An Introduction to the Nine Realms
A longer talk on the full Nine Realms model and how the different areas of human change relate to one another.
Media · Interviews · Speaking
I am usually much easier to understand in conversation.
I’m available for podcasts, interviews, radio, television, livestreams and longer conversations about human change, consciousness, therapy, identity, Sanomentology, the Nine Realms and the slightly stranger questions that sit around the edges of all of them.
About Martin
I have spent 38 years trying to understand what actually changes people.
That has taken me through psychology, hypnotherapy, trauma, identity, consciousness, biology, mythology, spirituality, magic and quite a few places where the available labels become less useful.
I’m the founder of Nine Realms Institute, creator of Sanomentology and the Nine Realms, and an author of both non-fiction and fiction. Most of the work grew from trying to reconcile things that are often kept artificially separate: evidence and experience, psychology and meaning, the ordinary and the anomalous, scepticism and curiosity.
I enjoy conversations where somebody is actually interested in the question rather than waiting for a rehearsed answer. I am equally comfortable discussing trauma, practitioner responsibility, manifestation, the limits of self-help, why people do not change when they understand perfectly well what is wrong, or whether some experiences deserve to remain unexplained for a while.
There will usually be humour. There may be swearing. I can behave myself for broadcast television if required.
Watch first
Get a feel for how I think before inviting me onto anything.
Short introduction
Martin Rothery — Nine Realms Institute
A short introduction to me, the work and the kind of questions I tend to bring into a conversation.
Selected interviews & talks
Longer conversations.
30 Frames a Second — New York
A full interview covering Martin’s work, thinking and approach to change.
Open Loops Podcast
“Imagineering Your Psyche with Sanomentology Founder, Martin Rothery” — a longer conversation with Greg Bornstein.
Interview with Tee Liburd
A conversation with Sanomentology practitioner and podcast host Tee Liburd.
Things I can talk about
Starting points, rather than a list I insist on reciting.
Why insight so often fails to create change
Why people can understand themselves brilliantly and remain stuck, and what that tells us about consciousness, identity, emotion and the subconscious.
The Nine Realms
Why human change becomes easier to understand when consciousness, identity, emotion, healing, liberation, capacity, transformation and possibility are not all treated as the same problem.
Sanomentology & subconscious healing
Dream architecture, symbolism, subconscious communication, trauma, safety and the strange intelligence that can appear when conscious effort stops trying to run everything.
Practitioners as part of the intervention
Why two practitioners using the same method can produce very different outcomes, and how intent, confidence, shadow, identity and scope alter the work.
Manifestation without pretending certainty
Synchronicity, intention, probability, the Manifestation Paradox and how to investigate unusual results without turning every coincidence into proof of a cosmic law.
The limits of self-help culture
Why motivation, positivity and endlessly acquiring new techniques can become another way of avoiding the actual mechanism keeping a problem in place.
Identity, archetypes & becoming someone else
How identities form, how they protect themselves, what archetypal models can reveal and where they can become simplistic.
Evidence, spirituality & the unexplained
How to remain sceptical without becoming dismissive, open-minded without becoming gullible, and curious about unusual human experiences without overstating what we know.
Possible interview questions
If you want somewhere to begin.
These are suggestions, not a script. A better conversation will usually follow wherever the interesting answer goes.
01What are the Nine Realms, and why did you need nine of them?
02Why can somebody understand their problem completely and still be unable to change it?
03What is Sanomentology, and how did it grow out of your own work?
04Where do you think conventional psychology is strongest, and where does it leave things out?
05How do you talk about synchronicity, intuition or apparently impossible outcomes without becoming credulous?
06What have 38 years of working with people changed your mind about?
07Why do so many practitioners become attached to one technique?
08How much does the practitioner’s own identity and nervous system affect the work?
09What is the Manifestation Paradox, and why might wanting something too much get in the way?
10Why did you start writing fiction after spending so long writing and teaching about human change?
Recording & logistics
The practical bit is straightforward.
Audio
Good-quality microphone and headphones suitable for podcasts, interviews and online radio.
Connection
Quiet dedicated recording space with a stable internet connection.
Platforms
Comfortable with Zoom, StreamYard and other common recording platforms.
Time zones
UK based, with experience working around US and international time zones.
Media & speaking enquiry
Tell me what you have in mind.
Podcasts, YouTube, radio, television, livestreams, interviews and events are all welcome if the conversation is a sensible fit.
Please include your show or platform, a link if there is one, the audience you speak to, the subject you are interested in and a few possible dates or times with the relevant time zone.
I read the enquiries myself.
Media · Nine Realms Institute
Good conversations do not need to agree in advance.
They just need enough curiosity on both sides to make the question worth following.