032: Tantric Bodyworker, Biblical Erotica Author, and All-around Fascinating Human, Matt Stillman

Meet Matt StillmanMatt is probably the most fascinating person I know and I don’t say that lightly because…as you’re well aware…ALL of my guests are pretty damn fascinating.But Matt? He’s extra super-duper rare. In a very tidy nutshell which is hard to do with Matt, he…Spent years studying and practicing aspects of Easter and Western spiritual practices and disciplines along with long-form improv.Does tantric bodywork which fascinates the ever-loving hell out of me.Started his creative approaches service and consultancy on the streets of New York offering strangers ‘creative approaches’ to what they had been struggling with – big or small, personal or professional, mundane or profoundly esoteric. Basically, Matt helps people look at whatever is burdening them in new ways. Not to solve the problems but to court new relationships with them.Writes biblical erotica written in Elizabethan English looking at how we might heal the fracture between sex and spirit (I mean…if that right there doesn’t intrigue the hell out of you, why are you even here?!?!).Conceived and produced “The End of Poverty?” – a feature-length documentary about the origins of poverty and why it persists in a world with so much wealth. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Directors Choice commendation. He has spoken at the UN four times about his film.Started a skin care company, Primal Derma, where he attempts to reclaim some older forgotten trails of how people made a deep connection between health of place, animals and humans to making a spot in the world that you belong to a bit more deeply. (Get thee some Primal Derma STAT! It takes away my weird old-lady dry spots between my fingers when I remember to use it. )Is a former Food Network executive and brought groundbreaking shows such as Iron Chef and Good Eats (and many others) to American audiences.Matthew is a life-long New Yorker, a lover of language, culture, and is a practitioner of bigger questions and wondering aloud and sitting in mystery. He is currently a student of The Orphan Wisdom School.NOW THAT THE FORMAL STUFF IS OUT OF THE WAY, I WANT TO SHARE SPECIFICALLY WHAT MATT MEANS TO ME.Matt, out of the blue and with zero expectations other than for me to be a kind and loving person to myself and others, offered to lend an objective ear about a number of things I was going through (this was all before my ‘coming of middle agedom’) at the time – divorce, intimacy and sexuality issues, loneliness, etc.I was just starting to get comfortable opening up to others in more vulnerable and tender ways and he gave me this incredibly safe space (I HATE that phrase – let me know if you have a better one) to explore my thoughts and feelings…no judgment – just objectivity and curiosity and non-boundary pushing insights.I was platonically smitten and I think you will be too.CONNECT WITH MATTWebsite | TwitterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.