:45 Working with the Ego 06:45 Relationship & Emotion13:15 Sexual Energy & Celibacy 20:40 Working with Emotions26:15 Sex, Porn, Sublimation33:50 Masculine Strength37:30 Authenticity & Attachment44:50 Shame & Pathology53:00 Radical Blamelessness1:02:00 Attention & Compassion1:09:55 Practice & Accountability
References
00:0004:45 Ego, Wikipedia07:20 Black The...
C3 ~ Dan Grossman
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD C3: Dan Grossman
Overview
Today, I speak with practitioner, educator, musician, and clinical psychology PhD candidate Dan Grossman, who specializes in the study and research of somatic experiences in psychedelic-assisted mental health treatment. We discuss topics in psychedelic practice, including epistemic hygiene and false insight, somaticism and embodiment, trauma, and healing.
Sources & Further Reading*
* 02:20 American Yoga Foundation
* 12:35 Gestalt, Wikipedia
* 16:40 Autoimmune Conditions, NIH
* 16:42 Allostatic Load, Wikipedia
* 17:15 Wilhelm Reich, Wikipedia
- Character armor, Somatopia
...
C2 ~ Clare McBee
Find Clare at www.liminalbodies.com
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD C2: Clare McBee
Overview
Today, I speak with clinical social worker, activist, and Dharma practitioner, Clare McBee. We discuss the importance of integrating spirituality and an anti-oppression lens in clinical care, making meaning of suffering, refuge and unbearable compassion.
Sources & Further Reading*
* 03:40 Anti-oppression, The Anti-Oppression Network
* 11:45 Internal Family Systems (IFS), IFS Institute
* 12:30 Non-Ordinary State of Consciousness (NOSC) , Center for Mindful Psychotherapy
* 14:30 Bodhisattava, Wikipedia
* 15:30 Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Ps...
V3 ~ Hope & Nihilism
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Essay #3: Hope & Nihilism
Overview
In this essay, I suggest we move away from treating hope as a noun and begin relating to it as a verb. I introduce the ideas of outcome-based decision-making versus alignment-based decision-making, and discuss their application in navigating the detrimental effects of capitalism, and the nihilism it both produces and derives its sustenance from, along with the four horsemen of hedonism, boredom, cynicism, and individualism.
Sources & Further Reading*
* 3:35 Caminante, No Hay Camino, Antonio Machado
* 9:30 2025 Federal Poverty Levels, Pa...
C1 ~ Jonathan Makransky
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Conversation 1: Jonathan Makransky
Overview
I sit down with Tibetan Buddhist practitioner and Harvard Divinity School’s Multi-Religious Initiatives Coordinator, Jonathan Makransky, to talk (and laugh) about all things practice-related.
Sources & Further Reading*
* 6:30 Ethan Nichtern
* 15:40 Teachers (Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, HH The Dalai Lama)
* 28:25 Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche
* 28:35 Erik Pema Kunzang
* 29:25 84,000.org
* 41:25 Teachers (Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Casting Indra’s net)
* 42:50 Dzongar Khyentse Rinpoche
* 45:55 Rime movement
...
V2 ~ Art & Authenticity (Part 1)
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Essay 2: Art & Authenticity (Part 1)
Overview
In this essay, I open a conversation about the importance and urgency of cultivating creative practices in order to connect and preserve what makes us human in the age of AI. I argue that all of us are artists intrinsically, and encourage shared responsibility in co-creating the world we wish to bring into existence.
Sources & Further Reading*
* 10:15 This is Water, David Foster Wallace
* 11:15 Essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson
* 12:15 “Dharma,” Wikipedia
* 12:35 When Love Comes To Lig...
V1 ~ What is Practice?
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Essay 1: What is Practice?
Overview
In this introductory video essay, I open the conversation about contemplative practice as I view and experience it, centering attention/awareness and the role of the breath as foundational for developing greater agency over our attention and lives.
Sources & Further Reading*
* 1:30 “Practitioners, I know not one single thing more intractable and harmful than an untrained mind.”
* AN 1.31-40, accesstoinsight.org
* AN 1.31-40, buddha-vacana.org
* 3:15 Monoculture, Wikipedia
* 3:30 Sādhanā, Wikipedia
* 4:20...
Introduction
Prefer watching on YouTube? View it here → MTCSD Introduction
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