The Third Beer Podcast

You’ll be tripping through this episode of The Third Beer podcast. Come on a journey with Kelly Ryan a spiritual counsellor, reiki master and yoga teacher, who after a three-year battle to save her sick infant daughter, she levelled-up in the game of life and tapped into super-human powers. With your beer in hand, imagine being on a rainbow-coloured theme park ride in slow motion as we experience themes of inter-dimensional travel, astral planes, and energy healing. You’ll go past ley lines, planetary alignments, crystals, spirit animals, five Platonic solids in Metatron’s cube, and your favourite music will be playing. Once you’ve done this ride you will have come to The Centre and full circle (it’s an inside joke). I’m feeling good vibrations, literally! Check out the full episode of Kelly Ryan on The Third Beer podcast.

Ever wondered what this yoga craze is about? This week on The Third Beer podcast has welcomed a special woman into the man cave. Kelly Ransome is co-host Chris Dickson’s favourite Gold Coast yoga instructor. Chris says, “Kelly has always been an inspiration to me”. We chat yoga 101 through to the unintended benefits for yoga goers, such as a greater sense of who you are as a person or even dare I say it - enlightenment. And of course we road test a beer and just like the guest, the beer choice is also not as expected. It’s time for The Third Beer podcast where we talk about stuff blokes find it hard to talk about.

Are you having the worst day your life? Find relief in these six actions.

I know Australian men are tough. I respect that. Except in always being strong, we don’t reach out when things get dark.

Even The Third Beer guest Adam Scarth says that as a bullied apprentice, it seemed easier to end his life. He admits there are systems in place for students to get help, but as a young man, “I never felt as though that was acceptable that I could go and talk to anyone about it, because the strong thing is to bottle up, because that's the alpha male and strong way to deal with it.”

Adam is not alone. Co-host and psychologist Chris Dickson says, “It's hard to share that vulnerability. The first thing is to acknowledge what's going on, and then accept it, and then find someone you can broach that issue with in a very general way. You have to reach out.”

Here are 6 actions in this podcast to chase the black dog:

1. Reset - do activities to reset your mood like a favourite physical activity. Find soul food like an inspiring or happy activity, even just a YouTube video.

2. Put grrr into your attitude - gratitude recognizes good things daily and keeps your mind in perspective. ‘Thank you for the close car park.’

3. Give - Can you make a small kind gesture? Tip the homeless guy, carry someone’s groceries, it feels good so top up those good feelings.

4. Give less f*cks – or as Chris says “use Panchata Kriya yoga strategy for accepting whatever happens as it is. Allowing yourself to not judge a circumstance, just accept it. When you start doing that every moment becomes more positive.”

5. Write a personal journal - because once your repeating thoughts are written down they can stop cycling in your head.

6. Meditation technique – Chris taught me this year. Think about nothing. Let it all go. Try and find the centre, which you can never find but I still feel better by clearing my stressed mind.

If this is the worst day, hope these tips have helped.

This week on The Third Beer podcast where men relax over beer and talk about the stuff men don’t talk about, our guest is Matthew ‘Cobber’ Collins. My co-host Chris Dickson affectionately calls his life-long friend: the Yobbo Guru.

Cobber is a humble fellow, a searcher, a traveller, and a Tibetan Buddhism appreciator. He has been a couch philosopher his whole life. I think some people are just built to think that way. Cobber would say he is by no means a guru and very much a student but I heard some sound life advice.

“At the moment, I'm on a motor bike traveling and I've spent around fifty years in search of this thing that we all hear about and talk about. There's a thousand names for it, there's a thousand different mobs saying it.”

I ask, ‘What is ‘it’?’ Cobber humbly admits he doesn’t know yet but he’ll let me know when he finds ‘it’.

“I'm definitely further from the other end of the scale. I'm better in the place that I'm in than where I was, for sure.”

“I think that's the beauty of this existence is we actually get to experience all that stuff, good and bad, to then make you go and look for ‘it’.”

