KARMIC RELIEF

I’ve admired Daryl Davis’s story for years—a Black American blues musician who somehow became friends with members of the Ku Klux Klan, not to shame them, but to understand them. Through his initial, fascinatingly simple, yet radical act of curiosity, he’s helped more than 200 people leave hate groups and rediscover their shared humanity. In our conversation, Daryl shares his incredible story in t...

In this soulful and wide-ranging episode of Karmic Relief, I sit down with multi-talented artist and humanitarian Amy Edwards for a heart-opening conversation about aging vibrantly, spiritual awakening, and staying rooted in service. Amy shares her journey from religious upbringing through deconstruction and reformation—eventually arriving at a spiritual path rooted in simplicity, presence, and ra...

Jason Pickard is an exception to the rule. He  comes from Wall Street trading. Jason was one of the top traders in his field on the planet. And yet he was miserable. Then he got in shape. Rich and fit, he was never in a lesser mental place in his life. He realized that he needed spiritual guidance and soulful excavation. Jason has studied the world mystics extensively and learned from some of the...

Knowing the Villegas well is proof I'm doing something right. Juan and Rosemary Villegas are two visionary painters in north Austin blazing their own trail. They have both been painting for over a decade, with a clarified spiritual focus the last 5-7 years, they have co-created a transcendental, surreal home for art and the artists who create it at Art Us Co art gallery. It wasn't always e...

Kayla Marie's story is extraordinary. She is a trauma informed somatic coaching counselor whose work is influenced immensely by her childhood growing up Mennonite. Mennonites are an extremely antiquated fundamentalist Christian cult that perpetuates chauvinism, indoctrination, and control. There are moments of beauty in the faith, but ultimately the controlling egos subjugate their community and t...

Dr. Rick Diamond is a beautiful shining eternal soul having a temporary human experience. Just like you. Dr. Rick is one of my favorite people on Instagram and I'm thrilled to call him a friend and mentor here in Austin. He found me through my book and we've been big supporters of each other ever since. Rick's work is called "story healing" where he helps people investigate t...

What if the people in our lives—especially those who trigger us—are actually our greatest spiritual teachers? In this enlightening episode, Carol Howe, a renowned ACIM teacher and biographer of Bill Thetford, shares her wisdom on how relationships serve as powerful mirrors for our own inner work. With nearly 50 years of experience with A Course in Miracles, Carol explains how the Course’s core pri...

Michael Phillip is talking to people. Hundreds of fascinating philosophers, academics, psychologists, scientists, and crazy mystics on his show Third Eye Drops. He is helping to untangle esoterica in the Western world. And one of the most important discoveries he's made on his incredibly popular podcast, Third Eye Drops, is that Philosophers are actually mystics. Plato, for example, has been f...

Stephanie Brinkerhoff is an ex-Mormon on mushrooms. Not all the time, really just one important time… she took 1 gram of psilocybin and saw through the illusion of the Church of Latter Day Saints. She left the Mormon church and changed many things in her life… Stephanie is hilarious. Authentic. Humble. And continually seeking on the path… after Mormonism, carved through New Age and got some battle...

Dylan Townsend is calling it out. The world of spiritual satire seems to be growing everyday. My feeds are fed by jokes about the world of spirituality and new age, and look, I'm all for a good laugh. But if you're gonna come for spiritualgram you better have come out of the jungle baby. You better be able to connect Padmasambhava's teachings to Carl Jung's psychoanalysis. You better read the star...

Sameh Neseim is a certified mystic. He is certified, but that's not what I mean. His every step is a pilgrimage. His every breath is a meditation. I am continually blown away and inspired by my friend Sameh, an Egyptian-American who I met at Meta (then Facebook) back in 2019. Sameh is a Spiritual and Mindfulness teacher, Self-Mastery Coach and Unity Prayer Chaplain. We met through being two global...

Mikayla Humphrey has questions. She was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and knocked on thousands upon thousands of doors. At 17 she could no longer endure its cultish control over her life. Sadly Mikayla has not spoken to her immediate family since leaving the church nearly a decade ago... it's an official JW doctrine to "shun". She is a phoenix arising from the ashes. As a fervent reader of a vari...

