The Competitive Edge 5h116c

Many of the guests I’ve had on the podcast have spoken about the benefits of going deep once you’ve found a spiritual path or tradition that resonates. The argument is that depth results in more profound transformation than breadth or spiritual window shopping. In my own experience, I have found this to be true. However, I know there are other people out there that have a different perspective and received a tremendous amount of benefit from a more broad exploration. Today’s guest is Kyle Kowalski, the founder of Sloww. Sloww is creating the web’s deepest guide to the world’s wisdom through an interdisciplinary study across diverse yet interconnected disciplines.  Kyle describes himself as a synthesizer. He has spent the last few years studying a tremendous amount of spiritual teachers and teachings with the goal of getting to the core essence of what they all point to. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

In software development there’s a popular idea that there are 10X engineers.  A 10x engineer is capable of producing the impact of 10 engineers. In my consciousness journey, I’ve realized there are 10X healers. These people are capable of facilitating exceptional transformation and healing. Although I believe we are always the ones doing the healing, it does seem like certain beings have an outsized capacity to help us. Today’s guest Michael Leberknight is someone I consider a 10x healer. He has helped create some profound shifts in my life and I wanted to have him on the show to discuss the healing arts. Michael’s healing journey began at what he calls a magic school. Traditionally, mystery (or magic) schools have been places dedicated to the study and practice of esoteric teachings that are often kept outside the public eye. They’ve existed throughout history across various cultures and typically emphasize the development of consciousness, spiritual awakening, and metaphysical concepts. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

I love hosting a podcast. It’s an amazing way to explore interesting topics and learn from the wisdom of others. A lot of these conversations provide information about emerging topics like subtle energy, the nature of reality, or self healing. As interesting as these are, I’ll be the first to it they can be a bit disconnected from the things that most people struggle with on a day to day basis. Challenges like changing habits, finding new friends, and being kind to yourself. Today’s conversation is an exploration of the REAL with my dear friend Alex Hardy.  Alex and I are kindred spirits. We both chased the tech entrepreneurship dream and fast living New York City lifestyle only to be underwhelmed by where it all led.  After selling his last startup to Docusign, Alex turned his attention inward to find deeper meaning and fulfillment. He’s spent the past few years exploring many facets of self discovery that have resulted in major transformations. With these inner shifts, his life has had to shift too which can be incredibly challenging.  For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Major shifts in consciousness can turn your life upside down. Once the veil has been lifted from your eyes, you can’t unsee something. Katie Deming was a leading radiation oncologist (cancer doctor) who for all intensive purposes was at the top of her field.  She studied at Duke, practiced for 16 years, and spent many years as leader in the broader healthcare system deg cancer programs in the Northwestern United States.  In 2020, her life shifted in a dramatic way when she had a shared death experience (SDE). I had never heard of an SDE until connecting with Katie, but apparently it can be more common for people in the healthcare field.  A shared death experience is a phenomenon where a person who is not dying reports experiencing some aspects of the death process along with a person who is actually dying. In our conversation, Katie shares what happened during this experience and how it changed her in ways she never anticipated. She realized that she could no longer practice western oncology (cancer treatment) and that the western medical system had many things wrong. This is a pretty big deal considering she had spent many years studying, establishing herself, and creating a certain lifestyle. Her decision created lots of dramatic upheaval that we discuss in our conversation. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

The conversation explores the backstory of Odyssey, the first legal psilocybin retreat center in the United States, and the personal journeys of Gabe and Aaron in entering the field of mental health and psychedelics. It delves into the legislative landscape, the challenges of state-by-state legalization, and the limitations and opportunities within the current framework. The discussion also addresses the role of conventional mental health practitioners in facilitating psychedelic experiences and the unique considerations involved. The conversation explores the intersection of Western therapeutic frameworks and psychedelic facilitation, highlighting the shift from directive to non-directive methods. It delves into the clash of paradigms between traditional medical training and psychedelic facilitation, emphasizing the importance of space, time, and integration in the psychedelic experience. The discussion also touches on the excitement and potential of the emerging psychedelic industry. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

The conversation explores the development and impact of the Thyself emotional work guide, an AI-powered tool for emotional healing and self-inquiry. It delves into the limitations of the current paradigm, the role of technology in emotional intelligence, and the empowerment of self-healing. The conversation also discusses the reactions of the therapy industry to this technology and the potential future of guided emotional work. The conversation explores the intersection of technology and self-awareness, discussing the potential for technology to deeper self-work and emotional processing. It delves into the challenges and opportunities of creating awareness technology, the impact of current technology on human behavior, and the need for a more harmonious and heart-centered approach to technology development. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

In the United States, it feels like most people associate shamanism and using plant medicine to access altered states of consciousness with indigenous cultures in central and south America. The more I learn, the more it seems like this practice has existed in ancient cultures all over the world. Recently I learned about the lost history of Iranian Mysticism from my friend Dr. Shauheen Etmiman.  Before Zoroastrianism developed, there were groups of people in present day Iran called the Magi. The Magi were wise men known for their spiritual ministry and practices related to astronomy, astrology, and interpretation of dreams. Apparently, the Magi used a substance called Haoma to access the collective unconscious and bring back the information to Kings and patrons. I wanted to have Shauheen on the show to discuss what he’s learned about the Magi and their practices that can be applied to us in modern times. Shauheen is the founder of Ancestral Magi and Vcenna, a drug discovery company. Through his own healing journey, he became fascinated by psychedelics. His background in chemical engineering and being born in Iran, pushed him to study the role of these substances in ancient Iranian mysticism and eventually create a company that provides access to similar experiences.  For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

