Barbara Minton is a psychologist and musician who creates neuroscience-informed music designed to support and heal the brain. In this episode, we explore the relationship between music and the brain, and how we can use it to guide or change our mental and emotional states.

We talk about how music affects the brain, the difference between making it and listening to it, and why different genres influence us in different ways. We get into transcendent and altered states, how music can support grief, loss, pain, insomnia, and emotional processing, and how individual differences like ADHD or PTSD shape the nervous system’s response. We also look at music as a tool for social connection and the unique experience of creating and playing music with others.

We discuss how different instruments feel to play, what makes the guitar and pipe organ special, and how music ties into memory. We explore how to use it deliberately to enhance learning and recall, why our emotional reactions to songs change over time, and how lyrics shape the way we see the world. We also explore why certain genres explode at particular moments in history, why pop music remains so consistently popular, which musical elements most strongly affect the brain, what it feels like to make and play music, how live music differs from recorded music, and the overall healing power of music.

Connect and Learn More

Website: musicandhealing.net

Album: Calm the Storm

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barbara-minton-057957164

RESOURCES
People: Ana Lapwood, Aretha Franklin, Calum Graham, Freddie Mercury, Hans Berger, Peppino D’Agostino, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Songs: Amazing Grace, Pavane for a Dead Princess

Studies: Contrasting effects of music on reading comprehension in preadolescents with and without ADHD (Madjar et al., 2020), Human song: Separate neural pathways for melody and speech ( Hamilton, 2022)

Adrian Cois is an emergency physician trained in Australia and working in the U.S. We discuss the structure of the U.S. healthcare system and its rising costs, limited access, and clinician burnout. Topics include prevention, fear of medical bills, public and private models, and lessons from Australia and other countries.

We also explore ideas for reform, including centralized systems, universal access, and better data sharing, and how these changes could lead to a more equitable, evidence-based, and sustainable healthcare system for everyone.

Connect & Learn More
Instagram: @dr_cois

LinkedIn: Adrian Cois

Keith Kurlander is a psychotherapist, co-founder of the Integrative Psychiatry Institute, and host of The Higher Practice podcast. The discussion covers psychedelics, trauma, nervous system regulation, and mental health.

Topics include the therapeutic and disruptive effects of psychedelics, trauma as a physiological state, the importance of listening to one’s inner purpose or "North Star," rising mental health challenges, and the impact of technology and AI on psychological well-being.

Connect & Learn More
🎙️ Podcast: The Higher Practice for Optimal Mental Health

🌐 Website: psychiatryinstitute.com

📘 Book (coming March 2026): Psychedelic Therapy

Resources
👥 People: Amrit Desai, John Demartini, Ken Wilber, Stanislav Grof, Will Van Derveer

William Person is a former Olympic bobsledder for Team USA. He talks about what it was like flying 90 mph down the ice, taking up to 80 Gs, and what happened after the cheering stopped: brain fog, headaches, memory and focus loss, sensitivity to sound and light, disorientation, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

We talk about the hidden suffering in sports, how CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) might relate to ADHD and other mental health struggles, why so many athletes and veterans go untreated, and the deadly consequences that follow. William shares his lowest moments, his fight to stay alive, and how hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) helped him when nothing else could.

Connect & Learn More
🍭TikTok: @hyperbarichealing

📘 Facebook: One Man With a Chamber | William Person

💼 LinkedIn: William Person

📸 Instagram: @willp1234567

▶️ YouTube: @braininjurysurvival

💰 GoFundMe: CTE Recovery for Athletes and Military

Resources
🎢 Six Flags Magic Mountain — Goliath

📰 Sledding Athletes Are Taking Their Lives. Did Brain Injuries Play a Role? – The New York Times

⚖️The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)

👥People: Cuba Gooding Jr., Jamie Foxx, Jay-Z, Joe Namath, Kanye West, Lance Armstrong, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Jackson, Russell Crowe

🎬 Films: A Beautiful Mind, In Whose Name?, Jerry Maguire, One Battle After Another

💥Incidents: 2025 Anaconda Shooting, 2025 Grand Blanc Township church attack, 2025 Midtown Manhattan Shooting, Washington Navy Yard shooting

Ewelina Kurtys is a neuroscientist and Strategic Advisor at FinalSpark, a Swiss company building computers from living brain cells. We talk about how neurons differ from silicon chips, why they’re more energy-efficient, how they’re grown and programmed in the lab, and how biocomputing could shape the future of AI.

