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"Our culture has given us the technology of gods, but we have wings without wisdom." Brian Maierhofer is a clinician and somatic therapist who found Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell in a treatment center library at 20, got sober in a 12-step program before his 23rd birthday, and wrote his graduate thesis on the 12 steps as the hero's journey. We get into how Carl Jung shaped the first steps of AA, why alcoholism is really a thirst for wholeness, and why rock bottom is a spiritual crisis. We also talk about recovery as the "half-life" of your reactions, the felt sense and the wisdom of the body, and the myth of Icarus. We get into why this generation has wings but no one to teach them how to land, rites of passage and the liminal space, Brian's book in progress, and his encounter with Christ. In this episode: - Carl Jung, Rowland H. & the roots of AA - Spiritus contra spiritum: spirits vs. spirits - Alcoholism as spiritual neurodivergence - Rock bottom as a spiritual crisis - "Take your hands out of your pockets": how one sentence becomes a belief system - Recovery is the half-life of your reactions - Wings without wisdom: the myth of Icarus - Rites of passage, liminality & the numinous - Purpose is found in relationship - Brian's encounter with Christ From the Grave Podcast. Stop running. Start rebuilding. Join my free Skool Community: https://www.skool.com/scottrussellftg Newsletter & blog: https://scottrussell.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottrussellftg/ Work with me 1:1 / The Rebuild: https://scottrussellftg.com/apply-for-the-rebuild Follow Brian:  brianmaierhofer.substack.com https://www.instagram.com/brian.maierhofer https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

"God can't bless you from a fake place." Floyd Prescott III has served LSU Football for over 20 years. It started with a volunteer Bible study in a dorm in 2003 and grew into the team's pastor. No title asked for, no job description, just service. I met Floyd when I spoke to the Tigers, and he prayed over me right before I walked on stage. We get into why ego makes service look like weakness, letting go of the "pretty route," the question God asked him in his darkest season ("Can I trust you with tragedy?"), why hiddenness is not hatred, why you can't serve from an empty tank, and how to take a first step toward God if it all feels intimidating. He also gets honest about the time he was tempted to walk away from his faith. If you've ever felt overlooked, unseen, or stuck in a season that doesn't make sense, this one's for you. Join the free FTG community (weekly live coaching + Q&A): https://www.skool.com/scottrussellftg Work with me 1:1 / The Rebuild: https://scottrussellftg.com CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome Floyd Prescott III, LSU Football's pastor 1:00 "Honor to serve" 1:53 Masks, ego & running the "pretty route" 8:31 Perspective precedes path 12:09 J.O.Y.: Jesus, Others, Yourself 15:18 From a dorm Bible study to LSU Football's pastor 27:24 The biggest misconceptions about the Bible 42:45 Floyd's favorite scripture 47:19 "Can I trust you with tragedy?" 50:08 The wilderness right after the blessing 53:12 You're seen: a word for anyone feeling overlooked 58:09 Hiddenness is not hatred 1:00:16 Discernment & why you can't serve from an empty tank 1:05:47 The Trinity, explained simply 1:14:32 A first step if faith feels intimidating 1:20:36 Mindset, motives & mysteries 1:33:00 "I was tempted to walk away from God" 1:36:02 Closing prayer https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

You spend years in your head trying to make the right decision, and years later you're still talking about the same thing. Overthinking isn't the problem. It's the symptom of never learning to trust yourself, and you can't think your way into self-trust. You have to act your way into it. I get into where that lack of self-trust comes from, why love gets mixed with judgment, the punishing God so many of us grew up with, and why confidence only shows up after the action, not before it. Then I share the greatest spiritual experience of my life: getting out of my seventh treatment center with nothing, and saying yes to the job everyone in recovery told me never to take. In this episode: - Overthinking as a symptom of no self-trust - Love, judgment, and the "juggernaut judge of the heavens" - Why you can't get an overthinker to stop overthinking - Acting in opposition to your mind - The phone room story and how it launched FTG - Contempt prior to investigation - No wiggle room: freedom through commitment From the Grave Podcast. Stop running. Start rebuilding. Join my FREE Skool Community: https://www.skool.com/scottrussellftg Newsletter & blog: https://scottrussell.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottrussellftg/ Book a session with me: https://scottrussellftg.com/apply-for-the-rebuild https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

Chris Howard is more than seventeen years sober, the founder of Ethos Recovery, and an interventionist who doesn't sugarcoat anything. We talk about what happens when trauma becomes your identity, why so much of the treatment industry has traded real change for comfort and amenities, and why Chris now aims for quality of life instead of abstinence alone. We get into failure to launch, parents who need their kids to stay broken, healthy shame versus shame as dirty fuel, psychedelics, and why avoidance sits at the heart of addiction. Then Chris gets honest about hitting a wall seventeen years in: burnout, fear, and the small integrity slips that nobody sees but you. Whether you're 30 days sober or 17 years, you're going to face yourself at every part of the race. In this episode: "Weaponizing your trauma" and victim identityWhy 40–60% of people end up back in treatmentQuality of life vs. abstinence as the goalFamily roles and parents who need to be neededShame: signal, fuel, or poison?Avoidance, accountability and the little thingsWhat surrender looks like when you have a lot to loseFrom the Grave Podcast. Stop running. Start rebuilding. Join my Skool Community: https://www.skool.com/scottrussellftg Newsletter & blog: https://scottrussell.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottrussellftg/ Book a session with me: https://scottrussellftg.com/apply-for-the-rebuild https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

You got the job, the body, the routine, the relationship… and you still feel hollow. Here's why. Most self-improvement teaches you to rearrange the furniture on the Titanic. Real change happens in the basement, in the inner world most of us were never taught how to face. In this episode I talk about why productivity and achievement can be the most socially rewarded form of avoidance, what happens when the chaos goes quiet and you're left with yourself, why relief isn't the same as change, and how feeling what you've been avoiding is where the energy to rebuild your life actually lives. "As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart." (Proverbs 27:19) 👉 Join my free Skool community (live coaching calls, Q&A, and people doing the inner work): https://www.skool.com/scottrussellftg 📸 Instagram: @scottrussellftg https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

Britt Reid has lived through addiction, grief, prison, losing his career, and the kind of shame that can swallow a person whole. In this episode, Britt opens up about losing his brother to an overdose, his own battle with addiction, the crash that changed his life, prison, recovery, faith, and what it means to rebuild when you can’t undo the past. We talk about the 12 Steps, making a living amends, learning to forgive yourself, his relationship with his father Andy Reid, and one of the biggest realizations of the conversation: Stop disqualifying yourself. You are not your worst decision. You are not your shame. And you do not have to spend the rest of your life proving you deserve to be here. This one is about ownership, grace, and what happens when you finally stop running from your own story. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

Rob Banghart survived addiction, incarceration, homelessness, and an attack that nearly killed him in the tunnels beneath Las Vegas. But this conversation goes way beyond the survival story. Rob and I talk about what recovery becomes after the chaos is over—when the work shifts from simply staying sober to actually learning how to live. We get into God, surrender, childhood trauma, the 12 Steps, learning to sit with discomfort, and why recovery can become another prison if we grip it too tightly. Rob also shares the work he does today with Shine A Light, returning to the same streets he once lived on and helping people move from crisis toward long-term stability. One of the biggest themes from this episode: What if fear and pain aren’t punishment? What if they’re signals? We talk about learning to stop running from discomfort, trusting the mystery, saying “okay” when life calls you forward, and allowing your recovery to become freedom instead of another identity you have to protect. Topics include: addiction, homelessness, trauma, recovery, spirituality, God, 12-Step recovery, surrender, service, mental health, childhood trauma, purpose, and personal transformation. Guest: Rob Banghart Episode: 154 Podcast: From the Grave Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

There’s a lot of judgment flying around right now. Everybody dissecting everybody. Celebrities, addiction, politics, religion, sexuality, recovery, whatever gives people something to point at. But how much of that judgment is actually helping anybody? This episode started as a rant about AI slop and scripted content and somehow turned into a full rip on judgment, shame, Christianity, recovery, authenticity, and what it actually means to live from love. I talk about why I think so many of us are walking around with a pocket full of stones, why shame makes recovery damn near impossible, why our judgment of other people usually says more about us than it does them, and why real faith should make us more loving — not more dangerous to each other.  Also: LSU, full-time FTG, nicotine withdrawals at Tiger Stadium, eating like a 14-year-old at a concession stand, upcoming guests, and whatever else fell out of my head. Put the stones down. Love people. Be real. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

Light Watkins joins me for a conversation about what transformation actually looks like when you stop trying to force it. We talk about the “tortoise approach” to changing your life, transformation without self-rejection, cultivating presence, finding purpose through curiosity, addiction and dependency, intentionally choosing difficult things, learning to hear your intuition, and trusting the next step before you know where the path is going. Light also shares the story of needing $14,000 to follow his calling to India, doing 100 burpees every day for a year, and why finding your purpose doesn't necessarily make life easier — sometimes it asks even more of you. And this one got personal for me. I'm preparing to leave the security of the workforce and go all in on podcasting, speaking and coaching. No guaranteed paycheck. No perfectly mapped-out plan. Just a growing sense that there's no longer another direction to go. Maybe that's transformation. Not having the whole path. Just finally being willing to take the next step. Light Watkins is a five-time bestselling author, speaker, meditation teacher, and host of The Light Watkins Show. For more than two decades, Light has been exploring what it actually means to live from the inside out — teaching meditation, mindfulness, presence, purpose, and a different approach to personal transformation. His work has taken him around the world, from studying and training in India to speaking for Fortune 500 companies and teaching thousands of people how to develop a more practical relationship with meditation and inner work. His TEDx talk challenging common misconceptions about mindfulness has reached roughly a million people. Light is the author of five books, including Bliss More, Travel Light, and The Year You Transform. In 2018, he gave up his home and most of his possessions and spent the next five years traveling the world with everything he owned in a single backpack — an experiment in minimalism, trust, presence, and following what he calls your unique path. At the center of Light’s work is a pretty simple idea: transformation doesn’t always come from forcing ourselves to become somebody new. Sometimes it comes from getting quiet enough to hear where life is already trying to take us. Light's New Book: The Year You Transform: The Quickest Path to Changing Your Life for the Better https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

People are increasingly turning to AI for therapy, mental health advice, and some of the most painful questions a human being can ask. And I get it. AI is available at 2AM. It’s patient. It doesn’t judge you. It can help you understand patterns, articulate what you’re feeling, and sometimes say the thing you’re too ashamed to tell another person. But understanding your pain is not the same thing as healing it. In this episode, I talk about where AI can genuinely help, where I think it becomes dangerous, and how something designed to make life easier can quietly become another way of avoiding the very friction that changes us. I share how I use AI myself, the moment a therapist completely dismantled the story I had built about who I was, why human intimacy matters, and why self-knowledge can only take us so far. I even bring ChatGPT into the episode to defend itself. AI isn’t the enemy. Avoidance is. Use the tool. Learn from it. Let it help you find the door. Then put the phone down and go live. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

I just got back from speaking to the LSU football team—and this trip felt completely different. Usually, I walk into these rooms fired up, pacing, breathing fire and ready to deliver a message. This time, I felt empty. Insecure. Completely unprepared. An hour before the talk, breathwork brought me back to a moment from middle school that I had carried for decades without fully understanding. I thought I was going to LSU to speak to 300 men. God had me there to meet the scared kid inside myself. This episode is about the parts of us we spend our adult lives trying to outrun—and how we disguise that running as ambition, discipline, success or strength. It’s about dropping the spiritual performance, telling the truth about how hard it is to be human, and becoming radically loving toward the versions of ourselves we once decided were weak, broken or unacceptable. I also share one of the most powerful stories I’ve witnessed in nearly a decade working in treatment: a man who lost everything, surrendered in the middle of the ocean, and slowly rebuilt his life. Your trauma wasn’t your fault. But if you want the tape to stop playing, healing becomes your responsibility. Put your cards on the table. Let it hurt. Let it wreck you. Then let life show you what can be rebuilt. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

What if healing isn’t about constantly trying to fix yourself? In this episode, I sit down with Svea—a somatic healing teacher living in Paraguay whose mission is to help humanity meet God again. We talk about trauma, shame, grief, nervous-system healing, Jesus, spiritual warfare, the intelligence of the body, and why we can’t think our way out of wounds that need to be felt. Svea shares how achieving conventional success left her depressed, anorexic, and disconnected from herself—and how heartbreak and grief dismantled her old identity and opened the door to God. We also get into why wounded people reject love, how “healing” can become another identity, the danger of quick fixes, and what it means to stop living helplessly and reclaim the power of choice. This conversation gets deep, strange, beautiful, and incredibly honest. Connect with Svea on Instagram: @svea_earthfreedom https://www.instagram.com/svea_earthfreedom/ Follow Scott Russell and From the Grave: Instagram: @scott_russell Website: https://www.ftgcoaching.com If this episode hits you, share it with someone who has spent long enough fighting themselves. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

Life doesn’t hand you a script. It gives you a reality—and asks what you’re going to do with it. In Episode 148, Scott riffs on the surprising spiritual lessons he’s learning in improv class. The foundation of improv is simple: accept the reality you’ve been given, contribute to it, and keep the scene moving. Life works the same way. We can waste years resisting what happened, blaming our past, waiting for our parents to finally understand us, or criticizing ourselves into becoming someone different. But reality has already won. The only question left is: How are you going to participate in it? Scott breaks down the difference between victim consciousness and creator consciousness, how childhood wounds shape our inner narration, and why shame is not the fuel we think it is. The versions of yourself you hate, suppress, and hide are often wounded parts still trying to get your attention. Healing doesn’t happen by abandoning those parts. It happens when you finally turn toward them with curiosity, compassion, and truth. Life is one long improv scene with God. Accept what is. Bring what you have. And contribute something meaningful to the scene. In this episode: Why resisting reality creates unnecessary sufferingVictim consciousness versus creator consciousnessHow childhood criticism becomes your internal voiceWhy shame and self-hatred are stopping forces—not fuelThe importance of reparenting yourselfWhat your unwanted emotions are trying to communicateShadow work, suppressed pain, and the Pennywise metaphorCo-creating a meaningful life with GodIf you’re interested in working one-on-one with Scott, email: [email protected] Subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review if something in this conversation hit home. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

What if the breath is the bridge between your conscious and unconscious mind — and you've been using it wrong your whole life? In this episode, I sit down with Eric LaCour, breathwork facilitator, yoga teacher, and founder of Preservation Yoga Studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Eric has built his entire teaching philosophy around two things: breath for the body, story for the mind. What comes out of this conversation is one of the most honest, grounded discussions about breathwork, somatic healing, nervous system regulation, and what real spiritual growth actually looks like day to day. We talk about how trauma gets stored in the body — often without us ever knowing it's there — and how conscious breathwork can begin to release it. Eric walks through the science, the lived experience, and the unglamorous daily discipline it takes to actually change from the inside out. This one is for anyone who's been avoiding the hard work. The answer isn't sexy. But it works. WHAT WE COVER: - How breathwork heals the nervous system and releases stored trauma - The body's memory: why generational trauma lives in us without our permission - Miyamoto Musashi's Two-Fold Way — the warrior who must have both a   peaceful art and a killing art - The Hero's Journey, Threshold Guardians, and why resistance means   you're on the right path - Eric's kratom addiction at 38 — how it nearly broke him and what got   him through - Why sober is the highest state of consciousness - Joseph Campbell, Steven Pressfield, and the call you can't refuse - How to use breath awareness to stay anchored in the present moment - The chakra system made simple — and how to use it in daily meditation - Why "do what you love and money will follow" might actually be   holding you back ABOUT ERIC LACOUR: Eric Lafleur is the founder of Preservation Yoga Studio in Baton Rouge, LA. His teacher training blends yoga, breathwork, somatic healing, Jiu Jitsu, and deep study of the human story. He brings a rare combination of grit, spiritual depth, and zero tolerance for the fluffy stuff. https://www.instagram.com/preservationyoga/ https://www.instagram.com/breath_is_the_way/ BOOKS MENTIONED: Breath by James Nestor | The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle | The War of Art  by Steven Pressfield | Karma by Sadhguru | The Book of Five Rings by  Miyamoto Musashi | Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda |  Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza If this episode hit, share it with someone who needs to hear it. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com

There’s a point where talking about change stops working… and you’re forced to decide who you actually are. In this episode, Scott sits down with Jeremy Plummer for a conversation about obsession, discipline, and the cost of choosing a path most people won’t take. This isn’t about motivation or quick fixes. It’s about what happens when you stop negotiating with yourself and commit fully — even when it’s uncomfortable, uncertain, or inconvenient. They explore the difference between interest and obsession, why most people quit when things get hard, and what it actually takes to follow something all the way through. At its core, this episode is about identity — who you become when you stop backing out of your own life. 🔥 Topics Covered: The moment most people quit — and whyObsession vs. disciplineChoosing the hard path on purposeMental toughness and identity shiftsFollowing through when motivation fadeshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93nT0ACHVfQGW5-BaLNZMQ https://www.instagram.com/fromthegravepodcast/ https://fromthegraveco.com