Radical Responsibility Podcast

What if healing begins not by escaping what’s painful, but by learning how to turn toward it with greater safety, curiosity, and compassion?

In this conversation, Fleet sits down with psychologist, author, and longtime mindfulness teacher Ronald Siegel, PsyD, to explore the connections between trauma, psychotherapy, mindfulness, self-compassion, and psychedelic-assisted healing. Ron explains why many forms of psychological suffering involve experiences we’ve learned to avoid—and how healing can begin when we develop enough safety to turn toward them differently.

Fleet and Ron explore how ketamine and MDMA may soften psychological defenses, the role self-compassion and common humanity can play in healing shame, and why mindfulness may help prepare us to meet difficult experiences with greater openness. They also discuss the importance of set, setting, therapeutic trust, and the potential for profound experiences to become overwhelming without adequate support. Ultimately, Ron emphasizes that a breakthrough is only the beginning. Lasting transformation depends on integration—bringing what we’ve learned back into our relationships, choices, practices, and everyday lives.

Memorable Quotes
“As we become okay with being nuts, we’re much less crazy.” — Ronald Siegel, PsyD
“Shame is perhaps one of the most universal human emotions.” — Ronald Siegel, PsyD
“Trust, let go, and open to whatever happens.” — Bill Richards, as shared by Ronald Siegel, PsyD
“How do we live the truths that maybe we glimpsed during the psychedelic experience?” — Ronald Siegel, PsyD 

Topics DiscussedTrauma, avoidance, and psychological suffering
Mindfulness-oriented psychotherapy
Attachment and emotional resilience
Self-compassion, shame, and common humanity
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
Psychedelic experiences and ego dissolution
Mindfulness as psychedelic preparation
Set, setting, and therapeutic trust
Psychedelic integration and grounding
Community support after profound experiences
Psychedelics, pain, craving, and addiction

Resources MentionedThe Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary — Ronald Siegel, PsyD
The Mindfulness Solution — Ronald Siegel, PsyD
Sitting Together
Back Sense
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry — Jack Kornfield
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Mindful Self-Compassion
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Dharma K
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy
ACER Integration

Connect with Ronald Siegel
Books: The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary, The Mindfulness Solution, Sitting Together, Back Sense
Institute: Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy
Teaching: Harvard Medical School Conference on Meditation and Psychotherapy 

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What if healing isn't always about calming the nervous system, but sometimes requires bringing frozen parts of ourselves back to life?

In this conversation, Fleet sits down with Brian Tierney, PhD, somatic psychologist, educator, and host of The Boundless Body podcast, to explore the connection between trauma, the nervous system, and embodied healing. From anxiety and emotional repression to deeply ingrained patterns of tension and shutdown, they examine how unresolved experiences can shape our relationship with our bodies and limit our capacity to feel fully alive.

Challenging the idea that nervous system healing is always about slowing down and creating safety, this conversation explores the importance of emotional expression, healthy aggression, movement, and reconnecting with our natural instincts. Through the concept of “rewilding the nervous system,” we discover a different perspective on trauma recovery, one that recognizes the importance of both regulation and expression, and the possibility of reclaiming vitality, boundaries, and personal sovereignty.

Ultimately, healing may not be about eliminating discomfort or maintaining a constant state of calm, but about developing the capacity to experience life more fully, reconnect with our body's innate intelligence, and move beyond the patterns that have kept us stuck.

Memorable Quotes
“We can't just assume that embodiment is going to be safe for everybody.” — Brian Tierney, PhD
“Too much safety is unsafe.” — Brian Tierney, PhD
“We are animals. We are domesticated animals.” — Brian Tierney, PhD
“We just hold the animal intensities in there.” — Brian Tierney, PhD
“The warrior draws lines.” — Brian Tierney, PhD

Resources Mentioned
Visionary Somatics — Brian Tierney, PhD
The Boundless Body podcast
The Somatic Doctor
California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
Wilhelm Reich
Robert Moore's King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
Dan Siegel's interpersonal neurobiology work
Peter Levine and Somatic Experiencing
EMDR
Drama therapy
Structural Integration / Rolfing
Craniosacral therapy / Stillness Touch
Mankind Project
Women Within

