Chris Grosso on Compassion, Recovery and Spiritual Materialism (#41)

About the Guest:

Chris Grosso is a public speaker, writer, director of education at Toivo by Advocacy Unlimited and author of Indie Spiritualist: A No Bullshit Exploration of Spirituality (Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster), Everything Mind: What I’ve Learned About Hard Knocks, Spiritual Awakening and the Mind-Blowing Truth of it All (Sounds True) and Dead Set On Living (Simon & Schuster/New World Library-Spring 2018). He writes for ORIGIN Magazine, Huffington Post, and Mantra Yoga + Health Magazine, and has spoken and performed at Wanderlust Festival, Celebrate Your Life, Yoga Journal Conference, Sedona World Wisdom Days, Kripalu, Sun Valley Wellness Festival, and more.

Chris is passionate about his work with people who are in the process of healing or struggling with addictions of all kinds. He speaks and leads groups in detoxes, yoga studios, rehabs, youth centers, hospitals, conferences, and festivals worldwide. He is a member of the advisory board for Drugs over Dinner and hosts The Indie Spiritualist Podcast on Ram Dass’ esteemed Be Here Now Network.

In this Episode, we discussed:

  1. Finding recovery from addiction through spiritual practice.
  2. The experience of struggling with addiction, while simultaneously experiencing moments of profound clarity in spiritual practice.
  3. How a spiritual path requires one to accept flaws as human beings.
  4. Why we return to self-harming, self-defeating behaviors.
  5. How western culture fails to prepare individuals with the ability work with their pain skillfully.
  6. The power of compassion as a skill, and the potential implications of integrating ‘compassion training’ into an early education curriculum.
  7. Methods for extracting spiritual teachings from people or ideas that fall outside the traditional categories of ‘spiritual teaching.’
  8. The importance of discernment when selecting and working with a teacher or ‘guru.’
  9. How a spiritual practice can be isolating and difficult for people struggling with addiction or trauma, and the value of a teacher and/or community in this context.
  10. The difference between ‘spiritual work’ and ‘spiritual materialism.’
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