What Really Matters Interviews

Florian Schneider - Mixed Martial Arts Expert and World-class Adventurer

Welcome to the latest episode of “What Really Matters Interviews”. I have an exciting guest for you, Florian Schneider, a martial arts expert and world class adventurer. Florian spent years mastering mixed martial arts. But he also has a spirit for adventure like few other people i’ve met.

In this episode, he shares moments - including some harrowing ones - from a few of his incredible journeys.  But he also discusses how his knowledge of mixed martial arts helps give him a confidence and capacity to travel to places even seasoned adventurers would likely avoid.

If you’re wondering, “What would it be like to travel the world if I had great mixed martial arts skills?”, then you’re in for a treat.

So sit back, relax and get ready to be inspired by the incredible story of Florian Schneider.

How can you create somatic experiences in nature to help heal deep trauma?

There’s been a revolution of sorts happening in men’s work, and “men’s groups” are becoming more popular. These are groups where men can communicate more deeply – including about their feelings – with other men.

One of the goals of these groups is to help men discover past wounds and heal them. And a powerful tool to help them do that is somatic work. It goes beyond “talk therapy”, and works at the sub and unconscious levels to heal trauma and other unresolved issues..

Among these groups is Evryman, and Michael Lipson is one of its executive team members.

I first met Michael in another men’s group called “Tribe of Men”. I found him to be an incredibly effective and creative coach. Among his many talents is the knowledge of multiple personal growth tools, and having an innate sense of which one to best use in different situations.

In this interview, we explore his experience with the power of somatic healing – how it’s used, what it can do, and when to best use it. This interview even starts off with a six-minute meditation which helped me “drop in” more deeply for the interview.

Here’s more info about Michael’s background from his LinkedIn profile. As you can tell, he’s a power player:

“Michael is an independent coach, consultant and advisor dedicated to helping individuals, teams and organizations identify, achieve and exceed their core aspirations. His work blends business and personal optimization, and emphasizes leadership, awareness and strategy. His clients are CEO’s, founders, execs, partnerships and teams who are seeking to have more impact, achieve greater success and experience more satisfaction and flow at work and beyond.”

Experience Overview:

• Investment banker with GE Capital for 8 years.
• Turned start-up and tech entrepreneur in 1990.
• Transitioned towards CEO and leadership coaching from the late 90’s to present.
• First VC funded start-up in ’94.
• First of 5 CEO roles in ’97.
• Began leading personal optimization work in ’05.

Involved in 250+ start-ups, coached 100’s of execs/teams, facilitated 100’s of groups and sessions, helped raise $50 million of seed and A Round venture capital, closed over 100 key deals, and written dozens of business and strategic plans.  Trained in coaching, collaborative systems, therapeutic processes, psychometrics and more.

Links:

Website & Social Media

• Evryman Men’s Group
• Michael’s LinkedIn profile

 What would it take to leave a cush tech job to embark on a crazy career path in adventure travel writing - a profession renowned for low wages?  

Even more, what would it take to thrive in that new profession and become an international award-winning adventure and travel writer?  And how would you deal with the cataclysmic changes in the travel industry brought on because of Covid?

In this wide-ranging interview, Jayme Moye discusses that - and a whole lot more.  She’ll also talk about her writing discipline, how she systematically approached travel writing as a business to achieve fast success, and three key tips she’d give to herself when she graduated from college.  

We’ll even discuss three of her favorite stories and how they came to be - including one in which she decided to not go cycling with the Afghanistan’s women’s cycling team because the Taliban had just announced they were about to start their spring offensive.  

Just for some backdrop, Jayme grew up in Ohio, moved to Colorado for college, originally started her career as a computer systems data analyst, realized it wasn’t for her, and made the shift to writing.

Since then she has won:

2019 Banff Centre Mountaineering Article Award for Mountain Literature

2019 Keith Bellows Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism

2018 North American Travel Journalists Association’s Travel Writer of the Year

2017 Best Book Awards Finalist

She is also currently the Whitewater Ski Resort Writer-in-Residence in Nelson, BC.

Enjoy this inspiring and revealing interview with Jayme Moye.  

Links for this podcast:

 

Betsy Chasse is most known as the author & producer of "What the Bleep Do We Know?!" But a better description is the way she describes herself:

"What I really am is a person—a woman, a mom, a human being trying to make sense of life. Exploring all the possibilities, evolving, changing, listening and being in this amazing reality we have all created together."

Here's her official info: "Award-winning Filmmaker, Best Selling Author, Change-Maker, Mom. Best known as the Co-Writer, Director and Producer of the hit film "What The Bleep Do We Know!?"  She has also produced the award-winning Song of The New Earth, Pregnant In America, Radical Dating and The Empty Womb. 

She has authored multiple books, including; The Documentary Masterclass, Tipping Sacred Cows and What The Bleep Do We Know?!, and Discovering The Endless Possibilities to Altering Your Everyday Reality.  She’s also a blogger, a speaker, a screenwriter, and a consultant.