It can be a very humbling experience to feel like you “did everything right” in your life, but you still don’t feel how you want to feel.  I know this feeling intimately. It can be quite disorienting and can cause a lot of anger.  Today’s guest is also familiar with this experience.  Brandon Evans is a serial entrepreneur and CEO, & Co-founder of 1Heart. 1Heart is considered the gold standard ayahuasca experience and community for heart centered leaders that are seeking more fulfilling and purpose driven lives. Before starting 1Heart, Brandon had built multiple successful tech startups. Despite checking many of the boxes that society told him would make him happy, he felt a void in his life. This sent him on a multi-year self discovery odyssey before eventually finding deeper meaning in starting 1Heart.  For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast  

Once you start to tune into how consciousness works, you realize that you process reality through the information and stories you’ve been exposed to. Stories about how the world works. Stories about right and wrong. Stories about what it means to be successful in our world. All of these things create a fundamental basis for how we perceive the world.  Now that we live in the information age, there’s more stories than ever.  So the question becomes, how can we discern which stories are ive (and real)? I don’t think the way we’re going with A.I. is going to make this any easier… Today’s guest Josh Schrei is someone I’ve gotten to know through his epic podcast The Emerald. He’s a master storyteller and lifelong student of the mythologies of the world. He also is a teacher and writer. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

The idea that you could raise your consciousness really clicked for me the first time I encountered David Hawkin’s work. His map of consciousness was the first unified model of consciousness I had seen. It clearly articulated how all encoming changes in subjective experience could occur. Our conception of self, life, God, and predominant emotional state could all shift simultaneously changing the lens through which we experienced reality. These models can be fun to look at, but eventually the more interesting question is how can we make these shifts? Today’s guest provides some fantastic insight into this question. Mickaela Grace is the Founder of the Graceline Institute and Bridge11 Productions. She has spent over 25 years traveling the world to train with master elders in over 32 traditions while also translating this wisdom with the latest discoveries in modern science. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

About 5 years ago, I was burnt out from my startup and not really sure how my budding interest in my consciousness evolution really jibed with my life setup. My co-founder had recommended the 15 Commitments of Consciousness Leadership and in my desperation, I decided to give it a whirl. From the minute I started reading the book, I couldn’t put it down. So many of the ideas and concepts were illuminating things in my experience that I didn’t really have the world to articulate. Since that point in time, I’ve become a huge advocate of Conscious Leadership and all the work that the creators of the book the Conscious Leadership Group does. Today I have the great honor of hosting Diana Chapman on the show. Diana is one of the founding Partner’s of CLG and authors of the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. I have ired Diana and her work for a long time. Whenever anyone asks me about the connecting consciousness and spirituality to the business world, my default answer is to point people to all the work of the Conscious Leadership Group. They have a beautiful ability to translate concepts and practices that pull from deep wisdom into the business world in a way that enhances connection, creativity, and engagement. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

“The nervous system of the organization reflects the nervous system of the CEO or leader.” When today’s guest shared this quote with me, the truth behind it almost knocked me off my seat! At one point inner work seemed like some nebulous nice to have in the business world. Increasingly, cultivating attributes like emotional fluidity, somatic intelligence and awareness are becoming a competitive advantage.  If you want to perform at your best and amplify the work of the people around you, this type of work needs to be a priority. Today’s guest Franziska Gonder coaches higher performing founders, CEOs, and investors on how to become embodied leaders so they can reach their full potential.  The ways leaders have traditionally operated have gotten us thus far and I think we all can agree, we need to evolve the way we do things if we want to move towards a more prosperous and harmonious world. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Once upon a time I was a biohacker. I measured my biomarkers every quarter, performed targeted nutrition protocols, tracked my HRV, sauna’d, plunged, and even sunned my balls in front of red light each morning to increase my testosterone. I guess I experienced some benefit from all these activities, but it all kind of became less interesting once I began understanding and focusing on my consciousness. I started to realize and experience first hand that the information in my consciousness is what created and drove the functioning of the body.  It’s not to say that the physical stuff wasn’t important, but it just felt less primary relative to the ways in which my emotions, beliefs, consciousness patterns, and the concepts I held around the way the body worked impacted my experience. The truth is both inputs matter.  It just feels like we live in a society that puts far more emphasis on the nutrition we feed ourselves a few times a day, relative to the information we’re constantly feeding ourselves.  Today’s guest David Hamilton is someone that hopes to change that.  David was once a biologist developing drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. He became fascinated by the placebo effect and the mind’s power to influence the body. Eventually, his conviction and interest in the mind-body connection became so strong that he decided needed to leave the pharma industry. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Will I lose all ambition if I really go all in on my self awareness and spiritual journey?  Is having ambition compatible with my continuous growth? If I really go all in on this inner work thing and I am going to be POOR AND UNSUCCESSFUL!? You’re essentially reading the monologue that replayed in my head in the early days of my consciousness journey. The short answer to these questions: no. Transformation can often be accompanied by polarized thinking. For example, maybe at one point in our lives we were incredibly ambitious thinking getting things outside ourselves was going to solve all our problems. Eventually, we get the things, feel a transient sense of well-being, and realize the inherent conditionality and hollowness to this approach. At this point, we may swing in the other direction becoming obsessed with inner work while believing that anything that resembles your previous paradigm like ambition is bad or incompatible.  This is just a misconception created by polarized thinking. How to find harmony between aligned ambition and self discovery is the core idea in today’s conversation with Joe Hudson. If you don’t know Joe, he is the founder of The Art of Accomplishment and executive coach to many well known entrepreneurs you’ve probably heard of. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast  

