The Connected Experience

Hosted by Greg Tomchick

Health Fitness EducationInterviews guests

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Latest episode

Sep 2026

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EN-US

About the show

<div>Have you ever felt it, that quiet sense that something bigger is unfolding? That one conversation, one moment, or one connection that changed everything?<br><br>𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.<br><br>Hosted by Greg Tomchick, this show focuses on mindset during seasons of transition, when clarity feels distant, certainty is limited, and growth is happening beneath the surface. Each week we share stories of connection that spark reflection, perspective shifts, and real internal change.<br><br>This isn’t about moving faster. It’s about slowing down enough to notice what’s forming, reconnecting to what matters, and learning how mindset shapes the way we navigate change.<br><br></div>

Listen to episodes

60 recent

September 25, 202651 min

Rebuilding Identity Through Purpose with Alex Rogers

What does it mean to command chaos when the identity you built your life around starts to change? In this episode of The Connected Experience, Greg sits down with Alex Rogers, a former Navy SEAL, performance coach, father, and founder of Alex Rogers Coaching. Alex spent twelve years in one of the most demanding communities in the world. But this conversation is not just about being a SEAL. It is about what happens after the uniform, after the title, and after the identity that once gave life so much structure. Through his work, Alex teaches people how to move from chaos to command. But the deeper question is not just how you take control when life is loud. It is how you find purpose when the role changes. How you make the most of the season you are in. How you stay faithful in the mundane. How you keep showing up when you are in the mud, doing the hard things no one sees. This conversation explores identity, discipline, faith, fatherhood, transition, and the difference between finding purpose in what you do and finding purpose in how you do it. Because sometimes command is not about having everything figured out. Sometimes command is staying present, staying grounded, and doing the next hard thing well.

September 18, 20261 hr 1 min

What Building Valor Cost Me | Greg Tomchick x Fervent Four

Greg Tomchick’s journey to building Valor Cybersecurity began with a problem he had experienced firsthand: an earlier business of his suffered a cyberattack, leaving him without the kind of partner he wished he could call when his own “house was on fire.” That experience helped shape the opportunity he eventually saw in protecting other businesses from the same kind of pain. In this collaboration with Fervent Four hosts Zack Miller and Tim Ryan, Greg returns more than three years after his first appearance to unpack what happened next: years spent searching for product-market fit, finding Valor’s market serving defense contractors, and navigating an investor falling out, divorce, and a painful split with a business partner. Those experiences ultimately forced him to reconsider what winning actually means. Through the lens Greg now brings to The Connected Experience, his business journey becomes a study in Meaning, Clarity, Action, and Connection: finding meaning in pain, getting clear on what matters, building confidence through repeated action, and discovering how vulnerability and honest conversation create stronger connection. This is the story behind Valor—but more importantly, the story of the person Greg had to become while building it.

September 11, 202643 min

Identity Beyond the Fight with Chase “The Weapon” Walden

What happens when the thing you built your identity around starts to change? In this episode of The Connected Experience, Greg sits down with Chase “The Weapon” Walden, a professional Muay Thai fighter, kickboxer, coach, referee, and combat sports leader with more than 20 years of experience. Chase’s journey has taken him from amateur national champion to fighting professionally in Thailand, competing in Glory Kickboxing, and becoming a WKA World Champion. He now serves as Head Coach of ISKA Team USA and ISKA National Director for USA Muay Thai, helping build the ISKA US National Team from the ground up and leading fighters onto international stages. But this conversation is about more than wins, titles, and fight experience. After being diagnosed with career-threatening arm injuries, Chase entered a season where the future of his fighting career became uncertain. Selling his gym, shifting into a new day-to-day rhythm, working as a barber’s apprentice, continuing to train, and coaching once a week at Eastside Muay Thai, Chase is navigating what it means to keep moving when the next chapter is not fully clear. Together, Greg and Chase explore discipline, pain, humility, leadership, transition, and the identity shift that happens when life forces you to ask who you are beyond what you do.

