Explore every episode of the podcast The Inner Frontier with Jonny Miller
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlocking Embodied Leadership with Franziska Gonder | 07 Apr 2025 | 01:08:12 | |
Franzi is someone whose work sits at the powerful intersection of nervous system health, emotional resilience, and embodied leadership. What I admire most about her is the way she weaves personal integrity, deep inquiry, and relational intelligence into every facet of her life — from parenting her three sons to working with founders navigating burnout and stuck emotions. We explore what it truly means to lead from a place of wholeness — and why she believes leadership should be a force for healing, not just productivity. Franzi shares how curiosity became her greatest ally through grief and trauma, and how movement became a portal into somatic healing. We also discuss the difference between performative boundaries and boundaries that foster deeper connection, how interoception builds relational capacity, and why numbness is often the most potent entry point into this work. Other topics we touch on include: This one is rich, spacious, and full of grounded wisdom — I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
🖥️ Learn about Franzi's Work
This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com
🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Focusing on What Matters Most with Nat Eliason | 20 Feb 2025 | 01:29:24 | |
In this episode, I’m speaking with a friend, author, entrepreneur & prolific writer Nat Eliason. The timing of this conversation was interesting as we recorded it shortly before the US elections, after which the crypto markets shot back into the mainstream. You’ll hear about the intense emotional rollercoaster he went through, losing millions of dollars in a very short period of time — how it felt to write about this — what he’s learned about cultivating creative endurance with his writing, as well as his perspective on relaxation versus numbing and how our relationship with work pushes us towards coping mechanisms rather than genuine rest. Official Links 👋 Follow Nat on Twitter/X @nateliason Connect + Explore More from Jonny 🫁 Episode Sponsor — Nervous System Mastery This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Discovering the Hero's Journey to Wholeness with Ben Katt | 17 Aug 2024 | 01:03:10 | |
Ben is the author of the phenomenal new book: The Way Home: Discovering the Hero's Journey to Wholeness at Midlife. I was really excited to talk to Ben because the hero’s journey has been a framework that I still use myself as a way of orienting and meaning making. Ben shares how his own life has been a series of spiraling journeys, embodying the hero’s path. In this conversation, you can expect to learn: Official Links 📚 Ben Katt's Book — The Way Home: Discovering the Hero's Journey to Wholeness at Midlife Connect + Explore More from Jonny 🫁 Episode Sponsor — Nervous System Mastery This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Insights from Groundbreaking MDMA Research with MAPS Therapist Marcela Ot’alora | 29 Jan 2024 | 01:08:41 | |
Marcela Ot’alora worked as the lead co-therapist and principal investigator for all of the MAPS — which stands for Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies — MDMA-assisted psychotherapy studies. She has also been designing curriculum and training therapists associated with MAPS. In this conversation, which we recorded together in our home here in Boulder Colorado, we explored how she found her way into this work over three decades ago, possible tension I perceived between the clinical aspect of these studies and the sacredness of the work, how she trains therapists in the rare art of being able to hold space for deep transformation, and what she believes is happening that has led to the extraordinary results that the MAPS trials have created — a 71% reduction in otherwise untreatable symptoms of PTSD. Official Links 👨🔬 MAPS MDMA Research and Resources (link)
This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Courage as a Measure of Our Heartfelt Participation with Life with David Whyte | 01 Jan 2024 | 00:38:52 | |
I'm choosing to republish this episode that I had with David Whyte four years ago, because I had found myself revisiting his timeless book Consolations’ and rediscovering wisdom that felt appropriate for these times — which has remained within an arm's reach of my bedside ever since I first discovered it. It ratcheted open my mind to a new perspective on the definitions of words like Ambition, Courage and Heartbreak, that I thought I previously understood. I’m not sure how to even begin to describe exactly what David does. On paper, he's an acclaimed poet, a writer, and a philosopher. But to my mind, after having spent a magical week with him on the Irish Atlantic coastline on one of his poetry walking tours, I feel like he's a true elder with a deep philosophical curiosity and gift for weaving together our inner and outer worlds in what he calls 'the conversational nature of reality’. It’s a wide-ranging conversation, and towards the end, we cover some really interesting ground on the questions he believes we’re living our way into as a society and how childhood is the act of growing older whilst adulthood is the act of growing younger back into body back into our birthright visionary experience of the world.
👋 Follow David on Twitter, Facebook or Youtube
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more about their revolutionary new Plunge. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| The Reason Self Development is Fundamentally Flawed with Steve March | 18 Dec 2023 | 01:43:06 | |
In this episode, I am speaking with Steve March — who is, although maybe lesser known in the public sphere, what he has created with Aletheia, which we will get into — is, to my mind, a revolutionary innovation in the realm of human development and how we orient to personal growth. Expect to have your paradigm of personal growth turned upside down as we cover: 🍃 The Four Depths Model — and how different modalities work differently with different depths. Leveraging emergence by exploring the radical question of 'What if nothing is missing? What if we are whole?' 🧠 The Neuroscience of Enduring Transformation — take-aways from Steve's paper for using micro-practises within a 5-hour window to take advantage of the heightened window of neuroplasticity. 🚶♂️ 4x Actionable Principles — to explore the concept of poetic attunement in your own life — including an invitation to let go of any self-improvement agendas and specific blindspots to pay attention to. Official Links 🙋♂️ Learn about upcoming Aletheia Offerings: integralunfoldment.com
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more about their revolutionary new Plunge. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| How to Win the Game of Life with Khe Hy | 06 Dec 2023 | 01:14:11 | |
Khe Hy is a dear friend, creator and philosopher in residence at Rad Reads, which is a business he started after leaving a 7-figure salary on Wall Street. He is a dedicated Father, host of the superb Examined Life podcast and makes time to get in the ocean and surf every single day. In this conversation, you can expect to hear: Official Links 📝 Check out Khe's writing over at RadReads Connect + Explore More from Jonny
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more about their revolutionary new Plunge. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Increase Your Nervous System Capacity with Ryan Duey | 08 Nov 2023 | 01:05:10 | |
Ryan Duey is an entrepreneur, podcaster, the founder + CEO of Plunge.com and as you'll hear in this episode, a remarkably self-aware and courageous human. Over a decade ago, Ryan had what he calls his “greatest gift” — a head-on motorcycle accident in Thailand. This near-death experience catapulted Ryan into a journey of self-inquiry, leading him to the jungles of the Amazon, the inside of a float tank.
