The Virtual Couch

Nikki Kimball, one of the greatest ultra runners of all time, joins Tony on the podcast to talk about her battle with severe depression. Nikki's ultra running accomplishments are unparalleled, she is a 3x winner of the prestigious Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run as well as a winner of the world-renowned Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc (UTMB) a 170 km mountain race through many of the highest peaks in Europe. She has won the Marathon De Sables, a 6-day 251 km stage race through the deserts of Morocco and her incredible journey on Vermont's 273 mile Long Trail was the focus of the documentary Finding Traction, available on Netflix. This episode is sponsored by Eli's Extracts, manufacturers of all-natural, organic shave cream, use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off your order at elis-extracts.com and by pathbackrecovery.com an online program that will help you, or someone you love overcome pornography addiction or compulsive sexual behavior.

Tony plays the audio portion of his interview with Robyn Copa of Parenting Magic https://www.facebook.com/parentingmagic/ Visit the Parenting Magic Facebook page for the video. Robyn invited Tony on to discuss teaching children how to develop empathy. They also covered parenting tips, couples communication and several other parenting/couples topics. This episode is sponsored by Eli’s Extracts, all natural, organic shave cream, use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off any order at www.elis-extracts.com and pathbackrecovery.com, Tony’s online pornography addiction recovery program. Also, if you’re looking for internet monitoring software for the entire family, go to http://www.covenanteyes.com/ and use coupon code virtualcouch to start monitoring all of your devices today.

Shauna Roberts makes her 2nd appearance on The Virtual Couch to talk about establishing healthy boundaries. Tis the season for spending time with family which can often trigger boundary issues! Shauna provides a checklist to help you understand if you may have issues identifying and setting healthy boundaries, and then Shauna and Tony discuss strategies of how to set boundaries with family, including with your kids. Contact Shauna at shauna@bridgescounselingcenter.com for more information on her class/seminar on setting boundaries. This episode is sponsored by Eli’s Extracts, all natural, organic shave cream, use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off any order at www.elis-extracts.com and pathbackrecovery.com, Tony’s online pornography addiction recovery program. Also, if you’re looking for internet monitoring software for the entire family, go to http://www.covenanteyes.com/ and use coupon code virtualcouch to start monitoring all of your devices today.

Mikela Olsen, former professional baseball player drafted by the Florida Marlins, and current youth trainer and youth/high school/college baseball coach, talks about the pressure of youth sports, when it’s OK to specialize in one-sport, what the travel teams have done to the youth sports movement as well as a very important tool to help with the mental aspect of sports. He also shares what parents can do to help their kids succeed in sports and gives insight from his childhood on what it takes to create a professional athlete. Kela can be found at goldenspikesbaseball.net This episode was sponsored by Eli’s Extracts www.elis-extracts.com use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off your next order of their all-natural, organic shave creams and pathbackrecovery.com Tony’s online pornography addiction recovery program.

Darlene Davis, LMFT, joins Tony to talk about her battle through chronic pain, and how it eventually led her to her career as a therapist. Darlene suffered severe back pain after a horrific car crash in her teens that eventually led to her having to leave a career that she loved. Darlene’s journey from debilitating pain, career loss, therapy, eventual career change and healing will speak to anyone who is suffering with chronic pain as well as those who aren’t sure how to interact with people in their lives who suffer. Darlene is the founder and clinical director of HOPE Counseling Center hope-counselingcenter.org and you can find her at darlenedavismft.com. This episode was sponsored by Eli’s Extracts www.elis-extracts.com use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off your next order of their all-natural, organic shave creams and pathbackrecovery.com Tony’s online pornography addiction recovery program.

Dr. Sean Davis, PhD, founder of thedavisgroup.org author/co-author of several popular books on couples therapy, hundreds of publications on a variety of subjects in the mental health field, professor, lecturer and casual turkey-observer (listen to the episode to learn more!). Dr. Davis shares his insight on why couples are often resistant to coming into therapy, how to know if you feel a fit with your therapist and at the end of the episode he shares some very good information on building/rebuilding trust. This episode is sponsored by www.elis-extracts.com use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off any order, and by pathbackrecovery.com if you are anyone you know needs help breaking free from pornography addiction or compulsive sexual behavior please visit pathbackrecovery.com.

