Overcome Adversity

 

I greatly enjoyed dropping in with Ms. Jolie Wilson, (@joliewilsonyoga), owner & founder of Full Circle Yoga School (@fullcircleyogaschool), to tools and techniques for overcoming adversity, personal growth, transformation, conscious living, and our respective journeys of awakening.

 

Full audio and transcript below. Lmk what you think!

 

 

 

About Jolie Wilson

 

Having studied and practiced yoga, meditation, and intuitive arts for over 22 years, Jolie believes these practices are the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and others. As a certified yoga teacher of 7 different yogic practices, owner of Full Circle Yoga School, transformation facilitator, certified paddle board yoga instructor, Reiki Level II practitioner, teacher of kids yoga and meditation classes, intuit, mystic, and shamanic practitioner she is ever delving deeper into these passions. As a mother of four and woman who found herself embarking on a journey a bit different than expected, Jolie took an even deeper turn toward these practices in 2009 when she needed healing from depression, trauma, anxiety, panic attacks and at the time what felt like a broken life.

 

About Full Circle Yoga School

 

Full Circle Yoga School is the spiritually and mystically infused yoga school, based out of South Florida. They offer certified Yoga Alliance recognized 200, 300, 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Trainings and continuing education courses, both online and internationally, as well as exotic wellness retreats in various spectacular locations. Many of their students and guests feel that they offer experiences and support that feels like coming home. With arms grown strong from love, they are ready to meet you exactly where you are on your journey and walk the rest of the way with you. For more information visit www.fullcircleyogaschool.com

 

This episode was produced by my creative agency, Kaypieye Media, and sponsored by @fullcircleyogaschool.

 

Interested in appearing in and/or sponsoring my podcast? Email me: chad@chadmc.com

 

Jolie Wilson Episode - Overcoming Adversity

 

[Speaker 1]

Amazing, what's up? It's Chad here with the Mindful Ways Podcast, and I'm joined today by Jolie Wilson, who is the founder and owner of Full Circle Yoga School, both a client and now a friend, and a kindred spirit in a whole bunch of amazing ways. And we're gonna drop in today and talk about all kinds of different high-vibing things, and our lifestyles, and our work, and all this good stuff.

So, Jolie.

[Speaker 2]

Hi.

[Speaker 1]

How are you?

[Speaker 2]

I'm great. I'm over here in the Florida Keys, a little different than where you are in Vancouver.

[Speaker 1]

It feels like Florida here today, though. We've got this amazing late summer season, which is super rare around here, and I think it feels pretty bright over where you are as well, so.

[Speaker 2]

Other than the hurricanes last week.

[Speaker 1]

The hurricanes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, what's the vibe there in Florida about that? How's everybody doing?

[Speaker 2]

It's really intense. The people that were hit in Fort Myers, my family included, they have a tree farm in the middle of the state. It's pretty bad, it got hit hard.

However, when you live here, you know that that's part of the lifestyle. So you prepare, do the best you can, and keep flowing, keep moving on.

[Speaker 1]

We both have hurricane stories, which we've talked about, which we'll probably touch on today as well, but more like meta, I guess, in our conversation. We'll be talking about moving through storms anyway, personal inner storms, right?

[Speaker 2]

Exactly, yeah, we all have storms, whether it's an actual natural disaster or the storms of our life, and we get to move through those in different ways, and if we move through them as a gift and it's happening for us, and we can grow and expand and become stronger and more resilient, then we can live in much more elevated, expansive ways. Storms of our life, and also the things that are actually physically happening in our worlds.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, so let's get into that, because that's gonna be amazing to discuss. But maybe off the top, you could introduce yourself a bit and the work you do. I'll do the same for those who don't know me, and we can get a little bit deeper into our journeys and stories ourselves and all the wild shit we've both been through.

And then explore some of these techniques and methods and rituals and stuff, I think, that we both use and we both bring to people that we work with, and some tips and all that good stuff to help those who are joining us on this on whatever format they're choosing today. That sound cool?

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, I love it.

[Speaker 1]

So what's your jam? What's your jam?

[Speaker 2]

All right, well, I own Full Circle Yoga School, and you and I have been working together for a bit over a year now. And at a glance, it might sound like it's mostly yoga teacher trainings, which is pretty much how it started. It started as yoga studios, turned into trainings, trainings turned into retreats.

We still offer all of those. And it's really grown beyond that, because what I began to recognize is that so many people are suffering and so many people want more joy. We know that anxiety and depression are really rampant.

We had COVID, of course, come along in the last couple of years and just amplify all of that. Like you've said in some of your offerings on TikTok and other places, like the news, all these things are just, there's so much inflammatory, just energy coming at us constantly. So we've moved even into like the retreats and the transformation and into classes, courses, just pretty much becoming a lot more than just a yoga school, but more of wellness, mind, body, spirit, and beyond.

It just seems to keep growing. As you and I know, we keep working together and the synergy of this work and your agency just keeps expanding. So it's been a lot of fun and lots more to come, lots more that we'll be creating and offering and launching.

And yeah, that's kind of the gist of what we do with the yoga school.

[Speaker 1]

And how long have you been doing that for now?

[Speaker 2]

You know, math has never been my thing. I would say six or eight years. I really lose track.

I don't even know, but somewhere in that six, eight year range. Probably eight. Yeah, I get stuck on a number and then I'm like, wait a second, it's been like another year or two.

Probably more like eight.

[Speaker 1]

It's interesting, because the timing of my journey and more like the spiritual, I guess, mindful realms of just doing more personal inner work has been about 10, I think 11 years, give or take. So we're kind of in that same window. For those who don't know me, I'm Chad and I do work with Joey.

I have a creative agency and that's how we've connected, but it's not my only jam. I've got, well, I'm second generation in early stage finance and venture capital. And I have over 15 years experience working with early stage public companies, all different types of things, whether that's corporate finance or executive management or communications, M&A, all this kind of stuff.

And some 10 years ago, I shifted a lot and expanded my work, both on myself and the things I do. So I have my consulting company and the creative agency, as I mentioned. I'm in entertainment, in play and film and television commercial and music as well.

I love to produce music and also woke to this whole tuned vibe, I guess, of my life as things started to awaken, physically and mentally and energetically for me quite some time ago. So I went through a lot of lifestyle changes and similar and that's a whole story in itself. But all of that's brought us here and it kind of brought us together as we connected and we were aligned in our lifestyles and work in a whole bunch of different ways.

And I love working on projects with people, ventures that have some sort of a conscious lens or positive intention or impact because it feels good, it feels great. And you're doing great things for people. So I've also been having a lot of fun and we had all kinds of cool things we're still gonna do.

We're still just getting warmed up in tons of ways, but this is one of them. We wanted to jump in here and vibe like this and share and see what kind of magic meets us here to share some insights and stuff with people that care to join us. So where did this all start for you?

Let's talk a bit about the origin story of like whole circle because you went through, you can go further back too if you want, but you went through a whole bunch of shit.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, and that's exactly what I was thinking as you were telling your story. I feel like a lot of people lately have been asking me like how, right? We all see these amazing people doing amazing things and they used to be this and now they're living more consciously, but it's like, well, how did you get there?

Like what was the big change or was there a big change? Was it gradual? And how have you gotten to this place of peace and living in the flow state?

