Redeeming Disorder

Hello, listeners! Goodbye, Redeeming Disorder.I’m ready to fully focus my creative energy in one direction, which means it’s time for my first major creative project to end. Worlds of thanks to Tamar — legend in my life, lead producer of Light & Shadows, and the woman for the job of turning the page.We talk herbalism, Kambo medicine, medicine at large, creative flow and beginner’s mind. We also talk about our personal growth through this past year of knowing each other. This past year… these past months, weeks, days… What a time.As great swathes of Latin America burn, the Vilcabamba valley has been filled with smoke these past seven days since the Light & Shadows team returned from filming in the jungle, and we’re slowing down our pace of releasing videos. Forty-nine days after beginning our Friday releases and planning to release a pilot episode on December 20, we have to say that the pilot will come in 2025, and that no plan is surefire in these fiery times. Nonetheless, we’ll continue doing our bes

Venus and Her Lover: buy the book here, visit the site here.Rebecca Tzigany returns to Light & Shadows as she says goodbye to Vilcabamba and as we begin releasing our content regularly, every Friday.We hope you continue to get to know us every Friday, leading up to the release of our Pilot Epic (episode) on 20 December, 2024. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit reiman.substack.com

Nykia Herron Ash is a U.S. expat living in England who decidedly answers the call to help people, whether through reiki work or in the nail salon. We discuss the unlearning necessary for relearning authentic ways, Nykia’s empowering perspective on anxiety and our perspectives on fear and faith. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit reiman.substack.com

Links:* Wayra Vibra Instagram* Catherine’s Instagram* Please Pass the Bliss* People of the Sun This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit reiman.substack.com

Links:* Zeus the Husky channel and video:* Hofstede Cultural Analysis: the three countries discussed, the general tool.* The Authentic Observer youtube channel.* Cultural Map of the United States.* The book that the map is based on.* Documentary called Quantum Communication / Mind Science Kept Hidden:* Autobiographical stuff.co.nz article series by New Zealand author Catherine Dolan about the toxicity and brutality of NZ society.* Global Innovation Index 2022 global map visualization.* Mark Passio's Presentation Playlist on his youtube channel.* Nick’s youtube channel.These links are included per Nick’s request; I endorse nothing, and trust you to make your own judgments. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit reiman.substack.com

Listen now (80 min) | Please enjoy this (possibly final) episode of Redeeming Disorder, featuring my first friend in my new home (Vilcabamba, Ecuador), Maya Choi. Maya has lived quite an adventurous life, growing up in Korea, spending over a decade in New York City and living now in Ecuador, where she’s also been for over a decade. Her experiences shifting between cultures have taught her how to relate to the identity of the self, as has extensive meditation, through which she’s always maintained a “beginner’s mind.” From her exposure to Zen monasteries as a child to her personal practice today, meditation has always been a way for Maya to, rather than escaping or merely transcending the world, relate to the world with more joy, gratitude and generosity. That spirit and those qualities are reflected at the site of our interview — the Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (32 min) | On this World Mental Health Day, I'm joined by my partner Kailey to reflect on anxieties, bad habits and True Love. ~ Links from the Episode: Video of Our Conversation on YouTube Video of Our Conversation on BitChute Rapper Played in Background for a Minute Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (128 min) | Phil Larstone has always felt a deep calling to steward the earth, and it's here in southern Ecuador that he ultimately actualized that calling, renewing a hectare of land into fertile, biodiverse and beautiful permaculture. In this interview he takes us through his journey of mental health and connection to nature — from suicidal college student, to Hawaiian permaculture student to creator of "eternaculture" (and AirBnB host extraordinaire!). Not only that, but in the video content linked below, Phil shares his inspirations and shows us his creation visually. ~ Links from the Episode: Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (71 min) | In this special Summer Solstice + Father’s Day solo-cast, I ramble (on and on) about permaculture, my Ecuadorian digs, my life purpose and my spiritual path. Feel free to tune out of this chronicle of unwieldy personal musings, or to stop listening at any time! For those who are interested, I delve into some of the particular challenges, vulnerabilities and neuroses of my individual psyche — especially the content that arose in my January 2021 work with Ayahuasca in Ecuador. ~ Links from the Episode: Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now | Ṣadé Kammen has struggled with neurodivergence all her life, but what she now identifies as depression, anxiety and autism spectrum disorder weren't taken seriously by her family. Though she struggled to feel understood growing up, she went on to become a strong mental health advocate at Yale, and today fights for those dealing with mental disorder as well as those dealing with social injustice. The latter has unfortunately been predominant in Ṣadé’s experience as a black queer woman facing racism and gender biases, and she views Survivor — the medium through which we connected to have this interview — as a powerful lens into these shadow sides of our culture. Shadows (at least large cultural ones) don’t disappear overnight, and Ṣadé's struggles with some strained relationships (being currently estranged from her mother) persist. Nonetheless, she has developed coping strategies as well as learned how to live in the present moment, in her bo

Listen now (130 min) | Frank Ferrare’s mental health struggles began in adolescence, but a combination of stigma and confusion extended them well into adulthood. The death of a close grandparent led to depression, which began a chain reaction of one ramification leading to another — depression medication, shame around medication, misuse of medication, shame around mental disorder, shame around self, and ultimately the construction of dense emotional walls. Frank wound up socially isolated and misunderstood, but in the end, his story if a hopeful one. Outlets like watching Survivor formed a bridge back to human connection for him, and the human connections he made in his everyday life formed a bridge to self-acceptance. His is a story of learning to become comfortable with himself, coming to peace with his mental health challenges and letting down his emotional walls. Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (84 min) | Nikki Moon has survived a full gamut of severe challenges, including issues with sleep, physical health, mental health and trauma. Specifically, she suffered one of the most devastating traumas a person can face — an incident of sexual assault and rape. Whatever the obstacle, however, Nikki turns pain into power: From her narcolepsy and cataplexy she’s learned to use medication pragmatically, and from her assault she’s learned to accept the compassion surrounding her. In this interview, she takes us through what coping has meant for her, how she’s found peace with the personal narrative of her experiences, how she’s braved the difficulty of sharing her story and how she navigates her mental health today. Check out beautiful crafts made of reclaimed wood by Nikki’s family at Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (115 min) | Welcome back to Redeeming Disorder. Happy full "supermoon." May we make it to May. 😊 Jonas Otsuji competed on Survivor: One World a decade ago. The deep depression he recalls, however, became a challenge for him long before reality TV, and continued to challenge him after the show. Jonas speaks to the factors that made the challenge even harder – junk food, consumerism, social media’s distortion of reality – as well as the factors that were healing, like practicing gratitude. Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (131 min) | Nicole Moore survived a devastating 2013 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma (yes, she is Nicole Moore from Moore). Sadly, her childhood home didn't, and a whirlwind of family struggles prolonged the intense stress she was under. The tornado and its aftermath ultimately amounted to a battle with PTSD, the awareness of which Nicole advocates during our interview. Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (25 min) | Despite the past month's MIA-ness, rest assured that more Redeeming Disorder is to come. Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (96 min) | Michael McRay came to know shame in early childhood, and it nearly killed him. In this episode of Redeeming Disorder, he bravely shares the story of his close encounter with death, and of the immense outpouring of love he found after attempting suicide. Michael's vulnerability gives me the courage to finally share that I was suicidal for a period of time in the summer of 2011, and if you find yourself in a dark place, I hope it gives you courage as well. May the story instill faith, in all those who need to hear it, that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You are not alone. Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (40 min) | Devon VillaCampa returns to the podcast to update us on his artistic and mental health journeys. Not only does he reflect on what he's been through, but he reflects on how reflections themselves change with age — how his perspective evolved in the 1.5 years between appearances on the podcast. Devon finds newfound freedom as he gets older, and newfound peace as he grows into himself. Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (111 min) | Today we catch up with another previous Redeeming Disorder guest, AJ Mass, who unfortunately lost both his mother and his mother-in-law in the year before this interview. The discussion of that challenge quickly turns into an abstract and philosophical discussion of life, aging, belief and truth. Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (144 min) | Researcher and clinical psychology PhD Amanda Rabinowitz returns to Redeeming Disorder to talk psychiatry, dive deeper into therapeutic techniques (especially CBT and its behavioral activation offshoots) and contemplate a number of murky dichotomies within her field: Subscribe at reiman.substack.com

Listen now (88 min) | Eric Maisel is a psychotherapist, a PhD in counseling psychology, a creativity coach, and the author of over fifty published books. While I first discovered him through his “Rethinking Mental Health” blog for Psychology Today, his education and work in the field span back far before that — far before I was diagnosed with depression at ten years old, and far before I was born. Eric questions what he terms the “mental disorder paradigm,” and broaches controversial questions most would rather avoid: Subscribe at reiman.substack.com