How Humans Work Podcast with Jef Szi

09/12/2023

Beyond grateful to have interviewed one of my intellectual heroes on the pod (link in bio) is a fascinating guy who can talk at length on brains, primates, and behavior. With his latest book , we can now add and to the mix. All these things say something really interesting about . Namely that it is a myth generated by savvy primates like ourselves. To get a deep grasp what biological determinism does to our usual attributions of praise and blame, you must dive into this show!

11/08/2023

Latest (amazing) Drop 🎙️with Dameian Hartfield is out! 🌿🪶 🐈‍⬛ (link in bio)
In this deeply honest conversation, Dameian recounts some of the major moments in his life. As he does, he acts as an ambassador for the greater good, sharing the realities of what comes with growing up in an at-risk community like the Nickerson Gardens Housing Projects in the Watts, California. Dameian takes us deep into the key dilemmas in his upbringing, community, and social positions. Along the way, we get a feel for the values and lessons Dameian was given and earned in his life.

In this powerful, authentic episode, Dameian offers us a sincere portrait of his wisdom, blessings, and challenges. Notably among them is his undeniably accurate words of what being a black man in the American story is like. You are invited to listen in to this podcast because it will give your mind and heart much to sit with!

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Dameian Hartfield primarily grew up in Nickerson Gardens housing projects in Los Angeles, California. He also spent part of his youth in Pomona, CA. Currently, Dameian spends his time growing his company, 1 Tamu Essentials, with his wife Dana, and spending time with his kids and grandkids. Mr. Hartfield has also spent a good deal of time mentoring at-risk youth and being a supporter and advocate for the Nickerson Gardens community. Dameian comes to the mentoring and community work out of a past involvement with a neighborhood gang and a decade of time spent in the penal system as a result. Often he finds himself in the role as cultural ambassador, bridging typically divided social silos with gift of being a powerful communicator. ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

10/06/2023

New drop 🎤 (link in bio) on Stress and the Microbiome…few are better equipped to take us into the fascinating world of the gut microbiome than University of Colorado professor Dr. Christopher A. Lowry. In addition to his rich understanding of humankind’s ancient and critical relationship with the bacterial world, Dr. Lowry has a thorough understanding of the complex interactions of our biology as it relates to stress.

In this episode Professor Lowry helps us envision the amazing workings of our invisible interiors. From the role of stress hormones and neuronal connections in the Enteric Nervous System that tie the gut and brain together, to the intricacies of our immune system balance and the essential role our microbiomes play with inflammation, he expertly guides us.

This captivating dive into our inner-workings with stress and our microbiomes shows us again that our environmental exposures matter to us at obvious and hidden levels. Stress is a double-edged sword in the microscopic world too. This becomes superbly clear in discussing the Hygiene Hypothesis, currently reframed as the Old Friends Hypothesis. It is also well illustrated in what is know as The Farm Effect.

If you love health, the body or you are simply interested in environmental balance, this show will be right up your alley. With Dr. Lowry’s studied understanding we get a powerful glimpse into our vital interdependence we have on the bacterial world and its astounding connection to our stress systems.

04/06/2023

Latest drop (link in bio) with .ottey from 🎤🌿🪶. In episode 31 we deep dive into all things Rites of Passage including her recent book: With an extensive and deeply personal connection to RoP work for decades, Darcy shows us how these original cultural technologies offer us transition literacy for times of change. Listen in as Darcy shines a clear light on the value and necessity for rites for our youth and how to bring respect to the practices. 💚🌿.

05/04/2023

Fantastic new drop with and Kelly Starrett ( ) who share their motivations for their newest book: Throughout the show they offer a powerful transmission about why it is most important that we move not just actively, but dynamically as well. If you’re not ready to give up on your body and want to live an active and fulfilling life, then this is the show for you!

In all of their colorful tales and anecdotes we come to see why being active throughout our lives in ways beyond prescribed exercise matters. It turns out that our basic lifestyle behaviors that keep us moving are essential to not just a longer life, but having a durable one as well.

There are few better positioned than The Starrett’s to guide us through the pitfalls and traps of the snazzy fads in Health and Fitness. Having worked with elite professional athletes all over the world and been exposed to the best tech options out there, the road they have chosen is not one of gimmicks. Instead, their path is one that supports ancestral health needs which are critical to our wellbeing.

