664. Kinky Dopamine Secrets: The Neuroscience of Addiction, Pain and Pleasure - with Dr Anna Lembke
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
Release Date: 01/07/2025
765. From Skills to Meaning: Rethinking Coaching Through Embodiment and Faith - With Chandler Stevens
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
In this episode, I sit down with Chandler Stevens to explore the limits of coaching and psychology, and why deeper transformation may require something more. We discuss embodiment, attachment, and the growing pull toward spirituality among coaches and practitioners. Chandler shares insights on how connection—to self, others, and the transcendent—shapes wellbeing, and why meaning, beauty, and purpose can’t be reduced to technique alone. We also explore practical ways to integrate faith-informed perspectives into coaching without dogma. This is a grounded conversation about expanding...
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764. From Self-Regulation to Theoregulation: Expanding the Coaching Model - With Virginia Moutlia
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
In this episode, I sit down with Virginia to explore the idea of theoregulation and why coaching and psychology alone may not be enough to support real human wellbeing. We unpack the four types of regulation—self, co, eco, and theo—and look at how modern life has left many people disconnected from community, nature, and a deeper sense of meaning. We discuss how faith, tradition, and shared values can provide structure, resilience, and a way to relate to suffering that goes beyond quick fixes. Along the way, we explore topics like attachment, purpose, beauty, and the role of ritual in human...
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763. Why Modern Psychology Can’t Heal Us: Coaching, Virtue & Human Nature - With Daniel Sute
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
In this episode, I sit down with Daniel to explore why modern psychology and coaching often fail to address what truly matters in human life. We dive into the ways postmodern thinking and our obsession with pleasure and quick fixes have left people anxious, distracted, and disconnected from meaning. We discuss the difference between vice and virtue, and how our attachments can act like bandages over the wounds of life. Along the way, we talk about beauty, truth, and the role of tradition in helping us orient toward what is truly good. This is a grounded conversation about recovering a sense of...
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762. From Reaction to Relationship: The Art of Conscious Communication - WIth Jayaraja
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
In this episode, I sit down with Jayaraja to explore what really shapes how we communicate -both with others and with ourselves. We get into how our personal history and emotional patterns show up in every interaction, and why I’ve noticed I’m often a worse version of myself online. We unpack what’s going on there, and share some practical ways to pause, reflect, and communicate with a bit more awareness and integrity. We also dive into the inner voice—how harsh and self-critical it can be -and what it takes to shift that. Along the way, we talk about the value of deep, non-romantic...
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761. Why Aren’t People Having Kids? Meaning, Culture & Modern Life - With Mark Walsh & Dr Helen Machen-Pearce
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
I'm joined by Dr Helen again to explore the deeper cultural, psychological, and philosophical roots of declining birth rates across the modern world. Moving beyond economics and policy, they examine what happens when meaning, identity, and embodiment begin to erode in contemporary life. The discussion touches on everything from the role of religion and community, to the impact of anxiety, digital culture, and shifting social norms around relationships, sex, and family. They question whether modern materialism and the pursuit of convenience have unintentionally undermined one of humanity’s...
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760. Coaching In The Presence Of Trauma: Boundaries, Confidence & Ethics - With Julia Vaughan Smith
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
Julia Vaughan Smith joins me to explore what it really means to be a trauma-aware coach. We unpack the fear many coaches carry of getting it wrong, causing harm, or stepping outside their scope, and how that can undermine confidence. We look at the difference between working with trauma and working on trauma, and why coaching doesn’t need to become therapy to be effective. We also explore the shadow sides of both coaching and psychotherapy, the rise of popular approaches like parts work, and how to stay grounded in good practice. Towards the end, we dive into the powerful dynamics between...
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759. Everything Wrong WIth Modern Trauma Therapy - WIth Mark Walsh & Dr Helen Machen-Pearce
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
Dr Helen Machen-Pearce joins me again to look at what’s happening in the modern trauma conversation. Trauma awareness has done enormous good, but we explore how the term is now being stretched, misunderstood, and sometimes used in ways that can disempower people rather than help them heal. We discuss the rise of self-diagnosis, the influence of social media psychology, and how trauma language can sometimes become identity, authority, or even ideology. We also look at the pressures inside the coaching and therapy world, including financial incentives, popularity dynamics, and the risk of...
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758. How Women Can Be Better Understood By Men - With GS Youngblood
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
This week I’m joined by GS Youngblood to explore what healthy masculinity actually looks like in modern relationships. We get into masculine–feminine polarity, why so many men get stuck between “nice guy” passivity and hyper-masculine posturing, and what real relational leadership means in practice. We unpack his three-part blueprint: respond instead of react, provide structure, and create emotional safety. We look at co-regulation, communication breakdowns, financial and physical safety, and why intimacy is often harder than leadership at work. We also dive into embodiment as daily...
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757. Maintaining Integrity In The Personal Growth Industry - With Mark Walsh & Dr Helen Machen-Pearce
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
In this episode, Helen and I unpack the uncomfortable truth about manipulation in coaching and personal growth. From authority claims and social proof to trauma bonding, love bombing, and cult-like dynamics, we explore how influence can quietly become coercion. We look at red flags - dependency on the teacher, blocked disagreement, emotional state manipulation, endless upselling - and also the subtler traps like vague language, borrowed authority, and identity-based pressure. We also talk about green flags: teachers who evolve, encourage challenge, build self-trust, and genuinely want...
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756. Coaching Adult Development: Leaders Who Can Handle Complexity - With Jennifer Garvey Berger
The Embodiment Coaching Podcast
I sit down with leadership thinker and complexity expert Jennifer Garvey Berger to explore what leadership really looks like in an anxious, fast-changing world. We dig into mind traps, adult development, and why leading today isn’t about having the answers, but building the capacity to work with complexity, uncertainty, and multiple perspectives. We talk about the breakdown of trust in institutions and leaders, how anxiety shrinks our circles of trust, and why people often look for strong or even bullying figures when they feel powerless. Jennifer explains adult developmental stages in...
info_outlineWhat do kink, dopamine and addiction reveal about the human experience? In this fascinating conversation, Dr. Anna Lembke, Stanford Psychiatry Professor and author of Dopamine Nation, unravels the secrets of addiction and the delicate balance between pleasure and pain. We explore topics such as the neuroscience of kink, the psychology of addictive personalities, and how contemporary issues have reshaped our culture.
With thought-provoking insights, Dr. Lembke examines the hidden forces driving our behaviours - from the "drugification" of modern life to the surprising connections between shame, spirituality, and recovery. We delve into the psychology of craving, the lessons addicts can teach us about resilience, and practical steps anyone can take to avoid falling into dopamine traps.
This episode might challenge some of your conventional thinking (hello pain) while offering grounded, science-based advice for living a more balanced and intentional life - to make sure you get a bit of aftercare to ease the journey. It’s perfect for anyone who's curious about avoiding addictive habits and enjoys a laugh along the way. Refreshingly human and deeply inspiring for all.
Learn more about Anna here: https://www.annalembke.com/
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Anna Lembke, MD is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she is the author of more than a hundred peer-reviewed publications, has testified before the United States House of Representatives and Senate, has served as an expert witness in federal and state opioid litigation, and is an internationally recognized leader in addiction medicine treatment and education.
In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018).
Dr. Lembke appeared in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives.
Her latest book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021) was an instant New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and has been translated into 35 languages. It combines the neuroscience of addiction with the wisdom of recovery to explore the problem of compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.
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