And yeah, I'd love to hear more about your story as well for me really just like I was doing yoga. I was really fortunate to find yoga in the year 2000 and it was really for no other reason than I was going to be getting married. And I just like anyone else wanted to get in shape and look good for my wedding.

And at the time, just like lifting weights, wasn't my thing. I was like, oh, I'll take an exercise class. I got really, really lucky, had an Ashtanga yoga teacher who was really pregnant doing things that I thought were not possible at the time, which now people say about me.

And I'm like, look, this is possible for anybody, but you have to do the work. I mean, you have to commit to living a high vibrational lifestyle. So it started there and some magic happened in some of those first classes.

I had an out of body experience. I just felt so good that I was pretty much hooked for the rest of my lifetime. And I would come in and out of it.

So I do have four children, fast forward some years later. And I just kept coming back to yoga and spirituality when I needed it to get my body back after children. And then there was a point where it was time to leave my marriage.

And I was really questioning everything about life because that was, of course, I thought that was going to be a forever thing. And I had four children. My littlest was only six months old when this happened.

And of course, it puts you into depression and anxiety. So I had to figure out how to heal myself. And I had to do it quick because I had four little boys depending on me to be a good mother.

So I did have another really profound experience that kind of was a catalyst and change. I was just in a state of suffering. I was trying to sleep.

I couldn't, I was having panic attacks. And it was my higher self, I guess you might want to say. And it just said, hey, you have a roof over your head.

Your boys are asleep in their beds. There's food on the table. They're safe, they're healthy.

You're educated. There are so many people in this world who don't have food on the table. Their babies aren't healthy.

And just this voice said to me, figure this out, heal yourself, and then go help others. And ever since that moment, I want to say probably maybe about 13 years ago, it's just been my mission and passion. Like alongside with raising my children, it's just been my mission and passion to learn everything I can about healing, wellness.

I studied all the religions. I've studied yoga, I've studied mindfulness. I teach 30 different styles of meditation, over 20 styles of breath work, six different yoga practices.

So I've just, I'm constantly learning. So it just evolved. Truly, I started teaching yoga because I had babies and I needed a job and I was able to go teach this really high-end resort that paid well.

And I didn't have to put my kids in daycare. And it just moved on from there. That then led to someone offering me a space to open a studio.

I then owned two studios. I then figured out my passion within that was more towards trainings and retreats. So I gravitated away from the trainings.

And then yeah, five years ago, Hurricane Irma came along, totally flooded my yoga studio. My house I was living in was uninhabitable. I lost everything, had to use all my savings as a single mom, which at the time was 50 grand.

I thought I was like rich. I had no debt, had 50 grand. I was so excited and finally made it.

And then Hurricane Irma came and just took it all. So the last five years has been a really challenging but amazing journey of, I decided not to just have everything in one place here in the Keys that could continuously get hit by hurricanes like we just had one last week. And I decided to take what we do internationally and do teacher trainings in other locations all over the world and just expand.

And that's what brought me to you. A little over a year ago, I was looking for the right person who could really help us expand. I don't have that marketing background or finance background.

And I knew it had to be the right person, someone who was also living this high vibrational life because I tried it so many times with amazing, the best, these people that came with all of these, I don't know what you call it, like accolades and amazing looking resumes. And they were supposed to be the best ever and it never worked for us because if they didn't understand the energy and the flow and all this vibrational energy, if you wanna call it that, it just didn't work. So that's why it was so great to start working with you.

And yeah, and now here we are. I mean, obviously I could make that story like 10 times longer and trying to. So that was still pretty lengthy.

And that's kind of just that whole journey of really the last 13 years.

[Speaker 1]

When that hurricane hit, how did you make those changes? Like what did, like your house is gone, your studio's flooded, like your hands are like up in the air a bit. Just gotta be a deep sense of helplessness, I guess, on some level initially.

[Speaker 2]

I was fortunate I didn't have that. At that time I was already studying shamanism, which is another deep love of mine. I'm not a shaman, I don't call myself that, but I love to practice shamanism.

And I believed that storms do have spirits. And when Hurricane Irma passed over, I did have a really profound experience. And there was a communication and it was just like, we're wiping the slate clean so that you can rebuild your life exactly as you want.

And at that time, I trust the process. I know that there's a difference between inviting in negative things to happen to you. And then there's also just like, hey, it doesn't matter how high vibrational we're living, we're human and we're going to have challenges.

We might get sick, we might have a financial challenge happen or whatever those things are, or a breakup in a relationship. These things are going to happen as part of the human experience and the human journey. So at that point, I already had complete trust and faith in whatever is happening is what's meant to be.

So I can either go into victim mode or I can pull up my boots and look for the opportunities and the silver linings. And I kind of mentioned at the beginning of this video, I just love that quote, nothing is happening to you. Everything's happening for you.

So when challenging things arise, or I feel upset or triggered, or like, as you said, that feeling of hopelessness, sure, there was a moment I was like, what am I gonna do? Everything is gone, but it was just a fleeting moment. And I said, okay, this is just meant to be, it's a redesigning, it's a realignment.

And that's something you and I have to do all the time in the work we do. Sometimes things are gonna fall away and shift, but if you are trusting and doing the work and setting your intentions for the best possible outcome, some of those doors are going to close, but the ones that are meant for you are gonna open and it's going to keep expanding. It's going to keep moving in the right direction, but it's that trust, that root chakra, base level of trust.

So luckily I didn't have that, but I did bounce in and out of debt for two or three years because as I said, I lost all my savings, but I just kept saying, I trust, I believe, I trust, I believe. And it just, again, those doors kept opening. So it might not have been the easiest journey, but here I am five years later and things just continuously get better every day, every week, every month.

And you're helping a lot with that.

[Speaker 1]

That's great to hear, I appreciate it. And it is, I feel that as well. As you were going through that, for anyone that might be going through that now, is there anything that you did practically, like any sort of practice or ritual or anything?

Like here you are, just to paint this big portrait, but here's you and the four boys standing in front of the house, you're looking at it and they're like, we can't go back in this house. So from that day one, you're on path and good for you for finding that deep confidence and faith to be able to move forward. But for anyone who might be watching or listening here, is there anything particular, specific that you found really helped you in that journey that might help them as well on their journey from a similar place?

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, great, great question. Thank you for asking. I love this and I think a lot of people will relate whether they're parents or not, but I have been a parent for 18 years.

And I used to just honestly, even looking back now, I feel like I had to, but I sacrificed so much for so many years that I had gotten to the point where the hurricane hit that like I was no longer willing to not put self-care as a priority in my life. And my time might've been super limited, but I made sure that I got up and did what for me felt like the right practice every morning and people always want me to tell them what to do. And I always say, I can give you some ideas, but you have to try things out and find what's best for you.

I personally did a Kundalini Kriya called the Sobhag Kriya. It's an abundance Kriya. And what I loved about it is it didn't take very long.

I actually just got chill bumps all over as I just said that. And it's a really beautiful five part Kriya. It begins here and you visualize everything you want while you chant.

And it's said to be so powerful. So most Kundalini Kriyas, there's this number like around 11 minutes or it is 11 minutes, sometimes 33. But this one, it said, you can't do this for 11 minutes because it's so powerful that would be greedy.

