Everything Mind Review In Publishers Weekly

Grateful to Publishers Weekly for this nice review of #EverythingMind Personally, I wouldn’t say this book is a “guide to Buddhist theory and practice” nor specifically a Buddhist book by any means, but whatever, psyched on going 2 for 2 with positive reviews from PW!

“Recovering addict and punk rock journalist Grosso (Indie Spiritualist) wants, in his irreverent hybrid of personal memoir, inner travelogue, and profanity-filled guide to Buddhist theory and practice, to “wake your ass up” and help you to “be of service to others.” Grosso’s advice avoids the sappy, clean-living reform rhetoric of most enlightenment memoirs; instead he teaches shadow work—the practice of working through imagined conversations with others—embracing emotional darkness, and gravitating toward those with a nontraditional (or nonexistent) spirituality. Chapters explaining concepts like Witnessing Awareness and bodhichitta alternate with concise descriptions of accessible, mostly traditional practices. Although Grosso has a free-form, conversational style, his lessons are all coherent and well organized. He draws from such masters as Thich Nhat Hanh and don Miguel Ruiz, but also from less conventional sources like Charles Bukowski’s “The Last Night of the Earth Poems.” His low-key offer of tools for experiencing the oneness of life is human and humble, while secure in understanding its profound value, like a friend putting a hand on your shoulder on a rough day.” (October 1st)

Gotta Go In To Get Out Documentary

Hi friends! So today is a very big day as we’re officially starting our crowd funding campaign for the Gotta Go In To Get Out documentary (featuring Pema Chodron, Ram Dass, Ken Wilber, Krishna Das, Noah Levine, Mirabai Starr, Adam Bucko, Jessica Pimentel (Orange Is The New Black), Miguel Chen (Teenage Bottlerocket) and more!. Please, please, please, if you’re able to support this in any way, from contributing $1, $100, $1,000 (all tax deductible) or simply sharing the link with family & friends, any and everything helps greatly! Below is more information on the film and here is the link for the campaign, which features a pretty nifty trailer: www.goin2getout.org

Please join us in exploring What is Freedom?

With only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. has 25% of the world’s prison population – making us the world’s largest jailer.

One in 99 adults are living behind bars in the U.S. This marks the highest rate of imprisonment in American history.
1 in 3 Americans have debt in collections Almost 1 in every 100 households in the United States will claim bankruptcy.

Gotta Go In To Get Out is a feature documentary exploring the journey’s of two men who found themselves in prison, one literally and the other metaphorically through drugs and alcohol, and their quest to find the freedom we all seek, not only from San Quentin’s death row, but also the prison in our minds. The film will explore the question, “What is Freedom?” We will examine societies prison for profit culture and capitalism as a means of enslavement, our relationship with money and a corrupt legal system, and a prison system designed to punish and devalue instead of rehabilitate and revive. We will also look at how spirituality has found its way into prisons and is freeing many behind bars.

Featuring such luminaries as Pema Chodron, Ken Wilber​, Ram Dass, Rebecca Walker, Krishna Das​, Mirabai Starr​, Jessica Pimentel​, Noah Levine, Adam Bucko​, Miguel Chen​ and others – our intent is to create a feature documentary that will appeal to a young generation ready to make the changes not only to our prison system, but to our culture and capitalistic structure.

Produced and Directed by Betsy Chasse, Ri Stewart, Renee Slade (Bluedot Productions) and Featuring Chris Grosso and the writing of Jay Jarvis Masters.

With your support we can free ourselves.
www.goin2getout.org

In Deep Shift

Jonas Elrod is a good dude and I’m really psyched for him that he has this show coming out. I’m sure it will be both fascinating and entertaining. That’s just my two cents. Here’s what the professionals have to say with their fancy press release:

 

Filmmaker Jonas Elrod says we are all on a spiritual path, whether we know it or not. Years ago, he experienced his own breakdown—and breakthrough.  It turned his world upside down and made him see everything in a different light.  Now, he is setting out to uncover other people’s experiences of extraordinary deep shifts when their lives were changed forever.  “In Deep Shift with Jonas Elrod” features an intimate, in-depth look at​real-life stories of love, loss and redemption, from the breakdown to breakthrough and transformation.  The series is co-produced by Harpo Studios and TBG Studios, executive produced by Jonas Elrod, Chad Ostrom, Jon Sinclair and Jill Barancik. 

Sedona World Wisdom Days

Hey friends… phew, just back from an incredible time in Sedona, AR speaking at the Sedona World Wisdom Days Conference and it was truly incredible (both the event and Sedona in general). It was truly a humbling honor to share the stage with people like Greg Louganis, Barbara Marx Hubbard, India.Arie, Norman Lear and more and you can check out all of the talks HERE!

Here are some pictures from the trip, which don’t even begin to come close to capturing the beauty of Sedona so I suggest checking it out for yourself in person some day. My sincerest thanks to Glenn Scarpelli, Jerry Gilden, Liz Dawn, Michelle Grimm and everyone else involved in making this incredible event happen!

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Chris Grosso/Better Connecticut Segment

I had fun being interviewed on WFSB Channel 3’s Better Connecticut show this morning. We talked about Indie Spiritualist, Spirituality, Meditation, Addiction and more… Check it out below…

WFSB 3 Connecticut