The Urban Monk podcast with Dr. Pedram Shojai

What does your brain have in common with a fungal network? Well, have you ever seen both? They look quite a bit alike... Often, neurologists frustrated at the stalemate we've reached as regards healing people are the first to research alternative methods – anything from psychedelics to bio feedback and even the physiological power of soothing. Listen to Dr. David Rabin tell me what he discovered about diverting resources away from survival and straight into recovery... 

Karlee Holden, a somatic therapy and trauma wellness coach, shares her profound insights on trauma healing. She emphasizes the limitations of NLP and underscores the transformative power of somatic experiencing in releasing trauma from the nervous system. The conversation touches on the intricate links between trauma and conscious parenting, revealing how emotional challenges affect children. Karlee also highlights the importance of boundaries in relationships and reframes anger as a catalyst for healing and compassion.

Ann Louise Gittleman, who is 71 years young (though you’d never know it to hear about how she spends her days), fell into the world of detoxifying 40 years ago. The woman who became her mentor was 84 when they met; she lived to be 106. She taught Ann everything she knew about longevity and sparked in her a powerful urge to grow stronger as the years advance. Now, her life is lived in the service of unearthing cutting-edge resources that dismantle the myth of aging. We’re living longer, but we’re not necessarily living healthier. That’s where the term radical longevity comes from. The future is here, and Ann’s at the helm.

Imagine if “joining the family business” meant partnering with your father to make groundbreaking microbiome research and gut solutions available to the masses twenty years before mainstream medicine gets hold of them. For Afif Ghannoum, that’s exactly what happened.  His dad, Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, was one of the first major medical minds to study the microbiology of the oral biome… and then, in time, the GI biome. His discoveries have led to breakthrough after breakthrough, especially as regards a very important consideration: The presence of fungi in the gut and its interaction with the bacterial community.

There's no punchline here – just a frank, honest, and loving discussion about the unconventional paths Rabbi Doniel Katz and I took to achieve and sustain enlightenment. Across disciplines, religions, practices, and ideologies, there’s something we all have in common that makes us more alike than it makes us different. We build and rebuild our spiritual hygiene every single day. The work and the discipline and the years of studying create an energy field around all of us that binds us to a shared purpose – to find true integration, and train the muscles that got us there to remember how to do it again and again and again.

Whole body vibration isn't a new idea, but the advancement of the technology recently might as well have reinvented the wheel. My good friend Perry Cammisa has been helping me rehab an injury through PM&R with the power of vibrational therapy, and if you didn't know that was a possibility... you need to hear this. This tech can be traced back to Russian astronauts innovating ways to reintegrate back into Earth's gravity-laden environment. Actually, even farther than that, but we'll get there. Ultimately? We're talking about bone mass and why it's so important to your WHOLE body health. 

In 2019, former bodybuilder Aaron Alexander published his book all about the eponymous method he developed himself: "The Align Method: 5 Movement Principles for a Stronger Body, Sharper Mind, and Stress-Proof Life." He thinks our bodies speak more than one language – and depending on how connected you are to its pain and joy, you may not be able to understand what it’s telling you. And then how will you know when you’re aligned and when you’re not? How will you read the signal? Alignment isn’t just a yoga buzzword – it means a lot more than that, and it’s informed by more than how advanced your practice is. Tune in as we talk about compensatory practices (both Western and not, male and not), the importance of heightened senses to our nervous system, why nutrition means more than diet, the two biggest factors in miscommunication, and so much more. 

How long is it going to take for the emotional tectonic plates of society to shift from grounding in foundation and tradition to exploring lofty ideals and leading with imagination? Who did ancient cultures believe they were worshipping when they looked to the heavens for advice? How do we respond to good times, to chaos, to tough times? How did our ancestors? These are the kinds of questions that keep Dr. Rachelle Dixon busy in her practice and in her personal development. We got to dig into how astrology can be used as an optimization tool to guide us towards our best lives, even if you choose not to believe in it. She's spent her life as a doctor, healer, and educator trying to instill belief in one's own intuition into those she works with – and the stars are often a historical and contemporary source of wisdom from which to draw. Pedram and Rachelle wax astrological about where we've been, where we are, and how we can prepare for where we're going. 

If your first reaction to drinking the olive oil in your cabinet is to check the date or gag, you're probably using olive oil as distant from a fresh olive oil harvest as the tea in your cupboards are from Chinese botanicals. T.J. Robinson, former chef and professional olive oil tester and judge, had such a revelation upon tasting his first fresh olive oil that he not only never went back... But he started a Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club that sources from four different seasonal harvests per year in order to deliver perfectly aged olive oil made from the highest quality olives that can be certifiably found. He talks me through a taste-testing of his latest batch, debunking all sorts of myths about the health benefits, cooking uses, and grocery store varieties of olive oil along the way.

Ron and Johanna Melchiore have been living off the grid for decades, but what does it mean to go off the grid? How disconnected must one be? Ron and Johanna join Pedram Shojai and discuss their experience in having their own chunk of wilderness. What was it like getting started? How did they build their home? How do they get food? How do they collect water for cooking, drinking, and bathing? And what do they do during the winters? Pedram asks about the freedom of having the land work for you but also the potential dangers of being isolated. Becoming an independent homesteader does not mean fully disconnecting from society, but what complications could still arise? Is this something anyone can do?