So I did this Sobhag Kriya, it's nine minutes of this. Then there's four other parts that are just three minutes each. So really I could get this done within 20 to 25 minutes.

And I did it every day. And I just, again, trusted and believed. And so there's really that power in a morning ritual.

Maybe we don't have time to practice self-care all day. When you say self-care, sometimes people think of like luxurious baths and massages and things that take up time. But really, if you don't put yourself first, you're pouring from an empty pitcher.

So that for me didn't take much time, but it made an impact because it was a commitment. It was a commitment to abundance. And I do love Kundalini Yoga.

So that might not be for everyone. Some people love to sit down and write out, you know, a gratitude list. Like that's magical and powerful.

There's so many ways to start your day so that the whole rest of your day is threaded and woven with this power, this, you know, whatever it is that you do. How about you? Do you have something that, we haven't gotten to hear your whole journey yet.

We want to hear that. But do you have something along those lines?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, yeah. My practice, I'll get into my journey in maybe a minute because it's similar in a bunch of ways. But my core practice is meditation.

That's the biggest thing for me. I find with meditation, you can't lie to yourself, right? It's that place where you go, where like what you want is what you want.

When you're with yourself, there's no story that you tell to someone else about what you think that thing should look like or what it should be or similar. It's you just settling in to what's really going on, how you really feel and what you're really seeking. So for myself, my meditation is three parts and I start my day with it every day.

The first part is a check-in. So it's just, you know, holding that space, connecting with my breath and just feeling where I'm at. The second phase of my meditation, once I've kind of like established that, you know, level is exploring what I actually want.

[Speaker 2]

For the day or?

[Speaker 1]

You know, micro macro.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

So I do in part for the day, like what are my intentions for the day, but also that check-in on how that aligns, you know, bigger and, you know, over the vision for my life. But that also doesn't happen or doesn't need to happen every single morning. You know, it's the middle of an afternoon and I'm in the park.

I can just drop in and check in with myself and like, how are we doing? You know, with respect to those intentions, but it is to see it and visualize, okay, what are these things I actually want? And then the third phase of my meditation is to experience it.

So I bring that energy into my body. Like it's already happened. This is how it feels.

I'm doing the thing. These things are happening. That check has landed.

That deal's closed, you know. Yeah, we're at that event. Those people are here, whatever it is.

So that's a calibration for me. And I never had that before, kind of pre doing my work, I guess, for lack of a better way to say that. And since it's just been amazing and transformative.

And if I don't have that pillar in my day, I do feel disconnected. I do feel much more not a source, not aligned, not clear. And I think it feels subsequently like I don't generate, you know, and I don't create or I don't realize as much success as I do when I'm committed and disciplined with this practice.

So that's a big thing I've implemented since, you know, my journey started. And maybe I'll share some of that for a sec, because it was wild, you know. I'm from the state of heart, for sure.

But I've always felt in tune. I've always felt connected.

[Speaker 2]

Ever since you were a child?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, I've always recognized I've had good ideas and I was receiving them from somewhere I was channeling. The first time I realized this, I was a kid, I don't know. I must've been seven or eight.

And my mom took me to go meet Wayne Gretzky. And he was doing a big like signing, right? Which is super cool.

And my family, like big sports fans, outdoors people, and you know, lots of stuff going on. Yeah, Wayne Gretzky's like the guy, right? So it was pretty cool.

And when you go meet Wayne Gretzky, you bring like a hockey card, or you bring like his poster or something from his sign. But I chose to bring a Wayne's World t-shirt, which had Wayne and Garth on it from Saturday Night Live. And we waited in line, we waited in line.

And I got up and met him, and his agent was standing over his shoulder. His agent or similar, like one of his handlers, I guess. And I showed him the shirt, because he was otherwise just signing all this other stuff, right?

And they both paused and looked at it and had a laugh. And I just thought it was pretty clever. So all good, think nothing of it.

I've got my signed Wayne's World shirt with Wayne Gretzky on it. And I was walking through a poster store, and this is like months later, because I like posters and art and all that stuff too. And so I'm flipping through and I see this poster, and it's Wayne Gretzky.

And he's skating in space around the planet. And it says Wayne's World on it.

[Speaker 2]

Oh my God.

[Speaker 1]

And I just stopped and I'm like, I hear the siren going off right now. Maybe that's like the bells.

[Speaker 2]

It's a sign, it's a sign.

[Speaker 1]

That was the, yeah. That was the signal going off in my head, these alarm bells, right? And I'm like, that was a good idea.

So yeah, that's where the creative journey started for me. And just like kind of with a spark of confidence, I think. You know, oh, that wasn't just an idea.

That was a good idea. You know, that was something that I could bring. But the spiritual journey, the kind of more deeper in tune stuff has been kind of with me over my life.

But I was also partying a lot. I was doing a lot of things that didn't really support listening to that as much. And it got to a point for me, like I was living my corporate life and running public companies and all this kind of stuff.

And I was exhausted. Like it doesn't really stop. And I wasn't really clear on my goals, I guess, with respect to it.

And definitely not with my practices to look after myself as I was operating. And I was traveling a lot. I was around like Toronto, Montreal, New York, Boston, road shows and business meetings and all this.

And my phone's just blowing up all the time. There's people who weren't satisfied with this, that, you know, or the other thing. You're putting out fires all the time.

And if anyone who's listening or watching knows, if you don't look after yourself as you're doing that, it tires you out. It'll burn you out. And I just remember one day I was in Manhattan and I got off a call and I was just like, what the fuck am I doing, you know?

Like, is this it? Because I was wiped.

[Speaker 2]

How old would you think you were at the time? Like in your twenties or thirties?

[Speaker 1]

I was late twenties, like 30 something in there. I could timestamp it by going through my posts and stuff, but like somewhere in that world. And as that was happening, I was starting to connect deeper with my inner compass, with my intuition and yeah, how I navigated, you know, and what I'd used to navigate.

I started to see signs, symbols, the synchronicity started to, you know, appear and meet me here. And everything I was doing used to feel good. Sitting at the bar, eating hot wings, you know, like just whatever, like just this lifestyle, right?

Started to just feel really shitty. And my hangovers got really bad and my digestion didn't feel really good. And like all this kind of stuff, then I was feeling it energetically too, these ripples, all this stuff was just pouring out of me.

So I connected with a shaman and we started to explore this. And I was really going through a kundalini awakening, as you referred to it. So all this energy was waking up in me and I needed to offer that.

I needed to hold space for that and really embrace, you know, the shifts. So I started working with a shaman for about 15 months. She would journey for me and she would check in and she would, you know, provide messaging and guidance, help integrate this energy.

And as I did that, I started changing my life patterns. I was taking more space for myself. I started to learn how to meditate.

Thanks, Deepak. You know, I started on Deepak.

[Speaker 2]

I love his voice.

[Speaker 1]

10 minute meditations. Yeah, he's very soothing in that. And then kept, you know, doing this work and deepening it.

I stopped drinking. So I'm nearing on 10 years without a drink. I changed my diet, so I went fully plant-based vegan.

That was 10 and a half years ago.

[Speaker 2]

Did you do both of those things gradually or like cold turkey?

[Speaker 1]

Gradually. Yeah.

[Speaker 2]

So I think a lot of people struggle with their nourishment and diet and with toxic substances like alcohol. And I mean, you and I are not nutritionists, so it's good to get professional help with those things. But I know that's a question I get a lot is, you know, how do you get there?

