Alex Lee Schwartz and Deagan Maki are the husband-and-wife co-founders of Blue River Breathwork, located just outside Asheville, NC. I first met Alex earlier this year at Heart of Men: Men’s Prayer for Peace, and a few months later I returned for the Liberate Your Life Force men’s cohort with Thomas and the crew.

Before the next immersion on Black Mountain, I stayed with Alex and Deagan for a night—and that time together laid the groundwork for this conversation.

In this episode, we dive into breathwork, grief, and what it means to live an examined life. As my own journey unfolds, it’s the blossoming of connections like these that make me feel grounded, seen, and aligned with my purpose.

Doing the work the world needs isn’t easy—some might even say it isn’t a choice. Yet here we are, listening, learning, and growing together.

Peter Roman is a Wellness Professional, social justice advocate and community builder based in New York City. In this conversation you’ll find us basking in the afterglow of Sacred brotherhood forged in the fire of our 5 day immersive retreat in Asheville, NC- Men’s Prayer for Peace. Peter shares challenges of his East Harlem upbringing, the strength and beauty of allowing ourselves to be witnessed in our healing process and what it really means to be a man.

If you enjoy this episode, make sure to share it with a friend.

Thomas Doochin is the founder and lead facilitator for the Heart of Men. A council of Brothers restoring the conditions for men to unlearn the distortions of a broken masculine paradigm. In this conversation we explore healing the wounded masculine, harnessing sexual energy for creation, and we reflect upon our 5 day immersive retreat in the mountains of Asheville, NC - Men’s Prayer for Peace. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to share it with a friend.

Ramel Wallace is the Heart and Soul of Building Community in America’s Finest City, he’s also an artist and the Host of Creative Mornings San Diego. In this conversation we explore the impact of social media and taking responsibility for message, the importance of self reflection and the challenges we face when navigating our vulnerabilities in community. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to share it with a friend.

Integration is often overlooked in practice. We chase peak transcendent experience without giving space and grace to our need to ground and allow this new information to settle in the body.

One of the ways that we can do this without being heavily outcome oriented is through the use of PLAY.

Take responsibility. It is in your hands to heal the mind, body and soul. There is no time to look outside of oneself for the answers. This is your reminder to seek the wisdom which is searching for you.

We often search outside ourselves for answers, believing that once we get what we want, we’ll finally feel complete. But this is the great illusion of our species.

True freedom begins when we realize that external circumstances don’t have to dictate our inner world. When we take full responsibility for our lives, we reclaim our power, align with our true nature, and create our own reality.

This podcast is my practice—deep contemplation, radical self-inquiry, and the pursuit of harmony within myself and the world around me.

But this isn’t just my journey—it’s ours. What’s on your mind? What do you want to explore? This is a conversation, not a monologue. Wherever you are, I want to hear your voice.