Most of us think of entrepreneurship as a way to make an impact, earn a living, or pursue our purpose.

But what if building a business isn't separate from your spiritual path? What if it's one of the deepest forms of it?

In this episode, I sit down with Dane Tomas—artist, entrepreneur, and conscious leadership mentor—to explore why building something meaningful is one of life's great initiatory journeys. Every stage asks us to become someone new, not through more insight alone, but through the humbling practice of bringing our work into the real world.

Dane shares his five-stage map of conscious leadership—from Initiate to Creator, Leader, Architect, and Elder—and the identity shifts each stage demands. We talk about why the spiritual seeker can become trapped in potential, why action is a greater teacher than certainty, how to build teams without losing your soul, and why the businesses that endure eventually become bigger than the people who started them.

One of my favorite threads throughout this conversation is the idea of devotion. Rather than treating business as something separate from spirit, Dane offers a different invitation: bring spirit into business. Let every failed launch, difficult conversation, imperfect first attempt, and unexpected detour become part of the dialogue.

If you've ever felt called to create something that serves others—but found yourself waiting until you felt ready, clear, or confident—this conversation is a reminder that the path reveals itself by walking it.

About Dane Tomas

Dane Tomas is an artist, ritualist, entrepreneur, and systems thinker exploring the intersection of transformation, culture, and business.

Over the past two decades, he has built movements, created transformational experiences, released music, led rituals around the world, and helped thousands of practitioners bring more depth, integrity, and creativity into their work.

He is the creator of The Spiral, a registered modality that reached more than 20,000 people, trained over 500 practitioners, and generated more than $3.5 million in revenue before he sold the company—one of the few genuine exit stories in the coaching and facilitation industry.

Known for weaving together embodied practice, systems design, mythology, and artistic expression, Dane works with founders, coaches, and facilitators who want to build businesses that do more than generate income—they shape culture.

Based in London, Dane is studying at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations while consulting with founders and creating new artistic and ritual work for the next generation of movement leaders.

Connect with Dane
Instagram: @dane.tomas

Connect with Garden of Becoming
Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcast
Email: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone who's standing at the edge of a calling and wondering whether they're ready to begin.

What if the biggest obstacle in your relationships isn't the other person...

It's the limits of your own perspective?

Whether we're in conflict with a partner, a family member, a colleague, or even ourselves, we naturally experience the world through a single point of view. We explain, defend, analyze, and try to be understood—but lasting change often remains just out of reach.

In this episode of The Garden of Becoming, I sit down with Kevin Thomas, founder of the Pioneer Valley Psychodrama Institute, to explore psychodrama—an experiential approach that helps us step beyond our own perspective and literally experience life through someone else's eyes.

We explore:

• Why every conflict is shaped by the limits of our own perspective

• How psychodrama uses role reversal to expand empathy and deepen understanding

• Why experiential learning often creates breakthroughs that insight alone cannot

• How unresolved relationships from the past quietly influence the way we respond in the present

• Why practicing new behaviors in an embodied way creates more lasting change than simply talking about them

• How psychodrama is helping teams build trust, psychological safety, and stronger collaboration

• A simple role-reversal exercise you can use to approach difficult conversations with more compassion and clarity

About Kevin Thomas

Kevin Thomas, M.A., CP, PAT is the Founder and Director of the Pioneer Valley Psychodrama Institute. He blends years of psychodrama experience with a background in adult education in his role as a Learning & Development Consultant at Green River Coaching & Consulting. His superpowers include radical empathy, making complex ideas accessible, and designing experiential learning programs that are as fun as they are illuminating.

Connect with Kevin

www.pioneerpsychodrama.org

www.greenrivercoaching.com 

Connect with The Garden of Becoming

Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcast

Email: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone who's navigating a difficult relationship. Sometimes the greatest breakthrough doesn't come from finding better words… it comes from discovering a new perspective.

