Alex Olshonsky joins to share his story of healing a severe addiction and the role of community, spirituality, psychedelics, and holistic health in recovery. We explore how addiction is a spectrum, the role of numbing emotions, and pathways to wake up into a life of greater aliveness and joy. Alex helps brainstorm ways to apply the lessons from his journey and the world of holistic addiction treatment to broader applications like addressing the chronic health crisis and navigating modern life.

Connect with Alex:
Website: alexolshonsky.com
Newsletter: deepfix.substack.com

Connect with Sam:
Website: samsager.com
Newsletter: The Ripple

If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at sam@firststonehealth.com

Mehdi Yacoubi joins to explore the transformative nature of strength training and the power of playing the long game. We discuss how to make exercise enjoyable, the downsides of health optimization, and ways to overcome resistance. Mehdi highlights how he balances intense training with his roles as a new father and founder of Vital, a social network for health. Throughout this discussion, we explore how can intentionally embrace exercise to increase our capacity to meet the challenges of life.

Connect with Mehdi:
Twitter: @Mehdiyac

Newsletter: The Long Game
Company: Vital Social Health

Connect with Sam:

Twitter: @sc_sager

Personal Writing: onrenewal.substack.com

You can join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness at intuitivefitness.substack.com

If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com

Dr. Tracy Townsend joins to discuss her experiences with psychedelics as a tool for transformation and healing. She explains why she is leaving a career as an orthopedic surgeon to launch, Eleusia Health, a start-up focused on psychedelic medicine and holistic care. We cover the use cases and potential impact of psychedelics, especially when incorporated with modalities like meditation and breathwork. Tracy share’s her perspective on topics like conscious experience as a controlled hallucination, the illusion of separation, and being in “right relationship” to life.

Connect with Tracy:

Twitter: @tracyktownsend

Site: tracytownsendmd.com

Connect with Sam:

Twitter: @sc_sager

Writing: onrenewal.substack.com

Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com

If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com

Charlotte Grysolle joins to share about her experiences exploring the nervous system, writing online, and completing a year of creative experiments. We chat about how she applies nerdy concepts like neuroplasticity and myelination in her own life. Charlotte gives practical tips on how individuals can reframe stress, unlock creativity, and cultivate calm on a daily basis. She even demonstrates how one can drop into panoramic vision in real-time during the episode. Throughout the discussion, you’ll hear how Charlotte is evolving in real-time through her experiences transitioning from a 10-year advertising career to online writing and supporting the students of Write of Passage.

Connect with Charlotte:

Twitter: @chargrysolle

Writing: charlottegrysolle.com

Newsletter: charlottegrysolle.com/newsletter

Workshop: Your Year of Creative Experiments

Connect with Sam:

Twitter: @sc_sager

Writing: onrenewal.substack.com

You can join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness at intuitivefitness.substack.com

If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com

Go Deeper:

A Simple Visual Technique To Trick Your Mind Into Relaxation by Charlotte Grysolle

Reframe Stress as a Source of Energy by Charlotte Grysolle:

Discovering Joy Through Embodied Exercise by Sam Sager

Introduction and Description of the Psychological Sigh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSZKIupBUuc&ab_channel=TimFerriss

Steve Schlafman, a professional coach and writer, joins to share his perspective on change. He tells stories from his own life including his journey with addiction, pivot from a successful career in VC, and experience coaching high achievers. We discuss habits to support recovery, change as a slow wave, and the power of self-unfolding. Steve shares about parts-work, the shadow, and wholeness through his experiences with internal family systems (IFS). Lastly, we explore ways to rethink ambition and how many of society’s biggest problems are a “being problem”.

If this conversation resonates, you may enjoy Steve’s free annual review template. You can access it here: annualreview.life.

Connect with Steve:

Twitter: @schlaf

Writing: schlaf.co/writing

Coaching: Writing: schlaf.co/coaching

Connect with Sam Sager:

Twitter: @sc_sager

Writing: onrenewal.substack.com

Fitness: intuitivefitness.co

Go Deeper:

We Are multiple, Discovering The Many Parts of Yourself by Steve Schalfman

Rethinking Ambition by Steve Schalfman:

Work, Ambition, and Identity by Sam Sager

Sam Martin joins for a deep dive on the human body and movement patterns. We talk about why so many of us have restricted or painful movement and what we can do to address it. Sam discusses the key movements that all humans should be able to do and practical approaches to regaining these natural capacities without getting overwhelmed. We dig into nerdy topics like neuromuscular reeducation, pressure points, and full range of motion loading. But most of all Sam provides inspiration and actionable advice on how to reconnect to our bodies and train in a way that actually feels good.

Connect with Sam Martin:

Twitter: @movebettersam

MoveBetterProject: https://movebetterproject.com/

YouTube: MoveBetterProject Videos

Connect with Sam Sager:

Twitter: @sc_sager

Writing: onrenewal.substack.com

Website: intuitivefitness.co

Essay: Discovering Joy Through Embodied Exercise

Dan Shipper, Co-Founder of Every, joins to explore productivity through the lens of emotion regulation. We talk about how beneath the tools and technology, it’s really about psychology, neuroscience, physiology, relationships, and our environment. Dan highlights examples of how he applies these ideas in building a company and living a meaningful life. He shares stories of his journey with anxiety and panic attacks, selling his first company, and channeling more of himself into his current work with Every.

Connect with Dan:

Twitter: @danshipper

SuperOrganizers: every.to/superorganizers

Connect with Sam:

Twitter: @sc_sager

Writing: onrenewal.substack.com

You can join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com

If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com

Paul Millerd joins to share his perspective on the societal pressures that box us in and strategies to break free. Author of the Pathless Path and Creator of Strategy U, Paul is carving his own unique path and inspiring others to do the same. We talk about the power of identity, incentives, system dynamics, and scripts. We explore legible vs. illegible ambition, practicing agency, the receding frontier, reframing change, surfing on the edge of chaos, and so much more. Paul ends by sharing a bit about how his own ambition is evolving in real time.

Connect with Paul:

Twitter: @p_millerd

Boundless Website: think-boundless.com

Book: The Pathless Path

Connect with Sam:

Twitter: @sc_sager

Writing and Podcast: onrenewal.substack.com

Join Sam’s newsletter on Intuitive Fitness here: intuitivefitness.substack.com

If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas on the podcast, please email us at onrenewal@substack.com