Beneath the noise of harrowing headlines and persistent propaganda, I suspect there’s a deeper movement growing: people remembering their collective power, refusing erasure, refusing silence and, choosing instead to tell their stories.
My guest today is Rolla Selbak — a Palestinian-American filmmaker and storyteller whose work is rooted in resistance, solidarity, and the imagination of freedom.
After her previous award-winning films like Choke and Three Veils, Rolla now leads the initiative Safina Filmmaker Project — born of the idea that storytelling is a shared voyage: “safina” in Arabic means “ship” or “boat,” reminding us that we are travelling together, literally passing through seas of shifting narrative.
In our conversation we talk about the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and what it means to make art inside the machinery of empire. We talk about labor unions, the power of collective strikes, and how solidarity itself becomes a form of storytelling.
We explore the links between the surveillance of Palestinians and the illegal detainments and deportations of people at home on U.S. soil — and the quiet, terrifying role that tech companies like Palantir play in both.
We talk about the No Kings Protest, Chris Smalls, The Disarm Genocide Rally and whether we can successfully organize and withhold our labor before AI finds a way to replace us. I really enjoyed this talk and think you will too.
You can find Rolla and information about her films on her website at https://www.rollaselbak.com or https://www.safinafilmmakerproject.com/
You can find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/rollaselbak
There’s also her exciting upcoming social thriller called The Visitor.
It’s set in Jerusalem where a demon begins erasing the memories of the communities and families and friends in the town around a young Palestinian man. Described as the Palestinian Get Out, the film depicts dark satirical horror through fantastical Palestinian folklore.
Please check out thevisitormovie.com to learn more or support the film.
This week we’re passing through with the lovely Grace Rachmany where we’ll take a look at the relational, emotional, and ecological connective tissue that binds us to every living thing on this planet.
Grace is a field representative dedicating her energy toward addressing the metacrisis. She’s a pioneering thinker, writer, consultant and coder whose work bridges decentralized technology, digital democracy, governance, and new forms of economy.
But her work extends beyond the world of code and contracts and asks deep questions about what it means to be human amidst a collapsing civilization. I first met Grace earlier this year, in Hungary, during the Global Eco-village Network Gathering where she spoke about bioregionalism. I loved her spirit and sense of humor and I was really excited to sit down with her again and have some time to talk.
Grace is passionate about promoting the vision of a world where everyone has a say in the decisions that affect their lives. She’s also the founder of Voice of Humanity:
“Voice of Humanity creates systems of collaboration, governance and currency design, and reconstruction of human economic systems with the goal of creating a world in which humans live in harmony with one another and with the natural systems of planet earth.”
So as you might imagine, Grace is a great guest for the types of things this podcast is interested in investigating.
In our discussion we talk about grief, the hard work of composting, bioregionalism, the components of our human infrastructure, governance and membership systems, right speech and the nature of truth, the archetype of the joker, the No Kings protests, harm reduction, working with your neighbors, bridging differences, and a bunch of other good stuff.
I loved this conversation with Grace, and found it hard to stop speaking with her even after we stopped recording. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!
You can find Grace and learn more about her and the many different branches of her work on her website at https://gracerachmany.com.
You can learn more about her other work here:
https://www.voiceofhumanity.one
https://sideways.earth
https://www.daoleadership.com
https://github.com/GraceRachmany
https://ganglysister.com
This week I'm passing through Berlin, Germany!
Back in September my partner and I attended a 5-day training in Portugal, on Peace Building. Since then I've been meaning to record an episode about the experience and discuss the topics we explored.
As you might imagine, distilling five days of training down to less than 60-minutes means I won't be able to cover everything we learned about, but I will talk a bit about peace, conflict, and a tool called Non-Violent Communication.
So sit down, get comfortable, and soak the peace of this episode in through all of your chakras, especially your root chakra.
If you want to read more about Non-Violent Communication you can check out the Wikipedia page here, or read Marshall Rosenberg's book Non-Violent Communication.
If you'd like to learn more about The Waking Life festival or some of the partner organizations responsible for the training, you can visit their websites below:
This week, Josh Schrei is Passing Through!
Josh is the creator and host of The Emerald Podcast — one of my own personal favorite podcasts. Josh isn’t just an educator, storyteller, music-maker, writer and pioneer in the field: in terms of podcasting he’s one of the best to ever do it.
