Virato's guests this morning are Debi Athos, founder and director of Asheville's annual Organicfest, Debra Roberts founder of The Honey Bee Project, and Carl Chesick, bee expert.

Dr. Gibson received his medical degree at the age of 25 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then completed his residency training at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. During his last year of residency he served as Chief Resident in Psychiatry and received the Albert Einstein Foundation Research Award for his work in Sleep Disorders. Dr. Gibson is a former Chief of Staff at the East Valley Camelback Hospital in Mesa Arizona. Dr. Gibson has been the mental health consultant for  NBC-Affiliate KPNX-TV12 Phoenix for the past eight years.  Dr. Gibson has also been consulted by every major television, radio, and newspaper service in Arizona for his expertise in the fields of mental health and human behavior.

Dr. Gibson is also an accomplished contemporary artist and has shown works In New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Philadelphia, Scottsdale, San Francisco, and numerous other cities around the globe.  He recently received the Jury Prize for Creativity in the competition at the Museum of Fine Art in Paris and his art work is published in the Encyclopedia of Living Artists and New Art International. Dr. Gibson has consulted for feature articles for Upscale, Ebony Essence, the Arizona Republic, Phoenix Gazette, Arizona Informant, Arizona Business Journal, The Mountain Astrologer, The Astrological Reporter, American Astrologer, and a number of other business and trade journals. He was also the host of a regional weekly radio program entitled The Male Perspective on KFNX,1100AM Phoenix.

...and now the unusual part

What is most amazing about this man is that at work he watched hospital visitors and patients 'walk through' deceased patients loitering in the hospital hallways weeks after their deaths, leading him on a journey few will ever experience. He says he was shown the essential nature of The Living Soul and how we can choose to become immortal, if we believe it's possible.

Your Immortal Body of Light is a true story that takes Gibson out of his ordinary awareness and into the deeper realms of higher consciousness. Both fascinating and chilling, this is not your everyday spiritual awakening story. On his quest, he actually encounters an ancient ‘god of healing’ known as Djehuti (pronounced Dee-jan-tee), or Thoth. Being a board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Gibson wavered more than once before accepting that he was indeed speaking with an actual spiritual entity.  The experience persisted and eventually Djehuti revealed profound information to Gibson regarding the formation of the soul, the higher nature of mankind, and the hidden spiritual causes of mental illness.

“For thousands of years, wise men and philosophers have told us that humans are created with a dual nature, the mortal self and the immortal self……coming face to face with one’s immortal half and learning to write about it rationally has been a sobering and enlightening experience.. … ,“ explains Dr. Gibson.

Virato interviews Arjuna Ardagh, founder of the Living Essence Foundation in Nevada City, California dedicated to the awakening of consciousness within the context of ordinary life. He is the author of Relaxing into Clear Seeing, How About Now, The Last Laugh (a novel), and the national bestseller, The Translucent Revolution as well as the creator of the Living Essence Audio Series.

Arjuna was educated in England, at King's School Canterbury, and later at Cambridge University, where he earned a Master’s degree in literature. Since the age of 14 he has had a passionate interest in spiritual awakening, and began to practice meditation and yoga. In his late teens he trained as a meditation teacher. After graduating from Cambridge, he devoted himself more fully to the call he felt inside him, and studied with a number of prominent spiritual teachers. In 1987 he founded the Alchemy Institute in Seattle WA, and trained several hundred people in a transpersonal approach to hypnotherapy.

In 1991, after returning to India, Arjuna met HWL Poonja and went through a radical shift of perspective. Rather than attaining anything of what he had dreamed of, he had the profound realization that he had been seeking for what he already was, and always had been. He realized that it was in the abandonment of seeking and wanting that the heart found its fulfillment.

In 1992 Arjuna returned to Seattle and began to share with other people what he had recognized to be true. He quickly discovered that this same realization was easily accessible to anyone who was willing to look in the right place, and that this had a profound effect on simple day-to-day life. He has been traveling, both in the U.S. and Europe, for the last 12 years, facilitating this kind of shift, and reflecting with people on the art of living life from this recognition. Arjuna has experienced that the shift is becoming progressively easier for ordinary people, with no formal preparation, and he has met with many other teachers and writers who have come to the same discovery.

Arjuna Ardagh and his wife Chameli have also been responsible for introducing a powerful transmission of energy, known as Deeksha, which rapidly accelerates the evolution of consciousness.  Deeksha can be given by the Deeksha-giver placing their hands on the head of the receiver.  It can also be given to a whole room of people at the same time, through intention, and it can also be given through the eyes.  The transmission of the Deeksha energy does not take more than a few seconds, but can also be given for longer periods.

Arjuna has also developed the Living Essence Training, which prepares people to be facilitators of this shift in consciousness with others, and to cultivate translucence. He and his staff have trained more than 450 practitioners in the U.S. and Europe. He speaks at many international conferences, and has appeared on TV, on the radio and in print media.

Virato's guest this morning is the director of Four Directions Solidarity Network, a grassroots movement of both native and non-native people coming together from the four directions to preserve traditional indigenous culture, support the health of Elders and traditional keepers, as well as provide tools that return us to a sustainable relationship with our relations, and our Mother, the Earth.

We are not only talking Native Americans, we will discuss all indigenous tribes, including the indigenous Europeans known as the Iladurarrak or Moaene,, which means 'sacred moon people'.

The Iladurarrak were semi-nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers whose
ancestors developed a rich society and culture over portions of the
European continent for more than 40,000 years, before giving away to the better known proto-Celt, Celtic, and Norse cultures. They are one family in the larger complex of Paleo-Mesolithic tribes that extended from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to Eastern Russia.

Now, after a long period of slumber, the Iladurarrak are returning as
people of European heritage are called back to the ways of their Asaba -their Ancestors during this great time of change. Hou! Hou!

magine a global social collaborative of peace-creating groups whose purpose is social and environmental harmony, comprised of members from every faith and wisdom tradition. They would come together locally and globally, learn how to apply the findings of peace-creating social studies, and validate the social harmonizing effects of their combined efforts.

Today, Virato talks with Joseph Giove, Executive Director, Global Coherence Project, doing the above work.  He is a technologist, biomedical engineer and clinical hypnotist whose passion is the practical application of consciousness research at both individual and collective levels. He has created and orchestrated hundreds of global meditations through InfinityAffinity.org, which he founded in 1998.

Mr. Giove's professional experience spans many technology areas, from software development to aerospace and biomedicine. He has been CEO of Distributed Computing, Inc, a pioneer in web-performance testing using the distributed computing model; and founder and CEO of Biophor Corporation, a biomedical research and laser device manufacturing firm. Other tenures included manufacturing engineering for a two-terawatt laser fusion project for the British Government via a technology transfer program from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and engineering for Kaiser Electronics' line of aircraft head-up displays.

Mr. Giove is a public speaker, corporate trainer and mind-body wellness expert (www.IntendBalance.com). His favorite topics: Embracing Change: Being Nimble in Hyper-Time; Winning with Your Team; The High-Performance Mind; and Thriving under Stress.

ABC newscaster Harry Reasoner wrote in his memoirs, “Krassner not only attacks establishment values; he attacks decency in general.” So Krassner named his one-person show Attacking Decency in General, receiving awards from the L.A. Weekly and DramaLogue. He is the only person in the world ever to win awards from both Playboy (for satire) and the Feminist Party Media Workshop (for journalism).

When People Magazine called Krassner “Father of the underground press,” he immediately demanded a paternity test. Actually, he had published The Realist magazine from 1958 to 1974. He reincarnated it as a newsletter in 1985. “The taboos may have changed,” he wrote, “but irreverence is still our only sacred cow.” The final issue was published in Spring 2001.His style of personal journalism constantly blurred the line between observer and participant.

Krassner covered the antiwar movement; then co-founded the Yippies with two other revolutionaries, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. He published material on the psychedelic revolution; then took LSD with Timothy Leary, Ram Dass and Ken Kesey, later accompanying Groucho Marx on his first acid trip. He edited Lenny Bruce’s autobiography, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People, and with Lenny’s encouragement, became a stand-up comic himself, opening at the Village Gate in New York in 1961. Ten years later--five years after Lenny’s death--Groucho said, “I predict that in time Paul Krassner will wind up as the only live Lenny Bruce.” He was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award in the Album Notes category for his 5,000-word essay accompanying a 6-CD package, Lenny Bruce: Let the Buyer Beware. Krassner rarely works the comedy-club circuit, preferring to perform on campuses, at theaters and in art galleries.

He has been a guest on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, and on Air America Radio with Janeane Garofalo and with Marc Maron.
 
Krassner's articles have appeared in Rolling Stone, Spin, Playboy, Penthouse, Mother Jones, the Nation, New York magazine, National Lampoon, Utne Reader, the Village Voice, the San Francisco Examiner, the Los Angeles Times, the L.A. Weekly, High Times and Funny Times.

He hosted his own talk radio show in San Francisco, was head writer for an HBO special satirizing the presidential election campaign, and did on-air commentary for the Fox network’s Wilton-North Report.

