SSP 028: Deepening Your Spiritual Practice & Being Of Service with Augustto Mari

What's up, guys? It's been a while since my last episode and, you know, the reason being just been caught up with a lot of the things that are happening since moving downtown Toronto. And I'm now ready to get back on the podcast and start sharing some more of the things I've been up to. And over the last three months, I've connected with someone who's really, really been a big part of. Part of my life. And what we're creating here in the community, the conscious community in Toronto, but also around the message we're trying to share with people, around developing the high performance practices to help with your personal development, also your spiritual growth. And Augusto is someone who really has taken his practice to a really, really deep level. Like he's just recently did have a plant medicine ceremony out in Costa Rica. And it's through, you know, his. His standard of the way he goes about some of the things that he does which I truly admire. And it's been an absolute honor to connect with him and been able to bring him on this podcast to share, you know, some of the practices and the way he goes about his life to hopefully inspire you to want to pursue reaching a point of your optimal potential, which is cape, which we're truly capable of when we do the inner work. So in this episode, you're going to get to see what, what that inner work looks like and how far you can take it. So without further with. Without further ado, let's tune into this.

Episode with welcome to the State Shifters podcast, a show dedicated to helping you discover your true potential through connecting the mind, body and soul.

Marco, we're live, aren't we? We're live.

Oh, this is actually happening.

Yeah. And this is the first of many recorded conversations with my buddy, good friend, Augusto. Your last name is Marie? Yeah, Augusto Marie. Marie Mari.

Actual pronunciation, yeah.

So this conversation, I was going to go across my community, my State shifters community, and obviously I already have a podcast there. And that's why I'm excited to introduce you to my community as well. Because the magic we've created in the last three months that we've known each other has been nothing short of profound. And the intention that we've also come together with is creating something unique and separate, based here in Toronto. Honor your people is something we've been working on together. And it's going to be based around bringing tribes and communities together through experiences, live experiences here in Toronto. And this is an opportunity for us to now put it out to the world for other people. Who want to be a part of a community and an uprising, like what's happening in Toronto. And like we're witnessing as an example, we've just come from a drumming circle. We just microdosed some mushrooms today. Like we're drinking cacao. Like just. This is a regular day now.

Yeah. And the sun is beautiful.

Yeah, Just that now that the summer's here, like this magic is spreading quickly. So, man, maybe you want to introduce yourself to the people who may be listening to my podcast and the first time they're getting to know you and what you do here in Toronto and a little bit how we've come together.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I want to. Yeah. I think the connecting, the starting point will be the ru. People of our conversation. But before that, Mr. Mr. Marco, I just wanna acknowledgement. Oh, man, you are a magician.

So behind the scenes here we've got Marco Fuglieri, who's really the one who's allowed this magic to come together like this. And Marco and I connected late last year and he's helped me with some of the editing of podcasts. And Marco is going to be the man behind the magic of these conversations and making sure everything's running smoothly and. Yes, sir, that's right.

And feel free to, even in the acknowledgment, go ahead. Yeah, I mean, I'm basically starting this.

To gather like minded people together to have a place where we can all hang out, communicate, share important topics and get to know each other some more. So I'm really happy. I feel like this is the start of something really big.

Yeah.

Beautiful, man, beautiful. I feel that as well. So thank you, man. Thank you. And that goes for anyone here in Toronto who wants to connect with someone who's facilitating a space to allow this to happen. Marco is your man.

Can I illustrate this? Because this is. This is quite the mystical place. It's. Look, the whole thing is like purple, which is like, as you can see, I don't think anybody can see that. But look at the higher chakra there, like the purple, the whole third eye manifestation and then your background there with the cosmos. This is. It's a vortex of downloadable ideas. Clearly, clearly this is very mystical. So, yeah, you got the crystals everywhere. You're up to some great. So I want to say you don't even know me and you've taken a leap of faith of having us here. I know you just recently met him and I want to thank you for that, man. And I can see that all of your life has brought you to this point. It has, yeah.

I'm so happy.

This is what an honor to be here, man, and like be even like just to participate in your beginning of this journey.

Like, yeah, there's a. There's a lot of potential and possibilities that are coming from this. So. Yeah man. And tell us a little about yourself.

Okay, cool. What. How do I start? Okay, I want to start with honor your people.

Yeah.

Because that's what brought you and I together. Definitely. I feel like in and relatedness of who we are to each other, that's. That's a good, good starting ground. And honor your people. It's the, I guess is what brought us together. And for me, the way that it obviously started is before honor your people, it was around honoring just honor. And the honor piece was really the way that in the current place in my life that I'm at is that that's the. There's not a lot of value in the world in the sense like not a lot of things matter as to like things that are worth chasing. There's not a lot of things that are worth chasing. Material things, finance money, like, and one of the things that I found as a. That it's worth chasing is honor. And because it's so you can copy paste it into your family. I want to honor my family. I want to honor my. My siblings. I want to honor my. My partner. And it's so unheard of. Like, where in life do you have a conversation in which you discuss honor? Like you actually never. I was never taught anything about honor. And honoring of oneself really shows up as like sharing your gifts. And that's like actually sharing it like honoring what you. I think that for me, after maybe like, like a two hour float tank session where I was. I was just really pondering and then trying to receive understandings and then discerning those as to like, what was I. Why is my intention here on this planet? And for me, the way that it just kind of occurred, it was that I have so many blessings, like, I have so many fucking blessings in my life. And it is. There's just no excuse for me to not be of service. And through as life would have it, obviously trying to discover my like my own gifts and what I'm good at. If with the, with the new eye of like, okay, how can this be good for others? It started to then become an expression of myself. So honor becomes an expression of myself as like, that's what I'm here to do as means of service. And the way that it shows up in people in my Communities is actually like looking at their star, really the light that they have. And then when you're not bounded from the past. And that's why I'm starting this conversation through honor, because you can know so much about me from the past, but the past actually really is not here. So who are you can be related to us who you are. And if you say that your word of who you are, the possibility that you are is honored, then everything that gets generated comes from there. And I think that's where you and I come in. Because then our first hangout, you know, we're talking about being of service to others and how. I think we were both clear on that. Like, we started talking like, okay, yeah, you got to be of service for others. What's next? And you know that you can be on a journey to become a coach, to become a teacher, become anything of sorts. But so you know, the one to one relationship and then you try to get better, to serve the one or the many people that you have. And I think for us, when that, remember that conversation, we were talking about honor and then we talked about cultural and generational change. And that was for me, where community arises. Because when looking at like how to be of service, it actually stops being about. We've talked about this again before, like the digital products of making a PDF that's worth $5 I was making. And then it becomes about like, how can I use all of my skills to honor something that is going to outlast me? And in this sense, like generational change, we were talking specifically of meditation. We're talking about like flow state and how to be at your peak, peak states, how to biohack your mind, how to biohack your body. And at some point you're like, okay, I can work one to one and I can do things like this that can be stored in a cloud and they can be accessed later. But when it comes to honor at the highest level, you got the in person interaction, like, that's nothing. That's like we just forgot about it because we talk about, we just talk about nonsense all the time. And we forget that like anytime you give a hug to somebody, anytime you're like with somebody, that's like really, really where it's at, powerful.

