#44 A Neurosurgeons Transformation After a Near Death Experience with Dr. Eben Alexander

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After decades as a physician and teacher at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere, renowned academic neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander thought he knew how the brain, mind, and consciousness worked. A transcendental Near-Death Experience (NDE) during a week-long coma from an inexplicable brain infection changed all of that – completely. Memories of his life had been completely deleted, yet he awoke with memories of a fantastic odyssey deep into another realm – more real than this earthly one! Since his 2008 NDE he has been reconciling his rich spiritual experience with contemporary physics and cosmology. We are conscious in spite of our brain. By probing deeply into our own consciousness, we transcend the limits of the human brain, and of the physical-material realm. His story offers a crucial key to the understanding of reality and human consciousness. A pioneering scientist and thought leader in consciousness studies, Dr. Alexander has been a guest on Dr. Oz, Oprah, and many other media programs. His most recent book, Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness (co-authored with Karen Newell), has garnered accolades from many scientists around the world who study the mind-body question and the nature of consciousness. His earlier books, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife and The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife, have collectively spent more than two years atop the New York Times and international bestseller lists.

In this episode Dr. Eben Alexander and I discuss his near death experience and some of the profound wisdom he learned from the spiritual realms he experienced.

“The binding force of this universe is love and we must take care of one another because we are all intertwined. When we hurt others, we hurt ourselves.”
— Dr. Eben Alexander

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RESOURCES:

  • Dr. Eben Alexander’s WEBSITE

  • Click HERE to purchase Dr. Eben Alexander’s books

  • Click HERE for Karen Newell’s and Dr. Eben Alexander’s free webinar

  • Listen on APPLE PODCASTS

  • Listen on SPOTIFY

CONNECT WITH MARLA:

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.interviewswithinnocence.com

Have you had a spiritual experience? Do you have a story that a young child has shared with you?  Please contact Marla and share your story.

Thank you!

#43 Sacred Acoustics: How Sound Facilitates Healing the Heart with Karen Newell

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As an innovator in the emerging field of brainwave entrainment audio meditation, Karen Newell empowers others in their journeys of self-discovery. Using Sacred Acoustics recordings, she teaches how to enter and engage your own consciousness in order to connect to inner guidance, achieve inspiration, improve wellness and develop intuition. Her lifelong interest in ancient cultures and sacred sites catalyzed her drive to understand the purpose of our existence. She became fascinated with esoteric spiritual texts and sought alternate explanations for humanity’s collective history. In her search for answers, it was clear that direct experience is crucial. She was intrigued by accounts of ancient mystery schools, where initiates were led through a series of trials to learn the secrets of the universe. With no modern mystery school to attend, she enrolled in hands-on experiential courses to investigate and develop such skills as lucid dreaming, astral travel, telepathy, remote viewing, self-hypnosis, and different forms of energy healing, which bolstered her strong sense of inner knowing and alignment to her higher nature. With focused dedication, she evaluated different theories and techniques through experiments in her daily life. Using this body of personal evidence, she cultivated a personal knowing, not only of the reality of the spiritual realm, but also a facile expertise in living that life of daily connection with universal consciousness. Among her greater attributes is the rare skill of discernment, of being able to separate the wheat from the chaff in navigating a pathway towards truth. Meditation and heart awareness were central elements to her many different subjects of study. Her most successful forays into consciousness involved listening to sounds such as gongs, crystal bowls and tuning forks. Recordings containing binaural beats were particularly effective at minimizing distracting thoughts and restlessness, allowing her to finally reach the expanded states of awareness she sought. Karen joined with Kevin Kossi to create original recordings unmatched by any others either of them had experienced. Together, they created Sacred Acoustics. At international workshops presented with best-selling author Dr. Eben Alexander, Karen demonstrates key practices of consciousness exploration: heart awareness, intention, maintaining neutrality, emotional management and cultivating internal knowing. She is co-author with Dr. Alexander of their latest book, Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness. During 26-years working in the magazine and newspaper publishing field, Karen held key leadership positions involved with the direction and management of technology transitions faced by the print industry. Her business skills include web development, desktop publishing, communications, information technology, project management and strategic planning.

In this interview Karen and I discuss the evidence of how sound can have the ability to aid in healing the emotional and physical body.

“Hardships are a part of life and how we learn. We can choose to learn with grace, or we can choose to learn with fight and resistance.”
— Karen Newell

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And while you’re there, please leave me a Rating and Review

We do care what you think! What would YOU like to hear on the Interviews with Innocence Podcast? Click HERE to send us your thoughts.

Would you like to be featured as a guest on the Interviews with Innocence Podcast? Contact Us, and tell us a few words about yourself!     

RESOURCES:

CONNECT WITH MARLA:

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.interviewswithinnocence.com

Have you had a spiritual experience? Do you have a story that a young child has shared with you?  Please contact Marla and share your story.

Thank you!

#42 The Relationship Between Science, Plant Medicine, Spirituality and Healing with Dr. Joe Tafur

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Dr. Tafur has been an Integrative Medicine activist throughout his medical career - while in medical school at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, and during his Family Medicine Residency at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). While a resident, he collaborated on research projects with the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine and the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.  After residency, Dr. Tafur subsequently completed a two-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the UCSD Department of Psychiatry under psychoneuroimmunology expert Dr. Paul Mills. 