How do you transition? So yours was gradual?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah. Well, it was trying to tune it.

[Speaker 2]

Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 1]

I think when you get on this path, it's really what it is, right? It's tweaking the dial as you get into it. You want to make sure you're still healthy.

When I changed to my vegan diet, it was traumatic. Like first four weeks, I'm like, what am I eating? Am I eating enough?

Like, I was just tripping out. I went to the doctor. I'm like, am I diabetic?

Like, I feel like I just, I'm all, he's like, you're good, man. You know, like, but you're like, am I getting enough food? All these things.

And then you improve upon that.

[Speaker 2]

Were you weight training then? Because now you are like, you're a very consistent, like with weights and the gym. And, you know, a lot of people have that question too.

Like, how do you get enough protein and look like that kind of a thing that's challenging for people to navigate? So were you working out then or did that come later?

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, I've always been athletic. I've always been around sports and stuff, but not really. This last couple of years, it's been the most consistent I've ever been.

Again, a continuation of learning more, deepening my studies and that, and tuning. I mean, the first thing is the intention to go, okay, I'm gonna stop hurting myself. And these are the ways I feel that I'm hurting myself.

And then it's a process of learning, these are the ways to better myself. Now they're even looking at the world that way. And as you do that, a lot of your shit comes up and all this, but like, that's the big first switch, I feel.

And that's what I did is I flipped that and then tweak and keep tuning.

[Speaker 2]

And not doing it all at once. Not doing it all at once, you know, like I- You start, you know? Yeah, you have to start.

I like to pick the thing that's causing the most suffering and start there, like pick one thing. What one thing, if you started to change that, would help everything else in your life, but not doing it all at once.

[Speaker 1]

That's good advice. I think that's good, you know, approach. For me, I feel it was like, whatever could make these other pains stop.

And if that required everything, then I was in, like, let's go. Because I was burnt and wasn't feeling great. I mean, digestively, things were tough.

And I think that was from drinking for plenty and drinking plenty, you know, like that was the thing. But then energetically tired and then how inspired are you by what you're working on and all this kind of stuff. So as I, you know, got into this, it started with the diet.

And then the drinking required like a few tries at it and then that stuck. But I took a lot of space for myself because there were a lot of people around me, you know, bless them, it wasn't about them as much as it's about my journey. What served me best.

And I needed to shake a lot of things up. And what I recognized was that what I was doing wasn't working because this is how I felt. That's not how I should feel if I'm living my best life.

So I packed my suitcase and said bye to my family the next day. And I'm blessed, I've got a great family and they're all great people. And it was a thing, so I just said, I don't know if or when I'm coming back, but I have to explore this.

And I left. And I left my place like fully furnished and just like walked out the door and was like, I'm going this way. And I started and got on a ferry and I went to the island and connected with friends there and then started just flowing, right?

And this journey took me as like, this took me in a ways and I'll get on that for a sec, but I'd been practicing this work of working with my intuition. So the work I was doing was all in here. So much of it, like in finance and corporate work is really mentally driven.

I feel we're evolving. So it's more field-based and more intuitive, but it definitely wasn't. So I'd grab a backpack and I'd go downstairs in my place and I'd stand out front and I'd go, which way feels like the way I should go?

And then I would follow that. And I'd take a whole day of just following that. And when you're not touristing, but you're traveling, that's a similar vibe, right?

Where should we go today? Where do I wanna go? So when I left, that was the modality that I was flowing with.

It was, what does it feel like? And I don't wanna think about this. And I just wanna go with it, for real.

And as soon as I did that, all these things just started to open, synchronicity, you could see the portals and you could feel it.

[Speaker 2]

And this makes me take a deep breath just hearing you. I feel like, ah, it's so nice. That's nice.

[Speaker 1]

It's what it felt like, you know? And it feels like, literally. It was as literal as like, I'd walk by a sign and the sign would almost literally say, Chad, go this way.

You know? And you're like, whoa, you know? And you'd kind of keep going, you know?

So I just kept going. And as I did that, I was doing some other work as well.

[Speaker 2]

Like inner work or?

[Speaker 1]

Inner work, yeah. So I picked up a book called, The Presence Process.

[Speaker 2]

Oh yeah.

[Speaker 1]

By Michael Brown.

[Speaker 2]

That's a great book. You shared that with me. It's really great.

It's life changing.

[Speaker 1]

It's a very cool book. And it was gifted to me. And it sat on my shelves for a while until it felt ready to pick up.

But when this was coming up, it was like, okay, I need to take a look at this. And it's a book with a 10 week breath work and more. And you read a chapter a week and it helps you work through trauma, addiction, all kinds of stuff.

And generally you're not supposed to travel when you do this, but I did. And so the things that you need to experience to integrate as you do the process manifest week to week through this journey. And so as you're traveling, that can be a bit intense depending.

So I went from the island and took a ferry to Seattle and then took a train to Santa Barbara. And then I camped in Carpinteria on the beach.

[Speaker 2]

And this is no destination. You're just going wherever.

[Speaker 1]

I packed like an 80 pound pack on wheels. And I put my tent in there all my life, whatever. Computer, the tent, the camping survival tools, like whatever you think of.

And I just started flowing. I remember in Carpinteria, cause I'd never really like, it brings stuff up. You can't be on your own in some who knows where place.

I'm like the only person in this campsite, which is right on the beach. I just remember one night, like a raccoon or something was at the door of my tent, but I couldn't really see. I could just feel it kicking around at my tent and had my knife in my tent.

And I'm like, the fuck is going on? Like you're just fully survival mode, right? You're like, your vibe is just fully lit up cause you're so present.

Cause you're just everywhere that you are. Cause you're not spending your time in your head like that. You're just flowing.

So when you flow, you come to presence cause you need to. So this journey, I'm making such a long story about it, but I went from Carpinteria to Santa Monica. And then I sat around there a bit.

I bought a beach cruiser pedal bike, one speed for like a hundred bucks. I got a kid's trailer donated to me from one of the rental shops cause it was broken. I duct taped it to the bike, threw the pack on the back, tied the headband, put my iPad into the basket.

And I said, I'm riding this to San Diego. And I just went on this solo bike ride with a bike that's not meant for that really. And yeah, and I just had the music going and I just found the path and that was about 250 K.

So like, how far is that in miles? Like 200 miles or something?

[Speaker 2]

I don't, I already said I don't do math well.

[Speaker 1]

It was epic. And so it was, you know, for a couple of weeks I did that. And then I ran into these guys in San Diego, these French guys, and they were looking for someone to join them into Mexico.

So I said, okay, there's the portal of the next step. So I jumped into the van with them and we drove the whole Baja, which was another couple of weeks of driving. And crazy, like we were just sleeping in the middle of the desert and we got stuck off road in the desert.

And luckily we got out, we had to hike out like five, six hours and 20 kilometers off road. And it was just like, there's a cactus that are like three times as high as you are, you know? No self-service, crazy shit.

So, you know, that came up and then I went like, well, that's it. Cause I was still doing the process. So I was just breathing through it going like, okay, the universe is bringing me what I require and so on.

And then I got to Cabo and I lived there for a while. And then similarly, I got hit with a hurricane. And there's Hurricane Odile.

