This Wasn’t Planned — A Live Session on Chronic Pain and Healing

In this special podcast episode, CJ turns on the record button during one of his real counseling sessions with breathwork and Somatic Experiencing specialist Jonathan Schechter, offering listeners an intimate look into embodied healing in real time. Together, they explore how we’re often taught to view life—and healing—through a strictly material lens, while our medical system is far less equipped to address emotional states, stress, and the nervous system. Jonathan encourages listeners to become their own practitioners by cultivating curiosity and awareness, likening it to discovering new colors beyond a limited palette—and even noticing the space between the colors, where real power lives.CJ shares a simple but revealing moment from daily life: while folding laundry, he noticed he wasn’t breathing, unconsciously waiting until the task was finished to take a breath. Inspired by Jack Kornfield’s After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, the conversation turns toward bringing meditative awareness into ordinary chores—and celebrating the awareness itself. As Jonathan reminds us, without awareness there can be no change.The discussion deepens as CJ talks openly about chronic pain, rushing habits, and resisting sadness following the loss of a close friend and mentor. Jonathan explains how the nervous system adapts to its environment and why somatic healing takes time. He guides CJ through a gentle practice of finding areas of ease in the body, then slowly returning to the emotional “epicenter” without becoming flooded—a process known as pendulation, developed by Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experiencing. Like building strength at the gym, healing happens gradually, by moving between discomfort and safety.Jonathan also introduces Levine’s SIBAM model, which breaks experience into five layers—Sensation, Image, Behavior, Affect, and Meaning—allowing overwhelming experiences like pain to be gently separated and processed in manageable pieces. They recommend Levine’s book In an Unspoken Voice as a key resource and discuss how pendulation and SIBAM can become practical tools during pain or flare-ups.Later in the episode, CJ shares a new healing power statement—“I open my fist to healing; my body and mind harmonize”—and reflects on releasing old coping strategies that once served him but are no longer needed. Jonathan reframes this not as failure, but as safety: now the body is safe enough to heal. CJ even shares a creative way to reinforce intention by turning power statements into daily-use passwords.The episode closes with Jonathan recommending meditation teacher and author Shinzen Young, whose work focuses on working skillfully with physical pain and discomfort—offering listeners yet another doorway into mindful, embodied healing.For more information on Jonathan Schecter visit: https://bluemagicalchemy.com/Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

In this end-of-year episode, CJ reflects on the highlights and growth points that shaped his 2025. He speaks openly about “hitting the wall” when chronic pain entered his life, and how choosing to share his struggle created unexpected openings. By practicing presence instead of isolation, CJ found himself in deeper relationship with others.He describes trying countless approaches to find relief—medications, exercise, physical therapy, breathwork and more. While nothing offered a quick fix, the experience “cracked him wide open,” and deepened his empathy. And it reminded him that living in a physical body brings challenges that aren’t always the result of our thoughts, despite what some New Thought teachings suggest.Some seasons of life require patience and a long, committed effort. They invite us to stay present, even when the journey feels uncertain.CJ recommends his interview with Jonathan Schechter on breathwork along with two books that supported him this year: Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening and Amoda Maa’s Embodied Enlightenment. Both writers speak beautifully about meeting life as it is and discovering presence even in discomfort.Sharing this journey with his students has been one of the most meaningful parts of his year. As CJ says, we are here to walk each other home. Not to fix one another, but to witness each other with tenderness. To show up with presence. To remind each other that we don’t have to navigate the hard moments alone.As we move into the holiday season, CJ invites you to practice presence with the people in your life. Hold a sense of love in your heart. Allow yourself to slow down, listen, and walk beside those you care about. We are Spirit expressed in physical form, and our presence is often the greatest gift we can offer.He closes with an exciting announcement: beginning January 4, he will launch an online Daily Doodle Contest. Each day he will read a parable from his new book Spiritual Parable as a Daily Practice. Listeners are invited to submit drawings inspired by each story, and selected pieces will be included in a published coloring book next year.Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