If you’re curious about spirituality, Buddhism, the collision of Western consciousness with eastern animist cosmologies, practical practices for orienting your mind with the land, loving kindness (Metta) as an animist force strong enough to halt charging elephants, bardic visions of the storyteller, rhythms as living entities, the sonic nature of the universe, Little Richard, ODB, festival culture and Burning Man, or creating a collective field where group alchemy can take place...then this episode is for you.
This was a watermelon of an episode and I hope you find it as juicy as I did!
Where to find Josh:
Consider taking one of Josh's courses:
https://www.themythicbody.com/courses/
You can find Josh's podcast, The Emerald, here:
https://open.spotify.com/show/1OwFblqZ7FIkLSW4rvbJEF
Support Josh via Patreon here:
https://patreon.com/theemeraldpodcast
References from this episode:
The Shamanic Bones of Zen by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
(Why Mindfulness Isn't Enough) - The Emerald
https://open.spotify.com/episode/64iID6pjaiESrb7ENob2y3
When Bread is no Longer Bread - The Emerald
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0spYA01c9BJiHTyWchk65q
Animism is Normative Consciousness - The Emerald
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5OpoIw1W9VuLddeum7v8l2
One of my personal favorites from the Emerald:
I Wish It Could Have Been Another Way
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1mKNMZwQN10PCenkAARClI
This week, Diarmuid Lyng is Passing Through!
Many of us simply speak. Others load their language up with love, respect, humor, humility, kindness, poetry and play. Today’s guest, Diarmuid Lyng, is one of the latter.
Diarmuid is an educator, former Wexford hurling captain, facilitator and lover of nature with a great passion for the Irish language. His work is rooted in a deep commitment to helping others find clarity, purpose, and connection in their lives, while ensuring Ireland’s cultural heritage continues to inspire and transform future generations.
In our conversation we of course talk about language, we talk about faith in the unfolding moment, working with the full-spectrum of our human emotions, creating sacred spaces where we can experience profound and magical moments of alignment with nature (and one another), facilitation, and space-holding. Near the end he shares a beautiful story about a recent event he held with singer Peia Luzzi, and ends with the imagery of a benevolent boatman guiding us toward better shores.
I really loved this talk and hope you do, too.
You can find Diarmuid on his website at https://www.diarmuidlyng.ie
If you’re in Ireland you can join him at an upcoming retreat. He’s got one this month, on October 24th–26th in Donegal, and another from December 12th–14th in Wicklow for Fathers & Sons.
You can learn more about those retreats at https://natureofman.ie.
In this episode I’m joined by someone whose life is steeped in sound: musician and creative, Dan Barracuda.
Dan is a passionate musician with a gift for peeling back the layers of music we thought we knew, offering illuminating breakdowns of classic songs that reveal their hidden textures and timeless beauty. He brings both heart and craft to his work, reminding us that music is not just entertainment, but a living language that speaks across generations. Together, we’ll step into that space where music becomes more than melody — where it becomes memory, meaning...magic.
In our conversation we dig into music and share stories, discuss artists and albums and songs that influenced us, the physicality of music, and the incredible wonder of the human ear.
This was a really special episode for me because it's the first time a guest has played music live on the show! I had a ton of fun talking with Dan. His enthusiasm is contagious. His passion is palpable. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!
I strongly advise you to find Dan on Instagram @danbarracuda
or on Spotify via the links below:
Danzón Brothers: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7EEnjayS533TLKuHxKayui?si=sQKwt-5ySveUVIXs9ywUhA
Barracuda Sound (Spanish Guitar): https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kh6kV95YvmhBPmbi2tIRU?si=6a4ak_NBQ9KLnLOL-tfCYA
Dan Barracuda: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/17oKlq2onDVkFWgD3VNxNe?si=2811e0e0fa454e84
A very incomplete list of the artists, albums and songs we spoke about in this episode:
Isolated Vocals for Gimme Shelter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilGVDgZj5mA&list=RDilGVDgZj5mA&start_radio=1
Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys
Time by Pink Floyd
Enter Sandman by Metallica
Nothing Else Matters by Metallica
Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin
Goin to California by Led Zeppelin
Ramble On by Led Zeppelin
Genesis
Phil Collins
Martha by Tom Waits
Spanish Boots Of Leather by Bob Dylan
Passenger by Deftones
Rage Against the Machine
The Beatles
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac
Schism by Tool
Lateralus by Tool
Astral Weeks by Van Morrison
In Rainbows by Radiohead
My Bloody Valentine
The Jesus and Mary Chain
This week Doctor Patricia June Vickers is Passing Through!