⚖️ How to balance of selfishness and selflessness
🎙️ Listen to Ryan's podcast The Journey on Spotify Connect + Explore More from Jonny
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more about their revolutionary new Plunge. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| The Value of Wilderness-Based Rites of Passage with Brooks Barron | 26 Oct 2023 | 01:16:07 | |
Brooks Barron is an experienced leadership coach specializing in nature-based initiations and rites of passage — to help the leaders he works with explore their vulnerability, find their inner wisdom, and surrender to the flow of what wants to come through them. In this conversation, you can expect to learn: Timestamps [00:04:07] Positive impact, burning out, seeking purpose, profound change [00:09:22] Embrace all aspects, shift from fear to love. [00:14:04] Curious about the good versus bad dynamic. [00:22:06] Struggling with climate change; personal healing journey. [00:23:57] Driven by impact, trust, acceptance, and growth. [00:30:34] Vision quest: therapy vs. transformation, death and rebirth, shift into trust. [00:37:51] Unfamiliarity pushes people to embrace change and growth. [00:42:42] Sacred wound: discomfort that creates beauty. [00:51:45] Struggling to balance passion, responsibility, and self-care. [00:54:01] Ego keeps me from acknowledging my needs. [01:01:09] Importance of fitting in while embracing uniqueness. [01:04:44] "Awakening experiences lead to divine connection, but require rigor."
💬 Follow Brooks on LinkedIn Episode Sponsors 🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| How to Find Your Inner Light with Matt Maruca | 30 Sep 2023 | 01:19:42 | |
Show Notes Matt Maruca is the founder of RaOptics, who make, I think it's fair to say objectively, the world's best blue-blocking glasses — but more importantly, he is in my view a radical citizen scientist, self-experimenter, and articulate communicator — and what's more he's only 24 years old. Which, given his depth of knowledge and wisdom, is somewhat mind-blowing for someone of his age. This conversation didn't go the way that I had expected. I'd been reading journal papers and studies on photobiology, mitochondrial health, and how to optimize our light environment... but fairly quickly it became clear that this wasn't the direction that the conversation wanted to go. I think a former version of me would have wanted to stick to the script — but instead we veered off into a fascinating tangent into Matt's explorations into spirituality and what he describes as surrendering to life. In this conversation, you can expect to learn: Timestamps [00:01:36] Matt's curiosity about health and wellness led them to explore various aspects of their own well-being, including diet, nutrition, supplementation, and eventually light therapy. He discovered that cellular dysfunction, particularly in mitochondria, plays a significant role in disease and that environmental factors and lifestyle choices can impact health.
Official Links 😎 Ra Optics (affiliate link) — http://www.raoptics.com/nsmastery Connect + Explore More from Jonny
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Have We Solved Mental Healthcare? Exploring Psychedelic Therapy for Lasting Transformation with Dr Michael Yang | 21 Sep 2023 | 01:17:45 | |
Dr Michael Yang is an integrative medicine specialist based in Los Angeles who specializes in Ketamine treatment. I had an absolute blast with Michael and honestly feel a renewed sense of optimism for the medical system knowing that there are doctors like him treating patients. In this conversation, you can expect to learn: Timestamps [00:07:58] Passion for history and diverse experiences. [00:12:49] Moved from Bay Area to LA for MBA. Ended up running mother's clinic. Frustrated with pace of medical development. [00:19:11] Capitalism triggers, struggling with community, broad picture. Ketamine and psychedelics require personal experience. [00:21:32] Book titled "Scared and Horny" explores human experience. [00:32:26] Ketamine's varying capabilities as a drug. [00:37:22] Exploring psilocybin and ketamine experiences - transcendent. [00:42:24] "Awe-inspiring experiences fuel transformation and growth." [00:51:33] Exploring cultural practices and personal transformation. [01:01:31] Struggle with global theory and meaning crisis: Suffering as a test for AI. Psychedelics and future of AI. [01:06:36] Suffering is critical to our survival. [01:18:47] Outline program, contemplate, change, be present. Official Links ✉️ Email Michael at: drmichaelyang@gmail.com
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more. 🫁 Five to Thrive — this is a free email course that I've created to teach anyone how to build nervous system regulation in just five days. It contains hundreds of hours of my own research distilled into five days of practical knowledge. Enrolment is totally free. You can sign up here: fivetothrive.email ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| A Radical Playbook for Full Aliveness with Jim Dethmer | 08 Sep 2023 | 01:20:55 | |
Jim Dethmer is co-author of the bestselling book 'The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership' and is one of the most sought-after executive coaches in the world. It was an honor to speak with Jim, and I had the sense that I was sitting in the presence of someone who really had spent a lifetime embodying and living what he teaches. In this wide-ranging conversation, you can expect to learn: Official Links Connect + Explore More from Jonny
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Embracing Twilight Zones, Self-Exploration & Living with OCD with Dan Shipper | 11 Feb 2025 | 01:12:35 | |
In this episode, I'm speaking with Dan Shipper — Dan is a friend, the founder of Every, and someone who I consider to be a philosopher founder. This conversation didn’t go the direction that I thought it would, I had prepared questions exploring the future of AI and technology, but I’m glad we listened to the thread that was most alive — which ended up being exploring Dan’s personal journey with OCD and recent deep dive into Jungian archetypal perspectives — and living on the borders of things — the Twilight Zone that he poetically described. Dan did manage to save me towards the end and loop the conversation back towards AI with a super interesting thesis around how it might allow us to make our intuitions more visible and reproducible in the world.