Brian Tierney, PhD, is a somatic psychologist, adjunct professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and international trainer of somatic clinicians. Since 1999, his work has included diverse populations ranging from cancer patients and participants in drama therapy groups to men and boys engaged in rites-of-passage work.His training spans somatic and therapeutic modalities including structural integration, EMDR, biodynamic craniosacral therapy, advanced breathing facilitation, yoga, clinical hypnosis, transformational dance, and drama therapy. He also hosts The Boundless Body podcast and is the author of the forthcoming Visionary Somatics, an exploration of trauma neuroscience with a particular focus on the cerebellum.

Connect with Brian Tierney
Instagram: The Somatic Doctor
Podcast: The Boundless Body
Upcoming Book: Visionary Somatics
Email: somaticdoctor@gmail.com

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What if better health begins by paying attention to the environment your body experiences every day?

In this conversation, Fleet sits down with Andy Mant, founder of BON CHARGE, to explore the intersection of wellness technology, human biology, and radical responsibility. Andy shares how his own struggles with weight, health, and sleep led him to question conventional approaches and eventually build a company focused on light, recovery, and wellness technology.

Together, they explore how modern environments may interfere with our natural rhythms, why circadian light exposure and recovery matter, and how consumers can distinguish evidence-driven wellness technology from marketing hype. Andy also discusses red light therapy, PEMF, wearables, and the potential for AI to help personalize wellness while cautioning against turning AI into yet another unquestioned authority. Ultimately, Andy argues that longevity doesn't have to mean chasing every new optimization trend. His advice comes back to simplicity, consistency, recovery, and understanding why you're adopting a particular practice in the first place. 

Memorable Quotes
“Enough's enough. Like, I need to start questioning everything.” — Andy Mant
“If it makes a positive change, keep it in your life. If it doesn't make any difference, drop it.” — Andy Mant
“What you're doing now is going to compound over the more times you do it.” — Andy Mant “How you perform is based on your recovery.” — Andy Mant 
“Never take anything as gospel, even AI.” — Andy Mant
“You got to know why you're doing something.” — Andy Mant

Topics Discussed
Taking radical responsibility for your health
Circadian rhythms, light, and sleep
Red light therapy and PEMF
How to evaluate wellness technology
Recovery as the foundation of performance
Consistency and the compounding effect of healthy habits
AI, wearables, and personalized wellness
Why simple fundamentals still matter

Resources Mentioned
BON CHARGE - Andy founded BON CHARGE after struggling to find blue-light-blocking glasses that met the specifications he was looking for. The company later expanded into circadian lighting, red light therapy, infrared products, PEMF, and other wellness technologies.
Red Light Therapy
Andy discusses red and near-infrared light as part of his approach to recovery and wellness, including how he thinks about these technologies in relation to mitochondrial function and long-term health.

Connect with Andy Mant
Website: BONCHARGE.com
Instagram: @boncharge_

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What if the goal isn't to eliminate fear and anxiety, but to transform your relationship with them?

In this conversation, Fleet sits down with meditation teacher and spiritual educator Craig Hamilton to explore fear, anxiety, and the surprising role they can play on the path of personal and spiritual transformation.

Craig introduces the concept of “sacred anxiety”—the recognition that our lives are finite, our choices matter, and there are risks worth taking if we want to live fully. Together, Fleet and Craig explore how meditation can help us stop fighting difficult emotions, how consciously moving beyond our comfort zones can loosen deeply conditioned patterns, and why spiritual freedom may be less about controlling our experience and more about learning to allow all of it.
Craig closes by sharing two practices central to his approach: allowing and not knowing—learning to meet experience without immediately trying to change, explain, label, or judge it.

Memorable Quotes
“It’s not making fear and anxiety go away, but it’s coming to a different relationship to all feelings, including those.” — Craig Hamilton
“I don’t want to blow it with my life. I want my life to matter.” — Craig Hamilton
“One of the most transformational things we can ever do is take risks.” — Craig Hamilton
“No experience I could ever have would be an obstacle to my natural awakened state.” — Craig Hamilton
“Give yourself the freedom of not needing to know anything at all.” — Craig Hamilton

Topics Discussed
Fear and anxiety as part of the human experience
“Sacred anxiety” and living a meaningful life
Taking meaningful risks as spiritual practice
Fear as information rather than simply an obstacle
Meditation, allowing, and the practice of not knowing
Moving beyond conditioning without suppressing emotions
Resources Mentioned
Meditation Changes Everything — Craig's podcast
CraigHamiltonGlobal.com — Craig's website and free resources
FreeMeditationWorkshop.com — Craig's free 90-minute meditation workshop
Craig's Direct Awakening approach to meditation

About Craig Hamilton
Craig Hamilton is a meditation teacher and spiritual educator whose work integrates decades of intensive spiritual practice and consciousness exploration. According to his bio in the interview, his programs have reached more than 16,000 graduates across 85 countries, and his background includes more than 17,000 hours of personal meditation practice, serving as a senior editor of What Is Enlightenment? magazine, and being a founding member of Ken Wilber's Integral Institute.

Connect with Craig Hamilton
Website: CraigHamiltonGlobal.com
Podcast: Meditation Changes Everything
Free Workshop: FreeMeditationWorkshop.com

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What if lasting change isn't about reinventing yourself overnight—but learning how to make the next good choice?

In this conversation, Fleet sits down with author, teacher, and The One You Feed podcast creator Eric Zimmer for a deeply personal exploration of addiction, recovery, self-compassion, identity, and the mechanics of meaningful change.

Eric reflects on reaching a point in his twenties when he was homeless, severely addicted to heroin, physically ill, and facing the possibility of decades in prison. Entering long-term treatment mattered—but Eric explains that the real transformation came from the thousands of choices that followed. That experience ultimately shaped one of the central principles of his work: big breakthroughs may matter, but lasting change is built through accumulation.

Together, Fleet and Eric explore what radical responsibility looks like without falling into self-blame. Eric explains why understanding the causes and conditions that shaped us can coexist with taking ownership of what we do next—and why self-compassion isn't an excuse for avoiding change, but one of the conditions that makes learning and growth possible. They also discuss the inner critic, perfectionism, addiction, the power of identity, and Eric's belief that change itself is a skill set that can be learned.

The conversation ultimately comes back to a deceptively simple question: What's the next good thing you can do? Eric shares why starting small, choosing something you can actually succeed at, and building from there can turn three minutes of meditation—or one positive choice—into an entirely different way of living.

Memorable Quotes
“It’s not my fault that I’m the way I am, but I am completely responsible for it.” — Eric Zimmer
“Self-compassion [is] sort of a midpoint between self-acceptance and self-improvement.” — Eric Zimmer
“That is how a little becomes a lot.” — Eric Zimmer
“Change is a skill set. It is not character related.” — Eric Zimmer

Topics DiscussedRadical responsibility and personal agency
Eric's journey through addiction and recovery
Why transformation isn't a single breakthrough
Small choices and cumulative change
Self-compassion vs. self-criticism
Shame and the inner critic
Self-acceptance and self-improvement
Perfectionism and the 80–85% approach
Coaching yourself through resistance
Procrastination and lack of clarity
Self-doubt
Choice points
The One You Feed and the two-wolves parable
Addiction as a spectrum
Habits, rewards, and compulsive behavior
Learning to tolerate discomfort
Spiritual practice and basic goodness
Identity and behavior change
Recovery and 12-step programs
Why identities can be useful until they're not
Change as a learnable skill
Starting small
Building motivation through success
Acceptance and change

Resources Mentioned
How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life
The One You Feed Podcast
12-Step RecoveryMeditation & Zen Practice

Connect with Eric Zimmer
Website:
https://www.oneyoufeed.net
Book:
How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life
Podcast:
The One You Feed

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