The Mindshift Podcast

What if the moment you almost gave in was actually the beginning of something new?Jose Salinas shares his journey from incarceration and homelessness to becoming a peer recovery coach and founding contributor to The Mindshift Podcast. In this conversation, Jose opens up about the pivotal moments when awareness stepped in—including a day at a bus stop when his mind pulled him toward old patterns, and a moment in a park when he chose rest over relapse. His story reveals how curiosity and noticing can create space between impulse and action, and how lived experience becomes a bridge to help others find their way. Jose also discusses his work bringing mindfulness-based recovery to Spanish-speaking communities and the expansion of Mindshift to Latin America.KEY TAKEAWAYSAwareness creates a gap between craving and action where choice livesRecovery is not done in isolation—connection and peer support matter deeplyYou were already using the method before you knew the method existedSuffering can have meaning and purpose when it becomes part of helping othersMeditation and the Mindshift Method work together but also stand alone as practicesGUEST BIOJose Salinas is a peer recovery coach, peer support specialist, and state trainer in Michigan with over a decade of experience supporting people navigating mental health and substance use challenges. A founding contributor to Mindshift Recovery, Jose is working to expand mindfulness-based recovery resources to Spanish-speaking communities in Latin America. His personal recovery journey—rooted in meditation, awareness, and community—informs everything he does.Notable Quote"When my mind is worked up, my body feels it. What do I need right now?" — Jose SalinasConnect with us:Sign up to join our live Zoom meetings 5 days a week at mindshiftrecovery.orgDownload the Mindshift Recovery App on our Website, the App Store, or Google PlayIf you’d like to be on the show or have questions for us or our guests - Rhetta@mindshiftrecovery.org For more info about Dr. Judson Brewer's neuroscience research, visit mindshiftrecovery.orgThe Mindshift Podcast is part of the Mindshift Recovery community—a space where anyone can shift their relationship with behaviors that no longer serve.Music for The Mindshift Podcast is created and produced by host Dan Holcomb.The content shared in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

What if the reason you can't stop isn't weakness—but neuroscience?In this conversation with Dr. William Nardi—behavioral scientist, researcher, and teammate at Mindshift Recovery—Dan and Rhetta unpack the brain science behind why habits stick and how curiosity can actually recalibrate your brain's reward system. Bill shares his personal journey from struggling with substances to studying mindfulness and habit change at Brown University, and explains why awareness—not willpower—is the key to lasting change. This episode digs into the orbital frontal cortex, the default mode network, deprivation versus interest curiosity, and why your brain prices a premium on felt experience. If you've ever wondered why you keep doing the thing you said you wouldn't do, this one's for you.Key TakeawaysThe brain sets up habits through a prediction and reward system—and you can recalibrate that system by paying attention with curiosity.There are two types of curiosity: deprivation curiosity (needing an answer) and interest curiosity (wondering without attachment). Interest curiosity helps you learn.Your brain prioritizes embodied, felt experience over what you know intellectually. That's why awareness in the body—not just the mind—creates lasting change.Self-judgment is a habit loop too. Recognizing it with curiosity instead of force can help you shift your relationship with it.Mindshift is designed to work alongside other approaches—it's a tool that can integrate into many pathways, not a replacement for what's already working.Guest BioDr. William Nardi is a behavioral scientist, researcher, and teammate at Mindshift Recovery. He earned his PhD at Brown University in behavioral and social science studying why people do what they do and how to help them change. Bill has spent over a decade in mindfulness research, including work with Dr. Judson Brewer at Brown University. His personal recovery journey brought him to this work, and he now studies user experience, engagement, and the neuroscience of habit change to help anyone shift their relationship with behaviors that no longer serve.Notable Quote"You can understand how your mind works. You can understand why being kind to yourself and being able to be with yourself is a very important part of changing habits over time. Even what some folks would call mistakes or missteps—those 'I can't believe it happened again' moments—can be some of the most valuable moments for habit change if they're held with compassion and understood from a lens of neuroscience." — Dr. Bill NardiConnect with us:Sign up to join our live Zoom meetings 5 days a week at mindshiftrecovery.orgDownload the Mindshift Recovery App on our Website, the App Store, or Google PlayIf you’d like to be on the show or have questions for us or our guests - Rhetta@mindshiftrecovery.org For more info about Dr. Judson Brewer's neuroscience research, visit mindshiftrecovery.orgThe Mindshift Podcast is part of the Mindshift Recovery community—a space where anyone can shift their relationship with behaviors that no longer serve.Music for The Mindshift Podcast is created and produced by host Dan Holcomb.Artwork is created by Giraffes And RobotsThe content shared in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

