Free Your Inner Guru

Free Your Inner Guru

Welcome to Free Your Inner Guru, the podcast for discerning seekers, with all the community and none of the cult. Hosted by Sedona “sweat lodge” survivor Laura Tucker, Free Your Inner Guru® is known for big conversations about the state of the self help industry, cult dynamics and indoctrination, self growth, creativity and spirituality. Laura and guests share stories and insights from their journey so we can all learn how to connect to our inner wisdom in a healthy and socially conscious way.

Episodes

Psychedelics, Politics and Predators with Kathleen Oh

March 28, 2022
Prior to 2020, Kathleen Oh believed anti-vaccination was the best way she could protect her children. In this compelling conversation, Kathleen shares how a courageous and empathetic friend led her to understand the deep-seated racism and white privilege underlying her beliefs. Kathleen shares how stepping away from her former community put her on a path of healing and awareness of cult dynamics in her midst. In this first e...
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Sean Tucker: The Meaning in the Making

December 16, 2021 • 71 mins
Sean Tucker is a photographer, filmmaker and writer who inspires fellow creatives through his popular YouTube channel and new book “The Meaning in the Making,” in which he shares his philosophy for the creative life. Before Sean became a photographer, he studied theology and worked as a Baptist priest in South Africa. You’re going to hear about his journey into and out of the priesthood, then into photography, why he started his...
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A Little Bit Culty with Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames

November 29, 2021 • 60 mins
Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames are subjects of HBO's documentary series The Vow, a story of indoctrination and exposing the NXIVM cult, and hosts of the podcast A Little Bit Culty. I am delighted to have Sarah and Nippy join me for a "part 2" conversation that begins on A Little Bit Culty today! One of my goals is that both of our extreme experiences be relatable to new age and self help consumers.  Take away the branding an...
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Cycles of Abuse at Home, Work, and that Group You’re In with Shulamit ber Levtov

November 12, 2021 • 62 mins
We welcome back Shulamit ber Levtov, the Entrepreneur's Therapist for a deep dive into individual, organizational, and systemic abuse. Shulamit is a resilience and mindset consultant who uses her background as a trauma therapist to help women identifying entrepreneurs manage their mindset and pilot their emotions so they can overcome the anxiety and isolation of running a business. You may remember Shulamit from our conversa...
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Culty Concerns About Coaching with Jenny and Mark

October 28, 2021 • 76 mins
Personal experience surviving spiritual and therapeutic abuse led Jenny Cornbleet and Mark Futterman to study cult dynamics and undue influence with a variety of experts in the field. In the process, they recognized that cult dynamics run rampant in our society and are particularly prevalent in the self-help and coaching industries. Jenny and Mark now bring an anti-cult approach to all their work, with a knowledge that breaki...
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Spot the Red Flags with Steve McCready

October 13, 2021
It's a podcast swap! Steve McCready is our guest host, and I'm at the guest microphone. Steve McCready is the host of The Sensitive Rebel podcast. He is here to interview me about life before, since, and lessons learned from my involvement in the self help industry and my involvement in “that sweat lodge.” Over on the Sensitive Rebel, you will find an episode called Laura Tucker Helps Steve Free His Inner Guru. Steve McCready...
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#igotout: Every Cult Survivor’s Story Makes a Difference

September 30, 2021 • 72 mins
#igotout is a hashtag, website and movement to make abuses of power unacceptable in all kinds of groups, not just cults. Gerette Buglion and Lisa are two of the founders of #igotout. They believe now is the time for survivors of cult dynamics to share their stories with unflinching honesty. Every story matters, and the ripple effect of speaking up can make a difference. Survivors of cultic abuse can raise awareness of undue i...
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Punching Back at Nine Perfect Strangers

September 9, 2021 • 42 mins
Host Laura Tucker is a survivor of the fatal 2009 sweat lodge at a self help retreat in Sedona in 2009. Laura shares her response to the line five minutes in to the first episode of Nine Perfect Strangers: "Remember those people who died in that sweat lodge? They thought they were being enlightened, but in reality they were being cooked." This episode includes the article Nine Perfect Strangers Made Me a Punch Line and ...
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Regina Louise: I Dream in Equality

August 13, 2021 • 60 mins
You are going to love this conversation with Regina Louise, author of Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self Love. Regina Louise is a remarkable human being who engages in this conversation with grace, intelligence, empathy and generosity. Before Regina wrote her latest book Permission Granted, she authored two bestselling memoirs: Somebody's Someone and Someone Has Led This Child...
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Wolf Terry: The Yoga and Wellness Worlds are Sick