And I was renting a place on the Marina and it was like just below a cat four. This form, it was a direct hit. The eye even went over in the middle of the storm.

Lots of tourists left, but I was mostly like an expat kind of a vibe. I had stuff there, I had a motorbike and all this. So I stayed and literally went through the storm in like a yellow freaking rain suit.

It was like the doors and windows open and like, it was just unreal. So that's a whole story in itself. The storm was one of the craziest things I've ever experienced.

The after storm also, like looting and, you know, total like lawlessness really. And I was walking around with like a machete and a flashlight and patrolling at night. And all this crazy stuff.

That's a full unpack, but like also changed my life. You know, similar to you. I just saw like the core of us.

It felt like Lord of the Flies where everybody's like, like just, what are we doing? Who are we? Am I okay?

You know? And then are you okay? Yes.

Okay, are we okay? And I just watched us rebuild the whole community from that. And it was just life-changing to see how people behave in those circumstances and come through it.

But that again was a storm for me. That was my storm to integrate my stuff, you know, and learn that part of myself and my connection, I guess, to all things to say. And then carried on and after that left and went across to New Mexico, Mexico City, the pyramids of Teotihuacan, through Oaxaca for the Day of the Dead, through the mountains down in Estambul, crossed over into Guatemala and Antigua.

And going through, you know, all of that magic. You know, Honduras. I rented a horse and a guide and rode the horse up into the mountains.

This Mayan village and these Mayan ruins and all this. It was like, it was incredible. And I got ultimately as far as northern Panama on this journey.

And this whole kind of quest took me over a year, basically.

[Speaker 2]

Wow, over a year. That's incredible. Cool.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, yeah. And then every day you're just expanding, you know, and growing and integrating and learning more about yourself as you go. And the magic of all things.

And our connection with Source, you know, our connection with the universe and improving our relationship and improving my relationship with it, you know, and my confidence in that. And I came full circle and ultimately back to Vancouver, you know, through some experiences.

[Speaker 2]

Did you just feel the time was right? How did that feel when you started to realize it was time?

[Speaker 1]

I could have kept going. I connected with someone in my life and that how captured my heart and imagination and somewhere for a while and inspired me to kind of stop.

[Speaker 2]

What were you working?

[Speaker 1]

Come back the other way a bit.

[Speaker 2]

If you don't mind me asking. I was, yeah. Yeah, okay.

Because people like to do these trips. People are always interested in like taking these kinds of, why would you call it a soul journey or a pilgrimage almost?

[Speaker 1]

I call it a bit of a, it was a pilgrimage for sure. I call it a bit of a vision quest really. But it just felt like that was the time.

So came back, explored that side of things, you know, and love and relationship and stuff like this that, you know, presented itself. And ultimately came full circle back to Vancouver, but not back, forward to Vancouver and different, you know, with just a clear sense of who I am and what I'm about and what I believe in and all these things. And the types of stuff I want to work on and similar.

And so I've integrated that. But now having kind of loved it or lived I should say in both poles, but like high finance, you know, flashy luxury side of life, I guess. And the minimalist, barefoot, kind of free spirited.

[Speaker 2]

Headband. Happy side of life. Nice.

You know what I mean? The duct tape on them.

[Speaker 1]

The wild side maybe a bit. I mean, they can both be wild. I explored both those poles.

And so who I've evolved to become, I feel as a balance of those now. And it was important for me to find. And it serves me and it's how I operate now.

And it integrates, you know, these philosophies and it feels way better. Like day to day, everything just feels better balanced and, you know, better aligned. Projects have been packed.

You know, good people. I don't get headaches in the morning because I'm not hung over. You know, I've got rituals to start my day, live my days, all these types of things, you know.

And including, you know, I don't have an office. I work from wherever I feel like working. It was a big exploration for me in that, in that journey as well, to see like how much of that was doable.

But yeah, that was like a huge phase. And it was really difficult to be honest, because when I started, I was heavily criticized. Slagged for what's going on with Chad.

He's losing his mind. Like, what's he doing? You know, there's a trade paper that wrote up an article about me because I was exploring music and art.

And it was like- And you'd grown your hair out at some point too, right? What just starts growing, right? There's a lot of it there now.

All this started to just go through, right? But it felt really solo, which it needs to. You know, but it was really difficult because you could feel that energy.

You could just feel that kind of criticism all the time. But at the same time, I just said, well, fuck, like, what do you want me to do? This is my path and my work.

And I gotta do this for myself to be able to help other people really to participate. So, yeah, I mean, I still do the work. I haven't arrived to some like destination where I'm like levitating in the park on a Friday afternoon or something.

[Speaker 2]

I don't think I'm gonna get that down this lifetime.

[Speaker 1]

You know what I mean?

[Speaker 2]

Which is, I love to think that, you know. It's always, it's always the work, yeah.

[Speaker 1]

You start the path, right? And you start doing the work. And I'm on it still.

But over time, you see that growth and that evolution and you're doing things in positive, constructive ways. And, you know, that's the journey. The journey never ends, right?

Would you agree?

[Speaker 2]

I agree with that, yeah. We'll always be learning. I mean, what's the point of being here if we're not always learning and growing?

And we've all heard that quote, it's not the destination. It's the journey. Because if you're in the present moment, it's always, you know, the journey.

You never arrive. When you do arrive, you're still in the present moment.

[Speaker 1]

Right. But so much, I feel, of what we operate in pushes us into this. So we're trying to think our way through puzzles and problems.

And we do also need to feel our way through those because I feel that the answers come intuitively, more accurately than what we try and figure out up here. But it might not be obvious. The communication is different.

It's like, Chad, go this way to this place. And you're thinking, why would I wanna go there? But then you get there and you run into somebody you haven't seen in 10 years who, you know, has a gift or an offering or a opportunity or an insight or something that you're supposed to hear, you know?

Or receive or similar. That helps you along your path and your journey. But if you're looking at the page and you're just like, oh, well, my calendar says I can't go now.

I have to go at 3 p.m. because I got a four and a 2.30 or something. You're kind of blocking yourself out of the opportunity of those moments and experiences, right?

[Speaker 2]

Throwing upstream.

[Speaker 1]

Right, yeah. But we have to balance that because we do need to schedule somewhat and we do need to flow. So how do you blend those things for yourself with four boys?

Well- You're active.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah.

[Speaker 1]

Not everybody knows who might be watching or listening, but I know how active you are.

[Speaker 2]

Right, yeah.

[Speaker 1]

So where do you find the balance for yourself in that?

[Speaker 2]

Well, you know, that balance word is tricky and it can mean a lot of different things to different people. And I love to also remind ourselves that sometimes being in a state of imbalance leads to a balanced life as a whole because I feel people struggle to find balance, find balance, find balance, and it becomes oppressive to find the balance. And it's okay to be imbalanced at times.

And as you said, I have four boys. They're 13 to 18. They're loud.

They make a lot of noise. They're messy, right? I'm not always in a state of balance.

So for me, I always think about foundations. Like you, I really like analogies and visuals and visualizations. So I always like build things from the ground up is how I teach yoga.

Like if you do a standing yoga posture, you build it from the ground up, like the energetic roots that go into the earth, then into the feet and from there up and out. So when I need to find balance, I start with the breath because when people want to change their lives, they frequently go to diet. They start drinking the water.