Mercury Records released his first two comedy albums, We Have Ways of Making You Laugh and Brain Damage Control. Artemis Records released his next four: Sex, Drugs and the Antichrist: Paul Krassner at MIT, Campaign in the Ass, Irony Lives! and The Zen Bastard Rides Again.

His autobiography, Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counter-Culture, was published by Simon & Schuster, and his other books include: The Winner of the Slow Bicycle Race: The Satirical Writings of Paul Krassner, with an introduction by Kurt Vonnegut; a trilogy of anthologies--Pot Stories For the Soul, with an introduction by Harlan Ellison, Psychedelic Trips For the Mind and Magic Mushrooms and Other Highs: From Toad Slime to Ecstasy--Sex, Drugs and the Twinkie Murders: 40 Years of Countercultural Journalism; Impolite Interviews; Murder At the Conspiracy Convention and Other American Absurdities, with an introduction by George Carlin; and One Hand Jerking: Reports From an Investigative Satirist, with a foreword by Harry Shearer and an introduction by Lewis Black, to be published in Autumn 2005.

At the 14th annual Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, Paul Krassner was inducted into the Counterculture Hall of Fame--“my ambition,” he claims, “since I was three years old.” In May 2004, he received an ACLU Uppie (Upton Sinclair) Award for dedication to freedom of  expression.

Ayurveda is thought of by many scholars to be the oldest form of health
care in the world. Originated in India over 5000 years ago, it was
taught for thousands of years in an oral tradition from accomplished masters to their disciples. The purpose of Ayurveda is to heal, to maintain a high quality of life, and to increase the longevity of the individual. Aside from being the oldest system of herbal medicine, Ayurveda is also an art of daily living that has evolved from philosophical, spiritual and practical insight --from understanding the complexity of Creation to the daily individual needs and goals of each person.

Although used for thousands of years, Ayurvedic principles have never
changed, since they derive from universal laws of nature that are
eternally true. In Sanskrit, Ayurveda (Ayur-Veda) means the "science of
life," in the sense that life is the integration of body, mind and
consciousness. The Ayurvedic approach to health is truly holistic and
individualized, and Ayurveda states that the path to optimum health is
different for each person.

Today Virato chats with Asheville's leading authority on this ancient
tradition. Vishnu Dass is an Ayurvedic practitioner and educator, and a Board Member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association. He is the founder and director of Blue Lotus Ayurveda, an Ayurveda and Panchakarma Clinic in Asheville, NC, where he offers authentic Ayurvedic health care and therapies. Vishnu Dass, a graduate of the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics, a Professional Member and Board Member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association, teaches and lectures on Ayurveda and yoga philosophy throughout the southeast and has published several articles on Ayurveda in both local and national publications, and is currently in the process of publishing an Ayurvedic herbology book.

Today, Virato probes the mind and soul of Stanislav Grof, MD, Ph.D., a psychiatrist with over forty years research into non-ordinary states of consciousness (induced by psychedelic substances and various non-drug techniques) and one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology.

He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he also received his scientific training,. an MD degree from the Charles University School of Medicine, and a Ph.D. from the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Grof 's early research in the clinical uses of psychedelic substances was conducted at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, where he was Principal Investigator of a program systematically exploring the heuristic and therapeutic potential of LSD and other psychedelic substances. In 1967, he was invited as Clinical and Research Fellow to theJohns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

After completion of this two-year fellowship, he stayed in the US and continued his research as Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. In 1973, Dr. Grof was invited to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where he lived until 1987 as Scholar-in-Residence writing, giving seminars, lecturing and developing Holotropic Breathwork with his wife Christina Grof. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the Esalen Institute.

Dr. Grof is the founder of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA) and its past and current president. In this role, he has organized large international conferences in the United States, the former Czechoslovakia, India, Australia, and Brazil. At present, he lives in Mill Valley, California, conducting training seminars for professionals in Holotropic Breathwork and transpersonal psychology and writing books. He is also Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco and at the Pacifica Graduate School in Santa Barbara and gives lectures and seminars worldwide.

