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Hero’s Journey

The Queen’s Gambit, The Hero’s Journey, Veganism, and Exercise: Tyson Yunkaporta on PYP 439

Author, academic, and artist Tyson Yunkaporta offers an Indigenous perspective on some of the core beliefs that have guided my life. Some, like veganism, survive in a different form. Others, like the Hero’s Journey, lie in tatters. And some, like exercise, get transformed and deepened.

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Balancing Future Goals with Present Attention

Today Mergoddess Sarah Bofinger and I talk about balancing big future goals – which can be motivating as hell, but also scary and possibly intimidating and overwhelming – with the simple, repetitive daily actions that may eventually get us there.

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Healing the Warrior Spirit with Ron Tibbs: PYP 352

Ron Tibbs is a wellness coach, plant-based advocate, and all-around great guy.

He’s part of the core team at WellStart Health, where he coaches, guides, and cheerleads clients to make significant positive changes in their lives.

Ron is perfectly situated to do this, because he’s created his own massive changes in the face of very strong opposing forces.

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Rediscovering Radical Wholeness with Philip Shepherd: PYP 326

Philip Shepherd is the author of Radical Wholeness: The Embodied Presence and the Ordinary Grace of Being. 

I was introduced to Philip’s work by my friend and teacher Mark Leuchten.

About 12 pages into Radical Wholeness, I felt my entire worldview shift. Some of the cultural blinders that had blocked my understanding of wholeness were revealed, and I began to understand where I was in conflict with myself, and why, and what I could start to do to harmonize myself. I needed to know more.

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Relishing the Struggle with Sarah Bofinger: PYP 312

Sarah Bofinger is an unlikely Olympic hopeful, a WellStart Health Coach, and a fountain of positivity. Today she returns to the podcast to update us on her Olympic dreams, and to share how becoming a WellStart Health coach has taken her training and life to a new level of awesome.

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Howard Jacobson on Procrastination, Cocoons, and the Unfinished Office: PYP 303

Happy New Year! I come to you today from the cab of my truck, in my driveway, to talk about the fact that my new office isn’t ready to move in, and it’s January 1, and it’s kind of driving me crazy.

I don’t even have access to my studio, my computer, my completed interviews – nothing. Everything is in tight storage, because I thought the new office would be ready for me by New Year’s Eve.

I turn for solace and wisdom to the poet David Whyte. In today’s episode, I read and discuss with you a short essay titled “Procrastination.”

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An Olympic Quest Powered by Plants with Sarah Bofinger: PYP 271

Sarah “Mergoddess” Bofinger swam before she walked – literally. Born with hip dysplasia (I thought the same thing: “Isn’t that something Golden Retrievers get?”), she required six surgeries before she celebrated her fourth birthday.

Sarah was put in the water for therapy and rehabilitation, and took to it like a, well, mergoddess to water. Swimming, as well as dancing and gymnastics, helped take her mind of the discomfort and pain of the constant hip problems.

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Damien Mander on Becoming an Anti-Poaching Warrior and Rediscovering His Heart: PYP 225

Damien Mander’s entire identity centered around war: as a 19-year-old who joined the Australian Royal Navy and trained as a clearance diver; as a spec-ops sniper; as a member of an elite Tactical Assault Group; and as a special operations soldier in Iraq for three years.

After leaving Iraq in 2008 after 12 tours of duty, Damien was burned out, dispirited, and ill-equipped to manage in civilian society. Still addicted to adventure and thrill, he found his way to Southern Africa, where he started working with the rangers and organizations dedicated to protecting the big animals of Africa from poachers.

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So What?

My good friend and business partner Josh LaJaunie placed third in his first 100-mile race last Saturday.

My first reaction upon hearing the news: “So what?”

No, I haven’t turned all jealous and snarky.

I wasn’t asking Josh, or the Universe. I was asking myself.

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