Dr Vickers is a poet, artist, writer and internationally respected psychotherapist specializing in trauma of first nation peoples. She is a member of the Eagle clan from the village of Gitxaala, British Columbia and carries a traditional name from her village as well as from the Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola, British Columbia.
Dr Vickers has completed trainings that include Spiritual Direction, Neurofeedback, Deep Brain Reorienting, Somatic Experiencing, and Compassionate Inquiry. She grounds her clinical service on traditional ceremonies and spiritual principles. She teaches spiritual transformation, healing trauma, the meaning of forgiveness, and unearthing layers to find the authentic self.
We talk about trauma, Indian Residential Schools, dominator mentality, the overlap between Christian teachings and native wisdom traditions, the supernatural, and the importance of respect, forgiveness, truth-telling and love as a pathway for keeping a clean heart.
You can find Patricia at her website:
https://www.patriciajunevickers.com
Or at her practice in support of healing:
https://www.ravenscallcanada.com/
You can also see her in the film The Eternal Song by Science And Non Duality
You can find her book here:
Singing to the Darkness
https://atlanticbooks.ca/stories/a-brief-excerpt-from-patricia-june-vickers-singing-to-the-darkness
Other Links:
Polyvagal Theory: Dr. Stephen Porges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec3AUMDjtKQ
Trauma Changes the brain: Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKWUmwxi1ZI&t=12s
On Incest: Dr. Christine Courtois
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6PAncTH8Nk
Incest as complex trauma: Dr. Christine Courtois
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzbx1UO6iWw
In this episode, the phantastic Gabriel Durham is Passing Through — for the second time!
Longtime listeners will remember Gabriel as the meticulously learned Buddhist meditator and martial artist from episode 24. Gabriel is now a dad and we teamed up for a discussion as part of an upcoming publication called Outside The Center, which explores the topic of non-duality.
In our conversation we talk about lots of P-words. We talk about polytheism, permanence and impermanence, pregnancy, parenting, paradox, and of course, passing.
I loved getting to speak with Gabriel again and hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did.
This week I'm passing through Lake Balaton, Hungary.
Join me for a brief sweaty ramble after the Global Eco-village Network Gathering, musings about being beset by a biblical swarm of midges, murmurating starlings, animacy, and whatever else I was talking about when I recorded this episode.
In loving memory of the one and only, Mitch the Midge.
Not all heroes wear capes.
In this episode, we go straight to the streets of central Gaza where I speak with Khalid Qadas: photographer, medical student, and humanitarian volunteer with the Gaza Soup Kitchen.
Khalid is heroic and unwaveringly human — full of hope, heart, and determination to help — even in the face of incredible loss and genocide.
Khalid moved from the United Arab Emirates to Gaza to study medicine only months before October 2023. Since then, he’s lost his home, his possessions, 45 kilos (that’s roughly 100lbs), and has witnessed countless tragedies. What struck me most about Khalid is his tenacity of spirit.
Speaking to me from the streets of Gaza, I could hear his smile.
In our conversation we talk about life in Gaza, the Gaza Soup Kitchen, how to feed people under a famine, not just the lack of food — but the lack of water, hygiene, medicine — and the urgent need for infant formula. We talk about the future, loss, and the difficulty of sitting with the pain.
You’ll hear some background noise during our talk. I think it’s still totally listenable and adds a certain atmosphere to our conversation, so please bear with the audio and listen to Khalid’s story.
You can find the Gaza Soup Kitchen on Instagram, or support them on their website. Both links are below:
https://www.instagram.com/gazasoupkitchen/
https://gazasoupkitchen.com
In times of genocide, when silence is complicity, some courageous people are stepping forward to take action, and empowering others to do the same.
This week, I had the honor of speaking with Ahmed Bashbash, a Palestinian developer using his skills to build tools that help people around the world take a stand against atrocity.
Ahmed is the creator of No Thanks, a free mobile app designed to support the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement: one of the most visible and effective non-violent civil resistance campaigns of the past two decades. The movement's goal is to pressure governments and corporations to end their complicity in Israel’s violations of international law by shifting public discourse, influencing corporate decisions, and isolating Israel diplomatically.
The No Thanks app lets users scan barcodes while shopping or search a database to see whether a company or product supports Israel — economically, militarily, through surveillance technology, government contracts, or by operating in illegal settlements, like Coca-Cola does. While many people know about brands like McDonald’s, Starbucks, or Microsoft, I was stunned to learn that even major German supermarket chains like Aldi, Lidl, and Edeka are on the list.
