Free Your Inner Guru

It’s a podcast swap! Steve McCready is our guest host, and I’m at the guest microphone.

Steve McCready is the host of The Sensitive Rebel podcast. He is here to interview me about life before, since, and lessons learned from my involvement in the self help industry and my involvement in “that sweat lodge.” Over on the Sensitive Rebel, you will find an episode called Laura Tucker Helps Steve Free His Inner Guru.

Steve McCready is a coach with a background as a psychotherapist. Steve and I share many interests including psychology, photography, and creativity.

After a couple of Zooms geeking out on art and gear, we had a “what if” conversation about interviewing each other. To shake things up, we decided to be guests on our own shows!

The timing is serendipitous. The 12th anniversary of the Sedona sweat lodge was October 8th. A dozen years later, I’m still peeling back layers of this experience and sharing them, but mostly on other podcasts!

Steve’s background as a therapist enables him to hone in on challenging topics with empathy. He speaks with authority to their impact on psychology and mental health, making him the perfect host for this conversation.

No joke, by the time we finished, I was tempted to title this episode “Would Someone Please Just Give Me a Red Flag?!?”

Conversation highlights:

• Why I’m rebelling against the status quo in the self help industry.
• Cult dynamics and toxic leaders in our current social environment.
• The twists and turns of my journey that led me to “that sweat lodge.”
• Creativity and photography – learning the rules in order to break them.
• Societal pressure on women at certain ages from the patriarchal status quo.
• The real secret of the North American self help movement. It’s steeped in privilege.
• The rapacious nature of “sell them what they want, give them what you think they need.”
• The clarity that’s come this past year, learning about indoctrination and cult dynamics.
• Recognizing when we are getting swept away by our feelings, so we can actually see the red flags waving in our faces.

Mentioned in this episode:

Thank you, Steve for being a kind and empathetic host. My interview of Steve for episode 23 of The Sensitive Rebel is here

Connect with Steve McCready

• Website – sensitiverebel.com
• Website – stevemccready.com
• Instagram – @thesensitiverebel

Support Free Your Inner Guru:

• Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
• Check out the Leadership Community – freeyourinnerguru.com/community
• Shop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop

Stay in touch:

• Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletter
• Instagram – @freeyourinnnerguru

Prior to 2020, Kathleen Oh believed anti-vaccination was the best way she could protect her children.

In this compelling conversation, Kathleen shares how a courageous and empathetic friend led her to understand the deep-seated racism and white privilege underlying her beliefs. Kathleen shares how stepping away from her former community put her on a path of healing and awareness of cult dynamics in her midst.

In this first episode of 2022, Kathleen Oh and Laura take a deep dive into psychedelics, altered states, politics and predators in the world of personal transformation. And why it’s necessary for all coaches to critically evaluate the training and bigwigs in their coaching lineage.

Kathleen Oh is an integration coach helping people on their self-exploration journeys. She educates and guides curious explorers through microdosing psychedelics & breathwork, and most importantly, heal and expand into all that’s possible. She is sought after for her authentic, soft-but-confident approach.

Personally, Kathleen has overcome childhood trauma, depression and addiction.

Offline, Kathleen lives in Niagara, Ontario, loves to hike with her dogs. She feels most connected when in nature. Her favourite moments are in the darkness and the deep cold of a Canadian winter.

Mentioned in this episode:

Dr Janja Lalich – janjalalich.com

Take Back Your Life Recovery Workshops

Past episodes: Dr Janja Lalich, Nathanael Garrett Novosel, AdaPia D’Errico

Connect with Kathleen online:

• Website – coachkathleenoh.com
• Instagram – @therealcoachoh

Support Free Your Inner Guru:

• Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or Castbox
• Shop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop

Stay in touch:

• Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletter
• Instagram – @freeyourinnnerguru and @thatlauratucker

Wolf Terry joins Laura Tucker for a conversation about her controversial Yoga Journal article “Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa.”

Wolf Terry is a contributing writer for Yoga Journal. She left teaching yoga at the beginning of the pandemic after years of working at every level of the $88 billion industry in order to become a full-time writer.

In 2018 Wolf lost her younger brother and best friend to suicide, mere months after her child was born. Since then she has been an advocate for mental health, as well as an outspoken activist on crucial social justice issues.

Wolf recently came under fire in the Yoga and Wellness community for her Yoga Journal article “Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa” in which she calls out the yoga community for abandoning its ethics.

Host Laura Tucker is a survivor of the 2009 fatal sweat lodge at a spiritual and self help retreat in Sedona, Arizona. She and Wolf discuss their common concerns for the yoga, wellness, spiritual and self help industries including:

• what Ahimsa means
• ethical concerns when profit comes before people
• spiritual bypassing
• toxic woo culture in westernized yoga and spirituality
• indoctrination and cult dynamics in wellness communities
• the influence of the racist and misogynist ideology of the QAnon and Pastel Q influencers on vaccination rates and the spread of misinformation and disinformation across the internet

Wolf Terry’s Yoga Journal article – Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa

Yoga Journal’s teaser post on Instagram

The Story Behind Free Your Inner Guru

Documentary – Enlighten Us: The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray

Wondery podcast – Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment

Conspirituality Podcast – Ep 61 – From Anti-Feminism to Anti-Vax with Dr Annie Kelley

Dr Annie Kelley’s podcast Vaccine: The Human Story

Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community on Discourse

Lindsay Keefe Yoga Therapy

Steve McCready – The Sensitive Rebel Podcast

Connect with Wolf Terry

• Instagram – @wolfgini
• Website – wolfgini.com

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Connect with Free Your Inner Guru® online

• Website – freeyourinnerguru.com
• Instagram – instagram.com/freeyourinnerguru
• Join our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. freeyourinnerguru.com/community

Sean Tucker is a photographer, filmmaker and writer who inspires fellow creatives through his popular YouTube channel and new book “The Meaning in the Making,” in which he shares his philosophy for the creative life.

Before Sean became a photographer, he studied theology and worked as a Baptist priest in South Africa. You’re going to hear about his journey into and out of the priesthood, then into photography, why he started his Youtube channel, and wrote his recent book The Meaning in the Making where he demystifies the creative process.

You’re going to love this rich conversation. It touches on all the topic categories of this podcast: creativity, spirituality, finding and using your voice, and stepping away from structured, institutionalized religion.

As we close out 2021, Sean gives us a real sense of what it’s like to bring all parts of ourselves to our work, as evidenced in his philosophical approach to photography. He wants us to put our voice out into the world, imbue it with more meaning to tell a better story and give a deeper truth.

This is an intense and hopeful conversation, one that I hope takes you into the next year with a renewed creative focus of your own.

I give you The Meaning in the Making, a conversation with Sean Tucker.

Mentioned in this episode:

Sean Tucker, The Meaning in the Making: The why and how behind our human need to create

Connect with Sean online:

• Website – seantucker.photography
• Instagram – @seantuck
• Youtube

Support Free Your Inner Guru:

• Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru
• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or Castbox
• Shop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop

Stay in touch:

• Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletter
• Instagram – @freeyourinnnerguru and @thatlauratucker