MINDBEND with Matthew Dunehoo

In this episode of MINDBEND, psychotherapist turned leadership consultant and author Blair Glaser reflects on her formative years inside a Siddha Yoga ashram and the complicated intersection of spiritual awakening, belonging, power and personal identity.

Drawing from her memoir, This Incredible Longing, Blair explores why human beings are drawn toward gurus and transformational communities, how power can become addictive, and what happens when spiritual leaders lose sight of the responsibility attached to their roles.

She also discusses psychedelic and meditative states, the vital work of integration, her evolution from psychotherapy into leadership development, and the distinctly human intelligence we cherish and must protect, in an increasingly digital world.

Connect with Blair:

Blair's Website: www.blairglaser.com

IG: @blair_glaser

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Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

Produced in partnership with The Macro: themacro.net

In an era when every awakening can immediately become content, Tristan V. Esquivez offers a harder and more honest path: deepen the practice before building the identity around it.

In our conversation, he reflects on scarcity, the desire to be seen, and the teachers who challenged him to stop performing the work and begin embodying it.

Sometimes the most meaningful transformation is the part no one else gets to watch.

Connect with Tristan:

Tristan's IG: instagram.com/tristan4real_

Tristan's Website: www.heal4realpod.com

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

Produced in partnership with The Macro: themacro.net

#MindbendPodcast #HealingJourney #IndigenousWisdom #SpiritualGrowth #EmbodiedPractice

Anahita Anais joins the MINDBEND podcast to discuss her work in nervous system health and psychedelics, sharing an integrative, highly individualized approach to regulation and healing. She explains that while the nervous system has a common physiological structure, each person expresses it uniquely, making personalized care essential. Her concierge practice blends somatic therapies, lifestyle interventions, biometrics, and—when appropriate—psychedelics to help clients understand what supports or dysregulates their system. The conversation explores how stress, more than any other factor, drives dysregulation, and emphasizes that the goal is not to avoid stress entirely but to develop the capacity to return to balance after being activated.

Throughout the discussion, Anahita outlines how nervous system health is shaped by the internal world (thoughts, emotions, physical state), the interpersonal world (relationships and community), and the external environment (including media, toxins, and lifestyle factors). She speaks to her work supporting clients in areas such as sleep optimization, somatic release, and safely tapering off psychiatric medications in collaboration with prescribing physicians, noting that long-term dysregulation requires a slow, supported, and individualized approach. The conversation also addresses the current psychedelic landscape, and emphasizes that while psychedelic experiences can open pathways for change, integration is what ultimately determines whether those changes last.

Our interview also touches on Anahita's personal journey into this work, including her experience with chronic pain, her background with ayahuasca, and how those experiences informed her practice. She shares accessible tools for nervous system regulation—such as morning sunlight, movement, breathwork, and vagus nerve activation—as well as her exploration of modalities like aerial somatic therapy and the use of music and voice as instruments for regulation.

Connect with Anahita:

Anahita's Website: www.anahitaanais.com

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#mindbendpodcast #anahitanais #nervoussystemhealth #psychedelics #psychedelicintegration #somatichealing #polyvagaltheory #nervoussystemregulation #traumahealing #chronicpain #mentalhealth #selfregulation #vagusnerve #sleephealth #microdosing #aerialsomatic #relationshiphealth #datingforyournervoussystem

Ashleigh Di Lello joins the MINDBEND podcast to discuss the system she developed called Bio-Emotional Healing, a framework designed to help people recognize and change deeply conditioned emotional and neurological patterns. She teaches how to gain awareness of the hardwired thoughts and emotions stored in the body, connecting to the body through breath and inquiry to interrupt conditioned responses, and taking control of thoughts and emotions to generate new neurochemical responses. Through this lens, the conversation explores the idea that people can actively participate in shifting their internal patterns rather than remaining stuck in habitual emotional cycles.

Throughout the discussion, De Lillo describes how her work focuses on rewiring the nervous system and the brain-body relationship, emphasizing that emotional responses and beliefs can become physically embedded in the body over time. The interview explores how awareness, breath, and intentional questioning can help interrupt automatic reactions and create space for different responses.

The conversation also touches on how these tools relate to broader conversations around non-ordinary states of consciousness and personal transformation. We consider how profound experiences—whether psychedelic experiences, traumatic events, or other life-altering moments—can shift a person's perspective, and how integration practices that work with the brain-body connection may help people translate those moments into lasting change.