👋 Follow Dan on Twitter 🫁 Episode Sponsor — Nervous System Mastery This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com Connect + Explore More from Jonny Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Derek Sivers on How to Negotiate Anything, The Joys of Parenthood & Why Nothing You Believe is True | 23 Aug 2023 | 01:49:30 | |
When I first started this podcast, I had Derek Sivers in mind as the archetypal curious human — and to this day, I think of him as one of the most interesting and provocative philosophers of life. His career path involved joining the circus as a ringleader, then becoming a professional musician and touring, building a company and selling it for $22 million dollars, then giving most of the money away to charity, then becoming a TED speaker and author... to now where he's a minimalist living in New Zealand as a full-time dad. In this conversation, you can expect to learn the following:
[00:08:56] Derek didn't have much curiosity until later in life. [00:12:20] Rebellious streak seeks balance in all situations. [00:18:55] Having total freedom can feel disorienting. [00:25:17] Choose independence, then commit for best results. [00:29:14] We don't really know why we do things. [00:35:00] Journaling: Derek's way to process thoughts and find clarity. [00:43:32] Brain awake, busy day of writing. [00:49:48] Sister's chaotic household convinced me: no kids. [00:54:45] Choosing mice for breeding: defying expectations. [00:57:08] Teach kids to talk confidently and be makers. [01:05:56] Money obsession feels like a mental disorder. [01:10:52] The Red Cross can't do much, donate wisely. [01:17:38] Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen is a book full of relatable stories that emphasize the idea that everything is negotiable. The author, a professional negotiator, shares his experiences and challenges the notion of non-negotiable things. It's a thought-provoking read that sticks with you. [01:21:05] Book: "You Can Negotiate Anything" - rating: 10/10. Talks about realizing power in any situation. Prisoner example shows hidden power. Violence comes from feeling powerless. Realize your power in any situation. Must-read. [01:27:15] Movies portrayed sex as something men want, women don't. [01:32:45] Dubai is a fascinating, diverse and foreigner-filled place. [01:38:45] Python: a newfound love, Dubai. [01:44:21] Aspiration: be read even after death.
✉️ Email Derek personally here: derek@sivers.org
🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. Learn more. This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Becoming Fully Yourself, What AI Wants, Family Rituals & Rites of Passage with Kevin Kelly | 16 May 2023 | 00:58:24 | |
Show Notes A large part of my personal motivation for creating this podcast — is the privilege of speaking with those who I consider to be elders, those who have lived their lives to the absolute fullest and have stories and insights to share with younger generations about what it means to truly live well. And this conversation with Kevin Kelly turned out to be exactly that. You'll probably want to have a pen and paper handy to take notes, and it was so rich with practical wisdom — in part because that was the subject of Kevin's new book — called 'Excellent Advice for Living' Some of the pieces that resonated most with me were:
Official Links 📚 Order Kevin's book 'Excellent Advice for Living' Connect + Explore More from Jonny Episode Sponsors 🌬️ Othership Breathwork App — I've written at length about why breathwork is like the operating manual for your nervous system, and I have been highly impressed by the app that the Othership team has created. You can choose between guided daily practices that will up or downshift your state, as well as breathwork journeys that focus on embodiment for cultivating intimacy, athletic performance, or preparing for sleep. Exclusive to Curious Humans listeners, you can get a three-month subscription at zero cost to take it for a spin. Claim the three months 🩸 Inside Tracker — One of the things I've changed my mind on in the past year is the value of getting blood panels taken prophylactically — ideally every six months, according to Dr Peter Attia — not waiting until you have a health issue. They recently added hormone testing to their plan, which already includes important markers like ApoB, vitamin D, magnesium, cortisol, and a bunch more (47 biomarkers in fact!) I received some super actionable supplement changes and dietary shifts based on my results and I'm noticing the shifts already. Save 20% here Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations, it's so much better than zoom for podcasting | |||
| Is Kyle Kowalski the World's Most Curious Human? | 02 May 2023 | 01:29:26 | |
Today I'm speaking with Kyle Kowalski — who might be one of the most well-read humans and certainly most relentlessly curious humans that I've ever met — in fact as he shares in this episode, he believes that his purpose or Ikigai in life is to synthesize lifelong learning that catalyzes human development. As the title of this episode suggests, we nerded out on so many fascinating topics — we discuss how Kyle's crisis and burnout transformed him, discovering the Concept of Intentional Living, how he created Ikigai 2.0, Navigating the Four Stages of Ego Development Theory and how they act like filters of reality, the idea of the Birth Lottery and much much more.
Official Links 👋 Say hi to Kyle on Twitter
Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations, it's so much better than zoom for podcasting | |||
| Growth Loops, Fertile Uncertainty & Ayahuasca Revelations with Anne-Laure Le Cunff | 25 Apr 2023 | 01:19:21 | |
This is my second conversation with Anne Laure — I reached back out after I read a powerful account of her transformative experience drinking Ayahuasca 9 months ago and how following this experience, in her words, she is 'not depressed anymore, I quit drinking… And, for the first time ever and truly happy to be alive'. So we do a deep dive into her plant medicine experience she had, her reflections since that experience — as well as why linear goals are inherently fragile as compared to what she calls growth loops, how her relationship to ambition shifted after Ayahuasca, her favourite mental model, liminal vs. liminoid spaces, the importance of metacognition and much more! Episode Timestamps
👋 Follow Anne Laure on Twitter
🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations, it's so much better than zoom for podcasting | |||
| Transforming Fear into Excitement with Extreme Sports Athlete & Executive Coach Brett Kistler | 30 Mar 2023 | 01:35:35 | |
This is a powerful conversation with executive coach Brett Kistler — entrepreneur and executive coach who spent much of his life traveling the world full-time as an extreme sports athlete while building a remote software company. Brett also co-hosts the Art of Accomplishment podcast with Joe Hudson, who was a previous guest on this podcast. We unpack many things, including how BASE jumping acted as a hard reboot on his mind and how he uses his emotional inquiry practice to stay alive in extremely risky situations. ~~ 🔗 Official Links 🎙️ Listen to Brett and Joe on the Art of Accomplishment podcast Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Brushes with Insanity, Insights from Solitude & The Inner Adventure with Daniel Thorson | 22 Mar 2023 | 01:18:29 | |
This is a special episode with Daniel Thorson — who I initially came across through his super podcast called 'Emerge' and later learned that he was living as a full-time monastic at the Monastic Academy in Vermont — where after a series of conversations, he persuaded me to come and sit for a 10-day retreat — which I just returned from myself recently. I found this was an immensely rich conversation, and I'm grateful to Daniel for opening up about some of the experiences he had recently during 73 days of solitude and silence (which he described as the most profound experience of his life) — during which he had some brushes with insanity but emerged (no pun intended) on the other side with some very hard-won insights to share. ~~ 🔗 Official Show Notes 🔗 💬 Find Daniel on Twitter @dthorson Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| The Orchestra of Ancient Healing Wisdom & Practices with Dr. John Churchill | 08 Mar 2023 | 01:22:06 | |
Dr. John Churchill spent 15 years training and teaching “Great Seal” meditation in an Indo-Tibetan lineage and is a founding member of the Integral Institute led by the well-known philosopher, Ken Wilber. Over the last 25 years, John has developed his style of practice — an integrated Fourth Turning path — that weaves together somatically based contemplative practices that integrate psychodynamic healing, adult development, and meditation. This was an incredible conversation that touched on how 'trauma fuses our awareness to our attentional system', his views on how to integrate plant medicines and psychedelics into this work and what he calls the 'fundamental interior science breakthroughs'.
🧘 Learn more about John's 250hr Planetary Dharma meditation training via Samadhi Integral Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Exploring Somatics, Breathwork & Emotional Fluidity with Jonny Miller & Christofer Lövgren | 15 Feb 2023 | 01:51:12 | |
This is a slightly different type of episode — in which my friend Christofer interviewed me for his superb DO EXPLAIN Podcast. I enjoyed the conversation so much that I decided it was worth releasing here as well. This is one of the deepest dives I've done on all things related to emotional fluidity, and various modalities for working with somatics and finding wholeness. Christofer was such a superb conversational partner and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
🎙️ Subscribe to Christofer's awesome podcast Do Explain Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Deep Fix: Exploring Hakomi & Ayahuasca as Antidotes to Addiction with Alex Olshonsky | 26 Jan 2023 | 01:22:15 | |
My brother Alex Olshonsky ~ aka. "Olo" ~ is a dear friend. We've spent time together in Guatemala, and he is fast becoming one of the most prominent voices on addiction and the psychedelic renaissance. We discuss concerns, risks & hopes for the rise of entheogens ~ what he learned from spending time with the Shipibo indigenous lineages, how we both got a little 'messed up' from studying post-modernist philosophy, navigating the 'woke, anti-woke culture wars' his definition of false urgency + socially acceptable addictions, unpacking the modality of Hakomi ~ a lesser-known method of somatic psychology & much more. ~~ 🔗 Official Links 📝 Alex's Writing & Coaching ~ Deep Fix Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| In-Depth Protocols for Nervous System Thriving with Grimhood | 25 Nov 2022 | 01:10:43 | |
Today's guest is Daniel—who goes by the name of 'Grimhood' on Twitter. I've been a subscriber to his Patreon account for a while and was so impressed with his immensely well-researched and in-depth that blended his knowledge of pharmacology with indigenous systems of medicine. In this conversation, we unpack a handful of these protocols that he shares, including a deep dive on all things Magnesium, why so many of us are deficient in it, why you're almost certainly not getting enough and how to dose correctly. Then we dive into his protocol for dealing with OCD and anxiety, the importance of seeing sunrise and sunset daily to set the circadian rhythm and much more. Just a heads up that this episode does get into the weeds with a lot of detail, but if you'd like the summary of Daniel's protocols, I recommend finding his Patreon page linked in the show notes and finding his in-depth resources there.
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| You Are One Question Away From a Completely Different Life with Marc Champagne | 05 Feb 2025 | 01:22:19 | |
In this episode, I'm speaking with Marc Champagne — who after building a journaling app that reached nearly 90 million users and then having to shut it down, emerged with profound insights about the power of transformative questions and the Socratic Method. In this conversation, we explored: 🧠 And how his research led him to explore practices of Mental Fitness, with many practical experiments that you can run in your own life I hope you find this conversation as fascinating as I did, and if these ideas resonate, please share them with others who might benefit from learning how to ask better questions of themselves and life. Official Links 👋 Follow Marc on Instagram Connect + Explore More from Jonny 🫁 Episode Sponsor — Nervous System Mastery This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Human Zoo Counter-Measures & Breaking Breath-Hold Records with Erwan Le Corre | 01 Nov 2022 | 01:40:49 | |
Today's guest is Erwan Le Corre. Erwan is many things, including the founder of MovNat ~ which is a synthesis of his passion for physical competency with his love of movement in nature. More recently, Erwan also became a US national static breath hold record holder. In this conversation, we talk about what he describes as the challenges of 'Hamster fitness' & movement poverty predicament and some of his ideas for what he describes quite brilliantly as Human Zoo counter-measures. We also dive into (pun not intended) some of the benefits of practising breath-holding, increasing your CO2 tolerance ~ and how he can hold his breath for over 8 minutes.
