Prithiv Raaj Elansharan - Gratitude, Fear and Authenticity

Welcome to the Yoga Den. Are you a stressed out cog in the corporate wheel? Do you find yourself asking, what am I doing and why am I doing it? Then the Yoga Den is the place for you. I'm your host, Ryan Spence, AKA the big law dropout, writer, yoga teacher, and your guide on the path to well being through yoga. Yoga helped me find my purpose, change my mindset and my life. And in this podcast, I'll share how to live a life of intention, knowing reaction. Each week, I'll be talking to a variety of guests, covering pearls of wisdom to help you figure out where you're heading to, where you really want to go. I won't find your purpose for you, but I'll help you plan the route. So sit back and grab a drink. I've been expecting you. Hello and welcome to episode two of the Yoga Den podcast. And on this week's show, we have our first guest. Pritif Raj Elshahan is a former amateur boxer from Singapore who's just made the decision to turn pro. He was also my trainer for my first and only boxing match back in 2019. I wanted to get Prid on the show as he's one of the most positive people I know. He's got a killer mindset and a deepness of thought that eludes many who are twice his age. In this episode, we talk about many things, including how he uses fear to drive him, gratitude to maintain a positive mindset, the importance of a morning routine, and why Shavasana is his favorite yoga pose. Isn't it? Everybody's. So grab a seat, let's get to this. So, hey, Prit, how's it going?

Hey, Ryan, it's going great. Thank you for having me on the podcast.

Thank you. Thank you for coming on. So we first met over a year ago when you were training me for or you said you wanted to train me for my first fight. Talk about that.

Yeah, that was quite an experience. You were a handful, Ryan. I mean, so the first time we met was in a group class and you approached me. You actually approached me.

That's true.

Yes. Yes, you did. Right? And you probably will say no, but. Because you're. But you did. You came up to me and you were like, hey, Brit, you look really awesome in training. And I can't picture anyone else training me. And you said you had you. I just. You just have to have me. That's what those were, the exact words you said.

Sorry, listeners, I forgot to say that Prit is a little bit delusional. But anyway, carry On.

All right. But on a real note, so we just discussed on. On training terms and. And we got to training and we trained every day, didn't we, Ryan? We trained about every day.

Yeah. So you were the. For those who read the article I wrote about finding my. Why, you're the person that got me getting up to train at 5am in the morning.

Yep, yep.

So now become a sort of a permanent stay of my day, so.

Right, right. And some days. Some days it was 4am as well.

Right.

Wasn't it?

Yeah. You tried to sneak those in a couple of times.

Yeah. Yeah. So for. For that fight, we. We had the training camp. We were training almost every day. We're training super early in the morning, and I was working hard. We were. He was getting fit mentally as well as physically.

And.

And I really love that, that he. He was naturally tenacious and. And very determined. I. I don't remember him sleeping in once. He was just always on the ball, and I loved it. I love training him.

Thanks, man. Yeah, it was. We had a good time training. You know, he's really good fun and obviously kept it on beyond the fight. But let's just take it back a bit. And I mean, boxing is. Is your thing, and we're going to talk a little bit more about that. But let's go back to when you first put on a pair of gloves.

Ah, all right. So it all started when I was 12. I went to the boxing gym. Speaking of putting on gloves, the first time I put gloves on, it went all the way to my elbows, man. Yes. I got in there and I just knew that it was my calling. I just. I love the place. I love. I can remember how the sweat smelled like, but I love how it smelled. I love how it sounded. I love the environment of the entire place. And I just got hooked right away. And so it started out slow. My. My coach, my first mentor, Coach Kadir, he was very much so a master of the basics, and he got me doing just the jabs for the first three months. And then later on, I met another mentor of mine, Kevin Matthews. You've met him, haven't you, Ryan? Yeah. And he's a great guy. And so with these mentors, they worked a lot of technical precision with me with boxing. They also gave me a mental strength that I carry to this day. And I went on to get into the national team competing around the world, and now I'm on the precipice of going professional.

Indeed, exciting times. So we're going to work through some of those points there, because I think that there's a few things you mentioned which I think would be really interesting for our listeners to hear, particularly around the mental side of it. But boxing is, as I found and obviously, as you know, haven't done it for as long as you have. It's physical, but it's also very mental. You've kind of got to get your head in the game.

Oh, yes.

If you're not, if you're not on the ball, you will get here, it will not be pretty. So you've kind of got to be switched on at all times. So mindset, where do you think that strength and that mindset came from to allow you to sort of focus and work your way through an amateur career and now sort of on the, on the precipice of getting to the pros?