Rubén Cantú is always innovating. Ever since growing up in a modern day cult-like Christian community, "La Luz Del Mundo" (“The Light of the World”), Rubén has been pushing for positive change. Look they might not be evil, but anyone who says "WE are the chosen people headed to be with God and no one else is", that’s a cult to me. That never sat well with Rubén as he continued...

El Divine Niño gives me hope. I first saw Esteban Palacio's work on my For You page back in early 2022 and I was blown away. He has a tangible presence within spirituality that is simultaneously deep and also lighthearted. He's accessible, he's relatable, and it's because despite being a fresh-faced twentysomething, he's gone through so much. Esteban's work as Divine Niño i...

Alison Canavan is a UCLA-trained Mindfulness Facilitator from the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behaviour and a Master NLP Practitioner. She’s my friend, from Dublin Ireland who made her all the way over to Central Texas. She runs a successful private practice as a health and wellness coach and delivers motivational talks on health and wellbeing all over the world, specializing in ment...

Daniel Tyack is a walking example that a radical transformation is possible for anyone, at any moment. He came back from being the lowest of low a few years ago. Losing his job, his wife, so many aspects of his incarnation came crumbling down, but he was able to tune into who he truly is, and a profound evolution occurred. Daniel was a church worship band guitarist for many years, until.. the anti...

Madeline Vu is integrating all of it. Mind, Body, Spirit, and The Planet—she is holistically aware of a wide variety of psychological systems, spiritual healing modalities, and environmental issues. She makes it seem possible—we really can acknowledge all parts of ourselves and our planet, in a loving way. Her titles over the past 14 years include writer, non-profit leader, design director, leader...

Timothy Conway is who I want to be. He is a scholar of religion and theology as well as a deeply experiential mystic for over five decades. He sat with Nisargadatta and he has a Masters and PhD in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He wrote one of my favorite books of all time Women of Power And Grace. Listen to his bio. “Timothy Conway (“a figure in the dream, pointing...

From Vegas prize fights to providing clean water to over 52,000 people. Transitioning human beings out of slavery and into freedom. Empowering our brothers and sisters with "opportunity, which is greater than charity". Fighting for the Forgotten! Beyond his impressive MMA career, Justin Wren has dedicated his life to making a positive impact. Inspired by a life-changing trip to the Democ...

Let's get de-programmed! Let's re-learn to trust ourselves. Abundance, and nonduality. The Creative Process, and Astrology, Yogananda, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Disappearance of the Universe. Laurén Janelle Green is a force of nature. She is an ex social media manager, astrologer, intuitive, writer, speaker, entrepreneur, spiritual coach, and universalist philosopher. We met through showing up...

Aubrey Marcus is a fellow Austinite, spiritual teacher, entrepreneur, podcaster, psychonaut, philosopher, poet, and Instagram archer. He is the founder of Onnit, a globally disruptive brand based on a holistic health philosophy he calls Total Human Optimization. Onnit remains an industry leader with products optimizing millions of lives, including many top professional athletes around the world. A...

Sitaram Dass spent several years serving his beloved teacher Ram Dass on Maui, where he was shown the path of Bhakti, the yoga of service and devotion to God. He is a writer, musician, counselor, and community volunteer working to strengthen our sense of the Timeless Sacred in today’s modern world. His new collection of prose and poetry, From and For God, is available now at all online retailers....

Esther Ladipo is a social impact inspiration. A proud Nigerian-American born in Columbus, Ohio, currently living in Austin Texas, Esther works at DoorDash on their Social Impact team, alongside being the cofounder and CEO of Ranowo.org, a donation platform supporting black and Latin-x nonprofits through donations of physical goods. We talk about her early motivations for service. We untangle ‘soci...

Now in our 13th month live, we share creative project updates and introduce a new regular member of our pod panel: Maggie Burke, a former Big Tech strategist who’s now at NewStoryCharity.org ending global homelessness. We also talk about our favorite episodes from the past year—from Bob’s endless demystifying of mysticism to Marcelo’s deconstruction of “COVID”, practical breathing tips from Marie...

Aaron Jackson is the founder of PlantingPeace.org, a nonprofit he started fifteen years ago when he was 24 years old. His projects focus on a range of humanitarian and environmental initiatives, including a multi-national deworming campaign (they have successfully dewormed over 22 million starving children around the world); a network of orphanages and safe havens in developing countries (two orph...