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.comWebsite - stevemccready.comInstagram - @thesensitiverebel Support Free Your Inner Guru: Become a Patreon Supporter – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruCheck out the Leadership Community - freeyourinnerguru.com/communityShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop Stay in touch: Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletterInstagram - @freeyourinnnerguru

#igotout is a hashtag, website and movement to make abuses of power unacceptable in all kinds of groups, not just cults. Gerette Buglion and Lisa are two of the founders of #igotout. They believe now is the time for survivors of cult dynamics to share their stories with unflinching honesty. Every story matters, and the ripple effect of speaking up can make a difference. Survivors of cultic abuse can raise awareness of undue influence and coercive control. The goal is to change the cultural acceptance of abuse of power in all kinds of groups, not just cults. Gerette and Lisa join me to share the story of how #igotout was formed, characteristics of cult dynamics in today's society, and how survivors can find support at igotout.org. Gerette Buglion, B.A. in Elementary and Special Ed, is the author of An Everyday Cult. She earned her ‘Masters Degree’ in Cult Awareness Education from the school of life. Gerette co-manages operations and communications of igotout.org, is a spokeswoman and activist for the movement and hosts Writing to Reckon, an online workshop where survivors of cultic abuse write their I got out statement. Lisa owns, designs, and manages the igotout.org website intended to support the #igotout movement, as well as makes most of the material and posts for the social media accounts. She is the main point of contact for #igotout communications through email and messaging on the #igotout social platforms. Connect with igotout.org online: WebsiteInstagram - @igotout_orgFacebook Mentioned in this episode: Article: Elsevier - Aggression and Violent Behavior: Sexual abuse and charismatic cults Books: Gerette Buglion - An Everyday CultSteve Hassan - The Cult of Trump Podcasts: Jen Kiaba - Lessons on LeavingKaila Tova - Your Body, Your Brand Support Free Your Inner Guru: Become a Patreon – patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruShop the merchandise – freeyourinnerguru.com/shop Stay in touch: Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletter

Host Laura Tucker is a survivor of the fatal 2009 sweat lodge at a self help retreat in Sedona in 2009. Laura shares her response to the line five minutes in to the first episode of Nine Perfect Strangers: "Remember those people who died in that sweat lodge? They thought they were being enlightened, but in reality they were being cooked." This episode includes the article Nine Perfect Strangers Made Me a Punch Line and Now I'm Punching Back - Survivor of That Sweat Lodge Stands Up For Survivors of All Bad Gurus and the conversation that has come to life as a result. Mentioned in this episode: Article: Nine Perfect Strangers Made Me a Punch Line and Now I'm Punching Back Episode 87 - Dr Janja Lalich: When Self Help Turns Cult Ways to support Free Your Inner Guru: Become a Patreon - patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru Shop the merchandise - freeyourinnerguru.com/shop Shop Laura's fine art photography gallery - lauratuckerphotography.com Stay in touch: Subscribe to the Free Your Inner Guru newsletter

You are going to love this conversation with Regina Louise, author of Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self Love. Regina Louise is a remarkable human being who engages in this conversation with grace, intelligence, empathy and generosity. Before Regina wrote her latest book Permission Granted, she authored two bestselling memoirs: Somebody's Someone and Someone Has Led This Child to Believe in which she shares her journey that included being in thirty foster homes as a child. Her memoirs became the award-winning Lifetime movie I Am Somebody's Child: The Regina Louise Story. Regina joins me to explore topics of the day, including racism, privilege, being a social agent, COVID19, and how writing her 2 memoirs prepared her to write to Permission Granted, her first non-fiction self help book. Conversation Highlights: How Regina learned the value of her own permission when her fighting spirit was seen as troublesome.How women and historically underrepresented folks must give ourselves permission to be bigger than a suppressive society wants us to be.The truth of racism in a constructed, hegemonic society.Moving into the world from the place "where spirit meets bone."Nexting: always imagining the highest order of possibility.Liminal space: feeling moored in the "time in between," and at the threshold where change is afoot.Regina shares her decision to be double vaccinated and wear a mask, despite her prior skepticism based on having pharmaceutical drugs forced on her as a child of the system. Mentioned in this episode: Regina's books: Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self-Love Somebody's Someone: A MemoirSomeone Has Led This Child to Believe Regina: Website - iamreginalouise.comInstagram - @therealreginalouise Become a Free Your Inner Guru® supporter: Become a patron on Patreon – https://patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruPurchase a fun new hoodie, t-shirt and/or sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.) – https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shop Connect with Free Your Inner Guru®: Website – freeyourinnerguru.comInstagram – instagram.com/freeyourinnerguruJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. freeyourinnerguru.com/community

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 meansethical concerns when profit comes before peoplespiritual bypassingtoxic woo culture in westernized yoga and spiritualityindoctrination and cult dynamics in wellness communitiesthe 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 Mentioned in this episode 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 - @wolfginiWebsite - wolfgini.com Become a podcast supporter Become a patron on Patreon - https://patreon.com/freeyourinnerguru the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.) - https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shop Connect with Free Your Inner Guru® online Website - freeyourinnerguru.comInstagram - instagram.com/freeyourinnerguruJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. freeyourinnerguru.com/community

Shulamit Ber Levtov joins Laura for a conversation about the parallels between cult dynamics and abusive intimate relationships, the intersection of conspiracy theory and the self help industry, and dealing with shit therapists. Shulamit Ber Levtov is a resilience and mindset consultant who uses her background as a trauma therapist to help woman-identifying entrepreneurs manage their mindset and pilot their emotions so they can overcome the anxiety and isolation of running a business. Full show notes with working links at https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shulamit-ber-levtov/ Conversation highlights: Shulamit shares how why she became a therapist after experiencing an abusive intimate relationship and how that helps her work with women-identifying entrepreneurs.The distinction between being victimized and having an identity as a victim.Why we shy away from words like victim, vulnerable, and cult.Conspirituality: the intersection of conspiracy thinking and the wellness and self help industries.The self help industry: has it overshot inspiration and become an industry reliant on indoctrination?Parallels between victims of cults and abusive intimate relationships.The cumulative nature of "small T trauma" and the ubiquity of microaggressions and coercive control.Group dynamics: What it takes to build a healthy environment for human connection.Dealing with shit therapists. Mentioned in this episode Janja Lalich: When Self Help Turns Cult - https://freeyourinnerguru.com/janja-lalichConspirituality podcast - conspirituality.net Connect with Shulamit Instagram - @the_entrepreneurs_therapist Become a podcast supporter: Become a patron on Patreon - https://patreon.com/freeyourinnerguruShop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.) - https://freeyourinnerguru.com/shop Connect with Free Your Inner Guru® online Website - freeyourinnerguru.comInstagram - instagram.com/freeyourinnerguruFacebook - facebook.com/freeyrinnerguruJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. freeyourinnerguru.com/community

Dr Janja Lalich joins Laura for a dive deep into the intersection of self help and cults. Full show notes with links to everything mentioned at https://freeyourinnerguru.com/janja-lalich/ Janja is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in cults and extremist groups, with a particular focus on charismatic relationships, political and other social movements, ideology and social control, and issues of gender and sexuality. She is Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico. She is the author of Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, the number one book used by former cult members and their friends and families to better understand cult experiences and their consequences.

AdaPia D'Errico is a global visionary leader, entrepreneur, investor, powerful keynote speaker, and author of Productive Intuition: Connecting to the Subtle. AdaPia D'Errico has co-founded businesses, launched brands, and re-defined industries. She is a respected fintech entrepreneur and real estate investment executive known for her role in launching the estate crowdfunding industry into the mainstream. Challenge is the teacher. From leaving her first marriage to a viral Goalcast video gone wrong, AdaPia shares her multi-year journey to connect with her inner authority. Her book, Productive Intuition is a powerful resource for learning how to connect with and harness the power for your inner guru. We begin with AdaPia's story and quickly moves into an exploration of the light and dark sides of leadership, corporate life, and the transformation industry. Next up are strategies you can use to become more integrated in your approach to life, and why everybody doesn't need to become a coach for a new paradigm of leadership to emerge. Conversation highlights The truth that comes in moments of anger and frustration.The darker side of leadership when a leader abdicates their sense of responsibility.What it means to be sovereign.Honoring periods of transition.What is "Productive Intuition?"Interoception - stopping to notice how you feel.The difference between emotional, physical, and energetic "feelings."A new paradigm for leadership: open, authentic, and willing to admit it doesn't know everything. Mentioned in this episode AdaPia's Book - Productive Intuition: Connecting to the Subtle Connect with AdaPia online: WebsiteInstagramTwitter Become a podcast supporter: Become a patron on PatreonShop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.) Connect with Free Your Inner Guru online WebsiteInstagramFacebookJoin our Leadership Community! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community.

