Free Your Inner Guru: Recent Episodes
Laura Tucker
Welcome to Free Your Inner Guru, the podcast for discerning seekers, with all the community and none of the cult. Hosted by Sedona “sweat lodge” survivor Laura Tucker, Free Your Inner Guru® is known for big conversations about the state of the self help industry, cult dynamics and indoctrination, self growth, creativity and spirituality. Laura and guests share stories and insights from their journey so we can all learn how to connect to our inner wisdom in a healthy and socially conscious way.
Prior to 2020, Kathleen Oh believed anti-vaccination was the best way she could protect her children.
In this compelling conversation, Kathleen shares how a courageous and empathetic friend led her to understand the deep-seated racism and white privilege underlying her beliefs. Kathleen shares how stepping away from her former community put her on a path of healing and awareness of cult dynamics in her midst.
In this first episode of 2022, Kathleen Oh and Laura take a deep dive into psychedelics, altered states, politics and predators in the world of personal transformation. And why it's necessary for all coaches to critically evaluate the training and bigwigs in their coaching lineage.
Kathleen Oh is an integration coach helping people on their self-exploration journeys. She educates and guides curious explorers through microdosing psychedelics & breathwork, and most importantly, heal and expand into all that’s possible. She is sought after for her authentic, soft-but-confident approach.
Personally, Kathleen has overcome childhood trauma, depression and addiction.
Offline, Kathleen lives in Niagara, Ontario, loves to hike with her dogs. She feels most connected when in nature. Her favourite moments are in the darkness and the deep cold of a Canadian winter.
Mentioned in this episode:
Dr Janja Lalich - janjalalich.com
Take Back Your Life Recovery Workshops
Past episodes: Dr Janja Lalich, Nathanael Garrett Novosel, AdaPia D'Errico
Connect with Kathleen online:
Website - coachkathleenoh.comInstagram - @therealcoachoh
Support Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruRate and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or CastboxShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Stay in touch:
Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletterInstagram – @freeyourinnnerguru and @thatlauratucker
Sean Tucker is a photographer, filmmaker and writer who inspires fellow creatives through his popular YouTube channel and new book “The Meaning in the Making,” in which he shares his philosophy for the creative life.
Before Sean became a photographer, he studied theology and worked as a Baptist priest in South Africa. You’re going to hear about his journey into and out of the priesthood, then into photography, why he started his Youtube channel, and wrote his recent book The Meaning in the Making where he demystifies the creative process.
You're going to love this rich conversation. It touches on all the topic categories of this podcast: creativity, spirituality, finding and using your voice, and stepping away from structured, institutionalized religion.
As we close out 2021, Sean gives us a real sense of what it's like to bring all parts of ourselves to our work, as evidenced in his philosophical approach to photography. He wants us to put our voice out into the world, imbue it with more meaning to tell a better story and give a deeper truth.
This is an intense and hopeful conversation, one that I hope takes you into the next year with a renewed creative focus of your own.
I give you The Meaning in the Making, a conversation with Sean Tucker.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sean Tucker, The Meaning in the Making: The why and how behind our human need to create
Connect with Sean online:
Website - seantucker.photographyInstagram - @seantuckYoutube
Support Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruRate and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or CastboxShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Stay in touch:
Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletterInstagram – @freeyourinnnerguru and @thatlauratucker
Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames are subjects of HBO's documentary series The Vow, a story of indoctrination and exposing the NXIVM cult, and hosts of the podcast A Little Bit Culty.
I am delighted to have Sarah and Nippy join me for a "part 2" conversation that begins on A Little Bit Culty today!
One of my goals is that both of our extreme experiences be relatable to new age and self help consumers. Take away the branding and sex trafficking of NXIVM, and the head shaving and fatal sweat lodge of my experience, and what remains is a seemingly regular self help organization. Maybe it is. Maybe it's a cult. Maybe it's both.
One thing is certain: Our hindsight can become your foresight.
Listen as we explore sales and recruitment tactics, coercion, the mind-fuck of "at-causedness," and "the NXIVM flip," which you'll find everywhere in new age and self help circles, masquerading as personal responsibility and looking to yourself as the creator of everything in your life, including narcissistic and cult abuse.
Sarah Edmondson is a Canadian actress who has stared in the CBS series Salvation and more than twelve films for the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime. In 2019, Sarah published Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life.
Nippy Ames has come full circle back to what he was born to do: performing, creating, and truth telling. He's proving to be an emerging voice in the conversation around what it means to be an upstanding man, husband, and father in 2021.
Sarah and Nippy discuss their healing process with the help of experts and fellow survivors on their podcast A Little Bit Culty.
Mentioned in this episode:
2 ways to win Sarah's memoir:
Write a review of Free Your Inner Guru - quick links here: freeyourinnerguru.com/reviewBecome a Patreon supporter at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Draw to be held on Instagram Live - December 30 at noon ET
Books:
Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life, Sarah EdmondsonTake Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, Janja LalichDon't Call It a Cult, Sarah Berman
Connect with Sarah and Nippy online:
Podcast & website: A Little Bit CultyInstagram - @alittlebitculty @sarahedmondson @anthonyames11
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruJoin the Leadership Community – freeyourinnerguru.com/communityShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
We welcome back Shulamit ber Levtov, the Entrepreneur's Therapist for a deep dive into individual, organizational, and systemic abuse.
Shulamit is a resilience and mindset consultant who uses her background as a trauma therapist to help women identifying entrepreneurs manage their mindset and pilot their emotions so they can overcome the anxiety and isolation of running a business.
You may remember Shulamit from our conversation in Episode 88: Cult Dynamics and Abusive, Intimate Relationships. When we finished, it felt like there was a lot more to cover. So here we are. My hope for this episode is that it gives you context for your own experience, for the experience of someone you care for, and for the abusive culture and systems we are immersed in, whether we are conscious of it or not.
Before we go any further, I don't think I've ever given a trigger warning before, and I don't like them for a couple of reasons. First of all, they can be triggering in and of themselves and put us into a heightened state where we expect to be triggered. And so then we're triggered. It's that good, old self fulfilling prophecy. Secondly, I'm not your parent here to protect you from challenging topics. Otherwise nobody learns and this podcast wouldn't exist. However, this is an episode that might best be consumed in a quiet place with a warm tea or coffee and a journal nearby, or on a quiet walk, so that you can absorb and reflect at your own rate and pace.
I'm told that this is how many of you listen to this podcast. I'm not saying this to turn you off. I just want you to know, because I became emotional midway through and we had to take a little break before guiding the conversation into reflecting on what it's like to wake up to abusive relationships in our life.
And how to use self compassion to self-regulate so we can engage our creative problem solving and ask for help. I think this is a serious but hopeful conversation. And I want to be thoughtful about what your experience may be when you consume it. So I guess I am invoking my protective super power after all.
Like always, if you receive value from this episode, please leave a review and sharing it with others. Follow @freeyourinnerguru and @the_entrepreneurs_therapist on Instagram and consider supporting the podcast on Patreon, where you'll have access to the ongoing conversation in our Discourse community for as little as $5 a month.
Mentioned in this episode:
Episode 88: Cult Dynamics and Abusive Intimate Relationships with Shulamit ber Levtov
Duluth Wheel of Power and Control
Duluth Wheel of Culture
Article: Nine Perfect Strangers Made Me a Punchline and Now I'm Punching Back
Judith Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
Connect with Shulamit:
websiteInstagram
Support Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruCheck out the Leadership Community – freeyourinnerguru.com/communityShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Stay in touch:
Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletterInstagram – @freeyourinnnerguru
Personal experience surviving spiritual and therapeutic abuse led Jenny Cornbleet and Mark Futterman to study cult dynamics and undue influence with a variety of experts in the field.
In the process, they recognized that cult dynamics run rampant in our society and are particularly prevalent in the self-help and coaching industries.
Jenny and Mark now bring an anti-cult approach to all their work, with a knowledge that breaking free from undue influence is key to living authentically and doing what matters most.
Jenny Cornbleet and Mark Futterman are instructional designers, coaches, and consultants. They help people discover what they most want to express through life and work, live according to their values, and make their projects as impactful as possible.
Conversation highlights
Jenny and Mark break down their experience of large group awareness training (LGAT) tactics that are invasive and inappropriate so you can learn the tactics andStrategies to pay attention to language used and get a glimpse behind the indoctrination curtainPowering through: the potential problem with getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.When it feels more dangerous to leave than to stay.Controlling practices that have made their way into norm in the self help industryIndoctrination and the gradual erosion of your better judgment and critical thinking.Coaching as a permission based conversationTowards consumer awareness: this is what will drive the marketCult dynamics IRL: Jenny and Mark share examples of when they were convinced to act against their instincts.How cults are changing in digital times.
Mentioned in this episode:
Conspirituality podcastTake Back Your Life, Dr Janja Lalichigotout.orgWriting to Reckon workshop with Gerette Buglion
Connect with Jenny and Mark online:
Website
Support Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruCheck out the Leadership Community – freeyourinnerguru.com/communityShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Stay in touch:
Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletterInstagram – @freeyourinnnerguru
It's a podcast swap! Steve McCready is our guest host, and I'm at the guest microphone.
Steve McCready is the host of The Sensitive Rebel podcast. He is here to interview me about life before, since, and lessons learned from my involvement in the self help industry and my involvement in “that sweat lodge.” Over on the Sensitive Rebel, you will find an episode called Laura Tucker Helps Steve Free His Inner Guru.
Steve McCready is a coach with a background as a psychotherapist. Steve and I share many interests including psychology, photography, and creativity.
After a couple of Zooms geeking out on art and gear, we had a “what if” conversation about interviewing each other. To shake things up, we decided to be guests on our own shows!
The timing is serendipitous. The 12th anniversary of the Sedona sweat lodge was October 8th. A dozen years later, I’m still peeling back layers of this experience and sharing them, but mostly on other podcasts!
Steve’s background as a therapist enables him to hone in on challenging topics with empathy. He speaks with authority to their impact on psychology and mental health, making him the perfect host for this conversation.
No joke, by the time we finished, I was tempted to title this episode “Would Someone Please Just Give Me a Red Flag?!?”
Conversation highlights:
Why I’m rebelling against the status quo in the self help industry.Cult dynamics and toxic leaders in our current social environment.The twists and turns of my journey that led me to “that sweat lodge.”Creativity and photography - learning the rules in order to break them.Societal pressure on women at certain ages from the patriarchal status quo.The real secret of the North American self help movement. It's steeped in privilege.The rapacious nature of “sell them what they want, give them what you think they need.”The clarity that’s come this past year, learning about indoctrination and cult dynamics.Recognizing when we are getting swept away by our feelings, so we can actually see the red flags waving in our faces.
Mentioned in this episode:
Thank you, Steve for being a kind and empathetic host. My interview of Steve for episode 23 of The Sensitive Rebel is here
Connect with Steve McCready
Website - sensitiverebel.comWebsite - stevemccready.comInstagram - @thesensitiverebel
Support Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruCheck out the Leadership Community - freeyourinnerguru.com/communityShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Stay in touch:
Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletterInstagram - @freeyourinnnerguru
igotout is a hashtag, website and movement to make abuses of power unacceptable in all kinds of groups, not just cults.
Gerette Buglion and Lisa are two of the founders of #igotout. They believe now is the time for survivors of cult dynamics to share their stories with unflinching honesty. Every story matters, and the ripple effect of speaking up can make a difference.
Survivors of cultic abuse can raise awareness of undue influence and coercive control. The goal is to change the cultural acceptance of abuse of power in all kinds of groups, not just cults.
Gerette and Lisa join me to share the story of how #igotout was formed, characteristics of cult dynamics in today's society, and how survivors can find support at igotout.org.
Gerette Buglion, B.A. in Elementary and Special Ed, is the author of An Everyday Cult. She earned her ‘Masters Degree’ in Cult Awareness Education from the school of life. Gerette co-manages operations and communications of igotout.org, is a spokeswoman and activist for the movement and hosts Writing to Reckon, an online workshop where survivors of cultic abuse write their I got out statement.
Lisa owns, designs, and manages the igotout.org website intended to support the #igotout movement, as well as makes most of the material and posts for the social media accounts. She is the main point of contact for #igotout communications through email and messaging on the #igotout social platforms.
Connect with igotout.org online:
WebsiteInstagram - @igotout_orgFacebook
Mentioned in this episode:
Article:
Elsevier - Aggression and Violent Behavior: Sexual abuse and charismatic cults
Books:
Gerette Buglion - An Everyday CultSteve Hassan - The Cult of Trump
Podcasts:
Jen Kiaba - Lessons on LeavingKaila Tova - Your Body, Your Brand
Support Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Stay in touch:
Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletter
Host Laura Tucker is a survivor of the fatal 2009 sweat lodge at a self help retreat in Sedona in 2009.
Laura shares her response to the line five minutes in to the first episode of Nine Perfect Strangers:
"Remember those people who died in that sweat lodge? They thought they were being enlightened, but in reality they were being cooked."
This episode includes the article Nine Perfect Strangers Made Me a Punch Line and Now I'm Punching Back - Survivor of That Sweat Lodge Stands Up For Survivors of All Bad Gurus and the conversation that has come to life as a result.
Mentioned in this episode:
Article: Nine Perfect Strangers Made Me a Punch Line and Now I'm Punching Back
Episode 87 - Dr Janja Lalich: When Self Help Turns Cult
Ways to support Free Your Inner Guru:
Become a Patreon - patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Shop the merchandise - freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Shop Laura's fine art photography gallery - lauratuckerphotography.com
Stay in touch:
Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletter
You are going to love this conversation with Regina Louise, author of Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self Love.
Regina Louise is a remarkable human being who engages in this conversation with grace, intelligence, empathy and generosity.
Before Regina wrote her latest book Permission Granted, she authored two bestselling memoirs: Somebody's Someone and Someone Has Led This Child to Believe in which she shares her journey that included being in thirty foster homes as a child. Her memoirs became the award-winning Lifetime movie I Am Somebody's Child: The Regina Louise Story.
Regina joins me to explore topics of the day, including racism, privilege, being a social agent, COVID19, and how writing her 2 memoirs prepared her to write to Permission Granted, her first non-fiction self help book.
Conversation Highlights:
How Regina learned the value of her own permission when her fighting spirit was seen as troublesome.How women and historically underrepresented folks must give ourselves permission to be bigger than a suppressive society wants us to be.The truth of racism in a constructed, hegemonic society.Moving into the world from the place "where spirit meets bone."Nexting: always imagining the highest order of possibility.Liminal space: feeling moored in the "time in between," and at the threshold where change is afoot.Regina shares her decision to be double vaccinated and wear a mask, despite her prior skepticism based on having pharmaceutical drugs forced on her as a child of the system.
Mentioned in this episode:
Regina's books:
Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self-Love Somebody's Someone: A MemoirSomeone Has Led This Child to Believe
Regina:
Website - iamreginalouise.comInstagram - @therealreginalouise
Become a Free Your Inner Guru® supporter:
Become a patron on Patreon – https://patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruPurchase a fun new hoodie, t-shirt and/or sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.) – https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru®:
Website – freeyourinnerguru.comInstagram – instagram.com/freeyourinnerguruJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. freeyourinnerguru.com/community
Wolf Terry joins Laura Tucker for a conversation about her controversial Yoga Journal article “Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa.”
Wolf Terry is a contributing writer for Yoga Journal. She left teaching yoga at the beginning of the pandemic after years of working at every level of the $88 billion industry in order to become a full-time writer.
In 2018 Wolf lost her younger brother and best friend to suicide, mere months after her child was born. Since then she has been an advocate for mental health, as well as an outspoken activist on crucial social justice issues.
Wolf recently came under fire in the Yoga and Wellness community for her Yoga Journal article “Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa” in which she calls out the yoga community for abandoning its ethics.
Host Laura Tucker is a survivor of the 2009 fatal sweat lodge at a spiritual and self help retreat in Sedona, Arizona. She and Wolf discuss their common concerns for the yoga, wellness, spiritual and self help industries including:
what Ahimsa meansethical concerns when profit comes before peoplespiritual bypassingtoxic woo culture in westernized yoga and spiritualityindoctrination and cult dynamics in wellness communitiesthe influence of the racist and misogynist ideology of the QAnon and Pastel Q influencers on vaccination rates and the spread of misinformation and disinformation across the internet
Mentioned in this episode
Wolf Terry's Yoga Journal article - Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa
Yoga Journal's teaser post on Instagram
The Story Behind Free Your Inner Guru
Documentary - Enlighten Us: The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray
Wondery podcast - Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
Conspirituality Podcast - Ep 61 - From Anti-Feminism to Anti-Vax with Dr Annie Kelley
Dr Annie Kelley's podcast Vaccine: The Human Story
Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community on Discourse
Lindsay Keefe Yoga Therapy
Steve McCready - The Sensitive Rebel Podcast
Connect with Wolf Terry
Instagram - @wolfginiWebsite - wolfgini.com
Become a podcast supporter
Become a patron on Patreon - https://patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.) - https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru® online
Website - freeyourinnerguru.comInstagram - instagram.com/freeyourinnerguruJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. freeyourinnerguru.com/community
Shulamit Ber Levtov joins Laura for a conversation about the parallels between cult dynamics and abusive intimate relationships, the intersection of conspiracy theory and the self help industry, and dealing with shit therapists.