What if the life you're meant to live doesn't begin with a plan—but with a longing?

Most of us have learned to dismiss our deepest desires. We call them impractical. Selfish. Unrealistic. We convince ourselves they don't matter—or that following them will cost us the people we love, the life we've built, or our sense of belonging.

But what if that longing is actually trying to lead you home?

In this episode of The Garden of Becoming, I sit down with somatic psychotherapist and executive coach Ceylan Kara to explore why our deepest longings may be the very force calling us back to ourselves.

Ceylan shares a profound perspective: every longing points toward who we truly are. But following that pull doesn't immediately lead to freedom—it first brings us face to face with everything that caused us to abandon ourselves in the first place. The fears of rejection. The strategies we built to belong. The pain of becoming someone we thought we had to be.

When we're willing to stay with that journey—to metabolize the grief, soften the defenses, and keep trusting the longing—what remains isn't just a better version of ourselves, it’s who we truly are at our essence.

And from that place, purpose isn't something we discover. It's simply the natural expression of being fully ourselves.

We also explore why you can't know where your longing will lead before you begin. You're writing the story live. That's what makes it both exhilarating and terrifying—and why the invitation is not to wait until you're certain, but to trust the whisper that's already calling.

What You'll Explore

• Why every longing is sacred—even the ones that don't seem "spiritual"
• The hidden trade between belonging and authenticity
• How early rejection disconnects us from our true nature
• Why longing brings us face-to-face with our deepest wounds
• The grief, fear, and courage required to become yourself
• Why purpose isn't something you find—it's what naturally emerges when you stop abandoning yourself
• How to trust your longing even when you have no idea where it's leading

About Ceylan Kara

Ceylan Kara is a somatic psychotherapist specializing in complex developmental trauma and an executive coach supporting people in dissolving the barriers to their heart's deepest longing. A Harvard Law School graduate, she made partner at a first-tier international law firm before transitioning fully into the healing arts in 2019.

Over two decades, she has apprenticed with leading teachers in the transformation field while working with hundreds of clients in individual and group containers — supporting people into fulfilling relationships, creative expression, and work that is truly their own.

Connect with Ceylan

Website: www.ceylankara.comInstagram: @ceylanxkara

Connect with the Garden of BecomingInstagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcastEmail: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone who has been hearing a whisper and hasn't yet given it a chance to grow.

Why do we keep chasing the life we want… while unconsciously resisting it at the same time?

Most of us believe the reason we don't have what we want is because we're missing the right strategy, more confidence, or one more breakthrough.

But what if the biggest obstacle isn't a lack of knowledge... but a part of you that's afraid of receiving it?

Whether it's the loving relationship, the thriving business, financial freedom, or simply a life that feels more like your own, the answer may have less to do with what you're doing—and more to do with who you believe you are.

In this episode of The Garden of Becoming, I sit down with Natanya Bravo, founder of The Bravo Life. Through a global community of more than 70,000 people, she helps others uncover the unconscious beliefs shaping their reality—and become the version of themselves who can actually receive what they desire.

Together, we explore what Natanya calls the "I Am" story—the identity running beneath every thought, decision, and opportunity—and why no tool, hack, or manifestation method will create lasting change until that story begins to shift.

We also talk about the space between the life you're living now and the one your soul is pulling you toward, what Natanya calls Timeline A and Timeline B, and why crossing that bridge often requires grieving an old version of yourself before you can fully step into the next.

This is a conversation about remembering who you were before the world told you who you had to be... and creating a life that grows from that place.

