Podcast Episodes

Thomas is joined by author, cultural healer and advocate, and the developer of Somatic Archaeology© Dr. Ruby Gibson. They dive deep into her work on ancestral healing, which she refers to as ‘historical trauma recovery.’ Ruby leads an organization called The Freedom Lodge whose mission is to provide education and healing for Native American communities. Combining the sacred medicine of the Lakota traditions with modern approaches to psychology, she has developed integrated processes to learn and heal from both past and ongoing trauma. She and Thomas discuss the dire need for better resources for Natives who’ve suffered under oppressive systems, and the healing power of building a spiritual connection to our earth, our histories, our communities, and ourselves.

Thomas Hübl explores how trauma changes our experience of time, and how integration and acceptance can help us create a better future. When traumatic events occur in the present moment, we become overwhelmed, and our experience of “presence” is split, pushing the trauma into the subconscious realm. He explains that our compartmentalized trauma is like a data package that becomes stuck in the past, interrupting the flow of time like a rock in a river. As we go through life, we experience tension, numbness, and absence– repetitive difficulties influenced by the trauma embedded in our past. Thomas provides insight into how we can embrace and integrate our pain and our defense mechanisms, and how that is a more healing and effective way to create change than trying to get rid of them.

Thomas is joined by restorative justice facilitator and public speaker sujatha baliga. They discuss Restorative Justice – a term coined by Howard Zehr that represents a paradigm shift in the way we think about harm and wrongdoing. It calls us to eschew the extreme and ineffective punitiveness of the criminal justice system in favor of community-based processes that align with our interdependent nature. Sujatha explains how her methods were inspired by three groups – the Mennonites, the Navajo tribe, and the Buddhist Nalanda tradition. She reveals that her work is not only more effective in addressing the root causes of crime, and reducing repeated incidents of harm, but is also planting seeds for a radically more just future.

Author and negotiation expert William Ury joins Thomas for their third conversation in a three-part series. They discuss the deep feelings of humiliation that underlie most historic and ongoing conflicts, and how the antidote to that is the power derived from humility. William elaborates on the concept of the “third side” – the sum of all parts in a conflict from which we can observe and understand the whole. He explains that empathy is our most powerful tool in negotiation, as it enables us to understand our “opponents” and communicate with them effectively.

Please note: This episode was recorded during the first months of the war in Ukraine, and William and Thomas’ commentary is relevant to that time. Since then, circumstances may have changed.

Thomas explores the concept of Ancestral Healing – a way of attuning with our ancestors and integrating the information they’ve passed down through our family histories. We inherit wisdom and resilience from our ancestors, as well as trauma and pain. Thomas explains the need to incorporate all of these aspects into ourselves so that we can draw strength from our ancestral data flow when we need it, and learn from their wounds and transgressions in order to release ourselves and our families from patterns that no longer serve us.

Thomas and celebrated international speaker, post-humanist thinker, and author Bayo Akomolafe delve into the pitfalls of modernity and modern psychology, and the need for new ways of navigating hidden and invisible thresholds. Bayo discusses his work tracing stories, folklore, and archetypes and how they invite us to do something akin to activism – a sensorial politics that he refers to as “post-activism.” They discuss the need for fresh modes of responding to crises that can invite us to develop new intelligences.