Shulamit Ber Levtov is a resilience and mindset consultant who uses her background as a trauma therapist to help woman-identifying entrepreneurs manage their mindset and pilot their emotions so they can overcome the anxiety and isolation of running a business.
Full show notes with working links at https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shulamit-ber-levtov/
Conversation highlights:
Shulamit shares how why she became a therapist after experiencing an abusive intimate relationship and how that helps her work with women-identifying entrepreneurs.The distinction between being victimized and having an identity as a victim.Why we shy away from words like victim, vulnerable, and cult.Conspirituality: the intersection of conspiracy thinking and the wellness and self help industries.The self help industry: has it overshot inspiration and become an industry reliant on indoctrination?Parallels between victims of cults and abusive intimate relationships.The cumulative nature of "small T trauma" and the ubiquity of microaggressions and coercive control.Group dynamics: What it takes to build a healthy environment for human connection.Dealing with shit therapists.
Mentioned in this episode
Janja Lalich: When Self Help Turns Cult - https://freeyourinnerguru.com/janja-lalichConspirituality podcast - conspirituality.net
Connect with Shulamit
Instagram - @the_entrepreneurs_therapist
Become a podcast supporter:
Become a patron on Patreon - https://patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruShop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.) - https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru® online
Website - freeyourinnerguru.comInstagram - instagram.com/freeyourinnerguruFacebook - facebook.com/freeyrinnerguruJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. freeyourinnerguru.com/community
Dr Janja Lalich joins Laura for a dive deep into the intersection of self help and cults.
Full show notes with links to everything mentioned at https://freeyourinnerguru.com/janja-lalich/
Janja is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in cults and extremist groups, with a particular focus on charismatic relationships, political and other social movements, ideology and social control, and issues of gender and sexuality. She is Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico.
She is the author of Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, the number one book used by former cult members and their friends and families to better understand cult experiences and their consequences.
AdaPia D'Errico is a global visionary leader, entrepreneur, investor, powerful keynote speaker, and author of Productive Intuition: Connecting to the Subtle.
AdaPia D'Errico has co-founded businesses, launched brands, and re-defined industries. She is a respected fintech entrepreneur and real estate investment executive known for her role in launching the estate crowdfunding industry into the mainstream.
Challenge is the teacher. From leaving her first marriage to a viral Goalcast video gone wrong, AdaPia shares her multi-year journey to connect with her inner authority. Her book, Productive Intuition is a powerful resource for learning how to connect with and harness the power for your inner guru.
We begin with AdaPia's story and quickly moves into an exploration of the light and dark sides of leadership, corporate life, and the transformation industry. Next up are strategies you can use to become more integrated in your approach to life, and why everybody doesn't need to become a coach for a new paradigm of leadership to emerge.
Conversation highlights
The truth that comes in moments of anger and frustration.The darker side of leadership when a leader abdicates their sense of responsibility.What it means to be sovereign.Honoring periods of transition.What is "Productive Intuition?"Interoception - stopping to notice how you feel.The difference between emotional, physical, and energetic "feelings."A new paradigm for leadership: open, authentic, and willing to admit it doesn't know everything.
Mentioned in this episode
AdaPia's Book - Productive Intuition: Connecting to the Subtle
Connect with AdaPia online:
WebsiteInstagramTwitter
Become a podcast supporter:
Become a patron on PatreonShop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.)
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru online
WebsiteInstagramFacebookJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community.
Jonny Barefoot is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, childrens' music teacher from Toronto, living in Japan.
Jonny's passion is to hear the music in every aspect of his life. Jonny and I know each other from when we were teenagers. I've always been curious about his experience in Japan, and invited him on the podcast after we reconnected over social media. In this wide ranging conversation, Jonny catches us up on life in Japan and we explore the intersection of culture, spirituality, religion, education, and one of our favourite books - The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho.
Conversation highlights
Jonny shares what it was like to move from Toronto to Japan.From teaching English to teaching music to children through the Music Together program.A look at the indigenous spiritual culture of Japan in contrast to Jonny's Catholic upbringing in Canada.Consistency of practice - whether it's music, meditation, going to church, or writing down inspiration when it comes. Creating music in COVID times.The importance of owning your style.Highlights from The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo.Creativity and spirituality as open practice vs imposing structure and willing things to be a certain way.Jonny shares the inspiration behind his latest album, Sunrise in Reverse.
Memorable quotes from Jonny Barefoot
On owning your style:
"And then at that point, I thought yeah, I think I'm really going to own this sound. This is mine and I'm gonna let this grow inside me. And it was like a search was over."
On practice:
"If you approach it like that, it's I'm going to go and teach this class because that's what I do every day. And that's the practice. I'm going to sit Zen, that's what I do every day. And that's the practice. And whether it comes naturally and fluidly and flowingly, or it's a absolute drudgery, it's still what you do."
Mentioned in this episode
Jonny Barefoot's album Sunrise in Reverse on Bandcamp
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Laura's interview with Brad Warner: Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki
Connect with Jonny online:
Instagram - @jonny.barefootBandcamp
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru online
WebsiteInstagramFacebookJoin our Leadership Community Huddle! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community.
Become a podcast supporter:
Support the podcast on Patreonor shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.)
Paria Hassouri is an Iranian American mother of three, pediatrician, and transgender rights activist.
Paria Hassouri's memoir Found in Transition: A Mother's Evolution During Her Child's Gender Change begins in 2017, when she first learns that her fourteen year old is having gender dysphoria, and concludes in 2018 when her daughter Ava legally changed her name and gender.
In this compelling conversation, Paria Hassouri opens up and shares her journey from grieving the vision of the child she always had to becoming an activist for transgender rights.
Conversation highlights
How Paria's childhood struggle with being bullied for being Iranian American had an impact on her fears for Ava.Why she wrote all the things many parents in her situation also experience and wouldn't dare to say.How Ava's gender dysphoria caused her to question her own identity as a mother.What Dr Paria Hassouri, MD has learned about gender dysphoria and how it is reflected in her pediatric practice.How Ava, Paria and the Hassouri family are doing at the time of recording and a recent update about Ava's exciting future.
Memorable quotes from Paria Hassouri
“This is a story about a family with a trans kid. But really, it’s a story about a family.”
“Don’t underestimate your power to evolve and change.”
“A big part of my evolution during this process was accepting and being proud of who I am as I am. I learned that because I watched my daughter be proud of who she is.”
Mentioned in this episode
Book - Found in Transition: A Mother's Evolution During Her Child's Gender Change
Connect with Paria online
Website - pariahassouri.comInstagram - @laparia
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru online
WebsiteInstagramFacebookJoin our Leadership Community Huddle! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community.
Become a podcast supporter:
Support the podcast on Patreon or shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.)
Suzanne Wylde is the author of The Art of Coming Home - Common sense self-development exercises to educate, inspire, and empower you.
Suzanne is an acupuncturist, holistic coach, and alternative therapist. She and I met online a number of months ago. Her pragmatic straightforward approach led to an invitation to come on Free Your Inner Guru for a deep dive.
We get into her varied experience and education, and the conversation lands on processing emotions.
It’s fitting. Emotions are running all over the place. They always are, but the COVID-19 roller ride coaster keeps going.
Suzanne has given me a link to share with you: an online version of chapter 9 in her book, Processing Our Emotions.
The focus on emotion raises the question - and creates an opportunity to begin to unpack an important question - How are we to discern what we pay attention to, and allow to influence our thoughts and behavior so that we don’t become vulnerable to undue influence?
I was asked yesterday and started writing a list based on my past experience.
The first thing I wrote was “be able to identify when your emotions are being activated - by external events, past triggers, or manipulative tactics.”
So here we are with an episode that touches on staying grounded, accepting what’s going on around us, even when we don’t like it, and processing emotion. Suzanne shares some tools that may be helpful as we each navigate our way forward.
If you’re struggling, I encourage you to connect with a professional - coach, therapist, doctor, and resist the temptation to isolate. We’re all human, after all. We need support and connection to help us through.
Conversation highlights:
What Suzanne means by “coming home,” and why she calls it an art.The advantages and disadvantages of being “highly sensitive.”Positivity and shadow work - the paradox of self help.The problem of prescriptive leadership, and prescriptive coaching.How empathy does not always lead to helping others.Grounding, acceptance and processing emotion: topics from The Art of Coming Home that are relevant today.
Mentioned in this episode:
Preview chapter from The Art of Coming Home: Chapter 9 - Processing Our Emotions
Book - The Art of Coming Home: Common-sense self-development exercises to educate, inspire and empower you.
Science Direct article - Empathy and compassion
Connect with Suzanne online
Website - Instagram - Facebook
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru
Support on Patreon
Instagram - Facebook
Join the conversation – Check out the Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community
Support the podcast on Patreon or shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.)
Kim Chestney is a globally recognized author and innovation leader. Her new book is Radical Intuition - A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power.
I know you're going to love this conversation with Kim Chestney! Radical Intuition introduces four archetypes of intuition - the Healer, Sage, Visionary, and Mystic - and includes self assessments and quizzes to help us understand our own natural intuition affinities.
We get right into the framework for intuition that Kim has developed - our five intuitive senses and four types of intuition, everyday questions like why our intuition speaks to us in the shower, and dive into the role intuition plays as we move beyond thinking into the age of imagination, creativity, and intuition.
Conversation highlights:
Why the best companies and leaders are using intuition to lead the way.Why intuition cannot be wrong.The four intuitive pathways: body, mind, heart and spirit.The 4 Intuitions: Healer, Sage, Visionary, Mystic. Which intuition archetype are you?The role of intuition in real - aka conscious - leadership.Guidance to figure out the next step if you're struggling right now.
Memorable quotes:
"Intuition speaks to us from the inside the same way the world speaks to us on the outside."
"If you’re going to be a real leader - have to be insightful - have to have empathy. These are things we haven’t talked about in the past with the old leadership model."
"Intuition’s sole job is to help us fulfill our potential and make ourselves and the world better."
Mentioned in this episode:
Kim Chestney:
Book - Radical Intuition: A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power
Website - Instagram - Facebook
Free Your Inner Guru:
Seth Godin interview
Instagram - Facebook
Join the conversation – Check out the Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community
Support the podcast on Patreon or shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and stationery.
Christine Arylo is a transformational leadership advisor, teacher, speaker and three-time best selling author.
Christine is recognized worldwide for her work helping women to make shift happen - in the lives they lead, the work they do, and the world they wish to create.
In her most recent book Overwhelmed and Over It, Christine advocates for us to return to feminine wisdom to get out from under the overculture of overwhelm in today's society and create a more sustainable and joy-filled life.
Conversation highlights:
Understanding the overculture and the many ways we don’t realize we are not free.Be awake as a practice, not a destination.Recognize and replace imprints that do not serve us.Know your heart, mind, body, soul when we’ve been trained in the mind and avoid going into our heart.Why now is the perfect time to look at what is not in alignment and what is not sustainable.Overgiving: what it is, why we are programmed to it, and how to disengage with it.Engage in the world from the inside out.8 different kinds of burnoutWhy our relationship with our inner wisdom needs to be consciously nurtured.Self love vs self absorption and narcissismHow inner work and waking up changes the outer worldNot a meme: Be the change you wish to see as instructions for living.Looking inside ourselves and understanding what is ours to change.Creating space vs finding and making more time.
Mentioned in this episode:
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With The Wolves
Christine Arylo, Overwhelmed and Over It: Embrace Your Power to Stay Centered and Sustained in a Chaotic World
Christine Arylo and Amy Ahlers, Reform Your Inner Mean Girl
Connect with Christine online:
Website
Join the conversation - Check out the Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community
Nathanael Garrett Novosel wants to help you systematically create a life that is meaningful to you.
In his career as a professional researcher and advisor, Nathanael has researched psychology, evolutionary biology, organizational best practices, leadership decision making, business, technology, finance, and philosophy to understand how the world as we know it works and why.
In his book The Meaning of Life: A Guide To Finding Your Life’s Purpose, Natanael has laid out a framework to help you systematically create a life that is meaningful to you.
Using the 8 Principles of the Meaningful Life, Nathanael and I explore a wide range of topics from why growth is the scientific point of life, the difference between beliefs, values and ethics, why people join cults, and why ethics with the ultimate trade between freedom and safety is at the core of our interactions with each other.
It’s a conversation for the topics of today and events today. Although the subject material is serious, the conversation was quite a bit of fun.
Nathanael Garrett Novosel is a professional researcher and advisor with over 20 years of experience studying individual and group behavior. Nathanael has spent much of his career using the insights from this research to help the world’s leading executives solve their most pressing organizational challenges and create their strategic plans. Noticing the common drivers of success in all areas of life, he decided to devote his research, problem-solving, and advisory skills to helping people live the best lives possible.
Mentioned in this episode:
Books:
The Meaning of Life: A Guide to Finding Your Life's Purpose, Nathanael Garrett Novosel
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Czikmihaly
The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
Find Nathanael online:
Website
Visit lauratucker.com
Photography
Daily Letter
Visit freeyourinnerguru.com
Podcast episodes
Support the podcast with a purchase of t-shirts, hoodies or notebooks: Use code LAUNCH15 for 15% off at freeyourinnerguru.com/shop
A story about my first quiet Christmas resonates with Christmas 2020.
May your focus this holiday season bring you ease and grace.
Laura
Original video on Instagram
Original blog on lauratucker.com
Author and therapist Bridgit Dengel Gaspard explains how the double bind is often the cause of why we get stuck just short of accomplishing our goals.
Have you ever been caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to find a palatable - let alone winnable - option?
If you've ever felt this way, you'll recognize your situation as a double bind.
"One of the best-kept secrets of your Inner Critic is that it plays both sides of the double bind. It tells you that you're not good enough as it pushes you to be better."
No one enjoys being stuck and the misery is amplified when we have accomplished multiple steps toward a cherished goal - whether breaking a bad habit, losing weight, building a business, finding a mate, or finishing a degree - but just can't seem to complete it.
In The Final 8th: Enlist Your Inner Selves to Accomplish Your Goals, Bridgit Dengel Gaspard guides readers through the process of identifying and speaking with their inner selves - such as the inner critic, perfectionist, artist, and risk-taker - to figure out which of them are supporting their goal and which are impeding it.
Bridgit explains the key concepts of voice dialogue and how we can use this method to enlist the wisdom of our inner selves to get across the finish line. She guides me through the Voice Dialogue Method so that we can have a living, breathing example of how this method works. Then we take a deep dive into "the double bind" and how essential it is to understand this dynamic in our lives if we truly want to be free.
Bridgit Dengel Gaspard, LCSW, is a former performer who earned a master's degree from Columbia University and teaches at numerous professional settings including Omega Institute. She is a former performer who earned a master's degree from Columbia University and teaches at numerous professional settings including Omega Institute.
Conversation highlights:
How Bridgit discovered Voice Dialogue and why she is focused on people who are stalled short of the finish line of their goal. Meeting your primary and secondary Inner Selves Why it’s healthy to talk to the different parts of yourself. A surprising conversation with one of Laura's inner selves. What we can all learn from our Inner Asshole. (Yes, we all have one!)Deep dive: The unresolvable dilemma of the double bind and how unwinding it frees up your energy and gives you more choice.Deep dive #2: The parentified child - celebrating latch-key kids. Children of the 70s finally have their moment.Why the Final 8th is a success issue.Practicing safe success: strategies to get across the finish line, assuming it is a finish line that wants to be crossed.
Mentioned in this episode:
Book - The Final 8th: Enlist Your Inner Selves to Accomplish Your Goals
Bridgit's website
Twitter - @bridgitgaspard
Instagram - @bridgitdengelgaspard
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru More information about the Leadership Community here
K A Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.
K A Tucker has published 31 books and is the internationally bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series, He Will Be My Ruin, Until It Fades, Keep Her Safe, The Simple Wild, Be the Girl, and Say You Still Love Me. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, Publisher's Weekly, Oprah Mag, and First for Women. She has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance 2013 for TEN TINY BREATHS and Best Romance 2018 for THE SIMPLE WILD. KEEP HER SAFE made Suspense Magazine's Best of 2018 list for Romantic Suspense.
While her success as an author is impressive, K.A. is also a fierce advocate for children with autism and human rights.
Kathleen also happens to be my sister-in-law.
Every now and then we’d be talking life, and business, and I’d say something like “you should come on the podcast.”
Well, we finally made that happen this past summer just as she was in the middle of a book launch. And guess what? She’s in the middle of another one now.
Since we recorded in the summer, there’s been a few updates that I’ll give you at the end. Because, well, she’s prolific in her craft. In the meantime, enjoy this conversation that alternates between all-business and two sisters-in-law having a laugh, mostly at ourselves. And a little bit at each other.
Conversation highlights
Kathleen shares what it was like to start writing on maternity leave, and continue while parenting two children with very different needs.Transition from corporate career to full time author.Genre switching - from Young Adult Fantasy to Contemporary Romance.The business of being an author.From self publishing to publisher contract to self publishing.Deadlines and motivation, writing with a gun to your head.Building the writing muscle and finding rhythm.Balancing creativity with the left brain activities of the business.Having a voice on issues vs keeping your opinion to yourself as a creative and public figure.Impact of the pandemic on fiction writing.Delayed gratification and grey hair.On self care, self forgiveness, and giving yourself grace.
Mentioned in this episode:
Website - katuckerbooks.com
Instagram: @katucker_Facebook: @katucker.author
The Simple Wild Series:
The Simple Wild Wild at HeartForever Wild
Ten Tiny Breaths
Wondery’s Guru: The Dark Side of EnlightenmentApple PodcastsSpotify
Free Your Inner Guru® Episode 67 with Charles Wilson
Laura's Instagram - @lauraatucker
Want more conscious conversations in your life?
Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community.
Enjoy!
Seth Godin is the author of 19 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages.
Seth’s also the founder of the altMBA and The Akimbo Workshops, online seminars that have transformed the work of thousands of people.
He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. You might be familiar with his books Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip , Purple Cow, and This Is Marketing, an instant bestseller around the world.
His newest book is The Practice: Shipping Creative Work.
Conversation highlights:
Why courses don’t work.The change Seth seeks to make.What marketing is and what marketing is not.What it means to pick yourself.Scarcity as a tenet of the industrial age.Why you get to pick yourself.Different kinds of fame and the smallest viable audience.Empathy and generosity as core values and compass of leadership.The solution for imposter syndrome and self censorship.The pandemic. Now what are we going to do?How Seth built the Creative’s Workshop and wrote The Practice.The process of turning “pro.”Why streaks are important.Perfection, perfect, and good enough.The mistake of listening to unqualified critics.The journey of the creative professional vs the journey of the hack.Marketing and moralitySynchronous vs asynchronous communication and learningThe role of genre in creating an impact with your work, or hiding from it.Where The Practice fits in the book store.
Mentioned in this episode:
Seth's blog
Book: The Practice: Shipping Creative Work
The Creative's Workshop
Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community
Winter of Self Care™ Workshop
Memorable Quotes from Seth Godin:
"Our craft, our work, our art is an act of generosity, that if we can get out of our head that we are taking, and embrace the idea that we have a chance to give. Then, we’re more likely to give to people.You can’t use it as an excuse to hustle people, to take. Use it as fuel for finding the thing inside you that you can actually contribute. give, simply because they can."
"Every time the world has gone sideways, Spanish flu, WWII, the world has got better because people show up. Not from the top. Not because it’s an edict. Because you and me say, “How can I make things better?”"
"It’s up to us if we are picking ourselves to decide what we want to be known for. It’s essential that we not permit ourselves or anyone else deniability just because it’s “doing my job.” I think if you’re doing your job, you’re responsible for the work whether or not someone asks you to do it."
📷 Photo credit: Darius Bashar
Want more conscious conversations in your life?
Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Louise Karch is a name whisperer and the author of the multi-award-winning book Word Glue: Find your Million Dollar Brand Name. Louise Karch has been naming things all her life. She believes that naming and conscious leadership go hand in hand. Word Glue is like having an award-winning naming agency in your pocket. It’s a beautifully designed handbook that contains all of Louise’s naming secrets. Conversation highlights:
Louise shares how she realized that naming is her superpower. Louise breaks down how the name Free Your Inner Guru® didn’t simply come from the ethers. The relationship between conscious leadership and the names you create. Self care: Rituals and practices that keep you in the best place to show up and serve with empathy, especially in turbulent times. Why Louise is giving away her secrets. Once you’ve got a name: Why a strong brand is not just a logo. It’s a small world after all: Louise and Laura’s common connection to Wade Gilpin of Sherpa Creative. The journey to become an author: Why Louise believes writing a book will change your life.
Mentioned in this episode: Connect with Louise Karch online:
wordglue.co LinkedIn
Word Glue cover design: Wade Gilpin, Sherpa Creative Word Glue internal design: Julia Afflekt, Apexiva Seth Godin's The Marketing Seminar Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
John Larson wants to transform coaching from “all conversation” to something more tangible and meaningful in the world. John Larson is the founder of CoachAccountable, a powerful tool designed to make coaching better, and bring it to the mainstream.
In this high energy conversation, John shares how his own personal development journey led him to create CoachAccountable, a platform that turns coaching into documented wisdom. John’s enthusiasm for his work is unparalleled, and he’s got an inspiring entrepreneurial journey to share. Conversation highlights
John Larson shares his introduction to the self help industry through Landmark Forum and his subsequent desire to make coaching more reliable and tangible. How that desire led to creating CoachAccountable to bridge the gap in between powerful coaching conversations. The entrepreneurial journey between the 2009 launch of version 1 to crickets, to the successful launch of version 2 in 2012. How Laura found CoachAccountable and it became her main business tool. Laura and John on why people think self help programs are “cult-y”. Why Facebook Groups are a terrible business tool for coaching. Why being oblivious to your competitors makes for doing your best work.
Memorable quote “As a culture, coaching’s not a known quantity. If we can get to the point to where the most hard-nosed bean counter can look at the outcomes of any given coaching engagement and think that just makes sense, then we’re in a good place.” Mentioned in this episode: Visit CoachAccountable online
*Links in this episode are affiliate links. There is a 30 day free trial. If you’re a coach and register for CoachAccountable through this link, a portion of your investment will go producing Free Your Inner Guru®.
Free Your Inner Guru on social:
Instagram Facebook
Laura Tucker on social:
Instagram Facebook
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
(Coaches are most welcome!)
Podcasts make us laugh, cry, learn and have the power to inspire. In this special solo episode for International Podcast Day, I share all the reasons I’m grateful for podcasts – as a host and an avid podcast listener.
At the end, I’ve got a special invitation for you to join me for a live celebration this coming Friday, October 2nd.
Mentioned in this episode:
Contact me on Instagram
or on Facebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Psychic and spiritual advisor Julie Min is back for a deep dive into the role of personal responsibility in our healing journey. Julie Min is a psychic, spiritual counselor, and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and the fatal sweat lodge led by James Arthur Ray.
It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since Julie’s first visit to Free Your Inner Guru. She is back to share wisdom gained from her life experience and commitment to the healing journey. In this deep dive, Julie shares her backstory and throws the doors open on the life and thoughts of someone who has psychic ability.
Conversation highlights:
Julie’s opinion of the Wondery podcast Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment. Why the being labeled a victim can be uncomfortable and unhelpful. What it means to “willingly give your power away.” How personal responsibility is a key strategy in Julie’s response to childhood sexual abuse. Red flags and psychic warnings leading up to the tragedy of the Sedona sweat lodge. Julie’s key strategy to connect to your inner wisdom. Choose love now: Julie’s tribute to Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman.
Memorable quotes from Julie Min:
“Part of the conscious path, the spiritual path, is recognizing where other people have responsibility and where we have responsibility in the choices we’ve made.”
“If I could take personal responsibility, then I had an action plan. Even though it was going to be hard, there was something I could do.”
“The only way we can trust ourselves is to actually trust ourselves. We have to act on the knowledge we have been given.”
Mentioned in this episode
Julie’s first visit to Free Your Inner Guru – Episode 20 – Julie Min: From Tragedy and Survivor’s Guilt to Forgiveness, Happiness, and Love
Julie Min on Facebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
This is a continuation of the conversation with Brandy Amstel in Episode 70. Listen to find out whether or not we saw James Arthur Ray as a guru, the dynamic between leader and learner on the personal growth journey, agency and self governance, and looking for the light side of self help.
If you haven’t listened to Part 1, I suggest you back to Episode 70 for context. Listening online? You can find it here..
Mentioned in this episode:
Wondery’s Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
on Apple Podcasts
on Spotify
Enlighten Us documentary on Youtube
Connect with Brandy Amstel:
Visit brandyamstel.com
On Instagram
On Facebook
Connect with Free Your Inner Guru:
On Instagram
Facebook Group
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Brandy Amstel is an award-winning sculptor, painter and filmmaker. “Being expressed is my art.”
Brandy Amstel has a passion for using her gifts, skills and talents to generate a deeper spiritual conversation about the human experience and what it means to live from love, freedom, and full self expression.
Brandy is featured in episodes 1 and 2 of the Wondery podcast Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment. I invited Brandy to be a guest so that she could have a voice on topics that have previously been left on the cutting room floor.
We talk about her life’s journey, before and after the tragic events of Spiritual Warrior in 2009, her current view of the transformational industry, and how tremendous healing is available, even when you express yourself and things don’t go as expected.
Mentioned in this episode:
Wondery’s Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
on Apple Podcasts
on Spotify
Enlighten Us documentary on Youtube
Connect with Brandy Amstel:
Visit brandyamstel.com
On Instagram
On Facebook
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
We need to shake up the status quo. Laura Tucker reflects on her involvement in the Wondery podcast Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment.
In this episode I share what it was like to participate in this huge podcast and why I lend my voice to projects that tell the story about what happened at James Arthur Ray’s Spiritual Warrior retreat in October 2009 when Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman died after a “sweat lodge” ceremony gone wrong.
I am so grateful to everyone who has become emotionally invested in this story, and who want more and want better for the industry that has sprung up around being your best self.
Mentioned in this episode:
Wondery’s Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
on Apple Podcasts
on Spotify
At lauratucker.com
Laura’s Daily Letters
Articles and podcast episodes related to Spiritual Warrior and Guru
For Members Only – Read weekly installments of my memoir in progress.
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Brad Warner and Free Your Inner Guru host Laura Tucker talk about Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen and the dangers of pushing for a spiritual breakthrough before you are ready. Brad Warner is a Soto Zen priest, bass guitarist for the punk band Zero Defex and the author of Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen.
In his most recent book, Brad Warner introduces us to Zen Buddhism through the perspective of letters he writes to his friend Marky, who has died of cancer. But he’s not just talking to Marky, he’s talking to you in the frank tone and language of telling it like it is, to a close friend on borrowed time.
First, I loved this book and highly recommend it. Second, I’ve been saving this interview for just the right time. We recorded this interview three days after I sat for my interview for the just-released Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment podcast by Wondery.
After speaking about Zen Buddhism and Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen, Brad and I get going about some of the issues in the spirituality and self help circles that have become important to me based on lived experience. It was reassuring to speak to a spiritual leader about why all things don’t work for all people, and the dangers of inducing altered states in the pursuit of spiritual growth.
Enjoy this big conversation with someone who doesn’t shy away from going counter to the status quo.
Conversation highlights:
Why Brad started writing letters to his dead friend Marky. How Brad became a Zen monk, without setting off to be a monk. Is Zen Buddhism a religion, or a lifestyle? Sitting Zazen without a goal to be mindful or a better person. Re-thinking detachment: The Sanskrit word that’s usually translated as attachment has a double meaning of fuel. Laura on how meditation is like running: Even my worst run was better than the run I didn’t take. Brad on how Zen practice is like playing music, especially in front of a group. The dark side of meditation and the pitfalls that can happen when you extract mindfulness from the ethics and culture surrounding it. The down side of using drugs and altered states to push for spiritual experiences.
Mentioned in this episode:
Book – Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen
Brad’s Blog – hardcorezen.info
Hardcore Zen Youtube Channel Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
BLKBOK is a pianist and composer who believes music is medicine. Artist and composer BLKBOK plays the piano and tours at the highest levels of the music industry. He has worked with Justin Timberlake, Rhianna, John Mayer, Demi Lovato and Cirque de Soleil’s Michael Jackson Immortal.
BLKBOK shares his professional journey, including his recent return to his roots in classical music. At his publisher’s request, began to compose a ten track classical piano album at the beginning of 2020.
While the pandemic shut down everything around him, BLKBOK got to work. He made a promise that he would compose – for others to see – every day for 100 days in Seth Godin’s The Creatives Workshop, where we met.
After 107 consecutive days of composing, writing and sharing, Charles thought his album was complete. But then he received a second request – to compose an eleventh track – a “George Floyd piece.”
In this conversation, BLKBOK shares what it was like to go back to the keyboard to compose a piece of music that encompasses his desire for equality, his many personal experiences of racism, and the global Black Lives Matter movement that George Floyd has come to represent.
Special bonus: During our interview, BLKBOK and I discovered we were both at the infamous Toronto SARS concert on July 30, 2003. I was in the audience, and he played keyboard for Justin Timberlake. If you’re familiar with the story, you’ll know it wasn’t Toronto’s finest moment. I’ll leave it for you to listen to the full story, but Charles was generous to send over some photos from that day.
Mentioned in this episode:
Website - blkbok.com BLKBOK on Instagram – @BLKBOK Seth Godin – Akimbo Workshops
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Nafissa Shireen is an Income Growth Mentor and Coach, the owner of Believe & See Ranch, and the host of Living Forward TV on YouTube. I invited Nafissa on to pick her brain about why British Columbia has had a less dramatic experience of the COVID 19 pandemic compared to Ontario, Quebec, and much of the United States. We had a big conversation that touches on every theme that’s important to this podcast: conscious leadership, coaching, spirituality, marketing in the self help industry. And then there is the pandemic, and a deep dive into how horses help raise consciousness and the transformation Nafissa wants to bring to the equine industry.
Everything is moving so quickly these days, it’s relevant to share the context of when our conversation happened. We recorded on May 7, 2020, back when all anyone had on our minds was the pandemic.
On June 5, Nafissa shared a post on Facebook with her response to George Floyd’s murder, and subsequent events. Since its contents are relevant to every part of our conversation, I received her permission to read it after we said “goodbye.” As a bi-racial person of colour, with a Muslim sounding name, I didn’t want to squander the opportunity to amplify her voice on racism and anti-racism.
It’s my pleasure to introduce you to a big conversation with Nafissa Shireen.
Conversation highlights:
Challenges we each experienced as a woman in leadership in the male dominated corporate environment. What it was like for Nafissa to be called the “token brown girl” when she never saw herself as an ethnic or religious minority. The very different journey we each made from corporate to coach. Our different takes on why so much of the marketing for coaching focuses on making “6 figures” and “7 figures.” Is it really all about money? The power of meaning and purpose: Nafissa illustrates how her passion and point of view on horses informs her business goals. We also get a huge education on how horses are trained and the awareness she wants to bring to the equine industry. Nafissa explains the transformational power of horses from both a scientific and spiritual perspective. The distinction between coaching, consulting and mentoring. Why Nafissa is tired of hearing “in these uncertain times” and “crisis.” Why Dr Bonnie Henry is an exemplary leader and what we can learn from her approach to the pandemic.
Mentioned in this episode:
Nafissa Shireen online
website Instagram – @nafissashireen Living Forward TV on Youtube
Believe and See Ranch
website Instagram – @believeandseeranch
Laura Tucker on social
Instagram – @lauraatucker Facebook
Free Your Inner Guru on social
Instagram – @freeyourinnerguru Facebook
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Listen. Empathize. Amplify. In this episode, host Laura Tucker shares her point of view on racism, the role of shame in suppression, and how we can all use our power of influence for good.
Mentioned in this episode:
Written version of “Where Can We Use Our Power for Good?”
David R Hawkins, Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Jill Castle says every child, from toddler to teen, wants some level of autonomy and agency. She says it’s all very normal, but it can throw parents for a loop. It’s difficult for parents to know in their heart that they are struggling, and not know where to get help.
In this episode, Jill Castle and Free Your Inner Guru® host Laura Tucker talk about the dance between getting what you need as a parent, raising an independent, autonomous child, and how systemic change is needed to raise more physically and psychologically empowered humans. Meet Jill Castle: Jill is one of North America’s premier child nutrition experts. Known as a paradigm shifter who blends current research, practical application and common sense, Jill inspires audiences to think differently about child nutrition and feeding kids.
A sought-after speaker, advisor, and media contributor, Jill has inspired TEDx, government, medical and parent audiences. She serves on the Board of Advisors of Parents Magazine, and a handful of privately held child nutrition companies.
Jill is the author of Try New Food, The Smart Mom’s Guide to Starting Solids, Eat Like a Champion, and co-author of Fearless Feeding. She pens The Nourished Child® blog, is the voice behind a popular podcast of the same name, and regularly contributes to US News & World Report’s For Parents.
Conversation highlights:
Jill shares how she became a pediatric nutritionist and her subsequent challenge of having a child who was not interested in eating. The powerful impact media and marketing has on children and their parents. The role of a parent’s intuition in guiding your child’s nutrition. Jill’s biggest frustration about nutrition. Avoiding overwhelm: why the breaking it down into what you CAN do works. Changes Jill would like to see in the North American nutrition culture. How Jill works with nutritionists and dietitians to have a broader impact as a leader.
Memorable quotes from Jill Castle:
“You have to know your child. I ate my humble pie and learned a lot. I had seven years of education and training in my field, and I struggled. What is it like for parents with no education, training and experience feeding children?”
“I have great compassion and experience for parents who are struggling.”
“I would like to see companies and corporations offering this kind of education to their employees. They are working parents. They don’t have the time to go see a nutritionist if they have a problem.”
Mentioned in this episode:
Jill Castle’s website
The Nourished Child® Podcast
More information on the Free Your Inner Guru® Community
Free Community, Connection & Coaching Zoom Calls
Support the podcast or join the members only Patreon community Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
The expression “pandemic pivot” is making me nauseous. Especially when it’s used in marketing. Apparently I’m not alone on this one. How we use our words says a lot about us, literally, figuratively, and spiritually. And some things are just cringe-worthy. Whether the cause is the words themselves, how they’re being used, or the person using them, we should pay attention. Would you want to know if you are triggering a barf reflex? Mentioned in this episode: Update: The free Community, Connection & Coaching Zoom Calls have become the Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community Free Your Inner Guru® Patreon Community Laura Ambrozic, aka LA’s LinkedIn post for sanitation stations and reasonably priced sanitizer
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Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
James Victore is a MoMA artist, designer, and author of Feck Perfuction – Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life. James Victore joins Laura to explore his book Feck Perfection and creativity as an essential leadership skill in our suddenly changed world.
Highlights from this conversation, recorded on March 26, 2020:
How social isolation and physical distancing have affected James Victore’s day to day life and business. Why we can’t operate out of fear and resistance. The importance of establishing a new normal. Why being weird is our original default, and a source of power. What happens when creatives choose to fight. What James would like to see come out of our time of challenge. Fear and scarcity vs becoming resourceful The role of creativity, innovation and humour in emerging as a leader.
Memorable Quotes:
On leadership: “Part of the problem with the world right now is creativity on a cultural level comes from top down. The world has very few creative leaders right now.”
On his role as a leader: “All I can do is keep moving and keep doing what I’m doing and try to come at it from a place of love and compassion and creativity. And to be of service.” Mentioned in this episode: James’ book Feck Perfuction
Website: jamesvictore.com
Instagram: @jamesvictore Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Have you been feeling disconnected in this time of physical isolation? We can be physically isolated and still use one of our superpowers – creativity – to connect with others in new ways. In this unprecedented time of physical isolation, Free Your Inner Guru host Laura Tucker explores the importance of community and connection. Mentioned in this episode: Want something to make you smile? Here’s Laura’s family singing Happy Birthday on Zoom Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Dr Stuart Eisendrath is the author of When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough: Harnessing the Power of Mindfulness to Alleviate Depression and the founding director of the University of California San Francisco Depression Center. “One of the most important ingredients in self compassion is realizing that you are part of a large community. So if you’re suffering from depression, you’re not alone. It’s not a strange or unique illness. That’s not to say it’s not a painful condition. Many people are suffering from it. And there is no need to be harsh and critical of yourself for having a condition that is so common in the world.” – Dr Stuart Eisendrath
A senior clinician and research psychiatrist at UCSF, Dr Eisendrath’s lectures on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy have been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
We take on some serious topics in this interview, and you may find that I am more subdued than usual. There were a couple of things going on! I was a little intimidated, but even more so, I was also reflecting on the people in my life who suffer and are suffering with depression, and my own struggles with it. This gave me extra incentive to mine Dr Eisendrath’s experience and vast knowledge. It was a pleasure and a privilege, and I’m delighted to share this conversation with you. Conversation highlights
How Dr Eisendrath’s interest in depression evolved into mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT). The epidemic level occurence of depression. The difference between cognitive therapy and mindfulness therapy. How mindfulness helps with depression. How do distinguish between inappropriate depressive guilt and appropriate guilt. A formula for happiness, and how depression skews the formula against you. How self compassion helps you recognize you are part of common humanity. Why brooding, a type of rumination, is a big driver of depression. How depression and MBCT alter your brain. Suicide – feeling helpless and hopeless Alternatives and hope when antidepressants don’t work. What to do if and who to call if you need help.***
Mentioned in this episode
Book – When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough: Harnessing the Power of Mindfulness to Alleviate Depression
Website for accompanying meditations – stuarteisendrath.com
***The information in this podcast is not a substitute for help from a licensed mental health professional. If you are in crisis, links to hotline numbers around the world are listed below.
Crisis Services Canada
United States – Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Wikipedia List of suicide crisis lines Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Feeling bored is an opportunity to look within and make a shift.
“I’m bored!”
It’s tempting blame outside factors like the season or the weather when we’re feeling stuck or restless. In this week’s episode, you’ll hear what Laura’s mother said to her as a teenager that still rings true today.
Boredom and stagnation can be an opportunity to look within for solutions on the personal growth journey. We can take responsibility for our inner state and wake up to new possibility. It may be time to dig deeper and play bigger.
Mentioned in this episode:
Episode 58 with Lee Harris
Free Your Inner Guru on Instagram
Free Your Inner Guru on Facebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Lee Harris is an intuitive guide, speaker, musician and author of Energy Speaks: Messages from Spirit on Living, Loving and Awakening. Lee Harris’s journey as a channeler began in 1998 when he first heard the voice of his spirit guides, known as The Zs, while on his way to work on the London Underground train.
I first became aware of Lee’s work in 2016 when I was looking for resources for a quickly changing world and navigating some fairly sticky challenges.
Lee documents the powerful spiritual wisdom that the Zs have provided him over the last two decades in his book Energy Speaks. In this interview, we explore Lee’s journey as an intuitive, and how he is managing the responsibility of leadership as his influence and organization experience rapid growth.
As we move into a new decade, Lee’s work and the Zs message on living, loving, awakening, and leading are more relevant and powerful than ever. Conversation highlights
The story of when Lee first met The Zs When your spiritual search asks you to return to your human life with all you’ve learned Why using your spiritual power for negative, egoic desires never works. What the Zs are really talking about when they say, “You are a Lightworker.” Moving self care from concept to action. Why holding a lighter place and finding your strategies are important in challenging times. Practicing ultra discernment: How Lee views and practices his responsibilities as a leader. The energy exchange when we relate to each other. How The Zs view enlightenment. Why getting caught in wanting the world to be harmonious is a trap. Radical Expression: How to hold a loving, gracious, but clear place around speaking your truth.
Memorable moments: “Spending too long in despair about world not looking the way you want it to, is not going to get you anywhere.”
“The way I live my life now – focus one day at a time as much as I can, to pay attention to my own personal balance as much as I can, while I’m also serving the things that I serve in the world.”
Mentioned in this episode:
Lee Harris’ book Energy Speaks: Messages from Spirit on Living, Loving and Awakening
Visit Lee’s website – leeharrisenergy.com
Follow the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast
Instagram – @freeyourinnerguru
Facebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
“I want you to think of listening to Free Your Inner Guru as an act of self care in increasingly intense times.” Listen to this first episode of 2020 for a preview of what you can expect in the coming weeks and months on Free Your Inner Guru. Mentioned in this episode: Want daily inspiration delivered to your inbox? Sign up for Laura’s Daily Letters Episode 32: Jessica Tracy – The Impact of Pride on Success and Authentic Leadership Episode 36: Karen Haycox – Take the Next Right Step Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Robyn Spizman wants you to share the love in your heart out loud. In these times where there’s so much divisiveness and division, New York Times bestselling author and media personality Robyn Spizman is on a mission to inspire us to share the love in our heart out loud.
In her book Loving Out Loud: The Power of a Kind Word, Robyn shares specific ways you can strengthen the bonds with the people you care about, guide you to connect with the world around you in a more meaningful way, and what you can do today to jump start a more loving life now.
In this heartwarming conversation, Robyn shares her wisdom as she and Laura trade stories of simple kindness in every day life. Conversation highlights
Closing the gaps in our kindness without feeling inadequate. Things you can do today by developing habits of kindness. Why you should stop being interesting and try being interested instead Why Vanessa Redgrave kissed Laura on the cheek, and other stories of spontaneous kindness that show the power of human connection. How to be open to relationships that serve and support you. Creating a Loving Out Loud legacy.
Memorable quotes
“Kindness has prevailed. Civil society is not what we all should be doing. It’s because it’s the right thing to do to sit on the side of kindness. Sitting on the side of kindness is the only thing to do.”
“When we give without a selfish motive, expecting someone to be just like us, guess what happens – our hearts are pure. That’s where integrity comes in, the human value of being kind because it’s the right thing to do.”
“You can leave behind a trail of light.”
Mentioned in this episode
Robyn Spizman’s book – Loving Out Loud: The Power of a Kind Word
Visit Robyn’s website Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Dr Adit Margaliot's journey as a medical doctor has been to question dogma, break away from stale thinking, and listen to her inner wisdom. Dr Adit Margaliot is an MD who specialized in neurology and neuromuscular disorders. After years of listening to her patients struggle with their neurological conditions, and their sleep, she wanted to better understand this problem and how to help them manage it.
She went on to study sleep medicine and obtain her designation as a specialist in the field. This was a start to her exploration of how lifestyle impacts health and disease. More recently she has been formally studying functional medicine, an approach that seeks to identify the core triggers and contributors to ill health on a systems-based approach, and how to allow the body to heal through nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, stress management etc.
Incorporating these principles into her practice, and emphasizing a collaborative relationship with her patients, has brought a deep sense of energy and joy to her work. In the process of building a practice that aligns with her values and goals, Dr Margaliot has learned the importance of questioning dogma, breaking away from stale patterns of thinking, and listening to one’s inner wisdom.
Conversation highlights:
I love this conversation because A) I learned a ton, and B) as an avid pursuer of all things alternative therapy, everything seems to be coming together to form a picture of why proactive maintenance can make a very real, quantifiable difference in how we experience our body – and consequently life – over the long term.
As I was listening and preparing this episode, I was reminded of an anti drug ad campaign that ran in the 1980s. At the beginning of the ad, a whole egg is held up to “This is your brain.”, Then it’s cracked into a hot frying pan to “This is your brain on drugs.”
If I were to summarize today’s episode it would be to show the egg in the frying pan as “This is your brain.” And then roll it in reverse, back up into the whole egg while saying “This is your brain on self care.” I don’t know about you, but I’d rather my brain be the whole egg.
As Dr Margaliot says at the very end, it’s important to get the message out!
Mentioned in this episode:
Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Study
Upcoming Winter of Self Care – 10 week live online coaching program with Free Your Inner Guru host Laura Tucker Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
CEO Marc Lesser is on a mission to make mindfulness an essential practice of leadership. Marc Lesser is a speaker, workshop leader, and executive coach. Marc is known for his engaging, experiential presentations that integrate mindfulness and emotional intelligence practices and training. He is the author of 4 books, including Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen, and CEO of ZBA Associates, an executive development and leadership consulting company.
Marc helped develop the world-renowned Search Inside Yourself (SIY) leadership program within Google – a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training for leaders which teaches the art of integrating mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and business savvy for creating great corporate cultures and a better world. He founded and was CEO of 3 companies, and has an MBA degree from New York University. Marc was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years, and director of Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen monastery in the western world. Memorable quotes: “Leadership is essentially about integrity. Integrating a vision, sense of urgency with heart, morals, sense of ethics.”
“I identify myself as a social entrepreneur – business as a force for solving problems and doing things that matter. Whether I’m in Google or a large company, many people are identifying as a social entrepreneur.”
“Part of my mission in life is to ground mindfulness. To show what I think the depth and breadth of it. On one hand to demystify it, and on the other to show the mystery.”
“I’m more and more up front that so many people who want to have a meditation practice struggle with it. My response is try sitting with others. I don’t think that meditation was meant to be an individual sport. I think it was meant to be a group sport.”
“We’ve become separate from nature, and therefore separate from ourselves.”
I just thought I was going to be practicing meditation and then found myself working with other people and leading. I thought, “This is the real thing, this is the practice.”
Mentioned in this episode
Marc Lesser’s book – 7 Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen
Free Your Inner Guru Episode 49 with meditation teacher Mark Coleman
Connect with Marc Lesser online:
website Twitter – @marclesser Facebook
Connect with Laura and #FYIGPodcast online:
website Facebook Instagram Twitter
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Martha Henderson is an Olympian, keynote speaker, and host of the Rising Tides Speaker Series. Martha Henderson represented Canada with her sailing team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. As an Olympian, the pursuit of excellence is in her blood. She is known for inspiring beliefs that you can achieve outcomes beyond your expectations.
In this conversation with Free Your Inner Guru host Laura Tucker, Martha shares her roller coaster ride to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, including what happened when her worst nightmare came true!
Martha also shares why she used to suppress her Olympic experience, and why she speaks about her story with people today.
Memorable quotes:
“When I started to explore all the elements that went into the Olympic journey, I started to realize that it’s a relatable story for people in any situation who have to reinvent themselves.”
“Your worst nightmare can come true. And you can still make your dream come true. I fell out of the boat!”
“Olympian is another word for expert. Someone who has dedicated time and effort to a singular thing.”
Mentioned in this episode
Upcoming Rising Tides Speaker Series in Toronto on Tuesday, October 22nd – Click here and use code EARLYBIRD on or before September 30 to deduct $10 off your ticket.
Find Martha Henderson online:
risingtides.ca Facebook Instagram
Rising Tides Events
website Facebook
Curious about coaching with Laura? Visit lauratucker.com/leadership-coaching for more information. Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Lisa Mattam is the CEO of Sahajan, an evidence-based natural skin care line based on the 5000 year old science of Ayurveda. Lisa shares the milestones and the challenges of her journey from strategic consulting in the pharmaceutical industry to founding her own skin care line that reaches back to her family’s roots in southern India.
Moments before this interview, Lisa Mattam and Laura Tucker discovered they went to the same grade school in Toronto. This surprising common ground laid the foundation for a big conversation about doing your best to do life and business in alignment with your values.
Named by Profit Magazine as one of the Top Ten Emerging Women Entrepreneurs in Canada and recognized by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce as Female Entrepreneur of the Year, Lisa has become a thought leader in the areas of entrepreneurship, resilience, the advancement of women, and diversity. Conversation highlights
How growing up as the lone Indian girl in school shaped Lisa’s sense of culture and tradition. Lisa explains how Ayurveda helps you proactively manage your life’s path. The story of how Lisa decided to integrate Ayurveda into her business. The three surprising challenges Lisa Mattam faced in the three years since she launched Sahajan. (The third one is shocking!) Integrity, values and ethics in Sahajan’s business culture. The heartbreak of realizing not everyone shares the same values as you, and what you can do about it. The role of intuition in refining business and leadership skills. Prioritizing purpose over profit: How Lisa and Sahajan give back in partnership with Plan International’s Because I am a Girl Initiative. Your purchase of Lip Karma gives a girl in a developing country a day of school.
Mentioned in this episode
Book – The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz
Find Lisa Mattam and Sahajan online:
Sahajan.com Instagram – @sahajanskincare Facebook – click here
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community.
