Wellness in the Wilderness

Clearly we are not okay - as a society, as a community, as humans. After a nice weekend with some friends, we realized we had forgotten how to hang out, but only after remembering how good it felt. This might blow your mind, I know it did for me since the time period shared is from the year I graduated high school until near-present day. This article in The Atlantic⁠ talks about this phenomenon: &...

Sydney and Barry bring you up to speed with everything Hiking My Feelings, or should we say Hiking Your Feelings ?

ABOUT OUR GUEST: Gladys McGarey began her medical practice at a time when women couldn’t even own their own bank accounts. Over the past sixty years, she has pioneered a new way of thinking about disease and health that has transformed the way we imagine health care and self-care around the world. The cofounder of the American Holistic Medical Association, Dr. McGarey has mentored everyone from Dr...

This week we are thrilled to have Katie Wightman, former Field Institute Director for the Sequoia Parks Conservancy, joining us for a conversation about the courage to revisit a dream from an earlier chapter in life, managing fear around trying something new, and how she finds wellness in the wilderness! ABOUT OUR GUEST: Katie Wightman worked for the Sequoia Parks Conservancy in Sequoia + Kings Ca...

This week we are thrilled to have Liz “Snorkel” Thomas joining us for a conversation about, well, all the things - manifesting your dreams, accomplishing huge goals, failure, teamwork, knowing your weaknesses, finding joy in the wilderness - this chat really does have something to inspire anyone and everyone. I supposed at the end of the day, this is a chat with a legendary human about her legenda...

This week we are thrilled to have Sirena Rana joining us for a conversation about her work in trail design - she is quite literally blazing trails and making outdoor experiences more accessible through intentional and inclusive trail design via her company, Trails Inspire. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Sirena Rana shares her love for the outdoors through writing, photography, public speaking and trail design t...

This week we are thrilled to have Gabaccia Moreno joining us for a conversation about all the things - People Over Profit (inspired by our panel at Outdoor Retailer), doing life (and business) differently, paying people what they’re worth, the Outdoorist Oath, and so much more! We recorded this episode together in the van in a parking lot in Salt Lake City - one of our first in-person interviews i...

Season Two of Wellness in the Wilderness is here and we’ve got an epic mini-season in store for you! In May, we celebrated five years since we started Hiking My Feelings, and as we were outlining the different guests we wanted to have on upcoming episodes of Wellness in the Wilderness, I noticed a pattern. There are so many incredible humans who have been a big part of our journey - whether that’s...

After a brief hiatus, we're back, and now we can finally share something we were teasing for the last half of Season 1: while we were living on Catalina Island, I wrote my second book! Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love will be published on March 12, 2024 by Mandala Publishing and distributed by Simon & Schuster. IN THIS EPISODE: Sydney and Barry discuss the new book, how i...

Join Sydney as she shares 12 tips to help you find your version of Wellness in the Wilderness.

How did Catalina Backcountry get started? Why did Cinde MacGugan-Cassidy decide to buy the business? How has her career in public service influenced how she runs the business? And what is her vision for responsible recreation on Catalina Island? This week we'll be chatting with Cinde about how Catalina Backcountry got started, her success so far, and her vision for the future.

In a society that seems hell-bent on keeping us separate from our authentic selves, each other, and the planet we call home, Samuel J's music is the great unifier.

From the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the rugged backcountry of Catalina Island and everything in between, Barry Williams has been an outdoorist and educator in a professional capacity for the past 25+ years.

How does spending time outdoors influence music? For Brendan Dane (Alific), the call of the Loons from his childhood in New England inspired an entire song.

What happens when the worst-case scenario unfolds in slow motion in the desolate wilderness of America's National Parks? How do you return to the places that have brought so much joy and so much pain after tragedy strikes? On April 3, 2021, Emily and her partner, Alexander Lofgren, traveled to Death Valley National Park on a routine camping trip. The next day began the biggest nightmare of their l...

When time spent outside is an integral part of your lifestyle, how do you cope when an injury keeps you indoors? When we avoid our emotional breaking point, what happens to our physical bodies? And how do we re-integrate after a period away from our favorite activities and places? For Drew Petersen, skiing has been part of his life for as long as he can remember. Once a toddler on skis and now a p...

Is 2023 the year you prioritize finding your version of Wellness in the Wilderness? Looking for inspiration to weave more intention into all aspects of your life? This week we're chatting with Anastasia Allison, founder of Kula Cloth, about how her decision to let life be easy has transformed the way she experiences life and continues to innovate in her business. Through the power of shared story,...

After four interviews with legendary athletes in long distance hiking, backpacking, kayaking, and surfing, let's bring it back down for a bit.

If you've ever sat on the beach and felt the waves crashing into the shore, you have some sense of the power that the ocean contains.

After hiking more than 16,000 miles over a span of 20 years, Arlette Laan made history as the first woman to complete all 11 National Scenic Trails in the United States.

Have you ever made a decision so crystal clear that it was almost alarming? What is it in those moments where we're defying expectations that keeps us moving forward in the direction of our dreams, despite the criticism and doubt? For Anna Levesque of Mind Body Paddle, the decision was to get a summer job at a whitewater rafting company when she was in college. Her parents dubbed this choice as a...

The two-woman multi-sport, endurance athlete team of Bethany ‘Fidgit’ Hughes and Lauren ‘Neon’ Reed have completed a human powered expedition, traveling the length of the Americas connecting the story of the land and its inhabitants.