Connect with Ashleigh:

Ashleigh's Website: www.ashleighdilello.com

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#mindbendpodcast #bioemotionalhealing #ashleighdelillo #nervoussystemhealing #mindbodyconnection #traumahealing #neuroplasticity #selfregulation #emotionalhealing #somaticawareness #consciousness #personalgrowth #healingjourney #mentalwellness #psychedelicintegration #brainbodyconnection #selfawareness #nervoussystemregulation

I'm grateful to welcome in Dr. Jeff McNairy to this episode of the Mindbend Podcast! Our discussion explores his path into clinical mental health and the experiences that shaped his approach to treating trauma and complex psychological struggles. Early in his career he worked in clinical and treatment settings where he witnessed patients arriving with deep unresolved trauma that often went inadequately addressed within conventional medical environments. Those experiences pushed him toward further transformational training and a commitment to improving how mental health care is practiced within clinical systems.

The episode looks closely at the therapeutic relationship itself. Dr. McNairy describes how trust between clinician and patient becomes the foundation for meaningful therapy, as evidenced by his life-changing work with Rhythmia founder, Gerard Powell. Dr. Jeff explains the psychodynamic frameworks that influenced his training, including object relations theory, and reflects on the emotional responsibility clinicians carry when they engage deeply with patients' psychological lives.

The conversation also touches on the complexities of building treatment programs and clinics that attempt to address trauma in more comprehensive, including psychedelic ways. Dr. McNairy talks about lessons learned from working inside large treatment programs like Rhythmia, managing teams of therapists, and developing systems of care that include integration and longer-term support after intensive therapeutic work. Throughout the episode he reflects on the challenges clinicians face when helping patients process trauma, rebuild trust in themselves, and reconnect with a more authentic sense of identity.

Connect with Dr. Jeff:

Jeff's Website

Rhythmia's Website

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#MindbendPodcast #JeffMcNairy #Psychiatry #MentalHealth #TraumaHealing #PsychodynamicTherapy #TherapyProcess #ClinicalPsychology #TraumaRecovery #MentalHealthCare #TherapistLife #HealingJourney #PsychologyConversation #MentalHealthAwareness #EmotionalHealing #TraumaWork #IntegrationWork #PodcastInterview #plantmedicine

I met the microdosing coach Atara Oven at the Awakening of Consciousness conference in Los Angeles, and I'm proud to be hosting her podcast premiere! Our conversation begins with a discussion about the growing reality of people microdosing while also navigating prescription medications such as SSRIs and benzodiazepines.

Atara is an experiential architect of sorts. She explains how intentional structure can dramatically shape someone's experience with microdosing. Atara stresses the importance of approaching the process with clear protocols, expectations, and personal reflection rather than treating it as a casual or trend-driven practice. She describes the role of a microdose coach and how thoughtful guidance, observation, and ongoing dialogue can help people better understand their responses and outcomes.

We cover the value of support systems, curiosity, and deliberate participation in the process. Rather than presenting microdosing as a shortcut, Atara frames it as something that benefits from planning, intention, and careful attention to the individual's circumstances. The result is a grounded, unsensational conversation about how people can approach microdosing more thoughtfully, responsibly, and ultimately effectively.

Connect with Atara Oven:

Journey State Website

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#MindbendPodcast #Microdosing #MicrodosingProtocol #MicrodoseCoaching #PsychedelicConversation #ConsciousnessExploration #MentalHealthConversation #SSRIs #MentalHealthSupport #IntentionalLiving #PsychedelicCommunity #AwakeningOfConsciousness #PodcastConversation #PersonalGrowth #SelfExploration

On EP.51 of the MindBend podcast, Mikaela de la Myco discusses how her early personal encounters with death and loss became the foundation for her spiritual worldview . She shares the significance of honoring ancestors through traditions like the ofrenda and storytelling, emphasizing that we keep those who have passed alive by remembering them and involving future generations in these sacred practices . Her perspective shifts the focus of memorialization from achieving immortality to maintaining an active, nourishing relationship with the "other side" .

Mikaela opens up about the dehumanizing nature of the modern hospice experience and the linguistic gaps we face when trying to discuss grief and the end of life . Drawing from her own family's struggles with terminal illness, she highlights the vital importance of how we care for and "send out" those who are passing . This personal history informs her deep appreciation for healers and elders who specialize in end-of-life care, particularly those integrating holistic and supportive practices into the dying process .

