Touching Into Presence

Today’s conversation is with Brooke Thomas
Brooke graduated from The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration in Boulder, Colorado in 2000 and has been practicing Rolfing since that time. Her current practice is Emerald City Rolfing in Seattle, WA. 
Since 2009 she has been teaching small business skills to self-employed healing arts providers, and she is the co-founder of the calendar app FullyBooked. FullyBooked was created out of the desire for a simple scheduling and waitlist notification system for tiny wellness businesses. 
Her past projects include the Liberated Body podcast, a website and podcast that advocates for the manual and movement therapy fields, and the Liberated Being Studio, an online somatic meditation studio that helped people engage with embodiment in the real world. 

In today’s conversation, Brooke and I explored practice building, social media, and the increasingly common relationship between content creation and building a successful practice. Together we examined some of the assumptions many practitioners carry about marketing, visibility, and what it actually takes to grow a sustainable healing practice.
From there, the conversation expanded into the nature of relationship itself. We talked about the difference between building an audience and building trust, the role of community, referrals, and authentic connection, and why the principles that help a practice grow may be the very same principles that make therapeutic work effective. Brooke also reflected on rebuilding her own practice after moving across the country, offering practical insights into networking, collaboration, and creating a practice rooted in genuine human connection rather than constant self-promotion.
Throughout the conversation, we returned to embodiment—both in the treatment room and in the ways we communicate with one another. We explored how social media can subtly shape not only what we share, but how we think, relate, and present ourselves, and how easy it is for lived experience to become another concept or performance. Rather than arriving at simple conclusions, the conversation became an invitation to think more deeply about authenticity, relationship, and how we can use the tools available to us without allowing those tools to determine how we practice or who we become.
You can learn more about Brooke at:
https://www.fullybookedcalendar.com/
https://www.emeraldcityrolfing.com/

If you are enjoying and getting something out of these talks, we’d appreciate it if you would leave a positive review of the podcast and subscribe to it through the platform of your choice. When you do this it really helps other people find us, and we greatly appreciate your support.

You can find more about Andrew at:
http://andrewrosenstock.com
and
http://RolfingInBoston.com

Many thanks to Explorers Society for use of their song “All In” from their majestic album Spheres. Please check them out here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1plT1lAPWEQ1oTRbWOiXm3?si=eAL08OJdT5-sJ6FwwZD50g

Today’s conversation is with Bill Smythe.
William Smythe, M.A., is a pioneer in Somatic Psychology and Rolfing® Structural Integration with more than four decades of clinical practice and teaching. He has been a practicing Rolfer for over forty years and previously served as a Faculty Member of the Rolf Institute. He holds a master’s degree in Somatic Psychology.
Bill was a protégé and early collaborator of Dr. Peter Levine and co-taught with him during the formative years of Somatic Experiencing®. His work is also informed by advanced training in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, including extensive teaching collaboration with Dr. Michael Shea.
Central to Bill’s teaching is the cultivation of presence, perception, and relational attunement within the therapeutic field. These qualities have been deeply shaped by his long-standing practice of Aikido. A 5th-degree black belt, he served as Sensei and director of the Aikido Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a decade. He currently lives in South Florida with his wife, Kelly.

In today’s conversation, Bill and I explored intersubjectivity, the therapeutic relationship, and what it means for two nervous systems to meet in a shared relational field.
Bill reflected on his early years as a Rolfer, his training in somatic psychology, and how his work gradually shifted from a focus on technique toward a deeper appreciation of relationship, presence, and attunement. We discussed the role of transference and countertransference, practitioner self-awareness, and the importance of recognizing that healing unfolds not only through what we do, but through how we are with another person.
Throughout the conversation, we returned to embodiment, phenomenology, and the felt sense. Bill spoke about the importance of helping people reconnect with a deeper instinctual vitality and inner knowing, while also exploring the ways attachment, boundaries, safety, and relational regulation shape our experience of ourselves and others. Together we reflected on the influence of Peter Levine, Jeff Maitland, and Ida Rolf, and on the idea that meaningful therapeutic work emerges from an ongoing practice of presence, curiosity, humility, and genuine human connection.

You can learn more about Bill at: http://williamsmythe.com/

If you are enjoying and getting something out of these talks, we’d appreciate it if you would leave a positive review of the podcast and subscribe to it through the platform of your choice. When you do this it really helps other people find us, and we greatly appreciate your support.

You can find more about Andrew at:
http://andrewrosenstock.com
and
http://RolfingInBoston.com

Many thanks to Explorers Society for use of their song “All In” from their majestic album Spheres. Please check them out here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1plT1lAPWEQ1oTRbWOiXm3?si=eAL08OJdT5-sJ6FwwZD50g

