“If we imagine fear as this tight fist that says, I’m not going to let go, I need to keep you safe, love comes in as just this warm hug, and it’s like, It’s all right, sweetheart, I’ve got you, you don’t have to hold this burden anymore. And the fear doesn’t want to do this…. It is doing it because it does not believe there is another path for you in order to survive or get your needs met.” – Cory Muscara Cory and Drew Cory Muscara Former monk and down-to-earth spiritual teacher Cory Muscara wraps up Season 12 with a powerful exploration of the lived human experience. Cory is not a graduate of
“It was this conversation between three generations — but I was the only one who could speak. Someone wise told me to recognize the gifts that come with change. That was really a gift. There’s a connection there across generations. And that’s really what Hoffman does.” – Mike Ingrasci Drew and Mike/Hoffman Podcast Studio Hoffman’s Director of Marketing, Mike Ingrasci, sits down with Drew to talk marketing, brand, and his Hoffman experience. The son of Raz and Liza Ingrasci, founders of the Institute, Mike’s experience of Hoffman goes way back. He shares, “I think that I got Hoffman a bit throu
“There was something about the Process that really allowed me to understand that there’s also a lot of healing that comes from pleasure and play and connection, and to really disentangle the parts of me that were so attached to being a sufferer, to being someone who struggled.” – Sara Bissell Rubin Sadie and Sara at the Hoffman Podcast Studio, Santa Sabina Medical Sociologist and Hoffman Process grad, Sara Bissell Rubin, holds a PhD in the neuroscience of pain and is a chronic pain educator. Sara joins Sadie to talk about the physical and emotional experience of pain, the science behind pain,
“It was always in a weird way, I wouldn’t say triggering, but I just didn’t like it. And then by the end, I really did love it. It just felt really heartwarming when different people in the Process, even still, since we all – a lot of us still keep in touch, and they call me Bubba, it makes me smile.” – Julie Shapiro Hoffman grad, Julie Shapiro, found herself at a crossroads. She knew what she wanted to change in herself. Yet, she also felt unable to make that change. There’s change we can make through our choices, and then there’s change that must come from deeper within. The Hoffman Process
“I often feel like the work is kind of a disintegrative work that we’re doing, we’re allowing the patterns and the structures to release, so that there’s sort of nowhere left to go, because there’s nothing left to lose.” – Julia Bodkin Beloved Hoffman Process facilitator and psychotherapist, Julia Bodkin, first took the Process in India in her very early adulthood. After living quite a bit of life, she took it again in Australia. Now, as a trained professional in many healing modalities, Julia facilitates the Process in the U.K. She brings a lifetime of experience, wisdom, and expertise, along
“At the very end, we’re all the same, and we want the same thing, which is we want to feel like we’re worthy of love and belonging.” — Markus Bihler Markus Bihler | Chairman, Hoffman South Africa The Chairman of Hoffman Institute South Africa, Markus Bihler, is a different person than he was before taking the Hoffman Process. One beautiful outcome of his Process was the journey he made from his head to his heart. Markus spent 35-plus years of his life as a “medical anomaly,” namely, “as somebody who had a head but no body.” He lived in his intellect. During the week of his Process, Markus crie
“Wisdom is a little bit more than just knowledge or experience; it’s a felt sense of truth and what reality is, and it’s a very tricky thing, because no one really has the final say on some of these things.” – Tyson Fok When philosopher, designer, innovative creator, and Hoffman Process grad, Tyson Fok, tells his story, he weaves together his life experiences with his joyful pursuit of wisdom, an open sense of wonder, and a deeper quest for understanding. In doing so, he reveals a thoughtful retelling of a dynamic life path. There are many powerful threads to this conversation with Tyson and S
“It’s not just a job. It’s really a mission, a purpose to be part of something that really does contribute to the rest of the world. It’s healing for people. It’s love for people. It’s Spirit for people.” – Robin Linde Today’s episode is an exciting two-for-one. Robin Linde, Senior Director of Operations – Infrastructure, joins Drew for a video walkabout of Santa Sabina, Hoffman’s new retreat site. A ’97 Hoffman grad, Robin also sits down with Drew for a conversation about her relationship to the Process and to Hoffman. Robin and Drew After completing her Process, Robin worked for Hoffman for