24/03/2023

Episdoe #29 with Chase Jackson is out now! A great conversation with a dynamic artist. We cover the intersection between music and stress among many other things.

polyamory, dossie easton, the ethical slut, janet hardy, non-monogamy, s*x, cl****is, liberation, feminism, kinsey study, san francisco, lagunitas, relationships, ethics, destiny

14/02/2023

Friends and Listeners, the Winter freeze has thawed and I'm back in the host's chair for more conversations for Season Three of the HHWPod. This next show, pumping here on Valentine's day, was an extraordinary covnersation with Dossie Easton. Dossie has been a self-described "ethical slut" for more than 50 years and co-authroed the book on it 25+ years ago. On this show she talks about the ins and out of her path and what she's learned over the years. A fascinating and mirthful account of her journey and making peace with her call to pleasurable life on her own terms.

polyamory, dossie easton, the ethical slut, janet hardy, non-monogamy, s*x, cl****is, liberation, feminism, kinsey study, san francisco, lagunitas, relationships, ethics, destiny

03/10/2022

https://howhumanswork.us/episode-27-kelly-starrett
The vital and lucid Dr. Kelly Starrett from The Ready State joins the How Humans Work Podcast for a rich and captivating conversation about Stress, Fitness, & Society.

In this wide-ranging episode, we get a strong feel for Kelly’s learned perspectives on a host of matters like movement, behavior change, human nature, misguided approaches to fitness, the promise of performance sport and more.

With an extensive background coaching elite athletes and armed service members, Kelly breaks down why the most basic dimensions of human life (breath, walking, fermented foods, community, etc.) ought to warrant the bulk of our attention and interest when it comes to health. With humor and energy, Kelly shows us in numerous ways how ancestral health behaviors are actually the spine for a life with durability, fitness and vitality over the outright shiny and heroic displays of elite fitness achievements.

Buckle your seat-belts for this one, because with relentless anecdotes and expert precision, Dr. Starrett makes a powerful case about where we should set our sights when it comes to matters of How Humans Work- matters like Stress, Fitness and Society.

01/05/2022

Super glad to be dropping this next episode with Zameen-a Iqbal (link in bio) as she joins the podcast for moving and insightful conversation around the transcendental nature of beauty.
With Zameen-a we find a blend of musing seeker and forthright teacher who imparts knowledge about art, music and writing as traditions across time which offer a doorway into ineffable dimensions of life. By tying the arts and beauty into tragedy and sorrow, beauty becomes a deeper force by which we can reconcile ourselves with the transcendent and with life’s stresses.

As seen through her encounters with Haiku and classical violin training as well as the unique but welcomed challenges that come with an artist's life, This Virtue of Beauty gives us a wonderful way to consider how the Nature of Stress is transformed through art and meaning.

Considered yourself invited to drop-in to this one, because the journey into stress makes another kind of sense when we bring the genuinely beautiful along with us.

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26/03/2022

Latest pod-drop with the incredible William Hornyak!
Getting back on the horse with this master of lore and meaning as he helps us make the connection between stories, storytelling and finding the imaginative heart that can help us make our way with stress. https://howhumanswork.us/episode-21-william-hornyak

24/03/2022

Season Three of the How Humans Work Pod is in the works and on the way. Thank you for your patience and support!

Season Three is our next adventure into the contours of our human nature. In these episodes we will explore the vital role of stress in our lives. With varied guests of many persuasions, experiences and points-of-view will dive into what modern science says as well asthe direct encounters stress sho...

28/02/2022

My latest pod "Deepening into the Small Soul" is a bonus episode where I welcome Rory Higham for another dive into the nature of the ego and its place in our lives.

Splashing through culture, spiritual traditions, life experiences and an perspective, the ego is explored with a myriad of lenses.

Seeing the ego as more of a Mosaic Mind than a singular entity, Rory imparts to us a beautiful sense of how the ego can be related with in ways that bring healing.

In Deepening into the Small Soul, Jef Szi welcomes Rory Higham for another dive into the nature of the ego and its place in our lives. Picking up on Bonus Episode #3 - Compassion for the Small Soul, Rory and Jef continue the conversation, primarily through an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspectiv...