They cut out unhealthy foods. Like these are great things to do. They start exercising.

These are great things to do to change your life. But you can go weeks, if not months, without food. You can go days without water.

You can only go minutes without breath. So I always check in with my breath because we have, they say, about 25,000 breaths that we take a day. I mean, 25,000 breaths a day, and you can't even go minutes without breath.

I could go down a rabbit hole with that. I love breath work and teaching that as like the foundation and the base. But I, of all people, things are happening.

They're loud. I'm like, you know, looking a little tense, feeling a little stressed. I'm like, okay, breathe, you know?

And if you take exhales two to three times longer than your inhales, you kick over into parasympathetic rest mode, and it takes you out of fight or flight. Like, you know, you can have whatever thoughts you want. If you do correct breath work, you cannot physically be anxious, stressed, worried, angry, all those things.

So I just always come back to the breath. And I mean, that's just like the nucleus. That's just like the starting point, the foundation, and then everything else just, I mean, it's been some years and some practice, but everything else just falls into place when I do the breath.

Then I feel it's almost like my mind is relaxing and the thoughts are slowing down and I stop reacting. Then I'm able to respond when I breathe right, when I relax in the body. Then you have space.

You have space for clarity, for truth, to respond instead of react. So I mean, that's how I do it. But you have to be a certain kind of person to want four kids to begin with.

So I knew what I was signing up for. I mean, people think I'm crazy. I'm like, I don't know.

I wanted four kids since I was about 10 years old. So I signed up for, you know, a very full, active life. I enjoy it.

They're amazing. You just find your way. Like you said, you know, you know it's always a journey.

I learned to trust myself. There was a time I was seeking and I was going to other people asking for advice. I had a yoga teacher who I thought was completely amazing and very respectable and was, and I didn't make the mistake of asking, but I realized I needed to not ask people anymore for advice because I asked him, I was like, oh, I'm exploring all these different types of yoga.

Like, but like, I don't know, like what should I do? And he basically told me that I needed to commit to one style of yoga or I was never going to really get anywhere because that was his way. And a lot of people do that and that's great.

That's fine. It wasn't right for me. I love studying and learning about everything I can in all aspects.

So at some point when I realized listening to other's advice would only harm me more than I was able to hear more of my own intuition speaking. And I also watched this documentary called the Power of the Heart. Have you ever come across that one?

It's so good. I will admit I sent it to a friend and she started watching it with her boyfriend and she's like, I had to turn it off. We both started crying and felt depressed.

But it's such an uplifting story. It's about this woman who was a Tutsi in Africa and her whole family gets slaughtered except for her. And she ends up hiding in a bathroom with these women for months as they keep circling and trying to find her.

And it's about the power of the heart and then they link science to it. But what they did is they took people and they flashed random images at them. And it was either something really beautiful or cute like a puppy or a rainbow, or it was something disturbing.

And what they discovered is that the heart knew whether or not the image would be positive or negative. And so it's much more profound if you watch the documentary but they were able to prove that your heart is linked to beyond space and time is basically psychic and that your heart has its own brain cells. Your heart thinks independently of the mind.

And in the womb, your heart actually trains your mind into being, and what happens is that gets reversed, right? We get stressed as you were so eloquently explaining like we just get so caught up in the mind and the thoughts and the monkey mind, this and that. So that kind of came online for me too where I just started dropping down into my heart like literally listening to my heart, the breath work.

Not everybody likes yoga, but movement, medicine, it just all came together in this really beautiful, just, I don't even know what to call it. It all just aligned and came together. And so now when I do find myself in moments of stress which can and absolutely does happen, I just know what to do.

And that's breathe, drop into the heart. Like I literally imagine taking the journey from the back of my eyeballs down into my heart. And I just immediately, now I feel loving awareness and that just goes away.

So if it is like a practice, like we were talking going to the gym, you don't just go work out one time, run home, check out your body in the mirror, thinking that you're gonna notice a change from one session at the gym. It takes time, it takes commitment, it takes dedication. So when you do breath work, meditation, mindfulness, all of these amazing practices, there's so many.

When you stick to one, like you have your everyday morning routine, it's just so exponentially powerful because you're consistently doing it. I think a lot of people, they jump around, they try this, they try that. Oh, I'm not good at meditation.

Maybe I'll try Tai Chi. And you do have to find those practices that work for you and do it. So, but this is like, like I said, this is over, I mean, 23 years ago, I started yoga.

And then 18 years ago, I had a child. And then 13 years ago is when I had the big moment. So it's, you just keep, you keep on, you stay on the path.

And you walk the path, there's that quote to you. It's one thing to know the path, it's another thing to walk the path. And for a long time, I knew the path.

And at some point, my feet were down on the path and I haven't flown away from that, from that grounding.

[Speaker 1]

Once you connect with it, I think you're connected. And I feel that the vibe of that keeps you wanting that. It's an indescribable- People ask me like, how do you not drink?

Or how come you're not smoking dope or whatever it is? Not as mainstream, I guess, in the US, but cannabis is legal in Canada.

[Speaker 2]

It's totally recreationally everything.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, and just fun fact, the world hasn't ended. It's helping a lot of people, in my opinion, but each their own. I don't smoke, I don't do any of this stuff.

And I am enriched the most, I feel, from my connection to feeling and energy and vibes. And those types of insights and experiences. So once I feel you start doing that work, it inspires you to do more of it.

Because when it feels good, it feels great. You're like, whoa, that's a great way to feel. I just had an amazing day.

I wanna do more of that. And I feel that was part of the calibration. It's like, oh, 70% of my day is stressful.

Maybe we'll use Pareto's law. 80% stressful, 20% feels good. To a place where 80% should feel good, and maybe 20% feels stressful.

And how's that for a goal in life? And that's work that I've done. And I feel that's where my ratio is now.

And at what cost? I said, once upon a time, I said, if I get to eat crap dinner every day to honor this and not give it back, i.e. my soul is not for sale, then I'm gonna do that. Because this is me on my stuff, honoring myself, taking care of myself, and trusting that.

And trusting that the universe will look after me in that. And then as I do it, it deepens my confidence and in my center, because I see the evidence of that. I see the support, I see the signs, the symbols, and so on and so forth.

So the important thing I feel on the journey of this work is finding those tools, like you said, find those things that work for you. But definitely look for them and explore them and develop them and put them in your pocket so that you can look after yourself and you can care for yourself. And so that you don't need anyone else to do that for you.

You know how to meditate. You can drop in and work on your breath, you know? And visualize, manifest, and you know, and devonate and similar.

And lots of different tools. And like I said, I still operate professionally and corporately and all this stuff. I do it on my terms.

So for myself, I like to hold a lot of ritual in the morning. So I train in the morning. I've got like discipline, nutrition, you know, food-based rituals in the morning.

Meditation before I get out of bed. Hot water with lemon before I even look at my phone, you know, on the balcony kind of thing. Get this fresh air and just kind of like set yourself.

[Speaker 2]

How long do you go before looking at your phone? I hear like, it should be like an hour or something. I mean, that's what I hear sometimes.

[Speaker 1]

I'm still on my phone. It's very good, you know? So it's kind of like the length of my- An hour is a long time.

Cup of lemon water.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, yeah.

