Dom Francks is a modern day renaissance man, having honed his craft at everything from elite golf, to climate tech, to outdoor leadership.

The current expression of this craft is Vivify, a transformative journey for adventurous professionals and leaders. It blends 4 months of online leadership coaching with a unique 8-day off-trail backpacking expedition in the High Sierra.

In our conversation we go deep on how one can create transformative spaces in the time they spend outdoors, and more importantly, how one can use these peak states to ultimately be of greater service to those around us.

You can find links to go deeper on some of the topics here:

• Dom's piece on Ritual vs Discipline
• Josh Schrei's The Emerald Podcast: Animism is Normative Consciousness
• Josh Schrei's The Emerald Podcast on Ecological Grief: I Wish It Could Have Been Another Way
• The Great Simplification | Film on Energy, Environment, and Our Future | FULL MOVIE
• Dom's piece on The “Spiritual Infrastructure” of Climate

Dom is offering $500 off this May's Vivify program for listeners of Mountain Whispers. To inquire, follow this link.

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Lauren Bond is a wilderness guide and founder of The River's Path, offering canoe journeys for deep connection and personal transformation.

We explore what is actually means to foster deeper connection to the more than human world and how one can access these subtle states of consciousness.

We dive deep into how Lauren facilitates this experience in a group setting, as well as how confronting fear and opening yourself to synchronicity are key parts of moving in these spaces.

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Neuroscientist David Eagleman explaining "The Umwelt"
• Lauren's upcoming trips at The River's Path

You can find more of Lauren at The River's Path link above. You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

In this episode Fletcher joins us again to pick up where we left off in Episode 20. We dive deeper into the practice of cultivating intimacy with the more than world through exploring:

• Connecting to your local bio-region and seeing it like a "Kin-dom"
• Ancestor practices - paying homage to those who came before us by understanding how they interacted with flora and fauna
• The power of animal tracking and pilgrimage as a way to connect and transform

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• The Emerald Podcast episode: Animism is Normative Consciousness
• Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage route in Japan

You can learn more about Fletcher's upcoming programs here, or find some of his music here.

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Jon Turk is the quintessential example of someone who has lived a life of adventure and consistently stayed open to let vivid experiences shape him.

He's been named a Top Ten Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic for feats including kayaking around Cape Horn and across the North Pacific from Japan to Alaska, to mountain biking across the northern Gobi in Mongolia, as well as numerous first ski descents and first rock climbing ascents around the globe.

What's even more captivating is the depth of his introspection throughout out this. The four books he's written document the way that endurance, fear, risk, and awe has shaped his character, but also interwine the history, anthropology, and mythology of the places he's been lucky enough to adventure in.

In this conversation we tease out some of these learnings to explore what it means to push adventures to the edge, while staying grounded enough to live to tell the tale.

You can learn more about Jon at jonturk.net and can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Alexander Beiner is the author of the upcoming book The Bigger Picture: How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World and one of the founders of the Youtube channel Rebel Wisdom.

Together we explore the parallels between outdoor and psychedelic modes of adventure, and more importantly, how one can integrate extreme experience in a way that helps us navigate complexity, thrive under pressure, and better practice compassion and empathy. All of these are skills that are becoming more important in a world that isn't getting any simpler.

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences by Rick Strassman
• Evolve Move Play - an organization bring participatory knowledge and wisdom from movement
• Trish Blain's model of four forces that shape worldviews

You can find more of Alexander at @alexander_beiner on Instagram, or subscribe to his Substack at The Bigger Picture.

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Tara Souch is a clinical counsellor, specialising in nature based therapy, and a wilderness guide.

We chat about:

• Connecting to the seasons, what it looks like to use each season as a different method of introspection
• Tools for cultivating intimacy with the natural world as a means of discovery
• The role of Vision Fasts, ceremony, and ritual as modalities of transformation

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Dragonfly Healing the of Karina Stevenson
• School of Lost Borders Vision Fast program

You can find more of Tara at tarasouch.ca

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Kyle Dow is a coach focused on emotional and spiritual health and wellness. A Rock-climber and seeker, Kyle is adept at exploring ones edge, both in the outdoors and in ceremonial settings.

We chat about:

• Pushing limits in the outdoors and how it often leads to us performing at our best
• Flow states and the similarities between flow states from adventure sports vs plant-medicine ceremonies
• The nuances of accessing certain states of consciousness, the role of ceremony to enable this

Links mentioned in the conversation:

• Bone Games: Extreme Sports, Shamanism, Zen, and the Search for Transcendence by Rob Schultheis
• The Fit for Service Program by Aubrey Marcus, Erick Godsey, and others
• LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven by Christopher M. Bache
• Spirit Plant Medicine Conference where Chris Bache spoke
• What even is the Umwelt Effect?

You can find more of Kyle www.connectionintegration.com or on Instagram @kyle_dow

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, and connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.

Mike Spencer Bown has travelled to all 195 sovereign countries in the world, but done so while getting off the beaten path to pursue adventure rather than passport stamps. He also spent 86 straight days in the wilderness of the Valhalla Range of the Kootenays Mountains in BC, hunting and foraging for his sustenance.

We chat about many things, including the lessons he's learned from adventure and how travel equips you for life better than formal education.

On his experience in the wilderness, we chat about:

• The transformation of consciousness that happens after a certain amount of time
• The way the narrative self quiets down to a deep state of presence
• The warping of time and blending of waking and dream states
• The richness of the heightened state of awareness and the intuition that takes over

Links mentioned in this episode include:

• Mike's book The World's Most Travelled Man: A Twenty-Three-Year Odyssey to and through Every Country on the Planet
• Mike's website https://mikespencerbown.com
• Mike's essay on the world's religions Jinn and Adam's Rib

You can support this podcast by leaving a review on the podcast platform you use, or connect with Tim on Instagram @timstewnz.