Mary Arden, a beloved Hoffman Process teacher and coach, taught the Process for nearly 30 years. In this spirited and delightful conversation with Drew, Mary shares her experience taking the Process, teaching the Process, and working directly with Bob Hoffman. She also, lovingly, shares her experience of being with her beloved partner, Jim, while he was alive and now after his passing.

Mary bridges Earth and Spirit as she speaks of her life, relationships, and work to help facilitate wellness and healing in people so that our world can know this profound and practical relationship between the two, between Earth and Spirit. One of Mary’s profound experiences during her own Process was feeling deeply rooted in the Earth. The work she did there brought her into her own body and a direct embodied relationship with Earth. Mary also shares that the Process teaches us “that there is a whole realm that is a spiritual realm and we get to be in that by choosing.”

From an early age, Mary learned that we are here to be of service. Her older sister had an intellectual disability. (Mary uses the term, mentally retarded, which was the predominant term used in Mary’s early years as a child in the 1940s.) She shares how very different things were then and how remarkable her parents were in their response to how to raise Mary’s sister, during this time. Her parents’ response had a direct impact on Mary and her life. Those of us who know Mary, and truly all who have taken the Process since Mary started teaching and working to help shape the Process into what it is today, have deeply benefited from her dedication to serving her students and this beautiful relationship between Life and Spirit.

We hope you enjoy this conversation with Mary and Drew.

Mary Amrita Arden holds a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities, a certificate in Secondary Education, and a Master’s degree in public health. She is also a certified Neuro-Lingustic Programming coach.

Mary taught the Hoffman Process from 1991 to 2019. She once shared that what was most meaningful for her about teaching the Hoffman Process was “facilitating people to a healthy way of holding their life – listening to their inner wisdom, finding strength in their essence/spirit, learning true self-compassion, and living a fulfilling life of connection, love, and presence.”

In Mary’s own words, what she got from taking the Process was “a deep sense of my essential worthiness, separate from any role or achievement, and a way to live passionately with an open heart, connected to spirit.”

Mary is now retired and lives in California.

1970 Book, Diet for a Small Planet

Bob Hoffman, Founder of the Hoffman Process

The Negative Love Syndrome:

Book by Bob Hoffman: No One is to Blame

Human Potential Movement

Enneagram (Type2):

Francis Weller

The Wild Edge of Sorrow and the First Gate of Grief:

B David Cisneros, professor and author, shares that the Hoffman Process, without question, was the single most impactful thing I’ve ever done for myself.” The Process put David on a “path to happiness, to joy, to finding joy.”

When speaking of his childhood, David shares with Sharon that blame was a deep familial pattern. In his family, “any problem you had was someone else’s fault.” But in the Process, David quickly came to see that blame was no longer an option if he truly wanted to meet the challenges he was facing. He credits the Process with opening him to the power of taking responsibility for his own life, one of the cornerstones of the foundational work of the Hoffman Process.

After the Process, David followed his heart and found his new career teaching at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). It was his work at the Process that gave him the confidence to apply for this job even though he was sure didn’t have what they were looking for. He followed the guidance he got and was hired. David did in fact have what they were looking for.

David also speaks of the beautiful angels in our lives. He shares a story about his roommate at the Process who helped him through a difficult moment during the week. David expands on this, sharing how others are angels for us and we can be angels for others as we navigate life. He highlights this wisdom in his book about reincarnation, “Between Here and There.” This beautiful book was the result of a spirit-led dream he had years after completing the Process.

David grew up in a small farming town along the Central Coast of California. Then and there, he learned about hard work by watching family members rise before the sun to break their backs in the fields. Spiritual but not religious, David somehow found his faith by surfing up and down California’s coastlines, searching for the perfect wave.