As a psychedelic practitioner, Mikaela views her work with psilocybin as a multi-generational healing journey that bridges the gap between ancestors and descendants . She describes her ceremonial practice as an intentional space where the stories of those who came before her are brought into the experience to ensure they feel the impact of the healing being done . Her approach is rooted in the belief that healing does not exist in a vacuum, but is a collective effort that honors both the past and the future

Follow Mikaela de la Myco:

Instagram: censored (visit her homepage)

Website: mushwomb.love

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#MindBendPodcast #MikaelaDeLaMyco #AncestralHealing #PsychedelicMotherhood #EndofLifeCare #GriefWork #DiaDeLosMuertos #Ofrenda #SpiritualWorldview #MushroomMedicine #PsilocybinCeremony #HolisticHealing #DeathDoula #ConsciousLiving #HealingJourney #MushWomb #IndigenousWisdom

For this our fiftieth episode milestone of the MINDBEND podcast, we're joined by Benjamin Forest, who has written a stunning psychedelic guidebook of sorts called Trip Of A Lifetime,

Ben is a retired military officer turned psychedelic author, speaker, and coach. His transformation began with a life-changing psilocybin journey that lifted him from decades of depression and into a radically new way of living. Before this path, he earned multiple advanced degrees, built a successful real estate business, and helped raise two brilliant children into adulthood.

Ben shares about what it takes to make a commitment to living a life informed by the work one does to heal from emotional, psychological and physical pain. Psychedelics have been a powerful component of Ben's journey, and his enthusiasm to share candidly is medicine for us all.

Follow Benjamin Forest:

Instagram: @benjamin.forest.bliss

Website: benjaminforest.com

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#mindbend #benjaminforest #menswork #vulnerability #traumaintegration #psychedelichealing #plantmedicine #innerjourney #healingafterwar #masculinity #shadowwork #brotherhood #authenticity #reclaimyourlife #posttraumaticgrowth #mentalhealthjourney #spiritualtransformation #healingfromwithin #mindbodyspirit

In this episode of MINDBEND, Dr. Bianca Hur speaks with clarity and compassion about the relationship between identity, power, and emotional safety, through the eyes of a psychologist.

Bianca shares her thoughts on the therapeutic process as a practice of co-regulation, naming the limits of traditional psychoanalysis and reflecting on how unconscious narratives show up in both individuals and groups. With a deep respect for nuance, Dr. Hur explores the importance of letting go of the need to "know" everything, and how dismantling hierarchical dynamics can create more honest, generative spaces for healing.

Our conversation centers around embodiment, attachment, authenticity, Bianca's Korean heritage and the role that's played in her development as a practitioner, ecstatic dance and the value of play as resistance.

Follow Dr. Hur:

Instagram: @hurpsyche

Website: https://hurpsyche.com/

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#BiancaHur #MINDBENDpodcast #mentalhealth #therapy #psychology #attachment #coaching #trauma #embodiment #authenticity #emotionalhealth #psychoanalysis #nervoussystem #healingjourney #mentalhealthawareness #pleasurepractice #somatics #psychotherapy

In this episode of MINDBEND, relationship coach Ally Iseman joins to explore the layered concept of pleasure — not as a fleeting indulgence, but as a navigational tool for embodied presence, healing, and human connection.

Ally reflects on how modern culture distorts the meaning of pleasure, framing it as inherently sexual or frivolous, rather than recognizing its essential role in regulating the nervous system and guiding personal alignment. She shares personal stories and client anecdotes that underscore how pleasure, when honored without shame, becomes a portal to deep self-awareness and relational authenticity.

From dismantling patriarchal scripts to embracing the body's own wisdom, Ally speaks to the liberatory potential of redefining pleasure as a practice of consent, curiosity, and self-trust.

Follow Ally:

Instagram: @passport2pleasure

Website: https://www.passport2pleasure.com/

Follow MINDBEND IG: @mymindbend

Watch Full Episode on YouTube: @mymindbend

Website: www.mymindbend.org

This is an Operation Podcast production, connect with us @operationpodcast

#MINDBENDPodcast #AllyIseman #PleasureIsWisdom #RelationshipCoach #EmbodiedHealing #ConsentCulture #NervousSystemHealing #SomaticWisdom #RadicalPleasure #HealingThroughPresence #UnlearningShame #SexualityAndHealing #PleasurePractice