Alex Olshonsky joins to share his story of healing a severe addiction and the role of community, spirituality, psychedelics, and holistic health in recovery. We explore how addiction is a spectrum, the role of numbing emotions, and pathways to wake up into a life of greater aliveness and joy. Alex helps brainstorm ways to apply the lessons from his journey and the world of holistic addiction treatment to broader applications like addressing the chronic health crisis and navigating modern life.
Connect with Alex:
Website: alexolshonsky.com
Newsletter: deepfix.substack.com
Connect with Sam:
Website: samsager.com
Newsletter: The Ripple
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at sam@firststonehealth.com
Mehdi Yacoubi joins to explore the transformative nature of strength training and the power of playing the long game. We discuss how to make exercise enjoyable, the downsides of health optimization, and ways to overcome resistance. Mehdi highlights how he balances intense training with his roles as a new father and founder of Vital, a social network for health. Throughout this discussion, we explore how can intentionally embrace exercise to increase our capacity to meet the challenges of life.
Connect with Mehdi:
Twitter: @Mehdiyac
Newsletter: The Long Game
Company: Vital Social Health
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Personal Writing: onrenewal.substack.com
You can join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness at intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Dr. Tracy Townsend joins to discuss her experiences with psychedelics as a tool for transformation and healing. She explains why she is leaving a career as an orthopedic surgeon to launch, Eleusia Health, a start-up focused on psychedelic medicine and holistic care. We cover the use cases and potential impact of psychedelics, especially when incorporated with modalities like meditation and breathwork. Tracy share’s her perspective on topics like conscious experience as a controlled hallucination, the illusion of separation, and being in “right relationship” to life.
Connect with Tracy:
Twitter: @tracyktownsend
Site: tracytownsendmd.com
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing: onrenewal.substack.com
Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Charlotte Grysolle joins to share about her experiences exploring the nervous system, writing online, and completing a year of creative experiments. We chat about how she applies nerdy concepts like neuroplasticity and myelination in her own life. Charlotte gives practical tips on how individuals can reframe stress, unlock creativity, and cultivate calm on a daily basis. She even demonstrates how one can drop into panoramic vision in real-time during the episode. Throughout the discussion, you’ll hear how Charlotte is evolving in real-time through her experiences transitioning from a 10-year advertising career to online writing and supporting the students of Write of Passage.
Connect with Charlotte:
Twitter: @chargrysolle
Writing: charlottegrysolle.com
Newsletter: charlottegrysolle.com/newsletter
Workshop: Your Year of Creative Experiments
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing: onrenewal.substack.com
You can join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness at intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Go Deeper:
A Simple Visual Technique To Trick Your Mind Into Relaxation by Charlotte Grysolle
Reframe Stress as a Source of Energy by Charlotte Grysolle:
Discovering Joy Through Embodied Exercise by Sam Sager
Introduction and Description of the Psychological Sigh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSZKIupBUuc&ab_channel=TimFerriss
Steve Schlafman, a professional coach and writer, joins to share his perspective on change. He tells stories from his own life including his journey with addiction, pivot from a successful career in VC, and experience coaching high achievers. We discuss habits to support recovery, change as a slow wave, and the power of self-unfolding. Steve shares about parts-work, the shadow, and wholeness through his experiences with internal family systems (IFS). Lastly, we explore ways to rethink ambition and how many of society’s biggest problems are a “being problem”.
If this conversation resonates, you may enjoy Steve’s free annual review template. You can access it here: annualreview.life.
Connect with Steve:
Twitter: @schlaf
Writing: schlaf.co/writing
Coaching: Writing: schlaf.co/coaching
Connect with Sam Sager:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing: onrenewal.substack.com
Fitness: intuitivefitness.co
Go Deeper:
We Are multiple, Discovering The Many Parts of Yourself by Steve Schalfman
Rethinking Ambition by Steve Schalfman:
Work, Ambition, and Identity by Sam Sager
Sam Martin joins for a deep dive on the human body and movement patterns. We talk about why so many of us have restricted or painful movement and what we can do to address it. Sam discusses the key movements that all humans should be able to do and practical approaches to regaining these natural capacities without getting overwhelmed. We dig into nerdy topics like neuromuscular reeducation, pressure points, and full range of motion loading. But most of all Sam provides inspiration and actionable advice on how to reconnect to our bodies and train in a way that actually feels good.
