Knowledge

Topics

Things to explore from PTSD to LSD, and everything in between.

Zen Buddhism

Zen Buddhism encourages direct, experiential realization through meditation and mindfulness, favoring personal insight over doctrinal study.

Stellate Ganglion Block

SGB injects anesthetic near the neck to block nerves, "resetting" stress response. Used for PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

Bowlby's Attachment Theory

Bowlby's theory suggests infants' emotional/social growth is deeply influenced by primary caregiver bonds, a survival-rooted mechanism.

Shiva the Hindu God

In Hinduism, Shiva is central as the cosmic destroyer and restorer, revered for his roles in death, regeneration, meditation, and dance.

Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)

NSDR, or Non-Sleep Deep Rest, is a mindful state that rejuvenates mind & body without sleep. It draws from meditation, neuroscience & more.

Interoception

Interoception is our body's sense of its internal state, like hunger or heart rate. It influences emotions, self-awareness, and well-being.

Books

My favorite books on life transitions and personal transformation.

The Myth of Normal

"Myth of Normal" explores the rise in illness due to societal norms like stress & trauma. The key to health? Addressing these root causes.

The Four Agreements

"The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz is a bestselling book that provides four powerful principles for personal freedom and fulfillment.

The Power of Now

"The Power of Now" is a bestselling spiritual guide that teaches readers how to live in the present moment and find inner peace.

How to Love

"How to Love" by Thich Nhat Hanh offers deep wisdom on cultivating love, mindfulness, and compassion in our relationships and daily lives.

People

Key figures in the fields of mental health, spirituality, and transformation.

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself."

"Trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you."

Bessel van der Kolk

"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."

"The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination."

"Intuition feels just the same when it's wrong and when it's right, that's the problem with intuition."

Daniel Kahneman

"The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life."

"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."

"Mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain."

Christopher Palmer, MD

"Our very lives as ex-problem drinkers depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs."

Each of us can manifest the properties of a field of consciousness that transcends space, time, and linear causality.

Dr. Stanislav Grof

"Our brain is a complex biological organ that is constantly changing in response to experience."

"Human emotions are complex adaptations that solve adaptive problems related to survival and reproduction."

"Our perception of reality is not a direct reflection of the world; it is filtered through our biases and expectations."

"Psychedelic therapy is more psychotherapy than most pharma companies & neuroscientists know how to deal with."

Dr. Matthew Johnson

"The mind is not a blank slate, but an intricate tapestry of biological and cultural influences."

"Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is."

"Anxiety and depressive affect are not a sign of personal weakness, but a manifestation of the human condition."

"The richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love, and play."

"The past is present until it is resolved."

Francine Shapiro

"Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience."

Dr. Gabor Maté

"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering."

Friedrich Nietzsche

"The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done."

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."

"The mind is a collection of specialized modules, each designed to solve specific adaptive problems."

"Psychedelics, used responsibly and with proper caution, would be for psychiatry what the microscope is for biology."

"Morality is not a subject; it's a perspective from which every subject can be taught."

Lawrence Kohlberg

"Play is the highest form of development in childhood. It alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul."

"Our brains have been sculpted by evolution to solve the adaptive problems of our ancestors."

"One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."

"If you want to understand your own life, you have to understand your mother's life."

"Family members who have the least amount of reactivity to others in the family are the most emotionally mature."

“The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.”

"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it's conformity."

"One of the most important things you can do to change your brain is to change your mind."

Robert Sapolsky

"Fungi are the interface organisms between life and death."

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few."

"The most inspiring achievements of civilization are the ones that expanded the scope of human sympathy."

"Perception is not the passive receipt of sensory information, but an active process of interpreting it."

"Man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life."

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

Siddhartha Gautama (aka The Buddha)

"The universe is not only stranger than we suppose, but stranger than we can suppose."

Terrence McKenna

"If you love someone, the best way to show it is to respect their freedom."

Thich Nhat Hanh

Video

Summaries and key points from in-depth interviews and lectures

How to Understand Emotions with Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett

Dr. Barrett explores emotion's complexity, brain's guesses, and language limits on Huberman Lab Podcast.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: A Modern Understanding of Addiction

Dr. Maté links addiction to trauma, stress, and the need for empathy in recovery.

Dr. Gabor Mate and the Power of Connection

Dr. Maté links ADHD to trauma, stressing the role of childhood, culture, and connection in health

Treating Mental Health with the Ketogenic Diet

Professionals

Coaches, therapists, healers and guides who I personally endorse.

Tracy Lawrence

Entrepreneur and ex-CEO of a Silicon Valley tech company who now coaches leaders using psychedelic integration and somatic practices.

Psychedelic Integration

Somatic Therapy

Entrepreneurship

Jonny Miller

Entrepreneur, teacher, and expert in nervous system management who focuses on emotional resilience for entrepreneurs and high-performers.

Nervous System Management

Andy's Unifying Theory of Personal Transformation

I created a holistic framework for personal transformation, the stages involved, and what you can expect throughout it.

Integrative Mental Health
University