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| Mental Resilience, Cognitive Canaries & High-Stakes Decision Making with Retired Poker Pro Chris Sparks | 07 Oct 2022 | 01:26:33 | |
Chris Sparks is a one-of-a-kind human; he's a retired professional poker pro who was once ranked one of the top 20 players in the world. But in recent years, he has applied himself to coaching and running workshops on decision-making, systems thinking, and peak performance. And as you'll hear in this conversation, he is not only brilliant but also wise. Before we hit record, I said to Chris let's record a masterclass in mindset for staying calm and making good decisions in high-stress environments ~ and he didn't really disappoint. Our conversation ranged from talking about tools he used to stay calm or shift his state during high-stakes poker games and how he eliminated mental distractions in critical moments. He shared some meta-principles that he learnt through poker but applies to life more broadly—as well as how his approach and philosophy around productivity have shifted over the years. I deeply enjoyed this conversation with Chris, and I have a sense that you will too. I'll also mention that Chris has what he calls a 'performance assessment', which I've linked in the show notes ~ that provides a series of excellent questions to reflect on.
Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| The Art & Science of Leveraging Your Physiology with Aaron Alexander | 15 Sep 2022 | 01:09:54 | |
Aaron is a pioneering manual therapist and movement coach, founder and creator of the Align Method. This is one hell of a fun conversation packed with big ideas and super practical takeaways ~ we range from talking about the value of play and emotional fluidity ~ to post-ejaculatory experiences and a mini-masterclass in how to leverage your physiology & posture to change how you feel. “I believe the way to obtain true, optimal health is through aligning our mind, body, and movement. The fundamentals are simple and I’m here to help.”– Aaron Alexander ~~~ 🔗 Resources & Links to Aaron's Work 👋 Follow Aaron over on Instagram @alignpodcast
Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Achieve More, Grind Less & Increase Your Aliveness with Michael Ashcroft | 01 Sep 2022 | 01:36:41 | |
It's always fun to have conversations with friends and this one, in particular, has been several years in the making. If you're interested in meditation, breathwork or getting more done with more joy then this episode is a must-listen. Some of the themes we unpack include: what it means to 'expand your awareness', exploring the space and freedom between stimulus + response, what it means practically to 'escape grind mode' and what we both mean when we talk about increasing our sense of 'aliveness'. ~~~~~~ 🔗 Resources & Links 👋 Follow Michael over on Twitter @m_ashcroft ~~~~~~
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| New Frontiers of Breathwork: Translating the Language of the Breath & Cultivating Nervous System Resilience with Ed Dangerfield | 23 Jun 2022 | 01:43:10 | |
In this episode, Edward Dangerfield and I do a deep dive on a new modality of breathwork, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Facilitated Breath Repatterning ~ or FBR for short ~ will be globally recognised in 4-5 years' time and that the research that is beginning here in Bali will go on to make some significant discoveries about the connection between breathing patterns + patterns of behaviour. As you'll hear in this conversation, what I believe is truly unique about this mode of breathwork ~ is that it is both scientific in its approach, involving the practitioner 'reading the breath' of the client, and then making facilitations that often elicit profound shifts. I'll also add that my capacity to hold myself through intense experiences and feel comfortable expressing emotions has been transformed by this work. Since recording the initial conversation with Ed (link) I completed a 400hr training with him and the team here in Bali. But despite having literally hundreds of hours of conversations with him, I learnt so many new things myself from this conversation. Some of the highlights were: 🫁 He walks us through an imaginary breath translation ~ so that you as a listener will get a sense for this art of reading and interpreting the language of breath. I also loved hearing him articulate the connection between capacity for dynamic breathing and dynamic thinking ~ the very tangible effects on health and lived experience of having Maladaptive breathing patterns. 🚀 And finally some of his bold ideas for the broader impact that this emerging modality of FBR might have ~ running large-scale studies, working with leaders of organisations to move them from moving overachievers to high achievers & an idea to design a breathwork-specific wearable device that could enable self-guided journeys to be run safely. 🔗 Resources & Links 🌎 Recommended International Breathwork Practitioners Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| What Creates Lasting Transformation? From Homeless Heroin Addict to Prolific Podcaster + Behaviour Change Coach with Eric Zimmer | 10 Apr 2022 | 01:41:46 | |
🎙️ Episode Overview He's also a father, serial entrepreneur, behaviour coach, and author on a quest to understand how we might live more intentional lives. And we get into the impact that these conversations has had on his life and perspective over the last decade, but we begin with the chapters of his life before the podcast — at age 24 Eric was living out the back of a van, spending $300 a day on his heroin addiction and up to 50 years in jail. We dive into this transformational journey of recovery—the gifts and challenges inherent in the AA program as well as his thoughts on what created the conditions for both his addiction and the sobriety that followed. It was interesting to see how Eric and I share a mutual fascination for questions around how to take insights and apply them to everyday life—and the parallels between the Spiritual Habits group program that Eric hosts with the work that I’ve been involved with around resilience and researching the nervous system. 🔗 Show Notes + Links 🎙️ Subscribe to the 'One You Feed' podcast on Spotify Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| The Pathless Path & The Magic of Non-Doing with Paul Millerd | 29 Mar 2022 | 01:32:00 | |
Paul and I first met 3 years ago at an event in Portland—he had recently left his job in corporate consulting and we bonded over how lost we'd both felt at times. Later that week I gave him a copy of 'The Three Marriages' a book by David Whyte where he talks about the Pathless Path that is required for anyone looking to do or create something original. Fast-forward to today and Paul has just published his first book — Called the Pathless Path — which is his roadmap of sorts for those of us who might have had the boldness to quit the default path & taking an experiment-based approach to figure out how to live well.
