► Tell us about you and your podcast
As an only child I started thinking early and stepped outside the envelope in grade school. I always hoped school would get better so I rushed through to a BS and PhD in quantum physics only to find it didn't.
After meeting sketchy people and doing risky things in mountaineering I became a cultural ambassador or sorts, traveling over several continents.
After a couple of decades in the software business I started exploring issues of mind and meaning through the indigenous use of psychedelics, EEG brainwave training, hypnotherapy, and clinical psychotherapy.
That's what I am now: a quantum physicist and hypnotherapist who writes books, blogs, and offers clinical counseling worldwide from my new West Coast base in British Columbia.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
Like most hypnotherapists I have a good voice. Some of my blog readers prefer listening so I now record my weekly blogs. Some of these are introductions to hypnotic inductions but you must not equate the two: hypnotic inductions put you in an altered space and that requires a measure of caution and safety.
I have many free self-hypnosis audios for people who are interested and able. I just won first prize in the 2021 Hypnotic Script Contest of the Int'l Medical and Dental Hypnosis Ass'n. My hypnotic induction is for people recovering from Covid-19. It's called "Airways" and can be found here: https://www.mindstrengthbalance.com/mindwp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COVID-19-Airways.mp3
I began reading my blogs as podcasts 2 years ago. I had the technology from having read 5 of my books as audiobooks. I will be including interviews but few people have my breadth of experience. I will develop a separate podcast interview formats for posts versus interviews.
My free blog has monthly posts, both written and audio. My paid blog posts weekly and includes Saturday zoom meetings on our weekly topics.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
Podcasting is part of my business outreach effort, and broad outreach is necessary because I target a specific group of people ready to explore new personal territory. I'm building a community of mind adventurers committed to growth and change.
I do not distinguish between mind, body, and spirit. I do not distinguish between personal, family, and social change. In fact, I don't much distinguish between quantum physics and the brain. Much of my work ties these together. I feel that you cannot advance in one of these areas alone, they all contribute and one must explore them all.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
Reading my own writing is an essential step in crafting the written word. I've learned to read everything as part of editing. And when I read it, I record it!
Looking for podcast guests is another way of exploring what's going on in the world and educating those I meet. Just as my own education has come from introspection or associating with others--and not with teachers, unfortunately--so podcasting provides a Gestalt experience of who's thinking what at the moment.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
My studio is basic: a good microphone, careful preparation, and minimal editing. As I have been reading my blogs, so I have not needed to find guests, but I'm now looking for broader connections. I'm using some of the podcast sites to find similar-minded people. There are many sites but not many similar people!
Most people are young, new to therapy or social change, and not particularly studied or experienced. I should mention that I'm in my middle 60s, I've attended a dozen universities, written 6 books, mentored students, counseled, led psychedelic ceremonies, traveled the world, and worked as a therapist, partner, and colleague to both the sane and the insane.
As a mountaineer, I've been in some strange places and not just mountains: jungles, deserts, forests, and deep underwater. As a software entrepreneur I've dealt with some good people and some bad people. As I tell my kids, "Don't do anything that daddy would do!"
► How do you market your show?
I'm on all the usual podcast sites, but I put most of my effort into blogging and writing. My blog posts focus on health and mind and run several pages. The books are varied, ranging from theory of mind, to brain training, to therapy, dreams, education, and art. Each of these venues requires its own marketing and I put my efforts where the quality of my work is most appreciated.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Learn from people. Most of the people from whom I'm getting feedback are seriously committed to a path of their own growth. These are both young people looking for the right direction in which to start, and older people looking to release their baggage and contribute to the world. They are not all clear-headed but they are energetic.
My focus is not sales or marketing oriented, at least not primarily. My aim is quality, integrity, sincerity, and authenticity. If you keep these foremost in mind, then you will find that success in finances, business, sales, and marketing require a serious step down.
The most "success" is at the center of the bell curve, otherwise know as the realm of mediocrity. In these modern times that we're now encountering, this average is slipping into chaos like the ice shelves that are breaking off the polar icecap. These islands of floating mediocrity melt and leave all those who subscribe to them floating in the sea.
Focus on what is deeply important. What you do in pursuing this will ferment into your richest productions.
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
It's all at my website at https://www.mindstrengthbalance.com. There you'll find links to books, blogs, products, podcasts, games, online resources, and a contact form for your questions. On most social media you can find me by name or business: lincolnstoller or mindstrengthbalance.