The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.

This week we’re talking about psychedelics — the consciousness altering substances, and the extraordinary moment they are having in our culture at this time. We explore the reasons that popular interest in psychedelics has risen dramatically in recent years — although certainly not for the first time — and we consider the historical and emerging scientific research that supports their use in a variety of applications. We also share our own range of lived experiences with psychedelics and why we have both chosen to dabble with — or avoid — them over the years. Finally, we offer some considerations on why and how you might choose to learn more about, experiment with, or take a pass on psychedelics yourself. And as always, we leave you with some experiments to help you delve deeper into this fascinating topic, if you choose. Full show notes and resources at https://livingexperiment.com/psychedelics/

This week we're talking about Nutritious Movement, the brainchild of our brilliant friend, biomechanist, fitness expert, and best-selling author Katy Bowman. Katy's term "nutritious movement" refers to the type of movement that nourishes, educates, shapes, energizes, and repairs us in ways that support optimal health and vitality. And, as Katy explains during the conversation, that does not describe most conventional fitness approaches. So here, Pilar talks with Katy about a great many science-y things very few of us have ever learned about movement and exercise, including some key differences between the two. Katy shares some misconceptions most of us hold about what good fitness constitutes and requires, and she offers up some wonderfully simple, effective, and sustainable strategies for improving your body's physical form and function. We wrap up with a few experiments to help you discover what nutritious movement feels like and how you can easily enjoy more of it, starting today. Full show notes and resources at https://livingexperiment.com/nutritious-movement/

This week, we're talking about Pandemic Era Discoveries. Last winter, after two years spent in various forms of social isolation, Dallas and Pilar met up at an improvised San Diego studio to catch up live and in person. We compared notes about how we'd weathered the weirdness of COVID reality, where we're at now, and some of the most rewarding stuff we encountered along the way. From craniosacral therapy to cigars, from continuous glucose monitors to toe correctors, from garden plot puttering to nature-based spirit questing, we serve up some of our favorite COVID keepers, along with some of our just-emerging curiosities. And, as always, we leave you with some experiments to get you thinking about what you'd like to take away from this next phase of post-COVID reality. Get full show notes and resources at https://livingexperiment.com/pandemic-era-discoveries/

This week we’ve got a special guest episode with Brian Johnson, the creator of Optimize and the Founder + CEΦ of Heroic Public Benefit Corporation. Brian has spent half of the last twenty-five years as a Founder/CEO and the other half as a Philosopher, creating hundreds of his PhilosophersNotes summaries of all sorts of brilliant books worth reading. As a Founder/CEO, he’s built and sold two market-leading social platforms. As a Philosopher, he’s served tens of thousands of people from every country in the world with his Optimize membership, and he has also trained over 3,500 people from 90+ countries with his Optimize Coach program — a 300 day program scientifically proven to change lives for the better. Most recently, in March 2021, with the support of 2,500+ Founding Investors from 75+ countries around the world, Brian’s new business — Heroic Public Benefit Corporation — made history in ways he explains in his chat with Pilar. Get full show notes and resources at https://livingexperiment.com/optimize-brian-johnson/

This week, Pilar talks with special guests Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. Jones, co-founders of Afro Flow Yoga. Leslie and Jeff created Afro Flow Yoga in 2008, fusing a new blend of expressive movement and rhythmic music from their own explorations of healing and their African-American and Caribbean heritage, in West Africa, Haiti and Jamaica. Leslie and Jeff describe Afro Flow Yoga as an embodied practice, integrating dance movements of the African Diaspora with meditative yoga and live healing music, promoting individual and collective healing in a compassionate, inclusive, non-judgmental and safe environment. In this conversation, Pilar talks with Leslie and Jeff about what inspired them to create Afro Flow Yoga, the special role this practice has in helping us heal our fractured selves and culture at this time, and where they see it going from here. If you haven't already checked out one of their virtual classes, we hope you will so you can experience the whole-person "aha" of Afro Flow Yoga for yourself. Get full show notes and resources at https://livingexperiment.com/afro-flow-yoga/

This week Pilar talks to a special guest — James Beard award-winning journalist, author, and food legend Dorothy Kalins. Dorothy is the founding editor of Saveur magazine and Metropolitan Home. She's also a celebrated cookbook creator and the author of a terrific new book, The Kitchen Whisperers: Cooking with the Wisdom of Our Friends.

