In the second part of the conversation, Mandy and Chuck continue exploring the vast terrain, tension, and challenge between western-oriented and traditional nature-based philosophies, Kronos (linear/quantitative) and Kairos (soul/spirit/qualitative) time, meaning-making, story creation, paying for healing work, masculine patriarchal goal/objective-oriented work versus really listening and following what's being called for from someone's soul and life journey, being honest about not knowing and not guaranteeing an outcome for clients, ritual, ceremony, sweat lodge, relationship to ancestors, tending plants, and how all of this informs the ecosystems of our lives.  Mandy shares from her experience with significant trauma and how a long road of ceremony, coaching, and therapy has led her to pursue and share a wealth of wisdom for our world.  This is the second part of the conversation.  Be sure to catch the first part first so you don't miss out on any of this rich medicine!

Mandy is a ritual artist, medicine maker, nature-based mentor and guide. She’s a farmer, sister, daughter, teacher, storyteller and perpetual student.  She’s a seeker, a lover of life, a dancer and a ceremonialist.  Born on the front range of Colorado (on the lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute peoples), she is deeply connected to the mountains and the wild places, and when not tending her garden might be found foraging food, wildcrafting medicines or climbing mountains. She’s also the founder of Old Ways Wisdom—a place to bridge the gap of disconnect in these wild times by rekindling the old ways and fostering relationship with the land, our bodies, and the ancient wisdom in our bones through deep story work and ancestral skills. Her own lived experience of surviving trauma has led her down a path of recognizing the critical layer of emotional and spiritual recovery from the challenging experiences life can bring us, and has led her deep into her own apprenticeship with the mystery of sacred initiation. Mandy is in service to the remembrance of our wild selves; to a partnership between nature, creativity and soul; and to the wisdom carried in our bones waking us up to what is most important in our lives. You can find and connect with her at www.oldwayswisdom.com 

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Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected]. 

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Mandy and Chuck explore the vast terrain, tension, and challenge between western-oriented and traditional nature-based philosophies, Kronos (linear/quantitative) and Kairos (soul/spirit/qualitative) time, meaning-making, story creation, paying for healing work, masculine patriarchal goal/objective-oriented work versus really listening and following what's being called for from someone's soul and life journey, being honest about not knowing and not guaranteeing an outcome for clients, ritual, ceremony, sweat lodge, relationship to ancestors, tending plants, and how all of this informs the ecosystems of our lives.  Mandy shares from her experience with significant trauma and how a long road of ceremony, coaching, and therapy has led her to pursue and share a wealth of wisdom for our world.

Mandy is a ritual artist, medicine maker, nature-based mentor and guide. She’s a farmer, sister, daughter, teacher, storyteller and perpetual student.  She’s a seeker, a lover of life, a dancer and a ceremonialist.  Born on the front range of Colorado (on the lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute peoples), she is deeply connected to the mountains and the wild places, and when not tending her garden might be found foraging food, wildcrafting medicines or climbing mountains. She’s also the founder of Old Ways Wisdom—a place to bridge the gap of disconnect in these wild times by rekindling the old ways and fostering relationship with the land, our bodies, and the ancient wisdom in our bones through deep story work and ancestral skills. Her own lived experience of surviving trauma has led her down a path of recognizing the critical layer of emotional and spiritual recovery from the challenging experiences life can bring us, and has led her deep into her own apprenticeship with the mystery of sacred initiation. Mandy is in service to the remembrance of our wild selves; to a partnership between nature, creativity and soul; and to the wisdom carried in our bones waking us up to what is most important in our lives. You can find and connect with her at www.oldwayswisdom.com 

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

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This is the second part of a wide-ranging conversation. Tim and Chuck discuss the different cultures of faith, academics, societies, race, and more as well as the "culture wars" that seem to be happening within and between them.  Through Tim's experiences with faith, inquiry, direct experience, and following the questions emerging from his own life, we discuss how his desire to understand life, be of service, and not settle for the quick easy answers has led him to many experiences around the world.  We touch on transcendent experiences which led Tim to pursue scientific research into meditation and altered states and the difficulty and suffering he and many have found in these states.  I can't even begin to touch on the depth of topics and questions we question but a few more teasers include holding curiosity and not knowing vs falling into stagnation or grandiosity, psychedelics, holding both positive and negative views of transcendent experiences, the complexity of inter-cultural relationships, our history, future, and more!  This is the second part of a conversation you don't want to miss.  Back up to part one if you haven't listened yet! 

