Three Faces of Bypassing: Spiritual, Developmental, and Shadow

Three Faces of Bypassing: Spiritual, Developmental, and Shadow

Many of us do deep inner work and still find ourselves stuck, exhausted, or strangely unchanged. This conversation explores why — revealing how spiritual, developmental, and shadow work can quietly turn into forms of bypassing, and what helps growth become integrated and alive again.
The Four Pillars of Good Therapy

The Four Pillars of Good Therapy

Corey and Dr. Keith Witt kick off the new year by returning to first principles: what makes therapy genuinely effective, and how an integral view of consciousness reframes the whole endeavor. Keith lays out his four foundations of healthy psychotherapy—clear boundaries, feeling deeply understood, making skillful observations and connections, and shifting from drama into problem-solving—while exploring how the “wise self” and the therapeutic relationship container can support healing, development, and a re-enchanted sense of meaning.
How to Build a Life Worth Living

How to Build a Life Worth Living

Keith Martin Smith and David Arrell diagnose the modern meaning crisis as a cultural imbalance: we’re overtrained in attainment (status, optimization, external validation) and undertrained in attunement (presence, depth, emotional regulation, and real connection), leaving many people “adrift” in a sea of stimulation and “infobesity.” They offer a practical path out—post-tragic devotion, the shift from reacting to responding, and a values → vision → action “life audit”—and invite listeners who want structure and community to join their live Attunement training.
Bayesian Psychology: Your Brain Is a Lying Prophet

Bayesian Psychology: Your Brain Is a Lying Prophet

This episode explores how our brains operate as prediction engines, using unconscious mental models to interpret reality — and how those models shape our relationships, identity, and capacity for growth. Drawing from psychotherapy, neuroscience, and integral theory, Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos examine how transformation happens when our models break down, and how love, safety, and perspective-taking create the conditions for real psychological and spiritual evolution.
From Attainment to Attunement

From Attainment to Attunement

In this deep and dynamic conversation, Keith Martin-Smith and David Arrell explore what it means to grow beyond the noise of modern life into a more aligned, dignified, and awake way of being. Moving through themes of trauma integration, attention as spiritual practice, and the evolution from attainment to attunement, they offer a powerful invitation to live not from reaction, but from coherence and character.
The Highest Stages of Human Flourishing

The Highest Stages of Human Flourishing

Keith Martin-Smith and Alexander Love explore Terry O'Fallon's STAGES model of human development, focusing on the rarely-discussed MetAware tier where transpersonal awareness becomes a structural feature of consciousness, leading to the dissolution of boundaries and recognition that all meaning is constructed.
Nocturnal Meditations: How to See in the Dark

Nocturnal Meditations: How to See in the Dark

Andrew Holecek presents dark retreat—extended periods in complete sensory deprivation—as a transformative meditation practice that accesses deeper levels of consciousness typically obscured by our light-obsessed, distraction-heavy culture. He argues that conventional "waking" awareness is actually humanity's most contracted state, while nocturnal practices like lucid dreaming and sleep yoga offer profound opportunities for shadow work, creativity, and spiritual development.
Don’t Just Transcend Your Pain — Include It

Don’t Just Transcend Your Pain — Include It

After the tragic murder of his father at age 20, Alexander Love began a decades-long journey through grief, spiritual practice, and shadow work — seeking not just to rise above his pain, but to finally and fully include it. In this deeply personal conversation, he shares how real healing began not with transcendence, but with embracing the very wounds he had tried to escape.
Tantra Is Not What You Think (And Way Better Than You Imagined)

Tantra Is Not What You Think (And Way Better Than You Imagined)

Two accomplished tantric practitioners — one from Kashmir Shaivism, the other from Tibetan Vajrayana — share their profound awakening stories and reveal how ancient consciousness technologies can accelerate the challenging transition from teal to turquoise awareness and beyond.
The Magic Mirror: How AI Is Reshaping Your Mind

The Magic Mirror: How AI Is Reshaping Your Mind

Keith and Corey examine AI’s cognitive, relational, cultural, and developmental impacts — highlighting both the dangers of projection, offloading, and disembodiment, and the opportunities to use AI as a practice partner for discernment, shadow integration, and growth. Corey then showcases some of the new AI tools now available to all Core Members of Integral Life.
Trauma, Transcendence, and the Beauty that Breaks Us Open

Trauma, Transcendence, and the Beauty that Breaks Us Open

Geoff Fitch, Abigail Lynam, and Kimberley Lafferty explore how deep suffering, spiritual awakening, and developmental transformation often intertwine in the transition into meta-aware consciousness. Through personal stories, group process insights, and reflections on collective shadow work, they illuminate how real relationship and sacred community can hold and catalyze the most disorienting — and most liberating — phases of human evolution.
Every Scar Has a Story: Rewriting the Narratives That Shape Us

Every Scar Has a Story: Rewriting the Narratives That Shape Us

Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore how trauma shapes the stories we tell about ourselves — and how those stories can be transformed into resilience, wisdom, and self-leadership. Drawing from developmental theory, the Enneagram, and decades of clinical experience, Keith offers a four-stage model of trauma healing rooted in radical acceptance, narrative re-patterning, and the cultivation of a compassionate “wise self.”
Caught in the Algorithmic Undertow

