Daryl Carlson is a Certified Meta-Coach & NLP Master Practitioner who loves to help people free themselves from the deep indoctrination of Christianity. He knows that challenge all too well having been indoctrinated from birth, biblically trained at Moody Bible Institute, and worked for 15 years as a missionary in Alaska, Russia, and Ukraine. Daryl…
Talking with one of our best friends Jason Elam Desert Sanctuary Resources Book: Out Into the Desert Book: The Hotel Book: Being Book: The Being Journey companion guide Book: The Tea Shop Book: Apparent Faith Email: Karl at karl4hand@gmail.com Email Laura at lauraforehand64@gmail.com Twitter: @karl4hand YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@karl4hand42
Amber started really evaluating her faith in her early 20s, and it’s continuing to grow through all difficulties from leaving a cult. After many years of deconstructing, she decided to start her social media presence to give voice to cult survivors and give a space for others to not feel alone. Fundie Freed Facebook *…
Justin is an ex-vangelical, certified hypnotist, and trauma-informed coach who is passionate about change work and psycho-spiritual healing. After realizing that the church and religion didn’t have the answers to his deep pain and sense of inadequacy, Justin began to search outside of the church and deconstruct his deeply held core beliefs. It was in…
Sheri was born with two extreme and violent parents. Her father was a drug dealing ex-con once nominated to be a Grand Dragon in the KKK. Her mom was a speaking-in-tongues, book-burning, evangelical. He terrorized her and her mom demonized her. It took her until she was 27 years old to realize that what was…
Jodi and Jesse were both raised in the Pentecostal church. Jesse’s family was heavily involved in their local Church of God. Jodi’s parents were evangelists; her aunt, uncles, and grandparents were pastors in the Assembly of God denomination. They met when Jodi’s parents stopped traveling and became pastors at the AG church Jesse’s family attended.…
Bruce Epperly has served as a university and seminary professor, university chaplain, and local church pastor. He is the author of over 70 books, including Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God, The Elephant is Running: Process and Open and Relational Theology and Religious Pluralism, One World: Process Theology and the Lord’s Prayer, and Prophetic Healing:…
Joshua Lawson is a former pastor who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies. He is the author of The Face of Addiction, which tells the story of twelve individuals whose lives were forever changed in the early days of the opioid crisis in central Appalachia. His latest book, Drugs & Jesus, is the…
This begins our series of stories from people who are moving forward in the Desert Desert Sanctuary Resources Book: Out Into the Desert Book: The Hotel Book: Being Book: The Being Journey companion guide Book: The Tea Shop Book: Apparent Faith Email: Karl at karl4hand@gmail.com Email Laura at lauraforehand64@gmail.com Twitter: @karl4hand YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@karl4hand42
(In her own words) I am a native New Yorker who is now living in the UK from Newport Beach, CA, by way of Minneapolis and the South of France. I travel often to speak and teach, but also to discover new things, people and places. I love Instagram and cocktails. I learn as much…
Siri K. Zemel, PhD is an advocate for integrative healing, including the incorporation of spiritual experiences alongside traditional healthcare. Dr. Zemel received her PhD in Mind Body Medicine from Saybrook University, with a concentration in healthcare systems. She holds a Master’s Degree in nutrition science with a graduate minor in counseling psychology from the University…
Dave the Mystic (David Barnett) is an energy medicine practitioner, healer and intuitive with over 40 years' experience in Colorado. He has multiple technical degrees and is truly a rocket scientist. In the early 1980 & 90’s, Dave had some turning points in his life that led to a passion in discovering and developing his…
Sister Marcia has ministered in various capacities over the years. She coordinated a Rome renewal program for eight summers, networking with English-speaking Benedictines world- wide. Currently, she is vocation director, provides spiritual direction, and is a staff member for Souljourners, the spiritual direction training program. When time permits, she enjoys making jelly for both the…
Dr. Paul Fitzgerald earned the Doctor of Ministry with research in internalized shame and trauma. For more than 25 years he and his wife, Susanna, have assisted people in wholehearted, authentic living through HeartConnexion Seminars. His professional training includes Inner Relationship Focusing and BioSpiritual Focusing. He is a member of the International Focusing Institute and…
People have always been drawn towards things like religion to try to explain the things we could explain. The ceremonies and communities we built around our understanding and misunderstanding helped us shape some meaning into the world. I believe we can honor those traditions and, sometimes, even memorialize them while boldly and consciously moving into…