What You'll Explore

Identity & the "I Am" Story

• Why your identity—not your goals—shapes what you're able to create
• How subconscious beliefs influence what you allow yourself to receive
• Why lasting change begins beneath mindset

Crossing the Bridge to Your Next Chapter

• The difference between Timeline A and Timeline B
• Why fear and grief often accompany real transformation
• How to recognize when your old identity is trying to pull you back

Rewiring What's Possible

• Why self-sabotage is often a form of self-protection
• Mirror work, scripting, and other practices for shifting your subconscious
• What "being delulu" actually means—and how unwavering belief can help you embody your future before you see external proof

About Natanya Bravo

Natanya Bravo is the founder of The Bravo Life, a global personal development community dedicated to identity transformation, subconscious reprogramming, and purposeful living.

After building what looked like a successful life—a corporate career, home ownership before 30, and all the external markers of achievement—Natanya realized she had been living someone else's definition of success. She left it all behind, moved to Paris with nothing but a suitcase and a vision, and began rebuilding her life from a place of authenticity rather than performance.

That journey became the foundation of The Bravo Life, which has grown into a global community of more than 70,000 people. Through coaching, retreats, online programs, and educational content, Natanya helps people uncover the unconscious beliefs shaping their reality so they can create lives and businesses rooted in who they truly are.

Many people first discovered Natanya through her viral phrase, "Delulu is the Solulu." But beneath the catchy slogan is a deeper message: lasting transformation isn't about pretending or wishful thinking—it's about becoming the version of yourself who believes what's possible before the external evidence arrives.

Connect with Natanya:

Website: https://www.natanyabravo.com

YouTube: @NatanyaTheBravoLifeInstagram: @thebravolife

Connect with The Garden of Becoming:

Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcast
Email: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone ready to shift their identity and step into the life they truly desire. Follow the show to catch new episodes every week.

How much of life can you actually receive?

Most of us think we want more: more love, more joy, more intimacy, more abundance. But what if the real question isn't what we're reaching for, but how much we're able to hold?

Our capacity to receive is deeply connected to our capacity to feel. When we've learned to numb, control, or protect ourselves from pain, we often close ourselves off to the very experiences we long for.

In this conversation, I sit down with Elaine Yonge to explore what it means to expand that capacity.

After the sudden death of her brother, the identity Elaine had carefully built could no longer contain what life was asking of her. Rather than trying to hold herself together, she allowed herself to fall apart. That experience led her from a career in medical science into decades of work in breathwork, embodiment, shamanic practice, conscious sexuality, and somatic healing.

Together, we explore:

• Why our capacity to receive is limited by our capacity to feel

• How grief can become an unexpected doorway into greater aliveness

• The protective patterns that keep us disconnected from our bodies

• Why pleasure begins with safety, not sensation

• How perfectionism, over-functioning, and self-worth shape what we're able to receive

• The role of breathwork in accessing emotions held beneath conscious awareness

• Why learning to regulate intensity allows us to experience more joy, love, and pleasure

• Simple embodied practices for softening the inner critic and reconnecting with your body

About Elaine Yonge

Elaine Yonge is a facilitator, educator, coach, guide, and energy and bodyworker working in the fields of consciousness, shamanic breathwork, sacred sexuality, soul initiation, and somatic sexology.

For more than 13 years, she has guided thousands of people through deep transformational work, facilitating over 200 residential retreats and workshops across more than 20 countries. She has served as Lead Faculty for the International School of Temple Arts (ISTA) Level 1 & 2 Spiritual, Sexual, Shamanic Initiations and is the creator of The Journeys, Master Your Pleasure, and Master Your Energy.

Before entering this field, Elaine spent 20 years as a medical scientist working in research, surgery, clinical practice, and direct patient care. Today, she brings together that scientific background with decades of training in shamanic breathwork, tantra, and somatic sexology, bridging the worlds of science, embodiment, and spirituality with curiosity and respect.

Her work is rooted in a lifelong exploration of awareness, grief, sexuality, purpose, aliveness, and the human experience, creating spaces where people can reconnect with themselves more deeply through embodied practice.

Connect with Elaine:

www.elaineyonge.com

https://www.instagram.com/elaineyonge/

https://www.youtube.com/@ElaineYonge

https://www.facebook.com/elaine.yonge13/

Connect with the Garden of Becoming:

Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcast

Email: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated with you, please share it with someone you care about. :)

Who did you have to become to be loved?

Most of us make an early, almost invisible trade — belonging for authenticity, love for self-abandonment. And the parts of us we exile in that trade don’t disappear. They go underground. Where they quietly shape our patterns of desire, conflict, and connection.

In this episode of The Garden of Becoming, I sit down with clinical sexologist and relationship counselor Francesca Gentille to explore what it actually takes to reclaim those lost pieces of ourselves and bring them back into wholeness.

We explore the hidden doorways back to the disowned self: our dreams, our attractions, and our triggers — each one offering a different way back to what we’ve rejected or forgotten.

From there, we move into the practical art of inner mediation: how to recognize the different voices, needs, and impulses within us, and create real collaboration between them instead of internal fragmentation.

And we go into what this looks like in real relationships — including conflict repair, accountability, and how understanding both our own inner parts and those of our partner can open new dimensions of intimacy, creativity, and erotic possibility.

Francesca also shares her own lived journey from love addiction and emotional entanglement into what she calls an “inner boardroom” — a lived structure of inner leadership guided by a nurturer, an integrating adult, and the deeper voice of the soul.

This is a conversation for anyone who has felt the cost of self-abandonment in love and is ready to explore what becomes possible when no part of you is left outside the relationship.

What You’ll Explore

• The early trade between belonging and authenticity,  and how it shapes adult love patterns
• Why dreams, attraction, and emotional triggers act as doorways to disowned parts of the self
• How to practice inner mediation between competing inner voices and desires
• What it means to bring “parts work” into real relationship dynamics
• Conflict repair, accountability, and relational integrity in intimate partnership
• How inner integration expands intimacy, creativity, and erotic possibility

About Francesca Gentille

Francesca Gentille is a clinical sexologist, relationship counselor, and shamanic practitioner working with sexuality, trauma, and relational healing. Her work bridges depth psychology, somatic awareness, and shamanic frameworks, supporting people in reclaiming disowned aspects of self and transforming relational patterns at their root.

Her work spans sexuality, trauma recovery, sacred sexuality, non-monogamy, relationship repair, and embodied emotional integration.

Connect with Francesca:

Website: www.francescagentille.com

Instagram: @francescagentille

Connect with The Garden of Becoming

Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcastEmail: [email protected]

If this conversation resonates, share it with someone exploring love, sexuality, or self-integration through a deeper lens — and follow the show for new episodes each week.

Most of us don’t realize how much of our lives are shaped by subtle forms of escape.

Scrolling.
Reaching out.
Seeking validation.
Even the way we relate to attraction and connection.

But what happens when all of that is taken away?

In this episode of The Garden of Becoming, I sit down with Hans Morgenstern, a relationship coach who guides men through periods of intentional celibacy—not just abstaining from sex, but stepping away from pornography, social media, dating, and even certain emotional dynamics with women.

What emerges isn’t just discipline.
It’s confrontation.

Hans shares how these periods of “unbinding” reveal the unconscious patterns that often live beneath connection—hidden desires, emotional dependencies, and what he calls “covert contracts” in relationships.

We explore what it really means to become a trustable man—someone who is grounded, present, and in integrity—not just in behavior, but in intention.

This conversation goes beyond mindset and into the body— into the urges, the resistance, and the emotions that surface when there’s nothing left to distract you from yourself.

We talk about withdrawal, desire, emotional entanglement, and the difference between genuine intimacy and unconscious need.

This episode is about learning to sit with yourself…
to face what you’ve been avoiding…
and to discover the kind of freedom that can only emerge when you stop reaching outside yourself.

What You’ll Explore:

The Cost of Escape

• How habits like porn, social media, and emotional entanglement keep us from feeling what’s actually there
• Why removing these outlets can trigger intense withdrawal, resistance, and discomfort
• The deeper question beneath it all: what are you avoiding—and why?

