Special Episode Falling From 10,000 Feet Part II

A Two-Part Series | UNLOADED Podcast

What happens when you willingly step out of an aircraft at 10,000 feet… and instead of fear, you find peace?

In this powerful two-part episode of UNLOADED, Michael shares the deeply personal journey that led him to Hawai‘i’s Big Island and ultimately to the open door of a plane above the Pacific Ocean.

Part I dives into the internal weight that drove him there—the search for clarity, silence, presence, and something bigger than routine life. This isn’t about vacation. It’s about confronting the noise we carry and asking what’s left when we finally unplug from it.

Part II begins the moment the aircraft door opens, no adrenaline dump, no hesitation, just complete calm. Michael recounts the freefall over Hawai‘i, the surreal stillness in the sky, and the life-shifting realization that came after landing—sitting quietly on the bumper of a jeep, staring out at the ocean with Maui visible across the horizon.

As the conversation unfolds, the emotional weight of the experience becomes impossible to ignore. What began as recounting a skydive turns into something far more human: a raw reflection on presence, release, and what it means to finally let go.

This episode isn’t about skydiving.
 It’s about surrender. Presence. Truth.
 And the moments that change us forever.

The weight we carry. The truth we speak.
This is UNLOADED.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I'd like to welcome everyone back to uh our podcast unloaded. This is Michael Seahorn. Shannon Mora. And we are glad to be back with everybody this week. Shannon, how you been?

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Great.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Awesome, man. Me too. Well, we're going to pick up where we left off last week. I'll I'll just give a very high cliff note version just so everybody knows where we're at. I was feeling pretty, pretty uncentered a few weeks back and decided I need some time off to reset. Decided to take a trip back to my big island of Hawaii and just recenter and refocus. Maybe look at getting some clarity, both mentally, physically, and spiritually. And then during the trip, early in the trip, I just started feeling really, really bad physically. But got through that and where we left off. I was standing on the beautiful green grass, right off the tarmac, harnessed up and uh ready to load into a very questionable Cessna aircraft.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Oh, I doubt it is questionable. You saw the video, right? Man, those planes are golden, man. You don't not don't worry about small aircraft.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

We didn't we need to get to that on the last episode we'll talk about right now. So while we were harnessed up, ready to go, um, the instructor and I were just chit-chatting, and uh on the way to the aircraft, he asked, you know, um, what'd he say? Oh, he said, uh, what are we doing here? And I go, Oh, we're gonna uh, you know, hit the skies. He goes, and what else? I go, Oh, well, we're gonna jump out of a perfectly good airplane. And he said, uh, have you seen our aircraft? You know, making jokes, which is fine. I I I joked with him and I said, Well, if you've ever been in the army, then you've seen some questionable aircraft because I've been on them, right? So we laughed and continued walking. Uh by then the the Cessna had already fired up its engines, it's uh moving towards us. Um so we're walking up straight to the side of the aircraft. Um I followed the instructor over and uh you know, propellers up, blurring, and uh you know, you get all the wind from the propeller. And uh he gets to the door, it's a single door um on the side of the aircraft, flips the door open. I see this very handsome guy driving, one seat in the aircraft, no other seats. Uh he's got a parachute on. Uh, I was thinking to myself, hmm.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Just so everyone has one. It wouldn't be fair if you couldn't have one.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

I was just thinking, interesting, man. Interesting, he's got a parachute on. Well, we'll see how this goes, right? So uh the inside of this Cessna, in my opinion, was not designed for very many people, maybe two dudes. It was very tight. And uh this day I got lucky because um the um we were only jumping one group, so I guess he drew generally sometimes takes two groups, so four people. And I was thinking to myself, I don't know how you jam in here, bro, because when him and I got in there, I'm not the biggest dude, right? But once we got in there, like uh man, you you're you're shimmying around trying to try to trying to get up, you know, to sit. You're sitting on the ground, right? Of the of the aircraft. It's obviously there's no there's no installation, there's no panels, it's just bare sheet metal. It's uh it's raw, man. It's raw. And um, so we get in finally, and um we had a young uh younger lady with us, um, which I found out that morning. She was she was here for jump one. She jumped and she had uh malfunction in her parachute. She had a cutaway. For those who don't know what a cutaway is, it's just that uh it's where the diver cannot figure out how to untangle the chute or the chute did not deploy. Hers did deploy, uh, but became tangled. So on one side of your harness, you have uh one handle, on the other side you have another handle. On this case, she had to pull her cutaway handle, which basically removes and lets that chute completely free of her. And then once she gets away from that, then you reach over on the other side, pull that handle, and that deploys your reserve chute.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