Well, you know, boxing is a sport where you're going in there to get hit. You know, I mean, of course you try your best not to and you're doing a lot of the hitting as well, but you know that you're going in there and you're, you're standing in front of a lot of people with another guy there who's going to punch you. It's like a midday, it's like a modern day gladiator sport. Right. And with the whole training camp, you're training for that. And in the mental aspect, you're thinking about how that's gonna be. You're thinking about how it's gonna be when you're in there getting punched and you're training your mind to go through that. And so that creates a lot of mental toughness. So like we were doing when we were getting up at 4am, 5am in the morning, whether you're gonna hit the snooze button, it kind of, you can't hit the snooze button because you'd be thinking, oh, you know what, I cannot do that because if I do that, I'm gonna get punched in the face. I need to get prepared for that. I need to do well for that. So the whole toughness and mental fortitude and strength comes just from how the sport is and preparing for it. You get what I mean?

Yeah, no, I, I get that. I mean, you definitely need that, that drive and that discipline.

Yeah, for sure.

As a, as a 12 year old, when you first started, I mean, you probably didn't have that drive from the offset. So what, what kind of made you fall into that sort of lockstep, that sort of. I'm gonna do this I'm gonna focus and I'm not going to be distracted about anything else that's around me.

Well, it was two things. I. I got bullied as a kid, so I wanted to beat my bullets, basically. So I got into the boxing gym. That was one, by the way. I never got back at the bullies. I went to boxing, got really good, and I just learned the art of talking. And the second thing is I wanted to be really good at something, you know, I wanted to be special. I want to be better than others in something. And so I, I tried taekwondo, I tried music, I tried Muay Thai. My brother and I got into Muay Thai gym as kids and what stuck was boxing. I realized I had a natural talent for it and that is what made me really good. So that's how I started. But what made me continue was that I just loved it and I had goals. So the thing is, you could work really hard at something, but if you don't have goals, it's very hard to get to a point where you achieve great things or you're able to do great work consistently. Right. So I had a lot of goals. I had national championships as goals, regional tournaments as goals, international tournaments, world championships as goals. And that became. And that kind of manifested my fuel fire and developed my mindset.

Wow. So fear is something that inevitable. A lot. Yeah, a lot of us have. So stepping out of the boxing arena for a second, just that fear of the unknown, of doing something new, particularly when you've been doing something for so long. Yeah, I know that when, when I was still in big law and I knew I wasn't happy and to get out, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do and I couldn't really think of anything beyond what I was already doing. It was that fear of stepping into something new, whether you would be successful.

Absolutely. So for you, and credit to you, by the. By the way, thanks for doing that. I mean, I know that you were doing law for such a long time. Right. And you even got to partner, didn't you?

No, not quite senior associate, but I was really senior. But yeah, partners. One of those things where it was. It was kind of on the horizon and.

Yeah.

About it.

But yeah, you were really close. You were there for that long. I mean, and to put that aside and come out of that, I mean, props to you, man, for sure.

Thanks. For me, that came a lot, partly from the boxing and the training and going back to what you were saying about the discipline and focus and not hitting the Snooze button and having to get up and just do it and get at it, and then yoga as well, which, which. Which was kind of the real catalyst that kind of sent me to where. Where I am now, but to go back to the. To the fear point. I mean, as a fighter, every time you step in the ring, there's got to be that element of fear, right?

Oh, yeah.

There's an opponent in there. You may have seen them fight before, you may not, but you don't know what's going to happen. And this, that person who's in there is trying to knock you out effectively. So how, how does that fear manifest itself in you, and how do you stop that fear preventing you from getting in the ring and doing what it is that you need to do?

Yep. I love that you asked me that. Fear is one of the biggest factors. Look, you asked me, how do I stop it? I don't. I don't stop it. No one can ever stop fear. It's inevitable. It will come. If someone's telling you that he's not afraid, he's probably lying because we're all going to be afraid. And that, for me, is one of my biggest motivations. So on my Instagram page, you see me posting a lot of content about my boxing, and you see me posting videos and posting, like, pictures, and I'm out there putting myself there. And I'm obviously a coach as well, and I train a lot of people, train about close to 30 clients just by myself. And it builds fear that if I fail, if I lose, I lose. Everything I have. And all that I have been promoting makes me seem like a liar. So that fear drives me. So when we talk about the snooze button, I cannot press the snooze because I'm afraid that I'll lose. So every little edge I have comes from fear. So I use fear as one of my biggest driving source, biggest motivation that I use to get hard to grind as hard as I can. So fear is one of the biggest tools, man, and I'm really glad you brought that up. So use that as motivation fuel. And during fight night, during go time, you're not thinking about fear anymore. You're thinking about what you have to do. And so that's a mindset shift where throughout camp, you use fear as a fuel. And during fight night, you fuck fear. You don't think about fear anymore, and you think about the guy in front of you. It's crazy. When you get in there, you know what I'm talking about. When you get in there, when you put the gloves on, you're all warmed up, you switch. You switch from this smiley guy that I know you are and I am too, this friendly guy to this gladiator. There's this murderous guy, this guy who's going in there to get a job done, to knock someone else's face off, and then you switch. So you use fear in the training camp and you take fear away on fight night. So that's my take on fear, man.

That's a good point. And that leads me into the next thing I want to ask you about, which is failure.

Failure.

