"On Healing" with Brandon Tilt

In this episode, I dive into the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and therapy, seeing the relevance of this topic for those who are practicing counsellors as well as those who are clients and want to become more informed. There are risks and benefits to the use of AI in this field, and I go on to explore some of the risks I've noticed, openly philosophizing on the concept of therapy as a whol...

Today I talk with Joonatan, a visionary, creative, mystic and magician, who is passionate about sharing his explorations and insights from years of deep spiritual and healing practice including altered states of consciousness experiences and working with 'magick' - a western style of inner spiritual practice. Joonatan and I are both equally fascinated by the intersection between spirituality, scie...

In this shorter episode, I'm sitting on a mossy log, dangling my legs off a cliffside adjacent to Buntzen Lake. Feeling deeply grateful for life I simply offer that you remember to recieve the moment by moment gifts life has to offer. Some calls these "glimmers" and others refer to this as"mindfulness" or a gratitude practice. Whereas I do see the value in these concepts, I see this experience as...

In this episode, it's my third "Mountain walk and talk", so you get the blessing (or curse) of hearing me attempting to catch my breath after hiking vertically for over an hour and rushing to get home (had a deadline, sadly). This walk and talk explores the idea of "giving your shame a deadlier weapon" to beat you over the head with, ie. Self-sabotage. I begin by introducing a metaphor because it'...

In this episode, I briefly flow through my journey of substance use, ranging from my introduction to cannabis to being introduced to DMT in my late 20s, eventually leading me to drink ayahuasca in Iquitos in the Fall of 2023. I tell my story and offer some reflections about what it's like talking about this stuff now, at age 30, and looking back on it all, what a wild ride it's been. Some subtopic...

In this episode, I begin by leading a guided meditation and introducing the "venue" of this episode, my hammock atop the Coquitlam Lake lookout, 700m up from the Burke Mountain trailhead. I talk about abuse, about bullying, seeing how topics like emotional abuse and gossip tie into various social/relational conflicts. As always, drawing perspective from my understanding of Internal Family Systems,...

In this episode I was exhausted and freezing cold atop Burke mountain, after nibbling a little crum of ceremonial cacao. I felt so at peace, breathing in the fresh mountain air, it made for some great authentic reflections! I sat on a mossy rock and had a lovely old time philosophizing and allowing my inner child to play a bit. Subtopics that arise: - Owning that I'm a HSP - Being intentional as a...

In this episode I have a conversation with my friend Paradox, whom was my tent neighbour at last year's Shambhala music festival. With her compassionate, yet humorous flare, we flow through a conversation around some pretty heavy topics with open hearts and curiosity. Here we do our best to modestly explore the topics of decolonization, addiction, and healing trauma. Paradox is a multi-media artis...

n this episode, I talk about the importance of knowing our values and being open to others having differing values. I'm also not willing to compromise my standards of who I let into my life, and how this can be challenging depending on where I go or who is in my life. I am the leader of my own life, of my inner system and I believe each of us ought to embody a leadership role in our community. Wha...

Jess Cumming is a Clinical Counsellor and founder of By the Stars Counselling, an innovative space blending counselling and astrology. Jess practices using EMDR, western astrology, and internal family systems-inspired parts work to help clients on their healing journeys. Jess is passionate about creating community and hosts regular in-person gatherings for astrology lovers to connect and learn tog...

In this episode I begin my podcast at about 800m altitude nearing the peak of Burke Mountain trudging through snow banks that were as deep as my legs. I'd been considering doing a podcast episode on community and this adventure atop Burke felt like the perfect venue. I kept the audio raw, you can hear my crunching in the snow, my heavy breathing at times, and I'm even visited by a friendly mountai...

In this episode I re-explore the topic of men's work, introducing my current perspective on what's been coming up in my healing journey around the masculine archetype and my inner wounds. I have been attending men's circles whilst simultaneously diving deep into my feelings around various archetypes that arise in my life or are surfacing collectively and noticing the wounds in leadership and what...

In this episode I explore the concept of "integration" in preparation for the integration circles I'll be running starting in March. Exploring the use of meditation, drawing, writing or painting prompts in combination with some group sharing of the finished art pieces or additional reflections. I love this topic, because its so close to my heart, and at the epicenter of my personal healing journey...