I'm praying to God that second chute works better than the first.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Correct. And that happened to her that morning. Oh. So she was sharing the story with me, which I greatly appreciate. But like I said, you might want to choose the people wisely that we unload on. Uh, I took it for what it was. I asked her if everything was okay with her, and you know, she's like, Yeah, and it's the first time it's ever happened. And she said, God dang it, I knew it that that morning because she told me she woke up and she was thinking on her way up there that she's never had to deal with a cutaway before. Put it out there, and then yeah, ta-da. She experienced it. So great person, great energy. Uh, so she was riding with us up there so they could look out into the meadows to uh see where her chute landed after after it came back down to earth. So that's why she was with us. And uh, excuse me. So we load in the plane, she gets in behind us, uh we're shimming around. I apologize for that. We uh shimmy around and we finally uh get squared away and uh aircraft takes off. And we we motor on down the the tarmac to the other end, and mind you, uh I'm sitting on the floor. So uh when I'm looking out the aircraft window, I can only see so much. I can't see the tarmac, I can't really see, right? Because you're you're kind of at that little pitched angle, right? And it's fine. I I was just enjoying the the ride. Extremely loud because it's there's not a lot in the aircraft, right? So we get down the inn and we're sitting there and we're rumbling and bumbling, waiting for the pilot to do his thing, and then uh engines wind up, full throttle, man. And now we're just motoring on down the tarmac, takes off, and we're ascending up to the sky, man. All the way up. I was very present, man. Um I was trying to stay in more of a meditative mind state. I didn't want a bunch of thoughts and things coming into my mind on the way up in the aircraft. I really just wanted to be present in the moment, enjoy this time. Plus, I was coming off of not feeling well physically, so I didn't want to focus on that. I just wanted to focus on being present. Um, it's a great little ride up, and um, on the way up, the instructor was calling out some landmarks that I was familiar with, but obviously from a different perspective. You could see Mauna Kea, Monaloa, beautiful morning. We could see uh the island of Maui across the ocean there, which you don't get to see a lot of the times, but gorgeous morning, man. 0-8 just very light clouds, most of those are close to the ocean, and it's just clear. It's just a beautiful day, man. 72 73 degrees, can't you ask for a better windy? It was perfect. So we're on our way up, chit-chatting here and there with the uh the instructor because he's got a GoPro, uh, he had a GoPro on his left wrist because he's uh provided me with a video of the whole experience. So I think because I was so calm and quiet and present, and I wasn't just randomly just talking to talk, um he had to he had to kind of force some questions just to get some content for the video, which I uh if you're ever listening to this, I appreciate the heck out of you, man. And um it was very pleasant, but I was just present, Shannon. I was really trying to feel what I was feeling internally, you know, in the moment. And uh I had no increased blood pressure, uh, my pulse was steady, no butterflies, no nothing, man. I was just there. So we're oh I would say the ascent probably took I don't know, maybe five minutes, eight, I don't know. It wasn't very long for the ascent, but once we got up to about 10k, had to make a turn. We're gonna go back to the uh we were gonna go what which way do we turn? So we're turning I'm looking at my tattoo. We're turning like I guess towards the north um to circle back. So when we jump, we're jumping on the outer portion of the tarmac. So um I kind of knew where we were when I looked out the window when he said we're close. Now, in that moment, if you've never tandem jumped, um I'm loosely connected to the instructor at this point. So he's sitting on the ground, his back is literally in the front of the cockpit next to the the pilot. I'm in between his legs. We're both sitting on the ground, and uh my harness is connected to his harness. That's how the tandem jump works. And when we got close, he said, All right, man, he's gonna get a little bit more uncomfortable. He goes, I'm gonna cinch the crap out of you now. And he did. He started wrenching down on the straps, getting us very tight uh together. Gave me some cool goggles. I'm not sure if they're I guess they're skydiving goggles. I've never worn them before, but they were they got little angles and things on them. They're pretty neat looking. I didn't I didn't have them on, I just was holding on to them. And I said, Okay, man, go ahead and put your goggles on. I put those on. It uh it goes, this is gonna be uncomfortable, man, but trust me, you're gonna want this. He uh wrenched down. They had like paracord on them or something, and he just like just pulled on them, sucked, sucked them into my face like tight. And he said, Trust me, that's for a reason. Um but once we once the chute opens after our free fall, he goes, uh, and we're settled, he goes, I'll take them off of you, so don't worry about it. I said, Okay, cool. So now he's uh just going through a couple of quick instructions is um once once he tells us we're at the spot, he's gonna open the door. Uh I'm gonna get my legs out of the aircraft, uh, I'm gonna put my head on his uh right shoulder. That's to make sure he's got a clear vision and that my head does not smack his helmet because he's wearing a helmet. I am not. And once you leave the aircraft, we're gonna go for a quick descent, and he's gonna tap me. And then when he taps me, he gets we we do what's called the banana. You throw your arms out, and then you're in that kind of that U-shape, right? Feet back, head back type thing. Which I'm familiar with. I said, Yeah, Roger, that cool. So a few moments later, he's like, All right, we're here. And I look over, man, and just he hits the door. And for those of you who've never been on an aircraft, uh, it's quite the experience when the door flies open and the wind comes rushing in the aircraft, and you can't hear anything but the wind, and uh the aircraft or the door stuck up now, you know, on top of the wing. And he's all right, and he's put your feet out. Well, don't mind you, we're cramped, bro. Okay. So at my age, I'm I'm okay flexible, but I'm not 20 flexible, right? So I'm I'm grabbing my leg trying to like pull it back far enough so I can shimmy out the door. So once I get my my legs out the door, uh, you're standing on. Well, let me rephrase that. Once you swing your legs out the door, you're sitting in the doorway, your legs are dangling out of the aircraft, and there's a little teeny tiny stair on what I'm assuming is the landing uh gears or whatever, and my feet are on there. And he he yells in my ear, he's like, Okay, Mike, put your head back. And he grabs my head and he puts it back to where he wants it on his right shoulder. And then, unbeknownst to me, he's like, doesn't say nothing. He's like, We're out, and say la vie, man. I just remember seeing his arm grab, I don't know if it's the door, the wing, I don't know what he was holding on to, man. But we and you're now doing 135 miles an hour free fall towards the ground. I'm everly more present in that moment than you'll ever be anywhere in your entire life. I promise, man. And um when we left the aircraft, as weird as it sounds, um, because my brother asked me the question, he's what were you focused on? I go, I was focused on the ground. He's like, You weren't looking like looking around or anything? I'm like, nope. I said, I just wanted to see the ground. Whatever weird reason, that's just how I am. So I'm looking down at the ground, a few short seconds go by, uh, instructor taps me on the shoulder, I uh put my arms out, get in the little banana positions, what they call it, man, and then it's just I'm getting the chills right now, just thinking about it, man. It's a pure piece for me. Peace, like words don't it's hard to explain. Yeah, you know what I mean, and it was uh man, just free falling in the sky in Hawaii, and everything like uh you know, leading up to that.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yeah, there it is, man. You're getting choked up in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

