Next Level Healing

Sylvester McNutt III, 10-time best-selling author, podcaster, speaker, retired arena football player, and father, joins Dr. Tara Perry for a grounded and deeply personal conversation on healing, identity, and reclaiming your story. Sylvester shares how growing up with two parents battling addiction through a violent divorce set him on a lifelong search for answers, why a stolen notebook at age 12 saved his life, and how football gave him both his greatest advantages and his biggest blind spots. He opens up about the difference between wallowing in the past and truly integrating it, the blind spots he sees in the high achievers he coaches, and why he refuses to pass a victim story down to his sons. The conversation closes with the mindset shift that changed everything for him — and a powerful invitation to stop beating yourself up and fall in love with your life right now.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• (02:46) What football didn't teach him — why sports prepare you to be an athlete but not for who you are when the identity is gone
• (04:47) The athlete's advantage — with 60-70 plays a game, there's no luxury of shame or rumination; you learn to refocus and return to baseline fast
• (07:58) What athletes hide — how fan culture dehumanizes athletes, why accepting verbal abuse is written into the job description, and the pain and fear that get masked
• (13:41) How Sylvester is raising his own sons in sports — keeping it about fun and learning, not performance, pleasing dad, or going pro
• (15:32) Growing up with two parents in addiction through a violent divorce, being separated from his brother and sister, and refusing to stay in a victim mentality
• (18:31) The power of imagination — why he saw an "image" of a different life, how football became the one place his parents couldn't influence, and how school field trips showed him what was possible
• (20:51) Why he chose communications as his college major: to solve the childhood riddle of what happened to his parents
• (25:57) Wallowing vs. avoiding the past — how to know when a wound is truly integrated, and why Sylvester feels nothing but love when he tells his story now
• (26:53) Holding parents accountable while honoring them — accepting the duality that his biggest pain points were also his biggest providers
• (30:59) The blind spots of high achievers — imposter syndrome, inflated shame, lying to the people trying to help you, and the epidemic of missing boundaries
• (37:37) The stolen 7-Eleven notebook that saved his life at 12 — and the full-circle moment when he returned as an adult to repay it
• (39:20) The biggest mistake people make when they want a better life: obsessing over how it will happen instead of anchoring to why
• (44:39) What 10-year-old Sylvester needed to hear — and the message every adult's inner child still needs: everything will be okay
• (46:50) Sylvester's closing invitation: stop beating yourself up, and fall in love with your life right now

If you're ready to take your healing to the next level, schedule your free consultation with Dr. Tara at: https://ConsultTara.com/book

