Inner Monologue

This week on Inner Monologue podcast is Thanatologist, Suicidologist and founder of L.O.S.S. Team (Local Outreach of Suicide Survivors). Frank shares about the different classifications of those who experience suicide. He talks about his passion for helping Suicide Loss Survivors in their Trauma Recovery and what inspired him to create L.O.S.S. We discuss the origins of taboo that surround suicide, how contemporary society is working to break that taboo and the importance of understanding and accepting paradox.

This week on Inner Monologue podcast we have psychiatrist, advocate and Medical Director of Onnit, Dan Engle. He is part of a team who are assisting in the psychiatric renaissance, working toward creating a new system that supports people in waking up via psychedelic tools. Trained in western medicine, he became fascinated with the art of medicine. He embraced all modalities as a sacred and integral part of health, which led him to a new perspective of traditional allopathic medicine. As an advocate, he educates other physicians about psychedlic research in order to build bridges for new perspectives in health, well-being and psychiatric care. He discusses the romanticizing of psychedelics in our culture and the misappropriation of plant medicine, considering that it reveals deep universal truths. He also shares about his dedicated Ayahuasca experiences, living in the jungle for a year and integrating back into western culture through a life altering dark night of the soul.

This week on Inner Monologue is artist, photographer and founder of LAR ART studios, Lanecia Rouse Tinsley. Lanecia shares how we connected on the RISE bike tour of 2012. Lanecia was the Project Manager of The Art Project Houston, where they create therapeutic art space and empowerment programs for men and women living on the street. Lanecia captures beauty in the mundane through photography, painting and ceramics while also taking captivating photographic portraits of people in her community. She is now a full time artist and art teacher where she also facilitates art workshops in her studio.

This week on Inner Monologue we have guest Stacey Barnes. She is the founder of a travel blog called Onword Journeys and Co-Founder of local Toffee Company, Goody Twos. Stacey and I begin our conversation by expressing our mutual love for photography. Stacey shares her passion for travel and how she loves finding special places off the beaten path that provide comfort for the body and mind as well as inspiration for the creative fire. She also discusses her experience in the modeling industry and how this inspired her passion for traveling. Besides being an amazing photographer and travel storyteller, Stacey also has a side passion for making unbelievably tasty toffee.

This week on Inner Monologue is photographer and tattoo artist at Old Town Ink in Scottsdale, Matthew Stella. Matt opens up about his first true artistic love, photography. As a self taught photographer, Matt took his time learning his craft with analog photography. Matt talks about his wild journey as a tattoo artist, becoming a tattoo mentor and our mutual love for comic artist, Todd McFarlane.

This week on Inner Monologue podcast we have writer and breast cancer survivor, Jenn Klein. She shares the powerful story of getting diagnosed with breast cancer in her thirties, as a mother, wife and advocate. She discusses the journey of how this experience affected her on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. As she walks us through the path of surviving through cancer, there is a strength and power in her story of coping with that reality, going through chemotherapy, mastectomy and handling the effects this had on her young daughter, her husband and closest members of community. We also discuss the after affects of having cancer on the body and the mind. As a survivor and now peer advocate, her story is a story of many and allows us to see how cancer can affect our culture in many ways.

Special Episode Addition- Bros In Pose is a men’s circle that allows men to be openly vulnerable as they discuss their concerns and fears in life.  Anton and Bryce were inspired to create this group in Phoenix after participating in a similar circle at the Tribe Family Gathering, a festival event in Joshua Tree. Bryce and Anton discuss how they met and their shared passion in creating a more conscious community involving their love for yoga.

This week's guest on Inner Monologue is Bryce Saint of Item 9 Labs, a commercially licensed Cannabis facility.  After being eight years sober from drug addiction, Bryce tested positive for Hepatitis C. During that time, he received treatment for liver failure and Bryce began to suffer with many side effects from the treatment. He was hesitant to take any doctor prescribed narcotics for pain, due to his history, and then his doctor finally talked him into the healing benefits of medical cannabis.  We discuss the history of cannabis, its medical benefits and the importance of intention. 

This week's guest on Inner Monologue is author, Suzanne Young.  She is the author of eighteen novels for teens and adults, including the critically acclaimed Program series, science fiction novels inspired by the topic of mental health. Suzanne shares the many layered process of how she organizes and works on book writing.  We also discuss her series, The Program, and how it began as one book and eventually developed into six. We also reflect on how to deal with taboo subjects and what initially inspired her to begin to write. 

This week's guest on Inner Monologue is Emotional Healing Coach, Author and Creator of Awaken With JP, JP Sears.  JP begins by sharing how he dealt with pain as a child through comedy. This tool eventually became a powerful piece in his work, honoring the magic in the moment of engaging with audiences. He also reflects on his college years and the realization  that the meaning he was seeking in life would not be found in that form of institution. We also discuss the power and purpose of having rites of passage through various life stages.