The Release Podcast

Bret Lockett, NFL Player Turned Love Coach

Bret Lockett is an ex-NFL player who found his second calling as a transformational love coach and he's on a mission. A spiritual guide and an alchemist, he's now an internationally recognized speaker and relationship expert focused on balancing the yin and yang energies in romantic relationships. He grew up in California, went to UCLA and then played for the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and New York Jets before retiring in 2013. His career was marked by injuries, setbacks, and like many professional athletes, a refusal to give up. But unlike many others, after his career ended, Bret started searching for a new way to channel his energy and eventually shifted his external search for meaning inward. Nowadays, aside from speaking, coaching, and running an aviation company, Bret is using all of the lessons he has learned about ego, masculinity, and how we can help each other with the traumas we all carry, to inform his work with women seeking to transform and receive love.

But as he explains on today's podcast, while he works mainly with women, he thinks the root of the problem in modern relationships lies in men. From the deepest caves to the chilliest cold plunges, Bret has done the work most men simply can't or won't do. He's become an expert in gene keys and a seeker of deeper truths about the nature of human consciousness. Now lest you think he's Superman, rest assured that he still can't get his siblings on board. But he won't give up on that either, and my money's on him. Today we talk about ego, what it is, how the NFL or any really early success can cause it to metastasize, and what it takes to really reinvent yourself. We explore how he got into breath work and the role that fear has played in his life. The growing imbalance in relationships isn't all cause for alarm, according to Bret.

He describes a powerful experience of awakening to how much pain so many women carry, how much fear men hold in silence, and how he wishes he could teach them to simply hold space for each other. My vote is for him to lead a breathwork, self -love, and vulnerability course as a prerequisite for young men joining the NFL. In case this podcast reaches the folks who can make that happen, on behalf of all women on the planet, as well as all the little boys idolizing these athletes: Thank you in advance.

JOIN THE PODCAST MAILING LIST: 
www.TheReleasePodcast.com
LEARN ABOUT BRET:
www.bretlockett.com 

LISTEN ON APPLE:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-release-podcast/id1746133355
#nfl #toxicmasculinity #egodeath #lovecoach #bretlockett #love #loveandrelationshipadvice #relationship #trauma #breathwork #personalgrowth #transformation #podcast

Anna Morgenstern, NYC Matchmaker & Dating Coach

Matchmaking is an industry worth an estimated $1.2 to $1.5 billion globally, with nearly 40% of that market located in the United States. And it’s growing, while reaching a wider audience, both in age and price range. Anna Morgenstern is a high-end matchmaker and dating coach based in New York City. She happened on this career almost by accident, while working in advertising, when she set up not one, or two, but three of her own friends with the people they would eventually marry. She made the jump to matchmaking and eventually launched her own business, gaining a following and clientele nationwide. Nowadays, she’s teaching others how to go into the matchmaking world as well.
On today’s podcast, we talk about matchmaking misconceptions, the roadblocks people create for themselves, and whether one must be healed, to find love. America is sick of swiping, according to surveys, but it might also be allergic to realistic expectations. Anna talks about the toughest clients she has had, the problem with direct feedback, and the main element she feels is missing in modern dating. She was single herself when she became a matchmaker, but she has learned a lot along the way. And she’s sharing it today, along with her advice on the one core trait she would control for, above all else, when trying to help people find their true partner. If it were only that simple…well then she and all the other matchmakers would be out of a job. And we don’t think that’s happening any time soon.

Pamela Prickett, Author of ”The Unclaimed: Abandonment And Hope In The City Of Angels”

What do we owe one another (as family or as a society)...in death?

Pamela Prickett is the coauthor (along with Stefan Timmermans) of the book The Unclaimed; Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels. An associate professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, Pamela has studied journalism and media at Boston University and at the London School of Economics, and earned her PhD from UCLA.
Her research into urban inequality, community-building, death/dying & religion led the Houston native to a mosque in Los Angeles where she witnessed a community of non-blood related people fight for the right to bury a member who died with nobody to legally claim her. The experience led Pamela to unearth the growing phenomenon of Americans, up to 150,000 of whom are going unclaimed after their deaths each year. She and her coauthor dug in to the processes, the people, the policies and the social structures that are responsible, and today we’re talking about what she learned.
We examine how different cities and countries handle their unclaimed dead, why those left behind often have a lot to say, and why complete strangers are now routinely showing up to mass burial ceremonies nationwide to mourn many of the unclaimed who they never knew. We look at which portion of the population has the highest risk of going unclaimed, and why the stories of the four people she presents in the book hit so close to home.
The Unclaimed can inspire readers to elevate our real personal connections to the top of our priorities, where they deserve to be. Our cult of independence is killing us, perhaps more slowly than we even realize. How does it matter if we go unclaimed? Is it about religion? Obligation? The fabric of a functioning society? What do we owe each other? Pamela opens up about her own estrangement from her father, and how she has determined, no matter what…that if called upon one day, no matter how much time may have passed…she says she will, claim him.

JOIN THE MAILING LIST: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/QfcGHMm/thereleasepodcast
About Pamela: https://www.pamelaprickett.com/
About The Release Podcast: https://thereleasepodcast.com/
#unclaimed #unclaimedbodies #pamelaprickett #familytrauma #familyrelationships #familybonds #book #author

Jennie Marie, Empathic Psychic AKA TLC’s Mama Medium

Is psychic ability hereditary, and can meditation make it stronger? 
 

Jennie Marie is a fourth-generation psychic, an empathic medium, and was the star of TLC’s hit show, Mama Medium. Even in a family with four generations of psychics, she says these gifts were still considered somewhat taboo. It wasn’t until her late twenties, after a career as a hairstylist and a realtor that Jennie was finally forced to lean in to her intuition. The good Catholic girl who would never consider divorce found herself asking God to show her a path out of the toxic first marriage which bore her first two children. She meditated and researched and tested her gift for years, before finally admitting that it was real. Despite all the dead people who started showing up that only she could see, bearing messages they wanted her to share. Sadly, years after both Jennie and her first husband had remarried, he took his own life. But as she tells it, he never did stop coparenting with her. She just had to set some healthy boundaries he’s required to honor when bringing her messages regarding their now teenage boys, from beyond the grave.


On today’s podcast, we talk about how she thinks earlier generations of the family controlled their knowing, and why at first they encouraged her not to tap into it. We explore her relationship with her parents and grandparents, and how divorcing them felt like a necessary life lesson; one that shifted her psychic abilities into overdrive.


We discuss why people are so afraid of psychics, and whether it even matters to her when she is discounted. Jennie has worked with law enforcement, counseled the bereaved, and led workshops on building your own awareness. She says that psychic ability is hereditary, not unlike diabetes. But that’s not the only thing she got from her mother, with whom Jennie now has not spoken in ten years. Jennie never did get to have the mother-daughter relationship she wanted, but she feels that she knows why. And after all is said and done despite their estrangement, Jennie says the door for her mother is not closed. All she hopes for her mom either way, much like for all other souls on the planet…is that she can heal.


JOIN THE MAILING LIST: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/QfcGHMm/thereleasepodcast
About Jennie: https://jenniethemedium.com/
The Release Podcast: https://thereleasepodcast.com/
Host Poonam Sharma: https://poonam.info/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/thereleasewithpoonam/
#mamamedium #psychic #medium

Dr. Gabrielle Pelicci, Author of All This Healing Is Killing Me

“Dr. Gabby” (Gabrielle Pelicci, Ph.D.) is a TED speaker, a professor, an expert on Global Wellness & Psychedelics, and the bestselling author of the memoir, ALL THIS HEALING IS KILLING ME. With over 3000 hours of training in Yoga, Bodywork, Meditation, Mind-Body Medicine, Energy Healing, Herbalism and Health Coaching, she guides people and groups towards wholeness using writing as medicine.
Her work was rooted in a traumatic childhood that included growing up in a home with sever domestic violence, and a lifetime of keeping it largely to herself. As she writes in her memoir, she was only three years old the first time she saw her father hit her mother, seven when he tried to kill her, and eight, the year her parents divorced. Her mother never quite recovered, and Gaby spent a lifetime outrunning the trauma, through a modeling career, various failed relationships, and a whole lot of academic success, which didn’t really soothe what ailed her at all. She studied at Columbia and did a doctorate in Transformative Studies. Her journey is detailed in her memoir, including how she found psychedelic plant medicine, which she says not only reset her nervous system, but on many levels, also changed her life.
On today’s podcast we talk about the history of plant medicine, both traditional and psychedelic, the first war on drugs way back in the middle ages, and what’s been lost as we’ve cut traditional healing practices out of our lives. We explore the Stoned Ape Theory, discuss Steve Jobs’ first LSD trip, and why so many people think they can out-achieve their traumas. We look at all of the ways that we numb ourselves to survive, which works at first, until it doesn’t, and we find ourselves at a loss to access the vulnerability that is required to heal. Dr. Gabby’s father’s violence may have muted her and it may have helped shaped her, but it never did break her. After years of searching she was able to hold both her father and mother accountable for their choices during her childhood, even after their deaths. But the best part is that she found herself able to forgive herself for the things that she needed to. And even though for a while there all that healing really was killing her…nowadays she feels like it’s all blue skies ahead.
About Gabrielle: https://www.gabriellepelicci.com/
The Release Podcast: 

https://thereleasepodcast.com/
Host Poonam Sharma: https://poonam.info/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereleasewithpoonam/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheReleasePodcastWithPoonam

Mailing List: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/QfcGHMm/thereleasepodcast
SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Carrie Bobb, The Survivor And Namesake Of Carrie’s Law

Is bravery a muscle? Can fighting the system that protects your attackers, help a rape survivor to heal?

Carrie Bobb is a mom, a wife, an entrepreneur, and a real estate industry leader, who also happens to be the survivor behind Carrie’s Law. She was blazing trails all along, starting with the real estate world where she handled nearly 2 billion dollars worth of sales volume and was a rising star at a major real estate company. Then at a conference in 2018, she was drugged and raped by a man at her own company, and was not only shocked when the details came in to focus, but horrified and traumatized all over again to learn that her employment contract required confidentiality and mandatory arbitration in cases of physical sexual assault. So she, like many, was forced into a confidential arbitration process with the company, which left her silenced. But not for long.
On today’s podcast we talk about the bipartisan bill she introduced to Congress, lobbied for, and ultimately got passed in 2022, with the help of the many good people she found along the way. The passage of Carrie’s Law outlawed mandatory arbitration clauses which existed in as many as 60 million employment contracts across the country.
We examine the courage it takes to go public with something like this, how past regrets can inspire us towards action, and the moment when her faith finally convinced her to take up the fight, because someone had to. We talk about healing, and rage, and self-censorship…and how she explained it all to her supportive husband. The way that she summarized it to her children was this: Mama was heading to Washington to fight some bullies.
And, mama won.
About Carrie’s Law: https://lesko.house.gov/2021/5/lesko-introduces-bipartisan-carrie-s-law-to-end-mandatory-arbitration-in-instances-of-physical-sexual-assault
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carriebobb/
The Release Podcast: 
https://thereleasepodcast.com/
Host Poonam Sharma: https://poonam.info/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereleasewithpoonam/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheReleasePodcastWithPoonam

Jodi Wellman, Author of You Only Die Once

Is cultivating an active awareness of death the only surefire way to make the most of our lives?

