Ciis Public Programs & Performances

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Choctaw multimedia artist Tricia Rainwater’s wide-ranging work is rooted in themes of identity and grief. Her artistic practice offers a perspective through the lens of a Choctaw survivor. In her most recent series, Falama: to return, she shared a sustained desire to repair ties to ceremony and culture. To create Falama, she set out on the Trail of Tears, the route followed by five southeastern tribal nations—including her own ancestors—when they were forcibly displaced from their homes to areas west of the Mississippi designated as Indian Territory. * In this episode, Nunatsiavut Inuk multimedia artist and writer Chantal Jung joins Tricia for an engaging conversation about her ongoing explorations of return, reconnection, and repair with her Indigenous family, culture, and land—past and present. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on July 25th, 2024.

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Dr. Thema Bryant is a psychologist and leading mental health expert with more than two decades of experience in clinical psychology and trauma recovery. As a trauma survivor herself, she knows that trauma and everyday challenges can cause us to disconnect and fall into survival mode. In her latest book, Reclaim Yourself, she shares accessible and practical steps toward creating the life you want while processing stress and trauma. * In this episode, CIIS Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rachel Bryant talks with Dr. Thema Bryant about her life and work and how Dr. Bryant’s approach can help trauma survivors heal their emotions and actively take steps toward growth. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on July 11th, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is available at ciispod.com. To find o

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * As we continue to navigate years of collective upheaval, are there ways for us to face the complexities of our time with joy, authenticity, and connection? Prentis Hemphill, embodiment practitioner, therapist, and activist, shows us that we don't have to carry our emotional burdens alone. * In this episode, Prentis is joined by comedian, author, and filmmaker W. Kamau Bell in a grounding conversation exploring the principles of embodiment awareness and how we can create a future in which healing is done in community. * In the conversation Prentis shares ideas from their latest book, What it Takes to Heal, which draws on their experiences as a trauma survivor and a clinician, as well as lessons learned from their time as a social movement architect. Prentis invites us to heal our bodies, minds, and souls, to develop the interpersonal skills necessary to bust down the doo

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * This week, we are diving into our archives in preparation for the northern hemisphere’s upcoming winter season which brings with it a call for all earthly beings to rest. In this episode, we are revisiting CIIS Integral and Transpersonal Psychology program director Kendra Diaz-Ford’s conversation with social psychologist Devon Price. * Like many Americans, Devon Price believed that productivity was the best way to measure self-worth. Dr. Price was an overachiever from the start, graduating from both college and graduate school early, but that success came at a cost. After Dr. Price was diagnosed with a severe case of anemia and heart complications from overexertion, they were forced to examine the darker side of all this productivity. * Dr. Price began a thorough examination of what they call the “laziness lie”—which falsely tells us we are not working or learning hard e

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * What role does dominant culture play in how we experience the sensations, thoughts, feelings, and deeper existential mysteries of our bodies? Dr. Roger Kuhn, a Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigequeer activist, artist, sex therapist, and somacultural theorist, believes that Two-Spirit people hold a unique and valuable perspective. Straddling colonial imposition and tribal significance, Two-Spirit identity offers a powerful decolonizing framework to achieve freedom and navigate the toxic systems of domination that impose upon the precious truth of who we are. * In this episode, Dr. Kuhn is joined by queer nonbinary therapist and mediator Jay Tzvia Helfand for a conversation illuminating the ways our bodies offer portals to our own liberation and how viewing our bodies through a somacultural lens can help us better understand how dominant culture informs and, all too often, mis

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Renowned developer of Somatic Experiencing Dr. Peter A. Levine changed the way psychologists, doctors, and healers understand and treat the wounds of trauma and abuse. * In this conversation with CIIS professor of somatic psychology Rae Johnson, he shares his own experience of severe childhood trauma and how he helped thousands of others before resolving his own trauma. Sharing insights from his recent memoir, An Autobiography of Trauma, Dr. Levine explains how being guided through Somatic Experiencing allowed him to illuminate and untangle his traumatic wounds and shares the history of the Somatic Experiencing method being derived from his studies of wild animals in their natural environments, neurobiology, and more than 50 years of clinical observations. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 16th, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Historically, the field of sexuality research in the United States has not included the experiences and wisdom of racialized sexologists, educators, therapists, or professionals. Instead, sexuality professionals have been trained using a color-free narrative that does an injustice by both excluding their work as well as failing to offer a fuller examination of how they expanded the field and held it accountable. * In this episode, educator and sexologist Bianca I Laureano is joined by Founder and Executive Director of Sacramento Peers on Prevention Dr. Ericka Burns for an illuminating conversation highlighting the voices, experiences, strategies, and solutions from sexologists that have been excluded and yet have still emerged as vital contributors to the U.S. and broader North American sexuality field. Bianca shares insights from her recent collection, The People’s Book

