Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis

There is a gap between intellectual understanding and embodied wisdom. Elevating Consciousness exists to help you close it — drawing from the depths of the great wisdom traditions, contemplative science, and leading-edge psychology. Each episode, I sit down with spiritual teachers, philosophers, psychologists, practitioners, and emerging thinkers from the liminal web to explore what it means to live an awakened and fully human life in a time of meta-crisis. We don’t just share ideas to think about but perspectives to try on, practices to engage with, and ways of being to embody. WHO THIS IS FOR: This show is designed for the post-conventional practitioner — those who have outgrown mainstream self-help and pop spirituality into something more nuanced, pragmatic, and integrative. You're less interested in external achievement and more drawn to inner development. Y

Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis is a education podcast hosted by Artem Zen, with 78 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Artem Zen hosts Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis, a education show with 78 episodes published.

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  Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis

  Stephen Jenkinson - Facing Mortality: Parkinson's, Ibogaine Therapy & the Art of Letting Go

  Sep 18, 20261h 3m

  Stephen Jenkinson is a former palliative care worker, cultural activist, and writer whose work explores the intersection of death, grief, meaning, elderhood, and ceremony. He has spent decades helping people navigate grief, death, and dying — both as the former director of palliative care at a major Canadian hospital and afterward through his Orphan Wisdom School, which seeks to cultivate deep life skills in an age of cultural fragmentation. A recovered theologian, builder, stone carver, and farmer, Jenkinson brings the authority of lived experience to everything he touches. He's traveled the continent as a ceremonial guide for weddings, funerals, and blessings — work born from people's deep hunger for elders and ancestry. Along with musician Gregory Hoskins, he created Nights of Grief and Mystery, a musical storytelling ceremony that has evolved into an international journey exploring grief, authenticity, and what it means to live as if dying were not a failure. He is the author of numerous books, including the award-winning Die Wise , Come of Age , and Matrimony . His latest work, Trembling, Still: The Awful Clarity of a Mind in Eclipse , offers a searing confrontation with his own mortality and degeneration as he navigates Parkinson's disease. In this conversation we speak about Stephen's journey with Parkinson's and the impact it has had on his mind, body, and life — how every case of Parkinson's unfolds differently, and why he understands the work ahead of him as translation rather than endurance. We explore what happens to the sense of self under neurological degeneration, whether the voice that arrives in illness is a stranger or God, and when it is okay to die. We get into the polarities of trying and accepting, and how one might navigate them more skillfully without collapsing into either resignation or fight. Stephen shares his experience with Ibogaine, why he passed on the Toad (5-MeO-DMT), and what psychedelic experience does and doesn't offer someone facing mortality directly. We also explore how Stephen stays grounded in healthy skepticism without falling into cynicism, what lies beyond both cynicism and hope, what's left for him now, and his new record Caldera with Gregory Hoskins along with the upcoming North American tour. LINKS & RESOURCES Stephen's personal site — Orphan Wisdom Trembling, Still: The Awful Clarity of a Mind in Eclipse — Stephen Jenkinson Caldera — Stephen's new record with Gregory Hoskins Caldera 2026 North American Tour ️ TIMESTAMPS ️ 0:00 - Introduction 3:31 - How Parkinson's has impacted Stephen 7:44 - The work is of translation, not endurance 9:56 - Is that a stranger or God talking to you? 12:32 - Every case of Parkinson's unfolds differently 13:48 - Questioning the self 20:18 - Trying vs accepting 30:34 - When is it okay to die? 31:54 - Stephen's experience with taking Ibogaine 43:35 - Passing on the Toad (5-MeO-DMT) 46:54 - Beyond cynicism and hope 54:45 - What's left for Stephen? 59:18 - Stephen's new record "Caldera" and upcoming tour * Subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch the video versions of the Elevating Consciousness Podcast *Subscribe to the Insighter Substack to get in-depth articles on the theory and practice of human transformation through a post-conventional lens

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  Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis

  De-Armoring with Reichian Breathwork | The Therapy of Wilhelm Reich | Lydia Becker