[Speaker 1]

I wake up and meditate. Before I'm even out of bed, I do that full three-phase calibration. Then I go put the water on.

And I put my lemon juice in it to get my system going. And that's like my morning coffee.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, because you don't drink coffee either.

[Speaker 1]

No.

[Speaker 2]

That's amazing. I admit, I drink a cup of coffee in the morning. Black, but still, that's the one thing.

[Speaker 1]

Caffeine, like you see my hair is like slicked back right now. It makes my hair just stand up on end.

[Speaker 2]

Really? Yeah. For real or you're joking?

[Speaker 1]

Like I'm just like, no, like energetically.

[Speaker 2]

Energetically, right?

[Speaker 1]

I just get wired and fried in caffeine. And I feel that's because I've changed my diet and all this that I'm much more sensitive to the impacts of different things, right? Which is a good footnote.

It's like food for fuel, not just food for entertainment or just taste, which would be a form of entertainment. Might suggest, but you can still fuel on good tasting food.

[Speaker 2]

Well, and it becomes so delicious because you really can truly taste it once you do cut out the toxic things, which are also addictions and doing all sorts of things to your brain and body to make you up more when you really do transition to whole healthy foods. They somehow take on a whole life of their own. And something I wanted to mention back when you were talking about someone saying, how do you not drink?

Lately, I mean, maybe over the last year or two, I just really got to the point where I could truly say I was experiencing bliss on a regular basis. And the only way I can describe it, I know we have 37.2 trillion cells. When I'm in a state of bliss, it literally feels like every single cell in my body is simultaneously orgasming.

And that is so much better than anything that you could be doing, whether you're at the bar or the drugs or whatever, or eating the cake or whatever. And so what happens is people don't know how bad they feel until they finally get a taste of what bliss is really like. And it's just, it's the ultimate.

It's everything. It's God, it's source. You cannot do anything else physically that compares to that.

It's the ultimate. It's kind of like enlightenment. Like I have moments of that.

I'm not an enlightened being per se, but I do have moments where I just feel absolutely connected oneness and bliss. And all of those things just become, just, I don't even care. And I'm just so happy.

I'm just sitting there and I don't need anything else. I don't need anything to alter my state or take me away from how I'm feeling because I'm just so present and blissed out. So I think that's a big piece of it.

So I think you feel that way a lot. And you spend more time in nature than I do. That's a whole nother thing where people are spending way too much time indoors, shoes on, they're not getting that direct contact with nature, which we are biological humans.

Like we must have that. It's two hours a week. I've been doing these videos that you have me doing that you've encouraged me to do.

So I'm like learning to do my daily videos. And I learned that we need two hours a week, like literally 120 minutes a week just to be okay. And like, you really can't go under that.

And I mean, it doesn't sound like a lot and you can split it up, 10 minutes this day, 30 minutes that day, or just two hours on a Sunday. But I don't think very many people actually get two hours of physical contact, like where you're sitting in the earth, sitting on the beach, barefoot in the grass. Like I sit on my porch a lot but I don't think that's connection with nature.

So that's a huge part of how you live your daily life as well, which you didn't want to mention how you work from different places.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, it's important. I think that was really beautiful how you described bliss. And I think it's important to touch on that.

It's true that people don't know what they don't know. I feel just to take away the suggestion here, just for anyone watching or listening, it's important to kind of emphasize is that if you don't feel good in this moment, that's okay. Just trust that there is great feeling waiting for you.

And the work is about exploring the ways things don't feel good and removing those from your life and recognizing those things that do feel good and adding more of those to your life. And that is personally and professionally, right? So in my days, my first half of my day is like my rituals, my heavier work, these types of things, which is a blend but can be more like mental-based stuff.

Structure a bit more rhythm with those types of approaches. And then, yes, I need to get definitely connected with my body. Now, meditation can be around training, like lifting or cardio, whatever, or yoga, that does that.

But nature definitely does that. And I've got to get outside. And I mean, look at this, like we're blessed here with a beautiful place, parks and all kinds of things.

And I'm a big beach guy. And it's because these places fill my bucket. They ground me, they bring me into my body, they bring me out of my mind.

But when I'm there, I can also channel and I can receive ideas and inspiration for the work that I'm doing. So as often as possible, I also work from those places, from the beach, in a park, at a coffee shop, on a patio, stuff like that. Or at least places that are super vibey, creative, comfortable, spacious.

When you look at this view from this patio, it's like a bird's eye view. And I do think open space that way, windows, high ceilings, all these types of things are really great.

[Speaker 2]

Well, that helps get you out of your head.

[Speaker 1]

If you're indoors.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, everything expands.

[Speaker 1]

But it's also the feeling when you're at the beach, when you're on a hill of a hike or something, you're at the park, there is expansion. So that's a big note, yeah. That's a big source for creative creativity and inspiration for me.

[Speaker 2]

Do you have a certain way you end your day? At night or any rituals before you go to sleep?

[Speaker 1]

Less, but some, yeah. I mean, I definitely kind of like ground down. I've been hitting the sauna more, or like a hot tub at night.

That's great. Also like a hot, and then with a cold shower. So I have a hot shower, and then the last bit's cold, which is just what I feel just amazing after.

And I just release all that. Yeah, lots of these rituals. We can go on about rituals for days, but it's important to source them, I feel, and integrate them.

And the big thing is like, what rituals do I currently do that don't feel great, that aren't serving me, that aren't bringing me closer to the things I want, and which ones are? And recalibrate, start that work, and you start to see the results you want. So that's a pretty big thing for me.

That's the work that I do. When I do it for myself, nobody needs to encourage me. I don't need people to give me the feedback or whatever.

It's just like, I'm always receiving, I'm always learning. I learn super cool things from you as we do our work, which is awesome. So I receive from all sources, but it's up to me.

It's up to each of us to be able to take those steps for ourselves, you know? Move ourselves forward in this way. And say like, this isn't it, and I want it, and this is that vision of what it is, and I'm gonna go bring that to life.

And we start. So we're doing it, and we're doing it with Full Circle Yoga School. It's amazing all the cool things we've done in the last year and change.

Over a year now.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, it truly feels like magic when you're living in this way. Things just, it's almost like you can magically move mountains. You know, it's, I think it's a Joseph Campbell quote, but it's something like, when you follow your inspiration, your intuition, like doors open where there were only walls.

It's like literally just magic. Sometimes it's like, it doesn't seem humanly possible, yet it happens. So you're doing the work and living in that way.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, I agree 100%.

[Speaker 2]

Do you have to go get your furniture, too?

[Speaker 1]

I'm gonna just do what you just did.

[Speaker 2]

Well, should we tell everyone we were working on the tech issues for a little bit?

[Speaker 1]

You know, there's always tech issues and stuff. What's most important is that we got here and we could keep rolling and flowing for sure. I've got lots to share.

[Speaker 2]

Oh my gosh, I feel like there's like 50 things today that we could just talk about that one thing. I mean, because the visualization and then putting emotion to it, if you can't see it and if you can't feel it, you're not gonna get it. And most people are sitting around wanting, I want this, I want a relationship, I want, you know, a stronger body and all that wanting is just lack and they're not getting it because they're not doing that work where you have to be able to visualize it and then you have to bring it, the emotion into it and feel it, or they know about visualization, but they're not doing the emotion.

