Cosmic Crush

Shira sits down with her ever-so-elusive husband, Hubka. Hubka is an entrepreneur, musician, and an immigrant from New Zealand. The discussion includes the brutal hours Hubka is putting in at work these days, why Hubka left Christianity and decided to put any spiritual pursuits in his life on pause until age 60, and what it was like for Shira to begin to experience psychedelics and spiritual inquiry for the first time in her life while simultaneously being in the throes of NRE with Hubka.  Music Credits: Playground Love - Air (Available on iTunes) Be Your Own - One Self (Available on iTunes)      

Shira sits down with her new friend, Circus, who shares stories about growing up in the Siddha Yoga ashram environment and what it was like to die for three minutes after a terrible car crash at the age of 18. At the top of the show, Shira shares stories about her experience attending a couple of Marijuana Anonymous meetings and goes deeper down the rabbit hole of the cemetary grape vineyard conspiracy theory. (She finally finds the head Spooky Juice necromancer, a catholic bishop who has bigger fish to fry than a spooky grape.. though it does rhyme with grape.) After the interview, during the Weird Shit portion of the show, Shira shares her current Lojong studies and covers a the topics of Tonglen (a form of meditation), Slogan Training, and compassion.    

Shira is joined by her friend Cass, an up and coming comedian and overall interesting and excellent human. (Shira think's Cass's comedic persona is a bit like if Maria Bamford and Bo Burnham had a baby that was raised by John Waters.) The discussion gets into all sorts of fascinating nooks and crannies of Cass's psyche including her subculture fashionista flair, a past suicide attempt, and her plans for her very first gang bang. At the top of the show Shira updates everyone on her progress with abstaining from smoking weed. With the THC out of her system and her REM cycles in full swing, Shira's dreams are back and they are full of people from her past. These dreams are giving her all sorts of weird feels that she has to deal with while SOBER. Also, Shira makes some progress with her favorite conspiracy theory involving grapes grown in graveyards! Audio Credits: Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N Roses  Grannies - Maxo Kream Answer - Tyler the Creator

Myq Kaplan, a super funny comedian and fellow poly psychonaut, joins Shira for a conversation about what started him down the path of questioning the nature of reality and is kind enough to entertain Shira's questions about his ayahuasca chaperone.  At the top of the episode Shira talks about her recent adventures at Ephemerisle, a festival that is a little bit like Waterworld for psychonauts. At the end of the episode, in the Weird Shit portion of the show, Shira discusses the general philosophy behind Esoteric Numerology. Credits: Comedy Clip from Myq Kaplan's No Kidding - Available on iTunes Music by They Might Be Giants - Available on iTunes Esoteric Numerology reading from Numerology and the Divine Triangle - Available on Amazon

Shira catches up with Gavin Katz who recently broke his arm! Poor guy. At the top of the episode Shira shares some info on her renewed vow to abstain from Marijuana and at the end of the episode, Shira shares a chapter from Shantideva's 'Way of the Bodhisattva'. As promised, the link to Joe Rogan's discussion with sleep expert Matthew Walker. Audio Credits: Higher by Mondo Cozmo - Available on iTunes High Enough by K Flay - Available on iTunes Christie Chapman / Crazy Wisdom - Available on Youtube  Sadhguru Marijuana Quote - Available on Youtube

Shira's friend Henri has always struggled with sex and sensuality but has recently started toying with the idea of doing Drag after getting into Rupaul's 'Drag Race'. Shira sits with Henri and discusses Drag, perfectionism, family nudist colonies, and all sorts of other nonsense.   Audio Sample Credits       

Shira travels down to San Diego to talk to Hawk Mikado, candidate for California Governor. Hawk wants you to vote your truth in the upcoming California Primary election being held on June 5th, 2018. Hawk Mikado's Website  Shira rambles about her aversion to politics, gets real weird, and rambles some more about her comedy geekery in LA.  Music Credit: Free Fallin' by Tom Petty - Available on iTunes

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Shira talks to a raver buddy about his recent LARPing adventures. (Live Action Role Playing, that is. You already knew tho, huh?) He spent 3 days in a Swedish Bunker roleplaying a sci-fi horror scenario with a bunch of strangers! What?! Check out https://www.dziobak.studio/ for more info! Also, Shira talks about being a mamabear, misuses the word mothership, and shares a bunch of info about her favorite godess in the hindu pantheon - Kali! Don't forget there is still a chance to $UPPORT LARRY and his stroke recovery.