Del Bigtree, Emmy Award-winning producer, founder and CEO of the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), and host of The Highwire, joins Dr. Tara Perry for a thought-provoking conversation on medical informed consent, government transparency, and the question he believes everybody should be asking. Del is the executive producer of the documentary An Inconvenient Study, viewed more than 130 million times worldwide, and through ICAN has pursued more than 1,000 FOIA requests and legal actions involving the FDA, CDC, NIH, and HHS. Del shares the nine-year backstory behind the film — from a 2016 dinner challenge with Henry Ford Health's head of infectious disease to the hidden-camera footage and the two-month sprint to finish the documentary — along with why he believes we're in the "violently opposed" stage of truth, where his fearlessness comes from, and the faith that anchors his work. The conversation closes with Del's megaphone message to the world: speak your truth, get involved, and let go of fear.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• (02:06) The handshake bet that started it all — Del's 2016 dinner with Dr. Marcus Zervos of Henry Ford Health, and the admission Del calls one of the most remarkable he's ever heard from a pro-vaccine scientist
• (04:59) The study gets done in 2020 — and why Dr. Zervos refused to publish it, captured on hidden camera at a second dinner in 2021
• (06:36) The phone call that changed everything — Senator Ron Johnson agrees to publish the study on the Senate website, giving Del just two months to make a documentary he thought needed a year
• (08:13) Two awards at FreedomFest — and why Del says he still gets tears in his eyes watching the finished film
• (10:59) Why Del says this is now "repeatable science" — what he describes as the 10th–12th study comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children, all pointing the same direction
• (13:00) Del's challenge to the New York Times and Washington Post — "show your evidence" — and how he says the expert defense has shifted
• (16:44) The communicator's craft — how Del layered animation, music, visuals, and nine years of Highwire interviews to make a complex subject land for every kind of learner in just 70 minutes
• (19:30) Taking the film to Italy, France, Poland, England, the Netherlands, and Japan — nearly 10 languages and counting, with free translations on request
• (20:53) The Australian Senate moment — how Del realized the study at the center of his film is reaching health departments on the other side of the world
• (22:46) Schopenhauer's three stages of truth — why Del believes we're in the "violently opposed" stage, and the vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated study he says RFK Jr. is still fighting to complete at HHS
• (29:17) Why Del is optimistic — the 15% it has historically taken to change a system, and the 30% he believes "can't be hypnotized"
• (34:49) Where his courage comes from — parents who marched in the 1960s and celebrated his challenges, an unshakeable optimism, and a faith that leaves no room for fear
• (37:32) Del's biggest heroes — from Andy Wakefield and RFK Jr. to the unsung heroes history will never name
• (39:48) What he'd tell his 18-year-old self who dreamed of being the next Spielberg — "you have no idea how much fun your life is going to be"
• (42:43) Del's biggest concern for the years ahead — global governance, AI, and why he says rebellion is in our DNA
• (46:08) Del's megaphone message to the world: wake up every morning, ask what you can do to make the world better — then listen, and go do it

If you're ready to take your healing to the next level, schedule your free consultation with Dr. Tara at: calendly.com/consulttara/consult

Mike Campbell, men's coach and author of Unleash Your Alpha, joins Dr. Tara Perry for a candid conversation on why so many outwardly successful men feel stuck, unfulfilled, and disconnected on the inside. Since 2012, Mike has coached more than 3,000 men across New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and the US, helping business owners, leaders, husbands, and fathers become more confident, emotionally grounded, and connected. Mike shares the heartbreak and loss that launched his own inner work, why the "armor" men build to feel safe ends up weakening them, and the deceptively simple practices he uses to help men slow down, face themselves, and reclaim the lives they actually want. The conversation closes with what men wish women understood, the biggest mistakes men make in marriage, and the power of doing this work alongside other men.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• (01:52) The iceberg beneath the surface — what successful men who "have it all" are silently struggling with, and why Mike has conversations with men that most men have never had
• (09:00) "A strength turned up too high is a weakness" — how coping mechanisms become armor, and why the thicker the armor, the thinner the skin underneath
• (12:17) Mike's origin story — a broken engagement, losing his mother to lung cancer, and the soul-searching that took him from personal trainer to men's coach
• (15:46) The realization that changed his career: men come with a physical want, but underneath it is an emotional need at the identity level
• (21:38) The "Trojan horse" approach to self-awareness — why Mike starts with simple, cutting questions like "Do you like yourself? Do you like your life?"
• (27:00) The 15-minute daily practice Mike gives every client — sitting alone with your thoughts, no music, no distractions — and why the discomfort points you in the right direction
• (29:40) "The thing I say I want, I don't allow" — why men crave space, peace, and ease but fill every moment, and the movie-watching homework that exposes it
• (32:59) The Lincoln axe analogy — why slowing down to sharpen the axe beats exhausting yourself cutting the tree down with a bread knife
• (39:01) Life as a million-piece jigsaw puzzle — why clarity and ownership of your own picture make everything more intentional and meaningful
• (42:40) What men wish women understood — why having their efforts witnessed, acknowledged, and appreciated is fuel
• (45:23) The biggest marriage mistakes men make — being emotionally inaccessible, or making their partner their therapist — and why men need other men
• (48:04) Inside "Hunt and Gather" — Mike's back-country initiation experience in New Zealand, and the irreplaceable power of men doing this work together
• (52:30) Mike's megaphone message to the men of the world: an invitation to come back home to yourself

