After our previous powerful episode with Keegan Downer, Mackenzie & Loren were inspired to dig deeper into their own past journeys. They weren’t always purposeful wanderers themselves!

Loren had some traumatic life experiences in the eighth grade that turned to drugs & as a coping mechanism. Then after “sleepwalking through high school”, she was able to reflect on her experiences and be more open about what happened.

“When we’re younger, we try to chase these connections, these real authentic experiences... whether it’s through help of alcohol, or bed sheets in a dark room... we truly think we’re making these deep connections that way. We’re chasing connections.”

What can you learn from vulnerability? It doesn’t come from the action of it but comes from when we wrestle with the specific aspects of control vs. vulnerability. Take the time, step back and look at yourself - was I truly vulnerable or did I hold something back? Reflecting back is what will help you learn these lessons.

When we really lean into this level of ‘we’re here together for a mutual understanding and a mutual reason’, it makes vulnerability so much easier. Sharing today has been easier because of this safe space and grounding with being with someone (Mackenzie) that has made me feel safe. I hope anyone listening can find someone in your life where you feel like you have that level of safety, where you can both listen and support. When we take a step back and look around - it starts with us! That’s when the world around us starts to change.

You are in control of your own healing, and you have the power to bring yourself to a place of changing your own life and changing others. It's a beautiful world out there, full of beautiful people.

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram

Mental health is such an important topic, and Keegan Downer has an intense story. Chief Vision Officer of Mindful Meds, he has walked through so many trials throughout his life to get to where he is today. His story is vulnerable, and powerful.

Keegan’s story into purposeful wandering begins with being raised with divorced parents who had very different perspectives on parenting and rules. His dad had a prolific drinking problem and operated on no rules. His mother was the opposite. In college, a one-night stand changed the perspective of the next 9 years of his life entirely and led to the beginning of his alcoholic addiction. It caused his very first taste of depression and anxiety. He started drinking after his shifts as a bartender, and the more that went on, the more it deteriorated him.

“Kids aren’t really taught how to look out for mental illness. I was looking for someone to grab me from the back and save me, but it just never came… I could never catch this addiction.”

After some very close calls with his health, he went to rehab, which changed his life and gave him the comeback he desperately needed. He then discovered the power of mushrooms, which led him to his business Mindful Meds.

“I don’t know a way that can catapult you into a new way of thinking other than psychedelics of mushrooms.”

Macro and micro dosing are both very helpful in mental health. Keegan himself does them every three months. Micro dosing might be one of the biggest breakthroughs in mental health history. You’re not supposed to feel the micro dose, you’re supposed to be fully functional. Keegan’s life story which led him to starting this business is truly inspiring, you do not want to miss hearing out on his truths.

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram

Keegan Downer - Founder of Mindful Meds: website | instagram  

Capital T Truth will always lead you home. Small t truth will almost always lead you away. In this episode, Loren and Mackenzie are joined by good friend and mentor Greg German as they discuss Truth, unconscious beliefs and Akashic readings.

What brought Greg to a place of purposeful wandering? Through some hard turns earlier in his life, Greg ended up in prison, where he realized ‘surrender is a beautiful lesson and way to live’. That experience completely transformed his outlook and enabled him to discover and listen to his intuition deeply for the first time.

“The idea that we can be safer, or happier or more in power or more enough by power-steering our life in egoic ways of creating our identity and driving that is incomprehensible to me now. We must simply surrender. Make the choice to move love to whatever purpose puts in your path. Then you are wandering, and its blissful.”

Greg shares with our hosts his new exploration into the practice of Akashic record readings. This is the repository of all knowledge that has been accumulated in consciousness, which can be accessed through an intentional process of meditation and chanting. Intuition is a big part of his human experience. And through his practice, he was able to more fully understand how all intertwines with beliefs.

Beliefs are so powerful for persisting pain, for not thinking you’re not going to get that movement. Even if you objectively are doing the movement. Beliefs are so powerful.

“Sometimes when people are hard to love but we make the effort, we find an incredible level of power and deep freedom and autonomy. This understanding that I have the will and power to love anyone. And every time I love someone, I feel free because that's the truth. That’s a superpower.”

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram

Gregory German - Founder of LifeCraft: website | facebook | instagram  | linkedin

Have you ever been to toad school? In this episode, our hosts are joined by Helena and Segan from Earthlings as they dive deep into their journey with Psychedelics and how it allowed them to grow in their journey of purposeful wandering.

Helena and Segan’s discovery of 5MEODMT helped them in finding alignment with purpose. 5MEODMT is a naturally occurring substance that’s in the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad (western border of Mexico and US). They use a synthetic version (vegan, for marketing purposes). It’s a Psychedelic substance which creates this sense of connection with love and universal feeling of connectedness that we all have. Everyone’s journey with it is different but can be described with a curating a deep feeling of unity and connectedness.

So, what is the difference between the standard DMT vs. 5MEODMT? Molecularly they have the same base structure, but subjectively are very different. DMT is much more of a visual experience. 5MEO is much more of “a trip of your sense of being”. It’s a very emotional experience. Not very visual for most people.

“People feel safe to release and express things that they haven’t been able to release and express in so many years.”

