Always Growing with Kelsey Heenan Podcast By Kelsey Heenan cover art

Always Growing with Kelsey Heenan

Always Growing with Kelsey Heenan

By: Kelsey Heenan
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Always Growing with Kelsey Heenan goes behind the curtain with the trainers, comedians, athletes, doctors, and quiet experts you’d assume have arrived — to share the habits, the hurdles, and the never-before-told stories of what it actually took to get here. Each week, Kelsey sits down with someone she admires for a warm, unguarded conversation about the messy, ongoing work of growth — the part nobody puts on the highlight reel. Because growth has no finish line — and if we’re being honest, none of us ever fully arrives. Economics Hygiene & Healthy Living Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Feeling Seen: The Reality of Coming Out as Trans | Tousi R.

    Feeling Seen: The Reality of Coming Out as Trans | Tousi R.
    Sep 9 2026
    Tousi R. has been doing Kelsey's hair for five years. This year, she came out to the world as a trans woman. "If you do say, 'You're beautiful,' it will change a trans person's life, trust me. 'Cause our entire life has been like, 'You're not good enough.' So do that, and it's free." Tousi is a celebrity hairstylist with a salon in West Hollywood and co-host of the Having A Moment podcast. She grew up the child of Persian immigrants in a conservative, Catholic-school suburb where, as she puts it, there was no acknowledgement that anyone like her existed. She knew at six. She transitioned at 30, after two years of therapy. This is a conversation between two friends who trust each other. Tousi talks about the comments that flooded a workout video she and Kelsey posted, the year of facial feminization and breast surgery, why she stocks tampons in a salon run by a woman who will never get a period, and what she actually wants from people who don't understand her. She is funny, blunt, and unfiltered, and she has a lot of insight to share that we can all learn from.. If you've ever hidden a part of yourself to make other people comfortable, this is your episode. It's never too early or too late to be who you are. Follow Tousi on Instagram @aitous and TikTok @tousibeauty, and listen to Having A Moment podcast. Thank you to our sponsors Orange Toucan: orangetoucan.com Code: KELSEY25 for 25% off Tmrw: drinktmrw.com Code: KELSEYHEENAN for $10 off your first order — subscribe and save 25% plus a free welcome kit Chapters (00:00) Five Years in the Chair (01:02) "I've Worked With Celebrities, But I Work With Everyone" (02:20) The Red Hair Era (03:53) Color Is Not a Personality (04:31) Keep Your Hairdresser (05:53) "I'm a Trans Woman" (06:27) Growing Up Persian, Catholic, and Unseen (07:16) Hair as an Escape (08:41) Things You Never Knew You Never Knew (10:22) Progress, Not Woke (11:23) "If You Don't Believe in It, Don't Do It" (13:45) Sexuality Does Not Define Identity (14:39) A Word From Orange Toucan (15:51) "When Did I Choose to Be Straight?" (17:43) The Comments on the Workout Video (19:41) "I'm Not a Marvel Character" (22:15) Knowing at Six Years Old (24:46) "I Wish I Transitioned Earlier" (26:59) The Movie That Shows You the Ending First (27:34) Coming Out and Two Years of Therapy (29:02) The World Is Not a Beautiful Place (31:42) The Year of Surgery (33:17) Plastic Surgery, Stigma, and Choice (35:46) The Insulin Question (36:49) Mental Fitness, Not Mental Illness (39:42) "I've Never Allowed Anyone to Tell Me Who I Am" (42:29) Tampons in the Salon (44:52) A Word From TMRW (45:53) "Stop Bullying Us" (49:16) What "Pushing an Agenda" Even Means (51:04) Exposure, Diversity, and Who Decides (53:28) "We Just Wanna Live" (56:07) The Priest, Confession, and Keeping Faith (58:57) Advice for Anyone Scared to Be Themselves (60:55) What Support Looks Like (62:26) Friends Over Partners (65:27) What Transition Taught Her (67:59) "It's Not a Choice. It's Who You Are." (68:10) "Tell Them They're Beautiful" (68:41) Where to Find Aitous (70:03) Farewell
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • What Your Pain Is Actually Telling You | Dr. Joey Mattina