If you're ready to take your healing to the next level, schedule your free consultation with Dr. Tara at: calendly.com/consulttara/consult

Doug Noll, trial-attorney-turned-peacemaker and internationally recognized conflict resolution expert, joins Dr. Tara Perry for a powerful conversation on why traditional "active listening" fails, how naming emotions can defuse conflict in under 90 seconds, and what a decade of work inside maximum-security prisons taught him about human nature. Doug shares the martial arts and mediation background that shaped his approach, the neuroscience behind why labeling feelings calms a dysregulated nervous system, and the moment he realized he was going about conflict resolution all wrong — and how fixing it transformed the lives of incarcerated women and power couples alike. The conversation closes with his framework for "listening someone into existence" and why he believes childhood emotional invalidation is at the root of most human conflict.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• (01:26) From trial lawyer to peacemaker — Doug's 22 years in the courtroom, his path through tai chi and martial arts, and the whitewater rafting trip that changed everything
• (06:14) The mediation with a divorced couple that led to Doug's breakthrough insight: listen to the emotions, not the words
• (08:34) The UCLA brain scanning study behind "Putting Feelings into Words" — why naming an emotion calms the amygdala and activates the brain's self-regulation center in about 90 seconds
• (09:47) Inside Prison of Peace — training incarcerated women and men to become mediators, and the staggering recidivism results: 800+ certified life inmates released, zero reoffenses
• (14:58) The science of affect vs. emotion — why we're born with only nine basic affects and how childhood shapes our ability to name and process feelings
• (18:17) Why Doug calls emotional invalidation "the most pervasive and insidious form of child abuse" and its link to violence, addiction, and mental illness
• (23:05) The story behind Doug's TED Talk concept of "listening someone into existence"
• (24:44) Why Doug teaches people to ignore the words and tune into the feelings — and how competing narratives turn into unwinnable arguments
• (28:34) Debunking traditional active listening — the real difference between Carl Rogers' original teaching and the "what I think you're feeling is..." formula that backfires
• (35:32) A story from a women's maximum-security prison: an incarcerated mother reconnects with her son after 18 years using the skills Doug and his colleague taught her
• (38:02) Where to find Doug's book Deescalate: How to Calm an Angry Person in 90 Seconds or Less, his upcoming book Empathy Leadership, and how to connect with his work

If you're ready to take your healing to the next level, schedule your free consultation with Dr. Tara at: calendly.com/consulttara/consult

Dr. Pierre Kory, critical care physician and outspoken advocate for reexamining suppressed medical therapies, joins Dr. Tara Perry for a wide-ranging conversation on chlorine dioxide, the barriers facing independent medical research, and his current work on mineral-restored water. Pierre shares the personal stories that first pulled him into the world of chlorine dioxide research, why he believes regulatory bodies have effectively blocked oral and IV studies before they can start, and what he's learned from physicians and healers around the world who've used it in clinical settings. The conversation shifts into his newest project: a theory he calls the Geo Hydrological Shift, exploring how changes in water chemistry may be quietly reshaping soil, agriculture, and human health — and what a mineral-based solution using biotite could mean for restoring water to its original state.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• (02:36) How Tara's own six-week ear infection led her to chlorine dioxide — and how Pierre was first introduced to the field
• (19:24) Why IRBs worldwide have effectively banned studies of oral and IV chlorine dioxide, and what it would take for the FDA to change course
• (21:10) Pierre's optimism about the years ahead and the project he's most excited about right now
• (21:18) Inside Pierre's new book, From Volcanoes to Vitality — his theory of a "Geo Hydrological Shift" and why water chemistry may be driving declining crop yields
• (24:47) How biotite mineral extract mimics nature's own water-purifying process, and what "restoring water to its original state" actually means
• (26:32) Where to follow Pierre's ongoing work and research

If you're ready to take your healing to the next level, schedule your free consultation with Dr. Tara at: calendly.com/consulttara/consult

Debra Martin is a spiritual healer and the founder of Army for Love, a free global healing community she built after surviving cancer and dying three times, each time returning with a deeper gift for healing. Debra now facilitates miracles for people around the world, from eliminating chronic pain without surgery to helping people finally release the emotional roots of physical illness.