Connect with Sam Martin:
Twitter: @movebettersam
MoveBetterProject: https://movebetterproject.com/
YouTube: MoveBetterProject Videos
Connect with Sam Sager:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing: onrenewal.substack.com
Website: intuitivefitness.co
Essay: Discovering Joy Through Embodied Exercise
Dan Shipper, Co-Founder of Every, joins to explore productivity through the lens of emotion regulation. We talk about how beneath the tools and technology, it’s really about psychology, neuroscience, physiology, relationships, and our environment. Dan highlights examples of how he applies these ideas in building a company and living a meaningful life. He shares stories of his journey with anxiety and panic attacks, selling his first company, and channeling more of himself into his current work with Every.
Connect with Dan:
Twitter: @danshipper
SuperOrganizers: every.to/superorganizers
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing: onrenewal.substack.com
You can join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Paul Millerd joins to share his perspective on the societal pressures that box us in and strategies to break free. Author of the Pathless Path and Creator of Strategy U, Paul is carving his own unique path and inspiring others to do the same. We talk about the power of identity, incentives, system dynamics, and scripts. We explore legible vs. illegible ambition, practicing agency, the receding frontier, reframing change, surfing on the edge of chaos, and so much more. Paul ends by sharing a bit about how his own ambition is evolving in real time.
Connect with Paul:
Twitter: @p_millerd
Boundless Website: think-boundless.com
Book: The Pathless Path
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing and Podcast: onrenewal.substack.com
Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Cécile Marion shares her experiences on her journey through the corporate world. She offers her perspective on how individuals can thrive within large organizations, the skills that enable some people to drive change at scale, and what makes certain organizations more capable of innovation and renewal. We discuss what has emerged during Cécile's sabbatical and her vision for helping to build a better future.
Connect with Cécile:
Twitter: @cecile_mcm
Website: cecilemarion.org
Check out Cécile's thread on her vision for helping to build a better future.
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing and Podcast: onrenewal.substack.com
Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Kristen Haaf joins to share her wisdom and experiences as a landscape architect. As the founder of Roots First, she brings her background in permaculture design and environmental planning to help her clients create life-giving landscapes. Kristen lives in the piedmont region of North Carolina where she grows an abundant food forest on her 1/4 acre suburban lot. In this episode, she provides guidance on slowing down, connecting to nature, cultivating a regenerative mindset, enhancing our sensory capacities, and embracing non-doing with nature. The stories that Kristen shares guide us on how to get started gardening and more deeply connect to the natural world around us.
Connect with Kristen:
Twitter: @kristenhaaf
Roots First: www.rootsfirst.com
Email: kristen@rootsfirst.com
Check out some photos from Kristen's 1/4 acre food forest and a time lapse of the rock wall raised bed Kristen mentions in the episode. The book by Joanna Macy that Kristen recommends is called: Coming Back to Life.
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing and Podcast: onrenewal.substack.com
Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Case Bradford joins to discuss Sam's favorite topic: intuitive exercise. He share's his journey ditching the gym for a nature-based approach to movement and life. He explains how he built his physique with just his body by using "nature's performance enhancing drugs". They chat about non-doing with physical movements, conscious vs. unconscious skill development, the power of creativity practices, and the many ways these activities impact our minds, bodies, and lives.
Connect with Case:
Twitter: @casbrad
Instagram: @casebradford
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/casebradford
Check out Steve Maxwell's Joint Mobility Movements and Case's viral Jiu Jitsu match.
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing and Podcast: onrenewal.substack.com
Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Jonny Miller joins the podcast to take us on a sensory adventure and explore the nervous system. He shares stories from his own life as a start-up founder, meditation teacher, and breathwork facilitator including his experience spending 10 days in total darkness. We discuss the impact of breathwork, the power of our environment, how nervous systems co-regulate, preventing burnout, habit formation, and so much more. Jonny provides practical tips on how we can create conditions to cultivate resilience and rise out of reactivity in our own lives.
You can read more about Sam's experience taking Jonny's course on Nervous System Mastery in this essay on reconnecting to the body.
Connect with Jonny:
Twitter: @jonnym1ller
Podcast & Writing: curioushumans.com
Course: nsmastery.com
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing and Podcast: onrenewal.substack.com
Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com
Rob Hardy joins to discuss how his work helping build joyful internet businesses is really about inner transformation. We cover how to reconnect to our intuition to create work that is full of life. He shares many stories from his own journey and highlights a few areas where he is encountering renewal in his own life.
Connect with Rob:
Writing & Community: ungated.media
Twitter: @ungatedcreative
Connect with Sam:
Twitter: @sc_sager
Writing and Podcast: onrenewal.substack.com
Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com
If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com