28/02/2022

https://howhumanswork.us/bonus-03-compassion-for-the-small-soul

Compassion for the Small Soul is the first of two recent bonus episodes on the human ego. In this one I welcome special guest Alice Szilagyi Treves for a rambling and musing conversation about the value, function and limitations that come with our human ego.
In this conversation Alice and Jef lean on their years of partnership, professional experiences, and personal conversations to create a flowing and thought provoking show on how our “sense of self” is indigenous to our human condition.

17/11/2021

Latest drop is an extraordinary conversation with the venerable Michael Meade Check it!
https://howhumanswork.us/episode-20-michael-meade

Michael J. Meade, D.H.L., is a storyteller, author, scholar of mythology as well as the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation and the creator of the Living Myth Podcast.

In Standing in the Rivers of Time, Michael offers us his rich under-standing of story and myth as we venture further into our season two conversation around passages in general, and rites of passage in particular. By focusing on the importance of ordeals and their role in challenging the ego and awakening the deep self, Meade shines a clear light into the territory of individual and collective rites of passage in our time of ‘collapse and renewal.’

Like a river, the show courses its way through many moments in Michael’s life, touching on an array of themes like finding one’s lineage, kinds of mentoring and the need for confirmation, time and timelessness, violence, trauma and peace, the muses and the mystic as well as the ancient sense that the world is flooded with an eternal knowledge which we all need to find ways to tap into.

Your invited to drop-in to this extended show where Michael Meade offers a profound guidance through matters of myth, massive planetary adversities, and his own stories of finding his way in the world. Their confluence merge into a powerful river of tales and knowledge that carry us further along the long journey home, home to an eternal sea.

08/11/2021

https://howhumanswork.us/episode-19-anna-lembke

Dr. Anna Lembke, MD is a psychiatrist, professor, researcher and the medical director of Stanford Addiction Medicine. Dr. Lembke is also the author of Dopamine Nation, a salient book that explores the neuroscience of addiction and the lessons we can learn from those who’ve been caught in its powerful spell.

In episode #19 of the How Humans Work Podcast, Anna and show host Jef Szi have a deep and broad ranging conversation from the basics of addiction and how dopamine works in the brain to the greater implications our ancient pleasure and pain circuits have for us individually and collectively in our age of easy and abundant rewards.

With a deep clarity and a compassionate heart, Dr. Lembke paints a powerful portrait of what we are up against in the clash between our drive to seek pleasure and avoid pain in a culture that has taken this tendency to the extreme. She shows us how ascetic approaches to our lifestyle ( ) and the willingness to endure hardship, pain and discomfort can bring about a deeper balance in ourselves and generate a more rich and rewarding life.

You are invited to drop-in on this conversation, because in this age of addiction we all need to drink from the stream of wisdom flowing from someone like Dr. Lembke...someone who understands the role of dopamine in our lives and the risks that come with the web of pleasure we find ourselves in.

26/10/2021

Latest drop with professor of evolutionary psychology David Buss. This episode is a vital conversation around issues of mating, mating strategies and mate value. Come look under the hood of this issue with a master in his field, who with equal measure of clarity, mirth and frank facts articulates many of the reasons for our implicit motivations. https://howhumanswork.us/episode-18-david-buss

David M. Buss is a professor of evolutionary psychology and runs the Buss Lab at the University of Texas, Austin. For the past four decades he has focused his research on studying strategies in human mating. He has authored notable books on the subject, including The Evolution of Desire and his rece...

11/10/2021

Hey Friends, here's my latest episode with Tara Coyote from the Wind Horse Sanctuary! This show is a powerful and moving conversation about how Tara found the courage to keep swimming in the face of great adversity. Thank you Tara for offering up the beautiful and painful truths of your cancer journey for us all to witness and learn from!

10/09/2021

New solo drop....listen to Dreaming On Mother Earth as show host Jef Szi weaves a morning dream with a figure of illness into an episode about personal and collective passages.

Beginning by recounting his lifelong connection to his dreaming-self, as well as a handful of some of the dreams that came along in key moments of his life, Jeffrey then lays the ground to look at the figure of illness as a teacher for the unwanted initiation that we are all caught up in with the increasing sense of stress in the world.