And people forget that we're having those interactions all the time, every single day. And a lot of the initial conversation was tired, tied around this uprising that's happening right now. The shifts that are happening in consciousness and throughout the world. Obviously I've come from Australia and here in Toronto. And I'm seeing how quickly it's happening. And our conversation was created around or you know, based around the fact that like we wanted to allow transformation to happen quicker for people who are ready. And I just absolutely vibed off the vision and the purpose and the. You articulated the vision so well. And I was like, man, I resonate with that and I want to be a part of that.

Yeah.

And yeah, man, it's. We've, we've in the space of like three months have come together with an event that is happening in the end of July where we're bringing people together to facilitate transformation. We're now working in a space here in Toronto, in Yorkville, where we're bringing this to the city.

Yeah.

As I'm saying this, I'm even blown away by like how much we've created in.

It's true.

Three months, brother. So I mean for you, like I've met you when you're at a place in your journey where this is like, man, you're go. If anyone's listening who's hearing Marco, for the first time, this man is as advanced down the path of personal development and transformation. Who, who I've ever met.

What?

Yeah, man. I swear to God, when you told me with the stuff you're doing with the breathing and the ice and the cold out here, that was still relatively new. I'm still relatively new on that journey, man. Breath, work and WIM HOF method. And Marco's telling me about how in the middle of winter here in Toronto, he just pulls his clothes off and just goes outside and just sits there, breathes in minus 40 degree temperatures when the 99 of people are out there laid up in three clothes. Oh, it's so cold. And you're out there in nothing. Breathing and in peace. Meditation, dude.

That's the goal that is advanced. I guess so when you put it like that.

So tell me how you got to that point because you obviously just came back from Costa Rica when I met you. You've done your plant medicine journey.

Yeah, yeah.

Like what in the lead up to that, man, was there a big shift that happened in your life that was like this is, this is my path now.

It really, I mean the. There was a recent shift, but I would say like I've been in, I've been in this journey for like a little while now. I think the biggest, you know, my parents are very spiritual in a different level, like in a different level with a different quality and connected to Catholicism. But I've always, I believed in God I've always been related to, like, at least a little bit of a hint of faith. So even in the. In the course of my life and the development of my journey in the background, there's always been a guide. Does that make sense? Like, there's always been a little bit of a. Of a guiding, like, okay, something like, I'm making choices, but there's other things at play here that I also got to trust and align with. So when I sobered up and started meditating and I actually started to surround myself with, like, incredible people, like, extraordinary proximity, right? Yeah. And, like, actually extraordinary people that I started to question the way that I live and allowed me to ask myself how. Like, how do I live and the quality of my existence, and then started taking to meditation. And in that sense, having always felt like it's just like life happens, like the way that rain, you just don't really think about it, but you know it's happening to you, and we just don't acknowledge it, but it's actually happened to you. When it comes to taking meditation, like, as something like that or breathing in anything, a part of me feels like I was doing choices, but another part is just like the rain. Like, I was just like, I'm kind of being called to do that.

I feel that as well.

Yeah. Yeah. Which is, you know, the way that I just call it now, now, in the current understandings I have is the awakening. It's actually something's waking in from without.

Because you could question who's the one choosing? Which is very philosophical. But the end of the day, it's consciousness is spirit choosing to come through, and it's coming through a lot. And a lot more people.

Yeah.

A lot faster. Right. So it's these leaders like yourself, who have progressed down the path, who has been in pursuit of allowing yourself to have spirit moved through you more frequently through these different modalities, through different practices, through proximity, the way you choose to live your life. It's a. It's a way of living now.

Yeah. It's a. We're being. I call it a way of being a God. We're being.

Yeah. And you've progressed down this path now where you're at the point of push, like you're at the frontier. Like, we spoke about this earlier at the park. We're at the leading edge now. I. I don't know if that's how you feel. I feel like we are now at the leading edge.

That's true.

Of how far can we push this so that we are. We Are just constantly, like, things are happening at warp speed. We said that before at warp speed. And that happens when you live in alignment with the spirit emerging through you.

Oh, my God, you're so good. You're so good at recreating this shit. You're so good. You're so good at this, man. That's like your gift, Hank. And that's quite the gift, man. As I'm literally hearing to you. You're, like, generating for me, and I can see it more clearly, like.

And it's happening and at the end as well. So it's.

Yeah, yeah, definitely revolving time like that together. But the funny thing is, right now, at the end, you actually wrapped it up with the spirit flowing through you. Yeah, I would say, yeah, 100. And that's the conversation nobody's having. And when you, for example, you know, like, being in the cold at, like, minus 10, minus 15, just, like, no clothes on, just breathing, trying to find stillness. At some point, stillness does arrive. And even for myself, at some point, I just stopped. I stopped trying and allowing the spirit to warn me. And I don't know if it was spirit. I don't know if it was my breath, because I definitely was breathing purposely and intentionally. But when the time comes for stillness, like, the stillness just comes. Even in such crazy moments of tension. It is such a mystical, mystical, powerful force. I do not know it. And I feel like I. When I've experienced things like that, I get access to it, but it. I don't know what. I don't know what it is. It's spirit.

Nobody likes for me, it's like spirit.

Like, what is actually coming in and, like, bam. And saving you from, like, freezing to death. A consciousness from within is, like, arising, and it changes all your biochemistry, and it works with all your musculature so that you don't die. Like, it's just. So then the exploration really, for me became about that. Okay, let's go for the float tank. Yeah, right. Like, this will have a trip in there. And just question. One time I had a. Like, I was actually afraid for my life one time in a full tank. And I've been through so many experience of, like, deep, profound questioning of, like, whoa. And I had to rely on something else. My. My mind was just no longer of service. And then I was related to myself outside of my mind. What else is there? You know, movement. It's like movement for me. It's like the. The easy, friendly for everybody. Access point. And meditation, too. And breath work. Like, the, like, the physical act well this is really where it's at. And movement meditation for me, I like the, the simplest, most mainstream self expressions of, of not self expressions of the awakening, happening and easy to follow journeys. Because there's books about them, there's podcasts about them, there's guided YouTube videos. Like you can actually always just have access and take it on at every single point in your life. It, and take it on for the long term. Like take it on for the real long term. Don't like most of us take like a 30 day meditation? Nah, just forever be like, okay, from now on I'm just gonna breathe real deep like every night or every morning. And it's not perfect. Like my life has been like hectic for the last two weeks and I like barely am able to squeeze 20 minute meditation. Like really just be with myself and connect with God and you know, surrender to the present moment. It takes something, especially when you have a lot of things coordinating. And sometimes during the winter I have like my most amazing meditations where I'm meditating like hours and hours a day and it goes well and sometimes I'm super busy and life is super chaotic and I'm up.

You mentioned something around the movement as well, which is why when I met you it was, it felt so special. Like I had never met someone who understood and explained. You articulated everything that I believed in so fully around my own journey and I felt such a connection there. And a lot of it was anchored in the body through movement. And for me in my journey, yoga was like such a big factor and will open me up to different these types of information to come through. And it was all through the body, right. Like anyone can do yoga, you don't need to be advanced meditator to go down to yoga to get information from a higher source. And like you told me, I remember you said like your, your, your home base is, is through the body, right? Movement, like that's the way maybe our blueprint is made up. But like for you now, your movement practice is always home base, right?

For you it is 100% home base. Yeah.

Like so what does that look like for you?

That is like it, like it is actually the, the. So we talked about this like the mind. So we like rely so much on the mind, but then we understand that there's a whole new way of being that is not reasoned. It's actually in full flow state, full presence, heightened awareness. We're just like creativity is just flowing through you, to name it something. Movement then in the body specifically becomes the Access point to this kind of experiences. So just getting glimpses of how I actually don't have to be running with the wild voices in my head that are making me miserable. And I come from like a, like severe anxiety. Like my, my, my, like my, my fingers are like round shaped because I like half the same. Yeah. And so I know what being deeply in my brain looks like. Like deeply like swollen by anxiety. And having known that like the body in itself without any sort of. You don't need. Even if you don't do breath work, even during the move, even if you don't do breath work, you don't do any, you want to add it with cannabis or any sort of plant medicine. You actually don't need any of that, any of that. And you just get moving and the body is like the, this is the real portal. It's like an actual portal. When you tap into it and surrender to the experience of being in fullness in your body, it actually awakens. And I mean currently my research where I'm at is like towards the mitochondria. Like it's actually more cellular level. At a cellular level there's more movement, there's more flow. The oxygen can actually flow way better. The, the entire system as a, as a cage for the spirit is at its prime. Like it is actually at the highest optimal performance. And so it's feeding you all the feel good chemicals. It's feeding you like clarity of mind, clarity of vision. You combine that shit with like intermittent fasting, like some good meditation, cold showers, like all that stuff, you're actually hacking your brain to be performing at the highest, highest level of mind performance while at the same time it returns on you being able to take on more of life. Like you actually can get more of life because you get more stabilizers working from within that they don't have to be a book or affirmations. Your body's actually just generating all these chemicals for you that keep you in alignment that as a portal. It's just that it clearly is the path in the sense of like if I'm a personal journey, at least for me, I don't know for others, but for myself, if this is a path to more happiness and more flow state and more presence, then the exploration of that is my commitment. Not bounded in any way by any discipline. I'm not bounded by any way by any. Like I'm trying to achieve the perfect or the perfect pose. Like I'm trying to achieve the perfect kind of meditation in this sense, in this current stage of My life, it's like, it's. The explanation is the actual full discovery of the realm of being that occurs through the body for means to accessing something deeper and more profound.

And I feel that for myself as well. Like. Like you just described. I love that it's once you prime the vessel being the body to perform at a high level. And for me, high level performance is just spirits moving through you unimpeded. Right. And I know when spirits impeded because we have blockages, right? We hold on to stuff, man, in the body. It's all in the. Like, it's all the blocks are all in the body.

Yeah, well, because the funny thing is you actually sit down and try to discern what you just provided. It is actually the only answer available because where else are the traumas gonna go? Like they're yours. Like your life happens to you. You have something chaotic. I have something happen with my family this morning. And like, it shocked me to the core. Like, that was how I started my morning. It was like, whoa. Where I had to like, take a stand for my family and make sure that being responsible for what needs to be taken care of. And that was an emotional shock. It keep me on such a vibrational level. And if I'm not conscious, like, and if I don't deal with it, it will 100% result in physical tension. And physical tension, there's nothing at the core but a state of fear. Fear. We talked about this, like, the softness of being. If you're soft, if you're nice and light, like oxygen flows through you. And when I say oxygen, it means life. Right? Life is made out of oxygen in this earth. So the more you breathe, the more full of life you are. The more full of life you are, the more the chemicals you provide, the better the quality of your existence you have. Something happens to us and we don't deal with it, it results in this physical tensions and pains and stresses and knots and lack of mobility and lack of freedom of full self expression of self that. Think about it. If you have an actual blockage, okay, so you have an actual blockage in your chest. And so your chest is a little bit tighter. You got a fear and it's open in your heart. Even though the physical trauma will better be in the past, you have forgotten the physical trauma is here. So it has now affected your personality. And what I mean by personality, this is literally the way that people perceive you. So you're actually presented with here, not with an open heart. It's going to affect the way you Communicate. It's going to affect the way you talk. It's going to affect if you can't breathe deep into your heart and speak from that place going to change who you are. So now the trauma that got pent up in your body is actually affecting who you are. So it's been the, the manner in which you speak right. Just in man of the way you look. If you have, if the physical, if the trauma was stuck in your, in your, in your, in your mind, in your sort, in your face, you have a certain tension blocked up. People are going to perceive you and interact with you in a different way than in return is going to give you feedback loop that's going to justify your identity. Hence more trauma, more physical. Most of us think that the way we are it's just like oh no, this is. I'm already have this. I'm going to bring it back to the movement thing in a moment. And it's because even in that sense we identify with our body so much. We don't see it as this access point for self discovery and expression that we like oh no, this is the way that I am. Our bodies reflect our kind of attitude to life. This is the way that I am. I'm rigid, I'm stuck. I can't really do that or can't really do this. But if you take on the body as means of exploration and notice that your legs are the grounding of your real life. Your, your motility and your capacity for adaptability through your legs is the way that you actually show up in life. It doesn't matter if it's true, but take that on as an exploration. Just take that on as an exploration and you what's going to happen naturally. You don't even have to. There's no signs around it because it. We're actually discovering it as it's happening. Right. You got this like mind blowing powerful teachers that are combining and making hybrid models. And what I'm saying is like let's all find out our hybrid model. Take on whatever meditation practice needs to look like, take on whatever movement practice and then make it your own. Because that's how you heal yourself. You can actually heal yourself your physical traumas.

Yeah dude, that's so, so well put. So beautifully put. And the purpose that outlines again the purpose of modalities such as breath work, movement, meditation, dance, whatever it may be. It's all just clearing the blockages.

Clearing blockages, Clearing the blockages.

And that's how I found my journey into breath work being another tool that can help me release stuff that is just festering underneath the surface that is actually blocking the flow of energy. And what a lot of us, I now starting to realize is we don't actually realize how much we're blocking. Subconsciously, subconsciously, we're holding onto things. And as you start to clear these things out as you're. As you're doing, when you take it to that advanced level, you open up the. The gateway for just more creativity, more flow to come into your life.

And.

And now the. I guess the purpose now for people like us is to share this with other people, to show what's possible. Like, this is accessible to everyone.

Absolutely.

It's not reserved for, like, the select few.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Do you know what I mean?

It's 100% for everybody. Yeah. So I said, no, no, no. I meant yes, yes, yes, yes, do what you're saying. 100% you, actually. Yeah. And because the beauty about this is, I was talking to. It's the realness. So the realness and the integrity of the being is actually what makes it so you. Through movement, in that sense, we're trying to like, realign your presence. So your present moment is perfection, right? Like, you're actually fully present. And in the ideal world, there's nothing keeping you from being in this moment. But most of us just carry our egos and our traumas and shit that we're worried about and concerned about, so we can't really be here. So the alignment comes in, putting that shit on the side so we can just be here. The body is definitely an access point for that meditation or access points to bring us to that kind of, like, quality of alignment where you can just be fully present and what arises. Oh, it was so brilliant. Cassette is creativity, right? It's like there's nothing left. When you have no stories and no past that's holding you. All you see is like. All you see what's next?

All you see is possibilities.

You're living in the moment, right? You're like, okay, what's. What's here? What's here? What's here? What's here? Because you're generating. You're generating. And again, the beautiful thing is because of realness, it's actually. There's no comparison point because the realness is actually always just yours. Like, you're out of alignment. It's just fully yours. There's no point to mastery because this one is actually always a journey, like, until the day we die. The. The compass of integrity of, like, the alignment of your word and your actions and failing in that succeeding. That it's, that is the life path. That's it. That is the life path.

Exactly. And it's the essence of life. Because that's what we're all chasing. Whether you realize it or not. That's what we're all chasing. Yeah, we just want to be in this moment expressing ourselves fully, fully in our uniqueness. Yeah, we're all chasing that, man. I was like, when I was at my corporate job, I looked around and I was like, why, why are we all here? Like, is it to make money? Everyone thinks it's to make money. To do the things that are going to allow us to feel flow, to feel love, to feel creativity. And we all think it's the other end of a holiday. We're going to sit in a beach and be like, this is what I want. But it's available in every single moment. And once you break free from thinking that you need something out there to allow you to feel that.

Yeah.

You become free to do whatever you want.

Yeah.

And like that realization was like, I'm gonna quit and move to Toronto and just follow this and see where it takes me. Because I had no fear. Yeah, the fear disappeared.

Yeah.

And I realized majority of people are living in fear.