David received a degree in economics from San Diego State University. After college, he worked in the tech and gaming industries at companies like Oracle and IGT. All the while, David struggled to connect the corporate world with his spirituality. Today, he considers himself a Silicon Valley refugee. He lives in the high desert of Northern Nevada, teaches at the University of Nevada, Reno, writes as much as possible, and spends his free time cycling on the road and mountain trails, playing with his Vizsla, listening to his vinyl collection, sipping fine tequila, and laughing with friends and family. And David is still searching for that perfect wave.

David’s recently published book, “Between Here and There,” is a tale of a hero’s journey of spiritual growth … about a boy searching for the meaning of life. He learns about Love, forgiveness, and trust. But he also discovers what happens to us in the afterlife. David shares that the story came to him in a dream. However, he could never have written it without the emotional and spiritual growth he developed from the Process. And he still remembers the Love and the support he received all those years ago.

The Dark Side –

Larry Ellison, Founder of Oracle

The Gaming Industry

Rate My Professors

Gratitude

Natalie Kuhn is Co-CEO and a founding teacher of The Class. Listen in as she shares about spirituality, the human body, and the incredible healing power of expression.

While Natalie grew up with Catholicism and Buddhism, it was in her biology class that she realized the profound power of the spiritual nature of life. Natalie saw the power of the human body to heal as a doorway to the mystery of the unseen power of spirituality. In her work today, the power of her spiritual insight has come full circle in her work in The Class. It truly is a physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual expression of the reach of Natalie’s love’s everyday radius.

In this conversation with Liz, Natalie speaks a lot about the power of expression. During her week at the Process, she discovered that all of her emotions were finally set free when she was able to express the fullness of her anger through her cathartic work there. She goes on to tell us how expression frees emotion, which frees our vitality, life force, and creativity. In other words, it frees our Spirit. Natalie found that her work at the Process brought even more of her vitality and joy to her work with people and The Class.

Tag along on this joyful ride with Natalie and Liz, and stay with them to the end. You’ll be glad you did because Natalie has a special gift for you.

Natalie is Co-CEO and a founding teacher of The Class, a global digital wellness company whose innovative workout combines fitness and mindfulness in order to strengthen the body, become aware of the mind, and create a deeper connection to self. As the first employee of the business, she helped grow it from its inception in 2013 when it was originally taught in the founder’s apartment building to what it is today. Natalie is known for being the category creator of mindful movement, practiced in-person in NY & LA, and digitally in 71 countries across the globe.

The Cycle of Transformation

Expression:

Qigong

Yoga

In his youth, Bobby Africa, business mentor and ultra-endurance athlete, earned his nickname “Too Fast Africa” racing motocross for Kawasaki. Ironically, and perfectly, it was Regina‘s (his Process teacher) loving invitation to, “Slow it down, Bobby” that opened the door, even wider, to the healing that took place during his Process.

In the first few days of his Process, Bobby (Bob’s childhood nickname) began to feel safe and content. He realized he didn’t have to be anything or anyone but simply himself. It was in this safety that he began to slow things down, feel his feelings, and dig into this profound healing work. Bobby courageously and vulnerably began to shine a bit of light into what was and what is in his words, “very dark.” As he shares his story, you can hear, feel, and sense the profound Light within him that he re-discovered through the work of the Process.

Bobby goes on to share with us how in his post-Process life he is using the Process tools to heal trauma and the associated patterns. Some of the deep understanding he came to realize at the Process – safety, loveable exactly as he is, and deep contentment – now support him as he heals even more within himself.

Content warning: This conversation mentions violence and sexual abuse, and while not explicit in nature, may not be suitable for all audiences.”