Part 1 of this story is Episode 203 In part 2, Kathy begins to describe what it was like when she married into a cult-like experience where fear and control caused her to enter survivor mode. She needed to get small as she tried to navigate raising 6 children with the wrong kind of support.…
Brad Jersak is an author and teacher based in Abbotsford, BC. He currently serves as the Dean of Theology & Culture at St. Stephen’s University (SSU.ca/graduate) in New Brunswick and teaches peace studies courses with IRPJ.org and is a regular speaker with the Open Table Conference crew. He writes regularly for the Clarion Journal and CWR magazine. Through his books and seminars,…
Aaron and I talk about taboos: religion and politics. Desert Sanctuary Resources Book: Out Into the Desert Book: The Hotel Book: Being Book: The Being Journey companion guide now! Book: Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart Website: https://karlforehand.com/ Email: Karl at karl4hand@gmail.com or Laura at lauraforehand64@gmail.com Twitter: @karl4hand
Laura and I sat down to have a conversation about spiritual life and how deep and simple our practices are now. This a list of 10 things but not in any way a prescription. Let’s keep evolving and having these discussions. Check out our new book, Out into the Desert to help do the evaluation.…
Very much of how we navigate this life could be attributed to the culture of our homeland, the religion of our parents, and the friends we hang out with. If we were born in a different place, we might be exposed to different religious influences, and had different friends, we would most likely believe and…
Tracy King activates potential. For more than 20 years she has dedicated her career to designing transformational experiences. She is a master learning designer, professional development consultant, bestselling author, and owns an instructional design agency. Her work synthesizing how brains learn into a model for crafting transformational experiences has been featured on NBC, ABC, FOX,…
Rev. Dr. Sheri Pallas is an author, ally, and activist. She hosts a weekly live stream, Fireside Creators, with experts and the experienced, tackling tough topics. Sheri was raised between two extremes of judgment and hate. Her father, a drug dealing ex-con once nominated to be a Grand Dragon in the KKK. Her mom was…
Emily Loggins is a religious deconstruction advocate and the creator of Feral Pastor’s Wife, a rapidly growing TikTok community of over 30,000 people. Emily uses humor and critical analysis to question high-demand religion, while creating a soft landing place for those who were brave enough to leave. Instagram * @feral_pastors_wife on Tik Tok
Kyle Butler, Aaron Tomlinson and Laura and I took some time to talk about walking a more authentic path. Can we succeed at deconstructing / evolving, even if it is extremely difficult some days
Wren Margaret Grace is a neurodivergent adoptee, mother of 6, Domestic Violence survivor, chronic illness warrior, and passionate about moving Humanity through our existential crisis with the hopes of a better future for all of us, especially the future generations. Wren was raised as Independent Fundamental Baptist, graduated from a strict Bible college, and after…
Kevin Sweeney is co-founder and lead pastor of Imagine Church—an urban church in Honolulu that is welcoming of all people, sees imagination as the key to the future, chooses authenticity over performance, substance over hype, and quality over quantity. He is the host of podcast “The Church Needs Therapy” and is the author of the…
Aaron Tomlinson joins us to explore these three words. Order Being or the The Being Journey companion guide now!Website: https://karlforehand.com/ https://ratethispodcast.com/thedesertsanctuary· Message us at any time if you have questions: karl4hand@gmail.com or Laura at lauraforehand64@gmail.com· Find me on Twitter· See our new Facebook Page: The Desert Sanctuary· Book, Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s HeartBook: The Tea Shop
We decided to talk about my latest books Order Being or the The Being Journey companion guide now!Website: https://karlforehand.com/ https://ratethispodcast.com/thedesertsanctuary· Message us at any time if you have questions: karl4hand@gmail.com or Laura at lauraforehand64@gmail.com· Find me on Twitter· See our new Facebook Page: The Desert Sanctuary· Book, Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s HeartBook: The Tea Shop
Glenn and I have a friendship that is a great example of how two people don’t have to agree on everything to get along. We have several things in common, one major focus we share – helping others find healing. Glenn is a coach and a lover of people. His podcast was coming to a…
Katy Valentine is my metaphysical, New Testament scholar friend. She has a heartbeat for helping people and encouraging them to find their gifts. I have always experienced here to be kind to everyone. We talked about my book Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity. Find Katy on her website, https://www.katyvalentine.com/ Order Being or the…