I I am, I I I am getting choked up, man. Uh because it was intense, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah, and everything leading up to that, the weeks prior, the months prior, you had really gotten pretty stacked up.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Yeah. Had a lot of weight. Fuck, yeah, you did. It was carrying tonal weight. Yeah. And uh, man, it was so nice just to be so present, falling through the sky. Uh, people asked me, you know, when I got back to the office, I had a lot of questions, obviously. And um I'm gonna be honest with people, all the things I've been through uh to that point, man, it's like you're not thinking about shit. Nah. What you're thinking about is you're flying through the sky attached to a guy at 130, 135 miles an hour, descending very quickly to the ground, and you just left an aircraft at 10,000 feet. You're very present. And I'm not thinking about any of that, not work, not my family, nothing. I am completely empty in my mind because you're that present.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

You know? It's fascinating that it takes circumstances such as that to be free-falling toward the earth out of an airplane to wash everything away like that. And it makes a lot of sense. It's why a lot of individuals do a lot of different things to experience that degree of presence because it's so restorative, it's so healing, it's just whoo after months and months, just to like whew, wash a lot of that away. And remarkably, there are those who over time and with plenty of practice and can begin to create a similar state, similar levels of presence through their daily practice. Just, you know, sitting down, being still, you know, turning the focus toward the breath or toward a mantra, whatever it is, you know, through the rosary. It doesn't matter, right? Like just it is uh it almost we can create what almost feels like an altered state by just dropping in with ourselves and even dare I say, even you know, with with spirit, you know, however we experience, however we comprehend divine energy, you know, and it's like we because it's it's moving, it brings up those emotions, you know, from deep down that surprise us often. And uh to be able to have had that experience like you did and have been needing it so bad and finally just uh the relief of all that and the and the emotions even here now as you are retelling the tale, you know, it's it's quite remarkable.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

