The Downward Facing Spiritual Spiral

Coronavirus. Disease. Pandemic. These haunting words combined with the 24 Hour news coverage and social media is creating more tension every single day as we prepare for the supposed impending doom of American culture. When I went to Trader Joe's today, it felt like people were preparing for the end of the world. Is an apocalypse coming or are we all just being manipulated by the media? Today on t...

40,000 people die each year from car accidents across America. 80,000 people died in the United States in 2018 from the flu. Over one million people die each year with complications stemming from diabetes. What if the media spent all day reporting new cases of the flu or every time someone died from a car crash? Would our culture react similarly to how we're responding to the coronavirus? Today on...

Episode 100! I can't believe it but we've officially made it to episode 100. Thank you so much for the continued support throughout this journey and what better way to celebrate this milestone than to have an incredible conversation with actor, writer and director Andy Harris . I met Andy about a year ago and I was always impressed with his positive energy and sense of humor and after finding out...

I just returned home from a six day vacation in Mexico City and Tulum and I find myself inevitably losing a little bit of faith in mankind. Everywhere I turn, people seem to be freaking out over the coronavirus and most of us still have no idea if any of the information we're receiving is actually true. Even if an epidemic doesn't occur which I still believe will be the case, it feels like the med...

Texting, DMs, Email. So many methods to communicate with one another but are there just too many options? Is there proper etiquette to the way we should communicate and does anyone talk on the phone anymore? Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I am struck by the way communication has evolved and it’s surprising how people/friends of mine often don’t even respond to me. Are you like that? Does s...

What is rule number one when it comes to a public yoga class? If you sweat all over your neighbor's mat, then you grab a towel and wipe up. Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I welcome my friend Sasha Nichols to the show. Sasha was next to me in class when the guy behind me sweat all over my mat so I start off by asking Sasha if I was rude to ask someone to "wipe up." We hear Sasha's perspecti...

Is it possible to have faith in God or a higher power when almost every single day something tragic seems to happen? Despite the chaos of life, what gives you faith that everything will be okay? Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I felt it was an appropriate time to speak with my college friend Darin Campbell. Darin is a father and husband, a devoted Christian and he was also a huge Kobe Bryan...

Where do you find meaning in your day to day life? What gives you purpose and in a world that sometimes feels more confusing and dystopian than ever, what gives you faith that everything will be okay? Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I welcome musician, composer, husband, father and my friend Evan Beigel to the show. I met Evan almost twenty years ago when we spent a lot of time recording an...

Is anyone simply good or bad? Can anyone actually be complicated? It feels as though we live in a world where people can only be good or bad and the potential to fully grasp the complexity of a human being is slipping away. Today on the Spiritual Spiral, I begin to turn the direction of the show beyond just the impact of technology. Of course, the show will always have a technology driven focus, b...

The Academy Award nominations came out last week and not one female director was nominated. After reading off the nominees, Issa Rae said, "Congratulations to all those men." So if a woman isn't nominated each year, then is the Academy just being sexist? Today on the Spiritual Spiral, I welcome my friend and actor Polly Humphreys to the show. We talk about the challenges women face in Hollywood tr...

I'll never forget where I was when I found out Kurt Cobain killed himself. I was driving through Topanga Canyon when my roommate called and told me the horrific news. Today is going to be another one of those kind of days where you'll probably never forget the moment when you heard the news that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash. I certainly am no expert on how to deal with grief and tragedy,...

How is it that Instagram can enrapture everyone so easily? Dolly Parton drops a photo on Instagram and within hours it seems everyone in America is on Instagram posting a silly photo. It makes no sense but in a world where our culture seems to be so easily manipulated by technology, I guess nothing should surprise me. Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I share my frustrations about a new trend...

