Here I sit down with existential psychologist Dr. Alex Sielaff to explore how our awareness of death subtly shapes everything, from our beliefs and identities to our relationships and search for meaning.

We dive into Terror Management Theory, peak states of consciousness, and the ways adventure, discomfort, and integration can help us live more fully in the face of mortality.

It’s a conversation about fear, freedom, and the quiet power of choosing presence over certainty.

You can contact Alex via email at [email protected]

Some of the references discussed in this conversation are:

• The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
• Rude Awakening: Perils, Pitfalls, and Hard Truths of the Spiritual Path by P.T. Mistlberger
• Robert Anton Wilson's idea of Maybe Logic for holding multiple worldviews at the same time

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Rob Ó Cobhthaigh is a former elite whitewater kayaker turned psychotherapist and psychedelic facilitator. He's run some of the most intense waters in the world and completed exploratory first descents in rivers of Iran and Norway.

After retired from whitewater, Rob shifted to the exploration of inner realms, training as a psychotherapist as well as in the Celtic shamanic tradition. He now leads psychedelic retreats in Amsterdam and Costa Rica with his organization inwardbound.nl.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Rob's article on Risk in Whitewater Kayaking: In the Eye of the Storm
• The Irish Centre for Celtic Shamanic Studies

You can learn more about Rob's work at inwardbound.nl or robocobhthaigh.com

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

In this episode, I chat to author Maria Coffey.

Maria has written 10 different books, including Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure and Explorers of the Infinite: The Secret Spiritual Lives of Extreme Athletes-and What They Reveal About Near-Death Experiences, Psychic Communication, and Touching the Beyond.

We chat about why it is the brushes with death that make us feel most alive, the experience of transcendence and the wild stuff that comes with it.

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Maria's website
• Touching the Void Movie
• Stephen Venables survival story on Everest
• Hans Lindermann's 1956 kayak crossing of the Atlantic
• Robert Anton Wilson Explaining Reality Tunnels

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Peter Chrzanowski is an extreme skiing pioneer and Sea to Sky legend.

He has atleast 18 ski-mountaineering first descents to his name, including Wedge, Mount Currie, Atwell, Serratus, and Mount Waddington and has also directed or produced 19 ski, paragliding, or action sport movies since the 80's many of which are credited with bringing big mountain, extreme skiing to the level of popularity it is at today.

We chat about his life of adventure, how he deals with fear, what he's learned from having more brushes with death than one could imagine, and much more.

You can purchase Peter's book I Survived Myself on Amazon here.

Links mentioned:

• A clip from Peter's movie: The North Face: Seven Years on Mount Robson
• Recommended film: K2 The Impossible Descent

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Dom Francks is a modern day renaissance man, having honed his craft at everything from elite golf, to climate tech, to outdoor leadership.

The current expression of this craft is Vivify, a transformative journey for adventurous professionals and leaders. It blends 4 months of online leadership coaching with a unique 8-day off-trail backpacking expedition in the High Sierra.

In our conversation we go deep on how one can create transformative spaces in the time they spend outdoors, and more importantly, how one can use these peak states to ultimately be of greater service to those around us.

You can find links to go deeper on some of the topics here:

• Dom's piece on Ritual vs Discipline
• Josh Schrei's The Emerald Podcast: Animism is Normative Consciousness
• Josh Schrei's The Emerald Podcast on Ecological Grief: I Wish It Could Have Been Another Way
• The Great Simplification | Film on Energy, Environment, and Our Future | FULL MOVIE
• Dom's piece on The “Spiritual Infrastructure” of Climate

Dom is offering $500 off this May's Vivify program for listeners of Mountain Whispers. To inquire, follow this link.

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Lauren Bond is a wilderness guide and founder of The River's Path, offering canoe journeys for deep connection and personal transformation.

We explore what is actually means to foster deeper connection to the more than human world and how one can access these subtle states of consciousness.

We dive deep into how Lauren facilitates this experience in a group setting, as well as how confronting fear and opening yourself to synchronicity are key parts of moving in these spaces.

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Neuroscientist David Eagleman explaining "The Umwelt"
• Lauren's upcoming trips at The River's Path

You can find more of Lauren at The River's Path link above. You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

In this episode Fletcher joins us again to pick up where we left off in Episode 20. We dive deeper into the practice of cultivating intimacy with the more than world through exploring:

• Connecting to your local bio-region and seeing it like a "Kin-dom"
• Ancestor practices - paying homage to those who came before us by understanding how they interacted with flora and fauna
• The power of animal tracking and pilgrimage as a way to connect and transform

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• The Emerald Podcast episode: Animism is Normative Consciousness
• Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage route in Japan

You can learn more about Fletcher's upcoming programs here, or find some of his music here.

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Jon Turk is the quintessential example of someone who has lived a life of adventure and consistently stayed open to let vivid experiences shape him.

He's been named a Top Ten Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic for feats including kayaking around Cape Horn and across the North Pacific from Japan to Alaska, to mountain biking across the northern Gobi in Mongolia, as well as numerous first ski descents and first rock climbing ascents around the globe.

What's even more captivating is the depth of his introspection throughout out this. The four books he's written document the way that endurance, fear, risk, and awe has shaped his character, but also interwine the history, anthropology, and mythology of the places he's been lucky enough to adventure in.

In this conversation we tease out some of these learnings to explore what it means to push adventures to the edge, while staying grounded enough to live to tell the tale.

You can learn more about Jon at jonturk.net and can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Alexander Beiner is the author of the upcoming book The Bigger Picture: How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World and one of the founders of the Youtube channel Rebel Wisdom.

Together we explore the parallels between outdoor and psychedelic modes of adventure, and more importantly, how one can integrate extreme experience in a way that helps us navigate complexity, thrive under pressure, and better practice compassion and empathy. All of these are skills that are becoming more important in a world that isn't getting any simpler.

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences by Rick Strassman
• Evolve Move Play - an organization bring participatory knowledge and wisdom from movement
• Trish Blain's model of four forces that shape worldviews

You can find more of Alexander at @alexander_beiner on Instagram, or subscribe to his Substack at The Bigger Picture.

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Tara Souch is a clinical counsellor, specialising in nature based therapy, and a wilderness guide.

We chat about:

• Connecting to the seasons, what it looks like to use each season as a different method of introspection
• Tools for cultivating intimacy with the natural world as a means of discovery
• The role of Vision Fasts, ceremony, and ritual as modalities of transformation

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Dragonfly Healing the of Karina Stevenson
• School of Lost Borders Vision Fast program

You can find more of Tara at tarasouch.ca

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.