Dr. Tafur has observed that modern medicine struggles with certain mental and psychosomatic health problems because the system fails to address the emotional and spiritual dimensions of these illnesses. Under the guidance of master shamans, Dr. Tafur has learned about the importance of acknowledging the emotional body and its role in modern disease, and how spiritual approaches can be used to heal the emotional body and, in turn, the mind and physical body.

In Peru, Dr. Tafur learned how Ayahuasca shamanism (a ceremony involving the use of Ayahuasca, a traditional medicinal Amazonian plant known for its spiritual properties) could be used to heal the emotional body. After observing hundreds of people experience this kind of spiritual and emotional healing, Dr. Tafur recognized the broader value of spiritual healing techniques.

Dr. Tafur is the author of The Fellowship of the River, a fascinating account of his journey through the Amazon jungle as he comes to understand how psychoactive plants interact with the complex network that connects our minds and hearts to our physical anatomy. Dr. Tafur serves on the board of Modern Spirit, a non-profit organization dedicated to demonstrating the value of spiritual healing in modern healthcare by illuminating the intersection between biology, emotion, and spirituality.

In this third interview with Dr. Tafur, we discuss the science behind plant medicine, and why it can be so effective at addressing the root causes of emotional trauma.

“Science is not medicine. It is important, but it is not medicine. Medicine heals, even spiritual medicine and science should not limit healing works.”
— Dr. Joe Tafur

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And while you’re there, please leave me a Rating and Review

We do care what you think! What would YOU like to hear on the Interviews with Innocence Podcast? Click HERE to send us your thoughts.

Would you like to be featured as a guest on the Interviews with Innocence Podcast? Contact Us, and tell us a few words about yourself!     

RESOURCES:

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OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.interviewswithinnocence.com

Have you had a spiritual experience? Do you have a story that a young child has shared with you?  Please contact Marla and share your story.

Thank you!

#39 The Love, The Gift and The Responsibility with Dr. Joe Tafur

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Dr. Tafur has been an Integrative Medicine activist throughout his medical career - while in medical school at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, and during his Family Medicine Residency at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). While a resident, he collaborated on research projects with the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine and the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.  After residency, Dr. Tafur subsequently completed a two-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the UCSD Department of Psychiatry under psychoneuroimmunology expert Dr. Paul Mills. 

Dr. Tafur has observed that modern medicine struggles with certain mental and psychosomatic health problems because the system fails to address the emotional and spiritual dimensions of these illnesses. Under the guidance of master shamans, Dr. Tafur has learned about the importance of acknowledging the emotional body and its role in modern disease, and how spiritual approaches can be used to heal the emotional body and, in turn, the mind and physical body.

In Peru, Dr. Tafur learned how Ayahuasca shamanism (a ceremony involving the use of Ayahuasca, a traditional medicinal Amazonian plant known for its spiritual properties) could be used to heal the emotional body. After observing hundreds of people experience this kind of spiritual and emotional healing, Dr. Tafur recognized the broader value of spiritual healing techniques.

Dr. Tafur is the author of The Fellowship of the River, a fascinating account of his journey through the Amazon jungle as he comes to understand how psychoactive plants interact with the complex network that connects our minds and hearts to our physical anatomy. Dr. Tafur serves on the board of Modern Spirit, a non-profit organization dedicated to demonstrating the value of spiritual healing in modern healthcare by illuminating the intersection between biology, emotion, and spirituality.

This second interview with Dr. Tafur further explores the practice of plant medicine as a transformative method of self-healing, with insights into how one can achieve continuous and lasting spiritual healing and growth.

“Spiritual practice is spiritual healing, and spiritual healing is spiritual practice, and both can help to heal the emotional body and in turn, the mind-body.”
— Dr. Joe Tafur
“In this next wave of consciousness, the purpose of spiritual practice is to nourish our spiritual well-being.”
— Dr. Joe Tafur

NOTES

  • Dr. Joe Tafur describes the ideal conditions for the use of Ayahuasca.

  • Ayahuasca has been transformative for many people, but it is not for everyone. Dr. Tafur describes those candidates/situations that may not be an appropriate fit for plant medicine. He emphasizes that plant medicine should not be considered a quick fix.

  • Dr. Tafur talks describes the conditions and practices that support lasting spiritual benefits of Ayahuasca.

  • Dr. Tafur explains how “The Love”, “The Gift” and “The Responsibility” apply to the importance of commitment in the use of plant medicine.

  • In addition to fully becoming immersed in indigenous culture, there are other ways to explore Ayahuasca. Dr. Tafur recommends www.iceers.org as a good source of guidelines.

  • Dr. Tafur offers encouraging insights about how spiritual practices are starting to become integrated into western medicine.

  • Click on the image below to view Dr. Tafur’s book:

 
 

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And while you’re there, please leave me a Rating and Review

We do care what you think! What would YOU like to hear on the Interviews with Innocence Podcast? Click HERE to send us your thoughts.

Would you like to be featured as a guest on the Interviews with Innocence Podcast? Contact Us, and tell us a few words about yourself!     

RESOURCES:

CONNECT WITH MARLA:

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.interviewswithinnocence.com

Have you had a spiritual experience? Do you have a story that a young child has shared with you?  Please contact Marla and share your story.

Thank you!