Debra shares how healing is never one-size-fits-all, why a diagnosis should never become your identity, and how staying present with love — even through cancer, grief, and radical life change — is the most powerful medicine available.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

00:00:57 Healing avoids surgery when the root is addressed, not just the symptom.
 00:10:10 Giving a diagnosis your identity gives it power it was never meant to have.
 00:12:16 Some people heal instantly; others heal in divine timing, and both are right.
 00:13:29 Talking to your illness with curiosity instead of fear changes your relationship to it.
 00:15:33 The brain remembers a state of wellness, and you can use that memory to return to it.
 00:36:01 Walking away from every form of security can be the thing that sets you free.
 01:05:07 External validation can never make you feel whole — authenticity is the only path there.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Army for Love (free group healing, first Tuesday of every month, 3 PM Arizona time):
 https://www.debramartihealer.com/army-for-love

Debra Martin Healer — YouTube:
 https://www.youtube.com/@DebraMartinHealer
If you're ready to take your healing to the next level, schedule your free consultation with Dr. Tara at: calendly.com/consulttara/consult

Dr. John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus and the bestselling relationship author in history, joins Dr. Tara Perry to reveal what's actually happening in your body when love feels hard. With more than 50 million books sold across 50 languages and 40 years of research behind him, John connects the biology of stress hormones directly to the communication breakdowns quietly destroying modern relationships, and shares exactly what men and women can do differently to bring those connections back to life.
John also opens up about why independent women are unknowingly producing the hormones that push love away, why men's mirror neurons shut down the moment a woman says "we need to talk," and how small, intentional acts between partners can shift the entire hormonal chemistry of a relationship.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

02:24 Why women's growing independence has changed relationship dynamics and what it means for their hormonal balance.

03:59 The three symptoms that tell you a woman's hormones are out of balance: feeling overwhelmed, resentful, or exhausted.

07:44 How stress looks completely opposite in men and women at the hormonal level, and why that explains almost every relationship conflict.

09:45 What actually produces estrogen in women — and why it's not massage, it's the anticipation of support.

19:11 How successful women can shift from their "male side" back to their female side after a high-performance workday.

25:03 Why a man's mirror neurons shut down the moment stress enters the room, and how to talk to him so they stay open.

33:47 The 10-minute conversation that drops a woman's stress more effectively than a full therapy session.

43:29 The "two hands up" signal John teaches women — and why every man, no exceptions, will respond to it.

47:41 What the "spark" in a relationship actually is biologically, and why you can keep producing it at any age.

49:45 How women in and beyond menopause can continue producing estradiol naturally using the techniques John teaches.

If you're ready to take your healing to the next level, schedule your free consultation with Dr. Tara at: calendly.com/consulttara/consult

RESOURCES MENTIONED
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus — For Women Only by Dr. John Gray:

Available at marsvenus.com
Dr. John Gray on YouTube:

youtube.com/@JohnGrayMarsVenus
HeartMath Institute: heartmath.com

Michael Rix didn't choose music — music chose him. Growing up in Faith Assembly, a cult in rural Indiana that forbade medical treatment, secular music, and nearly any form of outside connection, Michael found his escape in a homemade guitar string stretched across a punishment paddle. Today, he's an eight-instrument musician with over 24 million streams, a residency in Nashville, and a Grand Ole Opry performance to his name. His memoir, From Cult to Country: An Asthmatic's Journey to Find More Air, tells the full story — including watching his infant brother die of untreated meningitis, surviving years of stress-induced asthma without medical care, and the long road to healing that followed.