Connect and Learn More:

🌐Website: finalspark.com

💼LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ewelinakurtys

Resources:

🏢Companies: AlpVision, Amazon, Cortical Labs, Ekai.io, Google, Microsoft, Neuralink

👤People: Elon Musk, Fred Jordan, Martin Kutter

Mary Petto is a Rapid Turmoil Resolution specialist and the author of The Family Guide to the Law of Attraction. We talk about trauma, how it gets stuck in your subconscious, hijacks your nervous system, and keeps you in mental loops. She explains why talking or reliving it doesn’t work, how metaphors and stories communicate with your inner mind, and how Rapid Turmoil Resolution can help you get calm, neutral, and open to new possibilities.

Connect and Learn More

🌐Website: portablevisions.com

📖Book: The Family Guide to the Law of Attraction

🎁The Loop Locator: portablevisions.com/gift

📸Instagram: @Livinginthevortex

💼LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marypetto

🍭TikTok: @marypetto

In this episode, I talk with Jeff Sorensen, founder of breathARMY. He shares how the breath became the central tool in his recovery from trauma, addiction, and mental illness. We explore how his years of substance use, time in a Mexican prison, near-death experiences, and struggles with identity led him to discover how breathing habits influence and reflect the nervous system, emotions, and perception of reality.

Jeff explains the power of returning to a natural, effortless breath and how awareness of the breath can help release fear, old patterns, and habitual ways of being. We also discuss how meditation, plant medicine, yoga, pets, and time in nature supported his journey, and how he learned to channel intense energy and emotion into practices that foster healing, presence, freedom, and personal growth.

Connect and Learn More:

Website: breatharmy.com

Facebook: @breathARMY

Instagram: @breatharmy

Resources:

Books

• A World Made New by Paul Selig
• The Quantum Revelation by Paul Levy
• Wetiko by Paul Levy

People

• Paul Levy
• Paul Selig

In this episode, I talk with Steven Puri, co-founder of the focus app Sukha and former Hollywood executive, about focus and flow — what it feels like, why it matters, and how to increase it. We cover a range of tools and techniques, including: sound, physical space, to-do lists, community, solitude, time of day, and simple items like a pencil, paper, and a timer, along with lessons from Hollywood on creating great work and fulfilling your dreams.

Connect and Learn More:

Website: thesukha.co

Email: Shared in the episode

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/steven-puri

Resources Mentioned:

Apps: Brain.fm, Endel, Forest, Todoist

Books: Deep Work by Cal Newport, Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Indistractable by Nir Eyal, The Net and the Butterfly by Olivia Fox Cabane & Judah Pollack

Companies: Alaska Airlines, Amazon, Disney, Dreamworks Animation, Fox Corporation, Hilton, LucasFilm, Marvel, Meta, M. Fredric, News Corp, Nike, Oura Health, Pixar, Spiegel, TikTok, Twitter, Universal Studios, Vine, YouTube

Movies: A Good Day to Die Hard, Alien vs. Predator, Ant-Man, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Independence Day: Resurgence, Live Free or Die Hard, Mission: Impossible III, My Best Friend's Wedding, Rain Man, Stargate, Star Trek, The Island, The Mask of Zorro, The Wolverine, Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

People: Alex Kurtzman, Bob Iger, Bob Orci, Chase Carey, Dean Devlin, Elon Musk, Evan Spiegel, Francesco Cirillo, George Lucas, Hephaestus (character), Jake Paul, James Clear, James Dean, John Diemer, Judah Pollack, Logan Paul, Mark Zuckerberg, Marie Curie, Michael Jordan, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Nir Eyal, Olivia Fox Cabane, Pablo Picasso, Prometheus (character), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Ronald Bass, Ronald Emmerich, Rupert Murdoch, Spike Jonze, Steve Jobs, Tony Mauro

Places: Austin, Bali, Chiang Mai, Cyprus, Kathmandu, Puerta Vallarta, San Francisco, Vienna

Podcasts: Deep Questions with Cal Newport