Ep. 101 Cultivating Love in a Burning World featuring Activist Dean Spade
Release Date: 06/17/2025
Ep. 124 Guided Chakra Meditation to Clear Energy, Build Better Habits & Trust Yourself
LaidOPEN Podcast
In this month's Chakra Clear Out, I invite you to explore the relationship between structure, habits, and self-trust. We often think of structure as something external—our schedules, routines, work, or commitments—but our internal structures shape our lives just as profoundly. In this guided meditation, I'll lead you through each of the seven chakras, helping you release inherited beliefs, outdated patterns, and energetic habits that no longer support who you're becoming. As we move through each energy center, you'll reconnect with your own energy, strengthen your intuition, and reflect on...
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Ep. 123 Guided Meditation for Beginners: Managing Anxiety, Overthinking & Gaining Perspective
LaidOPEN Podcast
If you’re new to meditation, or finding yourself caught in cycles of anxiety, stress, or overthinking, this guided practice offers a place to begin. In this Chakra Clear Out from my Anarchist Medicine series, I guide a simple meditation designed to help you create internal space, ground in your body, and reconnect with perspective. Rather than trying to stop thoughts or force calm, this practice explores neutrality—the ability to observe what is happening inside you without immediately reacting to it. Together, we work with grounding, visualization, and attention practices that support...
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Ep. 122 What Is Meditation? How to Start a Meditation Practice (Even If You’ve Never Meditated)
LaidOPEN Podcast
What is meditation and how do you start? Charna shares a gentle, beginner friendly introduction to meditation, mindfulness, and practice. Have you ever wondered what meditation actually is... and whether you're doing it "right"? In this special introductory episode, I'm stepping away from interviews to talk directly about meditation: how I found it, why it became foundational to my healing journey, and how you can begin a meditation practice without pressure, perfection, or needing to clear your mind. Drawing from decades of experience in somatic work, mindfulness, embodiment practices, and my...
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Ep. 121 Cut Energetic Cords & Reclaim Your Power | Guided Chakra Clearing Meditation
LaidOPEN Podcast
Are you carrying energy that doesn’t belong to you? This guided chakra clearing and cord cutting meditation is designed to help you release energetic attachments, reclaim your energy, and clear emotional residue from past relationships, family systems, creative partnerships, religious conditioning, and other draining connections. In this meditation, you’ll learn how to: • Call your energy back to yourself • Release energetic cords and attachments • Clear emotional and psychic overwhelm • Strengthen energetic boundaries • Ground your nervous system • Restore clarity, intuition,...
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Ep. 120 Ancient Wisdom for Modern Bodies: Josh Schrei of The Emerald
LaidOPEN Podcast
What if your trauma isn't something to extract, but something that has shaped you the way weather shapes an ancient tree? In this episode I sit down with Josh Schrei, creator and host of the beloved Emerald Podcast, for one of the most expansive and nourishing conversations I've had on this show. Josh brings the wisdom of animist and mythic traditions to the very modern problem of living in a fractured, overstimulated world, and what emerges is a roadmap for healing that goes far beyond talk therapy. We explore why ritual is actually trauma work, how the cycles of nature are mirrored inside...
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Ep. 119 The Pattern You Can’t Break Might Be Part Of Your Soul Contract with Gellyahnah
LaidOPEN Podcast
Ever feel stuck in the same patterns no matter what you try? You might be living out a soul contract. In this episode of LaidOPEN Podcast, Charna sits down with Gellyahnah, a channel for divine wisdom and spiritual guidance, to uncover how your karmic and spiritual blueprint might be shaping your life, and how to break free. What you’ll discover in this episode: The difference between soul and spirit What a soul contract really is How your birth name rules impact your path The origins of sound frequency and energy healing How karmic patterns show up in your body and relationships Tools for...
