My Best Life

#10 - Aakrist Dongol - Every breath we take: functional breathing for peak performance

Breath is happening all day long, yet most of us never learn how to use it on purpose. We sit with breath coach and Peak Breathing Academy founder Aakrist Dongol to explore why functional breathing is one of the most overlooked tools for mental clarity, emotional resilience, and real-world performance. His lens is grounded in physiology, but he’s not afraid to name the deeper side of the work: when the breath gets quieter, life often gets bigger.  Aakrist shares the turning points that pulled him in, from a meditation retreat that cracked open a new relationship with sensation and awareness, to a cycle of sports injuries that forced him to recover without his usual training identity. That constraint became the experiment: could a seated breathing practice rebuild endurance and speed up healing? What he found reshaped how he thinks about athletes, recovery, and the grind mindset that rewards “huffing and puffing” as proof of effort.  Then we get technical in the best way. We break down CO2 tolerance, why carbon dioxide is the main driver of breathing, and how oxygen uptake isn’t the same as oxygen delivery to the brain, muscles, and organs. If you’ve ever felt winded and assumed you just needed “more oxygen,” the analogies in this conversation will change how you think about cardio, nasal breathing, and training adaptations. Aakrist also explains what he listens for in a new client’s speech and breathing patterns, why he avoids the catch-all label “breathwork,” and how breath cultivation builds a better baseline rather than chasing a quick state change.  We close with a short guided practice you can do anywhere, plus clear guardrails around discomfort versus distress. If this helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s stressed or training hard, and leave a review so more people can find the episode. https://www.instagram.com/peakbreathing/ https://linktr.ee/peakbreathing

#9 - [Solo] - Higher ground: reclaiming the sacred roots of cannabis

Cannabis gets shoved into a box: harmless fun, dangerous drug, miracle medicine, spiritual shortcut. I’m not buying the box. Instead, I’m taking a more honest path, exploring how cannabis can function as an “amplifier” of consciousness and why intention matters more than inherited opinions, media narratives, or moral panic. We walk through the spiritual history of cannabis, from ancient references like the Atharva Veda to Shaivite traditions and the modern sacramental use found in Rastafarian reasoning circles. The thread running through these cultures is respect: consciousness is mysterious, and anything that shifts it deserves discernment. That same discernment helps separate unconscious intoxication from conscious expansion, where the goal is not escape but deeper contact with reality. Then we get practical and embodied. I share how mindful cannabis use can reconnect us to the body through yoga, breathwork, meditation, movement, music, and journaling, and why the endocannabinoid system offers a useful scientific frame for sensation, mood, and nervous system balance. We also talk about cannabis and fasting, cannabis and sexuality, and cannabis and creativity, including the risks: anxiety, dependency, avoidance, and using the plant as a substitute for emotional work. I close with clear principles for responsible use: set and setting, dosage, pairing cannabis with practices, taking breaks, and listening to your body. If you value nuanced conversations about spirituality, embodiment, and conscious cannabis use, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review.

#8 - Unju Mann - The sacred unbecoming: finding grace in the ayahuasca brew

Ayahuasca gets talked about like a trend, but the reasons people seek it are rarely trendy: grief that won’t lift, patterns that won’t break, pain that keeps finding new places to hide. I sit down with Unju Mann to hear her story of losing her mother, sliding into nightly autopilot drinking, and eventually saying yes to a first ceremony in Peru after months of research and hard honesty. We get specific about what an ayahuasca retreat can actually look like, from the ritual container and the shaman’s role to why the room can feel both magical and intense. Unju explains purging in plain terms and why many traditions see it as release rather than “getting sick.” We also talk about surrender, what resistance looks like when fear takes over, and how the medicine can bring long-buried memories and emotional blocks into view so they can finally be processed. The theme that keeps coming back is integration. We explore how insights translate into real life: gratitude journaling, prayer, diet changes, more stillness, less noise, and better choices when you’re stuck in traffic or dealing with family stress. If you’re searching for grounded guidance on ayahuasca healing, plant medicine safety, ethical retreats, and psychedelic integration, this conversation offers a clear place to start. If it resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

#7 - Christine Lamothe - The bear, the breaking and the being

A nickname can be a costume, a shield, or a doorway. When Christine Lamothe spent decades introducing herself as “Bear,” it wasn’t branding, it was survival, community, and a long cocoon of inner work. Now she’s taking her given name back and sharing what changed her from the inside out, from breaking circles in the 90s to the wide silence of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic. We talk about how breaking (not “breakdancing”) shaped her confidence and identity, and how moving north forced a shift from competition to cooperation. Christine describes building youth dance programs in Iqaluit, creating performances that brought elders and community together, and learning Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, traditional knowledge that values observation, patience, and collective responsibility. That Arctic chapter also raises hard questions about colonization, belonging, and what it really means to show up with respect. From there, we follow her into the wellness world with a grounded lens: yoga lineages, massage therapy, somatic healing, and the daily practice of staying sovereign in your own mind. Christine shares how teachers like Mooji helped her see thoughts as suggestions rather than commands, and why meditation can be a practical tool for anxiety and self-worth. We also get a clear, real-world explanation of Panchakarma, the three-week Ayurvedic cleanse in India that she says helped her focus, integrate trauma, and feel more like “Christine” than ever. If you’ve been craving more presence, more courage, and a more honest definition of your best life, this conversation is a strong place to start. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with one insight you’re taking into your week. https://www.instagram.com/theawakenedbear/ [https://www.instagram.com/theawakenedbear/]

#6 - Imad Khaddaj - Why your nervous system needs energetic surgery

Calm is not something we earn after we get our life together. It is something we practice, especially when life feels messy, fast, or heavy. I sit down with Imad Kadaj, founder of Grounded Movement, to talk about what it really means to anchor yourself before you try to change everything else. His path runs from growing up with asthma and ADHD in Lebanon to walking away from a high-paying job in Canada, training Muay Thai in Thailand, and eventually teaching yoga with a deep focus on healing and nervous system regulation, including performing what he calls 'energetic surgery'. We get practical about why stillness can feel threatening and why “just meditate” is not always the right first step. Imad breaks down a trauma-informed view of the nervous system, including the difference between top-down mindfulness and bottom-up somatic work. From there, we explore why yin yoga is so powerful: long holds, clear sensation, and supported discomfort that build capacity for inner peace over time, not just a temporary mood shift. We also dig into traditional Chinese medicine, qi, meridian lines, and the way organs and emotions are linked in that model. Imad shares how Tui Na massage, acupressure, acupuncture, and Reiki-style energy work can support release and regulation, especially when the body is holding survival stress. Then we tie it all together with breath, including breath cultivation versus more intense breathwork, plus a simple “safety breath” you can use at your desk during a stressful day. We even go to the edge of the mystery with the question he once journaled: is breath a form of God, or at least a doorway to higher consciousness? If you care about yin yoga, mindfulness, somatic healing, trauma release, traditional Chinese medicine, and grounded living that actually feels like yours, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs steadier breath, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.