Desire, Triggers & Emotional Mastery

• How to work with horniness, anger, and overwhelm without acting them out or suppressing them
• The role of the nervous system in shaping attraction, reactivity, and relational patterns
• Practical tools and embodied practices to stay present with intensity and move through it

From Patterns to Presence

• The hidden dynamics beneath connection: validation, approval-seeking, and unconscious contracts
• How early attachment wounds shape who you’re drawn to—and how you show up in love
• What becomes possible when you stop escaping yourself and start relating from grounded presence

About Hans Morgenstern

Hans Morgenstern is an attachment-based relationship coach who helps men and couples break unconscious relational patterns and build emotionally secure, authentic love.

He is best known for The Unbinding™ — a three-month personal polarity integration process for men who feel ready for a real relationship but keep arriving at the same dead ends. Through intentional celibacy, somatic practice, and men's group work, The Unbinding guides men out of validation-seeking and compulsive distraction and into the grounded presence that makes deep connection possible. The goal, as Hans puts it, is to become He Who Must Be Trusted — a man whose word and presence are unshakable.

Beyond men's work, Hans coaches individuals and couples through the full landscape of conscious relationship — from understanding attachment wounds and healing early emotional patterns to navigating triggers and building love that feels steady, alive, and real. Drawing from decades of experience in yoga, meditation, and neo-tantric practice, he brings body-based emotional processing and nervous system awareness into all of his work.

Website: hansmorningstar.comInstagram: @hans_morgenstern

Connect with The Garden of Becoming

Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcast

Email: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone navigating relationships, desire, or their own patterns of escape.

And if you’re enjoying the show, follow and leave a review—it helps these conversations reach more people on the path of becoming.

New episodes drop weekly.

Forgiveness is one of the most challenging—and transformative—practices on the path to inner freedom. I sit down with Reverend Carlton Teabout of the Agape International Spiritual Center to uncover what it truly takes to forgive using the 3 Pillars of Forgiveness.

In this vulnerable conversation, Reverend Carlton guides me through my own edges around grief, rage, and self-compassion. We explore how to move through anger, make peace with unmet expectations, and transform your relationship with yourself and the world through self-forgiveness.

We Explore:

• How to practice self-forgiveness and liberate yourself from guilt and resentment
• The 3 Pillars of Forgiveness explained step by step
• Techniques to navigate grief, anger, and resentment without suppressing emotions
• How to heal from painful experiences and harvest the good from life’s challenges
• Simple, actionable ways to incorporate forgiveness practices into your daily life

Connect with Reverend Carlton Teabout:Website: https://revcarlton.com/

Connect with The Garden of Becoming:Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcastEmail: [email protected]

If this episode resonated, share it with someone ready to move through anger, grief, and resentment, and follow the show for weekly conversations about authenticity, healing, and transformation.

Most of us think about money in terms of bank accounts and budgets — but the story of your financial life runs much deeper. It’s shaped by beliefs, family loyalties, and unconscious patterns you may not even realize you’re carrying.

In this episode of The Garden of Becoming, I sit down with Michelle Masters, personal development coach and creator of Money Magic. Michelle blends neuroscience, NLP, family constellation work, and transformative healing modalities to help people transform their relationship with money at the root.

We explore the three hidden forces shaping your financial reality: subconscious beliefs about money, your sense of self-worth, and the invisible family and ancestral loyalties that can keep you stuck in cycles of struggle.

In one of the most powerful moments of our conversation, Michelle guides me through a live process, uncovering an inherited pattern from my father that I didn’t even realize I was carrying.

This episode is about safety, self-worth, and what becomes possible when you stop carrying what was never yours.