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Ep. 118 Everybody’s A Little Bit Psychic: Developing Psi Ability Using Social RV App with Chase McCarty
LaidOPEN Podcast
If you've ever wondered if anyone can really develop their psychic abilities? This episode is for you. I sit down with Chase McCarty, the creator of Social RV, an app that gamifies remote viewing, intuition, and all the weird little psychic skills you didn’t think you could train. We talk about psi abilities like remote viewing and intuitive perception. Chase shares how he went from a skeptic to someone who built a digital space to help people train their intuition and perceptual capacities in a structured, measurable, and safe way. We talk about what psi really means, not as...
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Ep 117 Spiritual Resilience for Uncertain Times featuring Gabrielle Felder
LaidOPEN Podcast
In this episode of LaidOPEN, I’m joined by Gabrielle Felder, author of . We talk about returning to spiritual lineage, writing about Ifá as a living oral tradition, and what it meant for Gabrielle to publish this work after being raised Baptist. She shares how being on ancestral land in the American South changed her relationship to history and belonging. We explore Oshun and Obatala, gender expansiveness in Yoruba cosmology, burnout and joyful militancy, and how to remain spiritually grounded in times of cultural instability. LaidOPEN offers intimate conversations at the intersection of...
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Ep. 116 Mayan Astrology, Cacao, and the Relief of Finally Understanding Yourself with Christine Olivia Hernandez
LaidOPEN Podcast
In this episode of LaidOPEN Podcast, I sit down with Mayan astrologer, cacao ceremonialist, and author Christine Olivia Hernandez to talk about ritual, gratitude, discernment, and how to live in alignment with your natural rhythm. Christine shares how Mayan astrology and the Sacred Calendar can help you understand who you are and how your energy is meant to move, rather than forcing yourself into systems that lead to burnout and self doubt. We explore gratitude as an embodied, devotional practice, not a bypass, and how daily ritual can support nervous system regulation during uncertain times....
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Ep. 115 The Alchemy of Collapse and Using It as a Gateway to Awakening with Taylor Perkins
LaidOPEN Podcast
In this episode of the LaidOPEN Podcast, host Charna Cassell sits down with content creator Taylor Perkins, better known on social media as Cult Daddy, for a deep conversation about spirituality, embodiment, trauma, and reclaiming personal truth after high control religion. Taylor shares his journey growing up Mormon, achieving financial success, losing everything, and experiencing a profound spiritual awakening that reshaped how he understands consciousness, meaning, and self expression. Together they explore psychedelics as one possible tool for unlearning indoctrination while emphasizing...
info_outlineIn this episode of LaidOPEN Podcast, I have an insightful conversation with activist and author Dean Spade about his extensive work in movements for queer and trans liberation, anti-militarism, and the abolition of police and prisons.
Dean and I discuss his new book titled 'Love in a Fucked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together,' covering topics such as mindful practices for managing stress, the evolution of his book over nine years, and personal growth in relationships.
We also delve into the romance myth, decentralizing romantic relationships, and the importance of community support. Dean shares valuable insights and practices for generating internal safety and the importance of collective care in social movements.
This episode is an enriching dialogue aimed at anyone interested in social justice, personal growth, and transformative community practices.
Show Notes:
00:00 Introduction and Course Announcement
00:55 Introducing Dean Spade
02:01 Dean Spade's Book Journey
02:28 Healing Modalities and Personal Growth
03:05 Non-Monogamous Relationships
03:34 Challenges in Writing the Book
05:15 Self-Help Literature Critique
06:45 Emotional Awareness in Movements
15:27 Decentralizing Romantic Relationships
23:49 Self-Generated Safety and Belonging
31:40 Therapy Misconceptions and Realities
32:38 The Overuse of Pathologizing Language
33:23 Forgiveness and Self-Inquiry in Relationships
36:05 The Impact of Alcoholism on Relationships
37:28 The Process of Forgiveness and Healing
41:34 Sexual Trauma and Cultural Narratives
44:18 Transformative Justice and Community Response
49:52 Decentralizing Romantic Relationships
You can watch this episode on my YouTube channel, just search LaidOPEN. Plus, I have free guided visualizations and a host of other tools and resources available to you there and on my website at CharnaCassell.com.