September 4, 202651 min

The Inner Work of Transformation with Brix Glover

What does it really take to change and stay changed? In this episode of The Connected Experience, Greg sits down with Robert “Brix” Glover, a Norfolk-based health coach, transformation coach, and content creator whose work helps people rebuild their relationship with their body, mindset, and long-term wellness. Brix’s story is about weight loss, but the conversation goes much deeper than the number on the scale. It moves into identity, emotional regulation, self-awareness, spiritual growth, discipline, and the internal patterns that often keep people stuck even after they know what to do. Together, Greg and Brix explore why sustainable transformation starts with acceptance, not self-hate. They talk about sitting in the uncomfortable, doing the reps every day, and learning how to pause long enough to understand your current state before trying to change it. One of the core themes of the conversation is that people do not always lack discipline. Sometimes they lack regulation. Brix shares how stress, depression, appetite, avoidance, and emotional habits can shape the body as much as training or nutrition. Through that lens, the episode opens up a bigger conversation around somatic intelligence, beginner’s mind, and the role our thoughts play in creating the reality we live in. Built around the pillars of Meaning, Clarity, Action, and Connection, this episode asks what it takes to become someone new while staying connected to the version of yourself you are building. This is not just a fitness conversation. It is a conversation about acceptance, discipline, suffering with meaning, and the inner work required to create a transformation that lasts. https://www.youtube.com/c/BrixFitness

August 28, 202655 min

Rethinking Science with Alex Vawter | What If Science Is Stuck?

What if the way we were taught to understand science is limiting the way we practice it? In this episode of The Connected Experience, Greg sits down with Alex Vawter, founder of Heterodox Labs and the Heterodox Research Society, for a conversation about science, AI, experimentation, and what it means to challenge the systems that shape discovery. Alex is a Virginia Beach native whose path into science did not follow the traditional academic route. After playing baseball, moving into startup work, spending time in biology research at JMU, briefly returning to school for physics, and doing software and data analytics work for the Navy, Alex became increasingly interested in the process of science itself. His current work focuses on AI tools for wet-lab research, scientific methodology, independent science, and fringe or neglected areas of inquiry. Through Heterodox Labs, Alex is building tools for the future of research. The company’s core technology uses cameras, computer vision, sensors, and multimodal AI to observe wet-lab experiments as they happen. The goal is to create an auditable trace of the experimental process: what researchers did, what objects they interacted with, what changed in the environment, where deviations occurred, and what context may otherwise be lost. But this conversation goes beyond the technology. Alex’s broader thesis is that science may be facing more than bureaucracy. It may be facing methodological stagnation. The clean, linear version of the scientific method many people learn in school does not always reflect how discovery actually happens. Historically, science has been messier, more winding, and often shaped by people willing to ask questions outside the accepted frame. Together, Greg and Alex explore why Heterodox takes a human-centered approach to AI for science, choosing to augment researchers rather than replace them with fully automated labs. They also discuss independent science, fringe research, procedural observability, the limits of conventional institutions, and why a lab in downtown Norfolk may be the right place to rethink how science gets done. Through the lens of Meaning, Clarity, Action, and Connection, this episode asks a bigger question: How do we stay curious enough to challenge what we think we know? This is a conversation about science, but it is also about mindset, problem-solving, curiosity, and the future relationship between people, tools, and discovery.

August 21, 202639 min

What does it take to rebuild yourself when life forces you to start over?

Greg sits down with Jenny Telford for a conversation about bodybuilding, motherhood, personal transformation, grief, resilience, and the discipline required to reclaim your life. Jenny’s story moves through several defining seasons. The major season was her weight loss journey as a mom that led to professional bodybuilding. What started as a physical transformation became something much deeper. It became something just for Jenny to do by herself, for herself. Through the lens of Meaning, Clarity, Action, and Connection, this episode is about more than fitness. It is about the strength it takes to start over. The courage to reconnect with your body. The discipline to keep going through difficult seasons. And the power of rebuilding a life that feels like your own again.

