Spirit Gym with Paul Chek

When people have a hard time dealing with back pain that keeps them from doing the tasks that make up their day, they rarely think about the health of their core, the locus of their body’s visceral somatic expression.
In this very special solocast, Paul shares a wealth of knowledge he’s accumulated for more than a quarter-century about the core and explains why doctors and therapists commonly misdiagnose the origins of back pain and assorted injuries this time on Spirit Gym.
This episode is also available as a video on Paul's YouTube channel. To see the graphics he talks about, download the accompanying handout here. 
After you listen to the podcast, take a few minutes to complete the NLC CHEK Health Index — an official CHEK Institute assessment tool — at this link.
Timestamps
3:17 Mapping out your core, the foundation for your arms and legs.
6:42 Why many physicians and therapists misdiagnose core dysfunctions like back pain.
9:00 The CHEK Totem Pole.
15:09 The most unstable part of your body and spine.
25:43 Why it’s common to see hip, knee, ankle and foot injuries originate in the spine and low back.
28:24 How the inner and outer unit muscles work.
37:10 “You cannot fire a cannon from a canoe!”
44:14 The RC Factor.
51:43 Functional exercise and infant development.
1:02:53 The Primal Pattern™ movement system.
1:15:31 One of the most dangerous things you can do in a gym.
1:21:44 The human microbiome.
1:28:33 Without healthy glands and organs, optimal conditioning and strength development cannot happen.
1:48:59 Fear changes everything from your breathing to your muscle tone, posture and hormones.
1:52:53 Achieving balance between the right and left hemispheres of your brain.
Resources
The filum terminale
The Spinal Engine by Serge Gracovetsky (FREE PDF link)
How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy (20th Anniversary Edition)
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
Wild Pastures
Korrect SPIRITGYM
Pique Life
CHEK Institute
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

While navigating the very narrow habitrail of daily living, it’s very easy to forget there’s an amazing, alluring and mysterious universe all around us that we simply cannot completely quantify (but take very much for granted). Over time, this daily dulling of our imagination can kill our heart, mind and soul, but only if we let it…
If you’ve misplaced your sense of wonder and want to reclaim it, join Paul and his very special guest Fred Provenza on an exploration of the cosmos through the world of dreams this week on Spirit Gym.
Download Fred’s recent paper, Cosmic Dreaming: Memories of a Moment on Earth, for FREE at this link. Check out Fred’s earlier work on Acres USA at this link.
Watch Fred’s recent discussion, Cosmic Dreaming: The Ecology of Food Systems and Human and Environmental Health, with the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine on YouTube.
Learn more about the Behavioral Education for Human Animal Vegetation and Ecosystem Management (BEHAVE) program co-founded by Fred at Utah State University at this link.
Timestamps 
2:21 The conversation begins with prayers.
4:59 What happens when God become an idea instead of a mystery?
14:25 The one lesson all of us need to learn during our time on the planet.
25:38 The book that saved Fred from a life of depression.
31:16 What is consciousness?
37:58 How Fred developed a course on Myth and The Management of Natural Resources.
44:19 The danger of dogmas.
56:57 “You depart from nature when the death you produce no longer feeds or supports life.”
1:08:09 Has the human race become doers at the expense of losing out on feeling alive?
1:11:35 How much do you want to be owned?
1:33:13 The inherent creativity of human beings.
1:38:08 Challenges, opportunities, living in an evolutionary spirit and transcending boundaries.
1:51:36 The importance of studying principles that transcend time and space.
Resources
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers
Lucid Dying: The New Science of Revolutionizing How We Understand Life and Death by Sam Parnia
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
Wild Pastures
Korrect SPIRITGYM
Pique Life
CHEK Institute
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

Seeker, scholar and spiritual detective Dr. Joanna Kujawa describes the divine journey that led to her life’s work — exploring the gospel of Mary Magdalene — along with a deeper, better understanding of the Divine Feminine and Goddesses and how that knowledge can change the world this week on Spirit Gym.
Learn more about Joanna’s work on her website. Find her on social media via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Read her books Alien Goddess: UFOs, AI and the Goddesses of Ascension and The Other Goddess: Mary Magdalene and the Goddesses of Eros and Secret Knowledge.
Timestamps
4:42 Why Joanna calls herself a spiritual detective.
10:46 Joanna was told to write her book, Alien Goddess.
21:08 In imaginal space, we can communicate with aliens rather than just listen to them.
29:34 What is a Goddess?
37:09 The differences between Goddesses and Gods.
42:59 Why civilizations suppress the feminine.
56:44 The ongoing struggle between good and evil in the universe.
1:03:56 The reason Joanna became a spiritual detective and seeker: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
1:18:27 “A teacher may fall, but their teachings that were passed to you are still there.”
1:25:47 “There’s immense power in the feminine eros, and I think that’s why they are afraid of us.”
1:29:18 AI, posthumanism and transhumanism.
1:49:21 Do you have an overwhelming feeling right now that something is missing in your life?
1:56:15 Why matriarchy and patriarchy have their limitations: We need both in our lives.
2:04:42 “The only place that you can find the divine is within you and in nature.”
2:15:27 Men do not know how to address and embody their own Divine Masculinity.
2:36:11 The equal importance of Mary Magdalene and Jesus who embodied the Divine Feminine and Masculine as examples for all of us.
2:44:14 Eros: The creative power of the universe.
2:50:16 Baba Yaga insisted on being included at the end of Joanna's latest book.
Resources
Joanna’s conversation with Jeffrey Mishlove on New Thinking Allowed on YouTube
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music 
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
Wild Pastures
Korrect SPIRITGYM
Pique Life
CHEK Institute
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

Cannabis is a plant medicine that can do so much for one’s health when it’s grown properly and used very wisely.
Expert and educator Ryan Sprague explores the chemistry behind what makes cannabis work and explains why judging its quality solely on how much THC it contains is a very bad idea this week on Spirit Gym.
Learn more about Ryan and his work on his Highly Optimized website and on social media via Instagram here and here and YouTube. Listen to Ryan’s Highly Optimized podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to them.
For Spirit Gym listeners: The Sacred Smoke Collective is a private membership association where you can shop for its organic tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) offerings. Save 10 percent on any purchase at this website and a mystery gift by using the promo code paulchek at this link. Also, sign up for the Sacred Smoke Collective’s affiliate program at this link. (Special offers from Spirit Gym guests are time-sensitive and at their discretion to redeem after 30 days.)
Timestamps 
4:44 How a highly optimized human uses cannabis wisely and as one of many tools.
10:00 Do Drugs Have Religious Import? by Huston Smith from The Journal of Philosophy.
21:28 Practice the Daoist not too much, not too little philosophy.
32:34 Psychedelics are meant to be challenging by design.
51:09 Why Ryan believes cannabis and hemp are the people’s plants.
1:05:26 “Cannabis is a medicine that works on one regulatory system that happens to deal with 80-plus different conditions and purposes.”
1:13:22 Could cannabis treat epilepsy?
1:27:42 How much THC do you realiy need in your cannabis?
1:34:18 Foods that help with endocannabinoid production besides cannabis.
Resources
Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality by R. Gordon Wasson (FREE PDF link)
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music 
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
Wild Pastures
Korrect SPIRITGYM
Pique Life
CHEK Institute
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

As you know, the Hero’s Journey is one of Paul’s favorite tools to help his clients take on their challenges and begin to evolve into the people they are meant to be.
Former Olympic Coach and Leadership Guru Chip Richards joins Paul on a deep dive into the Hero’s Journey and how it can transform lives this week on Spirit Gym.
Learn more about Chip on his website and on social media via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. 
For Spirit Gym listeners: Chip is offering listeners a special discount to join him on a Heart of Leadership retreat, such as the upcoming trip to Tonga to swim with humpback whales, or to be part of the Heart of Leadership 12-month mentorship program. For more details and dates, reach out to Chip on his website and mention you heard him on Spirit Gym.
Timestamps
3:18 The Shero’s Journey.
6:09 Chip’s long ago meetup with Paul in Australia that changed the story arc of his Australian Olympic Ski team.
10:19 Parallel influences across oceans.
26:16 Being mythed.
32:01 The twisting, winding path of personal chaos is there to help us discover the divine essence within.
41:06 Chip’s first call to adventure as an elite athlete.
51:51 Paul has experienced the Hero’s Journey many times.
1:07:06 “Who we really are is not the programming.”
1:18:16 Tests and allies.
1:27:39 A true commitment.
1:34:10 What happens during the Hero’s Journey when everything falls apart?
1:39:03 Nature bathing surrounded by whales that allows people to let go and just be.
1:56:39 “One of the things that makes [Paul’s] work so special: You are living the myth we’re talking about right now.”
2:05:55 The elixir: The deeper answer that reveals why you went on this journey and become the embodied expression of that knowledge.
2:15:48 The Hero’s Journey: A journey from concept to experience.
2:26:13 Tests that Chip and Paul are facing.
2:34:15 Protecting the hives with very simple devotion.
2:48:14 How to use the Hero’s Journey as a self-reflection/self-realization tool. 
Resources
The Seed of Dreams by Chip Richards
Writing the Story Within by Chip Richards
The Varroa mite
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
Wild Pastures
Korrect SPIRITGYM
Pique Life
CHEK Institute
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.