Which, you know, failure. When you say the word failure, it sort of drums up negative connotations. I mean, I don't look at failure as a negative. I look at it as. You tried and something didn't work the way you wanted it to work. You learned from that and then you try again. So to me, failure is an inevitable step to. To success in boxing, obviously, or in any sort of context sport. Two people in a ring, one person's got to lose. That's always the case. And I was looking through, through your Instagram before we did the interview, just sort of catching up. And obviously I saw you. You went to the SCA game.

And also you. You what, you check out my Instagram one time. Just admit it.

You do. Yeah.

It's. It's your. It's your pastime.

Well, you got to the SEA Games in 2017. You got all the way to the. To the quarterfinals, and you unfortunately lost in the quarters to a Russian, a Russian fighter. Do you want to talk a bit about that and how you felt?

And the Russian was in the SEA Games, by the way. I was in Mongolia. That's a different championship. But, yeah, I get what you mean. You like me to talk about failure, right?

Just about how you feel. Because obviously, as I said before, you go into. You go into the ring, one of you has to lose. You obviously don't go in with the intention to lose, but sometimes that is going to happen. So on a stage, I mean, the SC Games is quite a big deal.

Yeah.

How. How did you deal with that? Did it affect you for some time afterwards? Did you just shake it off?

Yeah.

How do you affect you sort of mentally?

Right. You know, failure. Well, for the C Games, I cut a lot of weight. I lost about. About 11 kilos of weight, and that's a lot for a guy of my size, because I'm not. I'm not heavy guy. Right. So I worked really hard for that. And when I lost and I was I with the scorecards, the Kazakhstani world ranked judge, he had me winning that fight. So there were some speculations saying that I should have won that match. So it made that loss even harder. And it was really hard. And it brings me back to one of my favorite fighters or my most favorite fighter, Floyd Mayweather. Who's your favorite fighter?

Oh, man, has to be Tyson, right?

Tyson. Even Tyson, right? So all these guys took losses. And I remember for Floyd, he, he took a big loss at the Olympics with the same, same style as I did, where the loss was very controversial. And what he did was he used that as fuel to get this illustrious career that he has had. So that motivated me to use that loss as fuel. So after that, I went on to the Philippines. I went there for about a month or two after that loss to kind of get my fire back, to get everything that I lost back. And I went on to do well. So right now, going into the pros, every win and more than the win, every loss that I had has taught me all the values that I need to get good in the pros. And you know, the thing is, when I was winning, sometimes I wouldn't look back at the tape and be like, oh, you know what? I did this mistake, I did that mistake. I would just be very complacent. I would just look at the good stuff. But when I lost, I got very critical of myself. And that taught me that value that you always have to look at your mistakes and good, you know, and that's the way you get great. So failure. Glad you brought up. Big, big step to success.

Yeah. And leading on from failure, one of the things that I sort of really liked when I, when I first met you and then training is that, yeah, you have this aura of positivity.

Thanks, man. You always can't say it seems you.

You always see a beat. You know, I mean, looking at the sort of, the brighter side of things, being optimistic, not sort of questioning your situation or having that victim mentality. Where do you think that comes from?

Hey, thanks, man. I appreciate that. Well, I think one of the most powerful sources of energy, of motivation is gratitude. So you know what, let's, let's do that exercise real quick. Right? So Ryan, do it with me and you know, the listeners right now while you're listening to it, let's do this as well. So keep your eyes closed. Keep your eyes closed. Right, okay, good. Now picture the color white, White, white, white. Immerse yourself in white. Right? So listeners, I Hope you're doing it, too. Keep your eyes closed. Think about white. Think about white clouds dripping all over you. White, white, white. Now all you're seeing is white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white. All right, now open your eyes and look around. Look around for 3, 2, 1. Close your eyes, Ryan. What do you see?

White.

You saw white. And listeners, while you're hearing this, while you're listening, you saw white, didn't you? Now keep your eyes closed. Do you remember seeing any green? Do you, Ryan? You don't, Listeners, you probably didn't either. Now open your eyes, Ryan. Do you remember seeing this green right here? This, this, this, that? Right. It's a bunch of green around you, but you didn't notice it. And listeners, you probably didn't either. All you guys saw was white. And that's because you see what you want to see when you're grateful for the good. When you look at the good, when you look at the greens, you're very positive, you're very energetic. Nothing can stop you. So that's why I'm how I am. Because I look at the greens, I know the time we're in. I know Covid is hard. I know my debut is going to be difficult, but I focus on the talent I have. I focus on the things I can control. I focus on the good and the greens, and that's why I am how I am, Ryan.

And do you think that that's stems from your boxing training?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it. It does, because sometimes you just have to be emotionally strong as an athlete, and with boxing, you just got to focus and on yourself, and you got develop yourself. And that's also how I got my mentality.

Yeah. Because. And the reason I ask is because I definitely think that that's what yoga did for me, started with boxing and yoga, getting a consistent practice.

Right.

That's definitely where I am now. It's not where I was maybe six months ago, that's for sure.

Right.