July 29, 2021 • 65 mins
Wolf Terry joins Laura Tucker for a conversation about her controversial Yoga Journal article “Getting Vaxxed Was My Act of Ahimsa.” Wolf Terry is a contributing writer for Yoga Journal. She left teaching yoga at the beginning of the pandemic after years of working at every level of the $88 billion industry in order to become a full-time writer. In 2018 Wolf lost her younger brother and best friend to suicide, mere months aft...
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Cult Dynamics and Abusive Intimate Relationships with Shulamit Ber Levtov

July 14, 2021 • 67 mins
Shulamit Ber Levtov joins Laura for a conversation about the parallels between cult dynamics and abusive intimate relationships, the intersection of conspiracy theory and the self help industry, and dealing with shit therapists. Shulamit Ber Levtov is a resilience and mindset consultant who uses her background as a trauma therapist to help woman-identifying entrepreneurs manage their mindset and pilot their emotions so they can ...
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Dr Janja Lalich: When Self Help Turns Cult

June 16, 2021 • 56 mins
Dr Janja Lalich joins Laura for a dive deep into the intersection of self help and cults. Full show notes with links to everything mentioned at https://freeyourinnerguru.com/janja-lalich/ Janja is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in cults and extremist groups, with a particular focus on charismatic relationships, political and other social movements, ideology and social control, and issues of gender and sexuality. ...
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AdaPia D’Errico: Productive Intuition

June 1, 2021 • 74 mins
AdaPia D'Errico is a global visionary leader, entrepreneur, investor, powerful keynote speaker, and author of Productive Intuition: Connecting to the Subtle. AdaPia D'Errico has co-founded businesses, launched brands, and re-defined industries. She is a respected fintech entrepreneur and real estate investment executive known for her role in launching the estate crowdfunding industry into the mainstream. Challenge is the te...
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Jonny Barefoot: Open for Inspiration

May 20, 2021 • 70 mins
Jonny Barefoot is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, childrens' music teacher from Toronto, living in Japan. Jonny's passion is to hear the music in every aspect of his life. Jonny and I know each other from when we were teenagers. I've always been curious about his experience in Japan, and invited him on the podcast after we reconnected over social media. In this wide ranging conversation, Jonny catches us up on life...
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Paria Hassouri: A Mother Transformed by her Daughter’s Gender Transition

May 6, 2021 • 54 mins
Paria Hassouri is an Iranian American mother of three, pediatrician, and transgender rights activist. Paria Hassouri's memoir Found in Transition: A Mother's Evolution During Her Child's Gender Change begins in 2017, when she first learns that her fourteen year old is having gender dysphoria, and concludes in 2018 when her daughter Ava legally changed her name and gender. In this compelling conversation, Paria Hassouri open...
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Suzanne Wylde: The Art of Coming Home

April 21, 2021 • 91 mins
Suzanne Wylde is the author of The Art of Coming Home - Common sense self-development exercises to educate, inspire, and empower you. Suzanne is an acupuncturist, holistic coach, and alternative therapist. She and I met online a number of months ago. Her pragmatic straightforward approach led to an invitation to come on Free Your Inner Guru for a deep dive. We get into her varied experience and education, and the conversatio...
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Kim Chestney: Radical Intuition for Everyday People

March 31, 2021 • 77 mins
Kim Chestney is a globally recognized author and innovation leader. Her new book is Radical Intuition - A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power. I know you're going to love this conversation with Kim Chestney! Radical Intuition introduces four archetypes of intuition - the Healer, Sage, Visionary, and Mystic - and includes self assessments and quizzes to help us understand our own natural intuition affinities. We ge...
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Christine Arylo: Overwhelmed and Over It

March 17, 2021 • 85 mins
Christine Arylo is a transformational leadership advisor, teacher, speaker and three-time best selling author. Christine is recognized worldwide for her work helping women to make shift happen - in the lives they lead, the work they do, and the world they wish to create. In her most recent book Overwhelmed and Over It, Christine advocates for us to return to feminine wisdom to get out from under the overculture of overwhelm ...
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The Meaning of Life with Nathanael Garrett Novosel

January 15, 2021 • 105 mins
Nathanael Garrett Novosel wants to help you systematically create a life that is meaningful to you. In his career as a professional researcher and advisor, Nathanael has researched psychology, evolutionary biology, organizational best practices, leadership decision making, business, technology, finance, and philosophy to understand how the world as we know it works and why. In his book The Meaning of Life: A Guide To Finding ...
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A Quiet Christmas and the Purple Toilet

December 25, 2020 • 16 mins
A story about my first quiet Christmas resonates with Christmas 2020. May your focus this holiday season bring you ease and grace. Laura Original video on Instagram Original blog on lauratucker.com
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