What if the thing keeping you from change isn't your habit — but the story you've made up about what change has to look like?The Mindshift Podcast is a show about habit change, hosted by Dan Holcomb and Rhetta Rowland. Rooted in the neuroscience of Dr. Judson Brewer and the real-life experiences of a community already using the method, each episode blends science, mindfulness, and honest human stories to help you understand — and step out of — the loops keeping you stuck. In this episode, Dan and Rhetta sit down with Mindshift teammate Mary Beth Stern — certified addictions counselor, MBSR teacher, and person in long-term recovery — for an honest conversation about awareness, what it really takes to show up, and why the method works even if you think you're not a meditator.In this episode:Mary Beth shares her journey from painfully shy kid to Wall Street to certified addictions counselor — and the moment alcohol stopped workingHow second gear awareness showed up in her own life long before she had a name for it — and why recognizing the habit loop was the turning pointWhy you don't have to be a meditator to work the Mindshift method — "short moments, many times" is the whole practiceThe truth about Mindshift community calls: you can show up off-screen, muted, and just listen — no hot seat, no pressure, no performance requiredWhat Mary Beth hopes someone feels in their very first week: not a specific feeling, but a glimpse of hope that their internal capacity to change is already thereConnect with us:Sign up to join our live Zoom meetings 5 days a week at mindshiftrecovery.orgDownload the Mindshift Recovery App on our Website, the App Store, or Google PlayIf you’d like to be on the show or have questions for us or our guests - Rhetta@mindshiftrecovery.org For more info about Dr. Judson Brewer's neuroscience research, visit mindshiftrecovery.orgThe Mindshift Podcast is part of the Mindshift Recovery community—a space where anyone can shift their relationship with behaviors that no longer serve.Music for The Mindshift Podcast is created and produced by host Dan Holcomb.Artwork is created by Giraffes And RobotsThe content shared in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

What if the habit keeping you up at night isn't what you think it is — and the answer isn't in your head at all?The Mindshift Podcast is a show about habit change, hosted by Dan Holcomb and Rhetta Rowland. Rooted in the neuroscience of Dr. Judson Brewer and the real-life experiences of a community already using the method, each episode blends science, mindfulness, and honest human stories to help you understand — and step out of — the loops keeping you stuck. In this first full episode, Dan and Rhetta get personal — sharing the real moments when the Mindshift method stopped being a good idea and started being something that actually worked in their bodies.In this episode:Rhetta's first real shift happened around sleep — not substances — when she realized her lifelong inability to fall asleep was a worry habit loop running quietly in the background, not just "the way she was"The second gear question — what am I actually getting from this? — lives in the body, not the head. Tight throat, clenched shoulders, grinding teeth. That's the data that changes the brain's reward systemDan's moment with alcohol: when he finally felt what being off-balance actually felt like in his body, not just understood it conceptually, the habit lost its grip. "If I ate a sandwich that did that to me, I'd think I was poisoned."The Mindshift community started as an app and became something more — 50 people on a Zoom call, all working on different habits, all in the same room — and that shared experience is where the real change happensWhat's coming on the podcast: teammates, clinicians, researchers, and community members — real stories, real science, and the method in actionConnect with us:Sign up to join our live Zoom meetings 5 days a week at mindshiftrecovery.orgDownload the Mindshift Recovery App on our Website, the App Store, or Google PlayIf you’d like to be on the show or have questions for us or our guests - Rhetta@mindshiftrecovery.org For more info about Dr. Judson Brewer's neuroscience research, visit mindshiftrecovery.orgThe Mindshift Podcast is part of the Mindshift Recovery community—a space where anyone can shift their relationship with behaviors that no longer serve.Music for The Mindshift Podcast is created and produced by host Dan Holcomb.Artwork is created by Giraffes And RobotsThe content shared in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

What if the hardest part of changing a habit isn't the habit itself — but the story you've been told about why you have it?The Mindshift Podcast is a show about habit change, hosted by Dan Holcomb and Rhetta Rowland. Rooted in the neuroscience of Dr. Judson Brewer and the real-life experiences of a community already using the method, each episode blends science, mindfulness, and honest human stories to help you understand — and step out of — the loops keeping you stuck. This prequel episode is where it all begins: Dan and Rhetta introduce the Mindshift method, explain why they built this podcast, and make the case that you were never broken to begin with.In this episode:Your brain isn't broken — habits form because reward-based learning is working exactly as designed, and understanding that is what removes the shameThe three gears explained: noticing the habit loop, getting honest about what it's actually delivering, and the freedom that naturally followsSecond gear lives in the body, not the head — it's not about analyzing why, it's about feeling whatMindshift puts everyone in the same room, whatever the habit, because the experience of being stuck feels the same in every bodyThe practice is simpler than you think — short moments, checking in, noticing what's thereConnect with us:Sign up to join our live Zoom meetings 5 days a week at mindshiftrecovery.orgDownload the Mindshift Recovery App on our Website, the App Store, or Google PlayIf you’d like to be on the show or have questions for us or our guests - Rhetta@mindshiftrecovery.org For more info about Dr. Judson Brewer's neuroscience research, visit mindshiftrecovery.orgThe Mindshift Podcast is part of the Mindshift Recovery community—a space where anyone can shift their relationship with behaviors that no longer serve.Music for The Mindshift Podcast is created and produced by host Dan Holcomb.Artwork is created by Giraffes And RobotsThe content shared in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

The Mindshift Podcast is your front-row seat to honest, human conversations about breaking habit loops—and building a life that feels better from the inside out. Hosted by Dan Holcomb and Rhetta Rowland, this show is rooted in community, compassion (no stigma here), and practical neuroscience-based tools that can support change across the spectrum—from substance use to everyday patterns like anxious thinking, bingeing, and numbing out with Netflix. Launching February 23rd, The Mindshift Podcast is here to help you get curious, get real, and start shifting—one conversation at a time.Why you need to listen:It’s built on community: real people supporting each other without shame or labels.“Humans aren’t broken” is the vibe: the show rejects stigma and focuses on how brains get wired into patterns—and how they can rewire.Expect a mix of structure + wild-card energy: guided by “the gears,” but conversational enough to feel like you’re hanging out in the room with them.It’s neuroscience-backed: the work is grounded in research connected to Dr. Judson Brewer and designed to be practical, relatable, and usable in real life.