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Christopher Marmolejo is a Brown, queer, and trans writer, diviner, and educator who uses divination to promote a literacy of liberation. In their latest book, Red Tarot, each card’s interpretation is further bolstered by the teachings of Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Paulo Freire, José Esteban Muñoz, and others in an offering that integrates intersectional wisdom with the author’s divination practice—revealing tarot as an essential language for liberation. * In this episode, Christopher is joined by arts-based, psychedelic-assisted ancestral psychotherapist Camara Meri Rajabari for a conversation that moves beyond self-help and the Hellenistic frame of tarot to reclaim it for liberation, self-determination, and collective healing. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on March 23rd, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Alice Wong is an acclaimed disabled activist whose work and writing has shaped the modern conversation around disability. As the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, her work foregrounds the stories of those living with disabilities and paints a vibrant picture of disability media and culture. In her latest book, Disability Intimacy, Alice uses her distinctive voice to highlight and curate stories of intimacy. More than sex, more than romantic love, the pieces in her stunning and illuminating new anthology offer broader and more inclusive definitions of what it can mean to be intimate with another person. * In this episode, Alice is joined in a conversation with writer, educator and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice Mia Mingus. Their conversation about Alice’s life and work will free your thinking, invigorate your spirit, and

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Empathy is so much more than feeling deeply—it holds transformative power to heal ourselves, strengthen our relationships, and amplify our purpose. Psychiatrist and bestselling author Judith Orloff presents empathy as a daily healing practice and a form of emotional intelligence accessible to all. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, psychology, and energy medicine, Dr. Orloff’s newest book, The Genius of Empathy, shows us how to access our sensitivities, soothe our nervous systems, and stop absorbing the emotions of others. * In this episode, Dr. Orloff is joined by empath, spiritual seeker, and intuitive healer Laura Rowe for a conversation about igniting empathy as a superpower for transformative personal healing, deeper relationships, and more potent work in the world. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on April 24th, 2024. You can also watch it

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Did you know that attachment styles impact more than romantic relationships? As it turns out, most of us are thinking about Attachment Theory all wrong, and in her recent book, The New Rules of Attachment, triple board-certified clinical and forensic neuropsychologist Dr. Judy Ho provides clarity. Grounded in the science of attachment, Dr. Ho’s game-changing approach shows that our attachment style impacts every aspect of our lives. Moreover, we can all learn to become securely attached, no matter what attachment style we developed in childhood. * In this episode, Dr. Ho is joined by Kini Chang, Chair and Core Faculty at CIIS’ Counseling Psychology Program, Community Mental Health Concentration, for a conversation with Dr. Ho about her latest book and how to begin to develop unconditional self-love and a meaningful, joyful life. * This episode was recorded during a live o

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Alexis Nikole Nelson aka Black Forager uses her platform to engage with millions—yelling, singing, and celebrating the hidden bounty of edible plants waiting to be found in our backyards, on our nature hikes, growing from our sidewalks and in our parks across the world. * In this episode, Alexis is joined by CIIS associate professor, activist, and licensed creative arts therapist Britton Williams for an engaging and joyful conversation about Alexis’ life and work, food justice and foraging for edible plants to enrich palates and the planet. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on April 12th, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is available at ciispod.com. To find out more about CIIS and public programs like this one, visit our website ciis.edu and connect with us on social media @ciispubprograms. * We ho

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * This is the CIIS Public Programs Podcast, featuring talks and conversations recorded live by California Institute of Integral Studies, a non-profit university located in San Francisco on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Land. * Layla K. Feghali is a cultural worker and folk herbalist who lives between her ancestral village in Lebanon, and California, where she was raised. Her work is dedicated to restoring relationships to earth-based ancestral wisdom as an avenue towards eco-cultural stewardship, healing, and liberation. * In this episode, Layla is joined by initiated Priestess, Energy Worker, Medicine Woman, and Flower Practitioner Maryam Hasnaa for a profound conversation that invites us to remember our roots, to deepen our relationship with the lands where we live in diaspora, and is a beckoning call towards belonging, healing, and freedom through tending the land in your ow

