Soul Portals: Exploring Psychospiritual Horizons

The Role of Tibetan Yoga in Integrative Medicine, hosted by Cedric Speyer and DeeAnna Nagel, in conversation with Alejandro Chaoul.While yoga has become a common practice for health and wellbeing, the ancient tools of Tibetan yoga remained secret for centuries. Translated as "magical movements," Tibetan yoga can improve physical strength and support positive emotional and mental health, healing the body-energy-mind system with a full sense of awareness and harmony. Alejandro Chaoul shares his experiences of daily practice in different settings and cultures, with a focus on simplicity, accessibility, and ease for real-world lifestyles. As well as sharing his personal journey, he offers a contextual understanding of the history and lineage of Tibetan yoga, especially now that practices linking spirituality and healing have been introduced to universities, hospitals, mental health centers, and holistic clinical training programs.This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

The Profound Practice of Gratitude, hosted by Cedric Speyer and DeeAnna Nagel, in conversation with Jo EnglessonWe welcome in the New Year along with a Soul Portals guest whose leadership upholds the core values of connection, gratitude, and joy. The cornerstone of her practice is gratitude — not just as a feeling, but as a psychospiritual pathway that can regulate our nervous system, reorganize perception, and restore personal agency, even in the middle of emotionally charged intensity. Since perception shapes experience, the practice of gratitude is integral to emotional intelligence, which in turn supports the collective need for emotional and spiritual maturity. As moral chaos gains ground, the ego’s usual moorings give way. Our ego’s need to be right, stay safe, look good, or be in control, becomes the dominant strategy, obscuring our innate power to create. In this episode, we will hear more about the potential for personal and collective transformation, especially in the context of LGAT (Large Group Awareness Training).The Gratitude Challenge https://tinyurl.com/rpbax7zuBOOK | Source Movement - Jo EnglessonWebsite | https://www.awakenwithgratitude.com/This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

Crossing the Bridge Between Rationality and Religion, hosted by Cedric Speyer and DeeAnna Nagel, in conversation with Kyriacos C. MarkidesOur December guest is a renowned author of books with fascinating firsthand accounts of Christian mysticism within the Orthodox tradition. Originally a sociology professor, Markides’ own journey led from academic agnosticism and skepticism to faith and spiritual practice. His personal field research and observations over thirty years included living with Christian mystics, hermits, and saints. In this episode, we take a closer look at our collective crossroads; a critical point in evolutionary history when the rational, mechanistic model can no longer be sustained, yet a new vision of reality has not fully emerged. Beyond the breakdown of social structures and the rise of entrenched fundamentalist reactions, the best of science and the best of religious wisdom traditions can converge, leading to integral, holistic breakthroughs. Scientific studies related to death itself, the evidence on nonlocality of mind, and shamanic states of consciousness, all contribute to bridging the gap between science and spirituality.First trilogy:1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16287.The_Magus_of_Strovolos2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16295.Homage_to_the_Sun3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/132642.Fire_in_the_HeartSecond trilogy:1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82989.The_Mountain_of_Silence2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/433860.Gifts_of_the_Desert3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12748357-inner-riverRelated website: https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/7030/riding-with-the-lionThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

Cultivating Embodied Spirituality: Being Fully Human, hosted by Cedric Speyer and DeeAnna Nagel, in conversation with Austyn WellsIt is a truism for those ‘on the path’ that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. We are not a body with a soul; we are an eternal soul, an infinite Self, inhabiting a temporary body. Yet we find ourselves at an ‘in-between’ position in relation to this earthly experience, navigating life/death, heaven/earth, inner/outer, seen/unseen. As a spiritual medium and ‘soul gardener’, our November Soul Portals guest guides spiritual seekers in the process of uniting the dichotomies of worldly life, nurturing their intuition, reclaiming their whole heart, and communing with the divine. In this episode, we will explore how grief counseling, spirit communication, hypnotherapy and regression, indigenous medicine, shamanism, and energy exercises, all contribute to aligning everyday life with one’s deepest soul-based wisdom.Podcast-related book | https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38744765-soul-conversationsWebsite | https://austynwells.com/Drama Triangle Resource | https://karpmandramatriangle.com/dt_article_only.htmlThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

