A Horse Named Lonesome

For readers of Find Your People and How to Know a Person comes a transformational roadmap for healing existential loneliness from creator and host of the top-rated podcast The Life Stylist exploring how to break the cycle of separation at its source.

We are living in a loneliness epidemic. People long for connection, yet even with endless resources on belonging, many still feel alone. After nearly three decades devoted to spiritual inquiry, recovery, and lived transformation, Luke Storey discovered that loneliness is not simply a lack of people—it arises from a felt sense of separation within ourselves.

A Horse Named Lonesome traces Luke’s journey through addiction, trauma, recovery, and profound spiritual awakening to reveal how early disconnection imprints the psyche. Through deeply personal storytelling and grounded spiritual insight, he shows how loneliness often disguises itself as anxiety, depression, compulsive striving, relational chaos, or substance abuse. The pain of separation doesn’t always look like solitude—it can look like overachievement, codependence, obsession, or escape.

This book explores:
 

• How early trauma, shame, and birth-imprinted separation fracture identity and distort intimacy
• The difference between false belonging and authentic connection
• How ego, performance, and persona deepen separation
• How conscious relationship becomes a path of devotion, discernment, and shared evolution
• Why addictions and spiritual seeking often stem from the same longing for unity 

Blending memoir with reflective insight and practical inner work, A Horse Named Lonesome offers readers a courageous and deeply human path toward reconciliation, belonging, and authentic connection.

