In this episode of Further Reflections Mark welcomes author, speaker, environmentalist and former city councillor in Ottawa David Chernushenko to discuss his book Burning Souls. David describes this story of four friends over several decades as a climate breakdown thriller with the book getting apocalyptic towards the end. David discusses in the interview, among other things, the Laudato Si, the Fukushima disaster, the turn-around generation and his potential vision for the future. Visit http://davidc.ca/ to learn more. In the second half of the podcast Mark looks at some of the films of Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Examined are the movies Maborosi (1996), Still Walking (2008) and Shoplifters (2018). In the Final Five minutes Mark talks about the book Galileo’s Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson.
In this episode Stephen Whiteley joins the show to discuss his work as The Happiness Coach and how he is transitioning to becoming The Freedom Coach. Mark has read Stephen’s book Happiness Works and they discuss moving from fear to love, how happiness is in the doing, the path extraordinary people take, how emotional wellness in different countries accounts for happiness there and of course freedom. Visit Facebook.com/happinessworks4u to follow Stephen’s work. In the second half of the podcast Mark recounts a recent trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mark visited the harbour, The Citadel, Maud Lewis House and several churches among other interesting sights. He also took some day trips to Peggy’s Cove, Terrence Bay and Fisherman’s Cove and got to enjoy a taste of life in Atlantic Canada. Hear about the 50th anniversary edition of the documentary Woodstock as well, which was playing in Halifax while Mark was there. In the Final Five minutes Mark shares some fun facts from the 1500s. Click here to take Further Reflections’ survey, available til the end of September.
In this new episode of Further Reflections Mark profiles some female trailblazers. First we hear an interview with Adele Stratton of the Phoneix Rising Healing Centre. Adele is an integrational manual therapist and talks about her healing practice, self-love, quality vs quantity of life, travel, work with the embryo among other interesting topics. Click here to hear Mark’s previous interview with Adele from 2013. In the second half of the podcast Mark profiles some young breakout actresses and their movies from this summer. Learn about Jessie Buckley, Florence Pugh, Honor Swinton Byrne and Awkwafina via their movies Wild Rose, Midsommar, The Souvenir and The Farewell. In the Final Five minutes Mark plays some music by Rebecca Noelle. Click here to take Further Reflections’ Survey.
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In this episode of Further Reflections we hear about Permaculture and life in China. In 2012 Mark gave a presentation while he was volunteering in Peru about Permaculture design principles. He touches on the works of Bill Mollison, Toby Hemenway and Sepp Holzer, discusses sustainable living and raises the issue of ethics in this interactive talk. Mark then returns to the subject of China and reflects on the years 2005-2006 when he was living for a year in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. Hear both the highs and lows of that experience, learn about travel in Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui and Zhejiang and the story of the girl on the train. In the Final Five minutes Mark talks about War and Peace.
In this episode of Further Reflections we hear two new interviews. Joe Gunn is the recent Executive Director of Citizens for Public Justice and currently the Oblate Centre in Ottawa. Joe will discuss themes from his book Journeys to Justice: Reflections on Canadian Christian Activism. He touches upon how everyday Christians and Churches in the past have moved the yardstick forward on issues related to social and ecological justice. Joe also spent 7 years living and working in Latin America and reflects on those experiences. Towards the end we touch upon Climate Change, climate grief and biophilia. The second interview is a familiar voice, that of Mike Nickerson. Mike is the founder of the Lanark Eco Village and the author of Life, Money and Illusion. Mike discusses issues related to limits to growth, Climate Change and puts forward a message of hope towards the end. Listen to Mike’s previous interview here or visit Mike on the web at http://www.sustainwellbeing.net/ . In the Final Five minutes Mark reflects on a recent trip to Montréal.
In this episode of Further Reflections we welcome back Pamela French to the show. Pamela is the woman behind the Authentic Relating Ottawa community, which can be found on facebook and meetup. Pamela recaps her last year full of exciting changes. Pamela has taken leave from her job to focus on creating authentic experiences for people whether at games nights, edgy or otherwise, or weekend workshops or in the workplace. Find out what is alive for Pamela in this new interview and check out Pamela’s previous interview here . In the second part of the episode Mark returns to talk about his time in China teaching English. This time he recounts a memorable three weeks in Western and Central China in the summer of 2005. He reflects on time spent in Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Xi’An and Bejing among other interesting stops along the way. In the Final Five minutes Mark talks about Oscar Romero.
In this episode of the podcast we talk about yoga, meditation, kirtan and the movies. The guest in the first half is Ivy Xie McIsaac of Wishingtree Yoga. Ivy is originally from Guangzhou, China and touches on life during the Cultural Revolution, how she discovered yoga in the 90s and the influence of Tibet on her life. She also discusses her book A Complete Yoga Manual, the origins of yoga and spirituality vs religion. To learn more visit https://www.wishingtreeyoga.ca/ In the second half Mark reflects on some of his favourite movies from the 2000s. These include Before Sunset, the story of second chances, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, about a robbery gone wrong, Traffic, which discusses the war on drugs from different angles, The Secret in Their Eyes, which showcases how Argentina changed over a twenty year period through the lens of a murder investigation and Lost in Translation, with two kindred spirits of different generations meeting in Tokyo. In a new segment called The Final Five Mark also reads from the book Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson.