In this episode I humbly approach the prolific works of Stanislov Grof, founder of Holotropic breathwork, 40 year LSD researcher and psychiatric researcher, said to be the “godfather of LSD”, as he is referred to by Albert Hoffman. Here I take time to explore the Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPM), broadly defined as a range of intense, physical and emotional experiences linked to our somatic experien...

In this episode I’m hanging out by a snowy river bank, intentionally letting in the audio of the flowing river to soften the nervous system of myself and the listener. What began about the topic of healing and spirituality, becomes more of a free flow experience of just being in a deeply spiritual place, joyfully connecting to the elements and to the animals around me. I don’t think you need to ca...

In this episode, I interview Shane Peterson, a good friend and humble apprentice of the Shipibo plant dieta, a shamanic practice that acquires plant wisdom by dieting with master plants. He has close to 10 years of experience dieting with master plants, having drank the Amazonian brew ayahuasca hundreds of times, and is a trained facilitator at Caya Shobo, a traditional plant medicine retreat base...

In this episode I’m using my RODE Go 2 wireless mic at the top of Eagle mountain, while it’s snowing, walking around and reflecting on a wide range of topics. I do ramble a bit here, but I come around pretty strong towards the end! Topics such as: - Resistance is pervasive - Breaking the “cycles” to avoid spiralling - Less caffeine, more spaciousness - Drawing energy from spiritual practices - Sur...

In this episode I reflect on my perspective of caffeine, with some wisdom gathered from Andrew Huberman and looking to my personal relationship to caffeine in general. I’m also taking a 7 day caffeine break, which has really heightened my emotional experiences, relating how I see my parts coming into play . I also riff on how I theorize we ought to strive for “holism” biologically as well as menta...

In this episode I explore the topic of Internal Family Systems (IFS), more specifically looking at the ways the model can be used to heal shame. I also reflect how my personal experiences of unburdening shame, and how this can be done with an IFS therapist, or in other ways with trained practitioners, possibly even shamans. Other subtopics that arise: - Gabor’s definition of trauma - How our langu...

In this episode I explore the topic of Ethical shamanism, clarifying the difference between healers and “Brujos” a term in Spanish that refers to sorcerers that seek power. Referring to some of Chris Kilham’s “Ayahuasca Pilot’s handbook”, and “Singing to the Plants” by Stephan V Beyer. Both deeply insightful and well researched resources that explore the topic of shamanism and Ayahuacsa harm reduc...

In this episode I refer to a post a friend of mine tagged me in that was calling out “Men’s Coaches” who work primarily with women practicing predatory, unethical coaching practices. The post goes on to explore how there can be safe ways men can support women in their healing journey and how conversely there are a variety of ways male life coaches exploit women and cause harm. I am not an expert o...

In this episode I explore the concept of “emotional nuance” talking about how my experience of numbing out my emotions throughout my life has created a necessity to understand my emotions differently than most people. What started as a kind of “dysfunction” became an intentional process of learning how my body and my mind process emotional nuance. I draw wisdom from the book “Beyond the Self” coau...

In this episode I explore my personal vision for podcasting, first exploring what my vision is in general, and then going onto explore my original intention for creating this platform, further reflecting on how this might begin to evolve as I bring in guests/ star on other podcasts. Subtopics that arise: - My personal values - My personal vision/purpose/intention - Podcasters and energy - Communit...

In this episode I begin by referring to Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart, defining shame and other connected feelings. I further explore the topic through my personal lens and contextualizing my reflections with my take aways from a workshop I attended on healing shame by Tatra de la Rosa, a shame-based practitioner who teaches extensively on the topic. I introduce personal reflections, actively w...

In this episode I reflect on my Avoidant parts, bringing in a personal anecdote, further discussing how screen time impacts sleep and my personal efforts at working on my “phone addiction” or more accurately “social media addiction” and go onto define boundaries as Brene Brown defines it. Other subtopics that arise: - Using Apps to limit screen time - The need of “connection” - Sleep and mental he...