“I feel like we are our own greatest science experiment.” – Jake Daigle As Hoffman’s Facility and Land Manager, Jake Daigle weaves his love and care for the land with his love and care for the Hoffman Process. He found an intimacy with the land and wildlife at the IONS site in Petaluma when he and his wife, Christine, were caretakers there for many years. Now, as we transition to Santa Sabina, Jake looks back on his time at the Hoffman Retreat Site in Petaluma, working for Hoffman and supporting the students who have transformed there over the years. There is something beautiful and yet unders
“You know, there’s that old saying, anywhere you go, there you are. The Hoffman Process brings that magic with it wherever it goes.” – Perry Dorsey Jr. Today’s guest is Perry Dorsey Jr., Hoffman Institute’s retreat site manager and a beautiful human being. As we transition from Petaluma Retreat Center to our new Santa Sabina Retreat Center, we invited Perry to share his wisdom with you. He tells the story of how the land nurtured him during his Process. The land continued to do so as he stepped into his important role at Hoffman. Perry’s relationship with the land at our site in Petaluma has b
How can I just be in the sensing of my life and the experiences that I have, rather than having to wrestle and fight those?” – Cindy Murray We are thrilled to have beloved Hoffman teacher and coach, Cindy Murray, as our guest today. Cindy responds to Drew’s question – Why the Process? – sharing a few reasons. Cindy had been very successful in her career as a psychotherapist and educator. After suffering a traumatic brain injury, Cindy was shaken. She’d relied heavily on her intellect in her career for success. How would she move forward now with this brain injury? Cindy also found herself “in
“The relationship I have with my girls now is just remarkable. It’s remarkable. I’m so blessed.” – Steve Cieciuch Husband, father, avid skier, and fly-fisher, Steve Cieciuch is living, in his words, a remarkable life. Steve begins his story recounting the 2004 horrific avalanche in British Columbia that he survived, but which took the life of his skiing partner and friend. Steve has lost five friends. Concurrently, Steve and his wife were trying to start a family. Over the years, they experienced five miscarriages. Eventually, they gave birth to two beautiful daughters. In 2019, fifteen years
“I wanted to live my very best life. I wanted to know who I really am.” – Jan Docherty Do you ever wonder who you really are? Today’s guest, Jan Docherty, did. She wanted to know who she really is and what she could accomplish living as her true self. Jan came to the Hoffman Process to find the answers to these questions. She left knowing herself and loving herself, too. Jan joined Sadie for this forthright conversation about self-knowledge, passion, and healing. Jan is passionate about life. Adopted early on, life was unconventional in many ways. Now, as she looks ahead to her later years (sh
“I’ve just started to tap into that, trusting a little bit faster over time. Because I see that when I make these decisions that feel aligned with what I want, and I believe is right for me, that on the other side, I haven’t regretted one of those decisions.” Allison Kahler Allison Kahler attended the Hoffman Process in 2024 after experiencing multiple big life changes. The Process helped her integrate these changes. One year later, Allison returned for the graduate Q2 in search of the catalyst that would move her forward into her new life. Before coming to the Process, Allison, who grew up in
“It’s huge to find out that who you are is really not who you’re afraid you are, and not all the patterns you’ve been acting out.” – Andy Milberg Andy Milberg Beloved Hoffman teacher, Andy Milberg, has been teaching the Process since August 1991. Bob Hoffman, founder of the Hoffman Process, trained Andy to become a teacher. One thing Andy is known for is his articulate, nuanced ability to explain the foundational theory of the Process – Negative Love. Drew and Andy dive deep into the Negative Love Syndrome and how it plays out in our lives. Showing how nuanced this syndrome is, he shares that
“I have all these learned behaviors, and … was seeing them play out in my own family, with my own children, and thinking about the generational transference of hurt and wounds and wanting to do what I could to minimize that.” – Carrie Levine Certified nurse-midwife and functional medicine practitioner Carrie Levine has had a lifelong interest in deep exploration. She completed the Hoffman Process in 2024, having learned about patterns years earlier from reading Bob Hoffman’s book, No One Is to Blame. She truly understood Bob Hoffman’s realization that “No one is to blame.” Self-described as we
“Oddly enough, it’s the vulnerability that connects us. It’s not the perfect; yeah, that’s like Teflon.” – Mike Depatie Mike Depatie Mike Depatie, Founding Partner of KHP Capital Partners, attended the Hoffman Process in 2005. At the Process, Mike looked around the room and felt like he didn’t belong. He wasn’t even sure it was right for him because he felt he had a kind of Leave-it-to-Beaver childhood. Mike stayed through that discomfort and came to understand that even though he felt he had nothing in common with those he was with, he had come to love them. He realized that everyone is lovab