Some people get into the deep exploration of spirituality and gravitate towards a reclusive experience.  This never resonated with me. I was always interested in pursuing a deep inner exploration while simultaneously engaging life fully. This path leads you to life unfolding becoming the primary teacher.  I find myself attracted to people who have a similar disposition. Today’s guest Peter Corbett is one of those people. After selling his last business to the world’s largest publicly traded marketing services company, Peter Corbett decided it was time to go sit in a Zen monastery.  Since then he has taken on roles such as coach, meditation teacher, spiritual caregiver, and community builder to name a few. I wanted to have Peter on the show because he’s a unique combination of someone with tremendous business success that has also gone to profound depths on the spiritual path. I also don’t have a ton of direct experience studying Zen and thought it’d be fun to go there with Peter. In this conversation, we explore his experience with the Zen tradition and how he has helped himself and others integrate its wisdom into everyday life to improve well-being and fulfillment.  For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast  

What if instead of subscribing prozac, the medical system provided mental health by using cutting edge technology that dropped you into a state of equanimity and wholeness?  And then what if this was followed by an ongoing mindfulness protocol that made accessing it regularly part of your life? This upgraded vision of helping people be happier and healthier was the crux of the conversation with today’s guest Jay Sanguinetti. Jay is a scientist, professor, entrepreneur, and meditation teacher. He currently co-directs the SEMA Lab (Science Enhanced Mindful Awareness) with renowned teacher Shinzen Young and is the Assistant Director at the Center for Consciousness Studies at University of Arizona.  In this conversation we explore how neuroscience, technology, and mindfulness are coming together to uplift humanity. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Shadows are unconscious distortions that undermine our experience. Example shadows include limiting beliefs, unhealthy patterns, suppressed emotions, small and big traumas. When I realized my life was quietly being directed by unconscious patterns and concepts, I became obsessed with uncovering and healing my shadows. This went on for a few years. I experienced a lot of growth but also realized that there is actually a shadow to shadow work. I’m a bit older and maybe a smidge wiser now, and continue to learn about the vast nuances of working with the unconscious. Today’s guest Kim Barta has helped expand my perspective and understanding of shadow work. Kim’s background as psychotherapist and teacher has culminated in him developing several new forms of therapy and models for human understanding including the evolution of shadow resolution and the stages model of human development. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast    

I’m glad that there’s a seemingly growing contingency in the scientific community who feel deeply inspired to help us better understand consciousness in the language of Science. It’s an important step in human development and will be imperative for consciousness expansion to be embraced by the mainstream. Today’s guest is one of those people. Andrés Gómez-Emilsson is the founder of Qualia Research Institute (QRI). QRI seeks to formalize the math behind our subjective experience and its emotional valence in order to map the  state-space of consciousness. One way you can think about this is that all states of being are just different expressions or configurations of underlying math. The bet is that understanding this math can help improve the human experience. Broadly speaking, I think anything that helps us see and understand ourselves more clearly is generally ive. So I find approaching this from the vantage point of math vs. direct experience to be quite interesting. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Life has probably never felt more frenetic and speedy for humans than it does today. Technology and culture have made it easy to always be on, always be productive, always be improving ourselves, and always be running to the next thing. Underlying this behavior is the idea that more and faster is what’s going to create the best experience and outcomes. But is that true? I think it behooves us to take stock on how this narrative is actually playing out for our well-being and prosperity. And are there times in life when it is particularly useful to slow down? Today’s guest Steve Schlafman thinks so. Steve is the first boomerang guest I’ve had on the show. This time he is coming back to talk about Downshift, the world’s first decelerator for high performers.  Steve has been a leader, investor, and coach in the world of startups and technology. More recently he has focused on helping higher performers in periods of transition. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

I am honored to bring a very special guest to the EvolutionFM today. Today’s guest is Ron Michael. Ron is the founder of Ascension Keys and is someone who has had a big impact on my life.  In 1993, he had a near death experience. While he floated above his body and went towards the light, he was told if he chose to come back, he would help usher in a new paradigm of how we looked at the frequency, resonance, and the human organism. When humans embraced the new paradigm, it’d help us far enhanced states of being.  We did this podcast, so Ron obviously decided to come back! For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast