The HighExistence Podcast

"Healing becomes an endless process, because there's always the next thing to heal, so you can avoid actually taking action and building something."

— Jordan Bates

Jordan Bates is a men's work practitioner, coach, retreat leader, long-time co-creator of HighExistence and Apotheosis OG.

Jordan joins me to talk about the shift from participant to practitioner. He has walked that path himself and helped many others do the same, so he knows the pitfalls and how to move through them.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Jordan went from retreat participant to facilitator.
• Why men's work can go deeper than therapy.
• How healing can become a form of resistance.
• The first steps to offering your work and getting paid for it.
• How to act through fear instead of waiting for it to pass.
• Why building from wholeness beats building from need.

Follow Jordan:

Council of Kings: councilofkings.co 

Jordan's newsletter: jordanbates.substack.com 

Today I'm coming to you with a conversation I had with Jelena Holodkova about how to actually move forward when you're stuck in the in-between phase.

Jelena is an IFS practitioner and breathwork teacher who works with people stuck in the messy middle, the in-between of an old life that's dissolved and a new one not yet formed.

About halfway through, she walks me through a live IFS session on my fear of being seen.

Timestamps

• 00:43 How Jelena went from banking in London to breathwork in Ibiza (the honeymoon story)
• 04:21 The people stuck in the messy middle, and why they can't think their way out
• 07:21 Nic goes first: a live IFS session on the fear of being seen
• 12:50 A memory surfaces from a fifth birthday
• 23:30 Burning the burden
• 35:00 Kabbalah, soul correction, and why your biggest fear is your assignment
• 41:30 "You're not stuck. A part of you feels stuck."
• 54:15 When forcing yourself works, and when it breaks you
• 59:30 What to do if you're feeling lost between lives

Find Jelena

• Instagram: @andalso.jel
• Website: andalso.space
• Learn more about her upcoming breathwork teacher training: andalso.space/breathworkteachertraining

“The psychedelic experience is very good at showing you a destination you can arrive at — a state of being that is actually possible. What’s often not highlighted is that the path after that can be extremely difficult. To be held in something that can guide you through it is invaluable.”
— Eric Brown

Martijn Schirp, founder of Apotheosis and co-founder of HighExistence and Synthesis, joins us to talk about his latest offering: Upāyosis: A Path Between Worlds.

At the heart of this conversation is a question that is central to our work here at Apotheosis:

How can we use psychedelics skilfully, in a way that leads to genuine, long-lasting transformation, and ultimately contributes to a better world?

There are many ways to answer this question, and those answers continue to evolve. Today, we explore one of the most grounded and comprehensive responses we’ve encountered yet. 

Upāyosis is a year-long contemplative journey that brings together the deep, ancient wisdom tradition of Buddhism with the intentional, ethical use of psychedelics - not for peak experiences, but for integration, embodiment, and service.

Martijn has spent years immersed in Buddhist practice and psychedelic work, and has recently gone through profound personal initiations of his own. When he brings a new program into the world, we pay attention.

If you’re interested in psychedelics and meditation, but have never been able to connect the two and go deep enough to yield real results, this one is for you.

Learn more about Upāyosis: A Path Between Worlds:

👉 https://www.upayosis.org

In This Episode:

• Why insight without practice doesn’t change your life
• What long-term integration really requires 
• How meditation and psychedelics strengthen each other when practiced together
• Martijn's recent brush with death and the effect that it had on him
• Real transformation happens in community, not in isolation
• Opening to the suffering of the world without shutting down or burning out
• Becoming a diplomat of Gaia: why true service begins when it stops being about you

Apotheosis family,

We’re back, and we’re diving straight into the deep end with today’s episode. I sit down with Eric Brown, the director of Apotheosis, and talk about his journey into the jungle as he prepares to embark on an 18-month apprenticeship at an Ayahuasca healing centre in Mexico. We talk about how he came to this decision, what it means to follow your heart, what to do if you feel lost or without a purpose, and much more.

If you’re interested in working with the same plant that initiated Eric into this calling, check out our upcoming retreat here: https://apotheosisretreat.com/marosa

It feels good to be back with you guys. Speak soon!

HighExistence family, we are back!

If you want to know where we’ve been, what we have been up to, and what we are doing now… This episode holds all the answers. 

To find out about our upcoming retreat go to: https://apotheosisretreat.com/

Tim Corcoran is a Nature Based Purpose Guide and the founder of Purpose Mountain.

He is a certified Purpose Whisperer.

For a long time, I cringed whenever I saw people use this word. I thought it was an oversimplistic and biased interpretation of a random series of events.

The first time I heard Tim speak was when that started to change for me. I felt something deep inside, ringing with energy and bursting with potential, held in a sense of knowingness that felt more solid than the chair I'm sitting on.

Your Purpose is that thing, that calling, that direction that your entire life is constantly reorienting and pointing you towards. It's what happens when you surrender to Life.

The instinctual gravitational force that never stops pulling you, no matter how far you feel you have 'strayed from the path.'

If know what I'm speaking about, and want to turn up the volume on this Inner Guidance, or you don't and feel a curiosity tingling in your toes, this episode is going to be medicine for your soul.

In this episode:

• What is Purpose?
• How to find and follow it
• How to discern a true synchronicity from an imagined one
• Sensitivity as a non-specific amplifier
• How to find the right mentor
• The true meaning of prayer
• The ultimate practice for connecting to your Purpose: The Vision Quest
• The Soul Wander: a bite-sized Vision Quest 

Links

Tims Work:

• Purpose Mountain
• The Vision Quest

Other:

• Tim's Interview with Erick Godsey
• HEx Ascent Podcast: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love
• APOTHEOSIS - The Ultimate Plant Medicine Retreat 

Identity is at the core of all of our personal transformation. It is absolutely central to the process of change, for better or for worse.