August 14, 202644 min

Wellness Before Burnout with Sav Harwick

What if rest was not something you earned after burnout, but something you built into the way you live? In this episode of The Connected Experience, Greg sits down with Sav for a moment to reflect on a world that fights us to obtain one our most precious resources, our rest. Sav shares how her practices focuses on the individual and her practice work blends massage, facials, cupping, hot stones, aromatherapy, and other restorative practices, but the deeper focus is helping people reconnect with themselves. Her approach is rooted in presence, intentional care, and creating a space where clients can let go, reset, and feel supported in who they are becoming. Sav intentionally set our to create a space that promotes presence, intentional care, and and where clients can let go, reset, and feel supported in who they are becoming. Greg opens up about different energy he has carried in his life and reflects on his late brother and navigating through that time. Through the lens of Meaning, Clarity, Action, and Connection, this episode invites listeners to rethink wellness as something preventative, not reactive. Not just a spa appointment. Not just a moment of relaxation. But a practice of listening to the body, regulating the nervous system, and making space to slow down before life pulls you too far from yourself.

August 7, 202657 min

Finding Meaning in the Questions ft Kali Luthra

Some conversations explain where you're going. Others help you understand where you've been. In this episode of The Connected Experience, Greg sits down with Kali Luthra for one of the most personal conversations in the show's history. As someone who played a behind-the-scenes role during the early development of the podcast, Kali brings a unique perspective to the origins, evolution, and deeper purpose behind The Connected Experience. Together, Greg and Kali explore life through the lens of a puzzle. How do we make sense of experiences while we're living them? Why do certain moments, relationships, and questions seem disconnected until we look back and see the bigger picture? The conversation dives into the role of hope, curiosity, and intentional thinking in navigating life's uncertainty. Greg shares parts of his own journey of searching, questioning, and finding meaning through difficult seasons, while Kali offers insights into the power of asking better questions and challenging assumptions we often accept without examination. At its heart, this episode is an exploration of what happens when we become more intentional about the questions we ask ourselves and the stories we tell about our lives. Because sometimes the missing piece isn't an answer. It's a question.

August 5, 202611 min

Theobroma Cacao, 'Food of the gods' ft. Emily Britton

In this part of the conversation with Emily Britton of Earth Healthkeepers, The Connected Experience moves beyond a traditional podcast interview and into something more experiential. Sitting on the ground together, Greg and Emily take part in a cacao ceremony during the episode as a way to slow down, become more present, and connect with the ground beneath them. The moment shifts the energy of the conversation. Instead of simply talking about being grounded, they begin to practice it in real time. Cacao, also known as kakaw, comes from the Theobroma cacao tree, a name that translates to “food of the gods.” Long before cacao became the foundation of modern chocolate, it held cultural, ceremonial, and practical significance. Ancient Maya communities used cacao to create a chocolate drink, and cacao seeds were once believed to have been used as currency, meaning there was a time when money really did grow on trees. During the episode, Emily uses the cacao ceremony to create space for presence, reflection, and connection. The ceremony becomes a visual and emotional anchor for the larger conversation around what it means to live more grounded, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

July 31, 202634 min

The Ground Beneath Us featuring Emily Britton with Earthkeeper Healing

What happens when a podcast conversation moves out of the standard setup and into something more present? In this episode of The Connected Experience, Greg sits down with Emily Britton of Earth Healthkeepers for a conversation about grounding, presence, earth connection, and what it means to live with deeper awareness. This episode was recorded differently. Instead of sitting across from each other in a traditional podcast setup, Greg and Emily sat on the ground together. That setting immediately changed the tone of the conversation and created space for a more open, grounded, and intentional exchange. One of the most powerful moments comes when Greg asks Emily what connection means to her. Her answer helps frame the heart of the episode, moving connection beyond an idea and into something we feel through our relationship with ourselves, the earth, and the world around us. Another defining moment happens during the interview when Emily leads Greg through a cacao ceremony. The visual demonstration, paired with her verbal explanation, brings the conversation into real-time practice. It is not just a discussion about being grounded. It becomes an experience of grounding as it unfolds. Together, Greg and Emily explore how slowing down, listening more deeply, and reconnecting with the earth can shape the way we understand our bodies, emotions, energy, and purpose. Built around the pillars of Meaning, Clarity, Action, and Connection, this episode invites listeners to think differently about presence, stewardship, healing, and connection as a way of living. Sometimes connection does not start with doing more. Sometimes it starts by getting closer to what has been beneath us the whole time.

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