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes (see below) properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * In the #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want To Talk About Race, writer Ijeoma Oluo offered a vital guide for how to talk about important issues of race and racism in society. In Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, she discussed the ways in which white male supremacy has had an impact on our systems, our culture, and our lives throughout American history. * But now that we better understand these systems of oppression, what can we do about them? In her latest book, Be A Revolution: How Everyday People are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too, Ijeoma aims to show how people across America are working to create real positive change within our structures. * In this episode, Ijeoma is joined by Preston Vargas, the Director of the CIIS Center for Black & Indigenous Praxis, for an inspiring conversation encouraging al

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes (see below) properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Bayo Akomolafe is a posthumanist thinker, philosopher, poet, author and founder of the Emergence Network, a planet-wide initiative that seeks to convene communities in new ways in response to the critical, civilizational challenges we face as a species. Through Bayo's writings, speeches, and work he inspires new ways of thinking and being in the world, inviting us to ask questions that undermine everything we are told to believe. * In this episode, Bayo is joined by artist, writer, mindfulness practitioner, facilitator, and emerging filmmaker Damali Robertson as they explore postactivism and how this concept, which is so imbued with possibility and creativity, can be supportive of pathways to healing. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on March 14th, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is a

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes (see below) properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Writer and somatic facilitator Abigail Rose Clarke reminds us that truly meaningful embodiment practices nurture our relationships among self, nature, and community. In her latest book, Returning Home to Our Bodies, Abigail offers guidance for harnessing the vitality of curiosity and experimentation, accessing nature as a path to possibility, embracing the necessity of difference, exposing the lie of universal isolation, uncovering the truth of endless capacity, and exploring awe as a driving force for transformation. * In this episode, Abigail is joined by second generation astrologer, intuitive, somatic educator and practitioner Renee Sills in a conversation that imagines a world beyond systems of domination, marginalization, and isolation to nurture embodied, whole-community liberation. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on March 6th, 20

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes (see below) properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator who works within the complexity of systems and cultural change. In his most recent book, Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma, Thomas examines how our world’s profoundly complex challenges demand a new level of human collaboration. * In this episode, Thomas is joined by CIIS faculty Drew Dellinger for an empowering conversation on healing our world through understanding our interconnectedness and healing our individual, ancestral, and cultural trauma. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on February 29th, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is available at ciispod.com. To find out more about CIIS and public programs like this one, visit our website ciis.edu and connect with us on social media @ciispubpro

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes (see below) properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * African-centered scholars often point to mindfulness and meditation as important practices for those of African ancestry to tend to their inner landscapes and heal from the harm of systemic and internalized oppression. For Jenée Johnson, the Founder and Curator of The Right Within Experience, a mindfulness immersion program for people of African ancestry, mindfulness is a tool to cultivate a liberatory lifestyle of joy and well-being. These are the human rights and exalted emotions that are eroded in Black lives through consistent exposure to the trauma of racism. * In this episode, Jenée is joined by filmmaker and activist Shakti Butler for a powerful conversation exploring mindfulness as a tool for Black Americans to reclaim joy, self-love, and well-being. * This episode was recorded during an in-person and live streamed event at California Institute of Int

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes (see below) properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * The I Ching, also known as The Book of Changes, is a 3000-year-old Chinese divination text. Many use the I Ching as a tool for life guidance, spiritual practice, and ancestral connection. It is a revelation of metaphysical philosophy, epistemology, and ethics, as well as a book of occult secrets. * In this episode, celebrated occultist and scholar Benebell Wen is joined by certified professional tarot reader, creator, and author T. Susan Chang for an illuminating conversation on Benebell’s historic new translation and annotations of the I Ching which brings the power and mysticism of The Book of Changes to our contemporary world. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on February 15th, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is available at ciispod.com. To find out more about CIIS and public program

Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes (see below) properly, so we have included a list of links at the end of this description. * The seasons and cycles of nature have incredible power to affect everything in our lives—including our creativity. Author and poet Jacqueline Suskin’s latest book, A Year in Practice, is a seasonal guide for creative seekers offering holistic practices to find clarity, activate hope, and honor nature all year long. * In this episode, Jacqueline is joined by expressive arts therapist and CIIS Counseling Psychology programs professor Jenna Robinson in a conversation about how to explore and fortify your creative practice by accessing guidance provided by the rhythms of nature. * This episode was recorded during a live online event on January 31st, 2024. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is available at ciispod.com. To find out more about CIIS and public programs like this one, visit our website ciis.edu and connect