Strap in folks cause this is a good one, eh. I am joined on this episode by someone I met by pure chance as she's been staying at the same Airbnb as Cordi and me here in Puerto Vallarta. 

Bre has quite a storied past, full of adversity brought about by her own choices (like failing as a drug dealer while pregnant at the age of 16) and through no fault of her own (like being pronounced dead at the scene of a car wreck as a child). A lesser person may have ended up trapped in the poor circumstances of her upbringing, but you'll hear the story of how Bre never accepted this fate for herself. 

Bre's story is fascinating, shocking, curious and inspiring all at the same time.  This episode is quite a ride. Enjoy. 

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

As promised, this is the second episode I recorded with my Jiu Jitsu instructor Crash right before I moved away from the US.

If you haven't already, go listen to episode 11 for part one.



The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Instagram Links:
Crash's personal page
Venator Human Performance
Nodens Outdoors

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

On this episode, Cordi and I recap our recent trip to Peru where we organized and facilitated our first Ayahuasca retreat together. Other than some hiccups with travel (i.e. missing a flight and getting stuck in Mexico City because I was an idiot) and having to show a negative PCR test just to get into a grocery store in Pucallpa, the trip was overall a massive success and an amazing experience.

If you haven't already, go listen to our first Ayahuasca episode together that covers intention setting, preparation and why people seek out the medicine. This episode gets into the details of how our retreats work at the Heart of the Anaconda center in Peru, which is owned and operated by native Shipibo healers. Cordi and I discuss the current state of the center and how it came to be, and the Maestro's plans to expand the center and the surrounding jungle from which they source all of their healing plants.

In a world that seems to have lost its way and strays further from the light at every possible turn, what the Maestros are doing with their center is truly a ray of hope in a deeply bleak landscape. I am humbled to play a part in connecting ordinary people to the healing that Mother Ayahuasca offers us, and honored to be able to help the Maestros expand their center to touch more lives.

Info and retreat dates can be found here
Visit BecomingOm.com for resources on psychedelic preparation and integration
Follow Cordi on Instagram
The fundraising campaign mentioned in the episode has actually been delayed slightly so that we can better plan and structure this effort to have the greatest possible impact. If you are interested, for now please just continue to follow our work and sign up for the newsletter on the BecomingOm site to be alerted when it is live.   

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

Crash (aka Matt) is a Jiu Jitsu black belt under Karel "Silver Fox" Pravec, and was my primary instructor for a while as I was attending the morning class in Saddle Brook, NJ.

In addition to being a truly remarkable Jiu Jitsu coach, Crash is an avid hunter and we get deep into the weeds of what goes through his mind during a hunt in this episode. It is an understatement to call this truly fascinating; I felt totally transfixed as I sat across from him listening to Crash explain all of this.

Crash currently works with the nonprofit Nodens Outdoors to teach hunting and human performance skills to Special Forces veterans. On top of all this, Crash has his own performance coaching company as well, called Venator Human Performance.

This is the first of two back to back episodes recorded with Crash after our AM training in my final days of living in New Jersey.

Instagram Links:
Crash's personal page
Venator Human Performance
Nodens Outdoors

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

Susan Hu is a Bhakti yogini and meditation teacher who works with the Bhakti Center in New York. She hosted a New Year's meditation retreat in Upstate New York that Cordi and I attended back in January, which gave us the opportunity to record this phenomenal episode.

We hit all the usual suspects that you've come to expect from me like Jiu Jitsu, psychedelics and the Bhagavad Gita, as well as some interesting thoughts from Susan on working with dreams, where creativity comes from, and how to balance violence with loving everyone.

While she is quite modest about it, Susan is an accomplished practitioner of meditation and Bhakti Yoga and is highly knowledgable about Vedic Philosophy. It was a real honor to learn from her and to have the chance to record this episode.

Follow her on IG or check out the Bhakti Center in New York.

Recommended Reading:
- The Bhagavad Gita
- Ram Dass' teachings on the Gita
- The War of Art

Recommended Listening:
- Wisdom of the Sages
- Ram Dass Here and Now
- Alan Watts Being in the Way

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

This episode has been a long time coming - Cordi and I have sat down to record it many times and it usually devolved into us just hanging out and talking. But I knew this episode needed to exist because I've gotten so much interest and so many questions from friends in the jiu jitsu community, and I wanted to provide one consolidated resource for people to learn more.

This episode provides some insight into what made me decide to sit with Mother Ayahuasca and my process of preparing for ceremony, what I learned, and how I've integrated those lessons into my life since. My wife Cordi provides some background on why these elements are so important and what wisdom she has gained from years of working with the plants and with Shipibo healers.

She and I are facilitating a retreat in the upcoming weeks to sit with native Shipibo shamans on their own land in Peru, and our guests will have the added benefit of preparation and integration guidance from Cordi which is typically not provided by retreat centers.

To learn more about the process and Cordi's work as a prep and integration guide, visit her website BecomingOm.com and enter your email to stay up to date on retreats and offerings, or just to learn more about the medicine.

You can also follow me on Instagram and send a message about ayahuasca to be added to my close friends list where I post about all things psychedelic

Things mentioned in this podcast:
My recommended version of the Bhagavad Gita
Ram Dass' teachings on the Gita
The Ram Dass Here and Now Podcast
Soltara Healing Center in Costa Rica

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

Okay last one with Phil for a while. This episode was recorded several months ago, before my wife and I made the move to Mexico.  You'll hear me say a prayer before we take a microdose, discuss dealing with our feelings towards those who have wronged our loved ones,  the fractal nature of the universe and much more.


If you dug this conversation, check these out:
- Ram Dass Here and Now Podcast
- Alan Watts Being in the Way Podcast
- Wisdom of the Sages Podcast
- The Book of Dharma by Simon Hass
- My favorite translation of the Gita 

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

Hopefully you guys enjoy listening to Phil and I since there will be a lot more of it. In this episode we discuss the beneficial effects of meditating while microdosing Portobello mushrooms, how I spend way too much time on Instagram, and what Phil does while he poops every morning. Of course, we also discuss the interplay of spirituality and Jiu Jitsu. Thank you for listening, or at least reading about listening. Hare Krishna.

Things mentioned in this episode:
- Ram Dass Here and Now Podcast
- Alan Watts Being in the Way Podcast
- Wisdom of the Sages Podcast
- The Book of Dharma by Simon Hass
- My favorite translation of the Gita 

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

(0:00-1:10) A Little About Me
(1:12-4:53) A Brief Primer on Mindfulness Meditation
(4:55-13:10) Guided Meditation 
(13:12-14:32) Closing Gratitude 

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/

Spanish Mike is a Jiu Jitsu black belt and former MMA fighter under Karel "Silver Fox" Pravec, whose patience, communication skills, and genuine desire to help others make him a phenomenal instructor himself.   Through his years as a fighter and his innate interest in psychology, he has cultivated an interesting perspective on the human mind, and a unique set of skills to master his own. He now endeavors to help others do the same through his  page https://www.instagram.com/findingsolaceincombat/

Thanks again for listening!

If you'd like to support the show, the best way is to share it with a friend and to leave a 5 Star rating on Spotify, or write me a review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks so much for your support.

To learn more about our coaching programs and retreat offerings, visit https://www.instagram.com/becoming.om/