What You’ll Explore

• Discover the three hidden forces shaping your financial reality
• Understand why conscious attempts at change often fail
• Learn how early experiences—even before birth—shape what you believe you deserve
• Experience a live process for uncovering inherited money patterns
• See how rewiring your subconscious can shift your relationship with abundance, safety, and worth

About Michelle Masters

Michelle Masters is a personal development trainer and coach with over 30 years of experience helping people create deep, lasting change. Her work blends neuroscience, NLP, family constellation therapy, and advanced healing modalities — all focused on transforming subconscious patterns at their root.

She is the creator of the Money Magic workshop and book, and is often called The Coaches’ Coach for her work with top leaders and practitioners in the personal development field.

Website: https://wiredformagic.com/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@michellemastersnlp

Connect with The Garden of Becoming

Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcast | Email: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone ready to transform their relationship with money, and follow the show to catch new episodes each week.

New episodes drop weekly.

In this episode of The Garden of Becoming, I sit down with embodiment teacher and leadership guide Aaron Kleinerman to explore the practice of embodied leadership—the integration of mind, body, emotion, and presence.

Aaron shares how many of our reactions and relationship patterns are rooted in early experiences that still live in the body, and how learning to listen to somatic signals can transform the way we lead, love, and show up in the world.

We also dive into the dynamics of inner masculine and feminine energy, how these polarities influence relationships and leadership, and why cultivating inner union is the foundation for authentic power.

This conversation is an invitation to move beyond intellectual understanding—and into the deeper wisdom of the body.

What You’ll Explore

What Embodied Leadership Really Means

• Why leadership begins with the ability to listen to your body
• The disconnect between intellectual understanding and embodied action
• How somatic cues reveal unresolved patterns from the past

Why We Keep Repeating the Same Patterns

• How childhood experiences shape adult relationships and decision-making
• Why your body may still be operating from a younger version of you
• The role of triggers as invitations for deeper healing

Masculine & Feminine Energies in Leadership

• The difference between penetrative (masculine) and receptive (feminine) leadership
• Why healthy leadership requires both structure and flow
• How imbalance between these polarities shows up in work and relationships

Inner Union and Relationships

• The difference between interdependence and codependence
• How projecting unmet parts of ourselves onto partners creates conflict
• Why developing your inner masculine and feminine leads to more conscious relationships

Practical Embodiment Practices

• A daily practice for integrating expression and presence
• How movement and sound help release stored emotional energy
• Simple partner practices that deepen connection and awareness

A Practice You Can Try

Aaron shares a powerful exercise called Everythingness and Nothingness:

1. Five minutes of expressionMove, shake, breathe, sound—allow whatever energy is present in your body to express itself freely.
2. Five minutes of stillnessSit in silent meditation, simply witnessing your thoughts, sensations, and surroundings without judgment.

This practice strengthens both polarities of embodiment: the freedom to express and the capacity to witness.

About Aaron Kleinerman

Aaron Kleinerman is an embodiment teacher, retreat facilitator, and leadership guide working at the intersection of somatic awareness, relationship dynamics, and personal transformation.

With nearly two decades in the fields of personal development and embodiment, Aaron helps individuals and practitioners move beyond intellectual understanding and into lived, embodied wisdom.

He facilitates retreats and workshops around the world focused on leadership, polarity, relationships, and deep inner integration.

Aaron is also the author of The Embodied Man, a book exploring how men—and the masculine energy within all of us—can reconnect with emotional intelligence, presence, and authentic power.

Connect with Aaron:

Website: https://aaronkleinerman.com/

Instagram: @thesoulnavigator

Book: The Embodied Man: Mastering Masculinity in the Heart, Heart & Balls

Connect with The Garden of Becoming:

Instagram: @gardenofbecomingpodcast

Email: [email protected]

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone exploring leadership, relationships, or embodiment.

And if you’re enjoying The Garden of Becoming, please follow the show and leave a review—it helps these conversations reach more people on the path of healing and becoming.

New episodes drop weekly.