🤔 How he has been exploring the magic of non-doing *** 🔗 Links Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Being in Service to Life with Charles Eisenstein | 18 Mar 2022 | 01:24:14 | |
🎙️ Episode Overview What I appreciated about this conversation was his deep presence and at times a refusal to answer my question because he felt like there was a deeper and more real question beneath the surface. You can feel the urgency in the tone of his voice, the deep sense of how much is wrong with the world and his sincere desire to not bypass this deep discomfort.
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| Meditation Myth-Busting, Finding Alignment & Living an Effortless Life with Michael King | 10 Jan 2022 | 01:56:00 | |
This is a really unique episode—Michael King has been a mentor of mine and dear friend for nearly four years now. If it weren't for some of our conversations I'm not sure that Curious Humans would even exist, at least not in the form that it does today. I find some of his perspectives and approaches to meditation and life so refreshing and my goal for this conversation was really to tease out some of the ideas and radical concepts that he has shared with me privately over the years. Some of the questions we explored: *** Michael is also launching the third iteration of his Meditation Teacher Training early next March which I was a student in two years ago. What I learnt in that training profoundly shaped not only my work as a founder coach but also deepened my own practice and my relationship to my own mind and emotional landscape. So if training to become a meditation teacher or deepening your own practice is something that calls to you, I would absolutely recommend getting in touch with Michael. He's generously offering Curious Humans, listeners, $200 off the 2022 training — just mention Curious Humans when you reach out. *** 🔗 Links Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Blueprints for Civilisation, Post-traumatic Growth & Re-imagining the Role of the Human with Dr. Zachary Stein | 24 Dec 2021 | 01:42:21 | |
I'm really thrilled to be bringing you this philosophical deep dive with truly I think one of the most radical and thoughtful thinkers of our generation. Dr. Zachary Stein is a co-founder of The Consilience Project—which publishes novel research and explores questions surrounding global risk mitigation and existential threats facing humanity. He is the Academic Director Center for Integral Wisdom and the author of 'Education in a Time Between Worlds' – which I've personally gifted myself to many friends and shifted how I think about the future of schooling. In this conversation, we cover some truly fascinating territory, because of his multi-disciplinary approach Zak has a truly unique perspective on some of the biggest questions of our time.
What questions come alive in your mind? How might you see yourself contributing? Drop me a note on twitter... and finally, if this conversation resonates, do consider sharing a link with a friend who might also appreciate it. 🔗 Links Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Minimum Viable Woo, Trusting Curiosity & Navigating a Dark Night of the Soul with Tom Morgan | 06 Jan 2025 | 01:09:38 | |
In this episode, I'm speaking with Tom Morgan — who after 15 years on Wall Street and experiencing what he describes as a "hellish midlife transition" (which is putting it mildly) has emerged with profound insights about human development and — especially relevant for this podcast – the nature of curiosity itself. In this conversation, we explored: 🏔️ An insight about what he calls "intellectual recapture" — which is the tendency, especially among highly educated or successful people, to turn spiritual or embodied practices into yet another achievement to conquer. ⚡ Practical insights about designing personal experiments and the importance of what he calls "minimum viable woo" — finding ways to engage with transformative practices that don't require abandoning our critical thinking.
👋 Follow Tom on Twitter/X @tomowenmorgan Connect + Explore More from Jonny 🫁 Episode Sponsor — Nervous System Mastery This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Redefining Emotional Freedom, Exploring Healthy Ambition & Accessing Deep Joy with Joe Hudson | 08 Dec 2021 | 01:56:28 | |
Joe Hudson is many things — he's a Venture Capitalist and renowned executive coach, but beyond that, he is a rare example of someone who in my perspective has accessed some profound truths about the human experience and is putting himself out there into the world helping others to find greater joy and ease in their lives. *** ❓ We begin with his perspective on wonder and explore what makes for the capacity to ask transformational questions. Joe also mentions his experiences doing naked breathwork, the one-two punch tactic he used to use to get out of speeding tickets, why selfishness is a word used to get children to do what their parents want and why you have to allow your heart to break a little to increase your capacity to love. *** I was quite taken aback by how many of my recent Nervous System Mastery students had taken Joe's 'Connection Course' and how tremendously impactful they shared it had been in their journeys of self-exploration and finding greater depths of emotional maturity.
So to this end, I'd like to make the case for at the very least considering the 'Connection Course' that he's offering—it's very reasonably priced ($300) and uses a “cohort of two” learning format that combines the power of cohort-based learning with the flexibility of a self-paced course.
"This course is a unique approach to relationships with yourself and others. It dramatically changes your ability to accomplish what you want in your life with ease and joy. It will help you examine the way that you show up at work and in your personal life, all through training a mindset that leads to more connection and more satisfying relationships."
