Unbroken Chain Podcast

Daniel and I sit down at the kitchen table to talk about travel and filmmaking, the magic of strangers, and the death of our friend Christophe. You can find us online at MauraJames.com and DanielFox.tv. [“The Greater Wings” - Julie Byrne]

My friend Kasem joins for a tender, deeply personal conversation about his lifelong dance with the mystic. From a childhood rooted in the Missionary Baptist church to his last 13 years as a practicing buddhist, Kasem has been following the radical meme of self-discovery. We talk about everything from putting Jesus back in context and learning to examine the nature of reality, to the “double dutch” of code switching and navigating the American Dream as the child of immigrants. If you want to connect with Kasem, you can email him at ricanarab@gmail.com. More podcasts at MauraJames.com and IG @maurajames. [“Haenim” - Kim Jung Me]

“Nerdy rebel” Kenton Bartlett discusses starting Alabama’s first psychedelic studio where he shepherds people through therapeutic ketamine sessions. We talk about leaving behind traditional talk therapy models, holding space, curating music, legality, and combatting drug war propaganda. “If I had to summarize my current philosophy, it would be: trust yourself. And everything I’m trying to do as a therapist is just get out of the way.” You can find photos of Kenton’s meticulously designed trip spaces on Facebook and learn more about his offerings on his website. Listen to the higher consciousness playlist here. More podcasts at MauraJames.com and IG @maurajames. [“Sit Around the Fire” feat. Ram Dass & East Forest]

Musician and human laser beam of positive energy Phil Cook comes to the woods in Alabama for an intimate conversation by the creek. We talk everything from space and swing, to dad’s ski tapes, to getting diagnosed with ADHD at 40, and learning to respect the power of plants. It’s been a big time of reflection and setting new direction. Welcome to Phil’s big, beautiful world. You're part of the family now. Watch Phil’s new documentary Stay Prayed Up and listen to his new album All These Years. He’s on IG @philcookmusic. More podcasts at MauraJames.com and IG @maurajames. [“All These Years” - Phil Cook]

My dear friend Chase Bauer returns to the podcast with a deeply personal exploration of the nature of mind. In telling the story of a recent psychedelic ceremony, Chase reveals how a constellation of wisdom including nonviolent communication (NVC), guru yoga, and the witness of LSD helped him understand his relationship to addiction in a radically new way. Along the way we contemplate cults and spiritual abuse, whiteness, codependence, the value and limitations of constructing mental models, and doing whippets in your 30s. Watch Chase’s short films Calling For Home Care and Pleasant Valley Black and Blue and connect with him on IG @cosminomena. More podcasts at MauraJames.com and IG @maurajames. [“Love Is Overtaking Me” - Arthur Russell]

Kathy Nida is an artist most well known for her quilts, which depict potent visions of the human experience. She describes quilting as a form of meditative practice that is essential to her mental health. She has intentionally prioritized it throughout her life, including while also being a mother and a full-time middle school science teacher. In this conversation, we explore truth-telling and censorship, art and capitalism, pantyhose revolt, and finding hope for the future in critically-thinking 12-year-olds, among much more. You can connect with her at kathynida.com and on IG @knida. More podcasts where podcasts are found and at MauraJames.com. [“Down By the River” - Letta Mbulu]

Hasan Oswald is a filmmaker who made the documentary film HIGHER LOVE in Camden, NJ with no professional experience, no budget, and no crew. Using YouTube to learn all things film and selling his blood plasma to make ends meet, he somehow pulled off a zero-budget hit. Higher Love tells the story of a blue-collar father tries to bring his pregnant, heroin-addicted girlfriend home from the streets. Oswald shares stories about the making of the project, as well as his next feature about Yazidi...

Susan Ateh is a breathwork facilitator whose goal is for all people to experience love for themselves. An Irish-Cameroonian living in LA as a working actor for many years, Susan realized that the misogyny, materialism, and judgment inherent to the film industry had worn down her love for her craft, and she found herself paralyzed by depression. She shares how breathwork reconnected her to the beauty of her emotions and helped her begin to release decades of unprocessed emotion, a journey into reconnection that she now holds space for others to walk. We talk about the socialization of “the good girl,” the trope of the “angry black woman,” comparison culture, capitalism and colonialism in the wellness industry, and the importance of apologizing for our participation in white supremacy—unconscious and conscious—when we begin the work of deprogramming our minds and hearts. You can find Susan and her virtual breathwork circles at www.susanateh.com and IG @irishinfused. More podcasts where podcasts are found, www.maurajames.com and IG @maurajames. [“Deep Silence” - Loma Suyo]

Mullyman returns to the podcast (episode 49!), this time with his sister NikStylz. Together they are the duo MicBroSis, releasing an album of consciousness lifting “anti-trap” trap music called “Godspeed" this winter. We dive into the current zeitgeist of deep questioning, exploring how we recognize manipulation, discern wisdom, and attain liberation. I get an education in how violence came to be associated with modern black music (spoiler alert: the prison industrial complex has a stake in...