• “Luke Storey speaks from the deepest, most gut wrenching places, having taken the journey often referred to as ‘to hell and back.’ What he learned there - about loneliness and hopelessness, but even more importantly about reconnection and redemption - is a guide for anyone feeling as lost as he was. If we’re honest, that’s pretty much all of us at times. There is no one who cannot gain from the wisdom in this book.” 
  Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love
• “A Horse Named Lonesome is a deeply moving reflection on grief, healing, and the courage it takes to stay open in a painful world. With rare vulnerability and wisdom, Luke Storey guides readers through childhood wounds, forgiveness, and the lifelong journey of coming home to yourself, reminding us that loneliness is often the doorway back to love, connection, and self-trust.”
  Dr. Nicole LePera, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers How to Do the Work, How to Be the Love You Seek, and Reparenting the Inner Child
• “This book speaks to the quiet longing for connection that lives in all of us. Luke Storey offers a heartfelt path back to presence, authenticity, and a deeper sense of self.”
  Elle Macpherson, model, founder of WelleCo
• “A Horse Named Lonesome confronts the loneliness beneath addiction and self-sabotage. In other words, the Resistance-with-a-capital-R that we all struggle with every day. Luke Storey shows how that separation takes hold, and what it takes to fight your way back to something real. Five stars!”
  Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of The War of Art and Turning Pro
• “Luke Storey brings clear awareness to how loneliness is shaped by early imprinting and the subconscious patterns we carry into adulthood. This book offers an honest look at how those patterns form — and what it takes to change them.”
  Lacy Phillips, founder of To Be Magnetic
• “A Horse Named Lonesome is a powerful and deeply honest journey from pain to purpose, from isolation to love. Luke Storey brings rare courage to the page, showing how real transformation begins when we stop running from ourselves and open the heart to something greater. This is a wise and healing book.”
  Dr. John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
• “A Horse Named Lonesome may appear to be a book about Luke Storey’s life, but I’m confident you will find a piece of yourself on every page; by the time you get to the end, you are sure to know and have much more empathy and compassion for yourself.”
  Paul Chek, founder of CHEK Institute & Spirit Gym
• “What I love about this book is its honesty. Luke Storey takes you into the places we try to avoid and shows you how the ‘poison’ can become the medicine, that when we face the darkness it can alchemize to light. This is a powerful invitation to slow down, feel what’s real, and reclaim your power.”
  Emily Fletcher, founder of Ziva Meditation, author of Stress Less, Accomplish More
• “What lives in this book is a rare wisdom only Luke’s captivating journey can provide. Anchored in humility, love and a willingness to meet what most turn away from, you’ll find a deep truth you can feel in your soul.”
  Alyson Charles Storey, oracle, bestselling author Animal Power
• “As a traditional medicine practitioner, I rarely encounter a book that speaks so directly to what work with sacred plant medicines demands, and what it can cost when it goes off course. Luke’s concept of ‘Psobriety’ is one of the most courageous contributions I’ve seen in the plant medicine and recovery conversation. He names the dangers, the shadow traps, and the pull toward grandiosity and spiritual bypassing with the clarity of someone who has lived it. He honors Indigenous lineages with humility and respect. This is not a book of formulas, but a mirror that reflects us back to ourselves, and to something far greater.”
  Tricia Eastman, author of Seeding Consciousness, initiated Bwiti Fang practitioner, ibogaine provider, founder of Ancestral Heart
• “I’ve spent years helping people trace their anxiety to its origins. Luke Storey goes further back than most, to a glass incubator in a neonatal ward. If you’ve ever chased connection only to feel emptier than when you began, this unflinching book will help you understand how loneliness can begin in our earliest moments, and how turning toward what is difficult can begin to restore a sense of wholeness.”
  Dr. Ellen Vora, MD, psychiatrist and author of Season of the Witch
• "Luke Storey is creating a healing balm for the loneliness crisis by tenderly sharing his story in an empowered and insightful way. I feel this book will inspire many to have the courage to be open."
  Deborah Hanekamp, author of Ritual Baths
• “Some wounds arrive before we have words — written into the body before we even draw our first breath. I carry one of those. Luke follows that thread of separation from its origin in the flesh, through every place we searched for belonging, through addiction and hollow intimacy and shadow, into the fire of ceremony and out the other side. What he finds there, and what he offers here, is nothing less than a map back to the heart.”
  Poranguí, international musician, educator
• “Absolutely beautiful. This book is a rare gift. Storey lays bare his journey from loneliness to love with inimitable honesty, courage, and deep humanity. He presents us with a potent exploration of the relationship between trauma and addiction, healing and connection with God. His story is a powerful offering in a time of great need, as we find our way home to ourselves and each other."
  Erin McMorrow, author of Grounded; Personal and Creative Coach
• “After Luke and I spoke for two hours about the journey of the heart on his Life Stylist podcast, I immediately told all my closest friends it was the deepest conversation I’d ever had on any podcast or media interview. His marvelous book A Horse Names Lonesome feels just the same. Honest, self-deprecating, courageous, expansive, practical, and radiant.  Luke doesn’t dress things up to make a better impression — he goes deep into the raw reality of loneliness, and shows us what it takes to come back into the heart of love, connection and wisdom.”
  Bruce Cryer, creator, Vybrato; creator, Renaissance Human; former CEO, HeartMath
• “Luke is sharing the vulnerability of his journey. He shares the hardest parts of his path to wholeness. I applaud him for being so honest and through that honesty gives the reader a glimpse into healing.” 
  Carrie-Anne Moss, actor, founder of Annapurna Living
• "A Horse Named Lonesome is a raw, powerful, and deeply moving account of Luke's journey through loneliness, addiction, birth trauma, childhood abuse, and fractured family ties. With honesty and courage, Luke opens a door for others to heal the wounds we all carry in our minds, our emotions, and beneath the surface of everyday life. A heartfelt, real, and profoundly human story. Highly recommended.”
  Darin Olien, author of SuperLife, host of Down To Earth
• “There’s a difference between wanting love and actually being available for it, and most of us were never taught the distinction. Luke Storey unpacks the patterns that keep us guarded, the loneliness underneath them, and the ways we abandon ourselves in the pursuit of connection. This book challenges how you to take responsibility for the kind of relationships you’re creating and what it takes to finally choose something different.” 
  Mark Groves, Human Connection Specialist
• “A Horse Named Lonesome brings a clear lens to the link between early imprinting, trauma, and loneliness, and how those experiences carry forward into our patterns. This book points to what sits beneath it all, and how to move toward a more integrated way of living.”
  Dr. Will Cole, New York Times bestselling author, Intuitive Fasting, Heal Your Cells , host of The Art of Being Well
• “This is a book you need to be ready for. There are a lot of trauma books out there. I truly believe that art and story is what most people need when they’re in a hole or walking in the dark. A Horse Named Lonesome comes along as a companion, Storey takes us on an epic journey through most of the big T traumas, how he’s made meaning with them, and offered a path for the readers to make sense of their own."
  Kimberly Ann Johnson, author of Erotic Seasons, Call of the Wild, and The Fourth Trimester
• “This is more than a memoir, it is a roadmap out of loneliness. With rare honesty, Luke examines how early wounds, birth experiences, trauma, addiction, and the search for meaning can shape a life. He asks the questions many avoid: Where does loneliness start? What keeps it alive? How do we heal it? As a birth expert, I was especially moved by his exploration of how our earliest moments back to the womb echo through adulthood. A bold and compassionate book for anyone longing to feel whole again.”
  Eyla Cuenca, Founder of Uncovering Birth, Holistic Birth Guide & Educator
• "Few writers can move from the floor of a heroin kick to an ayahuasca circle without losing the reader's trust. Storey writes from inside both experiences, with the unsentimental clarity of a man who's stopped lying to himself. His concept of Psobriety, a sobriety that makes room for the intentional use of entheogens, is the most honest treatment of that thorny question I've read. A Horse Named Lonesome is a book for anyone tired of choosing between recovery and revelation."
  Paul Austin, founder of The Third Wave
• “This is a true account of spiritual devotion — hard-won in the bloody trenches of reality. In a Horse Named Lonesome, Luke Storey fearlessly stares into the abyss, then invites us to join him, with steeled vision, to see what we’ve been running from all our lives.  Save yourself 10 years of therapy and read this book instead!”
  Daniel Vitalis, host of the TV series WildFed
• “This book is a tool for your own evolution. Luke’s raw, honest storytelling draws you into the adventure of your inner world. From reflection to writing, from writing to action.”
  Kimberly Van Der Beek, Leadership Advisor, Writer & Speaker
• “A Horse Named Lonesome does what very few books can effectively do, that is to weave personal stories of the past into useful tools for the present. And Luke does it with so much ease, wisdom and even some humor. ‘A Horse’ is also a genuinely fun read. At times it’s like you’re peering into a wild tale of excess but then it takes your right back into redemption and advice that is useful for just about anyone. I can’t recommend this book enough as it firmly places Luke as one of the most thoughtful teachers of our time.”
  Zach Leary, Author of Your Extraordinary Mind - Psychedelics in the 21st Century and How to Use Them
• "Luke is one of the most open-hearted and conscious beings I’ve had the privilege to know. He is a pioneer in the movement of spirits here on Earth to help raise the consciousness of humanity. A Horse Named Lonesome reflects the man behind the work: curious, open-hearted, awakened, aware, intentional, and alive to the magic and mystery of life."
  Doyle Bramhall II, Musician, Mystic, Healer