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This episode is a companion audio diary to my interview with Ted Riskin, recorded while participating in one of his five-day Internal Family Systems (IFS) ketamine-assisted group retreats in Asheville, North Carolina. Over the course of the retreat, I recorded stream-of-consciousness reflections into my iPhone each day as I moved through group process, ketamine journeys, hikes in the mountains, and conversations about healing, anger, meaning, and inner balance.

This episode is more personal and less structured than my usual interviews. Part field journal, part psychological exploration, it captures what it feels like to enter one of these increasingly popular healing environments.

Timestamps

0:00 - Audio Diary Retreat Setup
1:55 - Meeting The Group And The Method
4:19 - Setting Intentions For Inner Balance
5:16 - First Ketamine Journey And Comeback
10:32 - Integration Plus Hikes And Workday
13:14 - Anger Work And Nature Reset
15:14 - Lower Dose Insights And Next Steps

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Developing Meaning is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE and is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS.

Theme music by The Thrashing Skumz. Developing Meaning is produced by Consilient Mind LLC.

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In this episode, I sit down with Ted Riskin — social worker, IFS expert, and pioneer of group ketamine retreats — after spending a week at his beautiful home in Asheville, North Carolina participating in one of his experiences. From his unusual path as a computer programmer living in an Ashram to becoming one of the leading voices in ketamine-assisted IFS group therapy, we explore how to work with protectors, why anger deserves more respect than our culture gives it, and how group healing unlocks something individual therapy often can't reach. Plus: why meaning isn't something you find — it's something you create.

In this episode

• What exiles and protectors are and how they shape our inner world
• Why healing means becoming whole — and how IFS gets you there
• From computer programming to debugging the psyche
• How breathwork and non-ordinary states bypass the thinking brain
• Anger as a healthy boundary-setting force — and why suppressing it breeds judgment
• The three ways to work with a protector: push, invite, or pick up the cat
• Why ketamine works like holotropic breathwork — and why Ted combined it with groups
• How group healing reaches wounds that one-on-one therapy often misses
• Outcomes data: what actually changes after a group ketamine IFS retreat
• Meaning as something you generate — not something you find

Timestamps

3:42 - Meeting Ted And His Setting
5:35 - Self Energy And Finding Balance
8:20 - Exiles Protectors And Healing Wholeness
14:00 - From Programmer To Therapist
19:35 - Breathwork And Non Ordinary States
27:43 - Core Energetics And Working With Anger
36:18 - Discovering IFS Through Hypnosis
42:26 - Ketamine As A Path Past Protectors
47:15 - Building The Group Ketamine Model
52:31 - Outcomes Data And What Changes Last
53:49 - Meaning Connection And Modern Life
57:00 - Creating Meaning From A Blank Slate
59:52 - Rapid Fire Questions And Art
1:03:58 - A Depolarizing Message And Where To Find Ted
1:07:06 - What Comes Next On The Podcast

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Developing Meaning is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE and is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS.

Theme music by The Thrashing Skumz. Developing Meaning is produced by Consilient Mind LLC.

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Note: This conversation with Dr. Patricia Gerbarg was recorded in August 2025.

In this episode, we explore how breathing patterns reshape the emotional brain, restore a sense of safety, and allow meaning to return to daily life with Dr. Patricia Gerbarg, co-creator of the Breath-Body-Mind program.

From her personal development as a healer to co-creating a global healing community active in trauma hotspots like Ukraine and Rwanda, we explore the science, stories, and practical tools that help people regulate their nervous systems and reconnect with meaning.

