Marcela Ot’alora worked as the lead co-therapist and principal investigator for all of the MAPS — which stands for  Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies — MDMA-assisted psychotherapy studies. She has also been designing curriculum and training therapists associated with MAPS. In this conversation, which we recorded together in our home here in Boulder Colorado, we explored how she found her way into this work over three decades ago, possible tension I perceived between the...

I'm choosing to republish this episode that I had with David Whyte four years ago, because I had found myself revisiting his timeless book Consolations’ and rediscovering wisdom that felt appropriate for these times — which has remained within an arm's reach of my bedside ever since I first discovered it. It ratcheted open my mind to a new perspective on the definitions of words like Ambition, Courage and Heartbreak, that I thought I previously understood. I’m not sure how to even begin to...

In this episode, I am speaking with Steve March — who is, although maybe lesser known in the public sphere, what he has created with Aletheia, which we will get into — is, to my mind, a revolutionary innovation in the realm of human development and how we orient to personal growth. Expect to have your paradigm of personal growth turned upside down as we cover:⚖️ Self-development vs. Self-unfoldment, which points to why so much of the personal development industry and individual efforts to...

Khe Hy is a dear friend, creator and philosopher in residence at Rad Reads, which is a business he started after leaving a 7-figure salary on Wall Street. He is a dedicated Father, host of the superb Examined Life podcast and makes time to get in the ocean and surf every single day. In this conversation, you can expect to hear:- How Khe has worked through his feelings of self-doubt - Exploring his insights from wrestling with desires for fame and validation. - The question of 'Winning the...

Ryan Duey is an entrepreneur, podcaster, the founder + CEO of Plunge.com and as you'll hear in this episode, a remarkably self-aware and courageous human. Over a decade ago, Ryan had what he calls his “greatest gift” — a head-on motorcycle accident in Thailand. This near-death experience catapulted Ryan into a journey of self-inquiry, leading him to the jungles of the Amazon, the inside of a float tank. In this conversation, you can expect to learn: ⚖️ How to balance of selfishness and...

Brooks Barron is an experienced leadership coach specializing in nature-based initiations and rites of passage — to help the leaders he works with explore their vulnerability, find their inner wisdom, and surrender to the flow of what wants to come through them. In this conversation, you can expect to learn:- Brooks' definition of wholeness as a human being - The difference between the desire to make an impact in the world from above the line vs. below the line.- How he shifted out of victim...

Show Notes Matt Maruca is the founder of RaOptics, who make, I think it's fair to say objectively, the world's best blue-blocking glasses — but more importantly, he is in my view a radical citizen scientist, self-experimenter, and articulate communicator — and what's more he's only 24 years old. Which, given his depth of knowledge and wisdom, is somewhat mind-blowing for someone of his age. This conversation didn't go the way that I had expected. I'd been reading journal papers and studies on...

Dr Michael Yang is an integrative medicine specialist based in Los Angeles who specializes in Ketamine treatment.  I had an absolute blast with Michael and honestly feel a renewed sense of optimism for the medical system knowing that there are doctors like him treating patients. In this conversation, you can expect to learn:💊 Ketamine's clinical use and its role as a psychedelic in his clinical practice🧠  How to increase the squishiness of your brain😬 Why suffering might make us uniquely...

Jim Dethmer is co-author of the bestselling book 'The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership' and is one of the most sought-after executive coaches in the world. It was an honor to speak with Jim, and I had the sense that I was sitting in the presence of someone who really had spent a lifetime embodying and living what he teaches. In this wide-ranging conversation, you can expect to learn:🙋‍♂️  How to use the Sedona method for yourself👐  What it means to live an undefended life👊  How to take...

When I first started this podcast, I had Derek Sivers in mind as the archetypal curious human — and to this day, I think of him as one of the most interesting and provocative philosophers of life. His career path involved joining the circus as a ringleader, then becoming a professional musician and touring, building a company and selling it for $22 million dollars, then giving most of the money away to charity, then becoming a TED speaker and author... to now where he's a minimalist living in...

