Mountain Whispers

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.

Kyle Dow is a coach focused on emotional and spiritual health and wellness. A Rock-climber and seeker, Kyle is adept at exploring ones edge, both in the outdoors and in ceremonial settings.

We chat about:

• Pushing limits in the outdoors and how it often leads to us performing at our best
• Flow states and the similarities between flow states from adventure sports vs plant-medicine ceremonies
• The nuances of accessing certain states of consciousness, the role of ceremony to enable this

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Bone Games: Extreme Sports, Shamanism, Zen, and the Search for Transcendence by Rob Schultheis
• The Fit for Service Program by Aubrey Marcus, Erick Godsey, and others
• LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven by Christopher M. Bache
• Spirit Plant Medicine Conference where Chris Bache spoke
• What even is the Umwelt Effect?

You can find more of Kyle www.connectionintegration.com or on Instagram @kyle_dow

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

Mike Spencer Bown has travelled to all 195 sovereign countries in the world, but done so while getting off the beaten path to pursue adventure rather than passport stamps. He also spent 86 straight days in the wilderness of the Valhalla Range of the Kootenays Mountains in BC, hunting and foraging for his sustenance.

We chat about many things, including the lessons he's learned from adventure and how travel equips you for life better than formal education.

On his experience in the wilderness, we chat about:

• The transformation of consciousness that happens after a certain amount of time
• The way the narrative self quiets down to a deep state of presence
• The warping of time and blending of waking and dream states
• The richness of the heightened state of awareness and the intuition that takes over

Links mentioned in this episode include:

• Mike's book The World's Most Travelled Man: A Twenty-Three-Year Odyssey to and through Every Country on the Planet
• Mike's website https://mikespencerbown.com
• Mike's essay on the world's religions Jinn and Adam's Rib

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

Kyle Koch is movement coach and nature based facilitator, having studied at The Wilderness Awareness School in Washington, and coaching with organisations such as Evolve Move Play

In our conversation we explore what it means to cultivate connection with the more than human world, the practice of giving our attention as a gift, and the way that these practices connect us to a wellspring of meaning, a sensation that can can feel scarce as we navigate the modern world.

We also dig into the Evolve Move Play's method and how cultivating a state of play is intertwined with flow, the way that fear and risk is held in a container, and a bunch more.

You can find Kyle on Instagram @trottingsparrow.

Links from the show:

• John Vervaeke's Awakening From the Meaning Crisis Series
• Breaking the Jump: The Secret Story of Parkour's High-Flying Rebellion by Julie Angel

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

Taylor Godber is a mountain athlete, entrepreneur and writer. Balancing her athleticism with a strong stillness & grounding practice, she has a lot of wisdom to share.

We chat about:

• Going Pro, going big, and getting hurt - what it means to be conscious of your competency
• Managing fear and risk in the backcountry - how one can be prepared for the worst without being psyched out + practices for regulating your nervous system
• The Art of the Send - what it means to cultivate an intention practice it sending it it past fear and doubt in all aspects of life
• The power of community retreats for facilitating transformation

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Our Breath Collective - online breath-work community
• James Nestor's book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
• Retreat that Taylor co-foundered: thedrawout.com

You can find more of Taylor at:

• Instagram: @taylorgodber
• Taylor's website: createtravelinspire.com

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

Fletcher Tucker is musician and practitioner of earth-based skills, co-founder of Wildtender, which offers immersive wilderness programs that cultivate intimacy with the natural world, connect with wisdom traditions, and nurture human wholeness.

We chat about:

• What it means to listen to the whispers of nature, of the more than human world
• The way in which modernity has severed our connection to this world
• Practices to participate and cultivate intimacy with the more than human world like reciprocity, foraging, and creating ritual space
• How natural history is the best way to form this connection for those with a low "woo-woo threshold"
• The way poetry is "the liberating form of language" that allows us to best describe these spaces
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You can find more of Fletcher at Wildtender and Gnome Life Records

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• The Gary Snyder quote comes from The Etiquette of Freedom essay, found in The Practice of the Wild
• Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
• The Dharmanaut Circle community w Erik Davis

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

Ari in the Air makes a return to the pod to tell the story of his experience competing in Expedition Oregon: America's Toughest Race.

"At some point, everyone in this event will seriously regret their decision to race" - Lars Bukkehave 2018 ATR winner

Ari gives us a debrief on exactly what let a stuntman to test his hand at expedition racing, paints us an oil canvas of a picture on the level of suffering he inflicted on himself, and provides a glimmer of wisdom he was able to take back from the initiation.

You can find more of Ari at:

• ariintheair.com
• Ari in the Air Podcast
• @ariintheair on Instagram

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