Yeah, most of us. Yeah, most of us. I feel like we're not. Because fear, I feel like in that way comes from like the, the not being present to the love. And again, that sounds like super woo woo. So I'm gonna just kind of bring it into reality and the way that that is, is gratitude. And that kind of sounds woo. So when you bring that into, it's like being connected to what is. Because in the being connected to what is, you actually, you can't be thinking at the same time. And thinking will bring you anxiety which will project onto fear. So by being connected to what is really what's left, man. Like when you and I were listening, all of us were listening to the drums out there. You're just like overwhelmed with gratitude for being like all your concerns don't matter. And you can be like, oh, this is so good. And then if you want, get into whatever activity in the moment that is like the full, the opposite of fear, it's full presence, full love state. And it comes to me, it's like presence and being like gratitude, like, you know, supreme gratitude of like, oh my God, I'm so blessed just being alive, just being alive. And it's so, it's so intense to actually consider it. But I, I Still I pray in my meditation. I develop my own hybrid meditation that I include praying to God and spirit in the way that it is to me.

Likewise. Yeah.

And radical, like gratitude is part of it. Like just like almost unbelievable gratitude. Like just in awe of, just like can you just be in awe of your spirit being alive and being like ravished by the people that you, that you meet and being like ravaged by the situations that you're in and one's journey because it's that awestruck that you're alive. Like it is if you just take seconds, like oh my God, take a second to just really get my blood and have access.

And I've been reminding myself that as well of every moment just being this like complete trip. Like look at life, man. For me particularly like being away from my home country and traveling and exploring and meeting new people and things happening as quickly. It's just, you got to remind yourself sometimes, just like take it in. Every day is so unique and special and sacred and it's like have you met. If you miss that, that primary factor, this moment is all we ever have. And you, you're constantly looking to the next thing you can do or achieve or have you missed the essence? So although we're manifesting and creating and like planning things, it's like acknowledgement that the actual journey itself is, is the point of, point of it all.

Yeah.

And appreciating and having gratitude for that. And one thing I want to mention is like, it doesn't. Once you begin this path and practice these practices and take this, this journey, it doesn't mean you're not going to face the fear based emotions, which is something I've realized in my own journey, man. Like coming out like I'm coming out of the last, like, like six months ago, I was in a very different place, man. Like it was like, you know, I thought I had the tools to handle some of the turmoil that was going on in my life, but it was like starting to get the better of me. But then I realized again, it was these moments that teach you how to deal with the turbulent, the turbulence that is going to happen. Like it's inevitable.

It's. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like as you progress through life and you go to that next level, every level has a different challenge.

Absolutely, man.

And how you just deal with and cope with those, those. The downturns.

Yeah. Well, because it really is the, it really is the only thing that it's the true fear. So it's like without making it wrong, there's actually nothing else. Nothing else to be afraid in the sense of, like, that's actually false. Like in a first world country when you're privileged, it actually there's nothing to be afraid. That's what I'm trying to clarify. In other places there's definitely stuff to be afraid. But in a first world country where you're living a good life and you have enough people, like good people around you, nothing really to be concerned in terms of real fear, which just brings the mirror back into oneself and the mirror points out at like all the. That we're carrying over, that we're not dealing with our lives. And that's like the dark part, man. Like that's really the dark, the dark part. The practices that we're discussing, like movement, breath work, meditation, plant medicine, any sort of chanting, singing, dancing, like, like ecstatic dance. And all of those modalities, actually they separate us from the mind. And the mind is the one that just kind of pulls in that fear, that thought space of like there's something else outside of me to look for to be afraid of. But actually, no, I mean, like I said, maybe there is. But the only real place of commitment and the only journey in terms of responsibility, like what I can be, like, I could be. I can take care of this. The only rightful thing to undertake is one's demons, like one's and the crap that we're not dealing with. And it's gonna suck. Like, it just sucks. It sucks.

It does.

It sucks. Like you actually, you end up dealing with how much of us, like how much you suck as a person, right? How much. Maybe some of your greatness too, but you actually have to deal with how much you suck as a person, the traumas that have been done to you, the problems you've done to others. And like that's. And yes, the journey, right, like that is actually the journey. You liberate yourself from those things and then when you're actually with people, you can actually just be there with people. And it sounds like I've been so blessed to like my darkness has been my stupid mistakes. But when it comes to my family and the situation I live in, like, I'm so blessed by the people like around me and who I have that I'm like, I just got to be of service at this point because otherwise I don't see any other reason. I'm just taking that and making the blessings that mean that I'm so blessed because I have to be of service. And then I'm just going for it.

I Love that perspective.

Otherwise it would be so good. So I have to. I just have to do this in turn to try to move, touch and inspire others so that they could just hop in the journey. Hop in the journey. Take it on at whatever stage you're in, whatever stage you're in. Join us so we can do it together. Because at some point, it's just the journey itself is tough, especially if you decide to go really deep and deal with one's shit. I know traumas and things. So just at least to share that journey with others, you don't even have to have the intimacy. But when it comes to physical practices, that's where it's at. It's. Community arises. Like really community arises. Honoring others that are on the same journey arises. And then because we're all on the same journey together, then start. What's the word? Warping time.

Warping time. Yeah.

You actually start to. Because you're, you're, you're. You're so real. There's no, there's nothing like you and I just became friends and there was no going through our past record. We were just like, let's start.

And that's what happens when you meet. I've noticed that in myself. When I meet someone who, who's done their own level of inner work, the. The connection is so fast. You just like. Because there's no barriers. There's no barriers put up. When I met you, it was like instantly brothers because we both acknowledged where we're at in each other's journey and we, we had no blocks to like. I was like, this is me, who I am at this stage in my life.

The realness.

Realness, yeah.

So because the self working, some people get it real fast, some people get it real slow. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day is a realness in which you interact with the other being that it creates. Like, it's just like, okay, no walls.