This week on The Living Experiment we bring you an episode that has been a very long time coming — a special guest episode with New York Times bestselling author John Zeratsky. John is the co-author — with Jake Knapp — of two terrific books, Sprint (a popular business title from 2016) and Make Time: How to Focus On What Matters Every Day, which came out in the fall of 2018. In this episode, recorded in the fall of 2019, John and Pilar talk about both titles, and about the themes connecting them. From the value of creating clear mental space for our most pressing priorities to the importance of respecting the limits of our time and attention, John makes a case for doing our lives differently than we're doing them now so we don’t get overwhelmed and start feeling like our lives are passing us by. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/make-time/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about the concept of the New Year — from meaningless consumer hype to contemplative pursuits that really can make a difference. We explore the potential pros and cons of leveraging the New Year as an opportunity for self-improvement, and we share the approaches we like best for pursuing change in our own lives. From expert theories of change to the awkward realities of working on a goal that eludes you, we take a thoughtful look at New Year's conventions, and we offer some experiments to help you establish a better, more self-compassionate plan for your year ahead. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/new-year/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Midlife — that fun and potentially funky moment when you realize you might well have fewer years ahead of you than you've already put behind you. It's a clarifying moment for many, and a moment of crisis for others. A moment when we realize that we may not have lived our own highest choices up until now — and that if we're going to make the rest of our lives more the way we'd like them to be, this is the time to make that happen. In the midst of all of this is the anxiety about getting older, looking older, being seen as just plain old in a culture that glorifies youth and youth-centric standards of beauty. And then, of course, there's our mortality to consider. So here, we talk about what middle age means to us, and the meaning our society has ascribed to it — cliches, stereotypes, prejudices and all. We explore the assumptions we've had to challenge, and the gifts we've only begun to unwrap. Dallas shares his view of life past 40, and Pilar shares her view from the other side of 50, which is looking pretty darn good to her. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you more fully appreciate — at any age — the years you've lived into while also making the most of the years you have left to embrace. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/midlife/

Life continues to be weird. So we are just rolling with it. This week on The Living Experiment, Pilar offers some updates and options for folks who want to stay connected and who are eager keep experimenting through the rest of 2020. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/mini-update/

This week on The Living Experiment, Pilar interviews a special guest, hunter-gatherer and rewilding enthusiast Daniel Vitalis. Daniel is a well-recognized advocate for what's known as rewilding, a term that he points out means very different things to different people. To Daniel, and also to Pilar, it means reclaiming and reconnecting with aspects of our own wild-creature origins, and for getting into a closer, more intimate connection with our natural world. Daniel visited Pilar's family farm in Wisconsin in summer 2019 to film an episode for his forthcoming TV series, called "WildFed." In the process, he collaborated with Pilar's partner, Forager Chef Alan Bergo, to put on an amazing dinner of pigeon and wild-harvested plants. But Daniel wasn't always the hunter-gatherer type. In fact, for a long time he was a hard-core raw food vegan — a way of life he has happily left behind. So here, we talk about the evolution of Daniel's viewpoints, including some of the mistakes he says have taught him a lot of what he knows today. Along the way, we offer up some reflections on the history of humans, both ancient and modern. And as always we leave you with some experiments to help you re-connect with nature and your own natural self, right here and now. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/rewilding/

This week on The Living Experiment we're talking about Moving Forward in this unusual time in history. Thanks to COVID-19, we're still recording from a distance. Since we were last in the studio though, and even since the last time we did one of our COVID-edition Facebook Live episodes, so much has happened. We've seen new waves of conflict around the pandemic, as well as the murder of George Floyd and the historic calls for social and racial justice via the Black Lives Matter movement. Meanwhile, we've been witnessing divisions widening, not just within our country, but within our circles of family and friends. So here, we talk about how we've been coping with the present moment, and also about how we are moving forward, from managing our media choices and navigating difficult conversations to finding our own points of view in what can seem like a very disorienting world. Finally, we leave you with some experiments that encourage you to explore your own capacity for making sense of what's happening now, and for building discernment into your own next steps. Full show notes and resources at: https://livingexperiment.com/moving-forward/

This week our guest is Terry Wahls, MD, a physician and scientific researcher best known for her groundbreaking work reversing autoimmune diseases — including her own disabling case of multiple sclerosis, which for a time had her confined to a wheelchair with very little hope of recovery. But recover she did, and what produced her recovery was an experimental, systems-based approach that Dr. Wahls developed for herself. It combined a specialized paleo-inspired nutrition program with other functional medicine and lifestyle interventions — all aimed at healing her brain and nervous system, nourishing her mitochondria and rebuilding her physical resilience. Today that approach is known as the Wahls Protocol, and it's being used to reverse a wide variety of autoimmune diseases, as well as a number of other supposedly incurable chronic health conditions. Here, Pilar talks with Dr. Wahls about the early life experiences that prepared her to deviate from conventional medical practice, even when that deviation invited criticism, ridicule and rebuke. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/autoimmunity/

This week on The Living Experiment, our guest is Dr. Frank Lipman, one of the world's leading integrative physicians, a thought leader and innovator in the realm of disease reversal, and the author of a bunch of books, including his most recent, How to Be Well: The 6 Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life. Frank Lipman, MD, is best known for helping high-profile celebrity clients — like Gwyneth Paltrow — reverse stubborn and mysterious health problems. But his real passion is educating regular people about what they can do to intervene in their own health conditions, and helping them upgrade their day-to-day self-care so that they can lead healthier, happier, more balanced lives. Pilar first encountered Dr. Lipman when she was editing Experience Life magazine, and he became one of their favorite expert resources. He's also a regular contributor at Goop and a variety of other leading health media sites. Plus, he hosts his own podcast, Tune into Wellness. A practitioner of functional medicine and eastern healing methodologies, Frank seamlessly blends both into what he calls "good medicine" at his beautiful clinic, Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City, which is where Pilar interviewed him for this episode in Fall of 2019. We talk about the nature of health transformation, the essentials required for recovery from complex chronic conditions, and of course we offer you some experiments to help you upgrade your own body-mind health in ways that work for you. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/health-transformation/