Shira's dear friend (and Bay Area professional wrestling legend) Larry had a stroke a few weeks ago. Shira flies out to go see him and talk about his life as a wrestler, what it's like to have a stroke, whether the stroke has shook his Christian faith and what his new life will look like as he recovers. Larry has lost use of his left arm, left leg, and some of the vision in his left eye. Things are looking up for a full recovery, but it's gonna take some time. To send some $$$green energy$$$ Larry's way, check out Larry's GoFundMe page. (Please excuse all the mic noises in this episode - dude only had one arm to work with.)  

Shira brings her favoritest weirdest friend, Någå∞Någåm∈, onto the show to talk about all things esoteric. Naga is a Atlanta based rapper whose Soundcloud and Website you should check out IMMEDIATELY. Amongst other weird things, Shira and Naga talk about immortality, rap, Dr. Nun Amen Ra, Michael Jackson, The Nation of Islam, Aleister Crowley, and the multiverse. All music on the show comes from Naga himself, praise be to him.

Shira finally gets a female-bodied human on the show! Meet Kitten, a non-binary, polyamorous, social activist and an old Burner friend of Shira's.  Shira and Kitten talk about social activism, friendship, meditation, and what drives Kitten to be such a good girl. Shira rambles inarticulately while attempting to explain why she rambles inarticulately when talking about gender, race, or class around social activists. Kitten accepts Shira's neurosis with equanimity. Questions? Shira@CosmicCrush.com  

Dim Bulb Games founder, Johnnemann Nordhagen, joins Shira to talk about his new game 'Where the Water Tastes Like Wine' and the 6 month backpacking trip through the Mediterranean that inspired it. He thinks the launch is a failure.. but Shira thinks he is being a little hard on himself. Available now on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/447120/Where_the_Water_Tastes_Like_Wine/ http://www.WhereTheWaterTastesLikeWine.com

Up top, Shira talks a little about her Mala Beads and chanting before receiving a listener mail warning her away from cocaine.  Then Shira sits down with one of her favorite neuro-atypical humans, Eddie Alvarez. They shoot the shit and chat about cigars, hunting, parenting, and (of course) the meaning of life. Questions or comments? Shira@CosmicCrush.com

Shira sits down with Stand Up comedian Brady Hold to talk about what it's like to be a starving artist!   Questions or Comments? Shira@cosmiccrush.com

Shira hangs out with her old workbuddy, The Knite, and vents a little about how rough it can be to work in corporations when you're the business end of things.  The Knite shares a little about why he is so magnetic, how he keeps it so positive, what his biggest fears are, and what he thinks happens when we die. (Spoiler/Hint: Read 'The Egg' by Andy Weir or go check out Logic's most recent album, 'Everybody' to see some of The Knite's biggest post-mortem theory influences.) Questions or Comments? Send 'em to: shira@cosmiccrush.com  

Gavin Katz, cohost of Pedestrian Polyamory, visits Cosmic Crush and gives the show his blessing! While pondering dependent origination and nonduality, Shira's been doing a lot of thinking about things that she's averse to - such as violence.  Shira thinks Gavin is a great person to chat about violence with since he's been an indy professional wrestler since his teen years but Gavin contends that independent professional wrestling isn't really about violence. Questions or comments? Shira@cosmiccrush.com    

Welcome to Cosmic Crush! Ready to make shit weird? In this first episode, Shira talks about her hopes and dreams for the new show. Listen as Shira shares her blood with mosquitos, talks about meditation, spirituality, Buddhism, polyamory, and a weird interaction she had with a new Indian friend who tried to kiss her without consent! Shira brings her new Indian friend on the show to try to process the weird interaction and gets an earful as the dude mansplains the concept of Shiva / Shakti interactions, a concept that has a basis in the Hindu practices of Tantra.