“Welcome your enemy, welcome the darkness. Let everybody come and sit with you at the table. Welcome with open arms, with love, with light. …That is when everything dissolves, and you are free.” – Tamsyn Strydom Before discovering the Hoffman Process, Tamsyn Strydom shares that her life had “quietly begun to shut down.” She felt overwhelmed, facing unexplained health challenges and struggling to get out of bed after relocating to a new country. Coming to the Process with a Hoffman scholarship and a quiet, desperate urgency to heal, Tamsyn felt hope. She knew that doing the Process would mark a
“I used to believe that I needed to transcend being human to be enough, and now I see that being human is the sacred experience.” – Alyssia Sheikh Beloved Hoffman Process teacher and coach, Alyssia Sheikh, is our guest today. When she did the Process eight years ago, Alyssia’s sense of self, her sense of ‘me,’ changed dramatically from her time there. Out of this new sense of self, profound change and transformation came to both Alyssia and her post-Process life. Now, with a master’s degree in Mindfulness Studies, she is also a certified life coach, speaker, and trauma-sensitive meditation tea
“Trust in your inner knowing. Absolutely. And know that your angels do have your back.” – Nicole Olivier photo by Jonathan Condit Screenwriter and Hoffman Process graduate Nicole Olivier has a profound ancestral history. As a daughter of families active in France and Norway’s WWII Resistance, she grew up hearing family stories of moral courage and being of service. Nicole has woven these ancestral stories into her life’s work and art. Nicole is mindful of her ancestral patterns and epigenetics; how trauma was passed down and lives inside of her. During her childhood, she witnessed what was goi
“Just like I can choose to stop making that line on that canvas, I have choice to stop making that pattern in life.” – Veta McFall Professional artist and Hoffman Process graduate Veta McFall felt a growing call for change within as she approached her 40th birthday. Until then, she’d been a commissioned portrait painter of people and animals. This was a call for deeper creativity. It started a mysterious process as she began to paint with her hands and watch the abstract art appear without any expectations. Veta had no idea what the paintings would eventually become. These new abstract paintin
“By doing this work, we know there’s something powerful about how the human heart opens in the presence of other open-hearted humans.” – Matt Brannagan, CEO, Hoffman Institute Foundation Photo by Sam Comen We open season 12 of The Hoffman Podcast with Matt Brannagan, Hoffman Process teacher and Hoffman Institute’s new CEO. In conversation with Drew, Matt reflects on this moment of transition and the thoughtful leadership handoff shaped by Raz and Liza Ingrasci. Their generosity, wisdom, and long-term vision laid the foundation for what Matt terms “Hoffman 3.0.” It’s an evolution rooted in cont
“In the Process, I came to realize … how nature in my own life had been such a healing force.” – James Bonilla We wrap up season 11 with New York-born Puerto Rican writer and retired professor emeritus, James Bonilla. James’s story is filled with transformation, healing, and wisdom. Born with congenital cataracts, at the age of nine, his right eye was injured in school by a fellow student’s actions. For over ten years, James was blind. At the age of 19, doctors removed the cataracts (although the childhood injury remained). On his way home from the hospital, he remembers seeing the world in Te
“So much of what I was trying to address was so buried deep within me. It was like scratching an impossible itch, and then, finally, I got to Hoffman, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I can reach the spot. Wow.” – Emma Swift Singer-songwriter Emma Swift sits down with Sadie to talk about her time at the Hoffman Process, a time she says was “utterly magical.” Emma’s story incorporates many lands. Her homeland is Australia. Her new home is Nashville, Tennessee. The rolling hills of Northern California and White Sulphur Springs are where Emma did her Process. And, then, the land within Emma – a deep i
Brian James Daly, somatic healer, men’s team leader, and addiction coach, shares his Process journey and his following journey of embodiment. Embodiment is where it’s at for Brian. He calls it the ground game because it took him deep into himself to see those parts of himself that he’d been carrying hidden for so long. And once seen, they can be integrated and somatically expressed. Brian shares that where he came from, “everything looked really good on the outside.” Often, it is hard to comprehend that people from a good-looking life can have traumatic experiences. When he arrived at the Proc
