Well, friends, I’ve officially got too much on my plate right now!

There are more episodes to come: conversations with wonderful and insightful people, teaching episodes about what happens when we die and what it can teach us about who we are now – and a super spooky episode on David Hufford’s book The Terror That Comes in the Night about sleep paralysis and supernatural assault.  

But I’m taking a few weeks off now as I work on other stuff – like live workshops, my YouTube channel, and my first book (yay!). “See” you in late November!

To find everything else I’m doing, here are a few links:

My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ClaireVillarreal

My other podcast, Buddhist Wisdom, Modern Life: https://anchor.fm/buddhist-wisdom

My newsletter signup: https://bit.ly/CVmailing

And you can come say hi on Facebook or Instagram: @namastehyall

Andrea Wilson Woods shares the story of adopting her little sister, Adrienne, then losing her to liver disease, which she tells in her best-selling memoir, Better Off Bald. The sisters shared beautiful moments even as Adrienne was treated for her cancer, and what happened after Adrienne passed has changed the way Andrea understands the afterlife.

Grab Andrea’s book here: https://betteroffbald.com

You can connect with Blue Faery, the organization Andrea started in honor of Adrienne, here: https://www.bluefaery.org/

And we mention advance directives and medical power of attorney in the episode; you can learn more about those here: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning-health-care-directives

To support this podcast, please head to my Patreon page to become a community member for as little as $3 per month: https://bit.ly/3Dm14p2

Or buy me a virtual coffee: https://bit.ly/CVPayPalMe

Grab your free quick guide to the death and rebirth process, with links to (also free) audio teachings: https://bit.ly/2Zl80UA

In this episode, author and spiritual teacher Charlene Jones shares not only her near death experience but also the many ways she's been cracked open to experience the transcendent in her life. In this episode, we'll talk about an early kundalini awakening she had while meditating as a teenager, her abduction and escape from her kidnappers, her struggles with darkness, a near death experience, past lives, and her heritage of Celtic spirituality. 

Sensitive listeners, please note that Charlene's story includes a lot of trauma and deals with topics like sexual violence and murder.

From all this trauma comes a life suffused with the transcendent, and Charlene offers us her wisdom throughout the episode. You can find links below to her memoir and other books, as well as to Jeff Kripal's work that I refer to.

Find Charlene’s books (these are affiliate links; more on that below):

Her memoir, My Impossible Life: https://amzn.to/3v8xy36

Her novel, The Stain: https://amzn.to/2YIlfhR

Her book on healing, Medicine Buddha/Medicine Mind: https://amzn.to/3DGFDir

And I mention Jeff Kripal’s work; here’s a link to more on him: https://kripal.rice.edu/index.html

If you'd like to watch the ad-free video of this episode, please head to my Patreon page to become a community member for as little as $3 per month: https://bit.ly/3Dm14p2

Or buy me a virtual coffee: https://bit.ly/CVPayPalMe

Grab your free quick guide to the death and rebirth process, with links to (also free) audio teachings: https://bit.ly/2Zl80UA

If you follow an affiliate link and buy one of the books above, you won’t be charged extra, but this show will receive a (very small) commission from the sale.