This week on The Living Experiment we have an extraordinary guest, functional medicine pioneer Dr. Jeffrey Bland. Dr. Bland is something of an international legend in functional medicine circles. A preeminent scientist dedicated to systems thinking, and a thought leader intent on transforming health care as we know it. Dr. Bland is a former biochemistry professor who once served as director of nutritional research at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. He worked directly with Pauling, a two-time Nobel laureate, and considers him a mentor. Dr. Bland is also the principal author of more than 120 peer-reviewed research papers on nutritional biochemistry and medicine. So, Jeff is a serious scientist, but he's also a profoundly caring human being, once who's concerned about the health of real people and the fate of medical practitioners. That's just part of what led him to help create the Institute for Functional Medicine, and more recently the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute. It's also what led him to write six books for the lay public, including his latest (and one of Pilar's personal favorites) — The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life. Bland's latest venture is Big Bold Health, and we talk about that project, among others, as we cover everything from new thinking about genomics and personalized medicine to chronic disease reversal and the importance of taking charge of your own health. We wrap up with some experiments to help you begin more boldly owning your own health in ways that work for you. If you want to watch the video of this interview and see Dr. Bland interview Pilar for the Big Bold Health podcast, both videos are linked in the show notes on The Living Experiment website. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/functional-medicine-2/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Dallas’s new book, The 4 Season Solution, which is now available in bookstores everywhere! In addition to recapping the central themes of the book, and hearing about the response it has gotten from early readers, we talk about the relevance of the book’s themes to the challenges so many of us are facing now. We explore the overall importance of seasonal living in relation to good health. And we also consider how incorporating season-appropriate adjustments can support the reversal of chronic conditions and diseases — by lowering inflammation, re-regulating our biochemistry, and improving the resilience of our body-mind’s integrated systems. As always, we wrap up with some experiments to help you integrate more season-driven wisdom into your own life. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/the-4-season-solution/

This week on The Living Experiment we're talking about chronic disease reversal. Over the past decade there's been an emerging clinical awareness, with increasing research support, that many diseases we've been told are progressive and incurable can in fact often be turned around — or at least significantly ameliorated — through systems-based functional and lifestyle medicine strategies. So here, Dallas and Pilar explore the approaches that are proving most successful in interrupting the chronic inflammatory processes involved in most chronic conditions. We highlight the exciting progress being made by leading practitioners who are disrupting the status quo and moving beyond conventional disease management strategies to address the real root causes of chronic ailments that affect millions. We explore the power of elimination diets and other lifestyle medicine interventions to help identify and remove common disease triggers, and we consider the importance of supporting the body's own healing mechanisms. We explain why chronic disease reversal can no longer be the exclusive domain of doctors, and why it must instead involve us and our daily choices. Finally, we offer you some experiments in re-framing what we've been encouraged to think of as incurable health ailments, and we invite you to re-imagine how a whole bunch of us might begin healing ourselves in ways the conventional medical system might not yet think is possible. This episode also marks the beginning of a series of guest episodes with leading physicians and thinkers who are raising awareness of how numerous chronic diseases can be reversed, while helping regular people recover from ailments they were told they would suffer from for a lifetime. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/chronic-disease-reversal/

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about biometric devices — the appeal these fascinating little gadgets hold and the distractions they can present. From Fitbits and Apple Watches to Muse Headbands and Oura Rings, we evaluate the ways knowing more about our own biomarkers and daily patterns can help us become better stewards of our bodies and minds. We explore how increasing use and dependence on these devices is affecting us all, and how their trending adoption is influencing our culture. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you become more conscious of the signals your body is sending you all of the time — and whether you are more likely to benefit from getting a new biometric device, or just becoming a better calibrated tracker of your own body’s readings. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/biometric-devices/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking, once again, about trauma - this time with internationally renowned trauma expert Dr. James Gordon. Pilar talks with Dr. Gordon about his new book, The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma, about how we tend to get stuck in traumatic experiences of all sorts, and how we can get ourselves out. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/trauma-2/

This week on The Living Experiment we’re talking about Love — the romance, the heartbreak, the profound sense of connection that most of us are after. Both our desire for love and our struggles to navigate it are some of the biggest opportunities we have for growth, and for stress, both of which can have huge impacts on our health and happiness. So in this episode, we talk about how our childhood experiences help form our adult romantic patterns, about the dramas of first love, and about what both of us have learned as we’ve moved through the ups and downs of romantic attachments. As always, we leave you with some experiments to help you explore how you’d like to show up for love, and love more skillfully, in your own life. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/love/