Jonny Barefoot is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, childrens' music teacher from Toronto, living in Japan. Jonny's passion is to hear the music in every aspect of his life. Jonny and I know each other from when we were teenagers. I've always been curious about his experience in Japan, and invited him on the podcast after we reconnected over social media. In this wide ranging conversation, Jonny catches us up on life in Japan and we explore the intersection of culture, spirituality, religion, education, and one of our favourite books - The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. Conversation highlights Jonny shares what it was like to move from Toronto to Japan.From teaching English to teaching music to children through the Music Together program.A look at the indigenous spiritual culture of Japan in contrast to Jonny's Catholic upbringing in Canada.Consistency of practice - whether it's music, meditation, going to church, or writing down inspiration when it comes. Creating music in COVID times.The importance of owning your style.Highlights from The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo.Creativity and spirituality as open practice vs imposing structure and willing things to be a certain way.Jonny shares the inspiration behind his latest album, Sunrise in Reverse. Memorable quotes from Jonny Barefoot On owning your style: "And then at that point, I thought yeah, I think I'm really going to own this sound. This is mine and I'm gonna let this grow inside me. And it was like a search was over." On practice: "If you approach it like that, it's I'm going to go and teach this class because that's what I do every day. And that's the practice. I'm going to sit Zen, that's what I do every day. And that's the practice. And whether it comes naturally and fluidly and flowingly, or it's a absolute drudgery, it's still what you do." Mentioned in this episode Jonny Barefoot's album Sunrise in Reverse on Bandcamp The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho Laura's interview with Brad Warner: Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki Connect with Jonny online: Instagram - @jonny.barefootBandcamp Connect with Free Your Inner Guru online WebsiteInstagramFacebookJoin our Leadership Community Huddle! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. Become a podcast supporter: Support the podcast on Patreonor shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.)

Paria Hassouri is an Iranian American mother of three, pediatrician, and transgender rights activist. Paria Hassouri's memoir Found in Transition: A Mother's Evolution During Her Child's Gender Change begins in 2017, when she first learns that her fourteen year old is having gender dysphoria, and concludes in 2018 when her daughter Ava legally changed her name and gender. In this compelling conversation, Paria Hassouri opens up and shares her journey from grieving the vision of the child she always had to becoming an activist for transgender rights. Conversation highlights How Paria's childhood struggle with being bullied for being Iranian American had an impact on her fears for Ava.Why she wrote all the things many parents in her situation also experience and wouldn't dare to say.How Ava's gender dysphoria caused her to question her own identity as a mother.What Dr Paria Hassouri, MD has learned about gender dysphoria and how it is reflected in her pediatric practice.How Ava, Paria and the Hassouri family are doing at the time of recording and a recent update about Ava's exciting future. Memorable quotes from Paria Hassouri “This is a story about a family with a trans kid. But really, it’s a story about a family.” “Don’t underestimate your power to evolve and change.” “A big part of my evolution during this process was accepting and being proud of who I am as I am. I learned that because I watched my daughter be proud of who she is.” Mentioned in this episode Book - Found in Transition: A Mother's Evolution During Her Child's Gender Change Connect with Paria online Website - pariahassouri.comInstagram - @laparia Connect with Free Your Inner Guru online WebsiteInstagramFacebookJoin our Leadership Community Huddle! Live conversation twice a month on Zoom, and full access to our Discourse community. Become a podcast supporter: Support the podcast on Patreon or shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.)

Suzanne Wylde is the author of The Art of Coming Home - Common sense self-development exercises to educate, inspire, and empower you. Suzanne is an acupuncturist, holistic coach, and alternative therapist. She and I met online a number of months ago. Her pragmatic straightforward approach led to an invitation to come on Free Your Inner Guru for a deep dive. We get into her varied experience and education, and the conversation lands on processing emotions. It’s fitting. Emotions are running all over the place. They always are, but the COVID-19 roller ride coaster keeps going. Suzanne has given me a link to share with you: an online version of chapter 9 in her book, Processing Our Emotions. The focus on emotion raises the question - and creates an opportunity to begin to unpack an important question - How are we to discern what we pay attention to, and allow to influence our thoughts and behavior so that we don’t become vulnerable to undue influence? I was asked yesterday and started writing a list based on my past experience. The first thing I wrote was “be able to identify when your emotions are being activated - by external events, past triggers, or manipulative tactics.” So here we are with an episode that touches on staying grounded, accepting what’s going on around us, even when we don’t like it, and processing emotion. Suzanne shares some tools that may be helpful as we each navigate our way forward. If you’re struggling, I encourage you to connect with a professional - coach, therapist, doctor, and resist the temptation to isolate. We’re all human, after all. We need support and connection to help us through. Conversation highlights: What Suzanne means by “coming home,” and why she calls it an art.The advantages and disadvantages of being “highly sensitive.”Positivity and shadow work - the paradox of self help.The problem of prescriptive leadership, and prescriptive coaching.How empathy does not always lead to helping others.Grounding, acceptance and processing emotion: topics from The Art of Coming Home that are relevant today. Mentioned in this episode: Preview chapter from The Art of Coming Home: Chapter 9 - Processing Our Emotions Book - The Art of Coming Home: Common-sense self-development exercises to educate, inspire and empower you. Science Direct article - Empathy and compassion Connect with Suzanne online Website - Instagram - Facebook Connect with Free Your Inner Guru Support on Patreon Instagram - Facebook Join the conversation – Check out the Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community Support the podcast on Patreon or shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and sustainably printed notebooks. (Use LAUNCH15 at checkout for 15% savings.)

