After 200+ ayahuasca ceremonies, former stock trader Yasha Shah learned something that changed everything: surrender beats strategy every time.

Sound impossible? That's your ego talking.

In this episode, I sit down with the founder of Mahadevi Ayahuasca Retreats to explore why burned-out coaches, founders, and CEOs—the ones who've already optimized everything, tried every framework, and still feel stuck—are turning to ancient plant medicine for the breakthrough they can't achieve anywhere else.

Yasha gets it—because he lived it. As a retail stock trader for 4.5 years, he built success on paper while spiraling into depression. His "dark night of the soul" led him from India to Nepal to the Colombian Amazon, where he found what no amount of strategic thinking could deliver: actual transformation.

Now training under Taita Miguel of the Kamsa tribe (12 generations of healers), Yasha works specifically with high-achievers ages 30-55 who've hit the ceiling of what conventional solutions can offer.

If you're a coach, founder, or CEO who's exhausted from performing at the top while feeling empty inside, this episode delivers:

• Why you feel stuck despite external success: The link between your wellbeing and performance that hustle culture deliberately ignores
• The surrender paradox: How the most successful people struggle hardest with letting go—and why that's exactly what's blocking your breakthrough
• Beyond the morning routine: Why another framework won't fix what's actually broken (and what will)
• Trust your body's intelligence: Stop ignoring the Sunday anxiety, the client dread, the gut feeling screaming that something needs to change
• The real ROI of transformation: Why working on yourself isn't selfish—it's the most leveraged thing you can do for your business and community

This episode isn't about selling you on ayahuasca. It's about understanding why the next level of your growth requires a completely different approach than what got you here.

✓ Coaches feeling the weight of holding space for everyone but themselves

✓ Founders who crushed their goals and still feel unfulfilled

✓ CEOs waking up with Sunday scaries about clients they resent

✓ Leaders who've "done the work" but know there's another layer waiting

✓ High-performers tired of performing

The 200-Ceremony Truth - Why the first 20-30 experiences are about healing trauma, and what comes after for those who stay on the path

Your Body Already Knows - That Sunday anxiety about your biggest client isn't weakness—it's data you've been trained to ignore

The CEO's Surrender Paradox - Why the most successful people struggle hardest with letting go, and what that reveals about how you built your identity

From Breakdown to Breakthrough - Yasha's journey from depressed stock trader to shamanic student, and why his "dark night of the soul" was the beginning, not the end

The Promise You Keep Breaking - Why transformation isn't about more information or another framework—it's about following through on what you already know you need to do

1. The Performance-Wellbeing Link You're Ignoring

Your business results are directly connected to your internal state. Ignoring your body's signals isn't discipline—it's...

You can be busy all day and still feel like you got nothing done.

Sound familiar?

In this episode, Andrew Berger sits down with Alexander Plank — a mindset coach who hit burnout hard — to talk about what it actually takes to grow your business without losing your life in the process.

Alex opens up about his wake-up call after working 14-hour days, chasing the “top 1%” dream, and realizing he was building success that didn’t feel successful. Together, he and Andrew get real about:

• Why hustle culture is so addictive (and dangerous)
• How to build a business that runs with your life, not against it
• The truth about burnout, clarity, and what “focus” really means
• And Alex’s simple 3-step system — Reset, Rise, Reshape — to get back your time, energy, and purpose

If you’ve ever felt like slowing down means falling behind, this episode will flip that story on its head.

Connect with Alexander Plank

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-plank-coaching/

Website: https://theangelonyourshoulderacademy.kit.com/7daystorealproductivity

Connect with Podclimb

Linkeidn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-berger-44h/

Website: https://www.podclimb.com/

00:07 — Why being busy isn’t the same as being successful

01:30 — Alexander’s burnout story and the moment everything crashed

03:20 — “From the outside I looked successful… but inside, I was empty.”

05:45 — Andrew’s turning point: leaving the studio world to start PodClimb

07:00 — Why podcasting gives founders a voice that compounds over time

08:59 — The toxic side of hustle culture (and how to unlearn it)

10:22 — You can’t outwork burnout — here’s what actually works

12:28 — Focus > Hustle: how to get real results without the chaos

14:06 — Why school never taught us how to think like founders

15:14 — Coaching vs. therapy: what makes it different

17:38 — Step one to change: learning to sit still and actually listen to yourself

19:21 — Andrew’s “three-legged stool” framework for balancing creative passions

22:11 — “Wonders are triggered, not planned.” Why clarity attracts opportunity

23:37 — How curiosity and trying (and failing) are the real entrepreneurial edge

26:02 — Alex’s 3Rs explained: Reset, Rise, Reshape

29:25 — The cost of “just being busy”: how founders lose 10 hours a week

30:30 — Why time with family is the real flex

31:43 — How your personal life and business are always connected

32:23 — Closing thoughts and gratitude

You’re scaling the business.

But what about the person running it?

In this episode, Richie Nkana - ex-banker turned founder of Operator’s Edge drops the truth most high-performers avoid:

He went from caffeine-fueled burnout to building playbooks Fortune 500 leaders now swear by. And he’s here to show you:

• Why hustle culture is killing your clarity
• The 4 pillars of a scale-without-sacrifice life
• How to reclaim energy, purpose, and time — without blowing up your business

This isn’t another tactics talk.

It’s a reset for the operator behind the outcomes.

Richie’s got the framework to change that from the inside out.

Ritchie Nkana:

Website: https://operatorsedgemastermind.com/grab_the_training

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritchienkana/

Brought to you by Podclimb

https://www.podclimb.com/

Andrew Berger Foudner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-berger-44h/