Bobby Africa has been moving fast most of his life. Born in Pennsylvania as the youngest of three, he spent most of his time outside or playing competitive ice hockey, soccer, and racing motocross. His love for the outdoors took him to Colorado, where he earned degrees in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Planning to attend medical school, Bobby deferred to travel the world for a year, spending nine months climbing, surfing, and working as a mountain guide in Africa and another three months in Europe. While in Europe, he visited Salomon, a company he was product testing for, and, as they say, the rest is history. He moved to France to work for Salomon and race professionally as a mountain athlete finding himself on a new path combining his love for playing in the mountains, product creation, and business. Bobby went on to hold key positions and lead companies such as Pearl Izumi, Kidrobot, Roofnest, and PopSockets. While at PopSockets, he was instrumental in their extraordinary growth from a small garage operation to the second fastest-growing company in the country in 2018. After leaving PopSockets in 2020, he had his “kitchen coffee moment” that ultimately led him to the Hoffman Process.

Bobby continues leading businesses, mentoring leaders, and fostering authentic connections through TFA (TooFastAfrica) Strategy Partners. In addition, he co-founded Suffer Better, a Colorado-based nonprofit offering the endurance athlete community opportunities to preserve and protect their natural environment and support local communities. Most importantly, he continues to play in the mountains and be a dad to his daughter Sophia.

Bob Africa on LinkedIn

Leadville Race Series

Safety

Contentment

Linda Hartka, beloved Hoffman teacher, shares her story of how doing the work of the Process healed her seemingly intractable self-loathing. As a therapist for years, Linda did many workshops and types of training to deepen her capacity and ability to hold others in their healing. And yet, her tendency to feel self-loathing didn’t budge. Through the Process, she was able to finally melt away the patterns that held it in place. This same outcome has been true for so many who do the Process. The tendency to feel self-loathing is common. The Process can get to the heart of it.

Linda grew up during the rise of the human consciousness movement. As a young girl, she was deeply religious until she had a realization that caused her to leave religion at eleven years old. Something didn’t sit right with her big, compassionate heart and she said no and walked away. As she grew into adulthood, her heart took her deeper into compassion and spirituality, leading her to a beautiful life in service to the healing and realization of many human beings. In 1998, Linda became a Process teacher. She led students through the Process until she retired at the end of 2022.

This episode gives us a glimpse into the deep love that Linda has for her family as well as for those she has worked with and continues to support. She’s worked with many different communities, including women at the City of Hope in the Congo. Linda is not only a natural facilitator of healing but also a storyteller extraordinaire.

Listen in as she shares fascinating, heart-opening stories about her life and the lives of those she has been fortunate to know and work with, both at the Hoffman Process and other places around the world.

Linda has been with the Hoffman Institute since beginning her training in 1998, as a teacher, coach, and program designer. She holds a master’s degree in Counseling Psychotherapy and has studied and worked in psychology and spirituality for over forty years. Before she found Hoffman, she began her career as a childbirth educator and doula, trained as a Waldorf Education teacher, and settled into a private transpersonal therapy practice specializing in Psychosynthesis until taking the Process in 1996. The transformative impact of the Process was so life-changing, that Linda wanted nothing more than to bring that change to as many as possible. Her years as a teacher have been filled with love, joy, and miracles!

Linda lives in rural upstate New York, surrounded by her large family of five children, their spouses, eight grandchildren, and abundant birds and wildlife. She semi-retired in December 2022 to enjoy her family and artistic endeavors. She continues with her private practice and occasionally guest teaches for the Hoffman Institute.

Consciousness Revolution

Doula

Transpersonal Psychology and Psychosynthesis

Unlocking Futures (previously Youth At Risk)

John Bradshaw

Sharon Kennedy, Hoffman teacher/coach

Barbara Comstock, Hoffman teacher/coach

Kani Comstock, Retired Hoffman teacher/coach

Negative Love Syndrome:

Self-Realization Fellowship

Buddhism

City of Joy, Congo

The Alternatives to Violence Project – USA

Susan Beaulieu, Healing Justice Director, is Anishinaabe and an enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation. Listen in as Susan shares her powerful healing journey, including her journey at the Hoffman Process. Content warning: this episode mentions suicide.

