Today, we change things up a bit. While we usually focus on the full Hoffman Process, today's episode illuminates our 2-day Hoffman Essentials program. Join Drew and Jessie, Tiffany, Katy, and Marta, for this in-depth reflection on their journey through the Hoffman Essentials program. They each have a moving story that brought them to the Essentials program and each came for different reasons. What you will hear from them is how this powerful virtual work brings profound gifts of healing we...

Stella Horgan, beloved UK Hoffman Process teacher and so much more, shares with us this wide-arching, panoramic view of her singular life. Stella calls upon us to heal and find our full glorious potential as human beings, reminding us we are valid and that we are in the driver's seat of our lives. Content warning: This episode contains explicit material and may not be suitable for all listeners. Stella takes us across time, lands, cultures, and the many lives she has lived all in this...

David Fishof is an American music producer, sports agent, and the founder and CEO of Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp. Listen in as David weaves his stories, shares his big heart, and guides us through his Hoffman Process transformation. In 1999, David came to the Process to understand why he couldn't "keep his marriage." He was successful in his career and knew, in his heart, that he was a good guy. His parents had been married for 50 years and yet, he'd been unable to save his marriage. David...

Dorothy Holden, beloved Hoffman teacher and coach, did the Hoffman Process in 2004 and became a teacher in 2007. In this conversation with Drew, Dorothy shares her journey from the reactive patterns she learned as a child to the wisdom she's developed over the years of serving others and teaching the Process. Growing up, Dorothy was the 3rd of 5 kids and the only girl. Her home life was stable. At the same time, there were no rules to speak of, which could be both fun and very chaotic. At...

This is a remarkable conversation with Blake Mycoskie, serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and best-selling author. Blake graduated from the Hoffman Process in 2017. Before his Process, Blake had been a hard-driving athlete and a highly successful entrepreneur. He came to the Process because life had suddenly become more complex for him. He felt 'untethered' on the heels of a lot of recent life changes. Often old patterns make it hard to move with the change that comes, even when we've...

Jen Davis, beloved Hoffman Process teacher and coach, sits down with Drew to share her journey from a heartbreaking loss to celebrating a whole new life and a brand new love. Jen did the Process in 2016 at White Sulphur Springs. What brought her to the Process was the shocking divorce she was going through due to her soon-to-be-ex husband's heartbreaking infidelity. Jen was in great pain. She shares that her life at that time felt like a Lifetime movie, but the pain she was feeling was...

Attorney, Junior (Elbert) Smith, generously shares his journey to, and at, the Hoffman Process. In doing so, he gives us a view into how patterns and trauma affect how we see ourselves and how we journey through the world. Content Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of trauma. Please use your discretion. Junior shares his life story beginning with his parents' journey to a better life taking them from Mississippi to Compton, California. With great fondness, he shares...

Technology and finance executive, Carsten Sorensen, had a powerful transformation during his Process in 2014. Over the next five years, Carsten worked diligently to transform his core negative patterns. Using his Process tools and doing the deep work, Carsten was able to profoundly shift his life. The Hoffman Process was recommended to Carsten by his therapist, Rick Hanson. Rick said this was a way to take that last step of moving down from the head to the heart. Carsten shares that he had...

Entrepreneur and Mediator, Sisi Maw Takaki, completed the Hoffman Process in February 2019. As a child of parents who immigrated to the US for a better life, Sisi shares with Sharon how the sacrifice her parents made for her affected her and the patterns it created in her. As Sisi shares, we can both adopt and rebel against our parents' patterns. For Sisi,  rebellion was how she reacted to her parents' expectations of her and her future. What really stands out from this conversation,...

Amy Thompson is a beloved Hoffman Teacher and Coach. In today's episode, she shares her story of recovery, losing her father, the grief she experienced from his loss, and her experience going through cancer treatment while training to become a Hoffman Process teacher. And, really, Amy shares so much more. Listen in as Amy shares about learning she was accepted into the Hoffman teacher training program at the same time she received her cancer diagnosis. She knew she needed to care for both...

As a young boy, award-winning artist Darieus Legg came to love the ocean. He grew up on a sailboat, eventually sailing to his new home on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. At the age of nine, Darieus saw his first surfer magazine and the images of surfers reminded him of the dolphins that had followed along his family's boat. He felt inspired to become a surfer. As time passed, Darieus realized he wasn't cut out for competitive surfing and began to focus on making art. Eventually, he realized...

Certified executive coach and leadership consultant Kristen Esquivias sits down with Sharon for this intimate conversation about deep personal change, difficult times, and inner growth. Personal work offered through the Hoffman Institute invites students to step into real change in their lives.  Wholeheartedly accepting this invitation, Kristen dove into the transformation awaiting her. She has done both the Hoffman Essentials course (2020) and the Hoffman Process (2021). Patterns of...

Our guest today, Ezy Finkel, did the Hoffman Process in March of 2023. Ezy shares with us his intimate story of recovery from addiction with honesty, humility, and light. Ezy grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community and shares his difficulties living within this community. Eventually, he was asked to leave. Then, years later, he was asked to come back to be a source of healing there. Ezy's story touches on many points of the human experience and reflects a journey of recovering his true...

Chip Conley, a co-founder of Modern Elder Academy (MEA), joins us today in conversation with Drew. Chip is not a graduate of the Hoffman Process, but the work of MEA and the work of the Process both beautifully support growth and change within. ** (See below for the next community conversation with MEA and Hoffman.) Content warning: This episode mentions suicide. Please use your discretion. If you or someone you know is suicidal, please reach out to The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline...

Dr. Richard (Dick) Schwartz, founder of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, kicks off our new season 7. While Dick is not a graduate of the Hoffman Process, we asked him to be on the podcast because his life's work of IFS aligns beautifully with the work of the Process.** IFS was born in the 1980s when Dick began to work with clients in his therapy practice. Dick shares his story of how he came to see and work with the family system we each have within us. His discoveries about the...

In our season 6 finale, we host producer, songwriter, musician, author, and keeper of the American blues music flame, Shawn Amos. Shawn came to the Hoffman Process feeling like he was living his life while "... at the whim of all of these unseen forces and past traumas, and unconscious reactions to my parents..." A couple of days into the Process, Shawn realized he had to stop being cynical of the work if he was going to get the most out of his week there. He went all in, which opened him...

Eighteen years ago, faced with a painful change coming in his life, Erik Larson knew it was time for change within himself. He came to the Hoffman Process. Eight days later, upon his return home, he told his two small children he had been at Better Daddy School. He told them things were going to be different. From that day forward, they were because he had changed. This was the beginning of his new life, a life Erik now deeply loves. In this conversation, Erik and Drew go deep into the...

Britt Lightning, the lead guitarist for the all-female, Platinum-selling, 80's rock band Vixen, is our guest this week on the Hoffman Podcast. Listen in as Britt regales us with stories of how the guitar and playing music came to be her life's work. Her journey to playing guitar was supported by many, including her parents, and spotlights many synchronistic moments. In wonderfully uplifting ways, her story highlights how when we follow our inner calling, we find that the Universe is indeed...

A world-renowned expert in the mind-body connection, Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., completed the Hoffman Process in 1990. This conversation with Joan and Sharon is a deep exploration into the nature of callings through the lens of Joan's life. The callings of her Spirit first showed up early in her life. At the age of ten, Joan experienced a very difficult journey through childhood OCD. At one point, she had profound realizations of how she could help heal herself and did so. Through this, as...

A nationally recognized thought leader, Bernard Franklin completed the Hoffman Process in June 2022. As Bernard shares, he was a man who had blocked his emotions, feelings, and energy, and "all of those channels were ready to explode." He was shaky. He wasn't comfortable in his own skin. And having arrived at the world's best educational institution and at the height of his career, he found himself profoundly needing something he could not yet name. He found it at the Hoffman Process. At...

Natalie Lumpkin, the creative force behind Finding You, a gathering dedicated to Anti-Oppression work for Black Women, completed the Hoffman Process in early 2020. Content warning: This episode does contain a discussion of racial violence and the use of the N-word and may not be suitable for all audiences. After experiencing betrayal and doing the work to heal this betrayal, she came to the Process to understand the patterns of her relationships. Indeed, Natalie was serious about...

  Sheila Ohlsson Walker, Ph.D., who graduated from the Hoffman Process in 2019, shares her sense of what purpose is and how we can come to know it. Content warning: this episode does contain references to child sexual abuse and may not be suitable for all audiences. Sheila shares how purpose can change over time, meaning we can have many purposes in our lifetime. In this warm and uplifting conversation, Sheila gives tangible examples of what she means by this definition by sharing...

In the Fall of 2022, Richard Raymond, British Filmmaker, graduated from the Hoffman Process. Yes, Richard is a filmmaker, but as you'll discover listening to this conversation with Liz, Richard is a masterful storyteller.  and boy does he have stories to tell. From a very young age, films enthralled Richard. When he realized he wanted to be involved in making films, he took action. To that end, he made his own introduction to the world of filmmaking. Then, as he followed his heart's...

Mary Arden, a beloved Hoffman Process teacher and coach, taught the Process for nearly 30 years. In this spirited and delightful conversation with Drew, Mary shares her experience taking the Process, teaching the Process, and working directly with Bob Hoffman. She also, lovingly, shares her experience of being with her beloved partner, Jim, while he was alive and now after his passing. Mary bridges Earth and Spirit as she speaks of her life, relationships, and work to help facilitate...

B David Cisneros, professor and author, shares that the Hoffman Process, without question, was the single most impactful thing I've ever done for myself." The Process put David on a "path to happiness, to joy, to finding joy." When speaking of his childhood, David shares with Sharon that blame was a deep familial pattern. In his family, "any problem you had was someone else's fault." But in the Process, David quickly came to see that blame was no longer an option if he truly wanted to meet...