It does take work to kind of shift the mindset because there is so much negativity around, whether it's people, whether it's the news, whether it's events that are happening. So to be somebody who kind of shuts all of that out and continues on their own path, it's not that you don't see stuff. I mean, you see, you acknowledge. You just don't let it dictate how you behave.

Yeah.

I think it's a. Is a really good quality to have, and I think it's a. Once you can get to that mind state, then you're ready and in a place to then sort of start to do great things.

Right. I think because you are what you, you think you are and you see and you kind of let it manifest in you.

Exactly.

Yeah.

You are what you consume. And so your gratitude is a big, is a really, really key one. So. Yeah, it's interesting that you, you said that and it shows, which is another sort of point that I saw. It shows a maturity because I mean, you only, you're only young. Yeah. I mean, I say you, you look like you're 12, but you're not 12, but you're.

Well, I can't say the same thing. You look like you're 64.

Yeah, whatever. Hate is gonna hate.

No man, I'm far from a hitter. I'm a lover of you, man.

But these to have that, I mean, I'm, as I say, I'm kind of there now, but for you to be there at the age where you're at, that's, that's, that's pretty big. And that's why I wonder whether that discipline of having to get up every day and do not quite the same thing, but you know, I mean, just that that routine and that focus kind of contributes to that strength of mind. Because I'm a firm believer that daily movement, daily mindful movement is, is important for both physical and mental well being. Having that space to kind of move the body and to focus the mind are integral parts to being a happy, healthy, functioning human being.

Absolutely.

So, yeah, I was just interested to know if that's kind of where you think it came from for you.

All right. Yeah, that's absolutely right, man. I mean, you are who you think you are and your habits dictate that. Right. And you know, if I was not a boxer, if I grew up not boxing, I would be fat right now. I would have grown up playing video games the whole time in my room and I would not have any social skills. So sports did that for me. And like you said, right, your habit and your practices for months and years and weeks kind of dictate how you are. And, and I owe that to boxing and my lifestyle for sure.

And what I also like. And I guess this is kind of what I'm trying to do now as well. But you, you like to share your experiences and you like to share your positivity. So for a time I know you were, you sort of doing your grit with print on your Instagram, try and sort of give out motivational messages to sort of sort of Inspire people. Or you would. So people would send you sort of messages and then you sort of respond to them, like video, giving them some advice and.

Right.

That sort of thing, which is quite powerful. I mean, as I say, particularly not, not to go on about it, particularly someone of your age, but also just to have the confidence to think, you know what, I'm just going to do this. And just to put it out there was a pretty big thing.

I.

What, what sort of reaction did you, did you get to that? Get from that? And what did you also just get personally from. From doing that?

I mean, when I put that out there from. Because people will look at me and be like, okay, put up the athlete, the coach. This is the kind of guy he is. Right. And if they got to know me personally, then they'd be like, okay, you know what? He's really positive, really energetic. That's great. I love this guy. But most of my followers wouldn't know me that personally. Right. So when I post content like that, they were, people were very captivated. They were like, okay, you know what? I want to get to know more of this guy. I want to see more of his content. So the reception was very good. It was very positive. And because of some of the content that I was posting, people would come back to me and ask me for advices. And so of course, I wouldn't charge them or anything. I would just, you know, it's all love. So I would give them some advice and it would benefit them and it would help them and they would tell their friends and, and soon it was spreading. A lot of people asking me some stuff. So. And what I'm telling you right now is what I was telling them, I, I got them thinking about Greens. I just told them how their life is not shit. It's amazing, you know, because I, I, One of the theories that I have, one, One of the things that I thought about is what I like to call the NFL quarterback theory. So you know what an NFL quarterback is, right? Right.

Yeah.

So he's huge. He's big. Right. But he moves by you really fast. And that's why I think life is, it's, it's gigantic. I mean, like, how long ago was it when you were 14 and probably really long ago for you? Right. But. But it felt like it was just yesterday, wasn't it, Ryan?

Yeah.

And now you're 64, you know, and time has went by really fast, but then there are so much to do, you know, so life goes by you fast, and it's huge. And that's something I shared with people who were talking to me, and. And that's how it was. And I kind of got away from that because I kind of wanted to focus. Have people focusing on my boxing and more of my coaching than the whole mindset aspect of it. But eventually I will definitely get back to it, but right now just focusing on my professional career. So that's how it was and that's why it's not necessarily going on for me right now.

And you mentioned the coaching there, which is. Which is a good point to start talking about that. So obviously, when we met you, you were at the gym. The gym. Training.

Yeah.

Kicking ass of coaching there. And then post fight, we were training together. And yeah, you had a few other people. You had national service time, which. Which obviously curtailed you a little bit. But once you left that, it seems as though your. Your coaching has just exploded.

Yeah, for sure.

So tell me, what is it that you. What is it that you get out of coaching? Being a fighter yourself.