After decades of my own work, and the insights gained from guiding thousands through their own transformational experiences, we’ve pulled apart the fundamental mechanics of personal transformation.

This episode is a solocast with Eric Brown, taking you deep down the rabbit hole of personal change, touching on the tips, tricks, mechanisms, and fundamentals of what it takes to change who you are, and who you’re becoming.

This wisdom and insight has been pulled together in a 100-day transformational initiation, the Hero100. We’re inviting a group of courageous individuals to take this adventure with us, one that will be sure to ripple out for a lifetime.


In This Episode:
- The 4 requirements for identity-level transformation
- Key pitfalls and obstacles along the path
- How to maintain transcendent experiences
- A deep humbling 5 days into a medicine retreat
- Unique mechanics to survive and thrive through the change process
- An invitation to join a movement to make heroes

LINKS

• Hero100
• Overview Video

Do you feel the call to serve plant medicine?

Or to become a coach, healer, or helper of human flourishing in any way?

Navigating this path can be tricky terrain.

For myself, it brings many questions up:

• Is this coming from my ego or my soul? 
• What path should I follow? And who are my teachers?
• How often should I work with medicine?
• Do I have what it takes?

I could think of no better person than Maestro Hamilton Souther to help me answer them.

Hamilton is a Master Shaman currently working out of Peru, working primarily with Ayahuasca. He founded BlueMorpho Tours, one of the most reputable Ayahuasca centres in the world, and was one of the first westerners to be initiated into an indigenous lineage in the Amazon over 20 years ago. 

In This Episode:

• The incredible story of Hamilton’s calling
• How to follow your life's calling
• Navigating ego along the way
• What comes after healing on the path to become an Ayahuasquero?
• Space Holders vs Shamans
• Blue Morpho's at-home dieta experiences and what's currently exciting Hamilton most at the moment

Links:

Hamilton's Projects

• Blue Morpho Retreats
• Hamilton's Instagram

HighExistence Presents: Apotheosis - The Ultimate Spiritual-Psychedelic Retreat

• Information
• Trailer

What does it take to become the best fighter on the planet?

And then how do you go from there, to building a Bufo Alvarius (5-MeO-DMT) based NFT collection designed to bring attention to mental health awareness?

This is the incredible journey that we cover in this episode. Rashad Evans is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion of The World, Hall of Famer, and current-day desk analyst. He recently co-founded Umbo, a company that supplies the world with high-quality functional mushrooms, and created MetaToads, a collection of 10,000 NFTs based on the psychedelic Sonoran Desert Toad.

In this episode:

• Rashad’s internal shift that has occurred since his fighting days
• The role that plant medicines played in his transformation
• Genuine affirmations as the future speaking through you
• What it feels like to be the best fighter on the planet
• Advice for someone who is trying to find their passion
• The importance of sweet potatoes
• The down low on all of Rashad’s projects
• Why letting go is the most important part of the process

“What if this life were the paradise we were promised, and we’re just squandering it?”

-Naval Ravikant

Being happy and rich are learnable skills, and our guest today, Eric Jorgenson, has learned from the very best. 

His compilation of wisdom and winning business strategies from legendary tech innovator Naval Ravikant took the internet by storm, and his unbelievably popular book, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, holds a prominent place on the bookshelves of rich and happy people all over the world.

Even more impressively, though, he’s brought these ideas and timeless insights back into the real world again to create the foundations of a legendary career for himself as well. Eric Jorgenson consistently proves the truth and value of this wisdom via his own work and positive example. 

During our conversation, he holds nothing back and lets us inside two fascinating minds, both his and Naval’s.

In this episode, we cover:

- What it’s like working with Naval Ravikant

- How to decide which book to read next

- Why it’s more effective to focus on your trajectory than your current results

- Why everything is getting better all the time

- Using leverage to get to the point where you're only doing what you want to do

- The importance of honing in on your specific knowledge

- Allowing your path to unfold organically as the fast track to genuine expertise

One of the greatest lessons you'll learn in this episode, though, is that where you start off doesn't have to be where you end up. If there's a skill you lack, you can learn it; if there's a big scary problem looming over you, you can overcome it; if you want more out of life, you can have it. 

About Our Guest:

Eric Jorgenson is an entrepreneur, writer, and investor. He is on the founding team of Zaarly, and has been publishing online since 2014. His blog has educated and entertained over a million readers.

Naval Ravikant (not present) is an Indian-American entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder, chairman, and former CEO of AngelList. He has invested early-stage in over 200 companies including Uber, FourSquare, Twitter, Wish.com, Poshmark, Postmates, Thumbtack, Notion, SnapLogic, Opendoor, Clubhouse, Stack Overflow, Bolt, OpenDNS, Yammer, and Clearview AI, with over 70 total exits and more than 10 Unicorn companies. He is also a podcaster who shares advice on pursuing health, wealth, and happiness.

Please leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast. 

You’ve gone Down The Rabbit Hole. Now it’s time to walk up The Stairway to Wisdom.

Introducing a brand new weekly newsletter from the minds at HighExistence.

Over the past year, we’ve been publishing the wonder-inducing weekly email known as “Down The Rabbit Hole,” and now we’re taking it a step further.

We want our readers not only to feel a deep sense of enchantment towards the world around them but also to apply deep teachings to their daily life so they can experience the life-transforming benefits of wisdom-in-action.

The Stairway to Wisdom is a premium weekly newsletter for those who are ready to dive deeper. We’ve partnered with independent researcher and knowledge connoisseur, Matt Karamazov, who has taken sharp, meticulous notes on over 1000 books so that he could share the most inspiring pearls of wisdom with the world.

Learn more here