Sonya Cote wants you to own your body and connect with others. On this week’s episode of Free Your Inner Guru, Laura is joined by Sonya Cote. Sonya is an actress, singer, speaker and author of I’m Not Naked (Anymore): Memoirs of a Contemporary Jezebel. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, the stories of Sonya’s life center around creative self expression, and fully owning her body, while having fun in the process. She is a vivacious and tenacious woman who embraces her journey and the wisdom she has accumulated along the way. Sonya continues to work full time in the entertainment industry, teaching workshops and speaking to share the wisdom she has gained from her life experience. Conversation highlights
Why Sonya calls herself a Contemporary Jezebel There is always a path, even though we can’t always see it at the time Perspective on sharing stories and the difference it makes in the world Post #metoo – what has changed in relationships, the acting industry? The real point of sharing your story. How Sonya’s relationship with her mother was affected by the publishing of her book The power of forgiveness Taking responsibility, admitting mistakes and move forward anyway The importance of human connection and community Sonya’s current fitness competition – the next step in Sonya’s journey of the body The role of discipline and how it spills into other areas of your life Menopause and Sonya’s moment of “I’ve got to reinvent myself!”
Mentioned in this episode Sonya’s Book – I’m Not Naked (Anymore): Memoirs of a Contemporary Jezebel Website – sonyacote.com Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
In her book Feed Your Soul, Carly Pollack combines practical guidance on what to eat with timeless wisdom. Being a conscious leader requires focus, clarity, and energy. In this episode, Carly Pollack and Free Your Inner Guru host Laura Tucker explore why many people experience wellness as a battle between two voices – our compassionate Higher Self and our obsessive, punishing lower self – and why our relationship with food is a mirror for where we are on our spiritual path.
Carly Pollack is the founder of Nutritional Wisdom, a thriving private practice based in Austin, Texas. A Certified Clinical Nutritionist with a master’s degree in holistic nutrition, Carly has been awarded Best Nutritionist in Austin five years running and has helped over 10,000 people achieve their health and happiness goals.
“Instead of someone outside of you – or a book or a person…Feed Your Soul is really a book about teaching you how to find your own boundaries. It’s not ‘Hey, I’ve never met you in my whole life, but I’m going to write a book telling you how I think you need to eat.’ It’s different for everyone, and different at different seasons of their life.” – Carly Pollack Conversation highlights
Carly shares her experience of being at war with her body, a constant chaotic battle with 2 sides. The role of awareness in guiding your health. Why focussing on the food and the movement is ineffective. When you feel like your emotional wellness is easily being tripped up by external triggers, you need to look at your spiritual practice and strengthen it. The difference between judgment and holding yourself to a high standard Where Carly stands on the two opposing camps in woman’s wellness Simple but impactful guidance on what to eat: foods that rot. Why the white potato is a victim of dogma. How to apply the 80/20 rule to nutrition. What it was like to approach publishers with a book that contains no hook or quick fix.
Carly Pollack’s Memorable Quotes “Obsessiveness and awareness cannot coexist.”
“I can’t influence myself if I’m judging myself.”
“I don’t want to take the life out of food, I want to take the power out of food.”
“To demonize the banana, we are missing the point. We are doing this a lot to distract ourselves from the bigger picture of doing the deeper work.”
Mentioned in this episode
Carly Pollack’s book – Feed Your Soul -Nutritional Wisdom to Lose Weight Permanently and Live Fulfilled
Website – carlypollack.com Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Mark Coleman is a mindfulness teacher, wilderness guide, and author. Mark Coleman is the author of From Suffering to Peace, Make Peace with Your Mind, and Awake in the Wild. As a rebelious young man living in London, Mark stumbled upon a meditation centre at the height of the punk era. His discovery began a lifelong journey of exploring the mind, meditation, and causes of suffering and happiness.
Mark is the founder of the Mindfulness Institute and has an MA in clinical psychology. Mark has guided students on five continents as a corporate consultant, counselor, meditation teacher, and wilderness guide. Conversation highlights:
Concern that mindfulness is being touted as a panacea and reduced to bite size parts Mindfulness as a way to gain understanding, insight and inner freedom. How Mark found mindfulness in the midst of the London punk era. Don’t have time to meditate? Mark shares practical ways you can choose mindfulness over numbing in the midst of a busy life. Our default node network and negativity bias: the physiological and psychological reason we are wired to be slightly negative with a meandering mind. The body as the best way to train to be present. Kindness as an important element of finding capacity to hold an experience and not suffer with it. Fairy tale spiritual mythology is not the path to awakening. The shift from self centredness to service. Despite a general feeling of powerlessness, serving the people around us has the power to ripple out and create influence.
Mark Coleman’s Memorable Quotes:
“You may not have time to meditate for half an hour, but you have time to be present to a whole host of activities including driving, conversations, cooking, cleaning.” “We all want the happily ever after story; the fairy tale spiritual mythology. I thought that too. I wanted to get enlightened so I wouldn’t have to feel and deal with the messiness and painfulness of life.” “Remember that mindfulness, which is awareness, is a quality within us all. Awareness is our birthright.” “Since we are an interconnected web of life, influencing one small thread of that weave influences the whole tapestry.”
Mentioned in this episode
Mark Coleman’s book, From Suffering to Peace: The True Promise of Mindfulness
Website – markcoleman.org Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Happy Summer of Self Care! Shaun Proulx: What is the number one thing you did to get to the place you’re at now since we last saw you?
Laura Tucker: I think it’s really been letting go of the idea of wanting to be who I was. In this episode:
updates on the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast the upcoming Summer of Self Care Shaun Proulx interviews Laura and we uncover why “self care has been the ultimate answer for you.”
Shaun Proulx hosts Shaun hosts the glittery, thoughtful, weekly SiriusXM talk show, The Shaun Proulx Show, on CanadaTalks channel 167, a hotbed of ideas, thoughtful discussion, transformational entertainment, cheeky commentary and a magnet for celebrities and thought leaders including Bo Derek, Gayle King, Jann Arden, Betty DeGeneres, Tony Robbins, Melissa Etheridge, Rosie Perez, Gabrielle Bernstein, Mastin Kipp, Panache Desai, and more. Key points
How repetition and practice increase your capacity for difficult emotions over time The role of intentional self care in the journey to reclaim your voice Learning to be resourceful and advocate for yourself as a form of self care. The number one thing I did to get to the place I am now. Why an integrated life is the best life.
Mentioned in this episode For more information about the Free Your Inner Guru Summer of Self Care – lauratucker.com/sos
Connect with Shaun Proulx online:
at shaunproulx.ca Summer of Yes Facebook Page
More Free Your Inner Guru online:
Facebook Group Laura on Instagram Free Your Inner Guru Podcast on Instagram
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Avra Fainer is a performance and presentation coach who knows first hand the importance of becoming more self aware and sharing your story. When Avra Fainer was at the peak of achievement in both acting and business, she experienced a severe challenge in the form of mental illness.
In this compelling conversation, Avra shares how her diagnosis with Bipolar 2 was an important step towards authentic self expression and healthy success. Listen as Avra Fainer shares her perspective on:
Her love of performance as a child actor. How acting became the foundation of her work as a performance and presentation coach. What it’s like to watch someone go from shy and quiet to being able to use their voice and body to influence, and make a difference in other people’s lives. The impact of performance and influence in everyday moments. From driving force to mental illness, Avra shares the impact her mental illness had on her ability to function. Her experience and symptoms of Bipolar 2 Disorder. How today’s culture encourages grandiosity The role self awareness played in becoming the healthy, functional, amazing person you can be. The power of environment: the role relationships played in navigating back to wellness. The power of storytelling: Why sharing your story makes you more memorable Why “authentic” and “vulnerable” are more than buzzwords Her response to people who think their story is not significant. Two practical techniques and tools that will help you become more energized, present and confident.
Mentioned in this episode
Find and follow Avra online:
website – avrafainer.com Facebook Instagram
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Ivanka Siolkowsky, aka The Tidy Moose, shares her journey from classroom to closets in this compelling conversation about the power of your physical environment. Ivanka Siolkowsky is a former elementary school teacher whose life was transformed when she began learning the many benefits of minimalism and organization.
“I had to control my surroundings to bring myself peace.”
At a time when she was struggling with her mental health, Ivanka was given Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up as a joke gift. Reading it led her on a journey of exploration of the correlation between having a decluttered space and her mental health.
Ivanka is now a Kon-Mari certified professional organizer who brings compassion and insight into her clients’ homes. Listen to hear Ivanka Siolkowsky’s perspective on these big ideas:
The correlation between organization and developmental growth. Looking back at rock bottom, Ivanka ….. The consequences of being “hammered with consumerism”. How Ivanka uses the Kon-Mari Method™ in her work and the most mind-blowing thing she learned from it. The change in mindset from “what should I get rid of” to “what should I keep?”. Why Ivanka created The Moose Method to work with children. The one thing you must do when you de-clutter. Why sentimental items are the last place to start when you organize. Gratitude as part of the de-cluttering process The energy of your “spark joy” items. Hint – it’s different for everyone! When teachers become a commodity: Laura and Ivanka discuss their respective departures from teaching.
Mentioned in this episode:
Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Ivanka Siolkowsky, Declutter Your Way to Health, Wealth, and Freedom
Ivanka Siolkowsky, The Tidy Moose (children’s book)
If you need immediate help:
SuicidePrevention.ca CAMH Crisis Resources Page – Toronto and Surrounding Area CTV News – Mental Health in Canada – Where to get help
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
What happens when you return to the yoga mat after a 10 year hiatus? Laura Tucker shares five life lessons after fifty yoga classes. What happens when you return to the mat in the middle of a bout of vertigo?
It wasn’t easy.
Or painless.
Or pretty!
But it was worth it.
Mind, body, and spirit, yoga is an integrative practice. It aligns you with a holistic approach to living, working, and being.
The more integrative we can be with our life. The more generous we can be with ourselves and others. “There is no such thing as life and work balance. There is only life.” – Seth Godin In this podcast, I share five stories and lessons that can be applied to every area of life.
Fifty plus sessions later, it’s turns out it was a good thing I stuck with it, and that I can laugh at myself.
En-joy the episode!
Mentioned in this episode:
Free Your Inner Guru™ Facebook Group
Get on the (e)mailing list –> click here
Free Your Inner Guru™ Leadership Workshop Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
What does empathy have to do with accessing your inner wisdom?
Like many big lessons, this one begins with a book. In his new release This is Marketing, Seth Godin makes the case that good marketing requires empathy for the people you seek to serve. I’ve been looking for a different way to show up and serve for some time now. Based the visceral “Yes!” I experienced with every concept in the book, I enrolled in The Marketing Seminar, the course on which This Is Marketing is based.
Be careful what you wish for, they say. In comparison to the course, the book is a lie-down at the beach. The Marketing Seminar a mental agility course on how you communicate about your business. It requires both introspection and endurance. Not that I’m complaining! It’s easy to have empathy for someone who is like you. It bends the mind to have empathy for someone you perceive as an “other”. In one of the lessons, Seth Godin asks us to exercise our empathy muscle by imagining what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. Someone who is not like us. I had a tough time choosing, so I tasked myself with writing about the first person I perceived as an “other” the next day.
I spotted him on my way to yoga the next morning. Three cafes that cater to the older men in the neighborhood line the street. The cafe patrons stand outside smoking. They take up the entire sidewalk and leave behind cigarette butts by the hundreds.
It. Makes. Me. Crazy.
When I felt the sting of revulsion rise in my throat, I knew I had found my subject. When I sat down at my computer that afternoon, I took a deep breath to quell my judgment and began to write.
Listen to the story of “Empathy for the Old Man at the Cafe”. Getting into his skin taught me that empathy isn’t just an access point to your intuition. It might be a gateway to higher perception.
What do you think? Should we embrace a practice of building our empathy muscle? I’d love to hear your thoughts on social media. (links below)
Mentioned in this episode:
Book, Seth Godin – This is Marketing Online course, Seth Godin – The Marketing Seminar
Free Your Inner Guru on social media:
Join the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast Facebook Group @freeyourinnerguru and @lauraatucker on Instagram Free Your Inner Guru Facebook Page
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Compassion is your superpower for transformation.
The new year brings a familiar season of resolutions, intention setting and renewed focus on change. It got me thinking of something I read at just the right time a couple of years ago:
“The key to joy is unconditional kindness to all life, including one’s own, which we refer to as compassion. Without compassion, little of any significance is ever accomplished in human endeavor.” David R. Hawkins, Power vs Force
He goes on to write “Simple kindness to one’s self and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all. It produces no backlash, has no downside, and never leads to loss or despair. It increases one’s own true power without exacting any toll.”
Listen to this first podcast of 2019 to hear stories of two people I met several years ago who decided it was time to be compassionate towards themselves and the remarkable change it produced in their life and everyone around them.
Highlights:
Two stories that illustrate reasons people make change in their life. You can choose any moment to make a transformation The power of taking responsibility for the truth of your results Feel good now. Why it’s important to stop keeping good feelings away until after your result has arrived Hard on yourself? Why we punish ourselves – and get caught in a loop of shame and blame Allow yourself to feel good in our culture of distraction, comparison, manipulation and tactic. How being compassionate to yourself aligns you with what you truly desire and deserve.
Mentioned in this episode
Book: Dr David R Hawkins, Power vs Force
Helpful resource
Free video series for navigating change: 7 Day Comfort Zone Challenge
For more Free Your Inner Guru:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/freeyourinnerguru Instagram: https://instagram.com/freeyourinnerguru
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
In a reversal of roles, Free Your Inner Guru host Laura Tucker shares her thoughts about Conscious Leadership in an interview with Nina Grenningloh Reyes of Communications Rebel and Radio Regent’s The Women’s Hour. Highlights from this episode: “Initially the podcast was about me having a voice. I spoke about things like survivors guilt and the healing journey. As it has evolved, I’m having people on who I consider to be conscious leaders for interviews. I want it to be a soft landing place for people to come and hear what an authentically conscious, not ego-based leader looks like, sounds like, feels like.”
“You don’t need to go to a retreat to become a conscious leader. You may benefit from a day, a week, a retreat or a workshop to carve the time out the time in your busy life for reflection or learning. The real growth comes from how well you integrate the learning back into your life.”
“In this day and age we are all being shown examples of more narcissistic styles of leadership. I’m hoping the historical perspective will be that it was a time where we woke up, where we saw this is not to our liking, and that I did the work to become a strong voice. Everything counts. Because how we are in our immediate surroundings gets reflected out onto the world.” Listen to hear Laura’s perspective on:
The difference between authentic leadership and Conscious Leadership. Why there is a need for an alternative approach to leadership. What reclaiming your voice has to do with becoming a conscious leader. Obstacles and challenges we face when we connect to our inner guru. Conscious leadership as a daily habit. Is there a relationship between conscious leadership and gender? How we can reconcile the notion of looking inwards vs freeing our inner guru.
About the Nina Grenningloh Reyes
Nina Grenningloh Reyes is the force behind Communications Rebel. Nina helps changemakers and social innovators tell their story to accelerate social change. Mentioned in this episode Free Your Inner Guru Episode 32 – Jessica Tracy: The Impact of Pride on Success and Authentic Leadership
Documentary Enlighten Us, Jenny Carchman, Director, Netflix Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Alexia Vernon is the author of the book Step into Your Moxie: Amplify Your Voice, Visibility, and Influence in the World. Branded a “Moxie Maven” by President Obama’s White House Office of Public Engagement for her unique and effective approach to women’s empowerment, Alexia Vernon is a sought-after speaking and leadership coach to female (and male) executives, entrepreneurs, media personalities, and change makers who want to spread their ideas, positively impact people’s lives, grow their businesses, and advance their thought leadership. Listen to to hear Alexia Vernon’s perspective on these big ideas:
How speaking your story is the most effective way to move people to take action. Why many people are out of sorts with how they are being communicated to. What your inherent ability to tap into your intuition and recognize your own wisdom within has to do with sharing your story. The three characters that get in the way of your ability to use your intuition and keep you stuck. What to do if stepping into your moxie feels dangerous. The gifts of your defining moments How Alexia and Laura each use the Hawaian Ho’o Pono Pono meditation to find forgiveness. The transition from relating a story where it’s more about you, versus sharing it and being of service to your audience. How women (and men) can step into their true power and still embrace a feminine style of leadership. Why it is important to choose an abundance mentality and support others who are stepping into their moxie. Why it is your responsibility to get on stage and step into your thought leadership
Mentioned in this episode
Book: Alexia Vernon, Step Into Your Moxie: Amplify Your Voice, Visibility, and Influence in the World
Free Video Series: Hot Shot Speaker Video Training
Follow Alexia on
Facebook – @AlexiaVernonEmpowerment Instagram – @alexiavernon Twitter – @alexiavernon
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Veronica Kirin is an entrepreneur, social anthropologist, and the author of Stories of Elders: What the Greatest Generation Knows About Technology that You Don’t. The term “America’s Greatest Generation” was coined by Tom Brokaw in his 1998 Book The Greatest Generation. It refers to the generation that grew up in the Great Depression and came of age during the second world war.