Payback Mentality or Peace of Mind: Beyond Retaliation, hosted by Cedric Speyer and DeeAnna Nagel, in conversation with David RichoOur October guest has explored many aspects of psychospiritual development with integrative mastery. He draws on Christian and Buddhist teachings, Jungian psychology, wisdom traditions, and years of therapeutic expertise, applying psychological and spiritual principles to ground level human challenges. In this episode of Soul Portals, we get to know more about David Richo’s own journey and take a close look at the subject of his upcoming book: alternatives to retaliation in personal relationships. The dynamics of a ‘tit-for-tat’ attitude are offset by the kind of self-awareness and skillful means it takes to practice emotionally nonviolent ways of handling disputes, offenses, and personal hurts.Podcast-related book | Books | Dave RichoWebsite | www.davericho.comHo’oponopono Prayer https://www.inwardboundnetwork.com/meditation-blog/hooponoponoDeeAnna's Blog post (referred to in the podcast) The Soul I Know: Pure, Whole, and Ever-AwareThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

What can therapists learn about cultural humility by listening to the lived experience of global workers? In this conversation, we explore the evolving landscape of global mission work — where building relationships takes precedence over exercising influence, and mutuality replaces hierarchy. Our guests coach global workers through all the challenges and transitions involved. The Benson’s own story offers us a model of cultural humility. How do we as helping professionals accompany others from different cultures with their prevailing world views? What are some of the cultural barriers and bridges? Our guests represent ‘best practices’ in transmitting their values with a high degree of cross-cultural sensitivity.Ken & Carolyn Benson Website | www.missionprep.ca | www.more.outreach.caThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

The Enneagram is a widely used, multi-dimensional therapeutic tool revealing the core issues of nine different personality types. Yet beyond the typologies pertaining to increased self-awareness, it is a path of self-knowledge highlighting what matters most on an authentic psychospiritual journey. In this episode of Soul Portals, we will explore the inner territory of soul growth with a view to the Enneagram roots of specific deep-seated identifications. Since “every problem contains the seed of its own solution”, each type’s ‘fixation’ also holds the potential for the emergence of one’s essential nature or ‘true self’.Podcast-related book | The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up: Find Your Path, Face Your Shadow, Discover Your True SelfWebsite | www.cpenneagram.comYouTube | Chestnut Paes Enneagram AcademyInstagram | cpenneagramFacebook | Chestnut Paes Enneagram AcademyThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

Our June Soul Portals guest is the author of The Psychology of Spirituality, which is a comprehensive exploration of the interface between the two domains, that in turn informs best practices. Spiritually integrated practitioners seek to explore the ways in which spirituality, religion, and the search for meaning influence their own lives and the lives of their clients. It is based on the premise that a sense of the sacred has always been a primary attribute of human nature and a major positive force in the lives of many people. Spirituality is therefore fully woven into human experience and is part of the therapeutic process whether we attend to it or not. It represents the quest for the transcendent and the deeply human desire to experience something of ultimate value.This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

In our last Soul Portals episode, we investigated how individual therapy gains a much broader scope when the existential and philosophical issues we all grapple with are included in the process. This month we welcome a guest whose healing practices actively link our inner wisdom and intuition with the needs of collective consciousness and global evolution. We will find out how Kate, as a multi-modal intuitive guide, tends to the soul retrieval of ancestral lineages, while aligning personal therapeutic growth with what’s essential for the soul work of the world at large.This Podcast is sponsored by OnlineventsKate GrahamWebsite: http://www.heartsfrontier.com/Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/shamanicoraclekate

In this episode of Soul Portals, we are honoured to have a guest steeped in existential psychology who understands that the walls of the therapy room cannot just contain case histoires and ‘evidence based’ clinical interventions. Emmy van Deurzen has helped expand the scope of individual practice by reuniting the therapeutic quest with perennial concerns of humankind. Our current global crises obviously need ‘treatment’ as much as any individual might. Social, political, moral, and spiritual issues are embedded if not embodied in the client’s personhood. Emmy being no exception, shares how she has not kept her personal history and emotional life apart from the professional domain. The paradoxes, dilemmas, and dichotomies of life are common to us all (e.g. solitude/companionship, safety/adventure, stability/change). Our podcast conversation will explore how personal struggles and collective pathfinding on a troubled planet are inextricably woven together in this very human journey we all share.This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

Our March ’25 Soul Portals guest views Qigong energy practices and his musical vocation as intertwined spiritual paths. In this episode we will explore how Qigong can inform the healing arts, specifically in the context of Hua Gong (the style of Qigong that Loz Speyer practices, as a proponent of that school and lineage). Part of the podcast interaction will be experiential – a short participatory exercise for attendees.Hua Gong is an artistic style of Qigong focusing on health and spiritual development. The practiceawakens and cultivates the vital subtle energy or Qi (Chi), which opens a flow of Qi through the body and surrounding energy field and can have profound benefits for health and well-being.For Loz, finding Hua Gong opened up a way forward - further elucidated in his compositions for improvisers based on the Five Animals Qigong forms – and lately in a series of workshops combining Qigong and improvised music, using sonic and rhythmic exercises that do not require prior musical training. The two practices combine to guide the group in attuning to the collective energy field.Loz at Centreline Qigong: https://www.facebook.com/CentrelineQigongHua Gong school: http://chineseheritage.co.uk/“Five Animal Dances” by Inner Space: https://spherical-records.bandcamp.com/album/five-animal-dancesWebsite: https://www.lozspeyer.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CentrelineQigongThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