>> You can use the code CURIOUS to save 10% on Joe's course here <<
Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| The Art of Asking Questions, Incentivising Negative Effort & Deconstructing Human Perception with Malcolm Ocean | 05 Nov 2021 | 02:08:28 | |
In this episode, I speak with my good Twitter friend Malcolm Ocean. Malcolm is many many things, but first and foremost I consider him to be not only relentlessly curious but also prolific in sharing his practical philosophy mostly through the medium of thoughtful Twitter threads. I predicted that the experience of listening to this conversation might be a little like the feeling of being trapped inside a pinball machine bouncing between unrelated topics... but in fact, what unfolded was a really satisfying dance around parallel threads which centred around our mutual interest of human attention and perception — and how these theories have deep practical value our daily life. Some of the topics we danced around include: ❓ The value and art of holding questions, and sitting with deep uncertainty.
Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Exploring the Three Marriages of Self, Work and Partnership with Kelly Wilde | 14 Oct 2021 | 01:48:11 | |
Kelly Wilde is an artist, podcaster, performer, meditation mentor and poet who has been exploring the intersections of soul explorations, creative work and rewilding. She also happens to be my wife, and this episode fell on our 18-month anniversary — it’s a particularly juicy conversation and easily the most personal conversation that I've aired to date. In this conversation, we dance around a range of personal topics including: I hope you enjoy this intimate conversation with the love of my life, Kelly Wilde. *** Where to find Kelly on the Interwebs: 📸 Instagram: @kellywildemiller Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| The Science of the Nervous System, Functional Breathwork Training and Our Sixth Sense of Interoception with Conni Biesalski | 17 Sep 2021 | 01:33:04 | |
Conni and I have collaborated on a number of projects over the years and we've both followed remarkably similar paths from the world of entrepreneurship into the world of breathwork & nervous system science. In this conversation, Conni starts off by sharing some of her personal journey, her various heartbreaks and compartmentalisation of her sexuality that led her from being a very successful travel writer into being a prolific creator in the world of personal development and ultimately to the work she's doing now as a breath coach. From there we pretty rapidly dive go into the nitty-gritty aspects of breathwork and unpack some of the nervous system neurobiology that we've both been learning... including: – – – – – 🙋♀️ Where to find Conni Online 🖥️ Website + blog: conni.me Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Effing the Ineffable, Re-Imagining Love & Relieving Reality of Its Seriousness with Alice Frank | 21 Jun 2021 | 01:56:54 | |
In one of the longest and most wide-ranging episodes to date, this conversation is with filmmaker, poet, relationship coach and utterly unique human being Alice Frank—who is here as she says to proudly "eff the ineffable". Her book 'My Real Name Is You' has been loved by Eckhart Tolle said 'My favourite poem I ever heard' and Jason Mraz who shared: 'Her words are alive the same way notation can fly off a page and become sweet music.' Here's a sampling of where our conversation led: *** Explore Alice's Homepage + Portfolio // Uniamory Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Overcoming Imposter Syndrome & Re-Claiming Your Attention with Award Winning Poet Max Stossel | 06 Jun 2021 | 01:05:30 | |
Max Stossel is an award-winning poet (whose short films have been seen over 40 million times) advisor to Tech for Humanity, successful filmmaker and all-around wise human who I'm grateful to call a brother. In this poetic + lyrical conversation we explore: 🖋️ The journey that led him from designing notification systems at a social media company to exploring the art and science of attention. *** See Max in action // wordsthatmove.com Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Jamie Wheal on The Meaning Crisis, Hedonic Engineering & Forging a Culture of Post-Traumatic Growth | 20 May 2021 | 01:49:42 | |
This is one HELL of an episode with honestly one of the most interesting and radical thinkers of our generation. Jamie is a renaissance man. He's well known for his work writing Stealing Fire and creating the Flow Genome Project—and as you'll hear in our conversation the book he has just published is unlike anything else you'll ever read. I see Jamie as being a bridge between the spiritual and the scientific. He's pioneering studies with Johns Hopkins and MAPS whilst wading deep into questions of how to we evolve and mature as humans or in his words—how do we "Stay awake. Build stuff. And help out." In this conversation which felt more like a science-fiction rhapsody we bounce around between: Truly this has been one of my favourite and mind-bending conversations to date—if you enjoyed it please take a few moments to share on the socials, go out and buy his book Recapture the Rapture and start experimenting with some of the protocols and practices that he shares (Bonus points if you send Jamie a letter telling him what you’ve done!) *** 📚 Buy Jamie’s New Book // recapturetherapture.com Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| How to Human: Exploring Soul Initiation, Mythopoetic Identity & The Spiritual Adventure with Depth Psychologist & Wilderness Guide Dr. Bill Plotkin | 04 May 2021 | 01:58:16 | |
Dr. Bill Plotkin is a depth psychologist, wilderness guide and visionary ecopsychologist—his work might well be the map that you didn't know you were looking for. It has been for me an immense treasure trove of practical wisdom and guidance for thinking about my own growth and maturity. At the end of our conversation, he shared that this was a book written for future generations—and I believe it may take decades before the importance of this body of work is fully understood. I hope that this conversation will play some role in spreading his ideas—and on that note, in this deep dive conversation we explore: *** Read Bill's book // The Journey of Soul Initiation Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Designing a GPS for Navigating Challenging Emotions with Cris Beasley | 19 Nov 2020 | 01:33:15 | |