Jeanette Waddell is a storyteller and wise elder based in middle Georgia. She returns to the podcast (catch her on episode 37!) to share her experience as a black woman in America, from confronting racism in intimate relationships to underrepresentation of black bodies in the media to learning to keep her heart open with healthy boundaries through ongoing oppression. She shares the stories of community organizing and individual vision that ground her in her own agency: Malcolm X, MLK, the organizers of the bus boycotts, and the community of the black church. Through it all, she presents storytelling as a powerful tool for manifesting freedom in a world based on exploitation and enslavement. You can email her at vaughnfamily21@juno.com. More podcasts where podcasts are found and MauraJames.com. [“If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” - The Staples Singers]

Nick Nail is a musician, painter, gentle soul, and friend of ours in Birmingham. Here Nick explores his lifelong quest for comfort and belonging after experiencing a painful split in his consciousness in the wake of early childhood sexual abuse. At times Nick has found relief in long distance running and creating music and art and at other times in codependent relationships and regular heroin use. Nick has a tremendous capacity for compassionate observation. He talks with radical transparency about the gifts and limitations of addiction, choosing homelessness, bearing the stigma of being a “bad person,” discovering the permission to enjoy life, and learning to be of service to the world. Nick recently detoxed from heroin at our house and this conversation was recorded a few days after he was finally walking, talking, and eating again. “Who’s to say that anybody is wrong for doing something that they’re lead to do? All the things that we go through are just something to help us do better tomorrow, you know?” More podcasts where podcasts are found, MauraJames.com and IG: @maurajames. [“Your Jewel” - Michael Nau]

Juliana Mulligan is the founder of Inner Vision Ibogaine, where she coaches people before and after treatment sessions with the powerful entheogen ibogaine. Her call to devote her life to helping others formulate a new healing life structure is deeply personal: after seven years of struggle with opioid dependency, which forced her into the further trauma of the mainstream rehab system, from methadone and Suboxone to 12 step programs and the justice system, Juliana finally found freedom with ibogaine. Although the treatment was a success, the clinic did not followed proper safety protocols and Juliana nearly died several times during the experience. Ever since, she has been focused on safety guidelines, promoting women run clinics and co-authoring a guide for vetting providers. She became a certified EMT and trained in three Ibogaine clinics in South Africa, Costa Rica, and Mexico, acting as a provider and lay-therapist. She currently works as the Psychedelic Program Coordinator at The Center for Optimal Living, which focuses on Harm Reduction. You can find her recent articles at Double Blind and Chacruna. More podcasts where podcasts are found and at MauraJames.com. [“A Calf Born in Winter” - Khruangbin]

Sophia Remolde aka Lobsterbird is a nomadic creator, performer, writer, and energy worker who helps guide spiritual creatives to phase out of their jobs and into careers they love and that serve the world. During lockdown at her parents house this year, she answered an unexpected internal call to start growing her own food, something she had no previous experience with aside from once killing some bamboo. Several months later, she is the proud cultivator of a thriving food forest and on her...

In honor of the two year anniversary of Unbroken Chain, I took a moment to look back on the journey. In a sweet conversation with my partner Daniel, I share my intentions for starting the podcast and touch on some of the things I’ve learned along the way: deep listening, connecting with the unbroken part of another’s soul, confronting suffering, reckoning with whiteness, psychedelic tools, plant medicine teachers, and other juicy goodness in between. I’m sending this out with much gratitude and love for the dear ones who have joined me on this ride. I see you, and I love you. More podcasts where podcasts are found, at MauraJames.com and IG: @maurajames. [“Solar Plexus Chakra” - Beautiful Chorus]