Psychedelics do have very old roots, however, 5MEODMT holds more recent origins. Through Helena and Segan’s training in toad school and use of their intuition within their practices, they’re eager to help others find their own healing with the guidance of 5MEODMT.

“It can be transformative, it's very powerful. But it’s only powerful if the person allows it. It only sustains if the person sustains it.”

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram

How much do you know about your brain? This episode, our hosts are joined by Michelle, who comes from a rich background in both social work & wellness. She shares fascinating perspectives on cognitive behaviour and its role in our intuition.  

Michelle’s story began with a great childhood, entering college at 17 with a good support network of family and friends. Then, her life came to a huge derailment. She found herself facing a lot of pressure in finding a job that tied with her community, and then life then got harder as she encountered loss, a car accident, and other unfortunate events.

This then began her journey into purposeful wandering. Michelle LOVES talking about the parts of the brain. We live in a society that praises the cortical region (intelligence, skill sets, etc.) but we need to talk about those lower regions in the brain that impact our daily lives… our relationships, stress navigation, and emotions.

“Be kind to your brain and body when frustrated, they’re trying to keep you safe! The understanding of our brains to help us survive, but also thrive and have relationships and navigate the fun parts of being human”

Understanding the brain helps us zoom out and be able to work with the body instead of being more oppositional with it. Our body is basically always processing so much information without us knowing! You are the expert of your own life. Understanding and learning how to be more attuned with yourself and your body is essential. Stay curious my friends.

Anastasia Petunina - AP Movement & Mobility: website | youtube | instagram

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram

You’re only as good as you can recover. This week, Mackenzie & Loren are joined by jujitsu master Anastasia to talk about purposefully wandering in body movement and habits.

Mackenzie first met Anastasia at yoga teacher training. Anastasia has been a competitive athlete since she was 8 years old, in swimming & jujitsu. She was always strict in herself to achieve those goals but didn’t have joy elsewhere. Her identity was tied with it. After retiring from being a professional athlete, Anastasia wanted to find a way to overcome her fear of flexibility, and yoga made her feel good.

For her, purposeful wandering ties into mastering your body, being strong, flexible and comfortable in your body to be able to do anything. It takes 8 weeks for the habit to form and will never happen overnight. Life does go by pretty fast; 8 weeks might initially seem like a lot but then afterwards you realize it's really not as long!

“The body definitely needs time for adaptations to take place – so you have to do things at a consistent pace for the body to actually want to change.”

So, how did she go from a place of knowledge to a place of understanding? “Don’t just think about it – do it!” Take those principles recommended and put it into practice in your life. The mental level and physical level are completely different. Expectations can destroy you sometimes. Don’t let them hold you back but have them in check.

A lot of times, curiosity gets the best of us. Use that curiosity not to get us distracted, take it, and use it to your advantage! There are so many subtleties in our body we can get curious about.

Anastasia Petunia - AP Movement and Mobility: website | youtube | instagram

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram

When was the last time you felt free enough to act like a child? This week, Steph joins the podcast to discuss how to reconnect with your childhood self, the power of writing, and more. It’s time to find the inner child in you!

Steph is a colleague and friend of both Mackenzie and Loren, with deep connections in the health & wellness scene. His journey into purposeful wandering began with a desire to always keep the childhood vibes at play. So, how does one reconnect to their childhood self? Take something you liked to do as a child, something simple and safe and rediscover the beauty of it.

Keeping that childhood spirit within a life of passion is where the wandering aspect comes into it. As we age, we start to take life a little too seriously, and need explanation for everything. But we can just wander… and enjoy it. We all have a big kid inside of us.

“If you have a busy brain that won’t shut up at night, my goodness, write it down. It’s like taking a backpack off, your brain is empty, and it shuts down for you.”

Steph also began journaling recently, which was a good way of brain dumping. The act of writing things down, so you can see it, exposes so much. It’s almost self-therapy. Through these discoveries that turned writing into a nonnegotiable daily task, Steph feels more attuned to his intuition than ever. And that’s powerful.

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram

This week, we launch our first episode of our “Ordinary Leaders Series”, featuring Kai. Loren met Kai on the ski slopes of Vancouver, and instantly had a connection with his incredible story.

Currently a regional director of a consulting construction management company, Kai lives out a normal career while living out his life in purposeful wandering. A significant portion of his life was spent in the Christian faith, specifically as a fundamental evangelical Christian, which he found to end up hollow, and this evolved into the journey into finding his own truth. What does life mean to him? How can you be a guide for others?

Kai then distilled down all of his various teachings to basically come up with a personal philosophy boiling down to a simple purpose – to enable the people he interacts with in a way which propels them forward into their lives.

“I want people to be in a better place in their life than they were before they met me. Where they can be true to themselves.”

Life is short, and Kai compares talking to people like dancing. When you have a new partner, you need to learn how to lead and follow, and remember that every person you’re dancing with is a little bit different. Everyone tells a different story and walks in their own truth. Anyone that challenges you, or anyone that asks questions is a great thing. All you’ve got to do is know.

Loren Boccanfuso & Mackenzie Zavitz - Canopy Wellness: website | facebook | instagram