liberated

david michael titeu

welcome to liberated. this is your space to pause, let go of who you think you need to be and feel at peace with who you are. i’m david michael titeu, mindset coach and recovering hustler. each week, we unpack what’s beneath success and why it never feels like enough. we’ll dive deep into psychology, identity, purpose, philosophy and healing - the deeper human stuff that shapes how you lead, love and live. this isn’t another grind podcast. whew. it’s a sanctuary to slow down, explore the inner work behind self-worth and help you remember there was never anything wrong with you to begin with.

  1. 1d ago

    ep 48: confidence comes second

    Helen von Dadelszen helps smart, thoughtful professionals get their brilliant ideas out of their heads and into the world with clarity, confidence and impact. She believes that confidence is built through action, not something we need to wait for before we speak, and that everyone has a unique way of communicating that can be strengthened, shaped and shared. As a communication and vocal coach, Helen supports people who are doing valuable work but need help expressing their message in a way that feels authentic to them and clear, compelling and useful to their audience. Helen is the founder of Present Potential Sàrl, where she provides practical training and coaching in public speaking, presentation skills, vocal presence and confident communication. She works with individuals, teams and organisations across technical, scientific, academic and humanitarian fields, helping them communicate complex, important ideas with greater clarity, authenticity and persuasive power. She is also the author of Courageous Action: Your Playbook for Communicating Confidently, One Small Step at a Time, a hands-on guide designed to help people grow their communication confidence through practical, achievable steps. connect with Helen Present Potential: https://academy.presentpotential.ch/  Helen’s book - Courageous Action: https://courageousaction.ch/  ~ 📺watch and subscribe on youtube there's a version of you that knows exactly what you want to say. you've done the thinking, you have the ideas, you have the expertise and then the moment arrives and something happens. your voice tightens and the words come out differently than they did in your head. you second-guess, you shrink and afterwards you think: that wasn't me. Helen von Dadelszen has built her entire practice around that gap. she's a communication and vocal coach, founder of Present Potential in Switzerland and author of Courageous Action. her whole philosophy runs against what most of us were taught: you don't wait to feel confident before you act. confidence is built through the action itself. in this conversation we get into what's actually happening in your nervous system under pressure, why your body's signals are being misinterpreted, how your voice and identity shape the way people receive you and what improv taught her about trusting herself. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 the gap between what you know and how you show up 02:53 what revealed her life's work 05:53 why brilliant experts are never taught to communicate their ideas 07:33 what actually happens in the body under pressure 09:41 how do we interpret the signals? 11:50 the reframe that changes everything 14:41 why waiting to feel confident is one of the costliest traps there is 16:14 the confidence loop 18:14 practical first steps before a big presentation 21:43 identity as the foundation of communication 24:41 what your body and voice are saying before your words land 27:36 how a confident voice actually works 32:13 what improv taught her about trusting herself 36:27 abandoning yourself in conversation and how to come back 39:19 what do i want them to think, feel or do? 41:35 what being liberated means to Helen connect with me 👉watch the root cause training  free, 33 minutes. for anyone who understands their own pattern completely and is still run by it. a third of it is a practice, not a talk. watch it whenever. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

  2. Oct 1

    ep 47: the conversation with my dad that changed everything

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube content warning: this episode includes discussion of suicide. please take care while listening and pause any time you need. this week is a little different. i was a guest on someone else's show and the conversation went somewhere i wasn't expecting, so i'm sharing it here. we get into the moment at 18 when my parents divorced and i watched my father go through an immense psychological battle while i was falling apart myself, with no tools, no permission and no siblings to process any of it with. what happened when i finally opened up to him changed the trajectory of my entire life. we also get into building linkmate from a place of fear rather than love, why eight years of therapy gave me awareness without healing, what shame actually does to high performers and where all of this is heading next. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 melbourne and 3 words to describe myself 01:53 my parents' divorce and my father's battle 03:27 romania, discrimination and the attempt on his life 04:29 the belief that shaped everything after 06:02 turning pain into creative expression and why that process heals 07:46 building linkmate and taking an emotional support app to market 09:00 fear as fuel vs. love as fuel (and what happens when you build from shame) 10:40 why i work with high-performing men (and the statistic that drives it) 11:12 8 years of therapy (and the core wound it never touched) 13:52 where time freedom comes from 16:01 the elevator pitch 16:37 where this is heading 20:01 the hardest business lesson i've learned 21:48 the biggest obstacle in front of me right now some takeaways opening up first can give the other person permission to do the same. my father had carried his story alone for decades until i went first transmuting pain into creative expression is one of the most cathartic things a person can do. it makes sure the pain wasn't for nothing you can build real things from fear and insecurity. it works until it catches up with you awareness and healing are two different things. eight years of therapy gave me a complete map of my patterns and never touched the shame underneath them shame is the core wound i see most in the men i work with. the sense of not being enough in whatever form it takes time freedom is downstream of nervous system regulation. when you're in survival mode the prefrontal cortex goes offline and everything takes longer nothing is wasted. every role, every setback, every difficult partnership has been part of building the discernment i needed we heal best in relationship to others, in person. there is only so far an online workshop can take you generational curse breakers are the people willing to say this ends with me mental health support resources if anything in this episode brought something up for you, please reach out. lifeline australia 13 11 14, beyond blue 1300 22 4636, or your local crisis line. connect with me 👉watch the root cause training free, 33 minutes. for anyone who understands their own pattern completely and is still run by it. a third of it is a practice, not a talk. watch it whenever. 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

  3. Sep 24

    ep 46: when your body forces you to stop

    Fletcher Nugent is a Soul Guide dedicated to helping others reconnect with the power of their own soul. A qualified Yoga Teacher, Breathwork Facilitator, and Spiritual Healer, his work is grounded in lived experience and a deep realisation that true, lasting transformation comes from reconnecting with who they truly are. Today, he guides people back to their innate purpose by offering practical wisdom, techniques, and knowledge to reconnect with the deeper intelligence within. connect with Fletcher https://www.instagram.com/fletchernugent/  https://linktr.ee/fletchernugent  hello@fletchernugent.com  ~ 📺watch and subscribe on youtube in his early 20s, Fletcher Nugent was a competitive athlete. football, the gym, a physically demanding job and an identity built almost entirely around his body. then a debilitating illness took all of it in about 10 days. he lost over 10kg, spent most of every day in bed and started doing a 30-day yoga series on youtube just to feel some sense of autonomy. what began as stretching became the doorway to everything he does now. in this conversation we go further than I've gone with any guest so far. we get into how the body stores tension and memory, the ancestral patterns we inherit without knowing, what actually happens in the nervous system during transformative breathwork, and what the soul is in a way that stays grounded and practical. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 from competitive athlete to bedbound in 10 days 07:25 what it takes to release trauma from the body 18:50 abandonment wound passed from grandfather to father to son 24:45 breathwork as the key to unlock tension 27:06 why most of us breathe from our shoulders 30:40 going beyond the thinking mind 34:51 what is the soul? 40:50 practical ways to connect to your soul 45:37 why so many high achievers feel empty despite everything they've built 55:13 what liberation means to Fletcher show notes — references and teachings mentioned Bessel van der Kolk — author of The Body Keeps the Score. The body stores the imprints of unprocessed experience. → www.besselvanderkolk.com Lao Tzu — Tao Te Ching. The Tao that can be expressed in words is not the true Tao. The soul sits beyond what the thinking mind can grasp. Patanjali — Yoga Sutras. The first sutra, "now, yoga," points to liberation as something available in the present moment. Dr Zhi Gang Sha — teacher of the Ten Da, the ten greatest qualities, including love, compassion, forgiveness, humility and gratitude as pathways to connect with the soul. The yogic concepts of prana, Brahman and Atman — life force, source and the individual soul as a unique expression of that source. connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

  4. Sep 17

    ep 45: why do you hide parts of yourself?