With Valentine’s Day (and all the mixed feelings it may bring) following our February episode of Soul Portals by a couple of days, we welcome Malcolm Stern, the author of Falling in Love, Staying in Love: How to Build a Strong, Lasting Relationship. When relationship is viewed as a vehicle for soul growth individually and spiritual evolution collectively, it changes the way we approach the complex dynamics of intimate partnerships.A spiritual relationship moves through stages of togetherness, yet at the same time it is an ongoing process of individuation. It also requires a shared vision or transcendent faith to support it, beyond the negotiation of ego needs. Taking responsibility for one’s own shadow and its projections is essential. Given enough self-awareness, trust and transparency, “There is no better guru on the planet than our partner when we have embraced the spiritual purpose of our relationship.” (Paul Ferrini)This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

Our New Year guest, Casey Muze, adds another element to wellness practices such as meditation, mindful movement, prayer, or immersion in nature. Hand drumming is a creative practice promoting resilience, emotional balance, and personal growth. It also offers a multitude of social and psychospiritual benefits, especially when viewed through the lens of bilateral theory. Casey uses drumming for early childhood education, neurodivergent clients, elderly individuals with dementia, and those with social or developmental hindrances. In this episode of Soul Portals, we will explore how incorporating bilateral stimulation supports social, emotional, and holistic health needs. Hand drumming has been a powerful tool in Casey’s own journey, which led to his wider vocation connecting with a collective audience around the world as a motivational speaker.Website: TRAP - Learning: https://traplearning.org/ | https://caseymuze.com/ Holistic Mental Health, Vol 2, Casey's Chapter: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211437560-holistic-mental-healthThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

Good people of privilege are increasingly aware of racial injustice but are often unsure how to venture into challenging dialogues and spaces, and even afraid to ‘go there’. In this episode of Soul Portals, we explore how to value risk-taking in this domain as the path toward a more equitable and just world. The experiences of our guest Rev. Teri McDowell Ott – including learning, teaching, leading, following, going, and staying – have informed her work with diverse populations as the chaplain of a liberal arts college and as a volunteer in a men's state prison. The vocational challenge, including mistakes in often tense settings, has forced her to confront and wrestle with the systems and structures that have privileged her as a white Christian woman. With humility, she relates how her risk-taking has led to profound changes in herself and her community.Website | www.terimcdowellott.comBook | Books - Teri McDowell Ott | Necessary Risks: Challenges Privileged People Need to Face by Teri McDowell Ott | GoodreadsReview | Necessary Risks: Challenges Privileged People Need to Face - The Presbyterian OutlookNewsletter | Encouraging Courage | Teri Ott | SubstackYouTube | BookTALK with Teri Ott: Necessary RisksFacebook | Teri McDowell OttThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

In this episode of Soul Portals, we expand the standard view of cancer care to include new approaches derived from integral psychology models. Our guest, Georgia Efremova, is a pioneer in the field of holistically informed cancer care, bringing psychospiritual support and consciousness skills to the discipline of psycho-oncology. She also works with communities nurturing social cohesion and belonging as essential aspects of global healing as well as personal restorative paths. Based on her own lived experience and research, Georgia believes deep intentional healing requires broader support and conditions than current clinical modalities provide. Her practice is grounded in healing circles and assisted by several complementary modalities. Join us to explore how illness can serve as an initiation to personal and collective healing, by recovering and meeting deep emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs.Georgia Efremova Website | gergina.org/ | healingcirclesglobal.org/This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents 

Our October guest, Gary Lachman, has extensively researched the (secret) history of consciousness – what we take for granted when facing psychotherapy clients – that most of us have a self-referenced inner life to explore in relation to outer circumstances. Yet our present state of self-awareness has fascinating pre-rational antecedents and post-rational potential coming into view on the evolutionary horizon. The inner world of persons is unfathomable based solely on psychobiology and a strictly clinical or scientific point of view. There are radically different modes of being in the world which came before us and will come afterwards. We will delve into all this in what is bound to be an intriguing episode of Soul Portals.Gary Lachman Website: www.gary-lachman.com/ This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents 

