Salish Wolf

This interview with Taoist (Daoist) Abbot Lao Zhi Chang is so rich and profound, I have decided to separate it into 2 episodes. For best cohesion, I suggest listening to them in order, but regardless, there is abundance to be gleaned separately from each. Lao was orphaned at the age of 6 and ran feral for 2 years before meeting the Buddhist monk that would raise him. This benevolent monk became La...

More than two decades ago, The Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity by Daniel Reid became a pivotal book in guiding my life journey toward natural medicine and healing philosophies. His prolific writings on Chinese Medicine, Martial Arts, Taoism, Nutrition, and Tea have likely shaped countless other personal journeys. Daniel’s life is replete with rich experiences and cultures. Growing up in East Afr...

Having an intimate, first-time conversation with someone can be as unpredictable as an open ocean paddle. Fortunately, I chose well as this conversation is with the person who makes the best paddles in the world. David Smart is perhaps not the typical dude you would expect to find carving a niche in surf culture. As much as he loves the water and the thrill of exploring it on a board, he also is p...

Michael Cobb is not your average real estate developer. He creates communities and lifestyle opportunities, and he does both with complete presence in the now and reverence for mother nature. Michael has a deep connection to spirit, which has helped him align with his greater purpose. When sudden illness threatened to take his life less than a decade ago, Michael was not faced with regret, anger,...

Barefoot Ted McDonald sprinted into the spotlight with the publication of the bestselling book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Barefoot Ted is one of the crazy, larger-than-life characters that springs off the pages of McDougall’s recount of their epic adventure to run a 50-mile race in the deadly Copper Canyons of Mexico with the legendary Tarahumara Indians. Growing up as a rebellious skat...

Jon Turk has lived an incredible life filled with enough adventures to incapacitate most, and enough hardship to extinguish the wildest passion. But Jon is no ordinary individual; he is an extraordinary human that even today, at 75-years-old, continues to live life on his terms and at the edge that only he defines. Fifty years ago, Jon earned a Ph. D. in organic chemistry, wrote the first environm...

In this episode, drug policy researcher Alan Cassels and I take a deep look into some less than desirable tactics of the pharmaceutical and health care industries. Alan has been investigating and reporting on nefarious industry strategies for more than 2 decades, and his books Selling Sickness and Seeking Sickness expose the dirty underbelly that some corporations and leaders would rather you did...

Michael Schiesser has been a powerful force in my life, helping me to grow in ways where I was not looking for growth. This in part is due to the curriculum he has created through the Inner Journey Institute that operates trainings in both the USA and Canada, and to his passion for serving others on their journeys. German born, Michael was raised under the influence and aftermath of World War II,...

This episode, like many others, is about the power and beauty of the human spirit. Yet this episode is not like any other. Joan Morris is an elder of the Songhees Nation of the Lekwungen People on Vancouver Island in British Columbia . As with many of her people, she has suffered greatly in the name of colonialization, and now she advocates for survivors of the draconian system that included resid...

My guest in this episode is crazy, and that is just one of his many strengths. Bruce Kirkby does not take life sitting down, unless he is exploring remote coasts and waterways in a canoe or kayak. His idea of a hike is not a loop in a nearby forest but instead a trek across jungles and deserts and entire landmasses. He plans 6-month rustic, transcontinental excursions with less stress than most pe...

It is always a pleasure connecting with Janne Robinson, a personal development coach, writer, surfer, mentor, and much more. This is Janne’s second time on Salish Wolf, and in her raw, vulnerable style, she again delivers a powerful message of truth and connection. Janne takes us inside her mega project of the year, a yearlong immersive program called “Your Truth is Your Medicine”, which is compri...

I first heard Wil’s music around 2003 in a nightclub in Victoria, BC. With that show, I became an instant fan of this crazy bearded man who could make more noise with a guitar than anyone I had ever encountered before. With wild guitar riffs, guitar drumming, his trademark broken strings, and his mesmerizing voice, Wil became my live act of choice. Over the years I have seen him up and down Vancou...

