What is a Good Life? What is a Good Life? #168 - What It Means to Be Fully Alive with Joel Monk
Mar 31, 2026
Joel Monk, founder of Coaches Rising and transformational coach known for embodiment work. He traces a journey from spiritual bypass to somatic presence. Short tales of dark nights, the visceral “yum” of wellbeing, learning not to cling to bliss, trauma-informed safety, grace and prayer, and finding aliveness amid crisis.
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Spiritual Bypass Led To Embodied Work
- Joel realized spiritual practices had been a form of bypassing the intensity of being human, leading him to a descent into embodiment.
- Trauma-informed therapeutic work revived his body, revealing where he had contracted, numbed, and disconnected from intimacy with life.
Dark Night Gave Way To The 'Yum' Wellbeing
- Joel recounted a dark night of the soul during 2021 that culminated in a visceral, embodied sense of well-being he called "the yum."
- The "yum" appeared after months of nihilism and burnout and showed up palpably in his belly, heart and perineum.
Enjoy Wellbeing Without Clinging
- Do enjoy states of wellbeing without clinging; Joel warns against attaching to pleasurable states while practicing relaxation around them.
- He cultivates confidence that wellbeing coexists with anger or fear and avoids attaching even to non-attachment.