In our conversation, you’ll hear Ahmed’s story and the inspiration behind the app, the personal risks and threats he’s faced, the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, the ongoing failure of international law to protect human rights, and much more.
Please download this app to make more informed purchasing decisions.
You can find Ahmed on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/afb_1999/ or on Twitter at https://x.com/ahmedbashbash
You can find the No Thanks app on the Apple App Store here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/no-thanks-app/id6476206516
You can also find it on the Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bashsoftware.boycott&hl=en&pli=1
Follow No Thanks on Twitter at https://x.com/NoThanksBoycott
This week Manda Scott is Passing Through!
Manda is not only a bestselling author, podcaster and teacher, she’s a lovely and passionate human championing values like integrity, compassion, and generosity of spirit in a quest to envision the kinds of emergent futures we’d be proud to leave behind.
In our talk we explore the power of story, the myth of separability and powerlessness, the importance of coming together and creating spaces where we can be vulnerable, healing ourselves and the more-than-human-world, dreams, how to build better futures and a bunch more.
I absolutely loved this conversation and think you will too.
You can find Manda on her incredible podcast, Accidental Gods wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find her on her website, https://mandascott.co.uk. You can read one of her many books or attend one of her shamanic courses or gatherings listed on https://dreamingawake.co.uk.
Links
Manda Scott's website https://mandascott.co.uk
Accidental Gods website: https://accidentalgods.life
Thrutopia Masterclass: https://thrutopia.life
Narrative Ark: https://narrativeark.net
This week, the lovely Lydia Schamschula is Passing Through!
I had the privilege of meeting Lydia in April during my first experience with Holotropic breathwork.
She organizes and facilitates events with the team at Holotropic Breathwork Berlin, and has spent over a decade deepening her practice. Her background includes other modalities such as Zen and Osho meditation, Qigong, and yoga, which all inform her grounded, embodied approach.
Lydia brings a special blend of presence, care, and deep dedication to her work. She holds space with authenticity and openness, and is clearly committed to nurturing the inner healing wisdom; both in herself and in others.
In our conversation, we explore breathwork, Stanislav Grof’s pioneering research into psychedelics and birth matrices, non-ordinary states of consciousness, transpersonal experiences, and the deep healing that can emerge when we come together to be seen, heard, and held.
It was a real treat to sit with Lydia, and I hope you find as much insight and resonance in this conversation as I did.
You can find more about Lydia and her upcoming events at holotropicberlin.com.
If you’re curious about diving into this work yourself, there’s a special retreat blending Holotropic breathwork and Zen meditation starting October 18th, near Hanover, Germany.
This week I'm passing through Warsaw, Poland!
Join me for some thoughts about an elderly shamanic cat, dreams, the nature of ownership and control, the weird mystical magical madness of the human body, grief, Slot Art Festival, and an odd encounter with members of a religious cult!
This episode is sponsored by Cat-A-Pult and The Milk Shrimp & Nuts Food Emporium.
This week David Holmgren is Passing Through!
In this episode I was honored to sit down with one of the leading voices in ecological wisdom and regenerative culture — David Holmgren.
David is best known as the co-originator of permaculture: a design philosophy that has blossomed into a global movement, offering practical possibilities for living in right relationship with the Earth. In 1978, he and Bill Mollison published Permaculture One, starting the global permaculture movement. Alongside Bill, David helped seed a vision that reimagines agriculture, community, and even economics — not as separate domains, but as interwoven threads in the complex web of existence which makes up the modern world.
Over the past decades, David has deepened and expanded the permaculture lens, authoring works like Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability and RetroSuburbia, which invite us not only to survive the converging crises of our time — climate change, energy descent, social unraveling — but to thrive by reinhabiting our environment with creativity, care, and resilience.
David’s a deep systems thinker, a grounded realist, and a cultural edge-dweller; someone who challenges dominant narratives while offering hopeful alternatives rooted in the patterns of nature.
In our talk we cover what role permaculture plays in the polycrisis, nature as family, permaculture as a political act, the tension between small-scale local solutions and large-scale global problems, anarchy and antiauthoritarianism, the dark side of permaculture and more.
To learn more about David you can check out his film Reading Landscape With David Holmgren at readinglandscape.org.
You can also find him at holmgren.com.au for articles, videos, courses and other resources on permaculture.
Enjoy the talk!
In this episode, we step into the wilderness with legendary landscape photographer Marc Adamus.
His images have graced the pages of magazines like National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, and Popular Photography. But more than prestigious awards or publications, it’s Marc’s presence in wild places that sets him apart.
