God Yay or Nay?

In this episode I speak with comedian Jeremy Dobski.  Jeremy has always been interested in spirituality and tells us about his journey of coming from a Jewish upbringing to becoming heavily influenced by Buddhism.  Jeremy tells us about studying mindfulness and the changes that it helped make in his life.

    Jeremy talks about how most of us and our society is trapped in “thought”.  We talk about how mindfulness helps us dis-identify from our thoughts or ego so they are not controlling most of our behaviors.  Jeremy also has come back to his Jewish roots.  He talks about how the rituals in the religion have helped him and how he looks at Judaism through a Buddhist lens now.

    We also have a great conversation about psychedelics which we have both experimented with.  Jeremy talks about the experience of an “ego death” on psychedelics.   We talk about the possible positive and negative experiences that can happen from an “ego death”.  We talk about how psychedelics can open up different mental faculties in us.

Instagram- @thealphadob

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In this episode I speak with comedian Moe Ismail.  Moe is a Canadian Muslim who just went to Mecca on a pilgrimage for Umrah.  Umrah is a pilgrimage that Muslims do where they travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.  Moe explains the rituals and historical significance of the places he visited. 

Moe tells us about the profound experiences he experienced he experienced when he walked around Kaaba (most sacred place in Islam).  He describes the overwhelming feeling of being around people from all round the world coming to one place for one purpose.  He also shares his story of going and visiting Muhammad’s grave in Medina and the completely different feelings he had there.

Moe shares the different transformations this trip helped spark in him.  We talk and compare those transformations to other spiritual transformations we have had in our life and from other peoples stories in different traditions or practices.   

Moe on Instagram - @moemoeismail 

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In this episode I speak with High Performance Life Coach, Author and Tedx Speaker Dai Manuel.  Dai talks about his earlier struggles with anxiety, depression and obesity when he was younger.  He talks about the physical transformation he made when he was younger but how he switched his addiction from food to alcohol.  He talks about having to deal with the mental parts of an addiction otherwise it just manifests itself in another addiction.

    Dai teaches us about how to develop the confidence to make changes in your life.  He talks about the difference between supporting someone rather than trying to change them.  He talks about when people feel inadequate they tend to isolate and how harmful that can be.  Dai tells us about the importance of community and support to help facilitate change in people.

    We also discuss the importance of vulnerability and the misconceptions of what it is, especially with men.  Dai tells us how when one person becomes vulnerable it gives others permission to become vulnerable too. We talk about how some people think vulnerability is weak but how much courage and strength there is in it.  

www.daimanuel.com  

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    In this episode I speak with Comedian, Yoga and Meditation teacher Dena Jackson.  Dena explains the difference between meditation and mindfulness and we discuss the different benefits each of those practices have given us.  

    Dena has been working with a Mindfulness teacher that studied through Theravada Buddhism in Thailand.  She tells us what she has learnt working with her teacher and how her practice has grown over the years.  Dena explains how building a consistent mindfulness practice strengthens your awareness of your body and mind over time and how that can be used practically in your regular life.

Dena also has done a few silent meditation retreats where you have to be in complete silence for 5 days.  She explains what happens at a silent meditation retreat and how she adjusted to the long periods of silence.  She tells us how these retreats helped her practice.

She also gives great advice on how to choose meditation retreat for first timers.

https://www.denajackson.ca/

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In this episode I speak with coach Lee Hopkins.  Lee helps people dealing with loneliness develop stronger friendships and relationships.  Lee tells us his backstory of moving from city to city trying to find actual connections and friendships with people but continually followed the same tracks of very shallow relationships.  

    Lee talks about the fear of rejection and how it holds back so many beautiful opportunities in your life.  He gives us advice on overcoming rejection and a new way to look at it.  He talks about the importance of understanding your boundaries so you know what type of people are good fits for you.

    Lee talks about how to handle dealing with people with different opinions and the importance of being able to openly share your own beliefs to make real connections.  Lee gives us some tips on how to make meaningful conversations with people in your life.  Lee is a transman and shares the different socialization experiences he had as either gender.

http://www.patternsofpossibility.com/morepossibility

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In this episode I speak with Ryan Cote.  Ryan runs “Morning Upgrade” a business dedicated to increasing the awareness of personal development and morning routines.  Ryan tells us his history with personal development and how he used that to shape his own morning routine.  He tells us what to do to make sure you can stick to a morning routine everyday.

Ryan talks about the personal growth gap.  The gap between where you are now and where you want to be.  He shares ways to close the gap over time.  Ryan talks about what to do when you are in a funk and you are having trouble breaking out of it.  He talks about how to confront challenges and conflict.

    Ryan shares his journaling practice and how it helps him stay on track.  He talks about with continued journaling you really learn about what is important to you in your life.  Ryan also shares some of his favorite personal development books he’s read in his life and some of the great lessons that are in there.

https://morningupgrade.com/

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In this episode I speak with Fred Rutman.  Fred has had multiple near death experiences because of a medical condition that he has.  He was clinically dead multiple times.  He tells us about his condition and also what a near death experience was like for him.  He describes an out of body experience he had when pronounced dead.

Fred tells us about starting intermittent fasting and how it changed his health and life. He explains the healing processes that are triggered by fasting.  He tells us about reversing his diabetes just through fasting.  He talks about the community around intermittent fasting and the many other benefits to doing it. 

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In this Episode I speak with author of "Take It Off" Corey Hilton. Corey was a male stripper for 25 years. He shares stories of the ups and downs of the business. He talks about becoming top male stripper in Canada and then heading to America and the struggles with addiction he developed. He shares his struggles with his own body image and the harsh self talk he used to have.

Corey now helps people with becoming more authentic and confident. He talks about how authenticity starts by understanding your own values and aligning yourself with them. Corey also shares his thoughts on what manliness is. He talks about the strength it takes for men to properly express their emotions and how healing it can be.

https://www.coreylainehilton.com/take-it-off

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In this episode I speak with the author of “Trauma As Medicine” Sarah Salter Kelly.  Sarah shares her story learning to deal with the homicide of her mother.  She shares the work she did over the years to heal and transform her trauma and how she changed the way she looked at the perpetrator who murdered her mother.  She talks about the choice of moving into or confronting your trauma which allows for healing or turning away and trying to ignore it.

Sarah talks about going to the reservation of her mothers perpetrator to learn about where he came from.  She talks about how trauma spreads through different generations and the collective trauma our society has to deal with..  She talks about the long process of confronting her rage/anger and slowly transforming it into compassion.  

Sarah talks about the work she has done with plant medicines, mainly Ayahuasca and Psilocybin mushrooms.  She tells us about the differences she feels in these two medicines and how she conducts ceremonies with them.  She also tells us about going to Peru and learning from the Q’ero tradition.  She explains some of their teachings that really helped her.

http://www.sarahsalterkelly.com/

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In this episode I speak with the author of the book “A Higher Road” D. Neil Elliott.  Neil tells us about being on the brink of suicide but going through a complete transformation.  Neil is an engineer and explains how he accepted different spiritual concepts as a person with a very logical mind.  Neil tells us about the patterns of thinking that he developed through his childhood and adult life that brought him a lot of suffering and how he helped change them.

    Neil talks about the change in the way he perceives consciousness that brought a lot of transformation in his life.  He talks about how started to perceive consciousness as a stream and what that change did for him.  He talks about the importance of questioning your beliefs and becoming aware of how they influence your well being.  

    Neil talks about a story of a lady having a near death experience and shared her incredible story.  He shares how that story changed his idea of an afterlife.  He shares the idea of Reincarnation and what he believes happens when you die. 

https://www.dneilelliott.com/

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