In this episode of Further Reflections we hear an interview with Dr. Emma Mardlin. Emma is the author of Out of Your Comfort Zone: Breaking Boundaries for a Life Beyond Limits. The book offers effective working tools to conquer our deepest fears, be they minor or major, and harness them to achieve our ultimate goals, establish higher purpose and get everything we want. Visit https://www.outofyourcomfortzone.uk/ to learn more. In the second half of the podcast Mark talks about stepping outside of his comfort zone when in 2004 he went to Fuzhou, China to teach English as a Second Language. Mark was the only Non-Asian teacher at a vocational language school and got to visit some unique towns and villages. Along the way Mark reflects on time spent in Fujian as well as trips to Shanghai, Jiangsu and Hubei Provinces and how a new relationship impacted his life at the time.
Further Reflections presents two new interviews, Ron St. Louis and David McGee. Mark interviewed Ron before back in 2011. At that time Ron was concerned with peak oil and energy issues but was just getting into beekeeping. Now it is a main interest in his life and source of income. Ron runs the business Capital Bees where he sells honey, breeds bees and does a beekeeping apprenticeship program. In the interview Ron discusses all things bees including a trip to a conference in Istanbul, Turkey in 2017. He also returns to some of the themes of the first interview towards the end. David McGee is the man behind the Lost Ottawa website and facebook page which is one of the largest local interest pages of its kind in Ottawa. Lost Ottawa shares pictures of Ottawa as it was then and elicits lots of memories and nostalgia from people online. Recently it was turned into a two book project and has proved very successful in that format too. David discusses all things ‘lost’ as well as reflects on time spent living in Boston and Berlin, Germany.
Further Reflections returns for a second year with a change to the format. In the first half of the podcast we hear from author Mitch Horowitz to discuss his new book the Miracle Club. Mitch is interested in how thoughts can be causative and the New Thought movement and weaves those themes together with personal examples from his own life and those of his heroes to enable us to potentially manifest positive change in our lives. In this second half Mark talks about several movies that made an impact on him in the second half of 2018 including Roma, The Favourite, Eighth Grade and Beast. He also looks back at Don’t Look Now and recommends the Maltin on Movies podcast among other things.
It’s the one year anniversary of Further Reflections and Mark takes a look back at some of the highlights. We hear Jim Birtch, Chris Bisson and Mike Nickerson share their experiences of the city of Ottawa, Glenn Campbell discuss Shamanism, Mark review the book Brida and Pamela French discuss authentic relating games. Later Corrie Rabbe, Randal Goodfellow and Mark talk about the movies, Laurin Fulton discusses environmental sustainability, Stewart McIsaac, Amber Westfall and Daniel Foor share unique travel experiences and Mark ends with some new material, perspectives on the books Muhammad, Jesus and The Buddha by Deepak Chopra. Thanks to all for making the first year of Further Reflections an enjoyable one.
Daniel G Mauro of Awakening Ottawa is the guest on this episode of the podcast. His discusses Ottawa’s potential to be a spiritual wayshower on the world stage. Visit http://www.awakeningottawa.com/ to learn more about Daniel and his work.
Mark asked seven of his most recent guests to describe a unique travel experience, included are their responses. We hear from Tim Yearington, Amber Westfall and Stewart McIsaac among others.
Trevor Haché of the Healthy Transportation Coalition joins the podcast to discuss the need for more low income housing, especially near rapid transit stations among other interesting related issues. Visit https://www.healthytransportation.ca/ to learn more.
Stewart McIsaac is the guest on this episode of the podcast. He is a sound yogi, yoga instructor and leads Kirtan. He discusses the influence of Eastern philosophy and thought on his life including the work of Sivananda and reflects on time teaching English in Guangzhou, China as well as trips to Tibet and Yunnan. Visit http://wishingtreeyoga.ca/ to learn more.
Amber Westfall of The Wild Garden is the guest in this episode to talk about herbalism, foraging, regenerative harvesting practices, ethical wildcrafting, the Transition movement and more. Visit http://www.thewildgarden.ca/ for more information.
Mark has read six books by author Paulo Coelho and discusses them in this episode of the podcast. He examines The Alchemist, The Zahir, The Winner Stands Alone, Brida, Adultery and The Witch of Portobello.
Jane Duncan Rogers joins the program to discuss her new book Before I Go: The Essential Guide to Creating a Good End of Life Plan. Visit https://beforeigosolutions.com/ to learn more about Jane and her work.
Tim Yearington is the guest on this episode of the podcast. He describes himself as as an Algonquin knowledge keeper and will discuss Thunderbird teachings and being a Thunderbird himself as well as a proposed Shaman school to embody people to heal others and themselves among other interesting topics. Visit http://www.timyearington.com/ to learn more.