In a culture that has marginalized its indigenous origins, we are seeing the return of the ‘medicine man’ (and woman). Our September guest is one of these, experienced with plant medicine as a catalyst for the psychospiritual journey. His own journey serves as a model for recovering the meaning of our personal lives, as collectively rooted in ancestral wisdom. “In the West, you may feel successful if you are famous, rich, or good-looking. But aboriginal people do not feel completely successful until their relationships are in order, until their community is well.” – Arnold Mindell (The Shaman’s Body). Michael is dedicated to that wellness in his role seeding soul growth, serving spiritual awakening, and elevating the collective.Books:The Way of the Shamanhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/691034.The_Way_of_the_ShamanThe Four Agreementshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6596.The_Four_AgreementsPower vs Forcehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19795.Power_vs_ForceA Course in Miracleshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/173673.A_Course_in_MiraclesMichael VandenbergWebsite | https://highvibemike.com/Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/highvibemike/HighVibeMike Community Portal | https://nas.io/highvibemikeThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents 

Our July guest is a family doctor with a special interest in counselling. A person-centred approach in his own practice formed the foundation for teaching medical students and supervising counsellors. He views patients as persons first and listens closely for the often-inspiring life stories embedded in clinical case histories. By valuing the many elements of what is life-giving for a person, physicians and other helping professionals are not limited to seeing patients through the lens of diagnosis or chronic medical conditions.Case histories are reframed as life stories having re-motivational value. In John’s own words from the InnerView Guidance textbook, “People come to doctors with life stories, cultural contexts, generational legacies, and strengths of character, all of which make clinical diagnosis just one part of the complete picture.” Dr. Yaphe is a forerunner in the de-pathologizing approach applied to medical settings, which includes ‘what the soul wants’ and its expression in art, myth, religion, spirituality, and the universal quest for meaning.Books:Applications of a Psychospiritual Model in The Helping Professions: Principles of InnerView Guidance by Cedric Speyer & John Yaphehttps://www.innerviewguidance.com/textbookCase Studies in Spiritual Coaching: A Survey Across Life, Wellness, and Work Domains by DeeAnna Merz Nagel, Madison Leigh Akridge (this book has several chapters by Cedric Speyer, John Yaphe & DeeAnna Nagel)https://www.ccthomas.com/details.cfm?P_ISBN13=9780398094201Courses based on a psychospiritual approach and featuring the aforementioned books: https://www.innerviewguidance.com/course-1This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents 

Our June guest brings a wide array of holistic practices to the realm of mental health. She is on a mission is to inspire the complete empowerment of persons in body-mind-spirit. To do so, Laura guides clients through all phases of core-level, soul-aligned healing, allowing their full potential to be achieved, both personally and professionally. Her personal journey and vocational path have led to a comprehensive book series covering holistic, alternative approaches to mental health, truly enriching the collective.As a leader in the holistic field, Laura rounded up healers of all kinds for Volume 2 of the series. In Laura’s own words, "You are meant to acknowledge both the dark and light aspects of who you are, witnessing without judgment, and welcoming all forms of energy moving through you with understanding and patience. Ultimately, disease is the culmination of several iterations of dismissing or trying to get rid of things we perceive as negative or uncomfortable. This book [and podcast episode] is here to change that narrative."Website: https://www.theakashictherapist.com/ Book: Holistic Mental Health: Calm, Clear, and In Control for the Rest of Your Life, Volume 2This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents

This month we welcome Ruth Saphir as our guest, who as a professional musician, songwriter, and seasoned music therapist, has delved deeply into the healing qualities of her art form. We all know what a favourite song can evoke, the way it resonates in our hearts and touches our souls. Like the tradition of the Aboriginal songlines, which provide inherited guidance for travellers to reach their destinations, Ruth helps clients hear the harmonies within and then attune to outer circumstances accordingly. We will explore how her own psychospiritual sensitivity to music is transmitted for the therapeutic benefit of others.“I listen deeply to the inner ear located above my navel, located at my heart centre, located as a shell around my torso - so many unseen ways of listening. I delve into that navel ear, the big elephant ear, large enough to receive words and melodies. Notes and lyrics sparkle like the stillness of a clear lake. The river flows in me. The music is me.” ~ Ruth SaphirWebsite: https://www.ruthsaphir.com/This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents 