Tony explains why we need to have conversations about pornography with our families NOW! He shares some of the ways that pornography effects our children, and why we need to be able to talk with our kids from a place of love, and not fear, in order to enact great change. He explains what the brain does with pornographic images, and how the cycle of addiction works, as well as what we can do to break up that cycle. This episode is sponsored by The Path Back, an online faith-based recovery program for pornography addiction http://pathbackrecovery.com

Tony describes the Emotional Baseline and how raising yours will change your life for the better. What is an emotional baseline, what role does it play in overcoming depression, addiction, anxiety, and how to establish self-care strategies that will make you a better person. This episode is sponsored by www.elis-extracts.com use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off and by pathbackrecovery.com to overcome pornography addiction. Submit your questions through http://virtualcouch.xyz

Shauna Roberts, LMFT, joins Tony to answer your questions including how to deal with anger, where it comes from and the one myth about what to do when you're angry that actually does more harm than good. They also answer questions about going to therapy, how to interact with your therapist and Tony shares the tale of Pierre San Trey. This episode of the Virtual Couch is sponsored by Eli’s Extracts, manufacturers of all-natural, organic shaving creams for men and women. Visit elis-extracts.com and use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off your purchases and visit pathbackrecovery.com to help break free from pornography addiction and compulsive sexual behavior.

Ultra Runner Podcast Host Eric Schranz joins Tony to talk about making the decision to become a stay-at-home dad after the birth of his first child, along with all of the struggles, comments and expectations from others, including Eric’s wife. He talks about the difficulties of starting his podcast which quickly grew from a hobby into something that could bring in income and how the podcast almost cost Eric his marriage. Plus, one of the funniest stories you’ll ever hear involving Eric’s 2-year-old daughter at the time, a leg cast and a lunch of peaches. Eric’s podcast can be found at ultrarunnerpodcast.com. This episode is sponsored by elis-extract.com use virtualcouch for 25% off any order of their all-natural, organic shave creams scented with essential oils.

Paul Gilmartin, comedian, and host of the Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast, talks about his own struggles with depression, what led him to start his podcast, how meditation has helped him, what he does for self-care and why we need to continue to destigmatize and talk about mental health more in society. Find Paul at http://mentalpod.com To support the pod please visit http://virtualcouch.xyz and click the donate button. This episode sponsored by http://elis-extracts.com coupon code “virtualcouch” for 25% off.

In this special “race report” episode of the Virtual Couch, Tony talks about his experience running the Cuyamaca 100k (63.3 mile race) on Saturday focusing particularly on how he “mindfulnessed the heck” out of the race having toe’d the starting line with the least amount of preparation in his 20 plus years of running. He answers questions that listeners have asked about ultra marathon running, and weaves in some life lessons from competing in ultra marathons including the awareness example involving a 4-door Porsche and his somewhat-girly-looking bug!

In this episode Tony tackles how to tackle major problems in life that can cause you to feel stuck. He gives 6 steps for getting “unstuck” and shares how to implement these steps in your life. He also shares the story of how he found himself the recipient of nearly 200 magazine subscriptions during his freshman year of college. This episode was sponsored by Eli’s Extracts all-natural, organic shave cream. Use coupon code “virtualcouch” at elis-extracts.com to receive 25% off your order.

As I woke up today to the news of the tragedy in Las Vegas I felt impressed to record a short podcast to share a few thoughts on processing tragedy with your teens and children. I believe it is imperative to help them not only work though the myriad of emotions that I am sure they are and will be feeling, but it is equally important to try and help them look for hope moving forward.

In this episode Tony shares his one-man mission to debunk the biggest myth in the world of habit change. This episode is sure to change your opinion on what it takes to create new habits and give you hope that you, too, can create new habits even if you feel like you’ve been unsuccessful in the past. Tony also shares a story about “getting the fudge first” aka the one-hour Disneyland shopper’s pass. This episode is sponsored by Eli's Extracts, manufacturers of all-natural, organic shave creams. Use coupon code virtualcouch for 25% off your purchase at www.elis-extracts.com