Musician East Forest, aka Trevor Oswalt, joins the Mindrolling Podcast for a conversation around music, psychedelics and spirituality.
Check out the music of East Forest and keep up with upcoming tour dates at EastForest.org.
Show Notes
Music Meditations (Opening) – We start the show with the track “Tiny Voices” from Trevor’s most recent album Cairn. Trevor shares how he was led to the spiritual path and how those experiences have informed the East Forest project.
“I try for all of my music to help engender an inner space – pushing you into that introspection. I’m really chasing a feeling which I think is that sense of infiniteness, the feeling of the soul. That is what I needed for myself in my life and that is why I started doing this.” – East Forest
Crystal Starship (8:55) – Raghu and Trevor talk about the role of psychedelics in spirituality and consciousness. Trevor shares the influence that psychedelics played in his own consciousness and spiritual development.
“Psychedelics are not a panacea. But, in my own path what was so powerful about it is that it was a felt experience. Before that, I grew up in a world that was very rational and intellectual. I needed something to really show me by my own experience, something that I couldn’t argue with.” – East Forest
The Education of the Individual Soul (17:05) – There are subtle ways that our minds and emotions get caught which can lead us to feel hopeless about our situation. Trevor and Raghu discuss how important it can be for those who have overcome these kinds of challenges to share their story with those who are currently struggling to move forward in their own journey. They talk about the effect that spiritual practice has on the way we deal with the difficulties of life.
Prana (28:00) – We hear about Trevor’s connection with another prominent musician in the Satsang, Trevor Hall. He and Raghu talk about the rise of music influenced by spirituality and the musical antidote that it provides to the energy of our culture.
“The core of the mission of East Forest is giving people tools and experiences to hopefully empower them to make the changes that they want to make, and you hope that it makes the world a better place.” – East Forest
Held (46:10) – Trevor shares his own experience with Neem Karoli Baba and closes the show with the track “One” off his collaboratory album with MC Yogi Ritual Mystical.
You can listen to MC Yogi’s visit to the Mindrolling Studios on Ep. 213 of the podcast.
Amazon Recommendations
