Episode 20The High-Functioning AddictA Foraging Teacher on How Plants Saved His LifeGuest: Robin Halford — forager, somatic teacher and founder of EatWeedsTrigger WarningThis episode contains themes of addiction, homelessness and drug use. Please be aware before listening.Episode DescriptionRobin Halford spent years running a digital marketing training company — 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. He also spent years as a drug addict, hiding it well enough that he could stand in front of professional chefs, deliver a three-hour session, and nobody would know. High functioning, in the specific sense that he could still do the work. But as Robin says: the rest of your life is a shit show.By the time he hit rock bottom, his wife had divorced him, he’d lost his house, his daughter didn’t want to see him, he had a granddaughter he wasn’t allowed to meet, and none of his friends wanted him around. He ended up homeless for over a year — not a rough sleeper, but wandering Britain, teaching plants in exchange for a bed and a meal.In this conversation, Robin traces his story from a brutal childhood and an early calling to the priesthood, through 20 years of using, through getting clean in a Buddhist recovery community in Thailand, to the work he now does with plants — teaching people to forage, to heal, and to feel their body again through direct sensory experience.This is a conversation based in reality, not romanticism. It goes to some dark places and comes back with something real.Timestamps00:00 That’s What Happens When You’re a Really Good Drug Addict01:21 Talk Ten — Quickfire Questions with Robin03:37 The Calling to the Priesthood — Running Away From His Body07:20 A Brutal Childhood — Not Unusual, But Real07:50 Religion as a Drug — A Way to Bypass the Existential Void08:30 The Independent Catholic Bishop and the Contemplative Group10:15 The Out of Body Experience — The Choice to Come Back12:45 Belief Systems and Why He Left — I Want Direct Experience14:30 Setting Up EatWeeds in 200816:00 The Digital Marketing Company — 15 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week18:30 When the Addiction Started to Take Hold21:00 The High-Functioning Addict — Delivering Three-Hour Sessions High as a Kite24:00 Eye Drops and Masking — How He Hid It26:00 The Friends Leaving — Can’t Deal With You, Rob28:00 How Good Could You Be If You Weren’t Using?30:30 Getting Clean in a Buddhist Recovery Community in Thailand31:30 The Fear That He Wouldn’t Be Able to Create Without the Drugs32:00 Get Out of Your Head, Come to Your Senses33:00 The TED Conference in Edinburgh — Better Sober35:00 Losing Everything — Wife, House, Daughter, Granddaughter37:00 Homeless for Over a Year — Teaching Plants for a Bed and a Meal40:00 Not a Rough Sleeper, But Homeless Nonetheless42:00 How Plants Became the Route Back Into His Body44:00 The Radio Analogy — Turning Up the Volume on Feeling46:00 The Practices That Kept Him From Dying48:00 Trauma in the Body — Monsters in the Dungeon50:00 Life Is the Workshop — Not a Process Weekend52:00 How Are You Behaving Every Day? That’s the Practice54:00 The Car Crash — Nine Lives Used Up55:27 Dom’s Closing ReflectionYou can find Robin at;W: https://www.eatweeds.co.ukW: https://www.thewayofdomeiIG:https://www.instagram.com/robinharfordofficial/ResourcesIf this episode has raised issues for you:Narcotics Anonymous UK: 0300 999 1212 — ukna.orgAlcoholics Anonymous UK: 0800 9177 650 — alcoholics-anonymous.org.ukSamaritans — free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: 116 123All previous Torque episodes available atTorque - Hosted by Dom FioreSome Episodes to tryFrom Patrol To Podium - Torque | AcastDebunking Sleep Myths - Torque | AcastLessons From A Father's Influence - Torque | AcastDiving Into Olympic Pressure - Torque | AcastOff Screen - Torque | AcastDo You Feel Frozen Out? - Torque | AcastWhat Makes A Man? Part 1 - From Anger to Understanding, A Journey of Growth - Torque | AcastWe want to hear from youGet in touch throughEmail - connect@mantorquexy.com Instagram / Facebook / TikTok - @mantorquexySubscribe and leave a reviewOriginal music composed and used with permission from Alex Tilley Video Editing for Socials assistance provided by Lily O'Connor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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