Conversations on Healing & Growth
Martin Perkins and Ben Umstead discuss the challenges and opportunities to Heal & Grow as we navigate being our best selves.
Featuring:
- Interviews with people moving the needle in our world
- Deep discussion on the inner practices that help us access our own wisdom
- Commentary on how we interact with a world in desperate need of healthy change
Learn more about Healing & Growth at martinperkins.com
Episodes

17 minutes ago
17 minutes ago
28 min
Inspired by the b-side medley of The Beatles’ “Abbey Road, we gather a seemingly loose assortment of ideas and topics that we hope, through our conversation, come together. We chat about Earth Overshoot Day, the sci-fi universe “Tales From The Loop” and how one can benefit from a slow and steady creative process.

Aug 11, 2026
Aug 11, 2026
39 min
In this episode, we question the value and validity of work and how we work, a challenge to redefine the notion of work. At the core of this redefinition is what it means to be natural.

Jul 28, 2026
Jul 28, 2026
49 min
In part 2 of our series on mental health, we return to Eleanor Roosevelt's life and imagine a "New Deal" for mental health services, advocacy and practices in our present world.

Jul 14, 2026
Jul 14, 2026
19 min
In this episode, we talk about, both personally and historically, mental health as it has unfolded in American Life.

Jun 30, 2026

Jun 16, 2026
Jun 16, 2026
25 min
In this pod we discuss how a focus on a shared existence brings us closer together and closer to healthy solutions for our troubled world.

Jun 11, 2026
Jun 11, 2026
2 min
In this short pod, we share our deepest gratitude to you our listeners and a short description of our upcoming episode.

Jun 2, 2026
Jun 2, 2026
15 min
As we explore the origins of how goods and services became monetized, we turn our attention to its roots in colonization and the enclosure of common lands and goods.

May 19, 2026
May 19, 2026
24 min
In part 1 of our exploration of Egalitarian Regeneration, we delve into the role of pre-colonial communities in revealing to us ways to see interconnection and creation in our contemporary world.

May 5, 2026
May 5, 2026
26 min
In this episode, we revisit the extraordinary benefits of the Four Forms of Rest as a way to regenerate our lives in a chaotic world.

Apr 21, 2026
Apr 21, 2026
36 min
Before social or political change must come a conscious revolution to our world. In this episode, Martin and Ben discuss how to bring this revolution into being.

Apr 7, 2026
Apr 7, 2026
32 min
In this episode Ben and Martin discuss how to cultivate conscious change in an increasingly weird world.

Mar 24, 2026
Mar 24, 2026
32 min
Martin and Ben dive into the nature of uncertainty, its roots, challenges, and gifts; offering a conversation on the personal nature of uncertainty, its communal expressions, as well as the practices that are needed to navigate uncertainty in healthy ways.

Mar 10, 2026
Mar 10, 2026
32 min
In this episode, Ben and Martin discuss the challenges and treasures of living a congruent life. Being in practice with being present, right now, means acknowledging and grieving a world spinning wildly on its axis.

Feb 24, 2026
Feb 24, 2026
15 min
In this episode, Martin, Ben, and our guest, Luna, share a lively conversation around the creation of a Salt Cave and the challenges that come with a co-creative process.

Feb 10, 2026
Feb 10, 2026
52 min
In this episode, Martin and Ben dive into the world of reading books and its ability to help us Heal & Grow ourselves and our world.

Jan 27, 2026
Jan 27, 2026
12 min
As national and international systems of governance disintegrate, Martin and Ben navigate a path of conscious integration in letting go of the Ascension Myth through the inspiring wisdom of Rumi and Tibetan Buddhist monk and author Pema Chodren.

Jan 13, 2026
Jan 13, 2026
23 min
In today's episode, Martin and Ben dive into the value of being present with our deep feelings rather than redirecting or replacing them with cognition or consumption.

Dec 30, 2025
Dec 30, 2025
32 min
Ben and Martin wrap up 2025 by exploring what it means to embrace stillness and mystery in a soul-led life.

Dec 16, 2025
Dec 16, 2025
46 min
Ben and Martin revisit an early episode from July 2024, No Longer Riding on the Merry-Go-Round, where they provide a fresh perspective on the inner muse and creating a vibrant life in partnership with the world around us.

Dec 2, 2025
Dec 2, 2025
12 min
In this episode we dramatically explore the inner voices that are expressed as we Heal & Grow. We encourage you, the listener, to find within yourself your version of how these three voices find union in your being. This union of sorts is how we access our own remarkable life.

Nov 18, 2025
Nov 18, 2025
10 min
Blazing colors countered by the soft patter of falling leaves, the sounds of birds, crickets, squirrels. We feel the cool dry air enter our bodies... we let ourselves feel an entirely different pace of life... Yes, something begins to shift…

Nov 4, 2025
Nov 4, 2025
32 min
In a world of political and social division, driven by the culture of winning and losing, how do we expand the love we share with our communities through a conscious practice with ourselves? How do we bring kindness and simplicity into the conversation and actively create and nurture community?

Oct 21, 2025
Oct 21, 2025
24 min
In a world whirling with superficiality, Ben and Martin discuss the nature of the sacred and how we access it within ourselves and in connection with the world around us.

Oct 7, 2025
Oct 7, 2025
23 min
In this episode, Ben interviews Zeke Perkins, a labor organizer with an extensive history over the last 15 years in the protest movement. He shares his experience tracking, recording and interacting with Commander Bovino and his 80 U.S. Border Patrol agents as they moved through Chicago as an occupying army on Sunday, September 28th, 2025.









