Joni McGary Talks with People
Joni McGary Talks with People
Podcast Description
A podcast exploring how to navigate life when trust in institutions, media, and conventional wisdom has faltered. Join me as I engage with guests across a wide variety of topics, all connected by a central thread:
In this chaotic landscape, how do you create a life of genuine happiness, health, and meaning? How do you move from cynicism to wisdom, from anxiety to freedom? jonimcgary.substack.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on navigating life amidst declining trust in institutions, media, and traditional wisdom, with themes including personal freedom, the impacts of technocracy, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and misinformation. Episodes feature discussions around complex topics like the implications of the GENIUS Act and practical advice on cultivating happiness and meaningful existence in challenging times.
Joni McGary Talks with People is for anyone who’s lost all faith in institutional narratives and theatrics and is wondering how to actually live well right now. Host Joni McGary (co-founded No College Mandates) has real conversations with researchers, doctors, writers, artists, and independent thinkers about everything from medical freedom and pandemic policies to beauty, craft, community, and what it means to rebuild relationships and society when trust has been crushed. It’s thoughtful, relaxed, with no frenzied spin—just genuine talks with interesting people who know things.
Lisa Benink was an elderly care physician in the Netherlands who spent her career thoughtfully weaning vulnerable patients off the avalanche of drugs they’d been prescribed, watching them come alive again in the process. She was recognized for her skill and compassion by patients, their families, and the medical establishment at a national level. During COVID, she became disillusioned when she witnessed the removal of informed consent through vaccine coercion and mandates, and saw firsthand the cruel isolation forced upon her elderly patients in the name of keeping them safe. Her disillusionment prompted her to leave medicine and search for real healing — for herself and her patients — that could transcend the strict confines of conventional care.
Around that time, a friend introduced her to ayahuasca, specifically the Santo Daime tradition founded in Brazil, where Lisa now lives. What followed was a years-long spiritual immersion that has reshaped how she understands the body, healing, and what medicine was always missing. We talk about her remarkable and inspiring journey and the power of this plant medicine to transform. We also discuss the risk of pharmaceutical capture, the sacred versus the clinical, and the looming threat of plant medicines being swallowed by industry.
Find Lisa Bennink:
On Substack: Strelitzia
On X: @strelitzia_heal
Essays by Lisa Bennink:
Medicalization of Our Spiritual Life
Why I Left The Healthcare System
Bio:
Elisabeth (Lisa) J.C. Bennink, MD, MA, is a Dutch elderly care physician with a Master’s degree in Philosophy (with honors) from the University of Groningen. She has extensive experience in geriatric medicine, dementia care, and palliative care, with a focus on reducing polypharmacy. During her medical career in the Netherlands, she was commissioned by healthcare insurers to develop innovative care models for elderly patients. In December 2020, she stepped away from conventional medical practice due to concerns about restrictive healthcare policies. She relocated to Brazil, where she studies indigenous spiritual traditions and ayahuasca culture.
Learn more about CrowdHealth:
I recently stopped purchasing health insurance and opted into CrowdHealth instead. Check it out at JoinCrowdHealth.com
If you join, use code JONI to get a discount on your first three months of membership. There are no enrollment periods, so you can join any time. If you are tired of supporting the broken, consumer-hostile system of health insurance, check out CrowdHealth.
For the entire scoop on CrowdHealth, here’s the link to my very informative interview with their CEO Andy Schoonover.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jonimcgary.substack.com
Disclaimer
This podcast’s information is provided for general reference and was obtained from publicly accessible sources. The Podcast Collaborative neither produces nor verifies the content, accuracy, or suitability of this podcast. Views and opinions belong solely to the podcast creators and guests.
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