Known for chasing light across storming glaciers, trekking alone in the heart of Alaska, Marc is a rare kind of artist: part adventurer, part storyteller, and a bridge bringing people into deeper contact with the incredible beauty of our planet.
In this conversation, we’ll discuss Marc’s new book, his solo expeditions into extreme and uncertain terrain, story, and how the wilderness can teach us...if we’re willing to listen.
We also explore topics like the pursuit of beauty, the mystical, more liminal aspect of photography which involves entering into dialogue with nature, feeling into the personality of place, as well as AI and what it could mean for art and photography.
If you want to learn more about Marc or take one of his photo trips, visit him on his website www.marcadamus.com.
This week Robert Rient is Passing Through!
Robert Rient, a powerful voice at the intersection of activism, spirituality, and environmental justice, joins Passing Through for his first interview in English!
Robert is the founder of the Odra Person Foundation and the visionary behind the movement to recognize Poland’s Odra River as a legal person. He also established the Odra Tribe and organized the Great March for Odra.
Robert is a member of the International Observatory for the Rights of Nature, Save the Rivers Coalition, and the Literary Union Association.
Beyond his environmental and activist work, Robert is an author and freelance journalist covering the climate crisis and therapeutic methods of working with the body, emotions and spirit. He runs the Shamanism School, hosts intuitive and embodied healing ceremonies, Intuitive Story Dance ceremonies, as well as shamanic rituals and ceremonies. He’s the creator of the Peaceful Love podcast and a regular contributor to Sens magazine.
In our conversation we discuss the rights of nature and spiritual activism, plant medicine, ritual, dialoguing with the more-than-human world, and the art of reconnecting with the Earth, spirit and ourselves. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Below are a list of Robert's books:
"The First Contract. Fundamentals of the practice of shamanism," "Visions of Plants, or fifty medicinal plants and one fungus," "A glimpse Around the world - around yourself," "Witness: Inside Jehovah Witnesses Inside Catholic Poland Inside a Gay Life," "It was about love," and the novel "Jeremy's Spirits" nominated for the Nike Literary Award.
This week Michael Meade is Passing Through for one of my all-time favorite episodes!
Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller, author, and scholar of mythology, anthropology, and psychology. For decades, Michael has paired hypnotic storytelling with sharp, soulful reflections on the crises of our time. He’s the creator and host of The Living Myth Podcast and founder of the Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, a nonprofit network of artists, activists, and community-builders encouraging greater understanding between diverse peoples.
In our conversation we speak about Donald Trump; how a single person has the power to affect the lives of all the beings on our planet. We discuss community and initiation, myth and imagination, and explore topics like death, love, and the deep and important task of dealing with the other.
I loved this conversation and hope you will, too.
If you'd like to learn more about Michael and his work, please visit mosaicvoices.org
And definitely check out his podcast, The Living Myth
This week A'ida Shibli is Passing Through, for the second time!
A'ida is a courageous, wise, passionate Palestinian Bedouin peace activist, educator, eco-villager and mother living at Tamera eco-village in Portugal. She has dedicated decades of her life to making the world a better place.
Join us for a discussion about Israel's illegal abduction of Greta Thunberg and the rest of the crew of The Madleen, the role of eros in the ongoing genocide in Palestine, making a daily contract with our hearts to be present with ALL of our senses, numbness as precondition for capitalist consumption, the spiritual basis of activism, animism, and more.
You can find A'ida at @shibliaida or at Tamera.
You can learn more about The March to Gaza happening on June 15th.
Learn more about A'ida's peace project Women in White.
This week, Moureen Kaki is Passing Through.
Moureen is a Palestinian American on the ground in Gaza. For nearly a year she's been working with humanitarian aid organizations like Glia International and Shabab Gaza to provide desperately needed medical assistance and food to the besieged population of Gaza. She's proof that when our governments fail to step up and intervene on behalf of a persecuted people, communities and individual humans will.
Moureen is a real life hero and inspiration, and it was an absolute honor to speak with her.
Join us for a conversation where Moureen shares her stories, talks about life in Gaza, describes how Israel's blockade not only creates famine, but creates black markets for food. We discuss the importance of community and belonging, family, finding beauty amongst the rubble, and the tenacity of the Palestinian soul.
Follow Moureen on Instagram @saha_stx and please feel free to donate and support her. You can donate via Venmo to @Saha_satx using the word "food distributions."
You can also follow @glia_intl and @shababgaza and support them and get updates on the situation in Palestine.
You can support one of Glia International's initiatives here:
www.launchgood.com/Rise4Gaza