Before words: How to remember our first language - Michael Perez
Release Date: 04/14/2025
The hidden power in mythic stories of desire and love - Stephanie MacKay
Be Mythical
In this week’s show Lian is joined by Stephanie MacKay. Stephanie is a mythologist, wilderness guide, and cultural craftswoman devoted to the long, slow work of remembering how to belong—to land, to lineage, to story, and to each other. As founder and director of Fianna Wilderness School, she has spent the past 15+ years guiding rites of passage, seasonal myth circles, and nature-based mentorship rooted in the wilds. Stephanie’s work braids together her Celtic ancestry, years of deep study with Martín Prechtel and the Animas Valley Institute, and a fierce love of story as medicine. She...
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How to heal the wounded men: trauma, numbness & masculinity - Hugh Newton
Be Mythical
In this week’s show Lian is joined by Hugh Newton. Hugh’s life began in the midst of a war in Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia). Growing up in such harsh conditions meant that he had to work hard to overcome his complex childhood trauma. Hugh began his self-development journey 30 years ago, and has been passionate about both supporting men to step into the fullest versions of themselves, and strengthening and uplifting the African continent that he loves so much. Hugh works as the lead male facilitator at Celebration of Being, and was a certified leader at A Band of Brothers for 7 years....
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The ‘small print’ of working with powerful myths and archetypes - Caitlín Matthews
Be Mythical
This week’s show is with Caitlín Matthews. Caitlín is an internationally renowned author, a teacher of shamanic training programme, a facilitator of Systemic Ritual® and the co-founder of the Foundation for Inspirational and Oracular Studies (FÍOS). Caitlín is the author of over 80 books, including Diary of a Soul Doctor, Singing the Soul Back Home, the Art of Celtic Seership, Celtic Devotional and The Celtic Book of the Dead. Her books have won a number of awards. She is known internationally for her work on the spiritual, mythic and ancestral traditions of Britain and Ireland. She...
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How to honour the differences between men and women - Serdar Hararovich
Be Mythical
In this week’s show Lian is joined by Serdar Hararovich. Serdar is a Relationship & Secure Attachment Specialist offering integrative, attachment-based coaching and healing. He supports both men and women to heal early attachment wounds, establish inner security, reclaim their deepest self, and cultivate the emotional skills required for deep, soulful, and secure love. Serdar works with a wide variety of individuals - including, but not limited to, therapists, relationship coaches, and other practitioners. The common thread among his clients is a deep desire to go beyond the surface -...
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Plato’s allegory of the cave: how to journey from shadows to truth - Lian Brook-Tyler
Be Mythical
In this episode, Lian tells the ancient allegory of Plato’s Cave, a story of awakening and the painful beauty of learning to see. Each month, Lian’s shared a mythical tale as a doorway into your own soul. These stories are one of the oldest ways ancestral wisdom has been carried down to us, a living inheritance that continues to speak when we meet them with reverence. And this one feels especially poignant, because it will be the last story Lian tells in this way. Our community is evolving into its next form, UNIO: the Community for Wild Sovereign Souls. UNIO now becomes the living home...
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How to manifest beyond vision boards: metaphysics & morality - Mike Bais
Be Mythical
In this week’s show Lian is joined once again by Mike Bais. Mike is Lian’s own Kabbalah teacher, a physiotherapist, counsellor, university lecturer and author, also having had his own practice for many years. He is a trained priest in the esoteric christian tradition, which lead him to follow the mystical side of this lineage called the A.S.A. (Apostolic Succession of Arimathea). He believes that the Teachings of Christ are universal and should not be limited to a religious structure. His esoteric training comes from the western mystery tradition and the Toledano Kabbalah. Living in the...
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Shamanism vs animism: how to live spiritually in modern times - Nicholas Breeze Wood
Be Mythical
In this week’s show, Lian is joined by Nicholas Breeze Wood. Nicholas has practiced shamanism for over 40 years, combining it with the 'earthier' end of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as with 'medicine' teachings from Native North American peoples. He has worked with many gifted medicine people and shamans over the years, and is deeply apprenticed to his own spirit helpers, whose teachings never fail to awe and surprise him. Nick’s shamanism is a fusion of traditional Himalayan and Mongolian forms, combined with teachings from his own spirits. He works especially deeply with ritual objects -...
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How to be seen: small changes that make your unique presence work for you - John Kippen
Be Mythical
In this week’s show Lian is joined by John Kippen. John is an entrepreneur, professional magician, speaker, resilience and empowerment coach and published author. John was dealt a bad blow in 2002 when he was diagnosed with a large benign brain tumor. Its removal, although successful, left him with permanent facial paralysis which stopped his forward momentum forcing him into hiding for more than 12 years. As John hit bottom, he rediscovered his childhood love for performing magic and storytelling. Now filled with passion and hope, he discovered that his facial paralysis had become his...
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Ancient technology & modern science: the power of the shamanic drum - Sophie Messager
Be Mythical
In this week’s show, Lian is joined by Sophie Messager. Sophie bridges worlds that rarely meet. A former reproductive physiologist with a PhD, she traded her microscope for holistic practices after experiencing the transformative power of an empowered birth. Her decade-long journey as a doula, birth educator, and author of deepened her exploration of the rhythms surrounding women’s transitions. Now a holistic life transition mentor, Sophie guides women through significant life thresholds – from birth to perimenopause and beyond. Her unique combination of scientific expertise and...
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The healing home: how to design your house as a sanctuary - Paula Robinson
Be Mythical
In this week’s show Lian is joined by Paula Robinson. As an intuitive interior designer, Paula understands the profound effect that the spaces where we live and work have on our health, happiness and success in life. Often called the ‘space whisperer’, she helps people to create living and working environments that transform their lives on all levels. Paula has been an interiors columnist for The Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph and Move Or Improve? magazine, and is the author of "" and "". Paula is happiest in nature - especially by the sea - and loves designing outdoor spaces. She is...
info_outlineThis week’s show is with Michael Perez. Michael didn't just learn the standard toolkits – he hit their limits early on (back in the 90s!) and dedicated years to figuring out *what really works* at the deepest levels of the human mind, modeling the true masters like Erickson beyond the textbook explanations.
When the neuroscience revolution hit, he wasn't just an observer; he was actively integrating groundbreaking discoveries about the brain, the unconscious, and trance states into a *unified field theory* of change while mainstream psychology was still catching up. His exploration wasn't just academic; studies in Aikido, Zen, anthropology, and primatology revealed the power of primal states modern life forces us to forget. Then, facing a potentially career-ending physical crisis that left him crippled and in constant pain, he didn't just cope – he *innovated*.
Using his unique synthesis of neuroscience and hypnosis, he developed new techniques *on himself* to overcome the pain and retrain his body, proving the power of the mind-body connection in the most demanding way possible. This crucible forged the core of the "Neuron Code." Decades of international training, coaching C-suite leaders, pioneering remote work, and deep cultural immersion haven't just given him experience; they've given him unparalleled insight into *how humans actually operate* beneath the surface.
In this conversation, Lian is joined by Michael to explore the deeper roots of human communication… not just as a tool of language, but as a primal, somatic inheritance. Together, they trace the evolution of how we’ve spoken, felt, and connected through time - from the open plains of early endurance hunting to the quiet, intuitive knowing between two bodies in a room.
Michael shares captivating insights into our pre-linguistic ways of relating, where emotional resonance, body awareness, and subtle mirroring were our first languages. Lian reflects on childhood memories of communicating wordlessly with other children, inviting listeners to remember a time when connection didn’t rely on words, but on presence, attunement, and instinct. Together, they explore why this deeply embodied intelligence still lives within us… and why we so often forget to listen to it.
As the episode unfolds, they reflect on how language, while powerful, can become a distraction from what’s most true. Listeners are guided through the journey of learning to feel again: how to notice what your body knows, how to ‘reproduce someone else’s inner world’ within yourself, and how to return to the state of flow that lives beneath overthinking. The conversation asks the deeper question: what might happen if we let ourselves communicate as humans… not just as heads on sticks?
We’d love to know what YOU think about this week’s show. Let’s carry on the conversation… please leave a comment wherever you are listening or in any of our other spaces to engage.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
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How emotional intelligence and body awareness are the original languages of human connection, long before words came online
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Why your body often “knows” the truth before your mind can explain it, and how to trust that knowing in conversation
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The journey from conscious effort to unconscious competence… and why getting worse at communication might be the sign you’re about to get much better
Resources and stuff spoken about:
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Join UNIO, the Academy of Sacred Union. This is for the old souls in this new world… Discover your kin & unite with your soul’s calling to truly live your myth.
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