The Flip - Your story starts here
By Ryan Ao
Interviews with people sharing their story of flipping negative situations in to positive ones.
Open invitation for all people who want to share their “Flip”. It can be their life story, or it can be one situation or anything in between.
Wanna share on this Podcast? Just go to: anchor.fm/theflip and click "send voice message" describing in 1 minute what you want to share, and Ryan will be in contact with you to schedule your interview.
The Flip - Your story starts hereNov 25, 2019
21-Taylor Mathes - Male-Post-Partum-Depression To Backyard-Farmer
Ryan Ao met Taylor Mathes through the Ao Gallery and studio lease takeover situation about 4 years ago in St. Johns. Through this Taylor has since created a thriving business in our old Ao space called Cathedral Park Salon and become Ryan's regular hair stylist. Ryan is getting his hair and beard cut in this episode to add to the dynamics! Issues talked about include Covid-19's impact on both our businesses and how we are doing in the midst of the pandemic and quarantine (not too well financially). We talk about his struggle with male-post-partum depression, a rare affliction. We also talk about how he has flipped his depression into finding solace through working with his wife to create an abundant backyard and frontyard farm with about 200-300 lbs of food per year. You can find his salon at: http://cathedralparksalon.com/
20-Rachel Balunsat - "Death to Buddhahood"
Ryan Ao, interviews Rachel Balunsat in this episode 20 of The Flip. Ryan met Rachel in Santa Rosa, California at a sustainable community supported agriculture farm called Laguna Farm, where they both shared their passions for photography, sustainability, as well as spirituality. The journey they have shared together beyond that has included diving into the topic of death which Rachel has experienced a lot of with loved ones passing away in her lifetime so far. Topics covered include lessons she has learned from death, how to look at it with positivity and hope rather then fear (much needed perspective in this time of COVID-19), the Buddhist perspective on life and death, and her journey towards healing her health after experiencing both her parents passing away with a short period of time. Rachel masterfully shows us how she flipped these difficulties in her life to spiritual evolution. She also shares about her new book she co-wrote. You can find and connect with her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/rachel.balunsat
Ryan Ao is the founder/director of AO Productions https://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact Ryan@ryanao.com to share your flip story on this podcast.
19-Chong Kee Tan - "Refugee to Prepper"
Ryan Ao, interviews Chong Kee Tan in this episode 19 of The Flip. Ryan met Chong Kee through Yana Ludwig as he was on the board of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage for 5 years where Ryan lived with Yana. Chong Kee is a Singapore native, and now lives in Oregon. He is a graduate of Cambridge, Stanford, and National Taiwan University.. Early in his life in Asia he fled due to his political activism. His same sex status was illegal in that portion of Asia which was something that hindered his ability to be who he truly is. He moved the San Francisco bay area to get his Phd at Stanford, and became concerned about climate change, the environment, and the future of humanity. He started the community currency called "Bay Bucks". Later he decided to look to sustainable community as an option to prepare. He has now started his own sustainable community in Oregon. Topics covered include his days in Asia advocating and protesting for freedoms of speech and more, same sex illegality still in parts of the world, community currency, climate change, what we can all do to prepare for a meltdown of the economy by getting on some land in a remote area and start working the land to grow food and build a more sustainable way of life . You can find and connect with Chong Kee on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chongkeetan/
Ryan Ao is the founder/director of AO Productions https://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact Ryan@ryanao.com to share your flip story on this podcast.