It's raw, man. It's raw.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

You know, and I enjoyed every second of the free fall, and and just for the listeners out there, no, it's not like in a dream. You know, when we're in a dream and you're falling, you get the butterflies, and you feel like you know, that weird feeling. You don't feel that when you're free falling in the sky, you don't get that. I don't know what I maybe maybe one of our listeners or somebody could leave a comment about it, but you don't feel that. It's not like a roller coaster where you drop in on a coaster and you get the in your stomach. You don't feel any of that, you're just falling. And it's a remarkable uh thing to be honest with you. And once the free fall was over, um he deployed the shoot. It was a very nice shoot opening, it was clean, uh, was very smooth, to be quite honest with you. And um now you're just uh it's just it's bliss, it's quiet up there, man.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Just sailing at that point, not free falling, just controlled, chutes open wide, yeah, just looking down, seeing the earth, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Yeah, and in and I'll get to this here in a minute, but we'll we'll revisit the the video in a minute. But um in that moment, I just remember just taking a big deep breath. I felt so free and empty and free of weight. Uh, it was crazy. And then once we got settled or established is what I call it. Once we were established and he was comfortable with the shoot and he was good on his side, he then uh jokingly said, Okay, Mike, don't freak out. I'm gonna loosen the straps now to set you down so you to more comfortable. Because then right then and there, bro, you're that uh that harness is all up and everywhere is tight. Yeah. And uh so he wants to loosen that, and it almost it not almost it creates like a chair effect. So you're just sitting there, right? It's so comfortable. Uh he's like, I haven't dropped anyone yet. And I go, Well, if you drop me, bro, this is what it is. Die happy. Can you kick me towards the ocean though? I want to go on the ocean, man. So he laughed, and um it was just a very pleasant descent, man. And uh we finally got to the ground, hit the ground, and uh man, I was just so much lighter. And uh I gave him a hug, told him thank you. And for all for any of you who go skydiving, better hug your guy because he's in control of your life at that point. So you want to thank him. Uh he was just ecstatic, man. And he he made a comment to me once we started walking back uh to the conic. He made a comment to me, he's like, It's been such a pleasure having you here, man. He's like, You're probably the calmest dude I've ever jumped with. He's like, good conversation too, man. He's like, you've just been a blast, and I I appreciated that you know, from him, because he's done this thousands, and I mean thousands of times, right? Uh so I de-harnessed, uh, told him thanks again, because now there was another person waiting. I told the staff in the in the connects thank you. Walked over, uh hugged a wife, and she was pretty ecstatic, obviously, that I, you know, made it back in one piece. And uh I didn't say anything. I was just quiet. It was quiet, man. Went over, got in the parking lot, man, and she's well how do you feel? I can see it on your face. I feel good. She's like, something's different. She's like, I feel it, she's like, something's different, you know.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

And um there it is, man. Yeah, there's a lot of emotion coming up right now. Something really changed there for you. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

It's crazy to think about, you know.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Even more intense to feel.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Yeah. I was like she's like, you wanna get in the car? I'm like, nope. I'm gonna sit on the front bumper. She's like, okay. I was like, I just want to sit in this moment, bro. Just be in it. And I didn't want to let it go.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

That was a big moment.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

Just sit in there. Feel that. Looking into the ocean? Bro, you can't make this up. Can't make it up.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

What what is it you're feeling right now, man? What peace? Yeah, that the relief after carrying so much for so long, for so many, uh, you know, just the day in and day out, all the responsibility, all the work, all the decisions each day, uh, and to be free of all of that and to kind of wash it clean and just fall through the the sky and appear, yeah, just as you describe, more present than you've been in a long time.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Oh yeah, man, it's you know, going back now, um and looking at the video, because um for the listening uh audience out there, I um showed Shannon the video last episode um before we jumped on our recording. And when I first looked at the video, when I got back to the hotel room later that day, they sent me the link and said, Here's your photos, here's your videos, enjoy. I watched it by myself in the hotel room, man, and I'm gonna tell you, I felt the same thing just watching the damn video, bro. But what I noticed, and this is something that Shannon noticed after we talked about it uh on last episode is, or before we recorded last episode, when he's recording my face and I leave the aircraft, there's a split second, and thank you, by the way, instructor, or whoever is doing the production, they slowed that down, if you noticed, right? It went they went slow-mo on it, and it captured something that I didn't know even happened. We know it happened because we've talked about it now, we were watching it, but at the time I didn't know what happened. But when you watch the video and they slow it down, there's a moment of time when you see my face, and it is crystal clear that I am completely free. And when we left the aircraft and we talked about unloading for months now, my unloading was left on that plane. All of it.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Everything. It stayed in the aircraft. Wow. And you can see it on my face.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Flying through the sky. Because you, when we talked about it, you were like, shit, you're right, dude. Now that you mentioned it, I can see it.