Kerri is one my most interesting friends. Her focus is on ancient wisdom to heal mother wounds. She helps people access the sacred within and help them create a better world for themselves. She is a writer, speaker and helper for many. See her website https://kerrihummingbird.com/ From her website: “As we awaken the Mother Goddess…
I feel like we were just getting started in this conversation. Abby, Ari, and Jordan live in Taiwan and teach English there. They also collaborate on the Free China Podcast. On their media site, they discuss various political and social issues. These three make me optimistic about the future! Listen in as they discuss how…
I love deeply spiritual people! Even though I have a hard time with religion, I love to talk to people that exude depth when they speak. I love when I sense integrity in their voice – and, I always feel this way about my friend, Rachel. Now, I know where she gets it – I…
We’ve known them for a couple of years and we finally got to meet with them at their home in Navarre, FL. This was a fun conversation we had when we had Chinese food and reflected on getting know each other online and then finally meeting. It is hard to hear at times, so turn…
Dr. Paul Fitzgerald updates us on his life. After battling through a health concern and the pandemic, he continues to be the main speaker for Heart Connexion’s Breaktrhough Seminars. He is also spiritually companioning people through focusing sessions and teaching about this process. We also took some time to talk about my new book, Being:…
This is a new feature on the Desert Sanctuary. Once a month Jason Elam will join us to co-host The Desert Sanctuary! Jason has a smooth announcers voice, but he also has keen insight and he and Brandi Elam are two of our best friends! Jason is also host of The Messy Spirituality podcast. This…
(This is the introduction to my book: Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity. It releases next Monday, May 11th. I hope would give it a chance and pre-order or save it on your wish list to order on opening day.) I learned the value of hard work from my family-of-origin early in life. Doing…
Photo by Yan from Pexels Many of werre given confusing messages about our bodies from our traditions. In the past 100 years, we have been learning a lot about how all that works — things that even some of our Sacred Texts didn’t know about. My new book Being is about what I discovered about my trauma and…
It has been a while since I wrote a blog post on this site. Most of my blogs are now on Patheos. If you haven’t been, there, make sure and check it out. Also, my new web site points to all of my stuff including this site, so make sure and check there often. But…
This may be one of the most important things I have ever shared with the general population. Focusing has changed the course of my life and helped me deal with the trauma that was stored in my body. This shadow work is what helps me be present and authentic. Be where you are, be who…
(from the HeartConnexion Focussing page) There really is a path to find your sense of peace in the middle of all the circumstances that confront you. While none of us can control all the outside situations, you can learn a process to find the deep wisdom to make confident choices in the face of your reality.…
Have you ever written something and then been tenative about showing it to others. This group of writing scared me even to think about writing it. I knew it woudl be hard work to relive some of the shadow work I did a couple of years ago. In Junuary, while I was away at a…
This morning, I was a little upset for a period. I woke up later than usual and poured a cup of coffee. Laura was already up which is unusual. Most mornings, I come to my chair and experience some very quiet, peaceful time alone. Today was different as I needed to take the dog out…
Recently one of my friends shared how she has practiced yoga for 99 days straight. Many people congratulated her, but I didn’t hear anyone that said, “Me too.” Why? Because exercise, getting in shape and creating healthy habits is hard. We take a long walk and our bodies seem to scream out warnings that even…
We adopted Winston into our family when he was about 2 years old about three and a half years ago. Miniature Australian Shepherds are trainable and by nature are herding, community kind of animals. We often say they are smart, but what we mean is that they are about like an above average 3-year old…
As I write the words to this chapter, the world is amid what most would describe as a crisis. It is described on a government website in my home state as, “an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in many locations internationally, including in the United States.…
by Laura Forehand Isn’t it great when you wake up at 3:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning? Being a school teacher means I covet those Saturday no-alarm kind of mornings. Today my normal alarm clock didn’t go off. Instead, I woke up with a vice-gripping headache. You know… the kind that actually feels like you…
The Desert Sanctuary 