In this wide-ranging interview we explore everything from her experiences with filmmaking, writing, and her infamous Facebook rants. 

Links:

• BetsyChase.net- Her official website.
• What the Bleep - The film's official website.`
• Rampant Feline Media - her media company's website.
• Betsy Chasse on Amazon - all her books, author bio, etc. 

Ned Tibbits has a passion for the lifestyle that's lasted over a half century.  He is the founder and head of Mountain Education, an organization dedicated to helping others learn how to survive & thrive in the outdoors.

But his journey began when he was a kid in scouting, and deepened in his teens.  As soon as he graduated from high school, he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 1974 - one of only a dozen people to do so.

That journey was more than just a really long hike. For him the months and miles enabled him to find his purpose and spiritual connection.

In this interview he reflects back on that trip and other experiences that have shaped his life & career.  And he also shares hard-won knowledge and suggestions that can help you deepen your love for hiking and backpacking ... and perhaps even hike the PCT for yourself.

Imagine being a blond woman traveling through remote China in the late 90s.

Where few Westerners had ever gone. On a rickety motorcycle.  Alone.

That's just one of Carl King's many adventures.  She's also ridden motorcycles all over the world.  And a bicycle through West Africa.  Again ... alone.

And then there's her creative and professional side - author, speaker, coach, teacher industry expert and online instructor.

In this far-ranging interview, I interview Carla King about her travels, love of exploring, and the special challenges of being a female adventurer.  We also discuss her books, travel writing advice, and the steps you can take to write your own travel memoir.

Links:

• CarlaKing.com - Carla King's personal website, with links to her books and everything else about her.
• Self-Publishing Boot Camp - An online course and other resources by Carla King on how to self-publish your book.
• Virtual Travel Writers Facebook Group - An online community where you can discuss and share your writing with other travel writers. 

In this podcast I interview Darcy Gaecther.  She is the first woman to kayak down the entier length of the Amazon River.

Is she interesting?  Well, maybe the intro to her new book "Amazon Woman' will get you juiced up about it. 

"This 148-day journey began on Darcy Decker's 35th birthday. The emotional waters that would fester and erupt on the ensuing journey were often more challenging to navigate than the mighty river itself. With blistering lips and irradiated fingernails Darcy would tackle raging Class V whitewater for 25 days straight, barely survived a dynamite filled cannon being prepared for a new hydroelectric plant. 

She and her two companions would encounter illegal loggers, narco traffickers, murderous shining path rebels and ruthless poachers in the black market trade in endangered species. They would plead for mercy at the hands of the murderers Ashanikna people, who were convinced that they had come to steal their children's organs

In a desperate attempt meant to give her some pretense of control, Darcy even cut off all her hair before entering Peru's notoriously dangerous Red Zone in hopes of passing for a boy and being seen as less of a target.

At once a heart-pounding adventure and a celebration of pushing personal limits, Amazon Woman speaks to all of us feeling trapped by our deskbound online society. This is a story of finding the courage and strength to challenge nature, cultures, social norms, and oneself."

Theresa Byrne was at the top of her game as the most decorated female martial arts practitioner in her style. She had a 4th-degree black belt and her own dojo teaching others the art of self-defense.  She was focused, determined and unstoppable – a force to be reckoned with.

And then … the accident happened. 

A car hit her from the rear, forced off the road and into a wall.  In the wreck she suffered a traumatic brain injury and had a near-death experience.

The life Theresa knew before vanished. In its place, a new journey started … one in which she had to learn about what she’d lost, and start the path to whomever she would become.

In this wide-ranging interview she talks about the pains and frustrations of loss.

She also shares the details of the near-death experience, and how it has become her North Star for moving forward.  From the top of her field, to trauma, to TEDx and beyond … it is a story of how one person has turned trauma into transformation. 

Visualize being close to 14,000 feet on a challenging peak in Colorado. You’re looking at a knife ridge on Capitol Peak that separates you from the summit. It falls off so deeply on both sides that if you fall … you die. And it’s not just you climbing it … your dog is also attempting the summit.

There are 58 peaks over 14,000 feet – or “14’ers” as they’re often called – in Colorado. For the past eight years Ellie and her dog Loki picked them off one by one.

The first peaks she climbed were relatively easy walk-ups. But as she progressed, the challenges in climbing them grew. Some – because of weather or other circumstances – she couldn’t climb on the first attempt. So she returned to them.

And now, here she is, looking at the last peak.

Welcome to Ellie’s world where focus, persistence and an amazing dog have enabled her to achieve something only two other owners and their dogs have been able to achieve.

In this wide-ranging interview, Ellie shares how Loki became her dog, and how he is so different from other huskies. She talks about how – after coming out of a challenging relationship – a chance friendship at a Meetup group – led her to climb Colorado’s highest mountains almost as a form of therapy, and as a way to rebuild her confidence.

And she lets us in on the unshakable bond and trust she has built with Loki.

I hope you enjoy listening to this interview as much as I enjoyed interviewing her.

Links

• Ellie on Instagram
• Outside Magazine article about Ellie and Loki’s accomplishment