Joshua Hathaway is a profound communicator with the capacity to change lives – to change your life. He changes mine with every conversation, as each shows me subtle or significant shifts that I can make to better show up in this world. This is my second podcast conversation with Joshua – you can hear the first at Pacific Rim College Radio, episode 7 – and I could not be more honoured to again have...

My guest in this episode, Ray Zahab, is such an accomplished explorer and ultra distance runner that just listing the bulleted highlights of his accomplishments would fill an entire podcast. He has won numerous awards and honours, was featured in the documentary film “Running the Sahara” produced by Matt Damon, and risks his life each time he goes out on an expedition. But Ray does not set out on...

I first met Christa and her husband Luke (episodes 9 and 10) at a fearless intimacy workshop in Colorado only a few weeks after they resurrected their marriage. It was also around this time when they led their first marriage intensive to much approbation from attendees. This is one of Christa’s many gifts to the world: turning her weaknesses and pain into strengths and offerings. Christa now leads...

Jen Segger has traveled the globe competing as a world-class adventure racing athlete. She has, year after year, for nearly 2 decades, pushed her body to the extremes of what the human body is capable of enduring. And now, on the brink of 40, she is showing little sign of slowing down or becoming sedentary. Jen is my sister-in-law and partner to paddleboarder Norm Hann who I interviewed in episode...

For this second installment with Luke Gifford, we continue with the conversation we began in the previous episode. If you have not listened to that conversation, you should not have too much trouble following along, but listening to Episode 9 first will give you greater context for what we discuss here. Luke is a dear friend who has come into my life to be a confidante and guide. In this episode h...

Occasionally a person enters my life who I know almost instantly is going to have a profound impact on my personal journey. My guest in this episode, Luke Gifford, is one of those people. From our ‘non-chance’ encounter almost 2 years ago at a personal growth event, we immediately began a relationship of mutual support and challenge in which we settle for nothing but the best that each of us has t...

I first sat down with my guest in this episode, Pacific Rim College faculty member and herbalist Peter Conway, to record for my other podcast, Pacific Rim College Radio. However, I knew once the interview was over that I also needed to publish it here as, among other assets, Peter is freakishly intelligent and deeply committed to his purpose. He has lived in a van and a teepee, has fought for the...

I first showed up at the dojo of Hastings Martial Arts looking for a Karate class. A beginner one was not available at that moment, but Sensei Cory Hastings invited me to join a Jujitsu class that was starting in 15 minutes. So I did. Both Jujitsu and Sensei Cory were exactly what I needed in my life at that time, and now Cory also teaches karate to me and my 2 children. In this episode, Cory and...

If you take only one thing from this episode, hopefully it is powerful enough to keep you moving forward, even when it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. My guest in this episode, Zat Baraka, has carried that weight, even through the most painful times when he had considered giving up. It was through that pain that he discovered his own inner strength and greatness. He also d...

Fritzi Horstman is a rare, beautiful individual with a selfless passion to transform lives. As a Grammy-award winning producer for her work on the “The Defiant Ones”, Fritzi is not resting on her laurels. Nor is she coasting through Hollywood, lapping up the limelight. Instead, she is focusing on spending as much time as possible in prison, supporting incarcerated men and women. Fritzi believes wh...

I had a blast recording this episode with Janne Robinson. Janne is a 21st-century feminist beat poet, a personal development coach, a surfer, a beacon of inspiration, and so much more. With her raw, unabashed style, Janne takes us on a journey of her pursuit of personal truth. This journey weaves through recalcitrant body shame, the lightness and heaviness of impacting legions of women, and her pa...

Have you ever been overwhelmed by seemingly insurmountable hardship? My guest on this episode could have been the poster child for falling in the face of adversity. He could have checked out figuratively and literally countless times. The odds were certainly stacked against him. But he didn’t stay down or give up. Instead, he rose and continues to rise – not despite each challenge, but because of...

Have you ever met someone who earned your respect and devotion within seconds? For me, Paul Underhill is one of these people. I have actually known Paul for about a decade, but this interview is only the second time I have had a conversation with him – the first time having also been in an interview. In my opinion, there is nothing to not like about Paul. Through his five-decade-long battle with c...