Susan has worked directly with Indigenous communities for over 17 years. For the last seven years, her focus has been helping others understand the impacts of unresolved individual, ancestral, and collective trauma, and developing strategies to support healing. When Susan came to the Hoffman Process, she was well-versed in the ways to heal trauma.

What called Susan to come to the Process? She heard Hoffman grad Tim Harjo speak about healing our connection with our child within. When she heard his words, she felt a deep longing to reconnect with this child within her. At this moment, she could see that it was “a critical next step” in her healing journey. In the Process, Susan did reconnect with this little one within her. She didn’t expect to find her in the ways she did. This little one was carrying so much rage and terror within her. The cathartic work was a doorway to a new relationship with her little one.

Susan also experienced a pivotal moment in the Process when she found herself drumming and singing back her Spirit. Susan was given her Spirit name when she was about twelve. She shares with us, “I could feel my Spirit starting to come back in as I was drumming and singing that name, Niigaani-Binesi-Ikwe, Niigaani-Binesi-Ikwe.

This is a beautiful, rich conversation with someone who has done a great amount of work to heal herself and now shares not only her own experience but also her vast knowledge about healing. Susan shares that her work at Hoffman helped give her a more grounded healing language to share with those she serves. We hope you enjoy this beautiful conversation with Susan and Drew.

Susan Beaulieu (She/Her), Healing Justice Director, is Anishinaabe and an enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation. Susan has worked directly with Indigenous communities for over 17 years in a variety of capacities including project development, training, and facilitation. Her primary focus for the last seven years has been helping communities, organizations, and individuals understand the impacts of unresolved individual, ancestral and collective trauma, and develop strategies to support healing.

Susan is passionate about creating opportunities and encouraging processes for reconnecting to the mind, body, heart, and spirit to support well-being. She was a 2016 Bush Leadership Fellow, is an ACE Interface Master Trainer, and is a certified Mind-Body Medicine Facilitator. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota. Discover more about Susan on LinkedIn.

Susan’s Spirit name:

ACE Interface:

Dr. Bruce Perry, Child Trauma Academy

University of Minnesota, Humphrey Public Policy Institute

Zero Foundation The Horizon’s Program/Project

Tim Harjo – Listen to Tim’s episode on the Hoffman Podcast

Susan’s earrings:

Eliot Wajskol did the Process in 2022. Listen in as he shares an intergenerational story of hardship, a desire to build a better life, and the hope to one day live fully alive.

Eliot’s grandparents’ and parents’ lives were filled with persecution and hardship during the holocaust beyond anything most of us will ever know. Somehow, his father and mother, and her mother, survived. Eventually, they made the journey to America as refugees in 1968, with no money and very few belongings.

Growing up in Ohio, one of the things Eliot struggled with in his youth was the feeling of not belonging. He realizes his parents had this feeling, too. Here in America, there was no place where they could fit in. Their experiences prior to coming were so different than everyone around them. Eliot shares that one thing he learned from Hoffman was that no matter how unique your story we all share similar feelings and emotions that are like threads through our lives.

Eliot came to the Process because he felt like he had never truly lived. He shares that on the surface, everything in his life looked wonderful. But underneath the surface, there was turmoil. He was going through a divorce, hadn’t been able to foster strong relationships with his two children, and was trying to rebuild his business after the Covid lockdown. Eliot shares that “…the more he was trying to hold everything together, the more he was losing absolutely everything.”

Just before coming to the Process, Eliot immersed himself in things that could support him in what he was feeling. He had a vision of who he knew he was deep inside but couldn’t find a way to actually be. At one point, three things happened that all pointed him to the Hoffman Process. Listen in to discover more about Eliot’s journey to, through, and after the Process.

Eliot lives in Portland, Oregon. Woven into his weeks, you can find him at 6 am cross fit workouts, hiking, catching special moments with his high school daughter, traveling, and living life more and more fully. You can learn more about Eliot and his work helping businesses implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System here and follow him on LinkedIn.