Show Notes A large part of my personal motivation for creating this podcast — is the privilege of speaking with those who I consider to be elders, those who have lived their lives to the absolute fullest and have stories and insights to share with younger generations about what it means to truly live well. And this conversation with Kevin Kelly turned out to be exactly that. You'll probably want to have a pen and paper handy to take notes, and it was so rich with practical wisdom — in part...

Today I'm speaking with Kyle Kowalski — who might be one of the most well-read humans and certainly most relentlessly curious humans that I've ever met — in fact as he shares in this episode, he believes that his purpose or Ikigai in life is to synthesize lifelong learning that catalyzes human development. As the title of this episode suggests, we nerded out on so many fascinating topics — we discuss how Kyle's crisis and burnout transformed him, discovering the Concept of Intentional Living,...

This is my second conversation with Anne Laure — I reached back out after I read a powerful account of her transformative experience drinking Ayahuasca 9 months ago and how following this experience, in her words, she is 'not depressed anymore, I quit drinking… And, for the first time ever and truly happy to be alive'. So we do a deep dive into her plant medicine experience she had, her reflections since that experience — as well as why linear goals are inherently fragile as compared to what...

This is a powerful conversation with executive coach Brett Kistler — entrepreneur and executive coach who spent much of his life traveling the world full-time as an extreme sports athlete while building a remote software company. Brett also co-hosts the Art of Accomplishment podcast with Joe Hudson, who was a previous guest on this podcast. We unpack many things, including how BASE jumping acted as a hard reboot on his mind and how he uses his emotional inquiry practice to stay alive in...

This is a special episode with Daniel Thorson — who I initially came across through his super podcast called 'Emerge'  and later learned that he was living as a full-time monastic at the Monastic Academy in Vermont — where after a series of conversations, he persuaded me to come and sit for a 10-day retreat — which I just returned from myself recently. I found this was an immensely rich conversation, and I'm grateful to Daniel for opening up about some of the experiences he had recently...

Dr. John Churchill spent 15 years training and teaching “Great Seal” meditation in an Indo-Tibetan lineage and is a founding member of the Integral Institute led by the well-known philosopher, Ken Wilber. Over the last 25 years, John has developed his style of practice — an integrated Fourth Turning path — that weaves together somatically based contemplative practices that integrate psychodynamic healing, adult development, and meditation.  This was an incredible conversation that touched...

This is a slightly different type of episode — in which my friend Christofer interviewed me for his superb DO EXPLAIN Podcast. I enjoyed the conversation so much that I decided it was worth releasing here as well. This is one of the deepest dives I've done on all things related to emotional fluidity, and various modalities for working with somatics and finding wholeness. Christofer was such a superb conversational partner and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. 🔗 Official Links 🎙️ ...

When we fall in love, we suddenly become open to new possibilities for our future. Our lives suddenly feel more meaningful, our sense of belonging more relevant. When we fall in love, we see a way to simply be again.

"I do not offer “Medical Advice", I teach Self-Care of what, why, and how to care for yourself when medical system pharma isn’t resolving personal health issues." – Grimhood

"Oxygen is an accident. Breath is intentional." – Erwan Le Corre

"There are no adverse conditions, just opportunities to differentiate yourself through proper training, mindset, and preparation... all personal development is a Trojan horse to contemplate the existential." – Chris Sparks

"It’s as though our endocrine system is deciphering our postural positions like a person reading braille & actually changing our mood based on the signalling of our movement. It appears your hormones may act like messengers." – Aaron Alexander

"Awareness has a variable shape and size—and learning to control it is a powerful skill" ~ Michael Ashcroft

"I guide people to feel at home in their body through breathing ~ when we breathe dynamically, fully, deeply, we live the same way." – Edward Dangerfield, Nervous System Specialist