In this episode, Dr. Tara Perry sits down with Michael for a raw and remarkable conversation about what it costs to grow up without permission to be human, how trauma lives in the body long after the circumstances change, and why telling the truth about your story is one of the most powerful things you can do.

Key Takeaways:

When you're in a cult, you don't know you're in a cult (00:00:35) — Michael describes watching his father transform from a joyful, basketball-playing man into someone cold and controlled — and how noticing that contrast was one of his earliest signs that something was deeply wrong. The teachings of Hobart Freeman's Faith Assembly came in slowly, then all at once.

A medical doctor who walked away from medicine (00:02:46) — Michael's father completed his residency as a heart surgeon, then quit the profession after a sermon convinced him that modern medicine was equivalent to witchcraft. Michael unpacks the twisted theology behind it — and what it cost their family when that belief was applied to their children's health.

Over 300 deaths, all from treatable conditions (00:07:24) — Faith Assembly members died from dental infections, childhood illnesses, and ailments that penicillin would have resolved. Michael describes the congregation, the prosecutions that eventually followed, and the surreal reality of parents being sentenced to prison for letting their children die while trying to follow God.

Stress-induced asthma and the body's way of keeping score (00:14:24) — From age 11 to 14, Michael suffered three-day asthma episodes that left him breathless on the sofa, too sick to move. No inhaler. No emergency room. It wasn't until decades later — after hearing a Nashville minister describe her own identical symptoms — that he understood his asthma was emotionally driven, his nervous system responding to a world it didn't feel safe in.

Watching his brother die (00:25:24) — At 14, Michael witnessed his six-month-old brother John die of untreated meningitis. His father prayed over the infant until the final breath. Michael was standing in the living room. This is the moment the episode turns — and the anchor point from which so much of his healing work has since begun.

Music as the original medicine (00:29:53) — Long before therapy or coaching, Michael found his way out through songwriting. With headphones, a CD player, and a notebook, he translated his interior world into lyrics. His album I Can See the Sun — 24 million streams — grew directly from those pages. He shares the song titles and the feelings behind them, and reflects on what it meant to finally say what he actually felt.

The toxic beliefs trauma leaves behind (00:32:48) — Through a process called SoSo Prayer with a psychologist friend, Michael excavated the beliefs he'd built around his worst experiences: nobody will accept me if they know, better keep this buried, telling the truth will get me rejected. Dr. Tara connects this to the subconscious stories that run below the level of awareness — and explains why those stories often control outcomes long after the original wound has passed.

What happened when Michael worked with Dr. Tara (00:34:37) — Michael describes the session: a deeply relaxed state, forgotten memories surfacing, and a palpable shift in the heaviness he'd been carrying for years. Within days, the anxiety he'd long struggled to name had lifted — and opportunities began opening around him in ways he hadn't expected. He describes feeling clear, unblocked, and no longer weighed down by a stress he couldn't locate.

Ready to take your own next step? Visit calendly.com/consulttara/consult to book your free customized consultation with Dr. Tara Perry and get your GPS map — the coordinates for where you are now and where you want to go.

Dr. Liz Graves didn't set out to become a doctor. She discovered chiropractic as a patient, fell in love with its foundational philosophy that the body heals from the inside out, and built a career around that principle. Today, as the founder of Back 2 Real Food, she helps people restore their metabolic health through food, cyclic nutrition strategies, and targeted amino acid therapy — without relying on willpower, calorie restriction alone, or one-size-fits-all dieting.

In this episode, Dr. Tara Perry sits down with Dr. Graves for a wide-ranging conversation on why so many people are doing "everything right" and still can't lose weight, what the modern food system is doing to our metabolism, and the counterintuitive strategies that actually work.

Key Takeaways:

The real reason diets stop working (00:07:00) — Every time you diet without recovery, your body adapts to living on less, slowing your metabolism over time. Dr. Graves explains her cyclic approach: a structured window of fat loss followed by a deliberate high-calorie phase that trains the body to metabolize more, not less.