Stories of Elders is an in-depth, charming and highly relatable look at how the lives of our elders have been shaped by technology, and how they think it’s affecting our lives today.
Despite her experience as a tech entrepreneur, Veronica turned to technology to raise the funds for her journey. However, Veronica didn’t rely on technology and sit at the computer or pick up the phone to gather her interviews. Powered by the success of her Kickstarter campaign, Veronica drove 11,487 miles across the United States to do the interviews live.
In Stories of Elders, Veronica Kirin makes a compelling case for why we must use technology with intent. We must become aware of our vulnerabilities, set boundaries, and realize that technology is a tool and it’s up to us to take responsibility and determine its impact. Listen to this episode to hear Veronica Kirin share her perspective on:
From inspired idea to fruition: how Veronica turned her inspiration into an authoritative book and documentary using Kickstarter and all of her entrepreneurial skills. How Veronica’s personal experience of trauma influenced how she interacted with 100 elders who have lived through war and the escalating changes of the past decades. Why it’s essential for Millenials, Gen Y and Gen Xers to read Story of Elders. The impact of accelerated technology on communication and relationships. War and politics – how radio, television and the internet have influenced the way we vote. Technology and self care – how our elders are more intentional with their use and consumption of technology. How Veronica’s experience and past roles are helping to create success for this book that she cares so deeply about!
Mentioned in this episode:
Book: Veronica Kirin, Stories of Elders: What the Greatest Generation Knows About Technology That You Don’t
Website: Stories of Elders – storiesofelders.com
Follow Veronica on:
Facebook Twitter – @vmkirin Instagram – @vmkirin
Article: How to Review a Podcast on Apple Podcasts from Your iPhone or Computer Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Christina Torres is a blogger, mother and best-selling author of Flipping Awesome: The Art and Science of Perseverance, Self-Love, and Getting Your S#&% Together. Christina Torres is on a mission to flip the script on painfully perfect womanhood and to empower women to embrace their truth and live out loud.
In this interview, Christina shares how she went from living in a state of constant anxiety and lack to living her truth on her own terms. When Christina embraced single motherhood and it ended up being her truest blessing. Listen to this episode to hear Christina Torres share her perspective on:
Breaking free of the fear of what others may – or may not be – thinking about you. Stereotypes of motherhood. A practical way to embrace the present by embracing self care. How denying a part of yourself that is true sets up self loathing. Kindness and compassion towards yourself as a form of self care. The role culture and religion play in the way we think about ourselves as women. Realizing you don’t have to do it all.
Memorable quotes from Christina Torres “Life is too short not to live in your truth and not to live in love, and not to live doing whatever makes you feel happy and what makes you feel whole.”
“Self love and love in general is about truth. Living in self truth is a huge part of self love and self care.”
Mentioned in this episode:
Christina’s book Flipping Awesome: The Art & Science of Perseverance, Self-Love, and Getting Your S#!% Together
Blog – The Runaround
Free Your Inner Guru podcast interview with Karen Haycox: Take the Next Right Step
Tiffany Dufu’s book, Drop the Ball
Follow Christina Torres on social media:
Facebook Twitter – @wanderlovetns Instagram – @christorrinesa
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Catherine Hull believes we all all have the power to heal ourselves and create the life of our dreams. Catherine is a Self-Care & Empowerment Coach and Energy Healer whose purpose and passion in life is to help people live their lives to their fullest potential. She wants you to know that we are all divine creatures, natural healers and magnificent contributors to our world.
With over 10 years of experience working with others in health and wellness as a certified Personal Trainer, Posture Alignment Specialist, Master Instructor of Integrated Energy Therapy, and a Yoga and Meditation Teacher, Catherine believes in a holistic approach to self care. Listen to hear Catherine Hull share her perspective on:
The three pillars of self care – Body Care, Mind Care and Soul Care Catherine’s story of burnout and how self care became about more than taking care of her body Catherine explains energy healing Pain as a non-physical experience How to take care of your energetic immune system Why we are seeing more energy healers and light workers Why it is important to embrace all of who you are How our relationship with our voice is related to nourishment, getting enough and being enough
Where to find Catherine Hull online:
Website: www.selfcareempowerment.com Facebook Instagram
Mentioned in this episode:
TED talk – Julian Treasure – How to speak so that people want to listen
Article – Do You Know How to Give an Enlightened No?
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Do you pay attention to serendipity when it shows up in your life? If the Summer of Self Care has taught me anything, it’s to be open and pay attention. In today’s episode, you’ll hear how serendipity has shown up in my summer of self care. It’s a story of cycling, green smoothies, Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey.
The Universe seems to want me to share something with you. It wants me to speak about acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm.
Like, it really wants me to talk about it, because it keeps hinting at it in the form of accidental discoveries, otherwise known as serendipity. So here it is, the story of how a blast from the past from Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey has taken my summer of self care to a whole new level.
Enjoy 🙂
Mentioned in this episode:
Recipe for the Glowing Green Smoothie from Kimberly Snyder
Books:
Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth Matt Kahn, Everything is Here to Help You
Video Archive of Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey – A New Earth 2008 Webcast Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
CEO of Habitat for Humanity NYC Karen Haycox has a mantra – “Take the next right step”. In this compelling interview, Karen Haycox shares how taking the next right step propelled her out of addiction to a new career, a new country and into her current role as CEO of Habitat for Humanity, New York City. Listen to this episode to hear Karen Haycox share her perspective on:
How Karen’s identity and self worth were wrapped up in the work that she did as a film and television producer and now, non-profit leader. And how that left her feeling unanchored when she was down-sized. Why recovery has been one of the greatest gifts of her life. The similarities between addicted thinking and depressed thinking. Consider how we fill the gap between how others see us and how we perceive ourselves to be. Life as a journey of self-care, consciousness and spirituality. Things we will do to fill the gap between how others see us and how we perceive ourselves to be. How taking the next right step led Karen to Habitat for Humanity in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and now, New York City. Living as a married lesbian, and then a lesbian widow in a state that did not recognize same sex marriage, in a country that had just begun to recognize it. How sharing her story led to Karen being published in the best-selling book Pantsuit Nation. The power and peace of sharing your story. Being present in everyday conversation. The qualities of an authentic leader. Strategies for emerging leaders to be effective.
Some of the memorable quotes Karen shares: “If you do the right things, the right things will follow.” “We can consider ourselves so unique that it can be lethal.” “Of course we’re all unique…but there is almost nothing you can go through that someone else can’t relate to.” “You don’t have to be the answer person. If anything the CEO should be the question person.”
Mentioned in this episode:
Book: Pantsuit Nation, Libby Chamberlain
Follow Karen:
Twitter: @khayco Facebook: facebook.com/KarenHaycoxHFHNYC Instagram: @kbradhay
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
“Intention can turn a simple activity like going for a walk – or stopping to smell lavender – into an act of self-care.” This week on the Free Your Inner Guru podcast it’s all about summer, self-care and mindfulness. Because the thoughts you have in your mind are the difference between true self care and just another thing you have to do.
Trust me, if anyone knows how to take something that is meant to be restorative and turn it into a chore, historically it’s been me! When I let myself get caught up in the doing, instead of enjoying the process, I become impatient and frayed at the edges. Less connected, and ultimately less of who I really am.
Can you identify with this?
Intention and a little self awareness makes can change that downward spiral. It’s been fun to shift the rhythm of my routine towards less screen time and more time to tune in to what restores my energy. Listen to this week’s (12 minute) episode to get in the summer of self-care vibe and find out a powerful question you can ask yourself to guide you on your self care journey.
Mentioned in this episode
Experience the Summer of Self-Care in the Free Your Inner Guru Facebook Group
Download the Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Join Free Your Inner Guru Podcast host Laura Tucker on an 8-week Summer of Self-Care journey. My “inner guru” had a message for me this morning. It was a little crude, but I got her meaning. What followed was an honest look at where I can take some action and create connection within the Free Your Inner Guru tribe at the same time. If you’re like me, you could use a little tender loving care. So take a listen and if it feels right, let’s find out what 8 weeks of Summer Self Care will bring!
Mentioned in this episode:
Follow the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast on Instagram and Facebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Media personality and talk radio show host Shaun Proulx has a great big heart – and he shares a piece of it with us in this episode of the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast. When Shaun Proulx and I sat down to record this interview, we had a list of topics and found that neither one of us felt like speaking about anything other than our thoughts and feelings about current events this week with the loss of two highly talented creatives like Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.
Shaun opens up about own his experience of living a public life and what led him to create a “Thought Revolution.” Shaun believes it is time that we stop stigmatizing our humanity. The words Thought Revolution came out of his mouth during a CBC interview. After the strength of the audience’s response, Shaun knew that a Thought Revolution was needed – not just for himself. He has dedicated his life and his work to sharing the power of living consciously with others.
“I know that the only thing I’ve done that has proven to be consistently successful is that the thoughts I think on the subjects that are important to me create my reality… The thoughts we have in our heads are the only things we can control.” Listen to this episode to hear Shaun Proulx share his perspective on:
Why success is not doing what other people thing you should be doing. What we can learn from our shock when people who appear to have it all – like Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain – commit suicide. The things people give up when they have a public life. How Shaun’s journey living with HIV taught him that something you try to keep private begins to carry the weight of a secret. The best part of making your dreams come true. How he deals with fear. Why we have to take the things we don’t like and appreciate them. The 3 things Shaun does each day to cultivate to “tune my dial” and align himself with joy. Why he is a little bit jealous of you if you’re just starting out. 🙂
Shaun Proulx is one of the most versatile talents in media and entertainment with credits as a television personality and host, producer, radio host, motivational speaker, columnist, author, publisher, actor, live event host, spokesperson, life coach, and activist for the issues of mental health, animal rights, and HIV stigma. Shaun hosts the weekly SiriusXM talk show, The Shaun Proulx Show, on Canada Talks channel 167.
Mentioned in this episode:
Shaun’s heartfelt article What Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain Teach Us
If you need immediate help:
SuicidePrevention.ca
CAMH Crisis Resources Page – Toronto and Surrounding Area
CTV News – Mental Health in Canada – Where to get help Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
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The post Shaun Proulx: Feeling Happier is a Thought Revolution Away first appeared on Free Your Inner Guru.
Jessica Tracy, author of Pride: The Secret of Success shares her perspective on the impact of pride on success, leadership and why all leaders are vulnerable to the darker side of pride. Pride: The Secret of Success is a must-read for new, emerging and established leaders, and anyone in a position to choose a leader, whether it’s in corporate, community, political or the self help world.
Conversation highlights: Jessica Tracy explains the two types of pride: authentic and hubristic pride
How the self-conscious emotions of pride, shame, embarrassment and guilt influence our identity. The difference between authentic pride and hubristic pride. Pride is not just one thing. How the two types of pride create two different types of leadership. Is pride a sin, or is it healthy and adaptive? Jessica Tracy’s scientific view of the two conflicting types pride: It’s OK to feel pride, but it’s important to monitor which type of pride you feel. Why having a healthy sense of pride makes it easier to be successful. How “faking it until you make it” can lead to self-doubt and be a recipe for more hubris. Why praise can be addictive.
Pride and Leadership
Why it’s difficult to discern the difference between an authentic prestigious leader and a dominant narcissistic leader without contextual information. Donald Trump as a fantastic example of someone who regularly conveys hubristic pride and grandiosity. The surprising truth about dominant leaders and uncertainty vs prestigious leaders and how people feel in their environment.
Pride and Narcissism
The relationship between pride and narcissistic behavior. The grandiose charmers and the malignant entitled: two very different kinds of narcissism The role of shame in narcissism. The Hubris Trap: Narcissism is a continuum. Everyone varies in how narcissistic they are as a character trait.
Pride and Success
Pride is essential to success. Why human nature includes this emotion that makes us feel good about our identity. Dean Carnazes as an example of life change motivated by noticing a lack of pride.
Dr Jessica Tracy’s advice for new, emerging, and established leaders
Let’s get rid of the stigma surrounding pride. The idea that we should avoid feeling pride is not right. Think about and understand the difference between authentic and hubristic pride. Authentic pride is about finding something that is meaningful to you and then working hard to attain that thing. If you want to continue feeling authentic pride, keep earning it. Find ways to contribute. If we’re doing something that makes us feel good about ourselves, chances are it’s contributing to society.
Jessica Tracy, PhD is a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia where she is the Director of the UBC Emotion and Self Lab. The research at the Lab is focused on the place where self and emotions meet – the self-conscious emotions of pride, shame, embarrassment and guilt. I first became aware of Jessica and her work when I chanced upon a live interview she did during the hardcover launch of her ground-breaking book Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success. It was literally a “stop the car!” moment, as I pulled over to take notes. Take Pride has just been re-released in paperback with the new title Pride: The Secret of Success.
Mentioned in this episode:
Dr Jessica Tracy’s book Pride: The Secret of Success
Follow @ProfJessTracy on Twitter Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
In this First Anniversary Edition of the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast, host Laura Tucker takes a look back at the year that was, the current state of the podcast, and the exciting future that lies ahead. This episode of the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast has special significance. It was recorded and released on the one year anniversary of the very first episode on April 6, 2017. When I look back over the course of the last year, the growth of Free Your Inner Guru – and, who am I kidding, my growth – has been significant.
In this anniversary episode, we take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the most popular, and my favourite episodes. Then we look at the present state of the podcast and where we are headed in the very near future.
Stay tuned for the next episode with Dr Jessica Tracy, author of Pride: The Secret of Success. If you’ve been listening for a while, or read my blog over the past couple of years, you will recognize her name and the book title will be familiar because I refer to it all the time in my ruminations on leadership and the relationship between authentic healthy pride, and the darker side of pride displayed by narcissists. I literally fan-girled Dr Tracy on Twitter at just the right time. So stay tuned!
In the meantime, here are your links! Mentioned in this episode: Highlights of the first year Interview with Kelly Greer: Women Get Results When They Look After Their Mind, Body and Spirit
Interview with Julie Min: From Tragedy and Survivor’s Guilt to Forgiveness, Happiness and Love
Interview with Raana Zia: Create Your Desired Life With Your Hidden Light Connect with Laura and the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast on Social Media Facebook Page: Laura Tucker – Free Your Inner Guru™
Facebook Group: Free Your Inner Guru® Community
Instagram: Laura Tucker @LauraATucker
Instagram: Free Your Inner Guru® Podcast @freeyourinnerguru
Twitter: Laura Tucker @LauraATucker The Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook & Mini Course Download on or before April 30, 2018 for a chance to win Dr Jessica Tracy’s book Pride: The Secret of Success – lauratucker.com/guidebook Want to have big conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Allison Graham shares her challenges as a business owner after a botched surgery left her with permanent nerve damage and the joy of becoming a “resiliency ninja”. “If you’re going through hell, keep going” became a mantra for Allison Graham after she had a botched surgery that caused relentless nerve pain. Several surgeries and hundreds of doctor’s appointments later, Allison had to find a different way to deal with emotional, mental and financial challenges.
Tired of wearing a mask to hide her struggle, Allison learned to stop hiding what was going on inside, adapt her business model and create a new kind of freedom.
Allison’s story is remarkable, filled with hard-earned practical wisdom that she shares in her new book Married My Mom, Birthed A Dog.
Conversation highlights:
How her post surgery life gave her permission to let go of what she thought she had to do and build the life she really wanted. Allison explains the Continuum of Challenges: the difference between stress, obstacles and adversity. The ramifications of treating stress as adversity and adversity as stress takes you away from your power. Do the emotional work. Life feels different when you’re operating from a place of joy. Be creative to figure out what works for you. Setting goals that are realistic in the face of rampant FOMO (fear of missing out). How to recognize what FOMO feels like in your body. Advice for big-hearted people who are seeking meaning and impact as you navigate the self help industry. Allison describes what it was like to let go and find forgiveness.
Mentioned in this episode:
Visit Allison Graham’s website
Allison Graham’s book – Married My Mom, Birthed A Dog
Gay Hendricks’ book – The Big Leap
This episode is brought to you by the Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook. This free download is for you if you want to align your business and your life with your values and become the leader you want to see in the world. Want to have big conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
Raana Zia shares her self development journey from corporate executive to spiritual self help author “I experienced those magical moments and the synchronicities. When you do open yourself up to this world. For me, it made this life much more wondrous and exciting. Life is so much more interesting and exciting than I thought it was.” – Raana Zia
Raana Zia spent her career holding executive level leadership roles in large Fortune 500 retail companies including the position of Chief Financial Officer. She supported leaders and teams to maximize their abilities and achieve their goals in the corporate world. Her passion for personal and leadership development and an intense desire to discover her own purpose and potential led her down an unexpected path of self-realization and spirituality.