Yeah, as. As a coach, I. Well, first off, I'm talking to people every day. I'm with people every day, and I'm a people's person, but it just develops and manifests and. And this extrovert. I actually think I'm more of an ambivert, but it just gets bigger and bigger. You know, I. My social skills improve way more now that I'm talking to people every day. Also, I get to meet people from all walks of life, you know, so people who are lawyers, like you, traders, bankers, even students, military men, firemen. I meet all of them. Men, women, children. And that gives me a great exposure. And I'm also able to understand people deeper because when I was training you, I understood how you thought, how you would. How you box, how you were as a person. And I do that with all my clients. And so that's what coaching has given me. And I have such, such passion for it. I love it so much. And. And I'm going to be doing it for a long time. I would even like to open a gym of mine in the future.

Cool. Big goals. Well, that. That leads me on to. To talk about goals. There's a Chinese proverb which I'd heard before, but I came across today, which is a journey of a thousand. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Beautiful.

And while I was watching one of your podcast interviews on YouTube and you asked the question about goals, and I thought that your answer was very interesting because rather than talking about some huge gold of Winning belts and being champions. You just said, I'm always thinking about the next fight. And that's right. I'm with my own mindset shift. I'm a big believer in, I mean, celebrate the micro steps. Like to get anywhere, you have to take a step.

Absolutely.

If you only take one step today, celebrate that step. But take that one step because so many people don't take the step for whatever reason. So, yeah, in terms of, in terms of goals and just thinking about the next fight, where, where does that come from? I mean, surely as a, as someone who's going into the pros, who's been a boxing fan for all these years, you're. You're thinking about the bigger prize.

Well, you know, I, I can't conquer what's in front of me if I'm looking at what's way ahead.

Right.

And when I was an amateur, I mean, every amateur boxer, their goal is the Olympics, you know, And I remember when I was, I think, 17, all I was thinking about was the Olympics. All I would talk about was Olympics and I was the national champion. And there was a local match against a guy who I already beat. It was a rematch with the guy. And, and because I was only thinking about the Olympics, only thinking about how, how it qualified there, how I, I was only thinking about Sea Games as well. That was all I was thinking. Commonwealth Games. And guess what? I lost that match right in front of me because I wasn't thinking about him, because I already beat him. I was only concerned about what was ahead. I wasn't concerned about what was in front of me right in front, you know, and that taught me right there, that was. I was 17 at that time and I learned that lesson and I never forgot that. I never forgot that. And right now, when I think about this, I know that when I'm going as my debut, I'm. That's, that's the priority. When I'm training client right now, that's. He's my priority, she's my priority, you know, so that is just a lesson that I think every athlete needs and every person needs. I think a lot of young athletes don't have that because the young and they have time and they just think about what's ahead. Whereas with age, people think and are concerned about what's in front of you, you know, And I think people take too long to learn this lesson and because of that, they pay a big price. So I'm glad that I learned that when I was 17, and I keep that to me till this day.

Wow, that's deep. Thanks for that. So obviously we talked about boxing in boxing since you were 12, talked about the coaching. You work pretty hard. I mean, I've seen you when you were training me and you come from national service. They've come to train me in the early hours. They have another client here and you might have to go to school here to sort of do your course. And yeah, I mean it was. Your life is. When you get up, it's very full on and see your, your insta stories that you share from the cab at like 4am or whatever, you know, on the way to or from training clients. So no one can say that you're, you're shy of hard work. You're definitely someone who hustles hard.

Yep.

But you also play hard too, so it's contrast to that. I remember coming to the gym to train often and you'd have slept in the gym because you just got in for a night out. But what, but what I liked and respected about that is that never affected what you were doing at that time. I never felt I was being cheated from the session apart from the one time when you wouldn't wake up. I train myself. But let's, let's, let's skate over that one.

Oh, man. Okay. That was once. I.

But, but yeah, I mean, I guess where I'm going with this and why I think it's, it's interesting and it's useful for the listeners is that you, you can work hard, you can enjoy life, the two can be compatible. Too much of one is not good, too much of the other, it's not good. But people will respect you if you do what you say you're going to do.

Yeah.

And that's, I think that's something which I've always tried to do is if I said I'm going to do something, I'll do it.

Yeah.

I may not actually want to do it once the time arises and then they're still sort of working on that part of it. But I think once, once people know that you stick to your word, then you, you, you really build a respectable. Yeah. And that's something which, which I think that you do.

Thank you, man. That means a lot. I mean, you know, work is important. Right. I mean, like I told you how I believe life is big, but it goes by you fast. So because of that, I want to do a lot of things. When I was a fireman in national service, I wanted to do that finish, I want to complete that. I want to coach, I wanted to Compete. I wanted to do my college, and I feel like, because we have a very short time in this, because it goes by really fast, I want to do as much as I can. And that's why I worked hard, because that was driving me. I want to do everything. I want to do everything. Right, but then while you're doing everything, because life go. Go by you really fast, right. You don't want to just work and not play. So. So that's why I would have my fun, I would go out, but I would ensure that I'm good for the work part of it. So, yeah, man, it meant a lot to me to have that balance. And it just. With years, you just understand when you can enjoy and when you can't, you know? And sometimes, like some nights where I know that the next day, it's just a. It's a big day. I've got like maybe 10, 12 clients, and I know I can't go out. I know that my energy needs to be high the next day. I know that I need to sacrifice it. And some days where I know that, okay, you know what? I might have three clients the next day, it's a pretty chill day, then I can afford to go out. So with time, you know how to balance that out.