18-Amanda Creighton - "Addiction to Flip-coach"
Ryan Ao, interviews Amanda Creighton in this episode 18 of The Flip. Ryan met Mandy in 2000 (she now goes by her given name "Amanda") on a group trip to Central America for environmental sustainable community mission oriented volunteer work to help impoverished communities. 8 years later Mandy and Ryan embarked on a 5 year film journey bicycling 6500 around the USA to visit 100 sustainable communities and created the documentary "Within Reach" movie at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/withinreach/173936268 and website at www.withinreachmovie.com as well as becoming romantic partners during that time. This podcast is a very special reconnect as the 8 years that have passed yet again, have allowed Ryan and Mandy time to give space to their new romantic partners as well as marinate in the lessons learned from their past journey together and open up deeply and honestly on this podcast about it all. Topics covered include lessons they learned from, each other and how they flipped the difficulties in their romantic and professional relationship with each other around into positive life lessons that neither of them would trade anything for. They both have a chance to look back at the lessons learned about sustainable communities, and reflect on where the movement is going and evolving as well as mutually notice some energy in both of them as well as others in our lives, towards bringing back some momentum towards wanting to rekindle some aspects of the Within Reach project back into the world. More to come on that as the 10 year anniversary of Within Reach approaches in 2022. Other topics include her relationship with some challenging family members, food challenges, her womb and infertility, as well as how her life mission now is basically to flip the flip. She currently is a coach and brings "The Flip" into her addiction recovery healing work, with people in both their lives as well as nutrition. She is looking to also evolve into collective trauma work which she talks about in the episode. You can find and connect with her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ahmandakay She also talks about Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage and their Patreon Page with an 11 part series touring their innovative ecovillage: https://www.patreon.com/dancingrabbit Ryan and Amanda also talk a lot about the "Directors cut" version of Within Reach which is available at ryanao.com here: http://bit.ly/withinreachdirectorscut A brief mention at the very end of the episode is "The Tushy" on Amazon at: http://bit.ly/thefliptushy and Ryan also mentions a deeply inspiring new TV Show called Initiation on Gaia.com with Matias De Stefano which has some ideas about how to look at things like huge collective traumas as something we can flip into a different perspective that we can learn from and appreciate it's value (like how to look at the Holocaust that acted as a positive growth and evolution for humanity to grow from).
Ryan Ao is the founder/director of AO Productions https://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact Ryan@ryanao.com to share your flip story on this podcast.
17-Cindy Marshall - "Drugs to Ayurveda"
Ryan Ao, interviews Cindy Marshall in this episode 17 of The Flip. Ryan met Cindy through Chantal Alcaraz, a previous guest on "The Flip" (Episode 5 here in case you want to listen to that). They met through Ayurveda training courses. Cindy, through some minor drug experimentation in her youth, ended up having bad internal reactions to them and developed "Depersonalization Disorder" (DP) and was only able to heal it years later through the Daily Habits and Rhythms of Ayurveda which she now teaches for a career. Topics covered include her recommendations for alternatives to altered states like nature, meditation, Ayurveda and more. For some people marijuana, LSD, or childhood trauma, can cause stress, anxiety, depression or in some cases like Cindy, DP. Additional topics: circadian rhythms, solutions for getting better sleep, daily habits of Ayurveda which she believes can heal anything even stage 4 cancer and help you live to over 100 years old. A link she recommends is www.dprecovery.com as well as the book DP Manual at www.dpmanual.com You can connect with Cindy and work with her Beyond Well course focused on Daily Habits of Ayurveda at: beyondwellliving.com Ryan Ao is the founder/director of AO Productions https://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact Ryan@ryanao.com to share your flip story on this podcast.
16-Anastasia Ao - "Denied to Iceskater"
15-Eric Tyrone Brown - "Fired to Mystic"
14-Janel Vitale - "Wrenchthrower to Sexhealer"
13-Nate Owens-"Cancer to Actor"
12-Delia Roberts-"Poverty to Collegiate"
11-Dr. Brad Larsen-"Caretaker to Adventurer"
Ryan Ao, interviews Dr. Brad Larsen in this episode 11 of the flip. Ryan met Brad through filming his inspirational speaking engagements. Brad is a dentist who became a caretaker for his wife 45 years ago. She passed away recently after an extra 25 years together with Brad beyond what the doctors had predicted. During her long struggle with MS Brad became her caretaker. During these decades, they both learned together that is was in both of their best interest for Brad to be consistent with his self-care, so he could have a full cup to be her caretaker. This led to his embracing adventuring and now even though she has passed, he is able to be grateful for what time they did spend together and keep adventuring. You can connect with him at: https://www.facebook.com/brad.larsen.9 and his website at https://drbradlarsen.com/ where you can book him as an inspirational speaker. You can see the promotional video Ryan filmed of him with more inspiring stories with him water skiing in it here: https://bit.ly/38JRiOR Ryan Ao is the founder/director of AO Productions https://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact Ryan@ryanao.com to share your flip story on this podcast.
10-Sarah Adams-"UCLA to Starseeder"
9-Dr. Patch Adams - "Suicidal to HumorDoctor"
Ryan Ao, interviews Dr. Patch Adams in this episode 9 of the flip. Robin Williams portrayed Dr. Patch Adams in the Hollywood film "Patch Adams". With the passing of Robin Williams to suicide, Ryan was deeply saddened and worked on a documentary film about Robin Williams, to bring about awareness to suicide and depression. In the movie Patch Adams, Robin Williams portrayed the suicidal Patch Adams who was in a mental institution. Patch's story of his flip started in that mental hospital where his roommate was afraid of an imaginary army of squirrels. Patch was able to help his roommate heal through humor in that situation which led him to get out of the mental hospital and into a fabled medical school career where he challenged Western Medicine to treat patients more humanely...and he used humor to illustrate how.. Topics covered include: loving yourself, serving others, having more fun, spending time in nature and with the fine arts, and more. Patch also of course talks deeply about his connection to Robin Williams and gives us all some healing insights to his life. If you want to connect with Patch Adams, you can find him at www.patchadams.org Patch does not use email. If you would like to contact Patch, please contact him at the P.O. Box on that website as he responds to ALL his letters. You can learn more about his Free Hospital and sustainable community called the "The Gesundheit Institute Hospital" at: https://www.patchadams.org/gesundheit/hospital-project/ and he warmly welcomes donations so he can see the hospital built during his lifetime (he did not profit much from the Robin Williams movie). To see images that Patch shared with Ryan as you can hear during the interview you can see them at: https://ryanao.smugmug.com/Movies/Finding-Hope-Through-Robin/Patch-Adams-Interview/ Ryan Ao is the founder/director of AO Productions www.ryanao.com, which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact Ryan@ryanao.com to share your flip story on this podcast.
8-Derek Alan Rowe - "Waster to Reuser"
Ryan Ao, interviews Derek Alan Rowe in this episode 8 of the flip. Derek's is Ryan's video production colleague starting with their documentary film project "Within Reach" through projects they continue to work on to this day . The flip in his life draws upon him grappling with the question "why" when it came to all the waste generated from restaurant to-go containers. Through a series of events, he was able to help co-found a pioneering group called "Green-to-go" which is a reusable to-go container check-out concept starting in Durham, NC. Topics covered include doing what is most energizing you in life, finding inefficiencies and asking yourself "why" to find solutions, marketing ideas, synchronicities, listening to your gut, the recycling system, and more. They were featured on a national PBS story here: https://www.pbs.org/video/green-to-go-1534886567/ If you want to connect with Derek, you can find him at www.doctrinecreative.com and you can learn more about green to go at: durhamgreentogo.com Ryan Ao is the founder/director of AO Productions www.ryanao.com, which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact Ryan@ryanao.com to share your flip story on this podcast.
7-Sara Pelfry - "Colonialist to Reconciler"
6-Sudevi Voula Mossé - "Tumor to Entrepreneur"
5 - Chantel Alcaraz, "Cancer to Ayurveda"
Ryan Ao, interviews Chantel Alcaraz in this episode 5 of the flip. Chantel and Ryan connected in 2015 while both were working at Natural Grocers in Casper, Wyoming. She has an amazingly inspirational story of her struggle with childhood trauma, surviving childhood Leukemia, parasites and other health issues in India, and then through it all finding her passion and calling in becoming a healer through Ayurvedic Medicine. There is a lot of discussion about using "The Flip" to listen to your body, to help overcome issues we may not even realize are there under the surface. Other topics include "SIBO" Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, Pancha Karma Cleansing Programs, and how to get diagnosed and healed through Ayurvedic practice. The Banyon Botanicals test mentioned can be found here: https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/dosha-quiz/ You can see Chantel's website to find our more about her Ayurvedic offerings: http://www.abhasawellness.com Instagram: @abhasawellness Hosted by Ryan Ao, of AO Productions http://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact AO Productions to get a free estimate within 24 hours.
4 - Yana Ludwig - "Lymes to US Senate"
Ryan Ao, interviews Yana Ludwig in this episode 4 of the flip. Yana and Ryan connected in 2007 while both were involved in the intentional/sustainable communities movement. She has an amazingly inspirational story of her struggle with Lyme Disease and yet, after facing her own body pain for the past many years with it, and even facing her own mortality at times, she is now running for US Senator for Wyoming. Her story and platform embrace the phrase "Connecting with Humanity". There is a lot of discussion about using "The Flip" from a new perspective, of not "victim shaming" or saying "what bad happens to you is for a reason", as well as how authentically being yourself is important, especially even in politics and overcoming the stigma of having a weakness like a lifelong health issue. Many other ranges of topics are covered including her platform, issues in Wyoming, and the nation. You can see her campaign pages here: Facebook: @yanaforwyo Twitter: @4wyo WEBSITE: http://www.yana4wyo.com and she also is part of a podcast which you can hear more of here: Solidarity House: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solidarity-house-cooperative/id1449059539 Hosted by Ryan Ao, of AO Productions http://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact AO Productions to get a free estimate within 24 hours.
3 - Jeanette Hieter - "Divorce to Reiki"
Ryan Ao, interviews Jeanette Hieter in this episode 3 of the flip. Jeanette and Ryan connected just hours before this was recorded when they were connecting about a commercial video production for Jeanette to possibly act in. She has an amazingly inspirational story of being in a low place in life, a challenged marriage, and a failing attempt to start her own business as a Reiki Master healer. She hit rock bottom, ended up with a divorce, and through turning inward, was able to heal, and find a path to a successful Reiki business as well as teaching. There is a lot of discussion about using "The Flip" to build a successful business, as well as how authentically being yourself is the best place to be in marketing your business. She also hosts her own podcast which you can hear more of here: http://www.soundcloud.com/thedivinitywithin Her Reiki business website is here: http://www.thedivinitywithin.com Hosted by Ryan Ao, of AO Productions http://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact AO Productions to get a free estimate within 24 hours.
2 - Gary Reid - "Amputation to Musician"
Ryan Ao, interviews Gary Reid in this episode 2 of the flip. Gary and Ryan met on Kauai when the both lived there many years ago. Gary is a traveling busker musician and is also missing one leg. He has an inspiring story of flipping his challenging life circumstances into a joyful existence. You can hear more of his music at: https://garyreidmusic.bandcamp.com/ Hosted by Ryan Ao, of AO Productions http://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact AO Productions to get a free estimate within 24 hours.
1 - Ryan Ao - "Castaway to Changemaker"
Ryan Ao, the host of "The Flip" podcast, starts it off with his own flip. Starting as a newborn, and all the way through the end of his childhood and into early adulthood, both his birth parents and his adoptive parents, abandoned him, leaving him with a new perspective on life. One in which the "rock tumbler" of life, shoved him into life rough and jagged, and spit him out decades later polished and smooth. The experience has left him with a heart for helping others heal and he see's this "flip" as his biggest lesson in how to take a bad situation and see it for it's positives. Hopefully this story is not only a gift to you in helping you see your own "flip" in life or in a situation, but that it inspires you to share your flip with this podcast. If you want to share your Flip, just go to: https://anchor.fm/ryan-ao and click "send voice message" and Ryan will contact you to schedule your podcast interview! Hosted by Ryan Ao, of AO Productions http://www.ryanao.com which focuses on Emotion driven story, commercial media that unifies your brand elegance with the human experience. Contact AO Productions to get a free estimate within 24 hours.