  Jun 26, 20261h 38m

  Lydia Becker is a therapist, instructor, and midwife with over three decades of experience in Skan-Reichian bodywork. Rooted in the tradition of Wilhelm Reich, her work uses breathwork and bodywork to release emotional and physical tension held in the body — supporting people in softening long-held patterns, breathing more fully, and rediscovering their natural aliveness. In 1988, she became a licensed midwife — and it was through her midwifery work that Lydia experienced the power of breath and the importance of softening the social persona during birth, which led her to deepen her study of breath and body-oriented therapy. In 1993, she began a three-year training in Skan — a form of somatic psychotherapy rooted in Wilhelm Reich's work — receiving her certification to teach in 1999. She has since been offering individual sessions and leading workshops and retreats throughout the country. In this episode, we explore Wilhelm Reich's revolutionary approach to therapy and healing, the theory of armoring, and how unconscious layers of trauma, tension, and stress become stored in the body, and what makes Skan body-psychotherapy uniquely powerful as a somatic healing modality. We get into the relationship between sexuality, life force, and neuroticism, the relational aspect of healing, how to breathe when engaging with Reichian breathwork, what the mechanism behind de-armoring actually is, and why we often have to move through anger and grief before we can reach genuine forgiveness — including a live Reichian breathwork session Lydia guides us through. A profound conversation for anyone drawn to somatic healing, breathwork, and the body as a pathway to psychological and spiritual liberation. 🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES 🔗 Lydia's personal site What is Skan? Wilhelm Reich Sigmund Freud 🕰️ TIMESTAMPS 🕰️ 0:00 - Intro 2:10 - Artem's experience with Lydia's work 5:09 - Working in midwifery, going through a crisis, and getting into Reichian breathwork 13:30 - Unconscious layers of trauma, tension, and stress stored in the body 15:18 - Wilhelm Reich's approach to therapy and healing 23:19 - Theory of armoring, character structures, the core, and directionality 31:07 - Sexuality, life force, neuroticism, and going beyond the story 35:13 - How Skan body-psychotherapy is unique 37:10 - The relational aspect of healing 44:53 - How to breathe when engaging with Reichian breathwork 47:10 - Lydia guides us through a live Reichian breathwork session 1:03:06 - Reflecting on the experience 1:05:06 - What is the mechanism behind de-armoring? 1:13:40 - The liberating impact of long-term Reichian work 1:19:49 - The role of emotions in Skan and what an in-person session looks like 1:26:02 - We often have to feel anger and grief before we get to forgiveness 1:28:00 - The structure of a Skan Reichian breathwork group retreat 1:32:17 - Opportunities to train in Skan * Subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch the video versions of the Elevating Consciousness Podcast *Subscribe to the Insighter Substack to get in-depth articles on the theory and practice of human transformation through a post-conventional

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  Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis

  Ken Wilber - Why No One Is Smart Enough to Be Wrong 100% of the Time

  May 29, 20261h 55mS0

  <p>Ken Wilber is a philosopher, author, and the creator of Integral theory. <br/>He is considered by many as one of the most influential thinkers of our time, whose writings have been translated into over twenty languages and have profoundly impacted domains as varied as business and medicine, psychology and ethics, politics and religion, art and education, and sexuality to personal relationships.<br/><br/>His AQAL (All Quadrants, All Lines) framework attempts to map human reality across four quadrants, multiple stages of development, lines of intelligence, states of consciousness, and personality types — offering what he calls a cosmic address: a w...

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  Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis

  Sylvie Barbier & Rufus Pollock of Life Itself - Why the World Needs a Second Renaissance

  May 15, 20261h 39mS0

  <p>Sylvie Barbier & Rufus Pollock are the co-founders of Life Itself – a collective of pragmatic utopians committed to practical action for a radically wiser, weller world.<br/><br/>Sylvie is a French-Taiwanese ritual artist whose work synthesises Eastern and Western philosophies and aesthetics. Her performance art pieces are contemporary rituals, where the audience is invited to take an active and interactive role.<br/><br/>Rufus is an entrepreneur, activist, author, and long-term Zen practitioner who has founded several successful for-profit and nonprofit initiatives. His 2018 book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age, and has been tr...

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  Elevating Consciousness | Inner Work & Contemplative Practice in a Time of Meta-Crisis

  Stephen Zerfas - How to Access Deep Bliss and Wellbeing with Jhana Meditation

  Apr 24, 20261h 36mS0

  <p>Stephen Zerfas is the CEO and Co-founder of Jhourney — a tech startup scaling transformative meditation through a data-driven lens, guiding complete beginners into deeply absorbed meditation states known as the Jhanas, in less than a week.  <br/><br/>Stephen discovered the first three jhanas through his own practice and, upon learning of their profound history, made it his mission to bring them to as many people as possible. He has since trained with leading jhana teachers, including Leigh Brasington and Delson Armstrong.<br/><br/>Thus far, Jhourney has served over 1,300 alumni with a 60-70% success rate in helping participants acc...

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