Caught in the Algorithmic Undertow

Bruce Alderman and Josh Leonard explore the slow, invisible pull of digital systems — algorithms, platforms, attention economies — that subtly yet profoundly shape our beliefs, behaviors, and social worlds.
The Shadow of Trump

The Shadow of Trump

Psychotherapist and developmental theorist Kim Barta joins Keith Martin-Smith for a deep dive into the psychological and developmental dynamics surrounding one of the most polarizing figures of our time: Donald Trump.
The Occupational Hazards of Awakening

The Occupational Hazards of Awakening

In this profound dialogue, Kimberley Lafferty and Santiago illuminate the occupational hazards of awakening, exploring the bliss and challenges of ego dissolution and emptiness within daily life. They offer deep insights and practical wisdom for integrating profound spiritual experiences into authentic human living.
Men, Meaning, and the Rise of the New Right

Men, Meaning, and the Rise of the New Right

The modern world is demanding more from men than ever before—strength and sensitivity, resilience and vulnerability, leadership and collaboration—yet many feel lost without clear role models or cultural support. This conversation explores the forces shaping modern masculinity, the allure of strongman archetypes, and the path toward a truly integrated, evolved form of masculinity that balances power with presence, agency with empathy, and tradition with transformation.
The Turquoise Dialectic: Expand Your Cosmology Through Integral Dialogue

The Turquoise Dialectic: Expand Your Cosmology Through Integral Dialogue

Corey DeVos and Dr. Keith Witt explore the turquoise dialectic—a mode of deep, integrative conversation where perspectives evolve rather than compete—touching on themes of honesty, trust, intergenerational transmission, and the ways our personal cosmologies shape reality. From the psychology of deception to the ancestral patterns we unconsciously carry, this discussion invites listeners to examine how they construct meaning, engage in dialogue, and participate in the ongoing evolution of consciousness.
Transform Your Motivation System

Transform Your Motivation System

Why do so many high achievers feel like they’re never enough, no matter how much they accomplish? In this episode, Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore the hidden meta-motivation systems that drive us — sometimes to greatness, but often to exhaustion.
Exploring Teal and Turquoise Psychotherapy

Exploring Teal and Turquoise Psychotherapy

This discussion unpacks the essence of integral psychotherapy, exploring how Teal and Turquoise approaches integrate all psychologies into a dynamic framework that optimizes healing and growth. With practical insights into productive self-awareness, the role of spirituality, and the interplay of life’s processes, Corey and Keith illuminate the path toward deeper wholeness and transformative relationships.
A View From Somewhere: An Introduction to Metatheory and Planetary Sense-Making

A View From Somewhere: An Introduction to Metatheory and Planetary Sense-Making

Bruce Alderman and Mark Edwards explore how integrative metatheory can illuminate and address the interconnected crises of our time. Through themes such as navigating hyperobjects, the role of storytelling in fostering collaboration, and the challenges posed by algorithmic fragmentation, they advocate for integrative thinking that balances big-picture reflection with grounded, actionable practice.
Escaping the Drama Triangle: Presence, Problem-Solving, and Relational Mastery

Escaping the Drama Triangle: Presence, Problem-Solving, and Relational Mastery

Corey deVos and Dr. Keith Witt explore one of the most common yet misunderstood aspects of human interaction: the tension between drama and problem-solving. They dive deeply into the "Drama Triangle," a psychological framework that reveals how the roles of victim, rescuer, and persecutor trap us in cycles of dysfunction. These dynamics, while often personal, are also embedded in cultural systems, politics, and even therapy itself.
The Content/Structure Fallacy: The Common Mistake Most Integralists Make

The Content/Structure Fallacy: The Common Mistake Most Integralists Make

David Arrell and Keith Martin-Smith explore one of the most important (and misunderstood) dynamics within integral theory: the content/structure fallacy. They explore how developmental structures—our deeper worldviews and ways of making sense—shape the content of our beliefs, but not always in straightforward or predictable ways. The conversation touches on how integral theory can help us navigate the nuances of individual growth, leadership, and social dynamics, especially when it comes to assessing the developmental depth of others.

Polarity Politics and the 2024 Election

Polarity Politics and the 2024 Election

Corey deVos and Mark Fischler explore the complexities of the 2024 U.S. presidential election through an integral lens, offering insights into how political polarization is shaped by systemic structures, and how these structures influence our individual psyches and sense-making. They introduce practical approaches for navigating political polarities, recognizing personal and collective shadows, and engaging in more nuanced political discourse.
Faces of X: Making Peace with the Culture War

Faces of X: Making Peace with the Culture War

Stephanie Lepp talks with Corey deVos about her Faces of X project, which models how we can transcend culture wars by integrating opposing perspectives. The discussion explores how the polarization we see in society mirrors unresolved polarities within ourselves, and emphasizes the need for both personal and social integration. This discussion highlights the limitations of binary thinking and the importance of synthesizing conflicting viewpoints to create more inclusive, nuanced solutions.
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