Cool. Yeah, I think it's very important.

Yeah.

You can't be all one thing, and people need to sort of see that you're. You're a balanced individual. Yeah, there's definitely a tendency when you're checking you in, sort of a high stress, high pressure career that you're just so focused on, on the job, that life just disappears around you. So I think having that balance is. Is definitely very important. Something else to. Something else to sort of get involved in, to kind of take your mind away and not get you bogged down in. In kind of what isn't really, really that important.

Yep.

So one thing I really want to kind of get from you, as I mentioned, one of the. One of the things about the podcast is it's about helping people to find their purpose. Because I think that once you know what your purpose is, everything else falls into place. Because then each day you're not just wandering around reacting to things. Each day you're trying to get a little bit closer to your purpose, take a step to get you a little bit closer, and it kind of really then gives you that framework and that intention. So what's your purpose?

Well, I would like to make the most of life. Well, with professional boxing, it's not so much about making money. Is because I wanna. I want to do it, and I want to go into the grave knowing that I box professionally. So that's me making the most of life with coaching. I. I mean, of course it's, it's for finance, but also I could, I could be slaving away at a job 9 to 5 and I still make some. Some good cash. Right. But it's about kind of making the most of my time and doing things that make me happy. So a big purpose of mine is to live life and make the most of life because I truly believe that there's so much to do, so much potential we have as people at very limited time that we have to do it. So that's a big motivator, big purpose of mine. Another thing is also finance and money. So I love making money and everyone does, right? Yeah. So that's a big motivator for me. So if I'm getting more clients, I'm going to find time to make it. Because if I've got a day where I could go with eight clients or nine clients, I'm gonna go with nine. Although I'm gonna be tired because I want that cash. I want more in my bank, you know, so that's one thing right there that motivates me. Another thing is creating things. So creating things where I know what's my own. So right now with the whole coaching business I have, it's my own. I could be working for a gym, which I was a long time ago, for a while, actually. But then I decided to have something of my own. And that something motivates me and gives me purpose. And in the future, I would want to have business ventures and I would want to create things like that that would be my own. So creating things is a motivation. Living the most out of life is a big motivation. Getting the most out of life and also money. So those three things motivate me and give me purpose. But.

What gets you out of bed in the morning? Right?

Yeah, absolutely.

And speaking of what gets us out of bed in the morning, what's your. What's your morning routine? I'm a big fan of morning routine.

Yep, yep, yep.

And I think that when we started training and ridiculous hours of the morning, that kind of really made me hone my. My routine. And it's very much what I sort of stick to now. Right. The only difference being that the boxing training has been replaced by my. My daily yoga practice. Yeah, yeah. But. But I find the days when that routine doesn't happen. So the last couple of Weeks I've been on this course in the US which the time difference has been killing me. So it means that your day doesn't quite start, right? You can recover it if you're conscious of it, but I much prefer to sort of start and get that routine and get those things sort of ticked off before you begin. So how's that work for you? Do you have a routine? Is it the same every day? Do you have certain things which you just sort of stick by, or is it quite fluid?

Well, so most days, because I work with a lot of people, I meet people every day. I need some time for myself before I start the day. So when I started the day out, I try my best not to look at the phone right away. I try to get in the shower. I like warm showers. I get in the shower for some time, actually. I do a lot of thinking in the showers. And what I do is I. I pretend I envision myself winning the lottery. So I pretend like I just won a million bucks and how I'd be, how I react, right? So I'll have a big smile on my face, I'll boogie a little bit, do a little bit of booty shake, right? And then I'll be in the shower. No one will be seeing this. And I live by myself right now, so I can be as loud as I want to. I'll be playing some angel at the back. I love Angelle. She's a little bit more quiet and a little bit more calm. I like that music. So I'll be listening to that, grooving. It's with my hot shower while being super energetic and super pumped up because I just won a million dollars, right? So I would have that. And then I would do the same thing where I close my eyes and I think about the greens that we spoke about earlier. I would think about the things that I'm grateful for. And at this point, I'm at my pinnacle. I'm at this high energy level where I just need to get out of the shower, put my clothes on, and I'm going to crush my day, right? I need this every day. I need that hot shower where Angelle is at the background, right? So I can't understand a word of what she says. Belgium. She's from Belgium, but she sings in French. It's beautiful. I love her voice. And so it calms me down. I'm this energetic state. I'm powered by great gratitude and I am just ready to kill my day. And another thing I do in my head is I plan it Out. I envision how I'm going to do my pts, envision how I'm gonna do my training, and I envision. And I think about what I'm gonna eat as well. So I get out of the shower, I put my clothes on, and I do that. One last thing I do in the shower is also I kind of embrace the warm water. So sometimes we are in the water and we just let it flow down our skin. We don't think about it, but I feel it. I acknowledge the temperature. I kind of think about how it feels on my skin, how it flows through, how it feels my hair, how it drips on my eyebrows. I really kind of embrace it. And I kind of. It's kind of like meditating, where you kind of are very. What's the word? Mindful of what's going on. And that's why I do the shower as well. So the showers are a very big thing for me in the morning, and I get out of there.