This seeds for this conversation were planted at the end of last year when I was listening to a podcast called ‘Hack Reality’ and Cris shared her phone number at the end of the episode—I sent her a voice memo about the Poet David Whyte... we since became good friends and when COVID hit she followed an intuitive hit to reach out and ended up living with us here in Oaxaca Mexico for a month. Cris has one of the most eclectic backgrounds you’ll come across. She went from founding a venture-backed AI fashion company, to hosting a podcast about the future of technology, and more recently has taken a left turn into the world of trauma healing and spent the better part of the last three years designing a card deck for exploring shadow emotions—which is about to launch on Kickstarter. So as I said, one hell of an eclectic background and as such our conversation dances around between: And then things go off the deep end and she talks about a kundalini awakening experience she had in an ancient Mayan Ruin, and about 52 minutes in Cris shares her roadmap and toolkit for people to begin with Shadow work, navigate existential crises and exploring the roots of their repressed emotions and the vision she has for her card deck being used as an Emotional Guidance System. 🐉 I thoroughly encourage you to check-out the card deck Cris spent the last three years designing over on Kickstarter. Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Mindfulness, Language Learning & The Four Causes of Procrastination with Arthur Worsley | 19 Nov 2020 | 01:01:52 | |
Arthur Worsley is a close friend of mine that I met in Bali where over many dinners together he educated me in the tactics for learning Bhasa, memorising my TEDx talk and really opened my eyes to the world of meta-learning that he has specialised in. Back in the day, he studied neurophysiology at Oxford in the UK and since became conversationally fluent in 8 languages and also applies his learning superpowers to things like ultra-marathon running and collecting wisdom from the crazy number of books he reads. In this wide-ranging conversation, we dive into the simultaneous devastating personal loss and financial gain that he received nearly a decade ago and how that was a catalyst for reinventing himself. He also walks me through how he thinks about procrastination and the four main causes of it, his approach for cultivating and tracking mindful metta moments and some thoughts on how his life may be altered by the child that he and his fiancé are expecting. 📚 Read Arthur's book reviews, ongoing meta-learning insights, his habit tracker and (free) book on working less hard here: theartofliving.com Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Meet the Man Reimagining Neuroscience: Michael Edward Johnson | 17 Dec 2024 | 01:56:56 | |
I’m speaking with theoretical neuroscientist Michael Edward Johnson — who, after spending seven years researching consciousness and writing the book Principia Qualia, has developed a revolutionary theory that could fundamentally change how we understand trauma, meditation, and human wellbeing. Mike’s theory of ‘latches’ — what he calls vasocumputation — may provide a testable and concrete biological mechanism for how trauma gets stored in the body, and how to release it effectively. This sounds nerdy and abstract, but it’s my belief that if his claims can be tested and validated — it would revolutionize the medical system and allow somatic modalities or MDMA-assisted therapy to be compared and tested side-by-side in their efficacy and we could harness the scientific method for ways to release trauma. Official Links 👋 Follow Michael on Twitter/X @johnsonmxe Connect + Explore More from Jonny 🫁 Episode Sponsor — Nervous System Mastery This is my flagship 5-week bootcamp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our 8th cohort will run in Fall 2025 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything I've learned in recent years about creating the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing. It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking improved their sleep and quality of relationships and tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 1000 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️ I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) | |||
| Creating Smart Luck & Engineering Serendipity with Dr. Christian Busch | 09 Nov 2020 | 01:26:12 | |
Dr. Christian Busch directs the CGA Global Economy Program at (NYU) and teaches on purpose-driven business, entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and (social) innovation at NYU and at the London School of Economics (LSE). Christian is also the co-founder of Sandbox Network, a leading community of young innovators, as well as of Leaders on Purpose—an organization convening leading CEOs. He has a host of impressive accolades to his name, one of the Davos 50, an RSA fellow and frequently speaks at the World Economic Forum. He's also the author of a fascinating new book called 'The Serendipity Mindset' that we really dive into in this conversation. 🎙️ In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about what he learned from his near-death car accident at 17, his journey from economics lecturer to writing a book about cultivating smart luck, surefire ways of having dull conversations and some tangible suggestions for building the muscle of serendipity in one's own life. 📚 You can say hi to Christian on Twitter @ChrisSerendip. And I strongly encourage you to get your mitts on a copy of Christian's new book 'The Serendipity Mindset' Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| The Everyday Wizardry of Ritual with Casper Ter Kuile | 22 Jun 2020 | 01:18:06 | |
Casper Ter Kuile is one of the most genuinely joy-filled humans that I have had the pleasure of knowing. In this conversation we do a deep dive into his new book 'The Power of Ritual' which is out the day this episode airs, it’s honestly a perspective-shifting and heart-warmingly beautiful book on discovering the sacred amidst everyday life and seeing the world through the eyes of ritual. It's a real corker of a conversation! A few of the stories + questions we dive into are: ⛪ Some of his early experiences as a climate activist that unexpectedly led him to Harvard Divinity School *** Where to find Casper on the interwebs
📚 Finally... I strongly encourage you to get your mitts on a copy of Casper's new book 'The Power of Ritual' Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| Make Your Myth, Face Your Shadow & Own Your Truth with Erick Godsey | 08 Jun 2020 | 01:22:43 | |
All I can say is that you're in for a treat with this conversation. Erick Godsey studies the myths that make us—he uses cognitive, evolutionary, and Jungian psychology to help people discover, articulate, and change the stories that rule their lives.
Where to find Erick G. on the interwebs 📸 Instagram @erickgodsey Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||
| The Subtle Art of Facilitation with Andi Cuddington | 01 Jun 2020 | 01:33:16 | |
This conversation is with a close friend of mine, Andi Cuddington—I think of her as a modern-day renaissance woman and I’ll typically turn to her for advice if I’m going through something challenging in my life. Andi is just endlessly curious and has a totally unique lens on the world as you’ll hear in our conversation. She has had a thousand side-hustles and jobs in her non-linear career but many of the dots have connected and she has found her calling designing and facilitating workshops—more than anyone else I've encountered, she has mastered of the art + science of workshop facilitation and we do a deep dive into some of her tips and suggestions as well as: ✔️ Unexpected items on her "Apoco-list" –– –– 🙋♂️ Learn more about Andi's facilitation superpowers here: andicuddington.com Connect + Explore More from Jonny | |||