With the Jewish holiday of Passover pending, we welcome Arthur Kurzweil as our guest, who as an author, educator, mentor, and publisher has inspired many to explore the profound moral roots and numinous mystical truths of Jewish tradition. In this episode of Soul Portals, we explore the story of Passover as analogous to the personal transformational journey from inordinate ego attachments to the summons of true interior freedom. What does the ancient story of a people’s liberation and destiny say about our own story of expansive soul growth?In Hebrew, Egypt is called Mitzrayim. According to the text on Jewish mysticism, the Zohar, the name is derived from m’tzarim, meaning narrow straits. We all know what it’s like to live in our own mitzrayim, in contracted states of dysfunctional patterns, repetition compulsions, and addictive escapes. Those forms of psychospiritual slavery offer the familiarity of recycled suffering. Yet like the Jews reluctantly led out of Egypt by the promise of a redemptive and spiritually fulfilled life, a client in therapy for example, holds the hope of possibilities beyond self-imposed constraints. Even under the most severe circumstances, in times of unrelenting hardship and spiritual darkness, there is something in the holy human spirit that seeks the way of “mastering circumstances, instead of being mastered by them” (Rabbi Sholom Brodt, OBM).Website | https://arthurkurzweil.com/Books:On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz: 25 Years of Pre-Dawn Car Trips, Mind-Blowing Encounters, and Inspiring Conversations with a Man of WisdomThe Torah for Dummies Kabbalah for DummiesThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents 

Writing coach and spiritual guide Gay Edelman helps clients ‘compose themselves’ in writing. When imaginative touchstones are elicited and shared, it is a wonderful opportunity to move from dry clinical ground to the fertile soil of soul work. In this episode Gay describes how she is a midwife for the soul, by fostering the cross-fertilization of writing and spiritual self-awareness. Therapeutic insight will always have its place in coaching, counselling, and spiritual guidance. However, elements usually associated with literary creativity can make the difference between a clinical case history and a vibrant life story. It is often idioms, metaphors, analogies, and archetypes, which serve to make healing sessions of all kinds truly life-giving, and the writing process itself a journey of soul growth. This is how Gay works with the whole person, by allowing dynamics of the writing process and explorations on the spiritual journey, to converge. Are you in the helping professions? Pay a small fee and receive CPD (clock hour certificate) for this event:  https://www.courses-onlinevents.co.uk/courses/writing-as-spiritual-practiceGuidelines for Stuck Writers offered freely with proper attribution to Gay Edelman: https://deeannamerznagel.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Edelman.Guidelines-for-Stuck-Writers.pdfWriting tips: coachgay.com  Inspirational blog: gayedelman.comProject Write Now: https://projectwritenow.org/  Books: The Hungry Ghost: How I ditched 100 pounds and came fully aliveCase Studies in Spiritual Coaching: A Survey Across Life, Wellness, and Work DomainsThis Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents 

With February’s episode of Soul Portals taking place on Valentine’s Day, we look closely at what makes love a psychospiritual practice.Our guests Nico Canon, relationship coach and best-selling author of Grace (2023), with his wife Anastasiia Tumanova, share how their deeply intentional intimate relating is a catalyst for personal transformation.If romance is about being recognized in our essence, the new paradigm of evolutionary love is about the soul work and skillful means it takes to be portals of full presence for each other (both as window and mirror). As someone once quipped, that allows us “to bring more self to the party."Episode ResourcesBook: GRACE: A Practical, NO-BULLSH*T journey from Pain to PurposeNicolas Canon website: https://nicocanon.com/Instagram: http://instagram.com/nicocanon_/Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nicolas.canon.garayYouTube: Nico Canon https://www.youtube.com/@AyahuascaRetreatAre you in the helping professions? Pay a small fee and receive CPD (clock hour certificate) for this event:  Practicing Conscious Companionship (courses-onlinevents.co.uk)Produced By https://www.onlinevents.co.uk

In this inaugural episode of Soul Portals, we are in round table conversation with guests Michelo Delmonte and Maeve Halpin, authors of Evolution and Consciousness: From a Barren Rocky Earth to Artists, Philosophers, Meditators and Psychotherapists. As the title suggests, Delmonte and Halpin’s book has a wide scope, encompassing both humankind’s evolutionary journey and its parallel in the layered stages of individual development. We approach that big picture theme by inviting Michelo and Maeve to share how it’s been  ‘a path with heart’ for themselves, dovetailing with their professional practices. In this episode we also touch upon how mindful and meditative practices can complement psychotherapy. The depth and breadth of the research our guests have done has profound implications for the healing arts and all consciousness-raising art forms and practices.To order the book: https://maeve-halpin.com/books/Produced By https://www.onlinevents.co.ukAre you in the helping professions? Pay a small fee and receive CPD (clock hour certificate) for this event:  Practicing Conscious Companionship (courses-onlinevents.co.uk)