Although she initially shied away from purely spiritual concepts and beliefs, as she moved deeper in to her understanding of how everything you desire in this physical world comes from the unseen world, Raana began to embrace her life as a spiritual journey.
Raana Zia shares her story of discovering her inner guru in her first book, Your Hidden Light – a Personal Guide to Creating Your Desired Life.
Conversation highlights:
Challenges Raana faced as she embraced her spirituality Why publishing Chapter 2 of Your Hidden Light initially felt like a risk for Raana. Why you must be in energetic alignment with your desire and then detach from it. How to protect your gratitude energy Why you can’t play the game of reverse psychology with the Universe. Raana shares her daily tools and strategies to stay connected with her inner guidance.
Mentioned in this episode:
Raana Zia’s book Your Hidden Light – A Personal Guide to Creating Your Desired Life
Follow Raana on Twitter Visit Raana’s website
Meditation Apps
Headspace Ohmvana Insight Timer Aura
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Outcomes are more expansive and inspiring than goals. They reveal a bigger picture and tap into the energy of your emotions. When I think of the difference between Outcomes and Goals, I think of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon did not happen overnight. It is the outcome of accumulation of the forces of water and erosion. Created layer upon layer, year upon year the Grand Canyon became bigger than the sum of its parts – just like you. Goals are time-bound and task oriented. Outcomes are more expansive and inspiring than goals. They reveal a bigger picture and tap into the energy of your emotions. We tend to make change when one of two things happen: their fear of staying the same – or their desire for something different – becomes greater than their resistance. Listen to today’s Free Your Inner Guru podcast to find out why outcomes get better results than goals when it comes to creating a meaningful life. Mentioned in this episode Download the Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook Schedule a Discovery Call with Laura Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Who do you want to become? To become your own guru, it is critical that you know who you are. If you know who you are and understand why you are here, you can focus on becoming the full expression of YOU as a means of creating happiness and success in this world. Your inner guru is your road map. Who you are becoming is your compass. Becoming is a creative process with clear steps. You design the outcome in advance and then make decisions and take actions that are consistent with that outcome. Living in alignment with who you want to become is a source of personal power. When you are clear on who you want to become and show up as a person who is moving towards that outcome, you are putting yourself into alignment with moving forward as defined by you, not external events or others. We’ve come through 2017 – a year like no other – collectively as a global community. If there is a silver lining to this confronting time, its people are claiming their voice and using it to be heard. This is a journey I relate to because it closely mirrors my own. We are slowly becoming a society where people speak their truth. But most people get the becoming process backwards. As successful as I was with my former consulting business, I persistently delivered a mental monologue that insisted “I’ll be happy when…” The irony of this internal soundtrack is that in order to attract, create and sustain the results of a happy person, you have to become that person first. We live in a time of great possibility. Technology has leveled the playing field. We have access to a smorgasbord of platforms to have a voice. Don’t wait to speak up until you feel like you are being heard. Don’t wait to create until you feel you have achieved mastery of your craft. The world needs you to become the full expression of you. Mentioned in this episode:
The Free Your Inner Guru® Guidebook – Click here Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
“If 2018 is going to be great for someone, it might as well be you!” I wrote these words in my journal the morning of New Years Day.
In this episode of the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast, we explore the recent past to find solutions to guide you forward to a great 2018 and beyond.
Ten years ago we were entering The Great Recession, a global phase where harsh economic reality, fear and fearmongering ruled the day. As we head into 2018 we face a harsh leadership reality that incites uncertainty, fear and fearmongering.
If you’re going to make it a great 2018, you must choose your focus wisely. Rather than fear or focus on conditions you can’t control, the best you can do individually and collectively is focus on becoming the best leader you can be.
The Great Recession and the self development journey it prompted taught me many valuable lessons that apply (if possible) more today. I share them today via
a letter to my younger self at the beginning of my journey the release of new Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook and My New Year Wish For You
Remember – you can become the leader you want to see in the world. Everything you need is inside of you. Your job is to find it and bring it into the world. Happy Great 2018. Mentioned in this episode:
Download your Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook – click here
Blog Article – My New Year Wish For You – click here Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Jenna Smith knows the power of living from your heart. When Jenna Smith was a young woman, her life became very complicated. She faced notable challenges at home, and was living in physical pain from a car accident. When she was told that that was it, she would have to live with pain, it didn’t make sense to her.
Jenna embarked on a journey of inquiry, following her truth to change her reality.
In this broad-ranging conversation about shamanism, heart-centred living, masculine and feminine energy, personal responsibility and boundaries, Jenna and Laura explore how true wisdom starts with going within in order to go out into the world.
Jenna Smith is an Ontological Coach, Spiritual Psychotherapist and Shamanic Intuitive. The Creator of the ‘You are the Manual’ online program, Jenna runs an international business coaching, counseling and running Shamanic retreats from her home by the shore of Lake Huron.
Her mission is to reconnect people to their unshakeable center, where all authentic knowing lives. Through understanding and integrating how to use our mind, body, heart, and spirit intelligence systems, we can get out of the muck of confusion and into our truth, purpose, power and JOY.
Episode highlights
Jenna shares the story of what let her to question how can we be here, enjoy who we are, and do that as a means of success in the world. (02:16) Jenna explains Shamanism and how it helps you get out of your head into your body. (09:58) Why we need to get out of our heads into our bodies to access our inner wisdom. (13:43) Jenna and Laura discuss what “Heart Centred Living” means beyond a marketing tagline. (16:56) The difference between feeling in the body and emotion (20:12) The wisdom of your instincts and intuition, also known as feminine energy. (21:26) The power of tapping in to both the feminine and masculine energy (25:43) Why it’s best to treat the entrepreneur journey as a spiritual journey (27:15) Why traditional self help – just do it, powering through – is helpful when you need to get going, but is not sustainable over the long term (30:56) Tools to get out of your muck to get tuned in to align your action with your energy (34:33) Why leaders are having to take more responsibility (35:43) Heart breathing – a quick tool to access your heart centre to connect your mind and your body in under 2 minutes (37:33) The connection between self care and your mind-body-heart-spirit system (39:56) Why people falter when it comes to self care (44:37) Why giving from overflow is key, especially for big-hearted people (49:41) Getting started with boundaries if you’re over-giving (50:12) Why people will secretly thank you for having and enforcing your boundaries (53:59)
Mentioned in this episode:
Blog posts What is “Heart Centred” Living? It’s All in Your Head. Exactly!
You Are The Manual Online Program
Follow Jenna on Facebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
The core of the self-sovereignty journey is a shift in how you see the world. Becoming self-sovereign doesn’t mean you have to buy an island and set up your own republic. You are the republic and its authority. Claiming your authority means becoming sovereign in your consciousness, and not going along with things – including your own thoughts -that are harmful to you.
The process of reclaiming your personal power and becoming self-determined is for the strong of heart. It requires stripping everything away, right down to your core.
In this podcast, we explore:
the relationship between self control, locus of control and happiness how to reclaim your personal power by taking responsibility the good, the bad and the ugly of personal responsibility discernment as the key to self-sovereignty causes of disconnection from your inner wisdom how to reconnect with your inner guru
I know you’re probably listening to this podcast on the go, so what I’ve done is create the Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook, a free downloadable which will help you apply everything I’m sharing with you in a practical way. The guidebook includes a • A 9 step process to Define Your Why • 2 ways to identify where you’re giving your energy away • 2 tools to reclaim your power • 5 ways you can connect to your inner guru • An action plan so you can apply your wisdom Before you forget, go ahead and get your downloadable at lauratucker.com/guidebook
Mentioned in this episode:
Download your Free Your Inner Guru Guidebook – Click here
Study
“The relationship between happiness, self-control and locus of control” Ramezani and Gholtash (2015) – Click here
Book
The Sovereign Individual by William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
Articles on rising levels of depression and suicide in teens
Business Insider – The Number of Depressed Teens is Soaring and all Signs Point to the Smartphone – click here New York Times – How Evil is Technology? click here Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
This podcast thing is all right, but I found out this week “in real life” is better. As I was collecting my thoughts before sitting down to record, I happened to glance up at the time and date on my computer screen. In that moment I realized that it’s 7 months to the day since the release of the first Free Your Inner Guru episode.
Last week, I sponsored an event in Ottawa, Ontario called Money, Mindset and Marketing. Ottawa is a 4-5 hour drive or one hour flight from Toronto, where I live. Part of being a sponsor is having a booth, which meant I had to do something with an 8×10 space to represent the podcast.
My intention for the event was that in the room of about 350 people, I would connect with people who would resonate with the podcast.
I was looking forward to seeing friends and contacts who I have existing relationships with – from attending the event in previous years. And I was super excited to see online friends “in real life”.
And then, something unexpected happened. One by one, people I have never met ,but who have been listening to the podcast approached me at the booth. They told me they were listening to the podcast. I listened as they shared what they like and even love about it. They spoke about the impact it is having in their lives, and that they look forward to new episodes. One woman had a poignant observation about me personally.
I was utterly astonished.
Podcasting is a funny medium. Most listeners receive the episodes on a mobile device and listen from the privacy of their life, at a time and place that suits them. I listen to most of my podcasts while I’m doing my hair and makeup! Unless listeners click over to the website to leave a comment, send in an email or interact in our Facebook Group, the only built-in feedback mechanism is iTunes reviews.
Listen to this week’s episode, or download the transcript to find out what is in store – in real life – for Free Your Inner Guru in the near future. Mentioned in this episode Join the Free Your Inner Guru Facebook Group – click here
Get on our email list – click here Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Do you need solutions to help you attract clients who appreciate and compensate the quality of your work? It could be that you are a Big Fish, but you’re swimming in the wrong pond.
If you listened to last week’s episode, I spoke about a phenomena that happens when people are growing in their business and stretching into new territory. I compared it to being a small fish trying to swim or have an impact in a big pond. There’s another dynamic that I think is worth exploring. It’s when somebody really is a big fish, but their results are limited because they’re trying to swim in the wrong environment.
The solution to this challenge can mean the difference between merely surviving and thriving. When you are in survival mode, it becomes more difficult to uphold the quality of your work and find joy in your experience. If what is your unique “big fish” talent is turned into a commodity, your positive feelings around your business and its contribution are diminished. Over time, your confidence is also diminished.
What if both the challenge and the solution are found in your environment?
Success does not happen in a vacuum. It’s an exchange of time, money and sometimes time and money for something of perceived value. If you or your business is a big fish and the pond is either too small or not fertile, listen to this episode for six potential solutions that will help you return your business to the state it was intended – a means of bringing your majestic talent into the world.
Mentioned in this episode:
Article – How to Review a Podcast on iTunes from your iPhone or Computer Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
What if the discomfort of feeling like a small fish in a big pond is a normal part of the growth process? If you’re playing big in life or business, you may find yourself feeling like a small fish in a big pond. This week I’ve had three separate conversations with people who were each experiencing frustration because of the amount of time, effort and energy it is taking to create a new result. And that’s not including a number of conversations I’ve had about the exact same thing with myself! I noticed there was a pattern to these conversations. Each of us were experiencing frustration in the course of playing big. When you’re the small fish in a big pond, it’s time to be your own leader. Listen to this week’s episode of Free Your Inner Guru to find out why there’s always a bigger pond – and what you can do about it. Mentioned in this episode: The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, Gary Keller Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Request a Discovery Call with Laura Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Psychic and spiritual counselor Julie Min shares her experience of healing from survivor’s guilt This conversation with Julie Min took place several months ago. In fact, it was the first interview recorded for the show. Once we had it, and knew what the content was, it didn’t seem like the right time to release it.
I decided to hold the episode until October because it’s the anniversary of our shared traumatic experience, never anticipating that many of the topics we explore like having a peak-to-pit experience and living with survivor’s guilt would be in the news again.
Julie is a psychic and spiritual counselor who helps people connect with the truest version of themselves. I hope you are inspired by this conversation, as we share not just some of our challenges, but what it’s been like to return to a state of forgiveness, happiness and love.
Highlights:
Why Julie chose to participate in the documentary Enlighten Us (4:00) Why it’s good to be able to talk about difficult subjects. (12:50) Survivor’s guilt (15:35) How Julie relates to God as a psychic. (19:18) Julie describes how she uses her gift to help people be true to themselves. (21:05) What she has to say to someone who is having a peak-to-pit or survivor’s guilt experience right now (24:40) How forgiveness is the way we can heal. The concept of spiritual alignment. The importance of becoming integrated in all the roles we play in life. (40:42) Julie speaks about LOVE (47:12)
Mentioned in this episode:
Julie Min on Facebook Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Survivor’s guilt causes an endless loop of questions: What is the meaning of all this? What is good and what is evil? Did I do – or say – enough? Why am I here? Or why am I still here? It’s Thanksgiving this weekend in Canada, and that means it’s also the anniversary of the event that introduced survivor’s guilt into my life. In this week’s podcast, I felt compelled to share with you what that journey has been like in the context of reconciling my difficult emotions with giving thanks and gratitude each year.
“Survivor’s guilt, like all grief, is like an old coat. It always stays in your closet. It’s the one that you can’t quite get rid of. You can’t throw it away because every time you pull it out, you look at it, you touch it, you feel it, and it’s associated with your memories of something or someone that you loved or believed in that’s now gone. And sometimes you pick up that coat and put it back on and you allow it to cloak you in those feelings so that you can be connected to them. And then other days, and as time goes on, more frequently you’ll leave that coat in the closet knowing that it’s there and it’s not going anywhere, but being okay with carrying on, knowing that you were transformed by that experience.”
It might not be you. But I guarantee that you know someone who lives with survivor’s guilt. The thing is, they don’t talk about it. It sets them apart. Leaves them feeling marginalized. Unworthy.
This is no way to live. Sadder yet, if you haven’t experienced it, there is nothing you can say to someone with survivor’s guilt that will make them feel better.
But it’s possible that I can.
Please share this podcast if you know someone who might need to hear it. I’ve included a downloadable transcript for people who prefer reading to listening.
Mentioned in this episode: Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Have you ever experienced overwhelm while making an important decision? Or that you were more resilient and less reactive when you’re stressed? This week’s episode of Free Your Inner Guru is a powerful conversation with one of the most heart-warming people I know, Barb Fletcher.
Barb is a life coach and Heart Math Specialist who loves to help you make sense of your emotions in times of change. I know you will find great value in listening to what she has to share about building healthy emotional resilience by connecting to the power and wisdom of your heart.
Barb Fletcher’s life experience that led her to find a way to develop resilience. (2:30) The difference between healthy resilience and the unsustainable practice of powering through (3:36) How a pattern in your body can inform you about a pattern in your life. (8:23) How Barb uses feedback from your heart rate variance to access your truth and build emotional resilience. (11:24) Why we unlearn the emotional “bounce-ability” we have as children. (14:23) The 3 pillars of Barb’s method: understanding, releasing and building resilience. (17:20) Barb takes us through a resilience-building technique. (19:18) How to pay attention to frustration, bitterness and anger to learn about your true self. (24:40) Your heart as an intelligent source of biofeedback. (27:07) The importance of being fully present for yourself and others. (35:20)
Mentioned in this episode:
Book – Brene Brown, Braving the Wilderness
Visit Barb Fletcher’s website at barb-fletcher.com
Follow Barb on Facebook Instagram Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Welcome to the first episode of the fall season of Free Your Inner Guru!
Today we are launching our new brand, and I have a ton to share from an event I attended recently where I heard Simon Sinek – one of my favourite authors and speakers – share his wisdom at a live event in Toronto. Simon Sinek is the author of Start With Why Start With Why is a perennial bestseller that I recommend to each of my clients when they start their journey with me. His work has influenced my life and my work. I walked away with a deeper understanding of why your why is important. Key points in this episode: Introducing the new Free Your Inner Guru brand:
What’s the meaning behind the new brand? The heart is for love, leadership and the courage it takes to live an open-hearted way. The spiral is for the journey of life – it’s not a linear path. We keep coming back to the same lessons and events with new understanding. Kudos to the designer – Sherpa Creative
Simon Sinek and Your WHY (5:15)
is who you are at your natural best. doesn’t change. is your origin story. is the thing you are responsible to share with everybody else.
The role tragedy plays in your WHY (8:19) Knowing your WHY
helps you become a better leader. helps you scale so you can serve more people (10:40)
How do you get to your WHY? (11:30)
He shared “a fun way to get to your WHY” that I, in turn, share with you in this podcast.
