The Smoke Trail: Season 1, Episode 17 – Audience Q&A 2.0 with Smoke Wallin

Host Bio:

Smoke Wallin is a serial entrepreneur, conscious leader, global M&A deal maker, and host of The Smoke Trail podcast. Having navigated personal trauma through spiritual awakening, Smoke studies traditions like Buddhism, Christianity, and mysticism. His journey—from childhood challenges to leading global businesses—fuels his mission to share tools, truths, and stories for seekers, blending leadership with spiritual growth to inspire transformation.

Setting:

Recorded in a serene hotel room in Vancouver, British Columbia, overlooking a glorious cityscape, this solo episode captures Smoke’s reflective voice fresh from Ivan Rados’s Wild Zen Retreat on Bowen Island. The lush, rain-kissed forest of the retreat lingers in his words, infusing the Q&A with a profound sense of healing and connection, inviting listeners to deepen their consciousness journey.

Summary:

In this second Q&A episode, Smoke Wallin answers audience questions from global YPO talks and the first 15 episodes, enriched by insights from Ivan Rados’s Wild Zen Retreat on Bowen Island, where he served as an “angel” holding space for men confronting their shadows. On clearing emotional blockages, Smoke emphasizes the power of intention, sharing how retreat participants bravely faced unresolved “hairballs” through modalities like energy clearing and contextual reflection, enhancing leadership by integrating shadows for higher perspective. Addressing intentionality in leadership, he explains how heart-centered presence aligns actions with higher purpose, enabling leaders to notice subtle signals and empower teams. For staying present under stress, Smoke offers a practical breathing exercise to create a gap between stimulus and response, ensuring calm, effective decisions in conflicts or high-pressure meetings. On vulnerability in leadership, he redefines it as strength, sharing his journey of overcoming heavy drinking to connect authentically with others, reducing team resistance and fostering teachability. Infused with the retreat’s healing energy, this episode empowers listeners to apply these tools for personal growth and collective impact.

Learnings:  

• Intention Clears Blockages: Setting an intention to face emotional “hairballs” initiates healing, enhancing leadership clarity.  
• Heart-Centered Leadership: Intentional presence aligns actions with purpose, empowering teams and noticing subtle cues.  
• Breathing Maintains Presence: Three deep breaths in stressful moments create space for calm, effective responses.  
• Vulnerability Builds Trust: Sharing healed experiences, like Smoke’s sobriety, reduces team resistance and fosters connection.  
• Collective Healing Amplifies: Holding space for others, as at the retreat, accelerates personal and group transformation.

Universal Truths:  

• Consciousness is Healing: Integrating shadows raises awareness, fostering compassion and perspective.  
• Intentionality Shapes Reality: Heart-centered intentions align actions with divine purpose, enhancing impact.  
• Presence Dissolves Stress: A calm mind in chaos empowers wise, non-reactive choices.  
• Vulnerability is Strength: Authentic sharing builds trust, uniting leaders and teams.  
• We Heal Together: Individual healing, as in Episode 8’s “humans as medicine,” uplifts the collective.

Examples:  

• Retreat Healing: Smoke’s role as an “angel” at the Wild Zen Retreat, holding space for men, amplified collective healing, inspired by Episode 11’s consciousness teachings.  
• Intentional Leadership: Smoke’s heart-centered approach at STS Capital noticed team challenges, aligning with Episode 15’s intentionality.  
• Breathing Exercise: Smoke’s use of three breaths during a tense meeting diffused conflict, echoing Episode 2’s breathwork.  
• Vulnerability Shared: Smoke’s openness about past drinking connected with a struggling team member, reducing resistance, reflecting Episode 6’s vulnerability.  
• Shadow Integration: A retreat participant’s energy clearing, witnessed by Smoke, mirrored Episode 10’s emotional healing tools.

Smoke Trail Threads:  

• Consciousness (Episodes 1, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16): Smoke’s retreat insights tie to his awakening, Steve Hershberger’s map, Ivan Rados’ health, Chris Clements’ action, Rob Follows’ intentionality, and Episode 16’s Q&A.  
• Healing (Episodes 2, 8, 10, 16): Clearing blockages aligns with Sarah Fruehling’s EMDR, Liv Fisch’s human medicine, Dani Brooks’ coherence, and Episode 16’s hairballs.  
• Presence (Episodes 2, 3, 8, 15, 16): Smoke’s breathing exercise echoes Sarah Fruehling’s breathwork, Jack Maxwell’s living now, Liv Fisch’s holding space, Rob Follows’ meditation, and Episode 16’s calm leadership.  
• Leadership (Episodes 4, 6, 12, 15, 16): Smoke’s intentionality connects to Michael Brabant’s safe workplaces, Justin Breen’s vulnerability, Elizabeth Funk’s empowerment, Rob Follows’ significance, and Episode 16’s conscious leadership.  
• Vulnerability (Episodes 6, 13): Smoke’s authentic sharing ties to Justin Breen’s openness and Chris Clements’ love-driven leadership.