Zen & Callsigns

About Zen & Callsigns

My mission at Zen & Callsigns is to find inner peace in a chaotic and often broken world through stories, humor, and interesting antidotes. Think Joe Rogan, Smedley Butler, Alan Watts, and Frank Herbert had a podcast baby. Zen & Callsigns strives to create a data-driven discussion about the true nature of our world and universe. It’s revealed in discussions based on science considered from a philosophical perspective. Sometimes, though, it's just an ex-military asshole shooting the shit.

Publisher

Blake Fisher

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Aug 2024

Latest episode

1 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

44 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   1 Aug 2026

   Ep 44 - Callsign: "Singa Karo" MMA Champion, Coach, Gym Founder, Community Builder

   In this episode of Zen & Callsigns, Blake Fisher sits down with Theo Ginting, former Indonesian MMA and boxing champion, founder of Lions MMA Bali, and a coach whose greatest victories happened outside the cage. Theo shares an unfiltered story of growing up in Jakarta, battling depression and addiction, and finding salvation through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and martial arts. What began as an escape from self-destruction became a lifelong mission to build disciplined athletes, stronger families, and a community grounded in purpose. Together, Blake and Theo explore the nature of masculinity, fatherhood, entrepreneurship, faith, Indonesian culture, resilience, and why the strongest men are often the ones who choose peace despite having the capacity for violence. This conversation goes far beyond combat sports. It's about suffering, transformation, leadership, and discovering that the greatest fight isn't against another person—it's against the parts of ourselves that keep us from becoming who we're capable of being. Whether you're a martial artist, entrepreneur, veteran, parent, or simply someone searching for purpose, Theo's story is a powerful reminder that discipline can become freedom, community can become healing, and a life can be completely rewritten.

2. 

   12 Jun 2026

   Ep 43 - Callsign: "Cata" - Economist, Mother, Conservationist, Rewilder

   Catalina Robledo's journey begins in Colombia, winds through London's economics programs, Geneva investment firms, global development work, and corporate leadership roles across three continents. By every conventional measure she was succeeding. Yet beneath the achievements sat a growing sense of disconnection that eventually culminated in depression. What followed was not a rejection of science, economics, or modernity, but an expansion beyond them. Through sacred medicine, indigenous wisdom, motherhood, conservation work, and deep personal reflection, Catalina began reconstructing her understanding of wealth, health, consciousness, and purpose. This conversation explores the space where rigorous analytical thinking meets ancient wisdom traditions, and what becomes possible when success is no longer measured solely by growth, achievement, or status, but by relationship, balance, and meaning.

3. 

   26 May 2026

   Ep 42 - Callsign: "Blueprint" - Actor, Producer, Storyteller, Father

   Theo van Dort joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation that starts in childhood and moves through performance, entrepreneurship, media, spirituality, and men’s mental health. He talks about growing up between Dutch and English family roots, being sick as a child, wanting to act from an early age, and being told by teachers he would never amount to anything. That path led him through drama school, theater-in-education, live television, shopping TV, online course production, and documentary work before eventually landing in Bali. The emotional center of the episode comes later. Theo shares, in blunt and vulnerable detail, how financial collapse, panic attacks, sleep deprivation, and shame pushed him into a dark place in Bali. Out of that experience, and through the support of men’s circles, came a new mission: help men speak honestly before silence turns terminal. That mission became Brotherhood Blueprint, a documentary series and larger movement aimed at brotherhood, listening, and suicide prevention. Key Themes Masculinity without theater This episode keeps returning to the difference between performing strength and actually living it. Brotherhood as infrastructureMen do not just need advice. They need spaces, repetition, ritual, and people who can hold weight with them. Story as medicineTheo’s whole life bends around storytelling, whether in acting, live TV, documentary, or men’s work. The medium changes. The underlying function stays the same. Success does not inoculate you from collapseA man can have experience, talent, family, and perspective and still hit the wall. Vulnerability is not softnessUsed rightly, it is a survival tool and a doorway to connection. Timeline:00:00 Intro00:01 Theo’s childhood in England00:04 Fatherhood and inherited trauma00:08 Wanting to become an actor00:10 ADHD, school, and being underestimated00:13 Drama school and theater00:21 Breaking into TV00:27 First big presenting shot00:33 Gamifying television00:38 The suitcase story00:40 Building a major jewelry TV business00:42 Success, collapse, and hard lessons00:50 Online courses before they were mainstream01:02 Time of the Sixth Sun01:07 Why Theo moved to Bali01:13 Losing everything financially01:16 Bali Brotherhood01:21 The darkest moment01:24 Birth of Brotherhood Blueprint01:29 How men’s circles work01:35 Funding suicide hotlines through the mission01:41 Psychedelics and healing01:46 Closing thoughts

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Contact Zen & Callsigns

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.