That's really, really interesting. I mean, particularly the mindful part. And as you say about the water, it's that. That awareness, I think that we. We. There's a lot of things that we do in life which are just habitual and we don't really think about it. Yeah, but when we get intentional about awareness.

Yeah.

Then you get. I mean, I know, but I sometimes just get amazed by the. The miracle of something that happens.

Yeah.

Like the fact that water comes out from the shower, for example.

Yeah.

I mean, not everyone has that. This is actually quite an amazing thing, an amazing feat that's happened, which we take for granted, you know, I mean, or when I get on a plane, when we could get on a plane. I mean, the fact that you're. You're on this thing, which is taking you somewhere. I mean, we do it so instinctively, and we kind of get annoyed about the delays and the regulations, but just sitting and thinking and being aware, it's just like, wow, this is. This is pretty amazing. And I guess that that leads into. So one of the sort of final things I want to talk about as we are on the Yoga Den podcast and in the Yoga Den is about yoga. How does yoga fit into to your. Your training, to your life? And by yoga, I don't just mean the physical practice. It could be meditation, mindfulness, or anything else as well. But. But generally, how. How does it fit in, if at all?

Well, I used to do yoga at college, and honestly, it was. It was a. We probably get chicks, he said.

Many, many, many guys have said that.

Yes, well, it did not work because chicks are more. Women are very focused when they're doing that. You don't talk, do yoga, so you get to talk afterwards. But usually that's when their boyfriends pick them up. So, yeah, it usually didn't work, but I did make some good friends. And I also realized how your body can push to limits that you don't think it can. It could at the start, you know, And I like how calm the feelings were. I love how calm you get in Shavasana. So in that Savasana state, I really, I love that the most I'll be in Shavasana and I would just be. Be just in this state where I feel the ground and I feel the earth and I become just one with myself and I embrace myself. A lot of times, you know, when we're with people, we, we, we put our face in a certain way. We smile, certainly we tense our muscles up on our face and how we are. But it's that savasana, you're just very comfortable with yourself. You just let everything hang loose. And I love that so much about yoga. And right now I don't have as much time to do yoga, which I actually want to talk to you about later, which I'm going to get back to yoga. But right now what I do from yoga is just. I stretch after my sessions and I have some Savasana at the end. But I believe yoga is just an essential for life. I think the practices that it gives you and, and the state that you get into, it's just, just beautiful. And, and that's why I took away from yoga when I was doing it very seriously. And what I use right now.

Yeah, I think what you said is, is definitely what I feel about yoga as well. And yeah, yeah, we can, we can talk about yoga again. I mean, I, as I said to you, I can come and join your pro team and be your yoga coach as long as the money's right, of course. But yeah, I mean, yoga is that for me and more. And it's funny that you say Shavasana because for a lot of people, Shavasana is the favorite pose.

Yeah.

But actually it's one of the harder poses to do. You look like you're just laying on the floor, but actually to let yourself go to just to just be and just, you know, it's, it's quite hard. The first few seconds. It's great. It's relaxing. You've gone through a hard class, but the longer you're there, you get a little Bit restless, your mind starts to wander. So yeah, really getting to a state where you can just be in Shavasana is, is a difficult one.

And that's something I do with my clients as well. So after an intense session. Actually we did this before. Did we write after a big session, I would stretch them really well with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretches where I get them into like very deep stretches and I have them relaxing and I instruct them where to relax. And it's crazy that, I mean, it's easy to relax a muscle like your chest. Right. Or your, your abs where it's a big muscle group, but it, it gets to the point where you relax your eyelids and your nose and your cheek muscles and your toe muscles, you know, so it's just point where you really feel very relaxed and, and yeah, man, it's, it's, it's a hard position to get to because we're so tense. We're so eager for the next. Right. Especially athletes because we're so, we're so energetic. But sometimes it's just nice to calm down, relax and do that and. Yeah, I totally agree.

Yeah, we can't live life at 100 miles per hour all the time. You got to have the balance, got to have the yin and the yang.

Yeah.

It's not about high stress all the time. It's not about sort of deep relaxation all the time. It's about having that, that balance and, and also the, the awareness as to what state you're in and why you're in that state for you at that time. So. Okay, so as we, we're coming towards the, the end of the interview here, I guess two things I want to ask first, what's next for you? I mean, you're, you're turning pro. The situation at the moment with the pandemic is obviously making it challenging in terms of getting out and getting your first fight. Yeah, but, but, but, but, but that. Notwithstanding that, what's, what's next? What's your plan?

