Arash's World Podcast

In this episode, I have the pleasure of talking to author, poet, professor, and dedicated walker Ken Wilson about his book, Walking Well: Trails, Paths, Pilgrimages. We start with a simple question why walk? and follow it from his childhood rambles and daily commute through Regina’s Wascana Centre to the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage that made walking an even bigger part of his life.

Ken explains that walking can be medi...

In this episode of Arash’s World, I have the pleasure of speaking with birth-injury attorney, bestselling author of A Parent’s Guide to a Safer Childbirth, and host of “The Childbirth Attorney Podcast” Gina Mundy who draws on more than two decades of reviewing childbirth cases to explain how families can prepare for a safer delivery.

Gina highlights several practical considerations: approaching Pitocin induc...

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Author and Poet Robin Blackburn McBride about her book River of Dreams, a character-driven blend of historical, metaphysical, and women’s fiction. The novel follows Avery Conlon from a mysterious childhood experience in Toronto’s Don River to her work as a nurse in a 1920s mental hospital, where she uses heightened intuition to help women return home.

Robin exp...

In this episode of Arash’s World, I have the pleasure of speaking with author and veteran criminal defence attorney Frank Abrams about his forthcoming book, The Slander of Billy the Kid and the Abrams Tintypes. Frank recounts how a group of five tintype photographs purchased at a flea market led him to believe that one image depicts Billy the Kid alongside Pat Garrett and other figures associated with the Lincoln County War. ...

In this episode of Arash’s World, I have the pleasure of speaking with Michel Pouliot, Executive Director of Canadian Parents for French, BC & Yukon Branch on the gradual decline in French-language enrolment across British Columbia. Although demand remains strong, he explains that French Immersion and Core French programs face limited classroom capacity, enrolment caps, and uneven support from school districts.

We examine...

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Darlene Madott who describes herself with distinct precision: “a writer” and “a reluctant lawyer who had to find a way of being in the world.”

In this wide-ranging conversation, Darlene talks about her latest book, Closing Ceremonies and Dying Times, a paired collection that explores heartbreak, grief, death, and love with a rare blend of tenderness...

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Dr. Ron Stotts, a transformational guide, bestselling author, and executive coach about mindfulness, inner transformation, and the process of creating an inspired life. Ron explains that his work is less about solving isolated problems and more about helping high-performing leaders expand their internal capacity, become more self-aware, and lead with clarity under pressure...

In this powerful and inspiring episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with rapper, writer, and filmmaker T Savage about her upcoming biopic, Thru the Eyes of the Hustler’s Daughter, a deeply personal film rooted in her Baltimore upbringing, childhood trauma, mental health journey, and determination to transform pain into purpose. Joined by her mother, Shontel Greene, and actor/former NFL player Terrance West, T Savage...

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Les Carroll, Air Force and Air National Guard veteran, documentary filmmaker, author as well as novelist. Les reflects on his 28-year military career, his deployments to Afghanistan, and his powerful and humbling experience of serving at the Air Force Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base.

We also discuss his documentary Bringing the Fallen Home, his autobiographical book This ...

I have the great pleasure of speaking with filmmaker Casey Carter about his award-winning documentary “To Use a Mountain.” The film begins with the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, when the U.S. government searched for a permanent deep geological repository for nuclear waste, turning six rural communities into candidates for a “competition” none of them wanted to win.

Casey explains how the documentary tr...

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with author and lecturer Perry Atwal about his book Wisdom for Life: Timeless Insights for Cultivating Joy and Growing Your World. We explore the difference between information and wisdom, the importance of meaning over money, and how joy grows through health, relationships, learning, and practical honest self-reflection.

Perry argues that while knowledge is everywhere, wisdom ...

Dr. Tiffanie Tate joins me here on Arash’s World as a true “multi-hyphenate” i.e. physician, author, playwright, veteran officer of the US Navy, ordained minister, soccer Mom referee, radio personality, and much more to discuss her children’s book Perfectly Perfect and the deeper message behind it. At the heart of our conversation is a powerful idea: children do not have to earn their worth. Dr. Tiffanie exp...

What happens when a successful engineer with patents, promotions, and all the outward signs of achievement realizes he’s still deeply unhappy? In this episode, licensed experiential therapist, contemplative teacher, and founder of Unbreakable Inc., Joe DeNicholas, shares the powerful story of how a panic-inducing moment in the tech world became the catalyst for a complete transformation. His journey from electrical engineerin...

Bestselling author and former Canadian Army reserve medic Brent van Staalduinen joins me here on Arash’s World to discuss The Peace Thieves, his novel about a peacekeeping mission in Croatia and the personal fallout that follows. He explains the book’s dual narrative between Francis, a reserve medic deployed in 1993, and Viva, the daughter he never knew and how that structure helps reveal the gap between first impressio...

In this episode of Arash's World Podcast, I have the great pleasure of speaking with the amazing Leslie Lee Sanders regarding the personal and cultural forces that inspired her memoir, Ready to Listen?: A Spiritual Self-Help Memoir.

Leslie reflects on finding her voice as a Black woman in publishing, moving beyond silence and people-pleasing, and using spirituality as a path toward empowerment and self-discovery. Moreover, we explo...

In this episode of Arash’s World, I have the pleasure of speaking with Psychiatrist and Relationship Expert Dr. Laura Dabney and author of “I Need You… Now Go Away!: Reclaiming Your Life When Someone You Love Has a Personality Disorder” where she reframes personality disorders not as “types of people,” but as a core emotional conflict: an almost phobic push–pull between closeness and dista...

In this episode of Arash’s World, I have the pleasure of speaking with Ellis Scott, a debut novelist of sharing his unconventional path to publication, which includes beginning his writing career at 55 after early retirement due to illness following decades spent delivering humanitarian aid in conflict zones. Now 62, he is the author of Night Terminus, a novel that confronts one of our most devastating and overlooked chapters...

In this episode, I’m joined by Poet Kathryn MacDonald to discuss her hybrid poetry collection The Blue Gate, a book-length lyric poem that moves from love into loss and grief, with its central section of a serendipitous month-long trip to Kenya shortly after her husband’s death.

Kathryn explores recurring motifs of rain and water as bountifulness amid drought, and red-tailed hawks as a metaphor for trust and lifelong lo...

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with University of Alabama Professor and Author of Sitting with Elephants: Lessons in Humility from the African Bush Dr. Ron Dulek who shares how a life devoted to teaching led him to an unexpected second classroom: the African Bush! In fact, he recounts how a desire to “squeeze the juice” out of life pushed him and his wife to buy a remote home bordering Kruger Nat...