by Michael Wally and Nikolas Haag
How to connect to your higher self & escape the matrix. Two software engineers deconstruct together what they learned about spirituality, non-duality and the human experience. We explore to sharpen our awareness, make life more enjoyable, be little kinder, become more authentic, less reactive, more present & ultimately expand our consciousness. For Feedback & Inquiries: expanding.consciousness.podcast@gmail.com
Language
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Publishing Since
12/9/2023
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June 17, 2026
<p>Coming from opposite directions — Nikolas from a hard-science skepticism of anything "woo," Michael from a spiritual high horse that looked down on psychology — the two meet in the middle to ask a deceptively simple question: are spirituality and psychology compatible, complementary, or fundamentally at odds?</p><p>The conversation moves from spiritual bypassing and hitting plateaus on the meditation cushion, to how psychology's "third wave" (mindfulness, DBT, ACT) quietly absorbed Eastern practice, to the existential terrain — death, meaning, and the fear of the void — where they argue psychology alone may run out of road. From there they get into the harder questions: the risks of untrained spiritual and psychedelic facilitation, safety and trauma-informed containers, the clinicalization of plant medicine, and a genuinely contested back-and-forth on cultural appropriation, decolonization, and what (if anything) gets lost when an indigenous practice becomes a Western framework.</p><p>A wide-ranging, exploratory dialogue for anyone interested in the meeting point of inner work, psychedelics, mental health, and the existential questions that neither science nor spirituality answers cleanly on its own.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Timestamps</p><p>00:00 Intro</p><p>00:41 Are spirituality and psychology compatible?</p><p>01:40 Two opposite starting points & plant medicine opening the lid</p><p>02:57 From engineering to spirituality and back to psychology</p><p>04:10 Carl Rogers, unconditional positive regard & Ram Dass</p><p>05:08 The third wave: CBT, mindfulness, DBT & Eastern roots</p><p>07:05 12-step programs, surrender & shedding the ego</p><p>08:25 Where psychology hits its limits: existential questions</p><p>09:49 Death through a Western lens vs. a spiritual lens</p><p>13:21 Is death just the end? Consciousness, matter & the void</p><p>14:45 "Die before you die" & the West's troubled relationship with death</p><p>16:57 Plant medicine, joy, and the patterns it revealed</p><p>18:50 What psychology brings: precision, containment & safety</p><p>21:42 Safety in spiritual ceremony & the trauma-informed gap</p><p>24:47 Liberty vs. risk: psychosis, cannabis & applying caution</p><p>27:11 Clinicalization of plant medicine — losing the sacred?</p><p>28:41 Appropriation, decolonization & "letting it change you"</p><p>31:19 Strains, spirits, the entourage effect & synthesized compounds</p><p>33:47 Does context make it the same experience? Set, setting & safety</p><p>36:22 Clinical rooms vs. cozy containers & the MAPS tension</p><p>40:46 Mindfulness, John Kabat-Zinn & where appropriation begins</p><p>42:54 You can't monopolize spirituality</p><p>44:29 Suffering as the doorway to both paths</p><p>45:48 Michael Singer's "Wisdom Untethered" & closing thoughts</p>
June 14, 2026
<p>In this episode, Nikolas and Michael unpack Focusing, the therapeutic method developed by philosopher and psychologist Eugene Gendlin out of his research with Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy. What began as an attempt to isolate why some therapy sessions succeed and others fail became a powerful practice that has sold half a million copies and helped bridge the gap between the talk-therapy era and today's somatic approaches.</p><p>At the heart of the conversation is the "felt sense" — that nebulous, hard-to-pin-down space between sensation and emotion where we actually make meaning. The two explore how to get in touch with it, why we resist uncomfortable experiences and store them in the body, and how meaning follows experience rather than leading it. Along the way they walk through the six steps of Focusing, compare it to EMDR and Somatic Experiencing, and dig into a bigger question: what does it actually mean to be wounded, and what does it mean to heal?</p><p>A thoughtful, exploratory conversation for anyone interested in somatic psychology, trauma processing, and the body's natural capacity to unwind itself — no re-traumatization required.</p><p><br></p><p>Peter Levine clip mentioned in the episode:</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdUnCj05RMs</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Timestamps</p><p>00:00 Introduction</p><p>00:41 What is Focusing & its origins with Carl Rogers</p><p>03:05 The felt sense explained — between sensation and emotion</p><p>06:35 Walking through an example of the felt sense</p><p>08:23 The felt shift & why you don't compartmentalize the experience</p><p>10:58 Meaning follows experience (not the other way around)</p><p>13:12 Body awareness, somatic unfolding & the body's wisdom</p><p>15:53 How experiences get stored: overwhelm, dissociation & programming</p><p>17:49 Why we reject experiences & store them in the body</p><p>20:20 Overload, childhood & falling back to primitive responses</p><p>21:48 Re-experiencing the "residue" without reliving the story</p><p>23:38 Why resistance exists: aversion to discomfort & habit</p><p>25:29 The six steps of Focusing (creating space, felt sense, handle, resonate, ask)</p><p>30:48 Comparing Focusing to EMDR & Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing</p><p>34:43 Is trauma processing the same across modalities?</p><p>36:16 What does it mean to be wounded and to heal?</p><p>40:37 Updating a 1970s framework for modern somatic psychology</p><p>42:44 Habits as identity & the disorientation of change</p><p>45:02 Attitude, intrinsic motivation & creating your own suffering</p><p>47:31 Closing thoughts</p>
May 23, 2026
<p>The 5 C's:</p><p>https://instituteofspiritualhealing.com/5c/</p><p><br></p><p>Sufism Foundations Course:</p><p>https://instituteofspiritualhealing.com/foundations-sh/</p><p><br></p><p>Salima Adelstein is a Sufi spiritual guide and emotional healer with 35 years of experience accessing the deeper layers of the heart. After 25 years on a different spiritual path that included meditation and time in India, an unexpected encounter with a Sufi master in New Mexico shifted everything for her. In this conversation she walks us through the core of Sufism: the heart-mind connection, the three inner voices (the ego/nafs, the negative outside voice, and the voice of the divine), the practice of remembrance (dhikr), forgiveness and mercy, ego annihilation, and surrender. We talk about how Sufism strips away the hidden "pictures in the heart" we carry from childhood and ancestry, why peace has to start in your own heart before it can radiate outward, and what a daily practice actually looks like. A grounded conversation for anyone curious about how a heart-centered tradition meets ordinary life.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>0:00 Intro</p><p>0:41 Introduction to Sufism and Salima's Journey</p><p>8:12 The Heart-Mind Connection in Sufism</p><p>13:43 Navigating Inner Voices and Discernment</p><p>18:55 The Role of Forgiveness and Mercy</p><p>26:24 Annihilation of the Ego and Surrender</p><p>34:22 Living from an Open Heart</p><p>37:29 Practical Steps in Sufism<br></p>
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How to connect to your higher self & escape the matrix.
Two software engineers deconstruct together what they learned about spirituality, non-duality and the human experience. We explore to sharpen our awareness, make life more enjoyable, be little kinder, become more authentic, less reactive, more present & ultimately expand our consciousness.
For Feedback & Inquiries: expanding.consciousness.podcast@gmail.com
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