ON LIMITATION

“There's a beautiful mask we're putting on, these beautiful disguises and when Chris started talking about this to me, it made so much sense, because we're all playing this game and we're not allowed to express anymore.”

“Get some Carl Jung into you if you want to understand that idea of the mask.”

ON ENLIGHTENMENT

“I've spoken to many people and they have had blown away experiences with transcendental meditation through the little mantra that they’re given.”

“Your mantra could be ‘I love me.’ I'm really working on that one. I'm not even using Tibetan or Sanskrit terms anymore. I'm just saying, ‘I love me.’”

The three of us chat further around life, happiness and spirituality in whichever form it may take. Importantly, we are blokes that are ok with talking about sensitive topics – and I’ve come a long way in a year.

Just because you’re a champion boxer, doesn’t mean life doesn’t floor you

The Third Beer podcast this week is a proper bonding session with my mate and therapist Chris Dickson, and his other client and State boxing champion and former bodybuilding champion, Anthony Allan. This episode that unfolds like a movie script, sums up what this podcast is all about – topics that men don’t talk about enough.

Anthony has generously opened up about his life over a beer. Anthony has had a successful and growing security business, two children, has fought and won in the boxing ring - but his personal life knocked him out, more than once.

All three of us fellas discovered similarities in our lives that at times felt like one long boxing match. There’s pain, you’re against the ropes, you’re on the floor, you think you’re winning, then you’re in a world of pain. Then you patch yourself up to go the next round, but it’s a fight you never signed up for.

If Anthony Allan, the archetype tough guy can share his weaknesses, we’re king-hitting the stereotype - and that is a win for all men. Champion!

This week on The Third Beer podcast I invited fitness coach Adam Cox based at Functional Fitness Centre Gold Coast.

Adam has launched a 12-week program called 1gnition that combines his long fitness career with his own personal breakthroughs with destructive behaviours.

Adam’s passion is an inspiration. Adam is a very fit man with a full life but he admits he still wasn’t happy. Since 31 January 2018 Adam gave up his love of alcohol. Adam realised old complex habits steal happiness for many of us and 1gnition was born.

I know this sounds more like life coaching than fitness coaching, and that is what I think is amazing about Adam’s 12-week 1gnition program: he’s going deep with clients to maximise success. A fit body is just part of the resilience - makes sense to me.

Lucky for me, when I reached 120 kgs (again) earlier this year, I also made a choice to change my life. I’ve lost almost 4 kgs in 4 weeks and I am addicted to breathing. What are you addicted to?

Kieron Byrne is the awesome guest of episode 2 of The Third Beer Podcast. He’s a sports coach and psychologist and another mate of my co-host Chris Dickson.

Kieron Byrne also has the willpower of a saint when it comes to diet because he’ll die if he eats fructose. No joke. Go into a coma and die. I have a feeling Kieron had to battle his own demons since he was a kid. Fructose is in everything these days! Then when Kieron’s infant daughter’s kidneys began failing, he had to throw everything he had at keeping life together. Kieron’s learnt so much and lives such a disciplined life, he’s working in positive psychology. Kieron also coaches talented teenage basketball players.

You can listen to the full episode with Kieron Byrne on The Third Beer Podcast here and I’ll be sharing my weight loss progress each episode. Enjoy

The Third beer podcast hosts special guests each week to not only talk about beer but also about life and stuff men don’t easily talk about.

Episode one is three of us feeling very relaxed and amongst friends and talking about loss in all its forms in life, and our own ways of growing through our unique losses. If you’re a son, husband, or father, these generous guests explore loss in life firsthand in all these roles.

The first special guest is Dr Alistair Campbell, practising family therapist and former senior lecturer at James Cook University and mentor to my therapist and co-host, Chris Dickson.

Now that’s a double whammy of professional reflection right there. Professionals just being blokes, being honest with each other, but also bringing their years of psychological training - along with their firsthand accounts of loss.