The USSR:

The Lódz Ghetto: History & Overview (1939 – 1945)

Auschwitz and Bergen Belson

Escaping 1968 Poland

Barbara Burke, beloved Hoffman teacher and coach, is committed to helping people reconnect to their authentic selves.

Content warning: This conversation makes reference to self-harm, eating disorders, child sexual abuse, and contains explicit language, and may not be suitable for all audiences.

Barbara took the Process in 1996. She credits her work at the Process as a major contributor to rediscovering her creativity. Also an author, multimedia artist, and educator, Barbara became a Hoffman teacher in 2007. She says, “My Process changed the trajectory of my life, and I feel so privileged to witness others on this journey of a lifetime.”

As so often happens with graduates’ Process journeys, the story of how Barbara came to Hoffman in the first place is a story of sibling love and care. How Barbara was able to do the Process is a story of a mother’s love.

Barbara’s sister, Sally, did the Process first. Sally’s healing led to Barbara’s own Process journey and healing, which eventually became a family healing when multiple siblings and spouses found their way to the Process as well.

Listen to this beautiful story of a family’s healing that came through doing the powerful healing work of the Process.

**Barbara’s sister, Sally, has given her express permission to share her story here on the podcast.

Barbara earned a BA and B-Ed from the University of Toronto. She taught for 29 years in the Toronto school system before becoming a Hoffman Process facilitator, initially for The Hoffman Institute Canada. In her lifelong pursuit of spiritual wholeness, Barbara has pursued a wide range of interests. Her experiences studying various modalities inform her current work. Her studies have included Dr. Helen Schucman’s A Course in Miracles (Temecula, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 1976), mindfulness meditation, energy healing, and most profoundly her work with the Hoffman Institute.

In addition to enjoying words, she appreciates the intrinsic healing power of color. She is the author and illustrator of I Am Divine, a boxed set of 52 beautifully illustrated cards. The accompanying book of meditations expands on the affirmations from the cards. I Am Divine is now available through the Apple iTunes Store as an app that will work on the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. Barbara’s also published an inspiring 12-month journal titled, “A Year of Living Your Divinity“. This unique journal includes beautiful watercolor mandalas, prose, and poetry to support each person to connect more fully to their divine essence.

Barbara’s most recent creation is a set of children’s I Am Divine Cards, which are now available for purchase. Each set contains 32 beautifully illustrated cards and an accompanying booklet with a meditation for each one. These cards are guaranteed to bring a sense of wonder, spirituality, and mindfulness into the lives of children. Barbara has created an app for the children’s edition as well.

Barbara lives in Toronto, Canada.

A Course in Miracles

Nothing real can be threatened.

Herein lies the peace of God

Discover more here: A Course In Miracles Text

Eckhart Tolle

High Park, Toronto

Hoffman Tools & Practices:

Bashing/Expression

Family photos and the Note From Barbara’s Mother:

As Barbara shares, she supported her sister, Sally, in coming to accept there she needed healing. Sally learned about the Hoffman Process and was the first to do it in their family. Barbara’s mother paid for Barbara to attend the Process, in spite of their relationship difficulties at the time.

This is the card Barbara’s Mother sent her. It contained payment for Barbara’s Process as well as her wishes for Barbara. Eventually, more of Barbara’s siblings and some spouses of their spouses completed the Process.

Kurt “Big Boy” Alexander, The Voice of L.A. and the host of the wildly successful “Big Boy’s Neighborhood,” did the Hoffman Process in July of 2022.

There are many themes in this beautiful conversation with Kurt and Drew. One theme is Kurt’s realization that he knew very well who “Big Boy” is but didn’t know who Kurt really is. He continues to be determined to do the deep work to come to know Kurt.

Another theme is the power of coming to see the unconscious and compulsive patterns we adopt to navigate our family systems and survive the difficulties of childhood. Kurt never knew his father so logically it would make sense that he didn’t even know where to begin to name the patterns he adopted from his dad. As you’ll hear, the very nature of absence creates deep unconscious patterning. Kurt’s story of how he came to see these patterns in his Process is poignant and tender.