Mentioned in this episode:
Simon Sinek’s TED Talk – How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Simon Sinek’s Book – Start With Why Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Resistance is a part of the personal growth process. It’s not just you. Have you ever noticed that just as you are about to take action towards a bigger better result, you are often met with uncanny amounts of resistance?
If you caught last week’s episode, I invited you to join me in an experiment designed to bring more joy into your life.
You always have a choice:
Succumb to it – because it’s just easier that way, or Ignore (aka power through) your resistance, which is not sustainable, or Recognize it for what it is, detach, and consciously move forward.
When you are faced with resistance, do you react in frustration, anger, and feel sorry for yourself? Or, do you remind yourself that discomfort is a necessary and natural part of the game. Your resistance has a purpose it’s there to ask you, “How badly do you want it?”
When you choose to respond consciously, you remain open to new opportunities.
Do you
Charge full steam ahead with blinders on? Throw yourself a pity party? Consciously remain open and receptive?
Talk is cheap. The only way to know for sure how you deal with your resistance is to practice. I encourage you to listen to this week’s episode, design your own consciousness-raising experiment, and see for yourself what happens.
Mentioned in this episode:
Last week’s FYIG podcast – How to Bring More Joy Into Your Life
Related Articles
Get to know your Play Safe Team – Like it or not, we all have one!
5 Myths About Your Comfort Zone Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
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The post How Badly Do You Want It? Dealing With Resistance to Change first appeared on Free Your Inner Guru.
Do you make time for the things that bring you the most joy?
Or, do you feel that most of your time is spent battling your to do list? Today I’m going to share a simple series of questions you can use to increase the level of en-joy-ment in your life. If you’d like to create more room for joy in your life, please, take a few minutes to do this exercise. If you’re driving, or in a place where you can’t write your answers, I’ve put the questions in the show notes (below) for you to return to later. Mentioned in this episode: 5 Questions to Create More Joy in Your Life
What do you need to be YOU? What are the things YOU LOVE to do? That restore you? What are the things YOU RESENT doing? How can you approach this with more ease? So it’s more natural to you? How can you infuse the things you resent with the energy of what you love?
Please let us know how your shift is going by leaving a note in the comments below this post.
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
What is the Summer of Yes? Every day you are presented with countless decisions. What do you say “yes” to?
I was introduced to the Summer of Yes by Shaun Proulx. Shaun hosts The Shaun Proulx Show on Sirius XM Channel 167, Canada Talks. Summer of Yes is the theme of his show throughout this summer.
According to Shaun, “Summer Of Yes isn’t about saying yes to everything, nor is it to appease other people’s agendas. It’s about you. Saying yes to possibilities begins with your realigning yourself. To do so, you must leave your comfort zone and jump off the cliff. Put yourself first and dive into a Summer of Yes.”**
Alignment is a guiding principle of living a conscious, fulfilling life.
Saying Yes to a bigger life is playful.
Yes means taking risks.
Yes means being open.
Yes means not holding back.
Yes means getting out of your comfort zone.
In today’s episode, you’ll find out the one big question to ask yourself when you dive into your Summer of Yes.
PS. Want to get out of your comfort zone so you can say “Yes?” Here’s a link so you can enter the free 7 Day Comfort Zone Challenge – a video series designed to help you get out there and say Yes 🙂 lauratucker.com/comfort-zone-challenge
Mentioned in this episode:
**Shaun Proulx article: You’ll love a #SummerOfYes – 24 Hours Toronto, Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Related FYIG podcast episode – Want to Create Winning Results? Live in Alignment with Feeling Good Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
How can you create a Plan B that lets you relax, enjoy your summer, and set yourself free? The best thing about summer can be the worst thing for your results.
Have you been there? Have you been at the point where even the things you enjoy the most become overwhelming? At the point where you’re wondering how you’re going to sustain this?
Welcome to my world this week – playing catch-up after a wonderful week in New York City and Niagara on the Lake.
Today’s Free Your Inner Guru episode is for you if you find summer disrupts your routines in your life or business. Who am I kidding – it doesn’t have to be summer for routine and structure to be thrown by the wayside. It’s for you if you are overwhelmed by your To Do List on a regular basis.
Constantly playing catch-up is overwhelming. Listen now to hear the story of how one of my clients had a breakthrough when we shifted her priorities by creating a Plan B.
Mentioned in this episode:
Article ‘How to Leave a Review on iTunes’ – click here Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Are you celebrating the birthday of your country? A country is much more than its politics and government. A country is defined by its people. This week – July 1st – was Canada’s 150th birthday, and now Americans are celebrating Independence Day. It’s never been more clear to me, as I watched Canada’s 150th celebration, that the world needs powerful authentic leadership NOW. Will Canada rise to the occasion and become a leader on the world stage? I hope so.
As I watched the Canada 150 celebrations over the weekend, foot in cast, resting up for our trip this week to New York City, I realized that my country finally has an identity and is about to come of age.
That’s what we’re talking about in this episode of Free Your Inner Guru – what it takes to be an authentic leader and how each and every one of us has a role to play. Mentioned in this Episode: Blog article – Why Terry Fox’s Legacy Represents the Best of Canada at 150 Jessica Tracy, Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success –
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Have you ever felt burned out because you’ve been powering through?
Just do it. Feel the fear and do it anyways. Pretty much every marketing message in the self help industry
We live in a culture that glorifies forcing ourselves through perceived physical and mental limitations. There are times when it makes sense to dig deep and get stuff done. Focused, purposeful action is necessary to create winning results. But the one thing just about every marketing message in the self help industry misses is that powering through is not a sustainable long term strategy.
Having a lot of energy to get things done can serve you well. But there are times when powering through is no good for you.
Believe me when I say I know first hand – I got caught in a powering through pattern last week. There is a difference between powering through and being productive. In today’s Free Your Inner Guru episode we’re going to explore why – despite the common belief that it’s heroic to power through all the time – it’s almost never true. Powering through your environments to the point where things start to break down is no good for me, and it’s no good for you. However, it’s always an opportunity to find the underlying pattern and reclaim your power. Listen now to hear how having a fractured foot and a car that wouldn’t start helped to point me in a more empowering direction. Mentioned in this episode:
The new light, fresh and airy lauratucker.com Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Your Inner Voice is always there, ready speak – even when you’re not ready – or are unable – to hear it. You may doubt yourself and look outward for answers, but your Inner Voice is the only authority you will ever need. If you’re on a personal growth and consciousness-raising journey, at one point or another you will learn to discern the wisdom of your Inner Voice from all the outer influences in your life. We get lessons in day-to-day life. Sometimes we are given more dramatic, and life-changing examples of how important it is to listen to the wisdom of our Inner Voice. The number one thing you can do to be self-defined and self-governed is to learn to tune in to its frequency. Your Inner Voice is always there.
It’s always ready to speak – even when we are not ready to hear it, or able to listen.
One of the first things to understand if you want to access the wisdom of your Inner Voice is the difference between your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. In today’s podcast, I share what I do to gain clarity, so you can use it to determine what is good and right and true for you.
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Kelly Greer is the owner of Nutrigal and a registered dietician who knows that women get results when they look after their mind, body and spirit. A special message for the men in our audience: Guys, this 40 minute conversation is for you, too! You have women in your life and listening to this podcast will help you understand what the heck is going on with your mother, sister, daughter, wife, partner, employees. If it’s difficult for women to get accurate information about the changes in her own body, I can’t imagine what kind of information you’re getting! Kelly’s Story: In her early forties, things in Kelly’s body started to go awry. Even though her blood test results were normal, she experienced physical pain and was unable to sleep. It wasn’t until she sought out holistic practices that Kelly learned how to balance her hormones. At the time, it was very difficult to obtain information on women’s health. Kelly’s experience was the catalyst for her decision to dedicate her dietician practice to women so they can get the information they need in one place. As Ralph Emerson Waldo said, “Health is the first wealth.” We all need women to be healthy in body, mind and spirit. This could be one of the most important conversations you enter into in your lifetime. Highlights: There’s no quick fix! Just like in business, there is a notion that maintaining our health should be easy and many people look for instant results or a quick fix. What many people don’t realize is there are many myths about menopause. Kelly gives us a clear and thorough explanation of the frustrating self-fulfilling prophecy that women find themselves in. Hint – it has to do with one of our most powerful hormones that’s keeping you wired and tired – cortisol. Why even the most holistically inclined people need to check in with their medical doctor. What happens when a woman expects too much, too quickly. The role of self-care and boundaries play in achieving results. What causes us to use food in an addictive way. The mind-body connection between nutrition, hormones and well-being. What to say, and what not to say, if you’re concerned about the hormonal health of someone you love. Mentioned in this episode: Kelly Greer’s free e-book – 5 Major Hormone Fixes for Successful Weight Loss Check here for upcoming Nutrigal webinars Kelly Greer’s main website – nutrigal.ca
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Are you distracted by worry? This episode of Free Your Inner Guru is for you if you’re stressed out, caught up in your head or having trouble staying present for yourself and the people around you. When you show up distracted, you’re not really present. Consequently, you miss all kinds of opportunities from the superficial to the serious. You’ll miss opportunities to do business and to achieve your goals, but you also miss opportunities to notice what’s going on with the people around you. We are all vulnerable to worry and the distractions of the day, but the level of distraction is reaching epidemic proportions. Don’t wait until something dramatic happens to take notice. There are people in your midst who need you to be present. There are things you can do to offset the distraction so you can be more grounded. In this week’s episode, I share four strategies to stay grounded that work well for me. Mentioned in this Episode: Prior FYIG episode – What Fearless Girl Tells Us About Fear Headspace website and app – Meditation made simple
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Do you struggle to get things done because you’re trying to achieve perfection? You may be spinning your wheels because you’ve fallen into a Perfection Trap.
In today’s episode, you’ll find 2 stories that illustrate how the Perfection Trap affects each of us. Both stories – and their lessons – come from an experience I had that forced me out of my comfort zone in the pursuit of creative self expression.
The year was 2004. On a hunch that can only be described as divine inspiration, I drove for two days from Toronto, Ontario to Kingston, New Brunswick to attend my first workshop of any kind, led by the Canadian photography icon, Freeman Patterson.
When I arrived, I was surprised to discover I was one of the youngest in the group, and the newest to photography. I was still grappling with the technical side of my creative passion, trying to understand how to get the best results out of my tools and put it together well enough to create the images I had in my head.
Little did I know, the biggest lessons of the week had nothing to do with photography and everything to do with my stifling need for perfection.
Listen now to learn how to handle getting it right vs getting it done when your Inner Critic is seeking perfection.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Picture of Freeman Patterson’s barn – How I Learned the Down Side of Perfection
The sunrise that almost went in the garbage can – How the Inner Critic Almost Stole a Gorgeous Sunrise Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Was it pretty the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone? Did you find the magic? Or did something else happen?
Today on Free Your Inner Guru we’re digging deep into two of our key themes, personal development, and the self-help industry with 5 Myths and Three Antidotes for Your Comfort Zone. My goal is to help you find your sweet spot – where healthy growth and discomfort intersect.
I’m guessing you’ve heard one of these statements before:
Bigger, better results – or everything you want – lies just outside your comfort zone.
If you’re not growing, you are dying.
You have to become comfortable feeling uncomfortable.
The comfort zone has become a cliche. And just like most other cliches, there are truths at the core of each of these statements. But did you know that there are at least as many myths floating around as there are truths?
Mentioned in this Episode:
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown:
Phenomenal book that I recommend to everyone. Deals with topics like courage, vulnerability, leadership, authenticity.
Daring Greatly is also the source of the Theodore Roosevelt quote I read in the episode:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…”
Free 7 Day Comfort Zone Challenge
The 7 Day Comfort Zone Challenge is a mini video course about the comfort zone that I put together a few months ago. It takes you through an entire coaching cycle to help you find the sweet spot of your comfort zone. Find out more by clicking here. Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Living in alignment feels good. It’s the best kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Living out of alignment with your highest self feels bad. It’s within your power to choose. The last Free Your Inner Guru episode was about the 1st Key to Create Winning Results – designing who you want to become. If you haven’t listened to it, make sure you go back, either now, or after the end of this episode. The big question to ask yourself when it comes to living in alignment with who you choose to become is this: If you were to become that person, what would you have to do on a regular basis? Consciously or unconsciously, you know when you are out of alignment. It shows up in the energy of the emotions frustration, bitterness, and even anger. These three powerful emotions are referred to as negative emotions, and yes, the experience of them is negative, but they are also incredibly powerful tools for becoming self-aware. If you are feeling persistent frustration, bitterness, or anger, that’s a signal to you that something is not in alignment with who you really are, and who you want to become. In today’s episode we explore the principle of alignment through the three lenses of leadership, business success and relationships. Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Who you are becoming is at the center of a powerful ripple effect in your life. Do you ever stop and take a moment to figure out who that is? Today’s Free Your Inner Guru episode is the first in the four part series – 3 Keys to Create Winning Results and 1 Major Pitfall to Avoid.
We all create a ripple effect in our lives. The catalyst at the center of your ripple is who you are becoming. Your ripple effect is started by you. It’s either conscious and intentional – or it’s happening by default. Either way, it’s always happening.
This is why you can have 200 people taking the same action or looking for the same result. You will have 200 different WHYs and 200 different outcomes. Get clear on your why and who you want to become, and you will create your best results.
Today’s episode will help you get clear on who you are becoming and the important role it plays in your life.
Mentioned in this episode
Simon Sinek – Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Fearless Girl has a lot to teach us about our relationship with fear. There’s a new girl in town and she is stirring things up.
It was the day before my milestone birthday. A text message came in from the original fearless girl in my life. It was my mother, asking me if we were going to take in the new sculpture known as Fearless Girl. Another trip to the Financial District where she is located hadn’t been in our plans. But I’ve learned two things over time with regards to my mother and New York City. The first is obvious – pay attention to what your mother says. The second is about the impermanence of things. The sculpture, like another famous New York landmark, might not be there the next time you go.
We set out on a rainy trek to Bowling Green at the base of Broadway, where Fearless Girl and Charging Bull are located. I did not expect to be affected by what I saw when we arrived. I was wrong.
The faces of the people surrounding Fearless Girl were radiant. One young girl after another took a cheek to cheek selfie while their smiling parents looked on. On the surface, the sculpture appears to be the benevolent agent of a much needed message.
But Fearless Girl is also creating controversy because of her origin and position in relationship to Charging Bull, another iconic New York sculpture.
In today’s episode, we explore the origin of both sculptures, their importance as public art, and how life for all of us would be better if we all experienced less fear. Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Seeing Tony Robbins live was a life-changing experience – one I’m grateful to have had. But it didn’t inspire me in the usual way. Instead of leaving me feeling good, I was deeply unsettled. I was initially drawn to personal development and self help to support my success in business just like many entrepreneurs. And, like many of us, that led to a spiritual journey – a quest to be the best version of myself.
Little did I know, my quest would lead me to the darkest and most significant challenge of my adult life.
The short story is that I was at a self-help / spiritual retreat in 2009 when three participants lost their lives. The long story, if it interests you, is the subject of the documentary Enlighten Us.
I shut down my very new coaching practice after that horrific event, and avoided all things spiritual and self help for over five years.
A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded how important it is to have big conversations about what healthy self-help looks like by none other than Tony Robbins.
If you’re a consumer of self-help – even the most popular or benign kind – you must cultivate and learn to use your discernment.
In today’s Free Your Inner Guru, we start to look at how we are each responsible for navigating our own life – for choosing your values, and aligning with others who share them. Mentioned in This Episode: Psychologist Jessica Tracy’s fascinating book Take Pride – Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success Here’s what an audience of 15,000 looks (and sounds!) like:
Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community
Welcome to Free Your Inner Guru – Podcast Episode #1 !
A very special welcome to you for joining me for this first episode of Free Your Inner Guru. In today’s inaugural episode, we kick things off with the story behind why I decided to create this podcast and how it got its name. You have a guru inside of you – It’s the source of your voice, power, and inspiration.
When you free your inner guru, you won’t have to look outside of yourself for answers any more. Sounds easy, right? Well maybe it’s easy for some people. When it comes to living a life that’s guided by your truth and intuition, it’s often easier said than done.
The focus of this show is to have big, REAL conversations about personal development, entrepreneurship, spirituality and the self help industry because they are all intertwined. Sometimes I’ll be on my own, sharing stories and insights from my experience. Other episodes will be interviews with people I have met along the way who have their perspective to share. Want more conscious conversations in your life? Support the podcast and join the Free Your Inner Guru® Leadership Community at freeyourinnerguru.com/leadership-community