Poonam sits down with Jodi Wellman, a TED speaker, coach, and thought leader on well-being and living lives worth living. A former corporate executive who executed a midlife shift, Jodi earned her Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she is now an instructor in the Master’s program and a trainer in the world-renowned Penn Resilience Program. Jodi’s latest book, YOU ONLY DIE ONCE, is a battle call, to wake us up to the concept of 'memento mori' (the beautiful awareness of the fact that we will die) which should help us feel more alive. After her own mother’s early death, she awoke to that reality herself, finally changing her own trajectory from passive to astonishingly alive in things big and small, going from corporate life to the one she leads now. In this episode, we talk about Terror Management Theory, the science of death anxiety, how we're tranquilizing ourselves out of actually feeling alive, the Gross National Happiness Levels in Bhutan, and the power of counting how many Mondays we each have left on the planet. It's fewer than you think. And even those are not guaranteed.
Learn more about Jodi Wellman:
https://fourthousandmondays.com/
https://www.instagram.com/fourthousandmondays/
Learn more about The Release Podcast and our host, Poonam Sharma: 
Web: https://thereleasepodcast.com/, https://poonam.info/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereleasewithpoonam/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheReleasePodcastWithPoonam

Dr. Craig Malkin, the Author of Rethinking Narcissism

Is it possible to narcissist-proof (and narcissism-proof) our children?

Poonam sits down with Dr. Craig Malkin, a Harvard Medical School lecturer, the author of the internationally acclaimed book, ‘Rethinking Narcissism’ and co-author of the NYT bestseller ‘The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.' Dr. Malkin is a clinical psychologist with three decades of experience in psychotherapy, as well as the personal experience of growing up with a mother who suffered from narcissism. He’s been quoted in most major news sources and across the internet on how narcissism affects people, relationships, and families.

On today’s episode we talk about whether it is even possible, to narcissist-proof, and narcissism-proof — our children. We look at how his mom’s behavior affected his worldview, and whether he could transfer his distilled empathy into a career as an FBI hostage negotiator (you know, if this Harvard Medical school thing didn’t pan out). We discuss the spectrum that goes from healthy narcissism and confidence to unhealthy narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and what percent of people fall into each bucket. We explore whether social media, the fracturing of the extended family, or our fame-focused culture are to blame for the rise in narcissism in general.
In the context of how best to parent our children away from becoming extreme narcissists, and also how best to protect them from the narcissists in their world…we explore gaslighting, primary adaptive anger, and the impact of childhood neglect. Teaching our children how to recognize narcissistic behavior, and set boundaries around it, isn’t as hard as it sounds. But we’ve got to start by looking at ourselves.
Learn more about Dr. Craig Malkin:
https://www.drcraigmalkin.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@CraigMalkin
Learn more about The Release Podcast and our host, Poonam Sharma: 
Web: https://thereleasepodcast.com/, https://poonam.info/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereleasewithpoonam/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheReleasePodcastWithPoonam

Dr. Amanda Hanson aka ”The Midlife Muse”

Is there a future for modern marriage in America, and if so then how should it look?

Poonam sits down with Dr. Amanda Hanson, also known as "The Midlife Muse," Amanda is an author, speaker and psychologist whose transformative approach to redefining the paradigm of womanhood has reached millions of women around the world. Her insights span across aging, healing and relationships.
On today's episode, we talk about her internal setting for abundance despite a childhood lacking in material things. We discuss how her parents' divorce and her father’s abandonment shaped her worldview and in part led her towards psychology, and how she was able to make the five days they shared together before his death seem like a lifetime, and feel like it was enough.
We talk about self-love, gaslighting, how the patriarchy hurts everyone and why she feels called to publish her upcoming book (not yet released)…which is going to ruffle more than a few feathers.
At one point, we imagine together a world where I’ve convinced her to run for president with me as her VP, and dream up all of the emotionally meaningful legislation we could pass together. Finally, we delve deep into the balance between the divine feminine & masculine, how communication and relationship standards are changing…and what all of this means for the future of marriage in America. If there’s a future at all. We’re optimistic.
Learn more about Dr. Amanda Hanson:
https://www.amandahanson.com/
https://www.instagram.com/midlife.muse/
Learn more about The Release Podcast and our host, Poonam Sharma: 
Web: https://thereleasepodcast.com/, https://poonam.info/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereleasewithpoonam/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheReleasePodcastWithPoonam