The Competitive Edge

Today’s guest is a fascinating and inspiring example of expanding beyond an old identity to step into something deeper. Mona Sobhani was a hard-charging neuroscientist who at one point looked at spirituality as a coping mechanism for people who couldn’t cut it in the real world. Through an unforeseen series of direct experiences and deep exploration of scientific evidence, she gradually transformed her worldview and began to embrace the ineffable mystery that is spiritual life. Her book Proof of Spiritual Phenomena shares her experience as well as the mountain of scientific evidence that substantiates what many ancient wisdom teachings have been saying all along. In this conversation, we talk a lot about the interplay of scientism and spirituality. Some interesting talking points for me include: Why much of the science community continue to overlook or turn away from the compelling evidence surrounding spiritual phenomena and their potential impact on the human experience How to skillfully navigate shi

Today’s guests are Nicco Reggente and Leo Christov-Moore from The Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies. The IACS is trying to make these life-altering experiences available to more people by better understanding what goes into meditative and entheogenic experiences so that we can find additional, more accessible entry points using modern technology. Through a better understanding of both the mechanics of what creates these states from how our brains change, to traditional components like the role of a facilitator and set and setting, they hope to make attaining positive behavior through these states accessible to the masses. Right now their research focus is on enhancing meditation, neuromodulation, and technodelics.  This conversation is wide-ranging and builds upon past conversations I’ve had on the latest Neuroscience of Meditation. Some highlights include:   Why their research lab is set up like a startup vs. typical academia The current state of using ultrasound to induce altered states W

Today’s conversation dives deep into the realm of the soul and the initiatory experience.  Brooks Barron is a leadership coach and wilderness guide. One of the reasons I was excited to chat with Brooks is the formative role nature plays in his work helping people make contact with their soul and bring its expression into reality.  In this conversation, we talk about the pan-cultural tradition of the initiatory process and why it can be so impactful in our growth journeys. We explore how multi-day fast vision quests in nature can create a container for soul initiation. Full episode notes and links https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

I first heard the term "cerebrospinal fluid" about four years ago during a Joe Dispenza course. I remember doing meditations that had me squeeze my perineum to try and move the fluid up my back into my brain. I encountered it again when I studied breathwork, and then my cranial sacral therapist would talk about it. It has continued to hover around my sphere for years, and finally, I decided I needed to go deeper and figure out what I needed to know about cerebrospinal fluid. I encountered the work of Dr. Mauro Zappaterra in this way.  Mauro has spent the past 20 years studying the impact of cerebrospinal fluid on human functioning. He received his MD/PhD from Harvard, where he studied neuronal stem cells and the effects of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on brain development in adults. His work has been published in numerous scientific articles on CSF, and it was chosen as the cover image for the prestigious Neuron Journal. He is also the author of several children's books that make consciousness teachings accessib

This is a conversation with Humanity's Team co-founder Steve Farrell on his unconventional and inspiring journey from successful entrepreneur to uplifting human consciousness. In the 1990’s, Steve Farrell had started two high flying Silicon Valley businesses respectfully doing $75 million in revenue when he recognized his call to serve humanity. By all traditional definitions he had “made it,” but recognized that his soul’s purpose for coming into this plane was more then just being a serial entrepreneur. He left Silicon Valley and started his non-profit Humanity’s Team with Neale Donald Walsch, author of the seminal book series Conversations With God.  Humanity’s team’s mission is to make conscious living pervasive by 2040 by helping educate people throughout the world to awaken to the interconnectedness and oneness of everything. Over the last 20 years, they have created the #1 non-profit in transformational education bringing together some of the biggest spiritual leaders, scientists, and educators in the

Is it possible to live life in a state of play, grow spiritually, and build the life of your dreams all at once? This is a question I have spent many years pondering.  Our guest today, Victoria Song would answer this question with an emphatic YES! For a long time, I thought there was a polarity between these things, but this is something I no longer believe.  This has to be one of my favorite conversations since starting the show. It was just one of those conversations where there was a strong vibe, and I left feeling electric. Victoria is someone I met back in the tech industry when she was working in Venture Capital. From here, she went on to become a leadership advisor and coach working with everyone from billionaires and high flying CEOs to creatives at the top of their field. She is also the author of the book Bending Reality which shares many of her most effective tactics she’s field tested with her clients. For complete show notes and links to all resources mentioned visit: https://blog.scottbritton.

