Please Blow My Mind Podcast

Lincoln Jefferson has been involved in community engagement and management of the non-for-profit sector for over 15 years after moving from the UK where I taught as a primary school teacher and worked in a school sports partnership delivering sports programmes to over 180 schools.

Lincoln loves his mahi in the community with our tamariki and rangatahi and he's excited about the journey we’re embarking on alongside the Vodafone Warriors. The potential to create something special is a great driver. The Warriors Community Foundation team is developing exciting programmes that will create a space for positive social change. The fans have been the lifeblood of the Vodafone Warriors for many years and now the Warriors Community Foundation will be the enabler to increase wellbeing within our communities.   

Being able to connect with more people around Aotearoa is an exciting prospect. He waka eke noa. We are all in this together.  

LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST ⬇️ 

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3BlvC8U 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Bn0WnV 

Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3miX82t 

Anchor.fm: https://bit.ly/3jHJpkc  

CONNECT WITH LINCOLN JEFFERSON  ⬇️ 

WCF website https://warriorscommunity.kiwi/ 

FB https://www.facebook.com/warriorscommunitynz 

YT https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrVIdvh_HjWs9YEIc45Ts3Q 

IG https://www.instagram.com/nzwarriorsfoundation/

Ian Elford was part of a team educating people in the community who were finding studying for their driving theory test daunting and difficult so he decided to do something about it.

For the next 24-hour period, he designed and created a board game called: Driven For Success.  

In this conversation, we talk to Ian's story so far in creating the game, being a police officer, working for corrections and following your dream.   

LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST ⬇️ 

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3BlvC8U 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Bn0WnV 

Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3miX82t 

Anchor.fm: https://bit.ly/3jHJpkc  

CONNECT WITH PLEASE BLOW MY MIND WITH WILL FLEMING ⬇️ 

https://linktr.ee/pleaseblowmymind

“You should always have an opinion because if you don't then you're siding with the oppressor.” — Akash Kumar  

Akash is the host and founder of THE HUMAN:NOW podcast where he discusses ideas around what it means to be in this state of time and more importantly making positivity louder.  

He is an architectural and urban designer, and believes the spaces we inhabit have a direct influence on how we develop as human being. Designing positive spaces and having positive conversations is what he is all about!  

In this conversation, we travel into the deep realms of connection through conversation looking for meaning in life here and beyond.   

LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST ⬇️ 

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3BlvC8U 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Bn0WnV 

Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3miX82t 

Anchor.fm: https://bit.ly/3jHJpkc 

CONNECT WITH PLEASE BLOW MY MIND WITH WILL FLEMING ⬇️ 

https://linktr.ee/pleaseblowmymind

“The system is an abject failure [because] we condemn people without actually understanding [them].” — Bruce Howat

Bruce Howat is a former police dog handler and current Church Minister who has lived a full life with experiences and understandings that our current world could learn a lot from.

In our second conversation, Bruce goes even deeper into his story and shares with us some very powerful insights and thoughts into the meaning of life and the building blocks of meaning that are relatable to everyone. 

LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST ⬇️ 

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3BlvC8U 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Bn0WnV 

Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3miX82t 

Anchor.fm: https://bit.ly/3jHJpkc  

CONNECT WITH PLEASE BLOW MY MIND WITH WILL FLEMING ⬇️ 

https://linktr.ee/pleaseblowmymind

“I'm going to use everything in my power to change the system. I'm going to be here pushing for change until the day I die” — Mike King  

Mike King is the founder I Am Hope and The Key to Life Charitable Trust. His passion and dedication is unwavering, whether it be mentoring young people on a one-to-one basis, or visiting schools, Mike is always delivering his message of hope in some way or another.  

In this conversation, we talk about the times we live in and making sense of the busy world we live in. Mike also takes us on a journey into his upbringing and some powerful moments of his life so far.    

LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST ⬇️ 

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3BlvC8U 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Bn0WnV 

Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3miX82t 

Anchor.fm: https://bit.ly/3jHJpkc  

CONNECT WITH PLEASE BLOW MY MIND WITH WILL FLEMING ⬇️ 

https://linktr.ee/pleaseblowmymind

Wayne Macgillivray is an educator who has reconnected to his identity through the simple act of cooking food. 'Hāngi - Food for Thought' is a charitable organisation with a simplistic goal; feed the people, teach the people. Hāngi is an earth oven; stones are heated and food is cooked in a sealed pit. Simple but far-reaching. Lighting fires before sunrise has become Wayne's meditation. In terms of a holistic view of health the notion of ahi kā - the eternal fire.

Professor Grant Schofield is a person who thinks deeply about health and wellness. On a personal level, Grant has been a mentor of mine for some time now - pushing and encouraging my thinking and celebrating the deep learning that comes from pondering the deepest of ideas together.

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Grant and that it expands your mind as much as it did mine. 

For those who are new to Grant, he is the Director of The Centre for Human Potential at AUT and former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Education in New Zealand. He is also the author of four best-selling books.

Thank you Grant for your willingness to make education palatable for the majority of our society.

In this episode of the podcast we wrestle with meaning. The deep meaning – the meaning that the modern world does not know what to do with. Ancient thinking, customs and practices is how deep we go. I invite my friends Paul Rangiwahia & Akash Kumar to join me for a deep conversation to wrestle with the core of meaning itself.

Guy Pigden is a Writer/Director/Editor/Producer who recently completed his second feature film 'Older' currently available through Amazon Prime. Guy also wrote and directed the feature film 'I Survived A Zombie Holocaust' (funded by the NZFC through the Escalator initiative). Recently, Guy has been focusing on building a new YouTube channel about pro filmmaking. You can find him by searching 'The Savage Filmmaker' on YouTube. This is a deep chat about the power of narrative and how to harness it! 

Bruce Howat has lived a life! In fact, Bruce's life is so filled with living that this podcast of 1 hour and 30 mins only covers his story up until the age of about 20 years old. The story you may be familiar with regarding Bruce is when he got stabbed when he was a police dod handler. This conversation pre-dates that horrific moment starting with where Bruce grew up and the building blocks of his journey growing up. On a personal note, this podcast dives into my own journey of wrestling with meaning - from trying to understand the idea of miracles in our modern world and what it means to trust your gut - even though algorithms seem to control a lot of our feelings and urges in modern life. I hope this podcast is interesting for you on your own journey. I value your support as I continue to bring you my deep conversations about life, meaning and whatever we are trying to articulate with the idea of 'the beyond'.

David Laumatia is a retired Senior Sergeant for the NZ Police who now uses art to inspire and encourage people to find a bigger meaning in life. David shares his story about being a cop and the cruel realities of living in the zone of 'fight or flight' and how a dream sent him down a path of poetry and art and a bigger meaning in life. 

Where are you on your own journey of faith? For me, the honest answer is - I am not sure, and if asked what do I mean - my answer goes something like this: "It sure feels like there are bigger things at play." But to be honest, I am just not sure what it is that even means so I've decided to filter my wrestle with meaning through my podcast and have invited Cameron Surrey to sit down and do some pondering with me. Cameron's background is in philosophy and theology and mine is in Rugby and Superman movies so we are sure to have one heck of a deep conversation. Thanks, everyone for joining me - you blow my mind! 

Roko Babich has had the big lights of city living with the demanding job and never-ending deadline to the still oceans and peaceful background noise of nature in the far north of New Zealand. These two 'zones' of living are a great way to frame up this podcast chat with a deeper question to ponder: can we learn the skills and tools to thrive in both 'zones' in the modern world? One 'zone' seems to burn us out while the other 'zone' seems to leave us wanting more - so what is the balance in life we seek? Roko is on his own journey to find out. 

Brian Mackenzie is an innovator in human performance on stress adaptation and a pioneer in the development and application of custom protocols to optimize human health and performance. His work harnesses and integrates respiratory, movement, strength, conditioning and endurance-based training approaches to elicit unprecedented positive results. His protocols have been used to accelerate and raise both mental and physical performance in world-class Olympic and professional athletes, top executives, and elite military operators, as well as to improve the health for people suffering from various chronic and pathological issues.

At 10.37am on June 19 2020, Police Constable Matthew Hunt (28) was shot and killed in the line of duty after trying to carry out a routine traffic stop. Matt's best friend, Regan was left behind to mourn his death and joins us on the podcast to honor Matt's memory wanting Matt to be remembered not for how he died, but for how he lived. This is a deep discussion about the life and the burden we lift to carry the memories of our loved ones into the future.

Professor Julia J Rucklidge has been investigating the role of micronutrients in the expression of mental illness, specifically ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, anxiety and more recently, stress and PTSD associated with the Canterbury earthquakes. Julia joins us in this podcast for a deeper conversation about the developing story of the role of nutrition in mental health.

Grant Schofield is a Professor in public health, specialising in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. In this episode, Grant digs a bit deeper into the science of science and why understanding the question 'is it even true?' needs to be asked a bit more in a 'Fake News' era.

In this presentation - we dive deep into acute and chronic stress and why we need one and should avoid the other at all costs. I'm joined in this presentation by Professor Grant Schofield who is mentoring me through my academic journey to explore the ancient breathing techniques that have been forgotten in our overstimulated and overwhelmingly busy world.

Ryan O'Connor makes his day to day living as an optometrist - looking through our portal to the soul a.k.a our eyes. Outside of his what he does for money, Ryan also hosts his own podcast called: The Stag Roar podcast, where he explores what it takes to live a life less ordinary. Featuring guests from all walks of life with topics ranging from the outdoors and hunting to creativity, business, fitness, mental health and more.

John Loau joins me on the podcast NOT to share his specialist experience in developing pathways to military, law enforcement, and police training programs NOR to talk about being a serial entrepreneur & NZ business owner, holding Directorships & business advisor to many startups and SME’s.

In this podcast, John Loau joins us to go deeper. We delve deep into his upbringing and uprooting from Samoa, Auckland and The United States of America. This is a conversation that helps us see just how interwoven life is - the ins and the outs of how we all fit together.

Most of us know Richie Barnett from his professional rugby league career and representative New Zealand Rugby League, playing in 27 tests, and captaining New Zealand on 10 occasions during his career. 

What many people don't know is that Richie recovered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and in doing so learned huge amounts of patience, resilience and the mental and emotional roller coaster ride that led to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Richie says that "even when things were looking grim, I never gave up on getting my physical and mental wellbeing back, by taking one important step at a time and not looking back."

In this podcast, we go deep with Richie Barnett and explore the tools he used to find his way back to the light and how you can as well. 

Adversity can hit anyone at any time, often unexpectedly.  The loss of a close family member combined with Lance Burdett's own experience of depression spurred him to share what he has learned about how the brain works.

Tony Laulu is the founder of Digital Discipline and works in the community and cooperate sector to raise awareness of the dangers of social media and technology usage and addiction. Tony joins us to give us an update on life and shares many deep insights including quitting his full-time job to give Digital Discipline the time needed to build and make an impact. Tony also shares his journey into becoming an author – releasing his first book in February 2021.

Oscar Kightley is a man of many talents. From The Naked Samoans to hit series bro’Town, NZ's first animated show to play in prime time. Oscar also fronted the first-ever Pacific focused sport show on New Zealand television. The show, Pacific Brothers, produced by Kava Bowl Media in conjunction with SKY TV, looks to take a deeper dive into the Pacific world of both past and present athletes across the globe. In this episode, we go behind the curtain for an off-the-record yarn about life, meaning and beyond.

It time to get a bit raw... In this episode of Please Blow My Mind we go into the community with Kennedy Maeakafa Fakana’ana’aki-Fualu aka The Tongan Robin Hood. Kenny serves his community each and every week bringing food and support to the Tongan overstayer community on their journey to be recognised as kiwis. This is a podcast about the blurry line that we all walk with the ethics we hold true and the values that we must uphold when it comes to people just like you and I getting their fair share as fellow Humans trying to make sense of life in a sometimes complicated world.

Stella Muller is a dreamer and believer in the power of humanity and our untapped potential. Outside of Family and community, Stella is the CEO of the South Auckland-based Creative Agency, Bright Sunday, who played a huge role in communicating information to Pasifika communities during the 2020 COVID lockdowns.

John Pulu graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Communication Studies in Television from AUT University and joined the Tagata Pasifika team in 2010. While still at high school John was inspired to become a journalist through work experience on Tagata Pasifika. John has always been interested in Pacific issues and saw there was a lack of Pacific people working in the industry. “I am very honoured to represent Pasifika people and share our stories”. John is from the Kingdom of Tonga, Kolomotu‘a, Tongatapu and Holopeka, Ha‘apai with ties to Lau in the Fiji Islands.

Neuroscientist, Mitchell A. Head joins us to go DEEP into the meaning of consciousness and what it means to process the world and the feelings we have on the inside and the outside. Join in for a free flow - deep flow - conversation about the vibrations of consciousness from deep within!