In this episode

• Meaning as state-dependent and grounded in safety
• What Breath Body Mind is and why safety comes first
• How vagus nerve signaling links breathing to emotion
• Why talk therapy alone often cannot reach stored trauma
• The sequence: focus → movement → muscle softening → coherent breathing
• Evidence from 9/11 survivors, veterans, schools, and IBD patients
• Programs in Ukraine supporting clinicians, children, and communities
• Rwanda’s community model blending breath, ritual, and narrative
• Restoring connection, agency, and love through breath practices
• How to start with short, safe practices and build consistency

Timestamps

0:14 – Opening Teaser: Breath and Meaning
1:42 – Host’s Mission and Series Kickoff
2:39 – Introducing Dr. Patricia Gerbarg
3:48 – Why Breath Body Mind Exists
7:31 – Global Growth and Going Online
12:18 – Scope, Impact, and Ukraine Programs
16:24 – From Psychoanalysis to Mass Healing
20:31 – A Child’s Panic to Schoolwide Resilience
24:20 – Gerbarg’s Public Speaking Breakthrough
28:18 – Early Life and Path to Psychiatry
36:58 – Discovering Breath After Illness
41:04 – How Breathing Shapes Emotion
47:14 – Publishing the Vagal Theory
52:59 – Using Breath Clinically for Trauma
59:22 – Building a Safe, Effective Sequence
1:03:24 – Focus, Agency, and the Ha Breath
1:06:07 – Coherent Breathing as the Foundation
1:11:47 – Evidence From 9/11 to Schools
1:16:47 – Inflammatory Bowel Disease Trial
1:22:00 – Why Breakthroughs Lack Headlines
1:27:04 – Real-World Results in Irish Schools
1:30:48 – Rwanda’s Community Healing Model
1:37:18 – Perpetrators, Forgiveness, Reintegration
1:42:49 – Meaning as Connectedness
1:47:44 – Rapid-Fire: Love, Art, and Advice

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Developing Meaning is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE and is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS.

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Developing Meaning is produced by Consilient Mind LLC.

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In this New Year’s episode, I explore the very real consequences of last year’s Past Year Review. Most notably, I decided to retire from a beloved community mental health clinic and launch Park West Integrative Psychiatry — sparked by a desire for creativity, continued learning, and a growing belief in integrative trauma-informed approaches such as EMDR, Internal Family Systems, ketamine-assisted therapy, hypnosis, and breath-based practices.

This episode reflects on how intentionally examining meaning and purpose can lead to significant life changes — changes that invite both opportunity and risk, excitement and fear.

To close the episode, I share a recording of my retirement speech from the clinic, which turns into an unexpected sing-along and a fitting ritual for marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

Chapters

0:13 — Nerves and a Big Career Pivot
0:52 — Last Year’s Review and 2025 Intentions
1:46 — Leaving a Beloved Community Clinic
2:46 — Why Change Now, and What’s Next
3:09 — New Directions in Trauma Treatment and Psychiatry
4:05 — Building Park West Integrative Psychiatry
5:02 — Fear, Complexity, and Finding Balance
6:00 — A Cautious Note on Year-End Reviews
6:20 — Reflections on Podcast Growth
7:06 — Upcoming Group Therapies and Retreats
7:54 — Yellowstone Lessons and Old Friends
8:40 — Gratitude, Global Listeners, and What’s Next
9:11 — Retirement Speech and Sing-Along

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Happy New Year! It's time to do a meaning inventory in order to set intentions for 2026. Toward that end I am re-posting my meaning inventory from last year. Our next episode will delve into how these unfolded and are leading to major career changes.

This episode invites listeners to engage in a meaningful past year review, turning away from traditional resolutions toward a more insightful approach to personal growth. By exploring the themes of beginner's mind, questioning assumptions, and the importance of consilience, Dr. Dirk Winter provides a framework for navigating mental health and self-discovery

We cover:.

• Dissecting the concept of a past year review
• Sharing personal peaks and lows from 2024
• Introducing guiding themes for 2025: beginner's mind, questioning assumptions, and consilience
• Exploring the significance of various healing modalities
• Challenging traditional mental health assumptions
• Encouraging listeners to conduct their own past year review and set meaningful intentions

Go ahead, do your past year review, get yourself maybe into some beginner's mind question patterns, look for areas of consilience, or come up with your own ideas or mantras for the coming year.

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Produced by Dirk Winter

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Mike Mandel is a world-leading hypnotist with over 50 years of professional experience. He's performed nearly 5,000 stage shows, trained over 10,000 students at his Toronto hypnosis academy, and co-hosts the Brain Software podcast.

Our conversation bridges hypnosis, Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, pain management, and meaning-making—showing how different healing traditions can discover the same truths about how minds heal.

Whether you're a therapist curious about hypnosis, an IFS practitioner, or simply fascinated by how minds work and heal, this conversation will expand your understanding.

You'll hear:

• The "bungalow model" of ego states and stunning parallels with IFS therapy
• How hypnosis stopped a severe burn from forming (tiny firemen with liquid nitrogen!)
• The history of hypnosis from ancient Egypt to Milton Erickson
• Why you need at least three models of reality (not just one)
• How Mike reframed chronic pain from suffering into a reminder he's alive
• Kitchen surgery stories that will blow your mind
• Rapid-fire questions about meaning, legacy, and what matters most

⚠️ WARNING: Mike starts with a brief hypnotic demonstration. Pay attention—the more you focus, the more you'll experience it. We unpack how he did it at the end.

Key Timestamps

• 05:50 - The Forgetting Demonstration
• 07:28 - Ego States & The Bungalow Model
• 15:23 - IFS & Hypnosis: Stunning Parallels
• 21:50 - The Frozen Baby: A Profound Healing Story
• 35:25 - Pain vs. Suffering
• 40:52 - The Burn Treatment Story
• 45:55 - What IS Trance?
• 56:26 - History of Hypnosis: Mesmer to Erickson
• 1:07:44 - How the Forgetting Demo Worked
• 1:18:18 - Rapid-Fire Meaning Questions

Resources

• MikeMandelHypnosis.com
• Brain Software Podcast

Developing Meaning is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS and is NOT INTENDED AS MEDICAL ADVICE.

Theme Music by The Thrashing Skumz.

Produced by Dirk Winter and Caroline Hinton

Brought to you by Consilient Mind LLC.

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Joanne Twombly, LCSW and author of Trauma Informed Internal Family Systems, has been treating complex trauma and dissociative disorders for over 30 years. In this conversation, she explores how right-brain modalities such as EMDR, hypnosis, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) can sometimes heal what words cannot. We also discuss the evolution of dissociative disorder diagnoses, the book Sybil and false memory controversies, the limits of traditional talk therapy, and the deeper role of meaning in recovery.

Timestamps
0:00 Welcome to Trauma-Informed Healing
2:57 Understanding IFS and Parts Work
8:40 From MPD to Hypnosis: Joanne's Journey
15:19 Why Traditional Therapy Falls Short
21:07 Dissociative Disorders Explained
29:05 Deep Brain Reorienting and Body-Based Approaches
36:39 Working with Transference and Meaning
48:29 Final Wisdom: Purpose in Healing Work
1:15:54 Episode Closing and Next Month Preview

Produced by Dirk Winter.

Theme music by The Thrashing Skumz.

Developing Meaning is NOT medical advice and is not affiliated with any institution.

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What happens when you combine military experience, personal recovery, cutting-edge trauma therapies, and the healing power of nature? Beau Laviolette's remarkable journey answers this question through a story of transformation and purpose.

From the sugar cane fields of Louisiana to the Marine Corps and back again, Beau's path wasn't straightforward. After military service ended unexpectedly due to seizures, he faced addiction struggles that eventually led him to recovery and a calling to help others. This deeply personal experience became the foundation for his approach to trauma healing, combining Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy using the Syzyge method.

Beau takes us through his discovery of these powerful modalities and how they complement each other, particularly when working with complex trauma. While EMDR helps process traumatic memories, IFS provides the framework to understand the protective parts of ourselves that develop in response to trauma. This combination creates a comprehensive approach that addresses both neurobiological and psychological aspects of trauma recovery.

The conversation ventures into fascinating territory as Beau describes his veteran-focused nature retreats. These immersive experiences take healing beyond the constraints of office therapy, allowing veterans to "unplug, connect, and let go" in natural settings. He explains how nature inherently contains qualities that facilitate access to what IFS calls "self-energy" – our core self characterized by compassion, curiosity, and calm.

Developing Meaning is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS and is NOT INTENDED AS MEDICAL ADVICE.

Theme Music by The Thrashing Skumz.

Produced by Dirk Winter MD PhD and brought to you by Consilient Mind LLC.