“I think we’re going to see a lot of people who are half professional, half shaman in the coming years.” This was a soundbite from the recording of this week’s episode with my guest Jake Housdon. As the expansion of consciousness becomes more popular, I agree with the idea that people are going to live a more integrated experience.   Jake and I are kindred spirits in some ways in that we both spent a decade+ working in startups and are now seeking ways to blend consciousness evolution with being a modern professional.  Jake has an inspiring and courageous story. He was a sales leader in the startup world for the past decade and left that life to buy a retreat center in Peru, embark on becoming a shaman, and create an ecosystem dedicated to serving the conscious professional. In this episode, we talk about his mystical story of how he ended up where he is today and the windy path it took to get there. We went deep on many of the polarities that one can encounter while trying to be an earnest seeker, yet also s

What’s Unique About The Mental Health of Entrepreneurs? Starting and running a company can be HARD. And when you look at the odds of success, you realize you gotta be a little crazy to do it. Many times during my own experience, I’ve reflected on how if I knew how hard it was, I’m not sure I would have done it. I’m finding the same thing can be said about embarking on the path of spiritual evolution btw! Apparently, I like hard shit. So what is it about entrepreneurs that make them do the things they do? Are they fundamentally different from the average bear? And what implications does this have for their mental health and well-being? This is the nature of my conversation with today’s guest Dr. Michael Freeman. Dr. Freeman serves as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and as a Mentor in the Entrepreneurship Center at UCSF. With support from the Kauffman Foundation, Dr. Freeman has conducted extensive research into the mental health of entreprene

I love synchronicity. Not just because it’s fun when it happens but because it serves as a clue to the fact that there is something more going on here than the story we’ve been told about reality. The answer to what causes synchronicity will vary depending on who you ask. I have my own ideas, but I wanted to see who out there has done extensive research on the topic. This is how I came across today’s guest, Dr. Bernard Beitman. After studying at Yale and Stanford, Dr. Beitman went on to become the chair of the psychology and neuroscience program at The University of Missouri. He has also published multiple books, including Meaningful Coincidences, and started a non-profit called the Coincidence Project which seeks to better understand and educate the world on why and how coincidences occur. For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Altered states of consciousness are going mainstream. This episode is a deep dive on the startup ecosystem with my friend Greg Kubin who an investor a Psymed Ventures. We recorded this conversation as a followup to a longer post covering the startup ecosystem related to expanding human consciousness. Startups will play a key role in enabling and expanding access to altered states of consciousness. The types of companies come in many flavors – hardware, software, and community. Technology could even result in accessing completely new states of consciousness. But first… how do we define consciousness? Most humans live in a state of normal waking consciousness – i.e. being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and physical surroundings. For most people, this is seemingly all there is to reality, maybe  except for dreams. In contrast, altered (or “alternative”) states of consciousness enable us to experience additional levels of awareness, perceptions, memories, thinking, emotions, sense of time, place, and self-cont

Consciousness is subjective. This means, for the most part, we only know what it feels like inside our own inner space. So how do we move beyond our limitations if our only reference point is our subjective experience? Well, one way is to have a map of all the different potentialities available to humans and clear directives on how to experience them. This is the subject of today’s episode with guest Trish Blain. Trish is the founder of Nonordinary and the author of The Four Forces book. She first got on my radar with her work helping previous podcast guest Alexander Beiner who she worked to navigate the extended state DMT trials. In this conversation, I think Trish stimulates some interesting ideas around how we can move beyond our limitations and then look to embody these ecstatic states in union with others. I think one thing that resonated with me is how even amidst many people doing their inner work, more expansive states of being are often investigated and understood in isolation. This presents a challe

What is happening in the world of neuroscience and meditation? That is the subject of today’s episode with Katie Devaney who is a researcher at University of California Center for Psychedelic Research and Co-founder of Berkeley Alembic. As an independent organization, Berkeley Alembic has more autonomy to perform research on experiences that highly experienced meditators have, yet might not match the immediate criteria of fighting disease.  For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/s/evolutionfm-podcast

I went on a men’s retreat a few months ago called Junto and realized that there were some major growth opportunities for me in the outer expression of a lot of my inner work. What this retreat made me realize is that I’ve spent less time on learning how to effectively communicate and express these experiences in many relationships in an elegant and authentic way. Today’s guest is Andrew Horn -- the creator of the Junto retreat experience, founder of the tech company Tribute, and a leadership coach & facilitator.  In this conversation, we talk about relational leadership and the practicalities of what that looks like in our day to day experience. A big takeaway for me is that even when we work on our consciousness, we often don’t have many tools we need to be fully expressed as humans. Andrew shares many of his favorite tools that he uses in his own life and the people we work with. For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/publish/podcasting/s/evolutionfm-podcast

The study of the DMT experience by standard only takes around 10 minutes. What if we could extend the duration of these experiences and get into a deeper exploration? Enter DMTx. In 2018, researchers kicked off a study to observe participants in an extended DMT state experience to delve deeper and conventional limits. Today’s guest is Alexander Beiner, one of the 9 incredibly brave participants who embarked on this pioneering inner exploration. What did he find?   For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/publish/podcasting/s/evolutionfm-podcast

We, humans, are a funny bunch.  Sometimes it feels like we think we have it all figured out only to later understand how the way we’ve been doing things needs some rethinking. You may have heard of the term “regenerative” in various contexts. I most often came across it in relation to agriculture. But the concept can be applied to all the systems in our society including business. Today’s guest is Rudy De Waele, the founder of RegenerateX, UnconditionalMen, and Heart Masters. He has been working with leaders and organizations across the world to transform themselves and the systems we find ourselves in.   For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/publish/podcasting/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Today’s guest is Angelo Dilullo, the creator of Simply Always Awake and author of the book Awake: It’s Your Turn. When I’ve read about very enlightened or realized beings, I always wonder what it must feel like to experience reality through their eyes. What is the texture of the inner experience? This was one reason I was thrilled to have Angelo on the show to get the background of his journey and understand what his current experience feels like. Angelo does a fantastic job outlining the awakening process in the context of his story. You can check out more of his work here: https://www.youtube.com/@SimplyAlwaysAwake https://simplyalwaysawake.com/ I am also teaching a 5-week training program called Guided on cultivating the emergent wisdom we describe in this episode starting 5/31/23. To learn more about the Guided 5-week intuition course, you can find full details here: https://guidedintuition.co/ For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Mark is a newer author in the consciousness space, having published 5 books in the last 4 years including An End To Upside Down Thinking which compiles the most emergent science and countless anecdotes to make the case for consciousness creating reality.  In this conversation, we touch upon Mark’s journey which shares many overlaps with my own. We both got to a deep passion for exploring consciousness from what sometimes feels like the most unlikely of places: being student-athletes at Princeton University. I am also teaching a 5-week training program called Guided on cultivating the emergent wisdom we describe in this episode starting 5/31. To learn more about the Guided 5-week intuition course, you can find full details here: https://guidedintuition.co/ For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/s/evolutionfm-podcast  

There have been many big shifts in my life over the past 5 years. Without a doubt, one of the biggest ones has been moving away from a militant allegiance towards logic and reason, into a more inclusive paradigm that incorporates and prioritizes intuition. In this conversation, we touch on a lot of this literature, historical examples, and how intuition emerges. One thing that is very congruent with my own experience that Theresa touches upon is how self-awareness and inner healing go hand in hand with the emergence of intuition. I am also teaching a 5-week training program called Guided on cultivating the emergent wisdom we describe in this episode starting 5/31. To learn more about the Guided 5-week intuition course, you can find full details here: https://guidedintuition.co/ For full show notes, visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/p/accessing-our-innate-intuitive-gifts?sd=pf  

Life is a series of transitions. This truth is something I’ve increasingly realized on my consciousness journey. I once thought there was a destination to get to. At first, this was becoming a wildly successful entrepreneur and then an enlightened being. I now see that there are no endpoints and that the process of evolution is one that continues to infinity. Inherently, this means we will need to continuously reinvent ourselves and I believe this is something we can learn to do with greater skill and ease. This reality is one reason I was excited to have a conversation with my good buddy Schlaf, the transition coach and the brains behind Where the Road Bends. Steve and I got to know each other as “hustlers” in the early days of the New York Tech scene. If there was anyone who was out there buying more coffee and trying to rub elbows with the right people more than me back in the day, it might have been Steve! For full show notes, https://scottbritton.substack.com/s/evolutionfm-podcast  

Sean Reagan is a teacher of A Course In Miracles and today’s guest on EvolutionFM. Like many of us, Sean had tried following many other pathways from Buddhism to Catholicism to have more persistent peace and joy in his life. Eventually, he stumbled across A Course In Miracles and things shifted in an amazing way.  The book was created by Helen Schulman from 1965 to 1972 via a direct channeling from Jesus Christ according to the author (source). Ironically, the author was an atheist psychologist leading up to “inner dictation” as she put it.  Since the book was published it has helped an incredible amount of people find peace and healing through its daily devotional style of teaching. One of the core concepts is that many of the things that cause our suffering such as fear are not actually real. These are simply misperceptions that have to do with the false identification of yourself as a body. I have come to experience many of these great truths in my own experience but got here through a different entry poin