unknown 24:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

I sent the video to my brother, and my brother, he texted me back. He said, bro, I am legitimately crying. Happy tears, man. He's like, I saw your face. You were so happy, so at peace in the moment, you know, and he knows me better than anybody.

unknown 25:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

You know, and I never in a million years or a lifetime would have thought jumping out of an aircraft on an island that I cherish would have had that impact on me.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Nah, you didn't expect that.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

No. I was thinking adrenaline rush. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Let's go parachuting.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

I was thinking just pure, unadulterated, good old fashioned, just adrenaline dump. That's what I was expecting. And as we talk about the uh universe had a whole different thing in store for me, man.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Mm-hmm. Yeah, way deeper. Yeah. You'd you've been going through a lot up to that moment, and didn't know that there was gonna be that moment where you gotta let it go. Uh, be free.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

So I don't highly recommend anyone else doing that unless you're into it. So I'll throw that out there. If that's something that you're into, please do it. And I think now after talking to my instructor and hearing his story, because the reason he initially went skydiving was because he was so pent up with weight that he needed a release that he didn't know how to get, and somebody else told him, bro, go skydiving. He's like, I'm terrified of heights. They're like, go anyway. He faced his fear, he doesn't remember the descent. He remembers the climb in the aircraft, and he remembers getting on the ground. Wow, everything else is blacked out. But what he told me was, I felt the same. Wow, huh? He said, I felt the same as you, Mike.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Just left it, left it in the plane.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

I felt refreshed, new, almost weightless.

unknown 27:17

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

And he said that day changed his life forever, obviously. Huh? Because then he went on to be a certified skydiver. Yeah. He became a certified tandem jumper, which I think you need like a thousand jumps before you can even think about that. He got his pilot's license. Got his pilot license, dude, and now this is what he provides, man.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Wow, wow. And this is what he provides. Wow. Similar experience.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Yeah. I know it sounds like a very extreme way to unload, man, but I would have never thought in a lifetime that that's exactly what was getting ready to happen when I left the aircraft, man.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

No, man. Yeah. I'm happy for you, man. I appreciate that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

It's uh feels good.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Yeah. Yeah. Oh man. It's a different Michael that sits here now, a little bit uh, you know, much lighter, much just huh. More relieved, just more present, more settled.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

It's it's similar when I came off the mountain. Yeah. You know, in uh 2020 when I left the monastery, but I I'm gonna be honest with you, this is this is twice that, man.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Wow, yeah, condensed, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

This is twice that didn't take me seven days, took me five seconds to leave an aircraft. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

When you told me that story about coming off the mountain, you there was some emotion present. You got a little misty-eyed, but now today telling this story and seeing even more emotion, seeing even more teary-eyed, you know, like wow, this was transformative for you.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

It was, man, and like you said, uh couldn't have been a better time.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Nah, you kind of designed this. This is right, like this this was supposed to happen for you.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Yeah. And I'm I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful that I went through it, and uh every time I watch the video, man, I feel the same.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

That's great. Ah, there it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

And it rushes back to me like it was literally just yesterday, man. So for our our listeners out there, I just I share this because it's so uh it has such a an impact on me. And I want people to know that there are just times in life, man, that w we may get to experience things like this, man, and just don't just don't shrug it. Yeah, you know what I mean? Don't don't dismiss it. Like sit with it, think about it, feel it. You know, and I don't know if it'll happen for other people. It's not for me to say. It happened to me.

unknown 30:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

And, you know, being on this podcast, we've always agreed that, you know, we're just gonna be trying to be as honest as we can, man. And this was something I wanted to share with people, man.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Yeah, thank you for sharing this.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Yeah, no, I appreciate it, man. Well, it's been a crazy 30-minute ride. Yeah. I could have uh I did not anticipate the the emotional response, but I honor it, I appreciate it, and uh, you know, I'm not I'm not scared to you know share it because that's reality, man. Yep, it's a real deal.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Thanks for that, man. Thanks for being real.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

No, I appreciate you, Shannon. Appreciate you being along as usual for the ride. Of course. Can't ask for a better partner, man. Seriously. Well, as for our listeners out there, uh, I wish you all the very best. Um please seek help if you need it. Uh reach out to somebody for your hour if you need to talk. And uh uh 988, it's out there. If you need it, use it. And uh I I look forward to our next uh podcast here next week. And for Mike Seahorn and Shannon Mora. I wish you the best, and we'll catch you on the next episode, man.