Kim Chestney is a globally recognized author and innovation leader. Her new book is Radical Intuition - A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power. I know you're going to love this conversation with Kim Chestney! Radical Intuition introduces four archetypes of intuition - the Healer, Sage, Visionary, and Mystic - and includes self assessments and quizzes to help us understand our own natural intuition affinities. We get right into the framework for intuition that Kim has developed - our five intuitive senses and four types of intuition, everyday questions like why our intuition speaks to us in the shower, and dive into the role intuition plays as we move beyond thinking into the age of imagination, creativity, and intuition. Conversation highlights: Why the best companies and leaders are using intuition to lead the way.Why intuition cannot be wrong.The four intuitive pathways: body, mind, heart and spirit.The 4 Intuitions: Healer, Sage, Visionary, Mystic. Which intuition archetype are you?The role of intuition in real - aka conscious - leadership.Guidance to figure out the next step if you're struggling right now. Memorable quotes: "Intuition speaks to us from the inside the same way the world speaks to us on the outside." "If you’re going to be a real leader - have to be insightful - have to have empathy. These are things we haven’t talked about in the past with the old leadership model." "Intuition’s sole job is to help us fulfill our potential and make ourselves and the world better." Mentioned in this episode: Kim Chestney: Book - Radical Intuition: A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power Website - Instagram - Facebook Free Your Inner Guru: Seth Godin interview Instagram - Facebook Join the conversation – Check out the Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community Support the podcast on Patreon or shop the fun new hoodies, t-shirts and stationery.

Christine Arylo is a transformational leadership advisor, teacher, speaker and three-time best selling author. Christine is recognized worldwide for her work helping women to make shift happen - in the lives they lead, the work they do, and the world they wish to create. In her most recent book Overwhelmed and Over It, Christine advocates for us to return to feminine wisdom to get out from under the overculture of overwhelm in today's society and create a more sustainable and joy-filled life. Conversation highlights: Understanding the overculture and the many ways we don’t realize we are not free.Be awake as a practice, not a destination.Recognize and replace imprints that do not serve us.Know your heart, mind, body, soul when we’ve been trained in the mind and avoid going into our heart.Why now is the perfect time to look at what is not in alignment and what is not sustainable.Overgiving: what it is, why we are programmed to it, and how to disengage with it.Engage in the world from the inside out.8 different kinds of burnoutWhy our relationship with our inner wisdom needs to be consciously nurtured.Self love vs self absorption and narcissismHow inner work and waking up changes the outer worldNot a meme: Be the change you wish to see as instructions for living.Looking inside ourselves and understanding what is ours to change.Creating space vs finding and making more time. Mentioned in this episode: Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With The Wolves Christine Arylo, Overwhelmed and Over It: Embrace Your Power to Stay Centered and Sustained in a Chaotic World Christine Arylo and Amy Ahlers, Reform Your Inner Mean Girl Connect with Christine online: Website Facebook Instagram Join the conversation - Check out the Free Your Inner Guru Leadership Community

Nathanael Garrett Novosel wants to help you systematically create a life that is meaningful to you. In his career as a professional researcher and advisor, Nathanael has researched psychology, evolutionary biology, organizational best practices, leadership decision making, business, technology, finance, and philosophy to understand how the world as we know it works and why. In his book The Meaning of Life: A Guide To Finding Your Life’s Purpose, Natanael has laid out a framework to help you systematically create a life that is meaningful to you. Using the 8 Principles of the Meaningful Life, Nathanael and I explore a wide range of topics from why growth is the scientific point of life, the difference between beliefs, values and ethics, why people join cults, and why ethics with the ultimate trade between freedom and safety is at the core of our interactions with each other. It’s a conversation for the topics of today and events today. Although the subject material is serious, the conversation was quite a bit of fun. Nathanael Garrett Novosel is a professional researcher and advisor with over 20 years of experience studying individual and group behavior. Nathanael has spent much of his career using the insights from this research to help the world’s leading executives solve their most pressing organizational challenges and create their strategic plans. Noticing the common drivers of success in all areas of life, he decided to devote his research, problem-solving, and advisory skills to helping people live the best lives possible. Mentioned in this episode: Books: The Meaning of Life: A Guide to Finding Your Life's Purpose, Nathanael Garrett Novosel Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Czikmihaly The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins Find Nathanael online: Website Facebook Instagram Visit lauratucker.com Photography Daily Letter Visit freeyourinnerguru.com Podcast episodes Support the podcast with a purchase of t-shirts, hoodies or notebooks: Use code LAUNCH15 for 15% off at freeyourinnerguru.com/shop

A story about my first quiet Christmas resonates with Christmas 2020. May your focus this holiday season bring you ease and grace. Laura Original video on Instagram Original blog on lauratucker.com