▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/

What if your healing journey that took you years could have taken months and the tool to get there is growing in the Colombian jungle?

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton is joined by Sam Believ, marine engineer and founder of Lawayra, an ayahuasca healing retreat in the Colombian countryside. Born in the Soviet Union and raised in post-independence Latvia, Sam grew up in a household shaped by intergenerational trauma: alcoholic, abusive father, an emotionally unavailable mother, and a culture where emotions were a sign of weakness. He channelled everything into his engineering career, built the life he was supposed to want, and found himself empty.

After quitting his job and travelling South America, Sam discovered ayahuasca in Colombia. Initially it was out of curiosity, he then rediscovered it in a crisis. When the lockdowns forced him to stop for the first time in his life, everything he had suppressed caught up with him. A ceremony gave him both his healing and his purpose. He never left.

Today Sam has guided close to 3,000 people through ceremonies at La Wayra, where the mission is simple: connect, heal, grow.

We discuss:

• Surviving Soviet childhood trauma and escaping intergenerational pain
• Why achieving the "right" life left him completely empty
• What actually happens inside an ayahuasca ceremony
• Therapy vs ayahuasca
• Addressing abuse by shamans

Links: LaWayra Retreats Sam's Website

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/

What if your body could tell you exactly where you're out of balance—before it shows up as illness or burnout?

In this episode, Richard sits down with Daniel Zavrel, co-founder of ConsciouzScan, to explore a cutting-edge, powerful technology that claims to map your body and mind through your energy field.

From his early career in consulting at Accenture, to his shift into spirituality and human performance, Daniel shares how this technology is being used with elite athletes, executives and individuals seeking deeper awareness.

Daniel performs a full body scan on Richard to reveal how this technology works.

Together, they explore:

• How one super simple 5-minute yoga technique transformed one CEO’s health
• How stress actually shows up in the body
• The link between focus, emotion and energy
• Why high performers often miss the real source of their exhaustion
• And what it means to “listen” to your body at a deeper level

Whether you’re sceptical or curious, this conversation will challenge how you think about health, performance and consciousness.

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Receive15% discount on the ConsciouzScan online Body & Mind Scan session (1 hour).

Book your session and claim your discount here: https://checkout.consciouz.com/checkout/bodymindscan

Enter discount code: BEINGHUMAN

Want to learn more about the ConsciouzScan method in general first? Then visit: https://checkout.consciouz.com/consciouz-body-mind-scan?revision=1

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/

What if many chronic symptoms - pain, IBS, migraines, fatigue, insomnia - aren’t caused by damage in the body, but by patterns in the brain?

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton speaks with Nora Rodden, CEO and co-founder of the health app Nervana. After being hit by a car during university, Nora developed chronic back pain that persisted for five years despite countless treatments and no obvious lasting damage in her body. Later, severe digestive issues and insomnia followed.

Everything changed when she joined a clinical trial exploring neuroplastic pain, the idea that the brain can learn and sustain physical symptoms long after an injury has healed.

Through mind-body techniques including journaling, somatic awareness and visualisation, Nora eliminated her pain and restored her sleep.

Her experience led her to build Nervana, an AI-guided program designed to help people retrain their brain-body response and recover from chronic symptoms.

We discuss:

• Facing the triple whammy of chronic pain, GI symptoms and insomnia
• The "medical" trial that changed her life
• The drug-free approach that cured her symptoms in 3 months
• Her ground-breaking providing relief from pain
• Should Advil carry a warning?

Links: Nervana App