Tim is a psychology researcher in Melbourne, Australia. He is a member of the Baha'i Faith (www.bahai.org), which teaches the independent investigation of truth. In his free time Tim thinks about how everything is connected in an amazing web of interdependence, plays volleyball, drums/dances, talks to people and wonders why they are all getting so many tattoos, reads, and scopes out good coffee and food. 

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

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In this wide-ranging conversation, Tim and Chuck discuss the different cultures of faith, academics, societies, race, and more as well as the "culture wars" that seem to be happening within and between them.  Through Tim's experiences with faith, inquiry, direct experience, and following the questions emerging from his own life, we discuss how his desire to understand life, be of service, and not settle for the quick easy answers has led him to many experiences around the world.  We touch on transcendent experiences which led Tim to pursue scientific research into meditation and altered states and the difficulty and suffering he and many have found in these states.  I can't even begin to touch on the depth of topics and questions we question but a few more teasers include holding curiosity and not knowing vs falling into stagnation or grandiosity, psychedelics, holding both positive and negative views of transcendent experiences, the complexity of inter-cultural relationships, our history, future, and more!

Tim is a psychology researcher in Melbourne, Australia. He is a member of the Baha'i Faith (www.bahai.org), which teaches the independent investigation of truth. In his free time Tim thinks about how everything is connected in an amazing web of interdependence, plays volleyball, drums/dances, talks to people and wonders why they are all getting so many tattoos, reads, and scopes out good coffee and food. 

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

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In Part two of the conversation, Devon and Chuck continue to discuss the long road of following your own path from childhood, through adolescence, into adulthood.  As we explore Devon's story, we touch on nature-based practices, 10 years of integration of a powerful vision quest ceremony, learning to trust yourself, breaking away from what people want/need you to be and tell you that you are good at, the effect of a difficult childhood experience, and relationships with men and masculinity.  BE SURE TO LISTEN TO PART 1 FIRST!   

Devon Brady has his home in the Upper Hudson Valley, New York on the native lands of the Lenape (New Paltz, NY). He has learned to walk his own path in life having been on a life-long search for meaning, connection, authenticity, and wholeness. He has held many jobs and plays many roles in life including therapist, chef, mechanic, carpenter, sauna-builder, skateboarder, uncle, partner, embodied-arts practitioner (Aikido, Yoga, Climbing), outdoor mindfulness and nature based practitioner-facilitator (Sweatlodge, Vision Quest, sit spot, hiking, backpacking). His early life experiences growing up in a single mother household with an alcoholic father and engaging in his own self-initiatory experiences through substance use led him to a deep place of seeking solitude and reconnection with himself and God / life through the help of psychotherapy, mindfulness practices, and eventually engaging in a Vision Fast to support stepping into spontaneity, adulthood and responsibility where he decided to use his unique life perspective to connect with others and help them find similar healing and direction from within themselves. Devon is currently developing his own private practice in the Hudson Valley and considering a variety of modalities to include in his practice based on his various life experiences and influences listed above. More can be found about Devon and his practice at Devon Brady, MHC.

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

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Devon and Chuck talk about the long road of following your own path from childhood, through adolescence, into adulthood.  As we explore Devon's story, we touch on nature-based practices, 10 years of integration of a powerful vision quest ceremony, learning to trust yourself, breaking away from what people want/need you to be and tell you that you are good at, the effect of a difficult childhood experience, and relationships with men and masculinity.  

Devon Brady has his home in the Upper Hudson Valley, New York on the native lands of the Lenape (New Paltz, NY). He has learned to walk his own path in life having been on a life-long search for meaning, connection, authenticity, and wholeness. He has held many jobs and plays many roles in life including therapist, chef, mechanic, carpenter, sauna-builder, skateboarder, uncle, partner, embodied-arts practitioner (Aikido, Yoga, Climbing), outdoor mindfulness and nature based practitioner-facilitator (Sweatlodge, Vision Quest, sit spot, hiking, backpacking). His early life experiences growing up in a single mother household with an alcoholic father and engaging in his own self-initiatory experiences through substance use led him to a deep place of seeking solitude and reconnection with himself and God / life through the help of psychotherapy, mindfulness practices, and eventually engaging in a Vision Fast to support stepping into spontaneity, adulthood and responsibility where he decided to use his unique life perspective to connect with others and help them find similar healing and direction from within themselves. Devon is currently developing his own private practice in the Hudson Valley and considering a variety of modalities to include in his practice based on his various life experiences and influences listed above. More can be found about Devon and his practice at Devon Brady, MHC.

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

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Happy New Year!  It's the beginning!  Again!  Each year, each day, each life, we begin.  And beginnings matter.  How are you beginning this year?  What is your origin story?  Of this year? Of your life?  How does it drive you in positive or negative ways?  Does our past history really matter?  