Today's conversation is with Serge Prengel
Serge is a therapist who has been exploring creative approaches to mindfulness in therapy and in everyday life. He invites you to join his explorations at https://proactivemindfulness.com/
In today’s conversation, Serge and I explored the distinction between compassion and condoning, and how understanding another person does not require agreeing with or permitting harmful behavior. We spoke about blame, polarization, and the ways people can unconsciously mirror the very dynamics they oppose. Throughout the conversation, we returned repeatedly to the idea that embodied compassion differs from conceptual compassion — that true understanding often emerges not through abstract ideals, but through contact with our own felt experience of fear, defensiveness, threat, and protection.
We also explored the nervous system’s role in shaping perception and behavior, including how even subtle moments can activate fight-or-flight responses. Serge reflected beautifully on the importance of pause — not as passivity, but as creating enough space to reassess habitual reactions and discover more skillful ways of responding. Together we discussed safety, acceptance, mindfulness, embodiment, and the limits of human regulation, emphasizing that awareness is not about perfection, but about learning to meet ourselves and others with greater honesty, humility, and presence.
This was my second conversation with Serge, and he’s someone I always genuinely appreciate speaking with. I really enjoyed this conversation and the depth, nuance, and humanity that emerged throughout it, and I hope you do as well.
You can learn more about Serge at https://proactivemindfulness.com/
If you enjoyed today's episode, we'd appreciate it if you would leave a positive review of the podcast and subscribe to it through the platform of your choice. When you do this it really helps other people find us, and we greatly appreciate your support.
You can find more about Andrew at http://andrewrosenstock.com
Many thanks to Explorers Society for use of their song " All In" from their majestic album 'Spheres' Please check them out here https://open.spotify.com/album/1plT1lAPWEQ1oTRbWOiXm3?si=eAL08OJdT5-sJ6FwwZD50g

Today's conversation is with Russell Delman.

Russell has been on a path of awareness for more than 50 years.

His teaching, and his life, are an integration of Zen meditation, Feldenkrais Movement, Compassionate Communication and Focusing. He credits profound teachers, especially his wife of 52 years Linda and his daughter Liliana, as the great gifts in his life.

In today’s conversation, Russell reflected on embodiment and presence as lived experience rather than something to be achieved. We explored how slowing down allows habitual, fear-based patterns to recede into the background, making space for a deeper field of awareness to come forward. Russell spoke about presence as a practice of sensing before reacting, and how embodiment offers a direct path back to authenticity, trust, and immediacy in daily life.

Throughout the conversation, we returned to resonance—how the body and nervous system communicate truth beyond concepts, and how relational attunement shapes what feels safe, real, and alive. Rather than offering techniques, Russell emphasized creating conditions for awareness to emerge, inviting a continual return to humility, vulnerability, and presence as the ground for connection, relationship, and meaningful change.

You can learn more about Russell at https://www.russelldelman.com/

If you are enjoying and getting something out of these talks, we'd appreciate it if you would leave a positive review of the podcast and subscribe to it through the platform of your choice. When you do this it really helps other people find us, and we greatly appreciate your support.

You can find more about Andrew at http://andrewrosenstock.com and http://RolfingInBoston.com

Many thanks to Explorers Society for use of their song " All In" from their majestic album 'Spheres' Please check them out here https://open.spotify.com/album/1plT1lAPWEQ1oTRbWOiXm3?si=eAL08OJdT5-sJ6FwwZD50g

Today's conversation is with Dr. David Vago.

David is a leading neuroscientist and advisor within the mindfulness, digital health, and psychedelic research communities. He currently serves as President of the International Society for Contemplative Research and holds academic affiliations with Harvard Medical School and the University of Virginia. With training from Vanderbilt, Harvard, Weill Cornell, and the University of Utah, Dr. Vago has held key research and faculty positions, including Associate Professor at Vanderbilt and Research Director at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. His background spans cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychiatry, and contemplative science, with postdoctoral fellowships in biological and social psychiatry, neuroimaging, and mind-body medicine.
Dr. Vago’s research explores the neurobiological and psychosocial mechanisms linking mind, brain, and body in mental health, chronic pain, and wellbeing. Through a combination of neuroimaging, cognitive-behavioral, and phenomenological methods, his work bridges basic neuroscience with clinical application. As a scientific advisor and Research Lead for RoundGlass, he advances evidence-based innovation in digital health and wellbeing. A prolific author with over 100 publications and more than 15,000 citations, Dr. Vago is a recognized thought leader whose research has shaped the emerging field of contemplative science and continues to inform modern approaches to mindfulness and integrative health.

In today’s conversation, David shared how neuroscience, phenomenology, and contemplative practice converge in understanding embodiment. We explored his Spacer Model, which traces experience from bodily sensation through perception, cognition, meta-awareness, and action—revealing how identity continually re-forms moment by moment.
David spoke about interoception and the neural basis of felt experience, highlighting how awareness of internal states shapes behavior, emotion, and selfhood. He also introduced emerging research in bioenergetics, linking the brain’s energetic and glymphatic systems with traditional ideas of qi, prana, and subtle energy.
Throughout, he emphasized that awareness itself is medicine—that small embodied shifts ripple through our biology and relationships. His work invites us to see embodiment as a living dialogue between brain, body, and world—a path toward a more conscious and compassionate way of being.

You can find out more about David at https://contemplativeneurosciences.com/

If you are enjoying and getting something out of these talks, we'd appreciate it if you would leave a positive review of the podcast and subscribe to it through the platform of your choice. When you do this it really helps other people find us, and we greatly appreciate your support.

You can find more about Andrew at http://andrewrosenstock.com and http://RolfingInBoston.com
Many thanks to Explorers Society for use of their song " All In" from their majestic album 'Spheres' Please check them out here https://open.spotify.com/album/1plT1lAPWEQ1oTRbWOiXm3?si=eAL08OJdT5-sJ6FwwZD50g