An episode about dopamine, happiness, distraction, action, goals, and how to live a more authentic and meaningful life. With some fun and wackiness thrown in. 

This is an interview with Justin Sunseri. He is a polyvagal-obsessed trauma therapist and coach (works with teenagers, couples, and families) and is the host of the Stuck Not Broken podcast. In today's conversation, some of the things we talk about are:Polyvagal theorytraumaconnectionsafetydangerexperience of reality parentingpets nutritionsolitudeintroversion & extroversionschoolsrules & consequencestechnologyplayself-judgment morality  mind-body splitculture evolutioncivilizationpowerperception stillness awenatureworkempathy  motivationchallengecompetitivenesssuccessbeing in the presentResources:Justin Sunseri's main hub: www.justinlmft.comStuck Not Broken podcast: www.justinlmft.com/podcast (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts...)

Play around with these ten ideas (based on Feng Shui, Vastu Shastra, biology, and Michael's recent experience), ways to reposition your bed, to help you get a better night's sleep. The underlying premise behind all of these things is: the human animal must feel safe when it goes to bed. If you do not feel physically (and psychologically) safe, it will be much harder to fall asleep, stay asleep, and get quality sleep.Here are the ten tips:Don't sleep with a window (or any opening) behind you.Keep all the scary / dangerous / noisy things closer to your dominant hand.Move your bed to a place where you can see your door.Don't sleep with things (e.g. shelves) above you.Keep only safe, soft, and positive things under the bed.Keep exciting or stimulating things away from your bed.Don't sleep with your feet to the door (aka in the "coffin position").Sleep with your head pointed north or east.Sleep with your head against a solid wall (or get a headboard).Sleep in a way that reminds you of your safe happy childhood.

What do you fear? What trauma do you die to overcome? Who do you want to be? How do you need to grow?Michael trembles as he pops out of his shell and does his first unscripted episode. Wow, what a big boy! Finally, he musters up the courage to talk like a human and not hide behind walls of carefully-crafted words.In this episode, he talks about some of his past traumas and about his future plans with this podcast (hint: more unscripted episodes, as well as continuing to do scripted ones (because he's addicted to those), AND whoa! - interviews - coming soon). And he releases his e-mail address to the interwebs, and it's not sk8er11111@cs.com.

Learn about how to enter the deep unconscious restorative world of delta brain waves and GABA. This a place full of sleeping babies, meditating monks, and whales calling from the deep. You'll learn how to drop it real low, in the 0-4 Hz brain range, through:deep sleepmeditationchanting and humminglight exposure (the sun, light boxes, etc.)sounds (animal sounds, music, etc.)nutritionsupplementsdrugs (alcohol, etc.)pharmaceuticalstechnologiesDiscover extra hidden benefits of putting your brain in a low-energy state.And some wacky treats sprinkled throughout the episode.*Special guest appearance by DJ Delta

This episodes discusses the different categories of tools that we can use to improve our health and brain. Specifically, it breaks the tools into 4 different levels or tiers, in descending order of importance:(1) behavioral tools(2) nutrition tools(3) supplement tools(4) pharmaceutical toolsThis was borrowed from and inspired by Andrew Huberman.Resources mentioned in this episode:-Andrew Huberman YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@hubermanlab-Huberman Lab podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/79CkJF3UJTHFV8Dse3Oy0P-Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Sleep-The Matt Walker Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/1aIVAabjRjnmiouX0zCzF3-Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson - https://sleepsmarterbook.com/-The Model Health Show - https://open.spotify.com/show/6F3aCAq1L6k3eVqfaveMCp

This episode is an adventure through the never-ending challenge that we all face, the conflicting desires between: home vs. the outside, connection vs. independence, the inner world vs. the outer world, etc.Everything in reality, the universe, and our lives is made of energy. The electromagnetic spectrum ranges from low (cold, dark, silent) frequencies on one end and high (hot, bright, loud) frequencies on the other. There are neurochemical, brain-wave, and hormone correlates to these high and low frequencies. They also naturally change over the course of the day, the year, and one's lifetime. Like yin and yang, everything in nature constantly cycles between these energies. The key to all health and success is living in accordance with those rhythms and experiencing the entire spectrum of life, along with the rest of nature. Modern humans, however, often get stuck somewhere along that cycle. Out of fear, comfort, social pressures, technology, etc., we enter plateaus or, even worse, downward spirals. Identify if you are stuck in one of the 4 places discussed in this episode. Also, zoom out and look back on how the flow of energy changed throughout the course of your own life, and how to perhaps regain some of those long-lost ways of being and feeling. Michael also does a bit of that in this episode, taking you from his home in California to across the sea in Korea and Japan, and some of the feelings and inner battles in between.

2022, the year that killed my mother and choked my brother into hell, has closed her tired eyes. Never have I felt so shaken yet alive. I am me again. The shattered glass of my loved ones’ souls has cut me open. It hurt. I thought I cried. That is, until tonight. The best New Year’s Eve of my life.I was hungry. I was satisfied. Finally, the feeling that I have returned back home. Yet I am alone, in my 10 square-foot Osaka apartment. Bawling in the bathtub, the way I used to as a child. The ghosts exited through my blood-shot eyes and trembling body.The pen is my teddy bear. I didn’t wanna take a bath. I just wanted my bear. But I wasn’t crying because I missed him. I needed him, to help me catch this flock of birds. When they gushed out of me, they flipped me inside out.The strange world I found myself in was one I used to know. Where words have wings and you are never alone. I used to play here as a child, catching lizards and frogs. And then in college, writing papers on Heidegger and Kant.Philosophy was my first love. Because it saw me, and I saw it. We spoke the same language and played the same games. Together, we were aliens on an upside-down planet. We didn’t need anyone else. They didn’t seem to want us anyway.I finally had a teacher and friend. It felt like my first kiss. I was a real boy. She held my hand. Taught me how to ride a pen. The ink burst out like flames. It had the ferocity of a dragon.“What the hell had I gotten myself into?” I mumbled under my breath.“Shhh,” she said. “I am taking you home.”We shot through the dark, and returned to the light. I saw Prancer and Dancer and Santa swimming in the sky. They waved to me and said I was a good boy. I smiled, because for the first time in my life, I believed it.My snot-tear-covered lips were stuck on repeat, playing four tracks that I could not delete:“Leave me alone.”“I’m tired.”“I don’t want to bother you.”“I’m sorry.”Distant echoes from a child, that looked like me. Trapped in a cave, screaming to be seen. Twisting haunted wind-up toys, about to burst. Then a dragon came in, seemed to make matters worse. He roared and shouted, shook everything loose. Ripped me open and brought me back home. Korea, Japan, alcohol, women - it was all just a dream.Yes, I’m oversharing. Clawing myself out from beneath a world of undersharing. Going up for a breath. Soakin’ in the sun. Reconnecting to my soul and hopping back on my dragon.“I missed you, good friend. I’m sorry I left.”“Left?” he belched. “You’ve just been sitting there. And your pie is getting cold.”“P..pp..pie, I remember pie. Oh, and it’s okay. I like cold pie. I don’t wanna bother you. And anyway, I’m used to it.”“Cold pie, my tail. I’m not gonna have you freezing to death again.” The dragon whispered out a fire, just big enough for me. I cooked my onigiris on it. They were still in my pocket.Maybe it wasn’t a dream. But this feels so real. When I write, is when I come to life. Whether hiding in books or blasting through my ink wand, words are the only things that have always been there for me.When times are good, they leave me alone and let me play. I abandon them, but they do not complain. And when the cold winter strikes, and I’m shivering, scared, all alone, they come back to me, with the dragon, who breathes a big fiery hug into me.Popping words through my head. Pretty birds leaving their cage, flying back to their nest. Me, snapping pictures as they fade away. I want to remember. I want to know who I am and what this world is. Writing is the camera with my favorite lens.I lost it, forgot about it. Then my Mom died and my brother, the only human I’ve ever really loved, went homeless. He tumbled down a spider hole. ....CONTINUEDWritten and performed by: Michael Waite

This is an episode about trauma - what causes it and how to get over it.

Learn how to reconnect with the sun and its energy and light.We can improve our physical and mental well-being by syncing up with natural patterns of light and darkness, and eating, moving, and sleeping accordingly. Some of the topics covered are:Sun science and where energy comes fromSun gods of various ancient culturesThe birth of the sun, the solar system, and Earth24-hour template on how to align with the sunSunrise and morning sun exposureSungazingElectromagnetic energy (visible light, infrared, UVA, UVB, gamma rays, etc.)Physics of light and sound wavesAnimal perception and energy-sensing technologyLight exposure throughout the dayEating and exercising in alignment with the sunOzone layer and blocking of UV raysInternal clock (suprachiasmatic nucleus)Circadian rhythms Cortisol and lightMelatonin and darknessBlue lightUltraviolet lightFood and energy, in connection with the sunVitamin DSerotonin and dopamineSunsetSleepArtificial lightingRed and infrared lightAddictionGhrelin and leptin (hunger and satiety hormones)Consistency ChronotypesSocial jetlag Seasonal changes and how to adapt