Well, my plan, like, like you mentioned, is the professional debut. It's just something I'm working towards. I know that the times aren't the best, but I know that it's going to get better. Actually. Phase three is opening up in a couple of weeks time and I'm hoping my debut will be at the start of next year, so possibly February is what I have in mind. And doing amazing at that. So that's a big goal of mine. I'm just working towards that. I am also Working hard with the coaching business, having as much clients as I can, working as hard as I can, and giving them as much value as possible. That's a big goal. Developing as a man and as a person, getting good values and developing my personality and how I am is a big factor that I have in mind. And also college. So I am still in college right now and doing my best in that would be good. So I'm doing my major in marketing and I would like to do that as best as I can.

Marketing's good.

Yeah.

I mean, you've done well with marketing yourself so far, so I'm sure.

Thank you.

But I'm sure that will, that will all go well. And to end the podcast, one thing that we want to do with each show is to kind of leave our listeners, particularly those who might be struggling in something where they're not sure if it's what they want to do or they know they don't want to do, but don't really know how to get out or have a little bit of fear about taking that, that big leap into the unknown. What do you have? Three tips, three things that you've learned from boxing or from life that people can take away with them and sort of think about to help them making those decisions.

So like what we spoke about earlier, right? Let gratitude be your power. Let that be your fuel. Use that, right? Be grateful for everything. Just look at your greeds that we spoke about. Concentrate on that. There's so much of good. We always focus on the bad. Think about the good. That's one. Secondly, we have fear no matter what you do. And you know, I'm at Ryan's studio over here and I see this poster saying, do one thing that scares you every day. That's what we need to do. You know, you need to do that. Let that fear ignite your fuel and push you, right? Like how I'm afraid of losing and I use that as my fear. So that's second. And thirdly, be yourself because, like, I can. I can choose not to box and be just doing a corporate job and, and earning my way from that. Ryan could be a lawyer again, but not sticking with social norms and what society tells you to do and being what you want to do and being yourself has such much more fulfillment and joy because life goes by really fast. It's huge. It goes by you really fast, like we spoke about. And you want to be yourself and do things that make you happy. So let gratitude fulfill you. Let it embrace. Embrace everything that you can with that. Let Fear fuel you and drive you. And lastly. What's.

Lastly, let's be yourself.

Be yourself. Yes, that's. That's right there.

That's great. They're all really, really great tips. Sort of things which I, I try to live by, most definitely.

Yes, you do.

So, yeah, thanks. And. And hopefully anyone who's out there who's been struggling with. With figuring things out, those three things will sort of help them, sort of give things a. A bit of a deeper thought and make them think, actually, let's just take that leap. Let's just take a step. And so to. To end. Where can people find you?

My Instagram. So that's Prithv with 4V.

Oh, yes. That's what I was gonna ask you.

Yeah.

What's with the four V's?

Well, no, I just put Prithv and then the username was taken and I was like, two V's taken, three V's taken, four V's. Ah, there we go.

Wow. He knew.

So. Yep. So Prithv. I used to put my full name Prithv Raj Elshen, but it's way too. So I did Prithv instead. P R I T H I V V, V, V V. Okay.

And yeah, you're Insta. You're. You're quite active in Insta.

Yes, Yes, I am.

A lot of lives going on, training. You like to show off your abs.

Well, you don't, because you can't. But once you join the club, I think you'll know how we feel.

I think we're, We're. I think we're back training this week.

Yes, yes, we are. Time to whip you back in shape.

After a good few months off and. Yeah, stillness.

I'm looking forward to it, man.

Yeah, that'll be. That'll be fun. Get to. To get the gloves back on to sort of balance out the. The yoga. Most definitely. But anyway, thanks for. Again for joining.

Hey, thanks for having me. I had a great time talking to you.

It's been. It's been great having you on in this. This setting. One of the, one of the early guests, one of the founding guests.

All right.

Of the yoga then podcast.

I like that. I like that.

And yeah, looking forward to having you back on again once you've. You've gone pro. You've got a few wins under your belt. Yeah, no, and. And I'll be waiting for my. My tickets to come and see you in Madison Square Garden. Yeah. Championship. That's one thing I didn't. I forgot to ask you. What, what weight are you going to fight at? Do you know yet?

I reckon super bantamweight, so that's at 55 kilos. But I am getting bigger, so if I, if I have to move, I might move. It just really depends on how my body is and how my team responds to my weight.

Okay. Yeah, very good. Well, thanks again. And yeah, we'll put your. Your details in the show notes. Perfect where they can find you. And yeah, I'm sure they'll be watching with. With excitement what the pros bring.

Absolutely.

All right. Thanks, man.

Thank you, bud.

Cheers. So there you go. Interview with Prit, leaving you there with three tips to fuel yourself. Change your mindset, keep you on a positive track. Gratitude, let the fear drive you, and be yourself. Sound advice, I'd say, and as I said in the show, rules that I try and live by every day. Thanks for tuning in to the Yegoden podcast this week. If you like the show, tell your friends, subscribe and give us a review on Apple Podcasts. Until next week, eat plants, give thanks, do yoga, peace.