Dallas-based painter Matt Kaplinsky captures the spirit of place through a warm, folksy impressionism that blends nature, memory, and imagination. A self-taught artist inspired by Matisse, Van Gogh, and Bonnard, Matt paints with curiosity and flow—allowing each brushstroke to reveal where Creative Intelligence wants to go next.In this conversation, Matt and CJ explore how the path of least resistance guides both art and life. Matt shares how his work continually “veers off,” and instead of fighting it, he listens to the subtle energies leading him downstream. From vivid cowboy scenes to delicate garden still lifes, each painting becomes a dialogue between effort and surrender.Together, they discuss how art acts as a lens—not transparent like glasses, but a spiritual way of seeing. Through that lens, we glimpse a shared universe, where making and viewing art allows us to perceive more than the surface of things.Matt reminds us: the best paintings happen when we stop forcing the outcome and simply flow with what is.“If you’re alive and you can take in art, for a moment your brain is looking through the lens of the artist and glancing into a different sense of our shared reality.”Learn more about Matt at www.mattkaplinsky.com and find him on Instagram @mattkaplinsky.Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

Today’s guest is Tina Jacobson, a lifelong artist and spiritual explorer from Australia whose creative journey weaves art, intuition, and healing. Raised on an animal-filled farm by creative parents, Tina has spent her life immersed in design, murals, and illustration. Her coloring books, including The Colorful Life Colouring Book, invite readers to reconnect with creativity as a gentle, spiritual practice rather than a task to complete.Through years of self-discovery, Tina learned that healing begins by watching the mind. Once trapped in cycles of self-criticism and dark thoughts, she discovered that thoughts aren’t truth—they’re passing waves. Influenced by teachers like Michael Singer and Byron Katie, Tina began observing her thoughts instead of believing them, noticing how they affected her body. She reminds us, if you can bring that fear back to your body and feel at ease, you can’t change anything—but when you’re in your body, you’re closer to your intuition, and it will give you ideas on what to do. Fix yourself, heal the world. Use your body to bring dark thoughts to light.Our conversation explores how coloring, movement, and awareness of the body can return us to presence and Creative Intelligence. Tina reminds us that love doesn’t mind when things fall apart—it simply observes. When we witness our thoughts without judgment, they lose their grip, and creativity becomes a path to freedom.For more information, visit www.spiritualartisttoday.com. CJ Miller’s books, The Spiritual Artist and Spiritual Parable as a Daily Practice, are available on Amazon.You can follow Tina Jacobson on Instagram at: tinaacobsonartPurchase Tina’s book here: https://www.winterandmann.com.au/product/tina-jacobson-colourful-life/Tina’s new surf book is available here: https://www.stunno.com.au/ Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

In this deeply moving episode, CJ Miller talks with Nancy Amlin Watson, a yoga instructor who turned to her mat after the devastating loss of her child and discovered that yoga was one of the only things that made her feel “maybe not better, but just a tiny little bit less shitty.”A devoted practitioner for more than 25 years and a teacher for the past three, Nancy now helps others navigate life’s many forms of loss—whether through death, divorce, illness, job change, or even the loss of a beloved pet. Her interactive Yoga for Grief Workbook blends heartfelt stories with visual practices, journaling prompts, and QR codes linking to videos that demonstrate her techniques.Nancy shares how movement, breath, and presence can gently reconnect us to our soul and spirit, offering a path toward wholeness when words aren’t enough. CJ and Nancy discuss how yoga helps us release from our minds and move through a healing process, allowing emotion and awareness to flow through the body. Together, they explore how yoga opens space for healing, release, and renewed love—one mindful breath at a time.Learn more about Nancy and her work at www.yogaforgriefdallas.com. Her book is available on Amazon at tinyurl.com/yfg-bookWant to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

Jonathan Schecter is a breathwork specialist, integration coach, and founder of Blue Magic Alchemy, where he helps others explore non-ordinary states of consciousness and reconnect with what he calls the inner healer. Certified in multiple breathwork and mindfulness modalities—including Somatic Experiencing and Holotropic Breathwork—Jonathan combines nervous system regulation, evocative music, and creative expression such as mandala art to guide participants toward emotional release and spiritual insight. In our conversation, we discuss how the ego takes a back seat during these states, allowing Creative Intelligence to flow freely through breath, sound, and movement. Influenced by the Wim Hof Method and teachers like Michael Stone, Jonathan shares how breath became his own medicine through a painful divorce, transforming anguish into self-discovery. We also explore the Holotropic Paradigm—“moving toward wholeness”—and the importance of trust, safety, and permission when journeying inward. Jonathan now offers online and in-person sessions, custom music for breath journeys, and community experiences through Blue Magic Alchemy and the SKOL Community..Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

After a recent argument, I woke up with a deep ache in my chest—an emotional pain that felt stronger than the chronic pain I’ve been carrying in my hips. It reminded me how the body holds emotion, how tension can live in us for years if we don’t give it space to move.That morning, I turned to painting. I played the saddest song I could find and let the emotion pour through my brush. Painting became my way to release. When we create from that raw place, creativity becomes a healing modality. It transmutes hurt and anger into love.Too often, we try to hold emotion in, to control it. But art asks us to let go—to breathe, to move, to allow what’s inside to flow through color, line, and movement. Breath is part of that flow—it carries energy through the body and helps emotion transform.If you’re feeling anxious, heartbroken, or angry, don’t resist it. Go into your studio. Pick up a brush. Use your art to reconnect with the higher power within you. Creativity can bring you back to love—back to peace.For more inspiration, visit www.spiritualartisttoday.com and purchase my book The Spiritual Artist on Amazon..Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

How to Trust the Voice of the Heart. The heart is the most powerful portal we have. When we open it, intuition becomes our guide, leading us toward love, freedom, and authentic self-expression.In this episode, CJ Miller speaks with Natasha “Tash” Sumner, author of Accept Who You Are, whose journey from corporate burnout to spiritual coach is a story of courage and alignment. Natasha shares how she learned to step out of performance, drop the weight of people-pleasing, and instead live from the truth of her heart.You’ll hear about:The moment Natasha realized she could no longer ignore her callingHow channeling her book became an act of surrender to higher wisdomWhy true freedom comes from unveiling who we really are—layer by layerHow the heart and intuition work together to reveal our inner artistThis episode is an invitation to stop performing and start becoming. To trust the voice of the heart, awaken the artist within, and live from the love and wholeness already inside you.For more information about Natasha, visit her site: https://ascend5d.com.Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

We’re living in a time of radical resentment — where even when people or companies change, some voices still say, “I won’t forgive them even if they change their ways.” This posture leaves no room for growth, no chance for transformation.In this episode, I reflect on how forgiveness is upheld across the world’s great faith traditions — from Christianity and Islam to Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, the Bahá’í Faith, and Jainism — and how Shinto and Taoism teach us that forgiveness can also be understood as realignment and balance.Forgiveness is not about excusing the harm; it’s about creating space for something new. When we don’t forgive others, we also withhold forgiveness from ourselves. I invite you to reflect on the last seven days: where have you been hard on yourself? Can you forgive that moment and release it? Because only when we forgive do we open the door to healing and change.Try a little radical forgiveness this week — it’s a lot lighter to carry than radical resentment.Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.

Cam Leids shares how ayahuasca and mushrooms helped him move beyond patterns, open to Spirit, and let creativity flow through.What happens when we step beyond our patterns and allow Spirit to flow through us? In this episode of The Spiritual Artist Podcast, CJ Miller sits down with storyteller and guide Cam Leids, host of the Being Human and Shit podcast. Living in Peru, Cam works with plant medicines such as ayahuasca and magic mushrooms to help people deepen their self-awareness, release fear, and reconnect with their higher selves.Cam shares, “When I can do anything to get past that fear, it allows me to open myself up. Creativity is not even coming from me—it’s allowing Spirit to move through me onto the stage or canvas. It’s about opening the channel to God, to Spirit. All humans are creators at our core.”Together, CJ and Cam explore:How intention shapes every experience with plant medicine.Why psychedelics can open space to witness our thoughts, dissolve ego patterns, and heal stuck emotions.The connection between creativity, presence, and Spirit—whether through art, meditation, or natural medicines.Cam’s journey from a high-paying career to finding fulfillment in guiding others through awakening and inner healing.The role of love, humor, and even comedy in rediscovering what it means to be fully human.Cam reminds us that these experiences don’t teach us something new—they help us remember who we truly are.For more about Cam, follow him on Instagram and TikTok @camleids. Listen to his podcast Being Human and Shit on YouTube and major platforms.Want to learn more about CJ Miller? Check out his Spiritual Artist Retreats, 1:1 Personal Coaching, and Speaking Engagements at www.spiritualartisttoday.com. His retreats are designed to help you reconnect with your Creative Intelligence and express your true artistic voice. You can also find his upcoming schedule there, and his book, The Spiritual Artist, is available on Amazon.