Relying on personal moments where the planet Venus seemed to make herself known, Jeffrey relays how not only Venus but dreams, vision quests and studies into stress gave him his most profound teaching about how stress works inside of us. It turns out that hidden inside our stress response lives the wise voice of the earth herself. And yet the voice tends to be opaque to us for reasons spelled out in the show.

At the end of the show, Jeffrey invites the listeners to engage in simple acts that help us re-anchor to the rhythms of the earth. Because in such acts the wisdom of the earth becomes more clear and in such times as ours we need such a deep sense of belonging to our home planet.

29/08/2021

Ms. Amy Armstrong teaches AP Psychology, Major Religions and Philosophy at a private Catholic High School in the San Francisco Bay Area. In Resting in the Ancient we hear how chance, activism, and wisdom powerfully blend together in the dedicated heart of one teacher. Deeply attuned to the global challenges in which her students are coming of age, Amy sheds light on how she seeks to impart wisdom and trust in the deep self as an antidote to culture not interested meaningful identity formation.

Myth, wisdom traditions, cutting edge brain and social sciences are some of the rivers of knowledge that Armstrong relies upon to guide her students who are faced with navigating the passage of growing-up in a radically changing world. In this show we find a moving portrait of how teaching can be a sacred responsibility in the continuity of time which contributes to and fosters a more holistic sense of self for young people. Furthermore we learn how activism, books, and synchronicity pulled Amy into a career as an educator and the wonderful ways she embraces her ‘weird,’ encouraging her students to do the same.

Along the way we learn how many, many years of teaching social justice and peace and conflict issues required effort that once again, by chance, transformed into another kind of mode; that of the mystic. No longer driven to be a warrior dedicated to the hard work of addressing social justice education, Ms. Armstrong now is turning her teaching toward the deepest part of the self, willing to acknowledge life’s miracles and accept the power of the mystic within.

Always ready to grab threads of value and meaning, in Amy’s personal passage of coming to rest in the ancient as well as being a much needed guide for young adults about to take flight, we find in her a compelling voice for the power of education to bless young people with the radical notion that they too have a living wisdom within which they can rely on.

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a0345198-9f91-4e08-9b16-f22709b80476/

24/08/2021

In Episode #13 Jef Szi welcomes Randy Fortes () for a dynamic conversation about his passage into becoming a social-emotional facilitator. In it we hear how Randy began his journey first working with young children then teaching hip-hop culture at his local community center before an epic encounter with young people around the world as a Challenge Day facilitator for eight years. Along the way Randy takes us into his nature with an honest, wise and heart-full account of what moves him and how he’s had learned to move others toward the most essential aspects of human experience.

In Warrior of the Forgotten, we feel the pain and the beauty in life’s difficult edges and empowering blessings. As Randy takes us with him into varied and authentic emotional tones: creativity, empathy, grief, humor, curiosity and more, we find an incredibly kindred spirit, willing to share what is most real in his personal and generational passages, his growing connection to his timeless roots, and inspire us with his fountain of creativity!

Episode link in bio!

21/08/2021

In Episode #05, Jeffrey welcomes the always forthright and more than occasionally provocative Robert Trivers. Together they discuss one of Robert’s many seminal papers in the field of Evolutionary Biology: Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. Written in 1972, this paper lays bare how time and energy investment differences between the s*xes of any species (maternal/paternal) influence who makes the mating choices and who competes to be chosen.

Joining the show by Zoom over a couple of beers at an increasingly noisy Jamaican saloon, Trivers waxes professorial while never shying away from explicit and sometimes abrasive thoughts on matters of relationship, s*x and violence.

In Episode #05 we get a sense of not just the brilliance of strong-willed biologist who made waves across academia, but also one of a man, a son, and a father in whose life we can hear the hurtful, the turbulent, the unreconciled and the messy. Among the stories Robert recounts are a few searing memories about his father's harsh ways of parenting.

Through it all, we come to see Robert Trivers in his human complexity. He has clear biological theories for our collective condition but becomes more opaque, in some measure, with his personal understandings…something we can all relate with to one degree or another.

Buckle-up for this one, because the father of modern evolutionary biology is not only an insightful genius that transformed a field, but a maverick and forceful soul not who rides roughshod over conventions and decorum as he gets real with his life and the ways of evolution.

