Free & Open Mind

Most of us build an identity out of a job title. Alexi Bracey spent 30 years building hers over a stove — chef, feeder of people, the one who walked out of the kitchen at a remote fishing lodge to make the guests laugh...

From Blueprints to Sourdough: Are You Feeding Your Body… or Your B.S.? What makes someone walk away from a successful engineering career to spend three days on a single loaf of bread? In this episode, Hardy Brooklyn...

Meet John R. Spender — landscaper-turned-life coach, bestselling author, and director of the award-winning documentary The Gift in Adversity. In this episode of The Free and Open Mind, John reveals how childhood...

Wired for Connection isn’t a networking hack—it’s a reality check on the circuits that actually power your life. In this solo episode, Hardy Brooklyn pulls back the curtain on his Toastmasters speech and goes deeper...

This Friday on Free & Open Mind, Hardy and Stan sit down with Mike Pierce, creator of The Four Energy Fields — a framework born from over a decade of watching people heal through hypnosis, Reiki, breathwork, meditation...

What do you do when the people who taught you hard work, hustle, and DIY grit… also become the biggest drain on your mental health? In this raw, honest conversation, financial advisor Andrew Quebbemann sits down with...

She overcame societal expectations by becoming pregnant before marriage, challenged a surgeon who claimed women could not be both doctors and mothers, and established the first inclusive program for deaf students in a...

In this episode of Free & Open Mind , Hardy Brooklyn and Stan Nelson sit down with C.J. Scarlett – “The Badass Grandma” : survivor, advocate, Marine Corps vet, and creator of the Heroic Kids Safety Game . She shares how...

Ever taught everyone else to be “free and open” while secretly running your own life like a locked-down server room? In this solo(ish) origin episode, Hardy Brooklyn (aka Leonard Shostak) and co-host Stan Nelson pull...

What would you actually risk to be true to yourself? Drop out of school to be a rapper? Walk away from a comfy corporate job? Tell a TV director, “Dude, I don’t even know how to light this cigarette”? In this episode of...

What if the “safe” life you were told to want is exactly what’s draining your soul? In this episode of Free & Open Mind , Hardy Brooklyn sits down with Alexis Crisp —personal trainer, life coach, and self-described...

Are you actually calm… or just numb ? In this episode of The Free & Open Mind, Hardy Brooklyn and co-host Stan Nelson sit down with psychologist and stress expert Gudrun to unpack “borrowed calm” — those moments when...

What if your “quiet” isn’t a mask at all—but a survival tool your brain built on purpose? In this follow‑up to our episode on masks and masking, Hardy and Stan revisit the three-mask framework (performer, peacekeeper...

When was the last time you walked into a room — a meeting, a family dinner, a tough conversation — and were completely, unapologetically yourself? In this episode of The Free & Open Mind , Hardy Brooklyn breaks down why...

What does a hot air balloon in 1783 France have to do with your life and business today? In this episode of The Free & Open Mind , Leonard (Hardy Brooklyn) and Stan revisit the story of the Montgolfier brothers and the...