It's an authentic connection, 100%. And this is another thing. Well, I know a lot of people struggle with. Which is sort of what I had to go through as well, is a lot of the actual friendships or connections we have in our lives for a lot of people are based on just false. They're. They're false. We. We think we hang out with these people because we're like, I should hang out with them. Or this, this is, this is the crowd that I hang with. Even though there's no authentic connection there, because there's no vulnerability. There's no. Like, this is what I'M going through this is my. And like this is who I am. And when, when you live from that place which you have to decide yourself by doing the work, you then attract other people who are living from that place.

Yeah. And then like singularity arises and not the technological one. We're just talking about that like singularity arises in the sense like the unpredictable, the unexpected, the, the mystery of life. Because then you come at somebody else at face value with full authenticity and full realness and then you get to generate something, actually get to create. You find yourself in whatever you make with this relationship, with this new being and then this person gets to find themselves and who they set themselves to be with that for you and me for example, we're not connected through our past but you are like so integral in your word and how you're showing up for me because I just know you through your promises. And every single time there's been follow through every single time there's been like this, who you say you are with who you are, it's perfect. It's. It's actually like you're full and I get. You're not like that all the time and you're not perfect.

But yeah.

Yeah. Who you are to me it's really. Then that relationship gets actually founded on that level which is the realness, the realness and the authenticity of the journey and we can all take it on. We can just take it on. Yeah, just take it on.

And the beauty of this is we get to share this like. Which is why I've been sharing my journey for a while is because through the act of sharing the journey allows someone else to perceive themselves as on a similar path. Because it can be scary when you first start out on this journey, man, you can feel alone. A lot of people are looking for community and tribe and it's beautiful. We're down in the park today. There's a drumming circle around of other like minded people that we hang now hanging out in communities where like we're hanging out the same people on this journey. Which it is beautiful man. And I'm grateful for that because is not everyone has that. Most people don't have that. Particularly if you're going to a work environment like what's happening to me where I was like I, I felt a little bit alone in my. I was scared to share what I was going through because not everyone was not many other people were doing going through the same thing. So I can. I understand.

Yeah.

Which is why sharing is so important to me.

So good at that, man.

Thank you, man. Which is why it's awesome what we're doing now. We're getting to share, Share this so that someone else can listen and be like, I've. I feel the same way. And they can join this community which we are creating. And although it's based in Toronto, it's like it's going to be available everywhere because that's the world we live in now. I can't wait to connect you with friends back in Australia. And we, like, make. Bring these events that we're doing here back home. Let's do it to my home. Yeah.

And the first step is like, community. You know, it's like feeling the sense of curiosity or something, like you want to step into or you've always been, like, hesitant about trying. It could be. And you get called. Through the authenticity that we share, people can get called to specific things. Right? It's like, oh, maybe I've always wanted to be cold showers. I've always wanted to do movement. I've always wanted to do chanting. I've always wanted to drum. I've always wanted to dance. And like, yeah, take it on and then just, like, declare it. Like, actually declare it and be like, this is what I'm taking on and I'm looking for other people like this. You actually don't have to wait on leadership to arise. You can just be it by taking it on. Like, I started by, like, going to the park and just doing whatever I do by myself, being like, yeah, I'm just gonna create and bring my music and do whatever I need to make. And that. That was it. Like, it's just. I just started doing it.

Tell. Tell people about, like, your. Because I. I loved learning about just some of the practices as you do, because it's so unique and specific to who you are as a person. Which I loved because for a long while now, like, I, for example, I would go to the gym and train in a regimented way. Like four sets, biceps, bench press. That's how I train my body. And you're. The way you train is. Is so different. And through, you know, mixed martial arts is that that uprising has created a whole nother world of possibilities of what we do with the body in terms of training or exercise. As an example, you go to the park and just move. Like, you just move how your body feels like it should move. Or pick up a kettlebell and just lift it in different ways and move it around and do things that, like, are so outside of the norm that it's just uniqueness. Man, explain to people like, what, what are your movement practices based around now? And how does that look? Okay, because I found, I found it interesting. Minutes 4, 35. Cool, thanks.

So I would say that the, it's, it's actually a principle and I would call, I would call it a. The practice is mine and the principles are there and the hunt is for the principles. And so the evolution of my movement practice is also towards the principles. It shows up, I can tell you every single time. And then a completely unprepared, unexpected agenda. I just show up. I just show up and it happens to me. Like I've just, I don't, I'm let go when it comes to self and expression, which is through the body, I've taken on that and I've embraced the idea that it's not me doing it. And the mind is actually trying to avoid me just from creating through my physical self. So when I step into a movement session, I step into, with that attitude and I actually don't plan at all. I'm just like, what do I need? Where am I? And I, you know, it takes, if you pay attention, your body already can speak to you like, oh, you're actually like a little bit weak here today. Or you need a little bit more strength up here because you've been struggling. You carry, or maybe you're carrying all this tension here. So you actually need to today you need to rest here. You need to tap into your, on your legs. But maybe you have a really powerful meeting the next day and you ground yourself to train. Just your body speaks to you and you're like, you need to do some leg training. But not enough that's going to destroy you, but enough that's going to sharpen all your senses because you're going to be so grounded, you know, soreness, just like optimal awakeness of your being. And I let that be the guiding light for what I'm going to, what I'm going to move and what I'm going to practice along the way. It's as easy as like opening a YouTube video or glancing through my mood board that is Instagram and all this like great, great people that I follow and pick one thing that they do, try it for five minutes and then for 45 minutes I'm going to take that and then see what happens if I just break it into pieces and maybe just pick, take a couple pieces here, maybe bring other two pieces. So you could go from functional range conditioning, open to yoga, up into dance, up into stillness, up into through breath, work down into tribal dancing. Down until you grab a tool, you grab a kettlebell, destroy that. Move into full stillness, do a sun salutation, start dancing again to something a little more sensual. Whatever that looks like it's actually learn it, right? Like explore it. And there's the principles of self discovery that actually just naturally guide you to that. It's less about listening to oneself. So when it comes to my practice, that maybe that's a principle. Listen to yourself, commit. Surrender to the practice and then listen. See what arises. At some point you're gonna be like, oh, my hips need extra care, My heart needs extra care. And you just need to foam roll your back for an hour. And the next day you're gonna be full emotion, gonna be crying. It's gonna be a mess. It's gonna be beautiful.

But this is how, this is how you live. In alignment with who you are, your uniqueness.

That's how I try to find the truth. Yeah.

Which again, like, it's. A lot of. It is. For people, starting to listen is a big thing. We're so out of touch a lot of the times with what the body is actually telling us. We ignore the messages coming from the body.

Yeah, we do.

We're always like. It's always telling us how, like feelings, intuition.

Right.

Guidance. Where do we say when we have a feeling from intuition? The gut, the stomach, man. Like, so movement and food, like, the things we're doing to the body allows us to sharpen the messages coming through.

Yeah.

Like, you can't. How can you expect to hear your intuition if you're not allowing your, you know, I mean, if you're eating food, if you're like, not training, like, you're not going to hear any of that.

Right.

Like, and that's what started happening to me when I started refining, like, what I. How I cared for my body, how I moved. The time that I spent listening, which is the meditation time, the time in nature, I started hearing the messages come through.

Of course. Yeah. But they're just. They become so loud because you're listening so intently and the noise has been reduced, all the numbing. And so I have like a really strict wild diet that I just do and.

Tell me, I love your diet, mate. Tell me about your diet.

I've been biohacking my diet for like seven years now where I just try to figure out the optimal. Optimal. What works for me. And currently where I'm at is a great. Let's say. I was going to say a gradient because, yeah, it's a great. It goes A little bit of. On a scale. And it's a determinant fasting. And I start with fats. So like chalk chocolate or coffee with oil. Just. We get that energy up. Then it goes into more fats, but it'll be nuts. Something that it's like small food doesn't. It's not too intense in my body. Then it moves into fruits before a movement session or before a movement session, doesn't matter. As many fruits as I can. And then for vegetables, I pretty much just eat. I eat greens from time to time, but I eat sweet potatoes and the most gorgeous, beautiful steaks I can get.

My hands on from the same place every day. The same steak. You pick up a steak, go home. It's like a ritual, right?

It's 100% ritual. It's actually the most powerful ritual I can have. Like, because it always happens, man. I've learned this actually recently, like maybe three weeks ago where I was like it. Sometimes I struggle to schedule my meditation in the morning. I'm rushing out of home. I gotta. Still gotta get to work and I still gotta do my things. And so. And then maybe it's too late at night time and I can't do it. But you know what? Something I will do always make my steak. So the experience of making my steak or chopping my sweet potatoes, no matter what it is my stopping. Like, it's my stop. It's my. My time to stop it. And the. From a ritual perspective, it's ritual slash habit. The habit in itself brings me back to the security of my life. You know, that there's a lot of chaos. But having. Having. Having something so structured and so reliably beneficial for me, like actually beneficial for me. And something that like reliably just puts me always back to boom. I feel 100%. And the day, it just gets wrapped up incredibly. No matter what happened, this is what I can always rely on having for myself. Sometimes I have cheat day or modifications, but reliably those ones are there to support my life. And they definitely anchor it and push it forward.

Definitely. And once I realized and noticed how impactful it was to have strict diet. Yeah. Specific strict diet. Or a ritual or something in place that allows you to sustain that level of living. It came from noticing. Yeah. Being an experiment. Noticing what happens when you take care of yourself in this way. So that when you do do the cheat days or you do kind of revert back to lazy laziness.

Yeah.

You get to. You get to compare the two.

Oh yeah.

And it was like for me, it.

Was like, yeah, not worth it.

Not worth it. It's like the clarity that you get when you live in this way, man. It's like, ah, man, it's. Yeah, it keeps you, like, anchored in that. In that practice, that way.

For me, calling out stopping the alcohol many years ago, that was it. Just being like, it's. The consequences of this nonsense are just unmeasurable at some point became unmeasurable. I was doing stupid, made too many stupid choices that were just transferring into my relationships, into my health, into my performance at work. Like, it was just drinking. Partying with alcohol specifically was derailing beyond impact, impactful ways that I couldn't. It was just fully got a hand in that sense. I was like, it does. Makes no sense. It's just. It does. It's not serving me. That's a good question to ask myself. Like, what's not serving you? My coach, San Perion, he's incredible. Leads Arata, and he says, like, always ask what's. Renounce. Renounce. What's not serving you. Renounce it. And you don't even have to know what it is. Ask it. Ask it. What do I need to renounce that's not serving me? And you're not going to get it right. I don't get it right every time I look at it. But that's what. That's where we should be looking for, like, actually looking for in areas in my life. And, you know, I've. I fail at many areas of that, and that's my errors of work. That's like, undeniably something of significance that it's. If that wasn't there, something undescribable would. Would be present.

And I've. I've heard that as well in the past from some of the great teachers who say it's not about what we need to take on, it's more around what we need to, like, let go of. Right. What's not serving us? That's a great question.

Yeah.

What do we need to just, like, surrender to and let go of in our life to. To allow us to live from these higher states? Yeah, Like, I like to ask that question all the time. Like, what. What. Where am I resisting in the body? Or what am I resisting that's stopping me from experiencing these elevated states of being, these. These emotions.

Yeah.

Because a lot of the time it can be just as simple as something, some emotion that we're holding on to that once acknowledged, accepted, and then surrendered and let go of can create such a profound shift in your energy. And your likeness of being. And it's happened to me so many times where that simple fact of just ignore. It's like, oh, I'm actually worried about this because of this.

And then dealing with it.

Yeah. And, and at the root of it, at the root, if you, if you chop it down at the root, a lot of the surface level thinking that it's actually coming from this root thing that you haven't let go of.

Yes. Always, always.

And when you chop it at the root, you just, all the thinking associated with that emotion is just, you're free.

You're fully free. You're fully free. Yeah.

So like, you can do as much yoga and breath work and, and modalities as you want, but if you don't address the root of what you're holding on to.

Yeah.

And acknowledge it and accept it and let it go, like you're always going to be carrying around these surface level thinking.

So the body in itself is a. It's the most powerful resource and tool we have. It's like the whole thing, it really is the answer. Like, it's actually the answer. I would say it's probably the answer because I've discovered that like, through the body, you can actually heal the things that you can't bring through your conscious mind. Because your body's already unconscious. Right. Like most of the processes and systems that are occurring within us, they're already out of our control. Which means that if you just let go and let it do its thing, it's also just going to heal you. How do we do that? Well, we don't have the answer. We all have to figure it out. Let's all kind of share that practice together, see how we can figure it out. There's plenty of mystics that have suggested a couple of ways like breath, work and movement. So let's take that and leverage it on and just carry it over and just keep on trying those things. And as a result, unconsciously, the healing can begin to occur. And actually, I don't really want to say I. As a matter of fact, I know for myself it did. And what I would invite others is to be like, discover it. Let's just not wait for the researchers to come back and do, oh, we've done research in 30 athletes and discover that. No, you find it out. Just take it on. Change your diet, change your breathing patterns, move. What happens to your emotional self? Right. Like, what is going to happen to your traumas in 30 days? I promise you're not going to be the same person. You're actually not going to be the very same person if you really take it on and just like I'm going to know myself as a different person from now on. I'm going to take 30 days. Really well I'm willing and putting myself on the line to let go of everything that I've ever been. And just how is that going to show up? The beingness is going to change because the actions are going to change and a newfound self that's gonna arise just like naturally it has to because it doesn't know. So the thinking that has to come in taking actions outside of what we already consider that we do or we don't do, it's extraordinary and we have to let go of something to step into that. The healing just naturally occurs. Then when you're in that space, the healing just naturally occurs. You don't have to go inwards and fight a trauma because through action, let's say taking on again 30 days. That was one of the big like most powerful experiences of my life. 30 days of hot yoga just like non stop in the weekends, like sometimes twice a day classes back to back and just yeah on the weekends like fasted. I'm like a little bit of micro drozing and like doing like a back to back yoga class or going to the park and just moving for four hours and trying to discover something for myself. Just being like I want a lessons today. Okay. I want to learn something about myself and then just going and moving for four hours and see going on what's there. Same in the cold. Stepping into like what lesson am I not paying attention to that I can through action put myself and set the self discovery up. Like actually set it up. Don't wait for somebody to set it up for you, just set it up in your basement. I'm just like you can find me in my balcony in the winter like being the weirdo, just breathing outside and.

I love it man. Like, like I generally get inspired. Inspired by that because it's a reminder that like it's accessible all the time.

Yeah. All the time.

All the time.

Yeah.

We don't, don't rely on something outside of you to. Yeah. To, to give you that level of wisdom and knowledge in your, in your own self. Yeah.

And then the will. Will arises. Will arises which is key because then the mind actually turns instead of being the enemy turns the ally will where you can be like I don't want to like I can access my traumas when I choose to and I'm going to explore it in my Way. The way that I want to. You work through trauma, but with a sharper mind. That is actually not. It's not working against you. It's working for you. It's really working for you. It can be as easy as, like the cold showers. Like, I love cold showers for that reason. Like, today, before coming to meet you, did not want to fucking shower. And I was, I didn't want to do a cold shower specifically. And I was like, I don't even know how. And I just step into the washroom and I. Let's just turn it on. I'm like, I don't, I don't.

Like, it's no longer. Yeah, I'm the same as you. There's no longer a debate in the mind. It's like, this is just gotta get it done. Yeah.

Gotta get it done. Yeah. I can't because I know what optimal thing I gotta serve that.

Yeah.

I'm. I'm the excuse. Like, literally this, this excuse filled self is the one that's blocking me from being extraordinary. The water will show me the way, though. And then go to the cold water. Go to the cold water, go to the movement and get out of your own way so that the spirit can come through.

Yeah, man. Dude, I'm the great sound mindful of our time here. So, like, in closing, man, like, as we start to wrap this wonderful conversation and the first of many recorded conversations and podcasts that we're going to put out together, you know, like, I want to extend the opportunity, invitation to other people who want to connect in Toronto, feel a calling to be a part of this community. It's. It's happening here, you know, it's happening now. And the work I'm doing with Mindset Brain Gym in Yorkville, who's got a wonderful space that's going to allow a lot of this stuff to start to happen a lot faster and on a larger scale through the work we're doing with on your people and curating this stuff now, bringing together the leaders, the people who are meeting, who are just doing amazing stuff.

Like, if there's any magic that you want to create here in Toronto, just like, reach out directly and let's make it happen. And then a date and a time.

Exactly. Rather, and then for me personally, like, through what I'm doing with Stay Shift is there's no limit to just being in Toronto if it's around the world, like, reach out. Your. Your Instagram is creative Generalists.

Yeah, Plural generalists. Make sure it's for everybody. Yeah, just me. Share me your videos if you had an ins a video inside I can see our can be shared and we.

Just want to connect. Connect and explore.

Yeah. Thanks for what? Listen man, you are true king brother. True king man.

Thank you man.

Warrior, lover, magician. All of it just combined into this quite extraordinary human man. I'm excited to have be on this journey with you.

I'm attracting like minded people man. So likewise with you and this is going to be the first of many.

So so excited to see.

God bless. Talk to you guys soon.

Blessings. Blessings. Thanks.