Show link in bio

21/08/2021

In Episode #04, Chris Brown from the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) for an in-depth look at why fathers matter and how Father Absence adversely impacts children, mothers, and society.

Chris generously walks us through not only the problematic outcomes that arise when dads aren’t actively and holistically involved in the lives of their children, but what he, as the president of NFI, and others are doing to alter the course of lives of men and by extension their families and communities.

In this episode we a get look at the backbone of social good happening in America and the way supporting father’s is an essential ingredient in the larger effort of Family Strengthening Work.

Along the way, we talk about race and gender dynamics as they pertain to fatherhood, as well as hear Chris open up about the failed All-American moment between him and his own dad that led, in part, to Chris dedicating the past two decades of his life to helping dads be better dads.

13/08/2021

New Show Drop: The Moon Dance of Motherhood with brave and wise Jennifer Berit Wilson! Listen in as Jen takes us into the raw, strange and powerful passage of laboring into motherhood. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/e26d7667-4da3-4d50-8423-6b311bb236f5/

Quickly and easily listen to How Humans Work with Jef Szi for free!

29/07/2021

New Drop: Trusting the Wild Mind with the inspiring and forthright Albert Flynn DeSilver who takes us into the heart of creative and personal passages with insight and genuine love. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/4be6af86-d50c-488a-af75-18e78d816f09/

Quickly and easily listen to How Humans Work with Jef Szi for free!

19/07/2021

My People!

Season One was a stress-test on what it takes to be a podcaster. If you're here, you most likely think I'm up to the task.

Honestly, I think I am as well. Yes, I have more ground to cover, but the format suits me. My guest and listeners are saying the same.

Now, all the love and learning I've been pouring into developing the show and my skills to create value for the audience needs an equal backing to support my time and energy.

In other words, I'm launching my Patreon Page for podcast.

I've always welcomed support in spirit, in word, in listenership, and now I am also doing so with that form of energy we call money.

humility and heart,
Jef Szi

https://www.patreon.com/howhumansworkpod

Become a patron of How Humans Work Podcast with Jef Szi today: Get access to exclusive content and experiences on the world’s largest membership platform for artists and creators.

18/07/2021

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/b62c3e6e-ef1e-4fba-89d4-2bbfce979c81/

New Drop! Episode 13 with Randy Fortes....an incredible and dynamic conversation about his passage into becoming a social-emotional facilitator. In it we hear how Randy began his journey first working with young children then teaching hip-hop culture at his local community center before an epic encounter with young people around the world as a Challenge Day facilitator for eight years. Along the way Randy takes us into his nature with an honest, wise and heart-full account of what moves him and how he’s had learned to move others toward the most essential aspects of human experience.

In Warrior of the Forgotten, we feel the pain and the beauty in life’s difficult edges and empowering blessings. As Randy takes us with him into varied and authentic emotional tones: creativity, empathy, grief, humor, curiosity and more, we find an incredibly kindred spirit, willing to share what is most real in his personal and generational passages, his growing connection to his timeless roots, and inspire us with his fountain of creativity!

02/07/2021

North Heaven with Popa Kaiwann King is out now. A remarkable story of resilience and emerging ambition with his new clothing brand start-up. The passages Popa has crossed and is now crossing at such a young age, has something everyone can learn from. A show not to be missed! https://player.captivate.fm/episode/e2e26d8b-afce-438f-a6e7-c30ea8278bed/

Quickly and easily listen to How Humans Work with Jef Szi for free!

02/07/2021

Friends and Listeners.....dropping season two this month. First show is out right now! Consider it an opening act for what's to come. In it I talk about my intentions for the season and reflect on the impact astrology is playing in my life and thinking right now. Of course, still leaning on the musical genius of Chase Jackson in the beginning, middle and end! Enjoy and let me know what you think!!
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/ab51b80a-ec41-4404-9fea-5fb616e94f6e/

Quickly and easily listen to How Humans Work with Jef Szi for free!

30/04/2021

In Episode #09 - Ride the Mystic Dragon, Lakshmi DelSesto joins the show for beautiful conversation about music, fathering, and spirituality. Listen in as we learn about the healing power of music, the challenge of coming-of-age without an invested father and the moving way a nomadic heart reconciles life’s adversities with creativity. Out now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all podcast platforms. https://howhumanswork.us/episode-09-lakshmi-delsesto