Grof has published over 140 articles in professional journals, as well as the following 18 books, which have been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Russian, Czech, Polish, Bulgarian, Greek, Turkish, Japanese, and Chinese: Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research, Viking Press, New York, 1975. Paperback: E. P. Dutton, New York 1976, The Human Encounter with Death, E. P. Dutton, New York, 1977 (with Joan Halifax), LSD Psychotherapy, Hunter House, Pomona, California, 1980, Beyond Death: Gates of Consciousness, Thames & Hudson, London, 1980 (with Christina Grof), Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science, State University New York (SUNY) Press, 1984 (ed.), Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy, State University New York (SUNY) Press, New York , 1985, The Adventure of Self-Discovery, State University New York (SUNY) Press, 1987, Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution. State University New York (SUNY) Press, 1988 ( ed .), Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis, J. P. Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1989, (ed. with Christina Grof ), The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth Through Transformational Crises, J. P. Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1991 (with Christina Grof), The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives,  Harper Collins (1992), (with Hal Zina Bennett), Books of the Dead: Manuals for Living and Dying, Thames and Hudson, 1994, The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness, State University New York Press, Albany, NY, 1998, The Transpersonal Vision: The Healing Potential of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness, Sounds True, Boulder, CO 1998, The Consciousness Revolution: A Transatlantic Dialogue (two days with Stanislav Grof, Ervin Laszlo, and Peter Russell). Element Books, Rockport , MA, 1999, Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research. State University of New York Press, Albany , NY , 2000, Call of the Jaguar, a science fiction novel available currently only in Russian translation (Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Press and K. Kravchuk Publishing House, Moscow, 2001) and Danish translation, When The Impossible Happens; Adventures in Non-ordinary Realities, Sounds True.

Virato chats with Cynthia Bissonnette and her daughter Lisa Carmichael. Cynthia runs The Unifying Fields Foundation and their transformational retreat center in northern Idaho. Its purpose is to inspire and support others in expanding beyond what is or has been in the past.

She has  created and facilitated groups working with the Awakening Your Light Body Course as presented by Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer. Other seminars completed with Roman and Packer include Writers Seminar, Spiritual Growth, Opening to Channeling, Radiance, Creating Money.  Another series she does is As You Are Workshops that deals with the healing of eating disorders, as well as trainings on how to find balance in the body and in life.

Cynthia has studied A Course In Miracles since 1976 and has assisted Marianne Williamson in presentations on the Course.

With four years training in Pathwork of Self-Transformation, she also completed The Avatar Training, Life Spring, The EST training, The Birkman Method, Workshops with Jordan and Marjorie Paul, and Stan and Helen Dale, The Ark, The Muirs Tantric Sex Workshops, Psychodrama Workshop, Ann Wilson Schaff workshop, Holotropic Breath Work, TransDance Workshops.

Lisa Carmichael is a dancer, teacher and healing artist.   She supports people in reconnecting into the present moment through the body. In her work she creates a container for one to  drop back into the essential self, allowing a space for the direct experience of truth.  She has embraced being an empath through living a life of balance and reverence for the Earth.  Lisa has a private healing practice in Agoura Hills, California and also does workshops internationally.

The first question we have received is, What happened to Asheville's Center of Unlimited Possibilities and Spirit in the Smokies magazine?

Virato's co-host today is Ric Wingate, publisher of Asheville's Natural Awakenings Magazine.

In the winter of 1968, Krishna Das met Ram Dass, who had just returned from his first trip to India. After living and traveling with Ram Dass in the U.S., and hearing Ram Dass' many stories about Maharaj-ji (Neem Karoli Baba), Krishna Das traveled to India, where he was blessed to meet and stay with this extraordinary guru.

While living in India for almost three years, Krishna Das' heart was especially drawn to the practice of Bhakti Yoga—the yoga of devotion. Fanning the flames of his inner longing, Maharaj-ji led him deeper and deeper into the practice of kirtan—chanting the Names of God. As an appointed pujari (priest) for the Durga temple in Maharaj-ji's ashram in the foothills of the Himalayas, Krishna Das immersed himself in the worship of the Divine Goddess.

Krishna Das spent as much time as possible with Maharaj-ji over the years in India. Early in 1973, he was asked by Maharaj-ji to return to America.

Krishna Das says, "At what would turn out to be my last darshan of Maharaj-ji's physical body, I was petrified with fear about returning to the U.S. after so many years. I hadn't worn a pair of jeans or shoes for such a long time that I couldn't imagine what it would be like. I didn't want to ask Maharaj-ji what I should do in America, but all of a sudden I blurted out in anguish, 'Maharaj-ji! How can I serve you in America?'

'He looked at me with mock disgust and said, 'What is this? If you ask how you should serve then it is no longer service. Do what you want.' I couldn't believe my ears. How could doing what I wanted to do be of service to him? I didn't have that kind of faith. I just sat there, stunned. Then after a minute or so he looked over at me, smiling sweetly, and asked, 'So, how will you serve me?'

'My mind was blank. It was time for me to leave for Delhi, to catch the plane back to the States. He was looking at me and laughing. I bent down and touched his feet for the last time and when I looked up he, he was beaming at me, 'So, how will you serve me in America?' I felt like I was moving in a dream. I floated across the courtyard and bowed to him one more time from a distance. As I did, the words came to me, 'I will sing to you in America.'

Soon afterwards, during the full moon in September, Neem Karoli Baba left his body. Now he had to be found within. The chanting, the meditation, the puja and all the wonderful time spent with Maharaj-ji turned out to be seeds that he himself had planted in my heart... seeds that would keep growing and blossom by his Grace.

Over the years Krishna Das has made numerous pilgrimages throughout India, meeting teachers and saints of many spiritual traditions on his quest to open and purify his heart. Living in jungles, in ashrams, and in holy places throughout India, he has had an opportunity to absorb the ancient truths that have been held by the Indian culture for thousands of years. He has studied Buddhist meditation practices with Anagarika Munindra and S.N. Goenka, and has been initiated into Tibetan Buddhist practices by lamas from various lineages.

Today Virato chats with Krishna Das who has been chanting on a regular basis in yoga centers all over the world. He has taught with Ram Dass and sung for many yogis here and in India.

Today's program explores a raw foods diet, and why it is vital that we eat such a diet. Local guests will explain it all.

"People think 'Raw food? Ah, she's just chewing on carrots.' No, we eat pasta and pizza and sandwiches and rolls,"  says a local raw foodist.

Of course, these kinds of prepared foods in a raw food diet are made from live (growing) or raw (uncooked) organic fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, which may or may not be dehydrated (the raw food version of cooking). There's no flour in sight. Grains, in fact, are sprouted, a lengthy process that involves soaking, rinsing, draining and exposing to sunlight just long enough for the seed to begin to grow.

But the result is fresh, nutrient-rich food with all of its enzymes and vitamins intact, food that hasn't harmed the environment via pesticides or wasteful packaging. And this, say raw foodists, is what it's all about. Eating vibrant, energizing food that feeds your body-and soul.

Virato's guests today are Angela Stokes   ===> and Gwendolyn Morton, both supporting a live foods lifestyle..

It was back in the 80s when Virato marched down Philadelphia's South St. singing/chanting  Hare Krishna with today's guest. It was around then that Jesse Arana came into his life. Jesse, still occasionally known as Japa, or Japananda, represents a unique New Paradigm Renaissance generation, and vibes well with Ritalin era people.

In his early 20s Japa connected with Virato at the New Frontier Magazine offices in Philadelphia, PA, USA.  This was about 5 years after Virato himself had returned from India.

Before his walk across the United States...and back...as a non-denominational monk, Japa spent several month's as Sales Manager for New Frontier, and in that time created more revenue than any one person ever is such a time period.

At times appearing a vagrant and other times the spiritual Czar of a palatial home in Atlanta's suburbs, this urban sadhu has authored at least two book we know of, started and ran a successful spiritual art newspaper in Philadelphia, and a few years ago founded the now-closed spiritual bookstore, cafe, and meditation center, Amma's Chai House near Atlanta.

A genius computer programmer, graphics designer and photographer,  he lives outside Atlanta.

Today Virato chats with authors Nicki Scully and Linda Star Wolf..

Linda Star Wolf is Founder and Director of Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts and the Venus Rising Isis Cove Retreat Center, near Asheville. With an extensive background in psycho-spiritual, and shamanic work. She was initiated into the Seneca Wolf Clan by Grandmother Twylah Nitsch who gave her the name "Star Wolf."  She has led transformational workshops throughout the United States and Europe for the last 10 years, and has taught thousands of participants on "the nature of how people change."  With the musicians of Soulfood, she created the Spiral CD and teaches "Embodying Shamanic Consciousness in Everyday Life" in her workshops.

  Nicki Scully has been teaching healing and shamanic arts, and the Egyptian Mysteries since 1983. Techniques from her Alchemical Healing form are used internationally by thousands of practitioners.
She is a lineage holder in the Hermetic tradition of Thoth and maintains the Lyceum of Shamanic Egypt. She is ordained as a priestess of Hathor by Lady Olivia Robertson, co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis. During her first tour of Egypt with the Grateful Dead in 1978, Nicki experienced an epiphany on
  the top of the great pyramid, and realized that her purpose in this
  life is to bring forth the hidden shamanic arts of Egypt. Drawing on
  the knowledge she has gained through decades of study and
  practice, she enlightens and uplifts all whom study and travel with
  her. In the late '80s, Nicki founded Shamanic Journeys, Ltd., and
  has been guiding inner journeys and spiritual pilgrimages to Egypt,
  and other sacred sites. Nicki lives in Eugene, Oregon, where she
  maintains a comprehensive healing and shamanic consulting
  practice