Today I am thrilled to welcome Shark Grebeniuk to the Spiritual Spiral Podcast. Where do I even begin when it comes to Shark's incredible story? Shark is one of those rare guys who at the young age of twenty eight has seemingly already been through it all. He was born in the Ukraine where his parents were almost murdered by terrorists. He has been a world class athlete from the age of seven. He wa...

Why do we care so much about what actors think? Why do we look up to them when we have no idea who they really are? In Succession, Brian Cox's character says that "everyone is playing a game." Are the most successful people in the world simply the best actors playing the game? Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I talk about the Golden Globes and  this concept of playing the game. Is everyone s...

Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I share a few more thoughts about the importance of being critical. Don't be insensitive or cantankerous but I do believe there is a high value in finding a group of friends who can be critical and honest with you when you need them to be. I read an excerpt from a book I'm reading by  Ed Catmull called Creativity Inc. Ed is the President of Pixar Inc. and in...

The uber talented dancer extraordinaire Lo Santos joins me today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast. I met Lo about two years ago when she was teaching at LIT Method, a low intensity workout facility I used to attend quite regularly. Right away I was blown away by Lo's contagious and positive energy and I could instantly tell by the way she moved and danced around the room that she was an incredible...

Social Media has created a world where people are scared to criticize anything. You'll be called a hater or you're just being negative. Maybe being critical is actually a good thing. Maybe critical thinking will actually make the world better. The world wants you to accept everything as is and just stare at your phone, scroll all day long and do nothing but post pretty little pictures all day and...

I get the sense Instagram has become exceedingly popular because it can turn anyone into a celebrity. Or rather, it possesses all the tools needed to make someone feel like they're living the life of a "celebrity." It's like your very own paparazzi, make-up artist, PR agent and TV show all wrapped in one seductive platform. Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I talk about this concept of why In...

Super stoked to welcome not only two guys I can call my friends, but they're also two really wonderful yoga teachers. Los Angeles and Bali based yoga teachers Calvin Corzine and Paul Teodo join me today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast. Paul was in town for just a day before flying to Arizona and since Calvin and Paul used to be roommates, I thought it would be cool to create a sort of roundtable d...

LA based Composer/Producer and Drummer Jon Mattox joins me today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast. Jon may be best known in LA as a film composer writing and creating music for numerous TV shows, video games and commercials, but he is also an incredibly talented studio drummer. Jon shares stories about his upbringing, how music played such a vital role in his life and what drew him to become a drum...

Is the world being reduced to a ditty? We text, DM, and we're limited by a certain amount of characters on Twitter. We can post a sixty second video on Instagram. How much time do you have to get someone's attention? We can only "like" a post. We can comment but how long do we have to wait until someone responds to our comment? Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I talk about how tech is impact...

Actor/writer Polly Humphreys joins me today on the Downward Facing Spiritual Spiral Podcast. Polly is a good friend of mine and as an actor in Los Angeles, she also has strong opinions regarding Netflix and the impact it may be having on our culture. Polly and I talk about Martin Scorsese and his New York Times opinion piece regarding Marvel films and why the art of cinema may be a lost art. We al...

The biggest hurdle movie theaters and entertainers have these days is getting people out of the house. Are we lazy by nature? Do humans simply love the convenience of being spoon fed easy to digest information while staying home? Are subscription services a good thing or merely ruining originality and human's ability to create something different? Is technology making you passive or active? Today...

Today on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast, I felt inspired to briefly talk about the toxic and destructive nature behind tech and especially Instagram. Yesterday, Instagram announced this coming week they're going to experiment with hiding the number of "likes" on profile posts in America, so I felt inspired to talk about Instagram's true intent behind this idea of "hiding likes." The CEO says they're...

Music Mixer and Audio Engineer David Gaumé joins me on the Spiritual Spiral Podcast. David has spent the last few years on the road working as the front of house audio engineer for some incredibly successful and well-known bands including Garbage, Failure, Local Natives, Fleet Foxes and one of my favorite bands, Other Lives. David is originally from Kansas City and from a very young age, whether p...