So I feel like there's so much more we could talk about.

[Speaker 1]

And I think- Yeah, well, this is a first kick at this for us. And opening this up for, you know, full circle and rekindling some of my work with Mindful Ways here a bit.

[Speaker 2]

And you just launched a new website, correct?

[Speaker 1]

For the agency, for KPI, my agency. Yeah, I freshened up my personal site a bit and I got more coming too. We're doing lots of great things, lots of cool projects and great people, you know?

So I wonder as we maybe wrap up a bit here, is there anything else you feel you want to touch on with respect to like high vibration living, personal transformation, navigating storms, any of this?

[Speaker 2]

Just to sum it up, start with the morning. You know, that is the foundation of your day is when you open your eyes, what are you thinking about? The thoughts are on autopilot.

So to have a practice, it doesn't have to be a whole long time or an hour. It can be a few minutes of just deep breathing and visualizing and feeling into your day, deciding what you want and just taking a moment to create your day like that alone is huge. So just start with one thing, begin there.

And my favorite quote that I hear myself saying all day long is the only way out is through. And the only way through is going within the answers you already have them. So it's just about listening and trusting.

So that's my advice. I guess you could say is don't overwhelm yourself. You don't have to go do hours of yoga.

You just have to start small, make it consistent. And then you can add and build and other doors will open.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, I feel I'll add to that some kind of finals, I think from my perspective as well, that is that you should have some idea of where you wanna go, because I feel what drains us is if we just feel we're going all the time, but we're not going anywhere. Granted, I really love that quote that says not all those who wander are lost. There's freedom in the wandering.

However, when it comes to like conscious work, meaning like working consciously, building consciously, like professionally, if you're doing work that's not going anywhere, because you don't know where you're going, then it's just a question of, how long can you sustain your energy until you just get tired or bored or distracted? Whereas if you're clear on your destination, as in what you want that to look like or similar, then you can kind of work backwards a bit. But at least when you're flowing and you're doing the things you know what you're applying your attention to or you're applying your efforts to.

And I feel that that's valuable because it helps pull you to it. I wouldn't worry about how that's going to come about. You can look at your whole life, personally and professionally in any category and vision board that, big on vision boarding, big Pinterest guys, you know, but you can vision board this stuff in any category of your life and or all of them.

And just be honest with yourself and be clear about what it is you really want. And then build and work towards that generally, stay open with it, flow towards it really, you know, trust your path. But I feel that'll fuel your bucket.

If you're feeling like you're lost, tired, burnt out, I'm sure it's like, review that again. Say, well, what am I doing? And why am I doing it?

And find that again, find those sparks. To work consciously, that's from more of like a professional side, but it's also, you know, personal side as well. Because that practice helps both and take care of yourself on that journey, sustain your energy, sustain yourself, you know, by filling your bucket along the path, doing that work.

And one day at a time over time, doing it consistently, you know, then things will move, the magic will happen and things will change.

[Speaker 2]

And as far as the finding what you want bit, because I do work with a lot of people and I frequently get someone who's middle-aged, frequently women, and they've been in these just whatever kind of mundane lives, maybe like doing whatever their husband wanted them to do. And I look at them and I say, what do you want? And I get these blank stares in, it's happened so many times that they say, I've never even asked myself what I want.

And they are just, they don't even know how to do that. And I think there's a lot of people out there who have just done what they thought they should do their whole lives. Like maybe their parents said you should go to nightly college, go be a doctor or whatever.

So when you do start going within, what do I want? Follow inspiration is my advice because when you feel inspired, that means you're on the right track. And don't be afraid to say, I want something and just trust that you'll be redirected.

So then that's another big fear people have is they're like, well, I'm afraid to say I want that. What if that's not what I want? Or what if I get that and that's bad?

Hey, just by wanting, saying I am going to go in this direction because I feel like it's something that I want to do, something that inspires me, that sparks my heart, whatever. If you start momentum, you start the energy of momentum rather than just staying stuck in this, I don't know, free state. And then in that momentum, the other doors and avenues open and you're redirected.

So I just wanted to share that too because I think that's a huge fear is people are like, what do I want? But just so many people have never asked themselves that, not truly. So it can be scary to make those big changes.

[Speaker 1]

That's just an amazing point. It's great because I recognize that in myself, that catalyst of my transformation was I don't feel great. Am I doing what I want?

And what do I want that to be? And I feel that we're referencing that or referring to that in like a macro way. What do I want for my life?

But it can also bring peace in the moment by just asking yourself, what do I want today? What do I want this afternoon? What do I want right now?

Oh, I could use some music or I want some ice cream or whatever. It doesn't have to be like, I wanna solve the world's biggest problems. But I feel as you develop that confidence in making those choices for yourself on this micro level, it will deepen your confidence in exploring that in bigger terms and ways for the rest of your journey and your experience.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, it's seed planting and then those sprout and then they grow into really big, amazing, beautiful things that then grow flowers.

[Speaker 1]

Exactly. Yeah. Awesome.

Well, I feel we've had a great chat.

[Speaker 2]

What do you feel? Yes, this was great. Yeah, I really enjoyed it.

I think so many people, again, just want to live in this way and they're just like, how?

[Speaker 1]

Right. And you don't know what you don't know. So I feel it's important to share how we do it, how it's come about, tips, little tools, tricks, things like that.

For anyone watching or listening who wants to connect with Jolie, which I recommend, I'm biased, of course, because she's a client, but at the same time- Yeah, but she wouldn't keep me if it wasn't working.

[Speaker 2]

I mean, that's a whole nother conversation is like weeding out the thing that we did kind of talk about.

[Speaker 1]

No, exactly. No, we're vibing and we're doing great work and it's a lot of fun. I greatly enjoy working with you.

And full circle, we've got the app dropping. So yoga classes, retreats, online courses, both for mindful related and spiritual courses, feel good courses, and yoga teacher training all over the world, all kinds of cool stuff. And then also the one-on-ones with you.

So not to overlook that. If people are interested in working with you in a whole bunch of different ways, we can check that as well. So that's fullcircleyogaschool.com.

So check that out.

[Speaker 2]

And our amazing new website.

[Speaker 1]

Yeah, oh, but that's nice, you know. It's an awesome site, I love it.

[Speaker 2]

Somebody awesome built it.

[Speaker 1]

We built it together.

[Speaker 2]

Yeah, we had help.

[Speaker 1]

It's great and more cool things to come there. So check that out. And if anyone's interested in connecting with me, got a bunch of different things, but chadmc.com is my personal website. KPI, which is KPI, but spelled phonetically. So that's K-A-Y-P-I-E-Y-E.com is my creative agency. We could always jam there.

More, I got a lot more, but I think those are pretty good spots to share. Exactly, and we'll go from here. I hope everybody's got some kernels of magic and insight out of this.

And there's probably gonna be more. We'll probably do it again.

[Speaker 2]

Wisdom Nuggets.

[Speaker 1]

Wisdom Nuggets, I like it, yeah. Golden Wisdom Nuggets, good times. Yeah, it was awesome, great chatting.

We always vibe, so it's great. Thanks everybody for being here. And like all the channels, follow your favorite channels, follow the podcast, and we'll chat with you again soon.

[Speaker 2]

Awesome. Thank you.

[Speaker 1]

All right, thank you. Have a great day.