I don’t have the energy for this blog post. But my mind keeps trying to write it, so here we go … The other day, I came across a comment from months ago from an unsubscriber who wanted me to know why she was quitting the Humanitou newsletter. She wrote, Read more…
Overview: In this solo episode (ep 146), Adam Williams gives into the intruding thoughts that came to him during meditation. Thoughts on God, being “good/bad” at meditation, vulnerability and connecting with each other through sharing what we’ve got to share. Also on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, YouTube, Google and other players. EP 146 SHOW NOTES, LINKS & Read more…
One of the lines I keep coming across is, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” To keep that in mind is to practice the yogic or Buddhist idea of detachment. It’s practicing and expanding our capacities to dispassionately witness Read more…
Overview: Lucas Cullen is the founder of Struggle Creates Strength, a mental health advocacy organization based in British Columbia, Canada. He’s also a podcaster, a traveler and a former semi-pro hockey player. In this conversation, Lucas and I talk about the power of story, of sharing our stories vulnerably and Read more…
Overview: James McCrae is a poet, a meme artist, and the author of the book, Sh#t Your Ego Says. Naturally, this conversation dives into James’ thoughts on the ego. We also talk about karma, existential crisis and ayahuasca, poetry and meme artistry, which James is convinced is the most potent Read more…
Circles have been regarded and created as spiritually significant for several hundred years, at least. They especially are connected to Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists create mandalas. Mandala, in Sanskrit, means circle. Zen Buddhists create ensō. Ensō, in Japanese, means “circle form.” In the first line of the foreword written by John Read more…
Overview: Steven Pressfield is the best-selling author of The War of Art, The Artist’s Journey, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire and, his newest novel, which was published earlier this month, A Man at Arms. In this conversation, we talk about Resistance with a capital-R, that diabolical enemy within Read more…
A compelling history has taken shape in the name Humanitou. And it’s rooted, I’ve come to learn, in ancient, spiritual and creative mythologies that could not be more suited to me and my work. As fated, it seems. On the practical side, Humanitou is the name of my podcast, website Read more…
In a new series of abstract artworks, I’m exploring an overlap of areas that interest me: simplicity, meditation, solitude, spirituality, nature, clarity, connection, circles, balance, abstraction … I’m choosing to use only black, blue and white in this work. I’ve come to the abstract visual of rock cairns as a Read more…
Overview: Adam Williams, creator of Humanitou, gets into a topic that he’s really not comfortable talking about: love. In this solo episode, he starts with an odd little story that finally got him to speak on this issue he’s got with love. He explores why he’s not comfortable having this talk with you today, Read more…
Overview: In this episode of the Humanitou Podcast, Jessica Patterson shares some intensely shaping experiences in her life and where her feral spirit comes from. We talk about yoga as a homonym, how the word, while it looks and sounds the same in its uses, conjures different meanings for different Read more…
Large portraits, bright and colorful paintings, hang on the walls of Molly McClure’s house. In her kitchen, hallway, living room and elsewhere. They are hers, her work. Some of them even are her face. Molly, 31, sat down with Humanitou and a cup of tea. She offered thoughtful and unflinching Read more…
Chris Dwyer leads yoga classes at SunWater Spa in Manitou Springs, Colo., with a sense of ease and humor. On and off the mat, Chris offers honest evidence of his practice. By how he shows up. By how he teaches, writes, engages in the community. That’s what has drawn me Read more…
I engage in yoga daily. But I do not “do” yoga. Millions of others do “do.” Same-same? Semantics? What’s it matter? It doesn’t matter. Maybe. But as a word guy, I use writing to process the world, to help it make sense. To me, words matter. Clarity and precision of Read more…
There are an estimated 35 to 45 in-progress collage works surrounding artist Robyn Sean Peterson in his home studio. Most of them are stacked upright and leaning against a wall. There are nearly a dozen pieces in varying sizes — intricate, colorful, mesmerizing — that lie across a U-ish shape Read more…
Laurel Astor brings a bowl of cut fresh fruit out to her small deck, where we sit surrounded by woods and the whirs of hummingbirds. It’s the food that gets us started. From its healing place in Laurel’s life to a book she published based on that experience. We talk Read more…
Travis Mauzy describes himself as a simple guy. He laughs and smiles readily. He’s easy to have a conversation with, even as a client looking for relief. The no-frills approach at his Manitou Chiropractic is an extension of his personal demeanor. When Travis, 36, sat down with Humanitou, we talked Read more…
Life is in transition in Christine Reber’s household. A recent high school graduation for one of her three teenagers. A house move that, as those tend to go, will take some time to unfold. And a personal and professional life path that continues to evolve. “Everything that I’m involved in Read more…
It’s quiet at the house Shanti Toll shares with his wife, Coreen. The array of a few dozen masks that came from around the world hang prominently within immediate view of the front and back doors. They are silent but full of stories. The landscape framed by large windows at Read more…
Hannah Rockey’s stage presence is clear, even as we sit in the print shop of her father, artist Charles Rockey (“Rockey”), on Canon Ave. in Manitou Springs. It’s the clarity and strength of her voice, the punctuations and emphases. Rockey sits in on the conversation, listening to his daughter’s stories Read more…