In this first episode of the year, Chuck reveals more of his origin story, and how it may be related to all of our origin stories through the archetype of the orphan.  Chuck shares some of his own journey through healing in therapy and ceremony, seeking wisdom and knowledge, and confronting some of the traits that developed unconsciously in him from his origins as an orphan, growing up as a male in a conservative home in the conservative south, in suburban industrialized consumer-oriented environments and how his experiences with indigenous people and depth psychology helped him recognize these patterns in himself and in our culture.  

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

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In this final episode for the year, Chuck honors this winter solstice and new year transitional time with reflections on stopping and listening.  He explores how difficult it can be to stop our habitual patterns and the momentum they hold, even patterns of depression which may look like stopping but really isn't.  He shares about stopping habitual ways of engaging in relationships, habitual ways of setting new years intentions and resolutions, and the wars and battles internally and externally that make it hard to stop.  He also discusses a recent example from one of the groups where we regularly practice listening to what is arising rather than going with habitual ways of being, and how a grief ritual spontaneously arose which is actually a perfectly timed ritual for this time of year.  And how it takes courage and support to stop and feel grief. 

Thanks for listening to this first year of My Life is the Medicine.  We hope to continue sharing in the new year if it continues to feel like a life-giving use of time and resources.

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

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In this second part of the conversation, Alex and Chuck continue to talk about big life changes resulting in major transformation and integration of various polarities. Alex’s journey so far has had many different forms including a former career in engineering, competitive rugby, and turning physical and emotional injury into healing as a bodyworker and somatic therapist. Our conversation covers many significant changes in life through changes in career, culture, bioregion, parenting through divorce, masculine and feminine orientations, relationship to the unknown, relational responsibility, relational intelligence, and staying grounded in the midst of big change following your own path. Through our conversation, we discuss how no life experience is bad and even drives that might have been misguided often lead to valuable life lessons and hard-earned wisdom.  Be sure to listen to part 1 first if you haven't already!

Alex Willen is an east coast native turned resident of Fort Collins, an engineer turned therapist, and a competitive athlete turned functional movement practitioner. Alex's interests and abilities in supporting others began at an early age and continued throughout his life. Alex operates a private practice in Fort Collins and Boulder offering somatic disciplines including a mindfulness-based body-centered counseling model called Hakomi, Anatomy Trains Structural Integration bodywork which is similar to Rolfing, and complementary offerings in consciousness, change management, goal setting, experience integration, and more. When not working with clients, Alex can be found playing with his daughter Emmberlyn and son Maxwell, exploring Colorado, South Dakota, and the surrounding area, getting into nature, partaking in community, studying the mind and body, and investing in his own wellness and healing. More can be found about Alex and his practice at www.WholesomeTherapies.com

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

Support the show

Alex and Chuck talk about big life changes resulting in major transformation and integration of various polarities. Alex’s journey so far has had many different forms including a former career in engineering, competitive rugby, and turning physical and emotional injury into healing as a bodyworker and somatic therapist. Our conversation covers many significant changes in life through changes in career, culture, bioregion, parenting through divorce, masculine and feminine orientations, relationship to the unknown, relational responsibility, relational intelligence, and staying grounded in the midst of big change following your own path. Through our conversation, we discuss how no life experience is bad and even drives that might have been misguided often lead to valuable life lessons and hard-earned wisdom.

Alex Willen is an east coast native turned resident of Fort Collins, an engineer turned therapist, and a competitive athlete turned functional movement practitioner. Alex's interests and abilities in supporting others began at an early age and continued throughout his life. Alex operates a private practice in Fort Collins and Boulder offering somatic disciplines including a mindfulness-based body-centered counseling model called Hakomi, Anatomy Trains Structural Integration bodywork which is similar to Rolfing, and complementary offerings in consciousness, change management, goal setting, experience integration, and more. When not working with clients, Alex can be found playing with his daughter Emmberlyn and son Maxwell, exploring Colorado, South Dakota, and the surrounding area, getting into nature, partaking in community, studying the mind and body, and investing in his own wellness and healing. More can be found about Alex and his practice at www.WholesomeTherapies.com

Hosted by Chuck Hancock, an ordinary human who has lived life in many roles like software engineer, psychotherapist, group facilitator, school teacher, orphan, adoptee, father, brother, mentor, coach, ceremonialist and more. Chuck is a weaver of wisdom from modern-day psychology to ancient wisdom of indigenous and European philosophy, creating alchemy from everyday American life. You can learn more and work with Chuck via www.reconnectingtoournature.com for nature-based coaching or www.innerlifeadventures.com for licensed psychotherapy or email directly [email protected].

Support the show