This conversation spirals through layers of understanding, echoing the nature of transformational work. As it goes deeper, the understanding Kurt shares about his life and who he is does, too. His generosity of Spirit shines through as his vulnerability gives us a glimpse into both his inner child and his Spiritual Self.

“Big Boy” was born in Chicago and moved to California at the age of two. He became acquainted with the music world while DJing at parties.  Today, “Big Boy” is The Voice of L.A. and the host of the wildly successful “Big Boy’s Neighborhood,” every morning on iHeart Media’s Real 92.3 the home of Hip Hop music in Los Angeles.   He has dominated the ratings in all of the timeslots he has occupied ever since he first started his career in radio, from nights, afternoons, and mornings.  The National Association of Broadcasters has recognized “Big Boy”s exceptional talent with the Marconi Award, a very rare three times. He is also an awarded member of the Radio Hall of Fame.

“Big Boy” has been featured on many television shows including “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and “HBO’s Entourage.” He also debuted his own radio station in the wildly successful “Grand Theft Auto” video game and his YouTube channel, “BigBoyTV” has more than 200 million views of celebrity interviews. Along with various other charity work, “Big Boy” stepped up for his community during the COVID-19 pandemic. He fed hundreds of frontline essential workers at hospitals all over Los Angeles.

Augie Johnson & Side Effect

Rick Dees

Scooter Braun

The Hoffman App

Coming off the hill…

Kani Comstock, beloved Hoffman teacher, first learned about the Process in 1985 from her brother who was working with Bob Hoffman. Her brother gave her Bob’s book to read. “Blown away‘ by what she learned, Kani completed the Process in January 1986. Kani became the Hoffman Institute’s Director shortly after and, together with Bob, started Hoffman International a few years later. Following this, she became a Hoffman teacher and taught until her retirement almost three decades later.

Kani’s whole family has done the Process, including her mother, her three siblings, and some of her in-laws. She shares a particular moment from her Process when she fully realized the powerful hold negative patterns have on us. As she worked to release the patterns she had taken on from her mother, she realized they kept trying to reassert themselves within her. She was able to see and feel their tenacity. She came away realizing just how important the work of the Process is in helping people find the freedom to live from their own essential nature.

Kani’s effervescent spirit and joy are evident in this conversation with Sharon. Kani has loved the Hoffman Process from the day she first learned of it. She loves that the Process offers a place where we can come to know ourselves as our true selves. Educated as a scientist, Kani shares how she has learned to listen to and follow the voice of her Spiritual Self or Essence as she sometimes refers to it.

As a driven workaholic, I discovered an ease I had never known before when I completed the Hoffman Process. It was February 1986, just months of the new 7-day Process residential format. Soon after that, I was asked by Bob Hoffman to direct the Institute, organize its growth, bringing it to other countries around the world. In 1990, I also became a Process teacher which became my true love. I slowly transitioned into full-time teaching and coaching. Bob was delighted when Marisa Thame, Director of Hoffman Institute in Brazil, and I collaborated to write, Journey into Love: Ten Steps to Wholeness. Journey into Love is available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Later in collaboration with my sister, Barbara Comstock, also a Hoffman Teacher, we wrote, Honoring Missed Motherhood: Loss, Choice, and Creativity.

Initially, I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s in cell physiology and biochemistry. I was working on my Ph.D. when a personal tragedy led me to dramatically change my path. I moved to Tokyo to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) and eventually became the first non-Japanese to direct the Japanese school. Four years later and back in the United States, I founded a college-based ESL center and internationalized the college curriculum. Next, as Vice-President of a student exchange organization, I designed programs and traveled regularly to Asia, finally experiencing China, a childhood dream

Barbara Comstock, Kani’s sister and Hoffman teacher

Ashland, Oregon

What is Hospice?

Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon.