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What happens when the story you’ve built your life around suddenly breaks open? I sit down with Steve Urquhart, a former Republican Utah State Senator and attorney whose profound psychedelic experiences challenged his long-held beliefs and transformed his spiritual life. After leaving the Mormon Church, Steve co-founded The Divine Assembly, a spiritual community centered on direct experience of the divine, and became involved in questions of psychedelic policy and religious freedom. We explore the courage it takes to question inherited beliefs, the uncertainty of finding a new path, and the difficult work of bringing a changed worldview into everyday life. Sometimes, the moments that unsettle us most become invitations to discover who we are becoming.  • To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata   • To join the waitlist for SPIRITUAL DIRECTION see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/     • Original podcast intro and outro music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

What can neuroscience and mystical traditions teach us about who we are and who we might become? I sit down with Dr. Vladimir Miskovic, a neuroscientist, former monk, and former assistant professor of psychology and integrative neuroscience at Binghamton University, to explore the mysteries of consciousness and the meeting place of science and spiritual experience. Drawing on his book Dreaming Reality: How Neuroscience and Mysticism Can Unlock the Secrets of Consciousness, co-authored with Steven Jay Lynn, we explore how dreams, contemplative practices, and experiences that stretch our understanding of reality might open new possibilities for seeing ourselves and discovering our own next steps on the journey of becoming who we are.  • To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata   • To join the waitlist for SPIRITUAL DIRECTION see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/     • Original podcast intro and outro music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

What happens when your life doesn’t fit neatly into one story? Ben Sullivan is a private investigator, music teacher, and church pianist whose unexpected path challenges the idea that we have to choose just one identity. In this conversation, we explore the art of embracing our different sides, following an unconventional path, and discovering that figuring out who you are later in life can be an advantage—not a disadvantage. Sometimes, becoming whole means giving yourself permission to be more than one thing.  • To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata   • To join the waitlist for SPIRITUAL DIRECTION see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/     • Original podcast intro and outro music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

Makete Roesch is a wildlife researcher, backcountry wilderness guide, musician, and world traveler with a gift for storytelling. In this conversation, he shares unforgettable encounters with grizzly bears, a lone lion in Zambia, and mysterious experiences in unexpected places. Through these stories, we explore how entering unfamiliar worlds—whether wild, cultural, or mystical—can challenge our assumptions, awaken our curiosity, and change who we become. As with many episodes this season, this recording features great original music.  Links:  SUPPORT Mákete's Music: https://makete.bandcamp.com/ and https://madhallelujah.bandcamp.com/track/prophecy and also take a listen on Spotify.  Interested in a guided backpacking trip with our guest? Find out more here: https://glacierguides.com/hike/hiking-trips/backpacking-trips/  To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata To join the waitlist for SPIRITUAL DIRECTION see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/   Original podcast intro and outro music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

What does it mean to learn the language of the soul? David sits down with bestselling author Thomas Moore, whose work has helped generations of people explore spirituality, mythology, depth psychology, imagination, and the arts. They talk about dreams, desire, nature, enchantment, and the mysterious ways the soul gets our attention—and what it might look like to listen deeply enough to become more fully who we are. Also, as with many episodes in this season - hang in there for some original music shared in this interview.  Links: Learn more about Thomas Moore at https://www.thomasmooresoul.com/ To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata     To join the waitlist for Spiritual Direction see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/  Original music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

What happens when we slow down long enough to hear what’s really happening within us? David sits down with spiritual director and longtime ministry leader Joe Steinke to explore the practice of tending the soul. They talk about spiritual direction, leadership, prayer, and the importance of creating space for what is often overlooked or hidden beneath the surface. Together, they explore what it means to walk through life with greater attentiveness, honesty, and care. Links:  For Joe's work: https://souloftheshepherd.org/teams/   To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata    To join the waitlist for Spiritual Direction see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/  Original music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

What happens when the life we expected suddenly changes? After not being accepted into a PhD program, David entered a two-day silent retreat—and in that liminal space, and had a dream of his grandfather in the Amazon of Peru. In this episode, David tells that story and how nine months later, he is preparing to travel to the very place he saw in that dream. In this episode, David explores what it means to cross a threshold, listen to what emerges in liminal spaces, and step into the unknown without knowing exactly where it will lead. Also, after a 13 year songwriting hiatus, David shares a new song inspired by that dream and the Quechua word allinme—“it is important.” To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata    To join the waitlist for Spiritual Direction see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/ Original music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

What happens when we begin paying attention to the desires that keep calling us toward something deeper? David sits down with Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas to explore desire, spirituality, contemplation, and the mysterious process of becoming who we are. Together they ask what our deepest longings might be trying to tell us—and whether desire can become a kind of compass for the journey. Links:  Learn more about Peter at https://petertrabenhaas.substack.com/  and check his books out here. Also see https://contemplativechristians.com/  To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata    To join the waitlist for Spiritual Direction see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/    Original music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

In this interview, David Achata speaks Dr. Elizabeth Santiago. She is a writer, educator, and mentor who teaches at Emerson College in Boston, where she works in literature, storytelling, and narrative. Through her work with The Untold Narratives, she has mentored emerging writers from diverse backgrounds in finding and telling the stories that matter to them. In this conversation, Elizabeth and David explore the Call to Adventure—the moment when something within us begins to stir and asks us to pay attention. They talk about identity, finding our voice, the stories we inherit and the stories we haven't yet told, and what can happen when we begin listening to the inner call toward a more authentic life. Links: Find out more about Dr. Santiago's work with Untold Narratives here. To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata   To join the waitlist for Spiritual Direction see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/   Original music by https://www.instagram.com/azadmurtazin/

David sits down with filmmaker and storyteller Stanley Pomianowski, founder of Duck Duck Productions, to explore why the Hero’s Journey continues to show up across cultures, religions, films, and human lives. Stanley helps us see how stories mirror our own journeys of transformation—and what happens when we recognize that we may be living inside a story much larger than the one we thought we were writing. Links: Check out Stanely's book on story here. To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata  To join the waitlist for Spiritual Direction see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/  Original music by Azad Murtazin

David Achata introduces the new season of How People Grow, Becoming Who We Are—an exploration of the inner journey of transformation. Drawing from the Hero’s Journey, Brian McLaren’s stages of faith, Richard Rohr’s Order → Disorder → Reorder, and the wisdom of writers like James Hollis and Rumi, David reflects on desire, identity, dreams, spiritual development, and the courage to listen to the life unfolding within us. This season asks a simple but profound question: What does it mean to become who we truly are? To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata  To join the waitlist for Spiritual Direction see: https://jointherootedway.com/spiritual-direction/  Original music by Azad Murtazin

In the late 1960's John Perkins nearly died in the Amazonian Jungle of Ecuador... he was saved by a traditional healer and it changed his life. In this season finale episode, he shares his story. John Perkins is a New York Times bestselling author, international speaker, and activist best known for his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and other works including The World Is As You Dream It. A former chief economist at a major international consulting firm, he advised the World Bank, United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, and governments around the world. His writing explores global economics, indigenous wisdom, and pathways toward a more just and sustainable world. Perkins is also a co-founder of the Pachamama Alliance, which partners with Indigenous communities to protect the Amazon rainforest and advance global sustainability.  Learn more at https://johnperkins.org/ and https://pachamama.org/  To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata To learn more about David's leadership & personal work: https://jointherootedway.com/ Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/

Can plants really teach?  In this episode, I speak with Francisca Santibáñez, founder of Plant Spirit Talk, about plant communication, and her own journey of healing that reshaped her life. Raised across Brazil, Chile, and California, Francisca traces her lineage to the Tupi-Guarani people of Brazil and has spent over a decade studying plant healing with Shipibo teachers in the Peruvian Amazon, alongside other Indigenous lineages in Peru. We talk about how a severe health crisis became a turning point that led her into herbal medicine, plant initiations, and a lifelong path of remembrance and healing. Our conversation explores what it means to listen to nature, heal ancestral wounds, and how that listening can restore connection, meaning, and wholeness. Learn more about her work at https://www.plantspirittalk.com/ To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata To learn more about David's leadership & personal work: https://jointherootedway.com/ Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/

Leonard “Casey” Church is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, of the Bear and Crane clans. A former U.S. Marine, he is a cultural practitioner, teacher, and spiritual leader who has spent decades working to restore Indigenous ceremony and identity in contemporary life. He’s the author of Holy Smoke and Native American Rites of Passage, and his work explores how ritual and ceremony can foster healing, belonging, and personal transformation. Today Casey joins us to talk about the role ceremony plays in the lives of indigenous peoples and how "everyone has a native heart." To learn more go to https://www.gmwgathering.org/ To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata To learn more about David's leadership & personal work: https://jointherootedway.com/ Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/

Lorena Saavedra Smith is the author of the new book, Awaken Your Roots: Reclaim Your Ancestry and Sovereignty by Heeding the Jaguar’s Call. Lorena is a Pacha Philosopher, an Eco-Psychologist, and a wellness consultant dedicated to helping individuals heal through ancestral wisdom, nature reconnection, and holistic well-being. She joins the podcast to share Pacha Philosophy, and her ideas on how to reweave the broken soul.  Connect with Lorena at https://www.lorenasaavedrasmith.com/ To support this podcast go to: https://substack.com/@davidachata To learn more about David's leadership & personal work: https://jointherootedway.com/ Original music by Makete and Mad Hellelujah: https://makete.bandcamp.com/