The Eclectic Folk Podcast

Mr. Salamander is an old friend of mine, I met early on in my tech career. At one point we started an unsuccessful start-up together. Since that time, he's achieved success in other ventures. In this episode we talk a lot about his family, including his father (a very successful and complicated entrepreneur in China); his immigrant experience of being 1st gen in Canada; his career in tech as well as his successful education ventures in the space; as well as a bit about my experience as an antique dealer in ChinaHe joins me today at the outset of his next path in life. He quit his job and plans to travel the world on a spiritual quest. We hope he finds the answers he seeks.

My guest today is going by the name Aurora Borealis. I first met her at an Ayahuasca ceremony I attended the year prior, and sensed then that she must be an interesting person with a story to tell. In this episode, we explore how doing some volunteer work in South Asia inadvertently led her to enrolling in university under the discipline of leisure studies; where she received grants to attend and profile some of the various festivals in western North America. She is a prolific patient of plant medicine – some people might use the term ‘psychonaut’ - and recounts how her travels led her to the Sacred Valley in Peru attend a ceremony.I really enjoyed the energy she brought to the podcast and hope you will might find something valuable in listening to her experiences.

My guest today is Xue – and that is her real name, she didn’t feel the need to go by a pseudonym. Xue is originally from China, however I crossed paths with her in a mountain town in North America, where she now lives. She is a journalist by trade and used to work for publications such as the Financial Times, doing reporting in China. Currently, however, she is active in spiritual development and is writing her first book, about her love affair with a Buddhist Monk. I found her a fascinating individual with a sharp mind, and I hope you will too. Please join me in this, our 5th episode of the Eclectic Folk Podcast.

This is a bit more of an intellectually heavy / academic episode than some of the ones prior. Our guest today, Mr. Pink, is a PhD student approaching the end of his studies in Cognitive Psychology.This episode is essentially divided into two parts on either side of a bathroom break. The first half we go in depth into cognitive psychology, how it utilizes A.I., the history of A.I. and how his discipline differs from other psychology disciplines.The second half is more about his reasons for leaving academia and the paths he is interested in pursuing after.

My guest today is a friend of mine. Unlike other guests, I actually have known him for a long time. He wasn’t interested in going by a pseudonym so we’ll call him by his first name Jessie. He’s an NFT artist, as well as a comedian. He actually was in China for a lot of the past ten years, doing standup comedy, as well as working on his own comedy podcast. I wanted to bring him on to talk more about his art, which I think I’m in love with, but we touched a lot on his comedy as well. I hope you’ll enjoy this, our third episode, of The Eclectic Folk Podcast.

Welcome to The Eclectic Folk Podcast. Our guest Acaisha - who is also going by the pseudonym here ‘Butterfly Bear’ (There seems to be a recent trend of guests going by something with ‘bear’ in their name) is a sound healer in the interior mountains of British Columbia.I participated in a couple ceremonies with her and as I got to know her, I found her to be a really thoughtful individual with a range of talents and interests in the spiritual – and some might say – supernatural. I found when talking to her, I would always gain a fresh perspective, so much so, that I asked her to be my second guest on the Eclectic Folk Podcast. I hope you’ll enjoy.

This is Episode 1 of The Eclectic Folk Podcast. Our guest 'Fatty Bear' is a former tech entrepreneur from China who sold everything in order to travel the world and learn more about spirituality, at one point becoming an ayahuasca shaman apprentice in the nether regions of the Amazon rainforest.I thought he'd make a great first guest of the Eclectic Folk podcast. I bleeped out one part in this recording - where he mentions which city we were currently in - in order to preserve anonymity.