Alive and Free

I periodically get people asking me if we do couples' counseling. While we have worked with a number of couples, it's usually one at a time. So I decided to bring on a guest whose approach to bringing what she calls "everyday eroticism" into a marriage that still has to wash the dishes and get the kids off to school, might just be what turns the tides for you. Alexandra Stockwell, MD, is an author...

Fasting isn't the hungry problem that I always thought it was growing up. Although the hunger may set in at some point, it isn't a "no pain, no gain" situation. Today, we'll talk about that more. Have a listen. Highlights: Even though I felt great, there was nothing to show a breakthrough. (11:30) What if fasting is a gift to my body to finally allow it to go through its full cycle? (14:40) Everyb...

What is faith? Inside of all the confusing definitions, descriptions and depictions, let's look at faith as focus. Let's see faith as where you put your attention.   Today, we'll talk about that a little more. Have a listen Highlights: People ask where is god in this and the response is where do you want him to be in this? Let him be everywhere. Why does he need to be in one little pocket. (2:00)...

Throughout the years, the biggest ingredient I've found that determines whether a person finds freedom or not is what I'll call "commitment". Not commitment in the sense of making promises, but a drive to "make this work".   That drive is what led me to my own freedom. It's not the only ingredient, but definitely one of the biggest players. So let's look at it. Could it possibly be that the main r...

Here comes the second half of Amber's inside look at what really happens inside a good rehab center. This time, we'll also discuss what else might help. Highlights: Your life was built to be you. A unique expression of life on this planet that has never been here before and never will be again. (4:00) Most people struggle not because they're stupid and don't understand something, but because the r...

Amber joins us today for an insider's look at what really goes on at a rehab center. From the schedule, to the therapy, to the classes, there's lots to talk about, including why the success rates are as low as they are across the board and what can be done to turn that around. Have a listen. Highlights: So alcohol became an escape, and at a certain point it became a catastrophe. (6:40) Why is it c...

Over the time that I have been building and running my business, there have been a good number of arguments made against me and why anything I do won't work. So, today we'll just run over a few of them. Have a listen. Highlights: Therapists consider it unethical to get peoples hopes up and say that it's possible to get over depression and anxiety without medication. (7:25) People argue that I'm no...

Today lets talk about your bag of tricks. All these little tips and tricks that are available at anytime because they come from you. Go ahead, have a listen. Highlights: When people take bits and pieces from other material, sometimes they're cobbling all the little pieces together and in the end they don't get to enjoy that it's not just a puzzle, but a picture also. (4:00) When you're in the here...

In spirit of upcoming Halloween, Lee is playing devil's advocate with some common questions that we get in mind. Have a listen. Highlights: It's not uncommon for a human being to have assumed that because another person uses a word that their familiar with, that therefore they know everything about that word and subject and can pronounce their opinion on it. (3:15) Assuming that I have to understa...

Today, Lee decides to air his opinions about The Freedom Specialist — "You were operating like a non-profit without any of the benefits of being a non-profit." It's what led us to actually create Built for Freedom as a non-profit to be able to offer help and support to people who aren't in a position to afford that on their own. If you'd like to join us in offering scholarships for those in need,...

School is one example of a social institution where some people thrive and others tank. But what if that has more to do with the way it's set up than whether some students lack the ability to learn. This was Kathy Kolbe's connundrum. Dyslexic, dysgraphic, riddled with ADHD, and a female in the mid-twentieth century is not exactly a winning formula for success. But she was determined to scientifica...

Are you really what you eat? Most of the research seems to point that direction. At least we can say that what you put in your body has an enormous effect on how you experience your life. Meet Glucose, that wonderful saccharine molecule that has a tendency to break down arterial walls and pump the pancreas for all of its insulin. It's the bad guy in so many diets. Yet when eaten after other foods,...

What if we could look at a diagnoses not as limitations but as possibilities like many cultures have done over the millennia? People with multiple personalities have the ability to split their emotions and other changes in the body. Yes, I said an ability. Instead of thinking on diagnosis as a disorder. Maybe we can think of it as a strength. We'll explore more of this today. Have a listen. Highli...

As my dad battles his cancer, his doctors are prescribing him with more and more pain meds. But as they give him the substances to shut off his pain signals, they aren't even questioning whether or not this is adding to the massive bowel obstruction seen on his CT scan. Nor are they even considering any option that is not a drug to alleviate his pain   Yet I show up and give him simple things to d...

Let's get real about what it feels like when emotions and behaviors take over. When that happens, what do you do? Today we'll also talk about questioning things. Not necessarily everything, but all the things that, when questioned, add up to a lot more freedom. Have a listen. Highlights: Question everything. If it's helpful and useful to you, then question it. (14:00) In any conflict, there's ten...

Lee brought up the question "is angustia sin?" Angustia is the constriction brought by chemicals in the body from their experiences. Sin is something offencive against moral law. So when you experience something that is against your own morals and your own laws and you feel that disappointment, or that constriction, you feel angustia. Today we'll explore that more. Have a listen. Highlights: The m...

As we get older and spend more time on this planet, we often create and experience what might be dubbed turmoils and trauma. But these aren't always bad. These biologically intense experiences often create tensions, emotional patterns, and behaviors. As a result, we unwittingly change our instinctive reaction to life. But this doesn't always have to be an accident. Consciously creating those kinds...

As humans, we inevitably create tension patterns in our body from experiences we've had and the way we've lived. Those tension patterns can show up in all sorts of situations, from the way we talk, all the way down to the way we walk. Using new and different movement to mess with those tensions and put a "disturbance in the force" is a ridiculously simple method that can free us from these tension...

We all know that feeling when you're watching a movie and you feel the stress and the tension just like the character on the screen. This is your body creating a tension pattern around something that you subconsciously enjoy. There are many things people do to control these states — like chants or meditations — but not all of these are beneficial. None are better or worse than others, but they are...

You know that feeling when you want to ask for something but you don't want to seem weak or helpless? Or when you feel guilty because somebody else didn't communicate clearly and you "let them down"? These are the times when we, as adults, forget that we can actually ask for things. We spend all out time telling our kids this, and yet often don't do it ourselves. It might surprise you how freeing...

People told me from the time I was little that the universe was created either by a big bang or by some outside, greater force. And (because I was little) I never really thought to question that. But what happens if, instead of just accepting every "fact" just because someone bigger or older says it's a fact, we take a second to pause and actually see if they are useful ways to see the world? That...

Sometimes we have these emotional rocks — literally, these are crystallized bits of ammonia, lactic acid, and other chemistry just sitting in our system. Leftovers from previous emotional soups run dry and not cleaned from the pot.  Those "rocks" form because of the way your body instinctively responds at a molecular level to changes in your environment or situation. You might feel this as stress,...

A breath of fresh air is more than just the smell of trees, grass, and ozone?  That one action is one of the fastest ways to mix up the chemistry in your body and create a completely different experience of life. It's a very simple, direct, and even easy process at times. Because how you feel is directly tied to your internal chemistry. We had a client with anxiety who needed a change. Someone con...

What if the real answer to your situation is that there was never a problem? I mean that with things as small as "he took my toy" and as big as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and the like. It's the radical, all-in-a-moment shift in perception that makes just about every problem vanish as quickly as it appeared.   Without that, you end up endlessly chasing the next carrot and building an unpaid career...

Perry came to us as a videographer, not a client. He filmed retreats for us for 4 years until finally asking for some of the physical work we do to help him out. This is a guy who has run yoga retreats, explored all sorts of personal growth work, experienced a vast array of psychedelics, and deeply gets the link between the mind and the body. Yet still, he said afterward, "I thought I understood w...