Seed oils are the #1 offender in your diet (00:16:44) — Vegetable, canola, sunflower, and safflower oils disrupt cell walls, cause inflammation at the cellular level, and impair mitochondrial function. Removing them is the first and fastest win Dr. Graves makes with every new client.

Three foods worth adding right now (00:19:41) — Healthy natural fats (animal fats, olive oil, coconut oil), quality mineral-rich sea salt, and more whole foods without a label. Small additions that compound into meaningful change.

Know your farmer (00:21:49) — Pesticide load, not the food itself, is driving the explosion in leaky gut, celiac, and autoimmune conditions. Dr. Graves recommends the Weston A. Price Foundation as a starting point for finding local farmers and co-ops, and makes the case that buying direct is often cheaper than buying organic at a grocery store.

Targeted amino acid therapy changed everything (00:26:56) — Most people have never worked with a practitioner who assesses neurotransmitter imbalances and uses amino acids to correct them. Dr. Graves explains how depleted GABA, serotonin, and dopamine pathways fuel emotional eating, overwhelm, and burnout — and how replenishing them through targeted therapy gives people the neurological resilience to stay on course.

Cortisol, stress, and weight retention (00:32:41) — Chronic low-grade stress (email, notifications, relentless demands) keeps the body in protective mode, holding weight and suppressing metabolic function. Dr. Graves connects the modern stress environment to the ancestral body we're still living in, and explains why supporting the brain matters as much as fixing the food.

Body composition over the scale (00:58:06) — Dr. Graves uses body composition testing (muscle, fat, water, bone) rather than BMI or scale weight to track real progress. She shares the story of a five-foot-one woman with 105 pounds of muscle who technically "should" weigh 100 pounds — and why that framing is misleading and discouraging.

What results actually look like (00:47:24) — On Dr. Graves' six-week protocol, most people lose about 10 pounds and drop one clothing size. On the nine-week plan, 15 to 30 pounds and two clothing sizes. She describes it as achieving six to nine months of focused progress in six to nine weeks — structured and demanding while you're in it, but consistently described as the easiest thing clients ever did when they look back.

Ready to take your own next step?
Visit calendly.com/consulttara/consult to book your free customized consultation with Dr. Tara Perry and get your GPS map — the coordinates for where you are now and where you want to go.

What happens when you build the life everyone admires — and it still doesn't feel like yours?
Dr. Jeremy Goldberg knows that feeling well. A behavioral scientist with a doctorate, publishing research on the Great Barrier Reef, working alongside world-class scientists for the Australian government — and yet something was quietly draining out of him. In this conversation with Dr. Tara Perry, Jeremy shares how he learned to hear the difference between the heart whisper and the fear shout, why he walked away from a prestigious career to buy a van and wander through America, and what it actually means to live in integrity when the outside of your life looks perfect.
In this episode, you'll discover:

Why high achievers often feel the deepest emptiness — and what that signal is really pointing to
The "worst case scenario" mindset shift that gave Jeremy the courage to walk away from his PhD career
What "heart whispers vs. fear shouts" means and how to tell the two apart in your own life
How Jeremy's side project, Long Distance Love Bombs, grew from internet posts into a global coaching and speaking brand
Why chasing happiness at all costs may actually be the thing keeping you stuck
The power of wholeness over happiness — and why shadow, contrast, and difficulty are what give life its depth
What becoming a father taught Jeremy about presence, feeling deeply, and what it means to truly arrive

Resources & Links Mentioned:

Long Distance Love Bombs website: longdistancelovebombs.com
Dr. Jeremy Goldberg on Instagram: @longdistancelovebombs
Jeremy's book: It'll Be Okay and You Will Be Too
Book a free intro coaching call with Jeremy at longdistancelovebombs.com

Ready to take your own next step?
Visit calendly.com/consulttara/consult to book your free customized consultation with Dr. Tara Perry and get your GPS map — the coordinates for where you are now and where you want to go.