Have you ever wondered why your menopause symptoms persist despite doing everything “right”—eating clean, exercising regularly, and following all the conventional advice? What if the solution isn’t about adding more to your plate, but about changing when and how you prepare the food you’re already eating?

While most menopause advice focuses on hormone replacement therapy, real transformation happens when you optimise your gut health. In this groundbreaking episode, registered dietitian and gut health researcher Dr Mindy Patterson reveals how a simple overnight food preparation trick can double your fibre intake and why 90% of your serotonin is actually made in your gut, not your brain.

Dr Mindy Patterson isn’t just a dietitian who studies nutrition—she’s a researcher who discovered the power of gut health through her own transformative experience. A memorable college experiment with fibre taught her firsthand about the gut-brain connection and launched nearly two decades of research into how our microbiome influences everything from hormonal balance to mental clarity.

With a PhD in Nutrition, over 20 peer-reviewed publications, and as Associate Professor of Nutrition at Texas Woman’s University in Houston, Dr Mindy combines rigorous science with practical wisdom. As Founder and CEO of NutriCision and creator of Renutrin®, a science-backed prebiotic fibre supplement, she’s dedicated to empowering women in midlife through evidence-based gut health strategies.

Dr Mindy’s most surprising revelation: cooking and then cooling starchy foods like potatoes, oats, and quinoa can increase their resistant starch content by two to three times.

When you prepare these foods the night before and eat them chilled or gently reheated, you’re getting significantly more fibre without eating more food. This overnight preparation hack works because cooling causes the starch molecules to recompact in a way that resists digestive enzymes, allowing the fiber to reach your large intestine where beneficial gut bacteria transform it into compounds that reduce inflammation and boost metabolic health.

“Most people don’t realise that around 90% of our serotonin is actually made in the gut. When serotonin is stimulated or increased in the gut, that signals the gut-brain axis to increase serotonin in the brain.”

This connection explains why gut health profoundly impacts mood, anxiety, depression, and the mental clarity issues many women experience during perimenopause. The vagus nerve serves as the communication highway between gut and brain, with dietary choices directly influencing your emotional wellbeing and cognitive function.

While US recommendations suggest modest fibre amounts, Dr Mindy’s research indicates women need 35 to 40 grams daily for true metabolic and gut health benefits, especially during hormonal transitions. Most women fall dangerously short, missing out on fibre’s power to feed beneficial gut bacteria, reduce inflammation, and naturally boost GLP-1 for appetite control and hormonal balance.

As estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone decline during perimenopause and menopause, inflammation levels rise throughout the body. Estrogen acts as a potent anti-inflammatory hormone, so its loss contributes to everything from brain fog to weight gain to chronic conditions.

The liberating truth: calming inflammation through strategic gut-focused nutrition may be the root solution for many menopause symptoms. Dr Mindy recommends C-reactive protein (CRP) testing to measure inflammation levels and emphasises that supporting your microbiome isn’t just about digestion—it’s about supporting your entire hormonal and neurological system.

For midlife women, Dr Mindy challenges outdated protein recommendations, advocating for 0.8 grams per pound of body weight daily, with approximately 30 grams minimum at each meal. Combined with resistance training, this helps counteract muscle loss that accelerates with declining hormones.

She also highlights creatine supplementation (3-5 grams daily) for women over 40, noting emerging evidence that it supports brain health, mental acuity, and potentially even mood regulation in postmenopausal women. Her advice: forget the scale and focus on how you feel.

Confused about which fruits and vegetables to choose? Pick what’s in season or on discount. Your plate should have green, orange, yellow, and purple—ensuring diverse fibre sources to feed your gut microbiome.

Consume probiotics (kimchi, kefir, yogurt) and prebiotics (fibre and resistant starch) every single day while reducing processed meats and ultra-processed foods. Your gut microbes need daily nourishment to thrive.

Most fibres aren’t well-tolerated and simply move things along without feeding your beneficial bacteria. Select prebiotic fibres that actually nourish your microbiome—resistant starch from cooled potatoes and overnight oats is your secret weapon.

Dr Mindy Patterson, PhD, RDN, is a registered dietitian, published researcher, and Associate Professor of Nutrition at Texas Woman’s University in Houston. She is the Founder and CEO of NutriCision, the parent company of Renutrin®, a science-backed prebiotic fibre supplement. Her research focuses on dietary fibres like resistant starch and their role in gut and metabolic health. With over 20 peer-reviewed publications and multiple media features, Dr Patterson is a leading voice in perimenopausal nutrition.

Optimising your gut health isn’t about expensive supplements or complicated protocols. It’s about understanding how temperature, timing, and food choices transform your microbiome—and how a thriving gut naturally supports hormone balance, mental clarity, and metabolic health. When you prepare your food the night before and feed your beneficial bacteria, you unlock a level of vitality that changes everything.

You can watch the video of the conversation on YouTube

Website: www.renutrin.co

What if the chronic pain you can’t shake, the anxiety that won’t quit, or the patterns you keep repeating aren’t actually yours? What if they belong to your father’s father, your mother’s mother, carried forward through generations in your electromagnetic field?

While most health approaches focus on chemicals and mechanics, sound researcher Eileen McKusick reveals a revolutionary truth: we are fundamentally electrical beings, and our ancestors’ unresolved trauma lives in our biofield. In this transformative episode, she shares how therapeutic sound can release generational pain that’s been trapped in your body for decades, or even centuries.

Eileen Day McKusick isn’t just theorising about energy fields. Since 1996, she has been methodically studying the effects of sound on the human body’s electrical system. Through nearly 30 years of clinical practice using tuning forks, she discovered something extraordinary: the human biofield has specific, mappable anatomy that stores our memories, emotions, and ancestral patterns.

As a researcher, writer, inventor, and educator who has trained over 3,500 biofield tuning practitioners worldwide, Eileen bridges the gap between ancient wisdom and modern understanding. Her books, “Tuning the Human Biofield” and “Electric Body, Electric Health,” provide the framework for a completely different way of understanding health.

Eileen’s most striking discovery: structures she calls “ancestral rivers” that run down either side of your body, carrying the electromagnetic information of your bloodline.

“The one on the right side holds the information of the bloodline of your father,” Eileen explains. “If your father is an alcoholic, and his father is an alcoholic, and his father is an alcoholic, that information is very turgid. It’s very full of problems that were never solved. It’s full of the violence and the chaos and emotional dysfunction of your ancestors.”

The left side carries your mother’s lineage. These aren’t metaphors. Skilled practitioners can actually hear and feel these patterns through tuning forks, identifying inherited addiction, suppressed rage, and unresolved grief that inform your behaviour, thinking, and feelings today.

“Most of what ails us, whether it’s physical pain, depression, anxiety, or digestive disorders, is related to a pattern of tension in the body,” Eileen reveals. These tensions come from childhood contractions, suppressed emotions, and the fundamental unsafety many experienced growing up.

We’ve been taught to hold back anger, to be strong, to suppress symptoms. This creates electromagnetic resistance in our bodies. Your migraine isn’t just a headache. Your digestive issues aren’t just about food. They’re patterns of tension inhibiting flow, creating noise in your electrical signal.

Through tuning forks, Eileen has successfully treated acute pain, taking people from an eight or nine on the pain scale to nearly zero in 15 to 20 minutes. Published research shows biofield tuning’s effectiveness for anxiety relief. But how?

“A strong, coherent signal overtakes and entrains a weak, incoherent signal,” she explains. The tuning fork produces steady, coherent vibration that gently coaches your body into relaxation and release. It’s physics, resonance, and the body’s innate capacity to heal when given the right support.

During our conversation, Eileen relieved my severe migraine in real time using a 222 Hertz tuning fork. The tightness I’d felt like a helmet around my head simply loosened and released.

Eileen challenges us to shift from the chemical-mechanical health model to an electric health perspective. “We go to the beach to recharge, and we literally do,” she says. “Our electric body recharges in sunlight, salt water, and ionised air.”

This perspective empowers self-care in radical ways: grounding barefoot on the earth, using your voice to express rather than suppress, listening to coherent sounds, and feeding your electrical body what makes you feel “ah” instead of “ugh.”

The liberating truth: ancestral patterns can be released. Through sound, you can untie the electromagnetic knots your family has carried for generations. “Your biography becomes your biology,” Eileen warns, “but it doesn’t have to stay that way.”

Real healing can be uncomfortable. Detox happens. Emotions surface. But what emerges on the other side is a version of you no longer burdened by patterns that were never yours to carry.

The Electric Health Perspective Changes Everything. Stop looking for chemical solutions to electrical problems. Your body is fundamentally electrical, and addressing that system first allows everything else to follow.

Electric Health Empowers Self-Care. You don’t need expensive treatments. Grounding, sunshine, laughter, hugging, and even listening to a single tuning fork can profoundly shift your electrical state.

Your Voice Is Your Most Powerful Healing Tool. What comes out of your mouth is more powerful than what goes into it. Express rather than suppress. Your words are electromagnetic and creative, literally shaping your reality.

Eileen Day McKusick is a pioneering researcher, writer, inventor, practitioner, educator, and speaker in therapeutic sound, the human biofield, and electric health. She is the founder of biofield tuning and author of “Tuning the Human Biofield” and “Electric Body, Electric Health.” Since 1996, she has been studying the effects of sound on the human body’s electrical system.

You are not destined to repeat your ancestors’ struggles. The pain, patterns, and dysfunction you carry can be released through understanding yourself as an electrical being. When you address the noise in your biofield and restore coherence to your electromagnetic system, your body remembers how to heal itself. Coming home to electric health means reclaiming the brilliant, flowing, coherent being you were designed to be.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube

Have you ever felt like you’ve been living as a version of yourself that isn’t quite you—the one who smiles when exhausted, says “I’m fine” when breaking, and keeps the peace even when your soul is screaming for truth?

While most healing advice focuses on moving forward, real transformation happens when you come home to yourself. In this powerful episode, psychologist, author, and sacred artist Dr Thema Bryant reveals the journey from trauma to truth and what it truly means to reclaim your authentic self after years of people-pleasing and self-abandonment.

Dr Thema Bryant isn’t just a psychologist who studies healing—she’s a healer who has walked her own journey through trauma and transformation. As a survivor of sexual violence, she discovered that reclaiming her body through dance protected her relationship with herself during the healing process.

With a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Duke University, post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical Centre’s Victims of Violence Program, and as the 2023 president of the American Psychological Association, Dr Thema combines academic excellence with deeply personal wisdom. Her recently released book, Matters of the Heart (Penguin Random House, February 2025), empowers readers to heal their relationships with themselves and others.

Dr Thema’s most powerful insight: “To come home to myself is to tell myself the truth and to live based on that truth.”

When we experience interpersonal trauma, we develop survival mechanisms that disconnect us from ourselves. We become experts at anticipating others’ needs, moulding ourselves to keep the peace, and sending our “representative” instead of our authentic self. This people-pleasing pattern may have kept us safe, but it keeps us living as side characters in our own lives.

“Healing doesn’t always feel good in the moment. Healing can feel awkward. It can feel messy. I’ve even had some people say it feels fake because they’re used to faking it.”

This discomfort triggers our deepest fears of abandonment and rejection. But here’s the liberating truth: you can be real and still be loved. While some people may walk away when you show up authentically, this creates space for genuine connections with kindred spirits who align with your true self.

Dr Thema reveals how many of us unconsciously make the people who hurt us the central characters in our lives. “Everything we do is in response to them—’I hope they see me now. Wait till they see me now.’ So they’re still the centre of it. I’m trying to prove my worthiness to them.”

The gift of healing is removing them from centre stage and showing up fully for your own life.

Dr Thema draws a critical distinction using Maya Angelou’s wisdom: “Surviving is necessary, but thriving is elegant.”

Survival is making it through each day. Thriving is developing your gifts, cultivating healthy relationships, building your strengths, and learning to be soft in places you’ve hardened. The journey requires moving beyond just relieving distress to experiencing genuine growth, purpose, and joy.

Some wounds we have, we actually inherited. Dr Thema encourages us to reflect on which lessons from our parents and ancestors are wisdom worth keeping, which need adjustment, and which should be released entirely. We can honour previous generations without duplicating patterns that no longer serve us.

On boundaries, Dr Thema offers revealing insight: from childhood, girls are conditioned through toys and social messaging to prioritise caretaking and self-sacrifice, while boys learn to advocate for themselves and pursue what they want. When you take care of yourself, people call it selfish—but that’s the conditioning we must unlearn.

Wake Up Before You Have to Get Up. Start your day nourishing yourself instead of rushing around feeling anxious. Create morning space for you.

Check Your Circle: Be careful about who you keep in your inner circle. Choose people aligned with your healing who see your value and worth.

Never Give Up on Chang.e You are not stuck. Whatever age you are, it’s not too late to grow, transform, and give yourself permission to try something different.

Dr Thema Bryant is a psychologist, author, professor, sacred artist, and minister leading the way in creating healthy relationships and healing trauma. She is a tenured professor at Pepperdine University, host of The Homecoming Podcast, and author of Matters of the Heart. Dr. Thema is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and leads the mental health ministry at First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles.

Coming home to yourself isn’t about learning more tactics. It’s about doing the internal work to tell yourself the truth, reclaim your voice, and live from the center of your being. When you can be authentic instead of performing, you unlock a level of freedom that changes everything.

You can watch the video of the conversation on YouTube

Find Out More About Dr. Thema Bryant

Website: drthema.com

Follow Dr Thema on Instagram: @dr.thema

Follow Dr Thema on Facebook

Grab Your Copy of Dr. Bryant’s Latest Book: Matters of the Heart (available now)

Have you ever wondered why you keep repeating the same patterns, struggling with fears that seem to have no origin in this lifetime?

While most people know their sun sign, there’s a hidden placement in your birth chart that reveals your deepest wound and your greatest gift. In this profound episode, evolutionary astrologer Jill Brown shares how understanding Chiron, the “wounded healer,” can transform your pain into purpose and help you finally break free from unconscious patterns.

Jill Brown’s journey is extraordinary. With an aeronautics degree and a career at NASA running drone test ranges, she was the last person you’d expect to become an evolutionary astrologer.

Everything changed when her two-year-old daughter described her “other mother” who taught her songs to navigate by the stars at night. When Jill asked what happened, her daughter said: “We were crossing a river and she drowned, and then I went under the water, and then I woke up, and now you’re my mother.”

Just a month earlier, Jill had coincidentally gotten her birth chart read by an evolutionary astrologer. The timing was impossible to ignore.

Chiron is named after the centaur from Greek mythology who was injured by a poisoned arrow. Because his father was a Titan, he had immortality, but because his mother was mortal, he felt endless pain. Unable to die or heal, Chiron eventually exchanged his immortality to free Prometheus and give fire to mankind. Zeus, impressed by his sacrifice, turned him into a constellation.

This is Chiron in your chart: a subconscious wound that either poisons you unconsciously, or you discover it, surrender to it, and transmute it into a gift that helps others.

Each person’s Chiron is unique by sign and house.

Jill’s Chiron sits in Taurus in the fifth house. Growing up in an abusive household, her wound centred on security and safety. The fifth house relates to the inner child and joy. Her healing involved becoming the parent she wished she’d had.

Different signs create different wounds:

The house shows which life area the wound manifests most strongly.

Jill’s refreshing perspective: “We’re always healing wounds. Sometimes I just want to have fun too. I don’t always want to be healing a wound.”

The point isn’t to live in your wound forever. Discover it, understand it, develop compassion, then transmute it. You’re not meant to unpack your wound and stay there saying “it’s my wound.” You’re meant to become the constellation that lights the way for others.

Everyone knows about Saturn return (age 28-30), but Chiron return happens around age 50.

If you haven’t done the inner work, you unconsciously react by having affairs, quitting jobs, buying sports cars. These triggered reactions don’t address the core wound.

“Are you being pushed out of something, or pulled up into something? Chiron return wants to pull you up into a higher version of yourself.”

Jill reframes karma: it’s not punishment or cosmic revenge. It’s memory.

Karma is the stored sensations and belief systems that carry over from previous experiences. Her daughter’s fear of abandonment, despite Jill never leaving, makes sense as karmic memory from losing her mother suddenly in another lifetime.

The question becomes: how do we free ourselves from limiting karmic memories while honouring the lessons?

Jill uses her daughters’ charts to understand their fundamental needs:

“I don’t want to shut my children down. I want them to shine. If I can adapt to help them thrive, I love that.”

Understanding your Chiron isn’t about making excuses for behaviour. It’s about developing self-compassion and recognising patterns running unconsciously.

When you’re aware of your wound, you gain sovereignty over your choices. You can choose healing over reaction, transformation over repetition.

Jill Brown is an evolutionary astrologer specialising in Chiron and karmic patterns. With a background in aerospace engineering and NASA, she brings analytical precision to ancient astrological wisdom, helping people transform their deepest wounds into their greatest gifts.

Get Your Birth Chart Read Have your chart read by an astrologer at least once. It provides profound insight, compassion, and understanding of who you are and why you’re here. You are deserving of the space you take up just by being born.

Invest In Yourself Spend actual money on yourself. Whether it’s astrology, therapy, or courses, the energetic exchange of currency makes you take your growth seriously. You are your best return on investment. A mentor’s hindsight can be your foresight.

Have Fun Every Day Find ways to have fun and lighten up. Life is serious, but at its polarity, nothing is serious. Children can turn grocery shopping into a game. Tap into that. It’s critical to have some fun every day, not just endless healing work.

Your deepest wound isn’t a life sentence. When you understand your Chiron placement, you gain the power to transform pain into purpose. The wound that once poisoned you unconsciously becomes the constellation that lights the way for others. That’s the gift of the wounded healer.

You can watch the video of the conversation on YouTube

Find Out More About Jill Brown

Jill’s Website: https://www.eightstarsastrology.com/

Free Chiron Guide: https://www.eightstarsastrology.com/

Follow Jill on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eightstarsastrology

Have you ever felt trapped by patterns you know aren’t serving you, yet somehow can’t break free?

While most personal development focuses on external strategies, real transformation happens when you master what’s going on internally. In this powerful episode, entrepreneur and transformational speaker Ryan Zofay reveals the performance psychology framework that took him from being pronounced dead at a crime scene to building a nine-figure healthcare business with over 600 employees.

October 8, 2001. After a weekend of drugs and alcohol, Ryan was running from police, terrified of 25 years to life in prison. He flipped his car and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Growing up with a drug-addicted mother who used him to commit crimes and an alcoholic father, Ryan spent two years in and out of juvenile detention. When he woke up after that accident, a transformation began. Through the 12-step program and his sponsor, Rev. Dave Hott, Ryan discovered the foundation of everything he teaches: the gift of living is giving.

Ryan developed a framework that breaks down how humans create their reality:

Most people try to change outcomes without addressing what’s creating those outcomes. Performance psychology teaches you to master your thoughts and emotional state so you can control your actions.

Ryan’s most powerful insight: “You will never be consistent with anything that is inconsistent with your unconscious program.”

This is why people know they need to leave a relationship but can’t. They know they need a new career but stay stuck. The unconscious mind keeps you safe by resisting unfamiliar territory.

“You’re going to experience pain in staying the same, or you’re going to experience pain for growing. Pick which pain you want, because it’s going to happen either way.”

The difference? The pain of growing gets you somewhere with satisfaction, relief, and progress.

Ryan’s most important teaching: you have to feel the feelings to heal them.

Most people avoid emotions through drinking, gambling, overworking, or other escapes. But “if you’re not feeling it, you’re never going to get to where you want to be.”

When you express emotions and feel the feelings of transformation, you build that muscle. Then you’re in control of how you feel.

Your relationship with money at an unconscious level is why you’re not making the money you want.

Ryan’s revealing exercise: complete “When I have money, I feel…” and “When I don’t have money, I feel…”

If having or not having money determines your feelings, that’s the problem. You have to feel good before the money is made. You have to be the millionaire before the money arrives.

Ryan’s process takes people back to where the original void started. In early formative years, children experience voids like not being good enough or not getting enough attention. These stored sensations develop into belief systems.

When people express those feelings and make sense of them, symptoms like pessimism resolve. The core issue is developing self-compassion and self-love. Once your thoughts and feelings are aligned, you can choose how you respond to life.

Ryan’s work centers on one principle: leadership comes from within. Once you can lead yourself to healing and transformation, you can show others how to do the same.

When you master your emotional state and thoughts, you’re in control of your choices. And when you’re in control of your choices, you create a life beyond your wildest dreams.

Ryan Zofay is a transformative leader, entrepreneur, and coach who turned personal adversity into a mission to empower others. Sober for 23+ years, he founded We Level Up, a nationwide treatment centre, and built coaching programs that blend healing, inner mastery, and business growth.

The Mirror Exercise – Radical Ownership

The Gratitude Reframe – Rewire Stress

90-Second Reset – Emotional Mastery

Mastering your life isn’t about learning more tactics. It’s about doing the internal work to heal the voids that created your protective patterns. When you can feel your feelings instead of avoiding them and find peace within, you unlock a level of power that changes everything.

You can watch the video of the conversation on YouTube

Check out Ryan’s upcoming transformational event, Mastering Your Inner World, on October 11th and 12th (both in-person and virtual options): https://levelup.ryanzofay.com/secure-seat

Find Out More About Ryan Zofay

Ryan’s Website: ryanzofay.com

Follow Ryan on Instagram: @ryan.zofay

Follow Ryan on Facebook

YouTube Channel @ryanzofay

Have you ever dismissed that quiet inner nudge, only to regret it later?

While most of us think we’re missing intuition, the truth is we’re systematically blocked from accessing it. We’ve been conditioned to trust logic over the whispers of our unconscious mind. But what if there was a way to reopen that bridge between rational thinking and deeper inner knowing?

In this transformative episode, psychologist and bestselling author Athena Laz reveals the hidden psychological trap that’s been severing your connection to intuitive wisdom since childhood, and introduces a powerful archetypal framework that can restore it.

Athena shares compelling research that proves intuitive abilities are real and measurable. Studies by researcher Rupert Sheldrake demonstrate that humans can sense when they’re being watched from kilometres away, even when facing the opposite direction. Countless people worldwide dream of natural disasters before they occur, often in places they’ve never visited.

This isn’t mystical thinking. It’s documented human capacity that most of us have learned to ignore.

The conversation centres on a revolutionary concept developed in the 1950s by analyst Tony Wolff, a brilliant collaborator of Carl Jung. Wolff identified what she called the “medial archetype” – a psychological structure that serves as a bridge between:

Athena brings this forgotten archetype into modern times, showing how anyone can access this bridging function regardless of gender identity or background.

The episode explores how social conditioning systematically disconnects us from our natural intuitive abilities. From childhood, many of us learn that psychic experiences, vivid dreams, or “knowing” things without logical explanation aren’t acceptable.

This creates what Athena calls a “psychological trap” – we possess the capacity for expanded awareness but have been taught to dismiss it as imagination or wishful thinking.

The medial archetype appears through various channels:

In Dreams:

In Mythology:

In Daily Life:

Athena provides actionable guidance for developing intuitive abilities:

Working with the medial archetype brings significant benefits:

However, Athena emphasises potential challenges:

In our polarised world, the medial archetype’s bridge-making function becomes crucial. As technology accelerates life to unsustainable speeds and external focus creates widespread anxiety, reconnecting with inner guidance offers both personal healing and cultural evolution.

Research shows the average person spends over two hours daily scrolling mindlessly online while claiming they don’t have 10 minutes for inner stillness. Athena challenges this priority, asking: “Can you afford NOT to sit in those 20 minutes?”

Athena Laz is the bestselling author of “Women Who Dance in the Dark,” “The Alchemy of Your Dreams,” “The Sisterhood of Seers Oracle Deck,” and “The Deliberate Dreamer’s Journal.” Her books have been translated into more than 13 languages worldwide. As an intuitive, psychologist, and lucid dream teacher, she helps thousands of people connect with spirit and psyche through dreams, mysticism, intuitive development, and archetypal work.

Accessing your intuitive abilities isn’t about becoming more “spiritual” – it’s about becoming more fully human. The boundary between inner and outer worlds is far more porous than we’ve been taught. Learning to navigate this reality with skill and discernment can transform how you make decisions, understand yourself, and move through the world.

You can watch the video of the conversation on YouTube 

Find Out More About Athena Laz

Athena’s Website

Athena’s Latest Book: Women Who Dance in the Dark: Awaken Your Inner Seer Through Myths, Dreams, and Stories

Follow Athena on Instagram @athena_laz

Have you ever wondered why you sabotage yourself right before a breakthrough? What if the very things you think are protecting you are actually keeping you stuck?

In this transformative episode, we dive deep into the sneaky world of resistance and how it silently sabotages your growth and happiness. You don’t need to fight your way to freedom—you just need to understand what’s really happening beneath the surface and learn to dance with it instead of against it.

This episode reveals three life-changing insights that will help you transform your greatest obstacle into your most powerful teacher.

Resistance Is a Master of Disguise: Resistance never shows up as itself—it’s like a master of disguise at a costume party. It might dress up as the perfectionist (“I can’t start until I have the perfect plan”), the busy bee (“I’m too productive to slow down”), or the helper (“Everyone needs me, I can’t receive”). Catherine shares the story of a brilliant client who insisted she didn’t resist anything, yet discovered her constant urgency to fix and solve was actually resistance to sitting with uncomfortable feelings. The truth? Resistance isn’t just about what you avoid—it’s about what you refuse to allow in.

Every Push Costs You Energy: Here’s the perspective shift that changes everything: every time you push away what wants to be felt, you’re not protecting yourself—you’re blocking the very energy that could set us free. When you resist love, you feel lonely in crowds. When you resist help, you exhaust yourself carrying the world alone. When you resist success, you sabotage yourself right before a breakthrough. Catherine worked with a woman who resisted receiving support because she believed it made her weak—the result was complete burnout and heartbreaking disconnection from those who loved her most. Remember: resistance isn’t protection, it’s self-sabotage wearing safety’s clothing.

The Only Way Out Is Through: The most beautiful paradox in human psychology? The only way out of resistance is through it. Instead of asking “How do I get rid of this feeling?” ask “What is this resistance trying to teach me?” Catherine shares five research-backed strategies: the five-second rule to bypass mental barriers, the naming game that reduces emotional resistance by 50%, shrinking tasks so your brain can’t resist, flipping “I should” to “I choose,” and moving from self-focus to service. The practice isn’t about forcing change—it’s about creating space, because resistance loses its grip the moment you stop fighting and start allowing.

This isn’t just an episode—it’s an invitation to stop fighting yourself and start understanding the wisdom your resistance holds. If you’re ready to transform your greatest obstacle into your greatest teacher, this one’s for you.

You can watch the video of this episode on YouTube.

Grab a Copy of Catherine’s Book:

Shifts Only Happen Once You Own Your Sh!t

Newsletter: https://catherineplano.com for transformation.

Instagram: @catherineplano for inspiration.

What happens when your most devastating heartbreak becomes the doorway to your greatest awakening? Nicolas Canon reveals how losing the relationship he thought he wanted became the catalyst that cracked open his heart to divine love, transforming him from a successful but empty tattoo artist into a spiritual guide helping others navigate their own profound transformations.

After years as one of Canada’s highest-paid tattoo artists, earning thousands per session with bags of cash beside his desk, Canon found himself at a crossroads when his girlfriend delivered words that would change his life forever. Instead of dismissing her brutal assessment of his character, he made a decision that would launch him into what he calls his “spiritual birthday.”

Canon’s journey began in Colombia, where childhood violence from his mother planted seeds of unworthiness that would drive his adult pursuits. By his twenties, he had achieved everything society told him to chase as a man: financial success, dating freedom, a prestigious career in tattooing where clients would tip him up to $1,000 in cash.

“I remember one evening, my client left, and I grab a glass of wine. I look at the bag full of cash, wine in hand, a date and a party lined up. And I realised I feel miserable,” Canon recalls. “I’ve followed everything that society told me to follow as a man, the financial success, the plenty of dates, the cool career, all these things. And I just felt empty.”

The breaking point came when his girlfriend, in the heat of an argument, called him “the biggest piece of shit” she’d ever met. Rather than defending himself, something cracked open in Canon for the first time.

Canon’s revolutionary insight centres on reframing our relationship with adversity. What most people see as random suffering, he now recognises as perfectly orchestrated opportunities for growth. “I saw that breakup with my girlfriend was so beautifully orchestrated,” he explains. “It was this divine plan that pushed the right spots, created the right amount of pain so that I will drop the mask.”

This perspective shift came through an intense ayahuasca experience that Canon describes as his spiritual rebirth. Initially an atheist who dismissed anything he couldn’t physically perceive, four cups of the sacred plant medicine forced him to confront every emotion he had avoided and every painful memory he had suppressed.

“At the other side of that, there was this big light where I felt the creator. For me, it was the most real experience I’ve ever had,” Canon shares. “I felt there is this thing that created me. It’s also part of me, like it’s bigger than me, but also I’m an extension of it.”

One of Canon’s most powerful teachings distinguishes between pain and suffering. Pain, he explains, is mandatory in human experience, like cutting yourself while cooking. Suffering is the story we add, the emotional charge we attach.

Using his childhood as an example, Canon explains that while his mother’s physical discipline caused temporary pain, the real damage came from the stories he created: “I’m not worthy of safety. There’s something wrong with me. I’m not good enough.” While he experienced perhaps five incidents of physical punishment, he tortured himself thousands of times with these narratives well into his twenties.

“Pain is what life hands us, situations that are difficult. Suffering is living with that story,” Canon clarifies. “Pain happens. Suffering is a choice that we make, and very often a recurring choice.”

Canon challenges the popular notion of finding “the right person,” calling it “total bullshit and a cop-out from taking full responsibility for the relationships we decide to engage in.” Instead, he reveals how relationships serve as vehicles for healing, with each partner triggering the other’s unresolved traumas as opportunities for growth.

He describes the common dynamic between emotionally stoic men and highly emotional women as a perfect match where each possesses what the other needs to develop. “This one absorbs, and this one just keeps pouring. But they’re both driven by the same thing,” he explains.

The key insight: we don’t attract people despite our wounds, but because of them. Every relationship offers a chance to heal what’s unresolved within us, if we have the courage to stay and grow rather than run to the next person.

Canon’s approach to relationships centres on a radical concept: your relationship becomes beautiful as a result of your commitment, not the other way around. He spent years waiting for his now-wife to prove she was “the one” before fully committing, only to realise he had it backwards.

“I realised, you know what? If I commit, something beautiful is going to come out of this,” he shares. “What is it like for my girlfriend to be dating a man who is half in, half out? Probably not very exciting. How much of herself does she want to give? How much love does she want to pour into that? Probably not.”

His marriage transformed when he stopped waiting for her to earn his commitment and instead poured himself fully into creating something beautiful together.

Canon offers three powerful tools for applying its philosophy:

1. The Grace Question: When facing difficult situations, ask, “How can I appreciate even more God’s grace and guidance in this moment?” This reframes challenges as character development rather than cosmic unfairness.

2. The Reset Breath: Take a deep inhalation, squeeze in a bit more air, hold comfortably, then exhale. This instantly resets the nervous system and creates space for conscious response rather than reactive behaviour.

3. The Hidden Benefits Inquiry: When experiencing consistent breakdowns, ask, “How is this serving me? What benefits am I getting from this situation?” This reveals the unconscious secondary gains that keep us stuck in destructive patterns.

Canon illustrates this final principle with his own story of financial anxiety in marriage. By honestly examining what benefits he was getting from the struggle, he discovered the stress gave him permission to say no to his wife’s spending, provided a distraction from uncomfortable self-reflection, and offered an excuse to avoid intimacy issues. Once he faced these patterns, his financial situation transformed within weeks.

Canon’s philosophy extends beyond individual healing to a cosmic perspective on human experience. He suggests that life sends us subtle messages through intuition and red flags, but when we ignore these whispers, pain becomes life’s last resort to grab our attention.

“Pain is the one thing we cannot normalise,” he explains. “We can normalise pleasure, but pain, no matter how many times you’ve cut yourself chopping food, if tomorrow you cut yourself, it still hurts. It’s going to hurt the same, because pain is one of the only human experiences that we cannot normalise.”

This design serves our evolution. Pain forces us to stop, pay attention, and examine what needs to change. It’s not punishment but invitation, not cruelty but compassion from a universe invested in our growth.

In an era of increasing mental health challenges and spiritual disconnection, Canon’s message offers a radically different approach to adversity. Rather than seeing ourselves as victims of circumstances, he invites us to recognise the intelligence behind life’s unfolding.

His journey from successful but empty artist to fulfilled spiritual guide demonstrates that our perceived failures can become our greatest breakthroughs when we have the courage to extract their wisdom rather than resist their teachings.

Canon’s approach doesn’t minimise genuine trauma or suggest spiritual bypassing. Instead, it offers a framework for finding meaning and growth opportunities within even the most challenging circumstances, transforming our relationship with difficulty from resistance to curious investigation.

You can watch the full conversation on YouTube

Nicolas Canon is an international bestselling author and founder of Ayahuasca Colombia, where he guides impact-driven leaders through sacred plant medicine initiations. He specializes in helping high-achievers get unstuck by breaking through their deepest blockages to embody authentic power, unshakeable clarity, and soul-aligned purpose, transforming not just how they lead, but who they become.

When Getting Fired Becomes Your Greatest Gift: The Creative Breakthrough That Changed Everything

What happens when losing your job becomes the catalyst for finding your true calling? Artist and author James McCrae reveals how getting fired from his corporate advertising position launched him from unemployed executive to viral social media sensation, transforming his relationship with creativity and authenticity in the process.

After years as a brand strategist in New York City, McCrae found himself at a crossroads when his entire department was eliminated during a corporate acquisition. Instead of frantically job hunting, he made a decision that would change his life: he sat in meditation and asked what wanted to be born through him.

McCrae’s creative journey began in small-town Minnesota, where poetry served as his escape and a way to “create new worlds and explore the universe in much more depth” than his surroundings offered. His path meandered through painting, graphic design, and eventually corporate brand strategy, where he describes “sneaking into the business world through the back door as an artist.”

The turning point came when he started creating social media content and memes that began going viral. Rather than viewing social media as merely a marketing tool, McCrae transformed these platforms into his personal “art gallery of digital art and poetry.”

McCrae introduces a revolutionary framework for understanding creativity through the ancient concept of yin and yang. He argues that our society has created an overemphasis on “yang” energy (doing, productivity, action) while neglecting the essential “yin” energy (receptivity, stillness, pure potentiality).

“All doing begins with non-doing,” McCrae explains, comparing creativity to farming. “You want to make art, but you can’t start by growing crops. You need to tend the soil, plant the seeds, and water the soil first.”

This approach involves removing distractions and cultivating mindfulness through practices like meditation, spending time in nature, and consuming art. McCrae’s breakthrough came when he began a serious mindfulness practice in New York City, discovering meditation, yoga, and Eastern philosophy that helped him “tune out all the distractions and tune into my own inner being.”

McCrae distinguishes between ego-driven and intuition-driven creativity, describing the ego as speaking “like an alarm going off or like a dog barking,” while intuition whispers quietly “almost more of a feeling than it is a thought.”

His daily practice involves meditating each morning before writing, then “taking dictation from the muse” rather than forcing ideas. He emphasises that creation and editing must be separate processes: “You should not write and edit at the same time. They’re completely different mindsets.”

McCrae’s breakthrough moment came when he stopped trying to project a perfect image and started sharing his authentic self. While other self-help authors played it safe, he began posting what he calls “apocalyptic poetry” and “sarcastic existential memes.”

“I’m just going to allow myself full permission to be an artist and express myself however I want,” he decided. The result was explosive: “I started really going viral online. Suddenly, I was getting thousands of followers every day, and people were reposting my memes all over the internet.”

His key insight: “You can be yourself much better than you can be anyone else. There’s only one you.” This authenticity created what he calls intimacy with his audience, proving that “people are hungry for something that’s honest and real and valuable.”

McCrae challenges the concept of writer’s block, reframing it as simply having nothing ready to come out. “Creative expression is like a purge,” he explains. “You’re purging this energy that’s built up in you.”

When creativity feels stuck, his solution isn’t to force it but to “fill up your cup of inspiration” through life experiences: reading, visiting art museums, travelling, falling in love, or getting your heart broken. “Writer’s block is more like your well is empty and you need to go out and experience emotions and novel experiences.”

“There’s no creativity without vulnerability,” McCrae states, emphasising that emotions are “way more intelligent than our thoughts.” He compares thinking purely with the mind to “fishing in a shallow pond,” while accessing emotions allows you to fish “in a deep ocean where you can catch much more exotic, beautiful fish.”

This emotional depth provides access to the subconscious mind, which McCrae describes as “full of so many more insights and ideas than the conscious mind.”

McCrae transformed his relationship with social media after his literary agent rejected his memoir. Rather than waiting for traditional gatekeepers, he decided to treat social media like “writing a book in real time, post by post,” with each piece treated “with the same level of artistic integrity that I would treat a book or a poem or a painting.”

This shift in perspective turned social media from a source of frustration into “a sandbox for my own creative exploration” and eventually led to the book deal he originally sought.

McCrae leaves readers with two fundamental practices he considers essential for any creative person:

Daily Mindfulness Practice: Commit to some form of mindfulness daily, even just five minutes. This could be meditation, nature walks, visiting art museums, or attending concerts, anything that breaks routine and allows access to inspiration.

Keep a Dedicated Notebook: Every creative idea, from business concepts to poems, starts in McCrae’s notebook. “All my ideas, even my business ideas, like the classes that I teach, the workshops that I teach, the poems I write, everything I do, it starts in my notebook.” He describes it as “ground zero for your creative process” where there are no bad ideas and you can freely experiment.

McCrae argues that creativity isn’t just a skill but fundamental to human nature: “Creativity is a life force that we all not only have access to, but that is who we truly are.” He points to human design, from imagination and intuition to hands perfectly constructed to hold paintbrushes and pens, as evidence that we’re engineered for creative expression.

The challenge is that society conditions us away from this natural creativity through rigid structures and capitalistic pressure to be productive. However, McCrae insists that reconnecting with our creative nature is “always just one shift in perception away.”

In an age of increasing automation and artificial intelligence, McCrae’s message about authentic human creativity and vulnerability becomes even more relevant. His journey from corporate termination to viral success demonstrates that our perceived failures can become our greatest breakthroughs when we have the courage to listen to our inner creative voice.

McCrae’s story offers hope to anyone feeling trapped in corporate structures or disconnected from their creative nature. Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is simply be yourself, trust your authentic voice, and allow your creativity to emerge naturally.

You can watch the full conversation on YouTube

James McCrae is a viral artist, author of “The Art of You,” and creative coach who helps creators find their authentic voice and build successful creative businesses. His social media content has reached millions, and he specialises in teaching the intersection of spirituality and creativity.

Connect with James McCrae: Instagram: @wordsarevibrations

What if the most accomplished person you know—the CEO everyone admires, the doctor saving lives, the entrepreneur crushing their goals—is secretly researching suicide methods at 2 AM?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Margaret Rutherford reveals the shocking truth behind a hidden epidemic sweeping through our success-obsessed culture: Perfectly Hidden Depression. This isn’t your typical depression. These are the people whose Instagram feeds look flawless, whose careers are soaring, whose lives seem enviable—yet they’re drowning behind their perfect facades.

After 30 years as a clinical psychologist and surviving her own “decade of chaos” involving multiple marriages, panic disorder, and anorexia, Dr. Rutherford has discovered why traditional depression criteria are missing millions of high-achieving people who are silently planning their deaths.

This conversation emerged from tragedy: a woman died by suicide, and her husband found Dr. Rutherford’s book “Perfectly Hidden Depression” on her bedside table. That moment sparked a global conversation that has now reached nearly 2 million people through her viral TEDx talk.

Dr. Rutherford exposes how our culture has created a deadly trap where success becomes a prison. These individuals are caught in what she calls “destructive perfectionism”—like being trapped on a treadmill where you control neither the speed nor the incline, and you literally cannot get off.

Unlike obvious depression symptoms, Perfectly Hidden Depression manifests through relentless achievement, being the “reliable one” everyone counts on, and an inability to be emotionally transparent. These people don’t cry openly or stay in bed—they’re running companies, chairing committees, and being the person everyone admires.

The most terrifying part? Mental health professionals are missing this completely. These individuals don’t fit traditional depression criteria, leading therapists to dismiss their struggles with “you’re not depressed, maybe just a little anxious.”

Dr. Rutherford distinguishes between constructive perfectionism (process-oriented and adaptable) and destructive perfectionism (where any deviation from the plan equals complete failure). The destructive type is fueled by deep shame and terror of being “found out” as imperfect.

The solution isn’t eliminating achievement—it’s learning what Dr. Rutherford calls “transparency.” Unlike vulnerability (which implies weakness), transparency is about a conscious choice to share your authentic struggle with safe people.

Her own radical transparency includes openly discussing panic attacks during her viral TEDx talk (she calls her panic “Bob”), failed marriages, and eating disorders. This authenticity literally saves lives by giving others permission to admit they’re struggling behind their perfect performance.

Dr. Rutherford demolishes dangerous myths, particularly that “people who talk about suicide don’t do it.” This is catastrophically false. The problem isn’t that successful people don’t talk about suicide—it’s that we’re not listening or taking their pain seriously because their lives look so perfect.

Through powerful client stories, she demonstrates how the right response to someone’s deepest shame can literally lift years of burden in a single moment of authentic connection.

The conversation reveals three revolutionary insights that can save lives:

Emotional Transparency: Start with one safe person—share something small that feels vulnerable, then gradually build your capacity for authentic connection.

Embrace the “And”: You can be both successful AND struggling, both strong AND scared. Stop living in either/or thinking that demands you choose between achievement and authenticity.

Redefine Self-Acceptance: Neither your achievements nor your struggles define you completely. You are both your strengths and your vulnerabilities, and neither cancels out the other.

Depression and suicide rates are skyrocketing among high achievers. If you’re reading this and thinking “this is me,” Dr. Rutherford’s message is clear: your perfect performance is killing you, but there’s another way to live.

This isn’t just about identifying a problem—it’s about throwing a lifeline to millions who are silently drowning in their own success. Sometimes the most successful thing you can do is admit you’re dying inside, because that admission might just save your life.

Here are Dr. Rutherford’s 3 transformational principles you can apply today:

Practice Emotional Transparency: Find one safe person and start sharing small vulnerabilities. Begin wherever you are—no struggle is too small when learning authenticity.

Embrace the “And”: Stop either/or thinking. You can simultaneously be successful and struggling, strong and vulnerable, achieving and healing.

Redefine Self-Acceptance: Recognise that neither your strengths nor your weaknesses completely define you. You are both, and that’s perfectly human.

Watch the Full Conversation Now on YouTube

Dr. Margaret Robinson Rutherford is a clinical psychologist with thirty years of experience, author, TEDx speaker, and podcast host. Her book, Perfectly Hidden Depression: How to Break Free from the Perfectionism That Masks Your Depression, has reached thousands internationally with translations spanning from Korea to Italy, Turkey to Germany.

Her highly popular podcast, The SelfWork Podcast, has been continuously rated as one of the best podcasts for mental health and depression. Dr. Margaret is known for her vibrantly engaging and theoretically well-crafted presentations, whether live or virtual.

She’s challenging the mental health profession to question their overreliance on official symptom checklists for diagnosis, advocating instead for creating normalcy around suicidal feelings and responding with safety and compassion rather than stigmatising this painful part of human existence.

Website: drmargaretrutherford.com

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@DrMargaretRutherford

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrMargaretRutherford/

Instagram: @drmargaretrutherford