Daniel Fox is a filmmaker, music curator, cosmic coordinator, and deep lover of humans who also happens to also be my partner. The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, Daniel grew up deeply formed by evangelical conditioning in the Deep South: toxic masculinity, the eternal threat of hell, overt racism, sports as religion, rabid materialism, sexual shame, and so much fear. He talks about the suicidal depression that overtook his life when he finally left the only community he had ever known and speaks publicly for the first time about coming to terms with childhood trauma that he spent many years trying to avoid. He honors the many teachers including hiphop artists, powerful women, and entheogens like cannabis and mushrooms that offered him a path to reconnection with himself and divine wisdom, and helped him find the grace to see his parents and their culture with new perspective. He now walks with others emerging from religious trauma in confronting harm, breaking cycles of abuse, and making meaning on their own terms. You can reach out to Daniel at DanielFox.tv and IG @daniel.carl.the.fox. More podcasts where podcasts are found, MauraJames.com and Ig @MauraJames. [“The Sun Will Shine On You” - Jeff Lynne’s ELO]

Daniel Fox is a filmmaker, music curator, cosmic coordinator, and deep lover of humans who also happens to also be my partner. The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, Daniel grew up deeply formed by evangelical conditioning in the Deep South: toxic masculinity, the eternal threat of hell, sports as religion, rabid materialism, overt racism, sexual shame, and so much fear. He talks about the suicidal depression that overtook his life when he finally left the only community he had ever known...

Royal Parker is an activist based in New York’s Hudson Valley. On July 18, 2020, he lead a rally of 400 peaceful protestors in support of voting rights and police oversight. The event became the subject of national news when his group was met with hate speech and violence from counter-protestors representing the Duchess County Conservative Party and pro-police supporters. In this thoughtful and transparent conversation, Royal reflects on his experience as a highly visible black leader in the movement for justice. We talk about learning to integrate non-violence into practice, the psycho-emotional fallout of violent confrontation, and the call to serve, as well as his background in the US military during the era of the trans ban as he was beginning to transition genders. You can connect with Royal on facebook @UntilWe’reAllFree and online at untilwereallfree.com. More podcasts at MauraJames.com and IG @maurajames. You can watch Chase Bauer’s short documentary about the recent rally and conflict, “Pleasant Valley Black and Blue,” for free online: https://vimeo.com/449899198 [“Someday We’ll All Be Free” - Donny Hathaway]

Samantha Zipporah is an educator and support person for rites of passage related to reproductive and sexual health. She helps people understand the power, pleasure, and magic available in fertility and sexuality, particularly centered on wombs and ovaries. On her website and Patreon, you can find an abundance of resources related to conscious contraception and ovulation awareness, holistic healing after abortion and miscarriage, and non-medicalized reproductive health. In this conversation we explore the intersection of physiology and spirituality, reclaiming our bodies from pharmaceuticals, and becoming attuned to the natural cycles of our internal ecology, touching on PMS, grief, and moon lodge practice along the way. Some of the books she recommends in this episode include: The Mysteries of the Dark Moon: The Healing Power of the Dark Goddess, The Great Cosmic Mother, The Chalice and the Blade, and Wild Power from the Red School. Find Sam online at SamanthaZipporah.com and IG @SamanthaZipporah. More podcasts where podcasts are found, MauraJames.com and IG @maurajames. [“Eternal Life” - Shira Small]

Ananda is my housemate and one of the kindest, most beautiful old souls in a young body I’ve ever met. He has spent the last five years teaching himself to play music and channel it into the world as an expression of love and healing. In this hang from my kitchen, we explore what it means to be alive in a human experience in this world, from the nature of reality to the relationship between matter and consciousness, all deeply informed by relationships with psychedelic medicines. Ananda shares what he learned growing up surrounded by addiction and other destructive energies, how he learned to think for himself, embrace neurodivergence, drive his life with intention, and channel the masculine. Come on in. More podcasts where podcasts are found, on IG @maurajames and MauraJames.com. [“In Every Direction” - Junip]

Voice Porter is a poet, muralist, and master gardener, among many other creative roles. He is a founding member of Ensley Alive, a collective movement dedicated to the renaissance of Ensley, a neglected neighborhood where he grew up in Birmingham, Alabama which became synonymous with violence and poverty in the city’s imagination. He heads the Color Project, which creates gardens and public art that have transformed the area into a destination space for creativity, physical and mental wellbeing, and community for residents and visitors. In this expansive conversation, he talks about his experience of America as a black man and father, exploring the exposure of willful ignorance, rejecting the language of the oppressor, wielding art as revolution, and honoring his family’s lineage of growing food, bartering, and nourishing his community. You can contact Voice at voiceporter@gmail.com, find him on facebook under Brian Voice Porter Hawkins, or on IG @freevoice. More podcasts where podcasts are found, MauraJames.com, and IG @maurajames. [“Wake Up Everybody” - Teddy Pendergrass]