    What Your Pain Is Actually Telling You | Dr. Joey Mattina
    Sep 2 2026
    Kelsey calls Dr. Joey Mattina her healer. He calls himself a body worker. Joey has a chiropractic degree, but does a whole lot more than that to help his patients feel and move their best. He works out of Peak Wellness, a practice in Beverly Hills full of professional athletes, the Clippers, the LA Kings, a long list of people whose bodies are their careers. A simple adjustment was never going to be enough for him. Over a decade he's folded in Rolfing, fascial work, and pieces of half a dozen other manual therapies until what he does stopped fitting neatly under any one word. This conversation is a working tour of how a very good practitioner actually thinks. Why no two ankle sprains are the same. Why the tissue can heal perfectly and the person still isn't better. He explains how to treat a person as an individual to get them feeling their best. If something's been hurting for a while and you've been toughing it out, this is your episode. Thank you to our sponsor Tmrw: drinktmrw.com Code: KELSEYHEENAN for $10 off your first order — subscribe and save 25% plus a free welcome kit Chapters (00:00) How He Stays Locked In (01:29) "I Call You My Healer" (01:55) The Treatment That Turned Into Grief (03:05) Not a Chiropractor, a Body Worker (04:11) Treating Systems, Not Just Joints (04:45) What Rolfing Actually Is (05:57) Why He Closes His Eyes (07:22) The Butterfly and the Ant (08:16) No Two Ankle Sprains Are the Same (08:42) The Biopsychosocial Model (09:20) When the Tissue Heals But the Trauma Doesn't (10:45) Trauma, Hives, and the Sympathetic Loop (11:28) The Ayahuasca Cases (13:18) Reading the Layers (15:10) A Word From TMRW (16:37) The 5% You Go Deep With (17:28) What Pain Actually Is (17:51) Something Is Out of Balance (18:29) His Own Pickleball Confession (19:09) Six Days in a Row at Barry's (19:33) When Your Back Goes Out (20:30) Most Pain Resolves in Three to Five Days (21:23) Sedentary Life, Then Obsession (22:43) Kelsey's Shoulder and the OpenFit Shoot (24:34) The Dentist Analogy (25:14) Why Pain Moves Around (26:52) The Human Body Isn't Symmetrical (27:02) Usain Bolt Has Scoliosis (28:08) Training Hard vs. Training for Longevity (29:43) Be Honest: Do I Feel Better? (30:35) The Four Things He Does Every Day (31:07) Missing a Day Is Fine (32:23) The All-or-Nothing Trap (33:35) "I'm Lazy" (33:54) The Boundary He Won't Cross (35:11) A Shout-Out to Dennis Colonnello (37:21) What He's Curious About Now (38:41) Phantom Limbs and the Mirror (40:11) When Feeling Safe Matters More Than Technique (40:44) Rest, or Train Around It? (41:51) On Chiropractic Being Called Quackery (42:13) Using AI for Your Body (43:49) Sauna Yes, Ice Bath No (44:56) "I'd Basically Not Have a Job" (45:17) Your Tissue Changes With Time (46:35) Mobility Is Not Hard (47:22) Sleep Is the Hard One (48:14) Proactive Care, When to Come In (50:30) Book It Before You Leave (51:49) Where to Find Him (53:20) Farewell
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    54 mins
  • A Fighter’s Secret Battle with Eating Disorders | Danny O'Connor

    A Fighter’s Secret Battle with Eating Disorders | Danny O'Connor
    Aug 26 2026
    In this episode of Always Growing, host Kelsey Heenan sits down with professional boxer and former Olympian Danny O’Connor for an honest conversation on identity, discipline, and overcoming a silent, decades-long battle with eating disorders in combat sports. From earning a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team to reaching the brink of a world title, Danny appeared to have it all under control. Beneath the surface, years of extreme weight cutting evolved into a life-threatening battle with binge eating disorder—culminating in an ICU stay that ended his boxing career and forced him to rebuild his life from scratch. In this episode, we cover: The hidden reality of eating disorders and severe weight cutting in athletics Danny’s journey through rock bottom, recovery, and breaking the stigma for men Actionable mindset lessons on resilience, identity beyond your sport, and showing up tomorrow If you or anyone in your life has ever struggled with food, body image, or identity after sports, this conversation is for you. Connect with Danny: Book: Weight Class (Available on Amazon) Community: Weekly support meetings at bitelikeaman.com Note: This episode contains detailed discussions of disordered eating. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a healthcare professional or a trusted loved one. Thank you to our sponsors Tmrw: drinktmrw.com Code: KELSEYHEENAN for $10 off your first order — subscribe and save 25% plus a free welcome kit Orange Toucan: orangetoucan.com Code: KELSEY25 for 25% off Chapters (00:00) Nothing in Common But One Thing (00:43) Welcome, Danny O'Connor (01:07) A Wrestler at 14 (01:53) Just a Number on a Scale (02:15) Blowing Up His Life (03:00) Death or Jail (03:26) Pablo, His Mr. Miyagi (04:14) Golden Gloves to Team USA (04:55) Turning Pro (07:42) From the Police Beat to the Newspaper (08:28) "I Love Boxing. I Don't Like Fighting." (09:40) Two Things in Direct Conflict (11:20) An Opponent You Don't Know Exists (12:19) What It Did to His Body (12:51) Never in the Ring at 100% (13:41) 140 to 200 and Back (14:42) Three Sets of Clothes (15:03) Kelsey's Side of the Same Story (15:40) Does the Sport Need to Change? (17:50) The Anemic Breakout Fight (19:10) Ten Years to a Title Shot (19:40) You Can't Quit Food (20:40) Dying on the Hotel Floor (22:10) Why Not Move Up a Weight Class? (24:18) Diagnosed With Binge Eating Disorder (25:00) "I Felt Like I Broke Myself" (25:44) His Wife, and the Coffee Grounds (26:01) Inpatient, and No Other Men (29:00) The 2013 Wake-Up Call (29:41) Fourteen Pounds Overnight (31:22) Restriction Becomes Binging (33:18) Manipulating the Plan (37:08) The Binge That Changed Everything (37:50) "And Can Guys Have It?" (39:20) A Year Away From Boxing (41:32) A Job at the Grocery Store (43:30) Trying Everything (45:04) Mindfulness and a Journal a Day (46:21) Time, Consistency, and One Punch (47:29) The Checks and Balances Now (48:30) The Relapse While Writing the Book (49:44) A Shower in the Dark (50:30) Eating Without Hunger Cues (52:00) Ice Cream With His Kid (53:30) No Trigger Foods (54:27) Exposure Therapy, Both Ways (56:25) Keep a Glimmer of Hope (57:15) Life on the Other Side (58:30) The Void After (59:21) The Messages From Parents (01:00:26) Advice for Men and Athletes (01:02:15) The Book He Couldn't Find (01:03:13) Twelve Steps, Twice (01:04:14) Changing the Culture (01:06:10) Weight Class and Bite Like a Man (01:07:01) Farewell
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    1 hr and 8 mins
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