Michael Rix didn't choose music — music chose him. Growing up in Faith Assembly, a cult in rural Indiana that forbade medical treatment, secular music, and nearly any form of outside connection, Michael found his escape in a homemade guitar string stretched across a punishment paddle. Today, he's an eight-instrument musician with over 24 million streams, a residency in Nashville, and a Grand Ole Opry performance to his name. His memoir, From Cult to Country: An Asthmatic's Journey to Find More Air, tells the full story — including watching his infant brother die of untreated meningitis, surviving years of stress-induced asthma without medical care, and the long road to healing that followed.

In this episode, Dr. Tara Perry sits down with Michael for a raw and remarkable conversation about what it costs to grow up without permission to be human, how trauma lives in the body long after the circumstances change, and why telling the truth about your story is one of the most powerful things you can do.

Key Takeaways:

When you're in a cult, you don't know you're in a cult (00:00:35) — Michael describes watching his father transform from a joyful, basketball-playing man into someone cold and controlled — and how noticing that contrast was one of his earliest signs that something was deeply wrong. The teachings of Hobart Freeman's Faith Assembly came in slowly, then all at once.

A medical doctor who walked away from medicine (00:02:46) — Michael's father completed his residency as a heart surgeon, then quit the profession after a sermon convinced him that modern medicine was equivalent to witchcraft. Michael unpacks the twisted theology behind it — and what it cost their family when that belief was applied to their children's health.

Over 300 deaths, all from treatable conditions (00:07:24) — Faith Assembly members died from dental infections, childhood illnesses, and ailments that penicillin would have resolved. Michael describes the congregation, the prosecutions that eventually followed, and the surreal reality of parents being sentenced to prison for letting their children die while trying to follow God.

Stress-induced asthma and the body's way of keeping score (00:14:24) — From age 11 to 14, Michael suffered three-day asthma episodes that left him breathless on the sofa, too sick to move. No inhaler. No emergency room. It wasn't until decades later — after hearing a Nashville minister describe her own identical symptoms — that he understood his asthma was emotionally driven, his nervous system responding to a world it didn't feel safe in.

Watching his brother die (00:25:24) — At 14, Michael witnessed his six-month-old brother John die of untreated meningitis. His father prayed over the infant until the final breath. Michael was standing in the living room. This is the moment the episode turns — and the anchor point from which so much of his healing work has since begun.

Music as the original medicine (00:29:53) — Long before therapy or coaching, Michael found his way out through songwriting. With headphones, a CD player, and a notebook, he translated his interior world into lyrics. His album I Can See the Sun — 24 million streams — grew directly from those pages. He shares the song titles and the feelings behind them, and reflects on what it meant to finally say what he actually felt.

The toxic beliefs trauma leaves behind (00:32:48) — Through a process called SoSo Prayer with a psychologist friend, Michael excavated the beliefs he'd built around his worst experiences: nobody will accept me if they know, better keep this buried, telling the truth will get me rejected. Dr. Tara connects this to the subconscious stories that run below the level of awareness — and explains why those stories often control outcomes long after the original wound has passed.

What happened when Michael worked with Dr. Tara (00:34:37) — Michael describes the session: a deeply relaxed state, forgotten memories surfacing, and a palpable shift in the heaviness he'd been carrying for years. Within days, the anxiety he'd long struggled to name had lifted — and opportunities began opening around him in ways he hadn't expected. He describes feeling clear, unblocked, and no longer weighed down by a stress he couldn't locate.

Ready to take your own next step? Visit calendly.com/consulttara/consult to book your free customized consultation with Dr. Tara Perry and get your GPS map — the coordinates for where you are now and where you want to go.