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube there's a version of you that you show people… and then there's the version underneath it: the one that stays behind the door because somewhere along the way you learned it wasn't welcome. for me that part was my sensitivity. i feel things intensely, i think about things intensely and i've always been drawn to the deeper conversations about psychology, consciousness and what's actually driving people beneath the surface. for most of my life i hid all of it. i armoured up and ran the classic masculine playbook because nobody around me was talking about any of this. in this episode i get into Carl Jung and what "the shadow" actually means beneath the jargon, Dr Elaine Aron's research on the highly sensitive person, what it costs you to keep hiding, and the golden shadow (the part almost nobody talks about). this is the first episode of a new season. we're going into the shadow. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 welcome welcome! 01:24 the mask we wear and the version underneath it 04:48 the life i was living twice over 07:54 surrounded by people you can't be yourself with 10:38 finding the people i could finally go deep with 12:54 what the shadow actually is 16:33 the “highly sensitive person” 21:23 how to identify your shadow 24:54 the real cost of hiding parts of yourself 28:21 the golden shadow 32:24 practical steps to begin (without forcing anything open) 34:37 the invitation show notes — research references and thought leaders Carl Jung — originator of the shadow and persona. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate. Dr Elaine Aron — researcher who identified the highly sensitive person. Roughly 15 to 20 percent of the population, characterised by DOES — depth of processing, overstimulation, emotional reactivity and empathy, and sensing the subtle. Her documentary Sensitive: The Untold Story features Alanis Morissette. → www.hsperson.com Robert Bly — author of A Little Book on the Human Shadow. The long bag we drag behind us — the child puts everything unacceptable in the bag and spends the second half of life retrieving it. Gabor Maté — the trade between authenticity and attachment. A child chooses attachment every time and the adult pays for it. → www.drgabormate.com Richard Schwartz — developer of IFS, author of No Bad Parts. Every exiled part was protecting you for a good reason at the time. Approach it with curiosity rather than judgment. → www.ifs-institute.com James Pennebaker — research on expressive disclosure. People who write honestly about what they've been concealing show measurable improvements in immune function and physical health. connect with me 👉save your seat: the root cause workshop next Thursday, 7pm AEST. a space to actually do this work alongside others carrying the same thing. last session people walked in with tension at 7 or 8 out of 10 and left at a 3, a 4, and for one man a 1. replay goes to everyone who registers, so sign up even if you can't make it live. 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

  5. Sep 10

    ep 44: the price of becoming the doctor my parents wanted

    Dr. Nikhil Sharma is a physician, wellness leader, and social impact entrepreneur who serves as the CEO and Founder of AlignUs and The Aligned Foundation. With over 14 years of experience practicing medicine across the New Orleans region, Dr. Sharma’s clinical background has focused largely on liver failure, including alcohol-related liver disease and fatty liver disease—conditions that revealed to him the profound connection between mental health, behavior, and long-term physical illness. Through years within the traditional healthcare system, Dr. Sharma came to recognize that many chronic conditions and life-limiting patterns are rooted in stress, emotional dysregulation, lack of community, and unresolved trauma. This insight shaped his commitment to a more integrative, preventative approach to health—one that prioritizes nervous system regulation, mental resilience, and sustainable lifestyle practices. Dr. Sharma’s work centers on helping individuals move beyond symptom management toward true well-being by addressing the deeper drivers of health. His mission is to empower people to reconnect with their bodies, minds, and purpose so they can live healthier, more aligned, and more fulfilling lives. ~ connect with Dr. Nik→ thealignedfoundation.org→ instagram.com/alignusworld ~ 📺watch and subscribe on youtube Dr Nikhil Sharma became a physician because that was the only path he was ever shown. only child of Indian immigrant parents, told from his earliest memory that his life would be medicine and that everything he wanted — love, worth, belonging — sat on the other side of that achievement. he made it: Chief Medical Resident, finalist for physician of the year... and then his mother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer and died two months later. what followed was a spiral of escapism, opioids, gambling, codependency, working 42 days in a row to avoid grieving, and eventually a complete collapse that led to rehab. in this conversation Nik shares all of it — with a raw honesty that will stay with you. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 why becoming a doctor was never really a choice 02:26 people pleasing as a survival tactic 05:16 the CAT scan that changed everything 07:38 two weeks of bereavement and back to work (42 days in a row) 10:12 what unprocessed grief actually did to his body, focus and relationships 12:25 losing mum and dad’s depression (at 30 years old) 14:51 the ADHD misdiagnosis 17:28 why the ego will let you walk the tightrope for years 20:01 the crash, surrender and choosing rehab 26:37 6 weeks of solitude 30:10 why we are distracted every second of every day  33:48 the computer that never got a system update 39:04 the vision behind AlignUs and the Aligned Foundation 43:48 what alignment and liberation means to Nik connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

  6. Sep 4

    ep 43: why do you carry everything on your own?

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube last episode i talked about the gap between being better and being free… and pointed at something i didn't fully open. freedom is relational: you can do all the inner work and still be surrounded by people who only know the old version of you. this episode goes through that door properly. i get into where the conditioning to carry everything alone actually comes from, what it costs you physiologically and relationally and why your nervous system genuinely cannot regulate itself in isolation. i share my own story of being raised on put up, shut up and get on with it, my Romanian conditioning and why to this day there are conversations i still can't have with my parents. and if you've been circling this work for months or years without stepping in, this one speaks directly to that hesitation. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 welcome welcome! 01:24 freedom is relational  04:54 where i learned to carry it alone 08:24 surrogating other people's pain 10:54 building a second family 13:24 the migrant experience 15:54 the masculine script 18:24 why a child chooses disconnection from self 20:24 why you feel like a freak for going deeper 23:24 the mortality risk of isolation 26:24 “i don't want to be a burden” 30:24 what becomes possible when you stop carrying it alone 32:54 practical steps and the invitation show notes — research references and thought leaders Terrence Real — author of I Don't Want to Talk About It. Boys are socialised from early childhood to disconnect from their inner emotional world. Vulnerability is coded as unsafe and self-sufficiency as identity. Gabor Maté — the child who learns that expressing needs threatens connection will choose disconnection from self over disconnection from the caregiver, every time. → www.drgabormate.com Stephen Porges — developer of Polyvagal Theory. Co-regulation is a biological necessity. The nervous system is designed to regulate in the presence of other regulated nervous systems. → www.stephenporges.com Julianne Holt-Lunstad — meta-analysis on social connection and mortality. Lack of social connection carries a mortality risk comparable to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day and greater than obesity or physical inactivity. Amy Edmondson — Harvard research on psychological safety. People only speak honestly when they have clear evidence that doing so won't cost them. → www.amycedmondson.com Bessel van der Kolk — author of The Body Keeps the Score. Trauma resolves in relationship. Solo practices produce insight without lasting change because the missing ingredient is being witnessed. → www.besselvanderkolk.com Brené Brown — vulnerability is the most accurate measure of courage available to us. → www.brenebrown.com David Bayer — this isn't a do-it-yourself project. It's a group project. You do it with others. → www.davidbayer.com connect with me 👉save your seat: the root cause workshop next wednesday, 7:30pm AEST. a space to actually do this work alongside others carrying the same thing. last session people walked in with tension at 7 or 8 out of 10 and left at a 3, a 4, and for one man a 1. replay goes to everyone who registers, so sign up even if you can't make it live. 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

  7. Aug 27

    ep 42: coming home to your body

    Martha Kastler is a Havening Techniques® practitioner, Hanna Somatics educator, and breathwork guide whose work is rooted in the belief that healing unfolds when we slow down enough to listen. Inspired by nature and the body's innate wisdom, she creates compassionate spaces where movement and stillness come together, allowing deeper awareness, resilience, and authentic transformation to emerge. Through Havening, Hanna Somatics, and breathwork, Martha helps people reconnect with themselves, release what no longer serves them, and discover a greater sense of ease, freedom, and wholeness. Learn more at MarthaKastler.com ~ 📺watch and subscribe on youtube Martha Kastler has been doing this work since 2009. she trained first as a yoga teacher and has spent the years since weaving together Hanna Somatics, Havening, Ayurveda, restorative breathwork and somatic education into something that meets people exactly where they are. in this episode we do things a little differently. we talk about how the body holds what the mind cannot process, why energy is not woo-woo but physiology, why healing in relationship is different to healing alone and then we actually stop talking and do it. a live havening practice and a grounding sequence, right here in the episode. bring a blanket, find somewhere you can lie down and enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 why Martha has worked with so many different modalities 02:24 what she discovered that talk alone couldn't reach 05:09 why dismissing this as woo-woo misses something real 07:30 where conventional healing approaches hit their ceiling and why 10:15 the science beneath the spiritual language 12:45 why healing in relationship changes what's possible compared to healing alone 15:16 how the body processes trauma when given the right conditions 17:49 what it actually looks like to begin listening to your body 20:35 why we were never meant to do this alone 23:04 what havening is and how it works 25:55 a live guided havening practice 32:01 coming back into the body after the practice 36:25 what gets in the way of receiving healing 39:24 what happens in the body when havening lands 44:32 common misconceptions about healing 48:36 what liberation means to Martha some takeaways the body holds what the mind cannot fully process. the work is learning to create the conditions of enough safety and slowness that it can begin to speak what we call chakras or energy centres map onto real anatomical and neurological systems — the dismissal of this language often dismisses the reality beneath it conventional approaches hit a ceiling because they address the content of experience without addressing the physical residue of it stored in the body the presence of a regulated nervous system helps regulate yours in ways that solitary practice cannot replicate havening works by depotentiating the electrochemical encoding of stored emotional material without requiring you to relive it self-judgment is one of the most common barriers to receiving healing. the body cannot open when it is being criticised healing is not a destination. it is a returning — to the body, to safety, to yourself liberation is personal agency. connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy! 👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

  8. Aug 20

    ep 41: why do you still not feel free?

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube you've done the work. the therapy, the breathwork, the meditation, the retreats. and you're better.. you know you're better. the anxiety has softened, the reactivity has come down and yet something still doesn't feel quite free. maybe it’s a ceiling you keep bumping into. in this episode i get into that gap (the one between being better and being free) and why it's the most confusing and least talked about place in the entire healing journey. i share my own experience of flying to bali for my eat pray love moment at a breathwork and meditation retreat during one of the hardest periods of my life, having a profound somatic release and still coming home feeling like something hadn't shifted. this one goes to the root. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 welcome welcome! 01:24 the gap between being better and being free 03:54 my eat pray love moment 06:54 why healing moments alone aren't enough 09:54 the identity ceiling 12:54 who are you spending time with? 15:54 the belief that ease is something only other people get to have 18:24 what genuine freedom actually feels like and how to close the gap show notes — research references and thought leaders Bruce Lipton — author of The Biology of Belief. The environment is constantly signalling the nervous system. Internal shifts must be matched by changes in environment, relationship, and daily practice to hold. → www.brucelipton.com Dan Siegel — author of Mindsight. The self is a process, not a fixed thing. Identity can be updated with intention, repetition, and the right neurological conditions. → www.drdansiegel.com Stephen Porges — developer of Polyvagal Theory. The nervous system co-regulates. The people you spend the most time with are either regulating your nervous system upward or pulling it back toward the familiar. → www.stephenporges.com Maxwell Maltz — author of Psycho-Cybernetics. The internal self-image sets the ceiling on everything. Without updating the image, behaviour reverts. Bob Proctor — referenced for the concept of the identity as the strongest force in the personality — the thermostat that keeps recreating the same results regardless of external change. connect with me 👉save your seat: the root cause workshop free live workshop - monday 24 august, 6pm aest, 90 minutes. we find the pattern that's been running you, work out why everything you've already tried didn't hold, and then actually move it. about a third of it is done with your eyes closed rather than in a slide deck. replay goes to everyone who registers, so sign up even if you can't make it live. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

About

welcome to liberated. this is your space to pause, let go of who you think you need to be and feel at peace with who you are. i’m david michael titeu, mindset coach and recovering hustler. each week, we unpack what’s beneath success and why it never feels like enough. we’ll dive deep into psychology, identity, purpose, philosophy and healing - the deeper human stuff that shapes how you lead, love and live. this isn’t another grind podcast. whew. it’s a sanctuary to slow down, explore the inner work behind self-worth and help you remember there was never anything wrong with you to begin with.