What is your ideal physique, career, relationships - if you could dream up your perfect life, what would it look like? We all have hidden skills and capacities that can be cultivated through practice but with societal pressures and constructs, it’s hard to look past our personal hates and focus on our personal loves.

On today’s episode of When Would You Want To Know, I invite Titus Kahoutek, coach and co-founder of Anxiety Experts and Heroics Training Systems, to enlighten us on activating and empowering human potential through reintegrating the bodymind. When would you want to know how to access your full potential?
An Integrated Whole.
[Titus 0:44] Everybody has a disintegrated view of their body. Biceps, triceps, quads, lungs, nervous system, spirit; but when thought as an integrated whole, the bodymind does beautiful work.
Body.
[Titus 2:40]  I think mobility is kind of one of the fountains of youth. I mean, that is the holy grail is to maintain your mobility through your life. Mobility is full strength through the entire range of motion.

[Titus 5:00] Since people don’t think about breathing on a regular basis, mostly people have dysfunctional breathing patterns.

“Whereas if we focus on how most people breathe, it’s an inverse breathing pattern, meaning they’re breathing with their neck and shoulders more than they are with their abdomen and ribcage. And so with that inverse breathing pattern, we start to see negative impact tension patterns throughout the body.”

Related Episode: EP.18: Yoga is a Lifestyle to Enlightenment
Mind.
[Titus 33:30] The words you think matter, you know, and really how people build a relationship with how they see themselves will be the biggest either deterrent or accelerant of their life.

To work with Titus directly visit HeroicTrainingSystems.com or anxietyexperts.com.

 

 

 

EP.25: How To Access Your Full Potential

The basis of our emotions are nothing more than vibrating particles of energy. In fact, the Latin derivative for the word emotion, "emovere", literally means “to move”. When we feel an emotional vibration, the brain’s function is to assign meaning or create stories around this movement of energy. Your ability to understand the associated narrative and effectively move that emotional energy is vital to your happiness. This is particularly true when you understand that emotional information is recorded first into memory and secondly into thoughts.

On today’s episode of When Would You Want to Know, I’ve invited Lily Finch with AlchemEnergy to help us understand, feel and release challenging emotions. When would you want to know who you truly are?

In moments of emotional pain, Lily has outlined step by step, how to transform challenging emotions.
Step 1- Quick release method: Completely own the emotion, quickly releasing it and in the process of this, neutralize
[Finch 13:35] “We've been taught that we need to think positive, we need to choose to think positive and loving but when it comes to energy, you cannot deny, suppress or repress or destroy. You have to first acknowledge. The first step that I use for people is, is to completely own the emotion that they're having right now. Then use alchemy energy, a quick release technique based on Chinese acupressure to release and neutralize suffering.”
Step 2- Cellular cleansing with magnets: An energy release with magnets, releasing it from the cells of the body
[Finch 17:21] “Even if you transform suffering-based thoughts and fear-based thoughts on the emotional body, or the mental body, you still have it in the physical body, deposited in the cells.”
Step 3 -Shadow work: Understanding our inter-relationships with others through shadow work
[Finch 18:35] “What it is we hate in other people, we repeat in ourselves. They may be married to us in an unhealthy way but until we own it in a healthy way, we can't move forward. We remain in a very hypocritical state where we can even discern whether somebody is doing it from the motive of love or the motive of fear.”
Step 4- Reprogramming neurotransmitters: Reprograming memories
[Finch 20:45] “They've healed from a trauma when they can say, “I am so grateful that happened to me, I would not be who I am without it.” In order for you to be truly free, you have to be able to say, “that was the best thing that ever happened to me because I would never have broken, I would never have cracked open and I would never have received this light had that not happened.””
Step 5- Discerning the truth: How to quickly distinguish truth for yourself
[Finch 22:04] “We're at a time, in the history of the world, that we better know how to discern truth for ourselves and so the first thing that I have always told students is to disbelieve me, that they need to know for sure, for themselves. They have all the power to discount me or anybody els

EP.24: Who You Truly Are

People shouldn’t have to subscribe to my own belief system or faith to listen to my podcast. In fact, disagreement can be good, at least when we truly listen and understand the multiple perspectives and the people behind them. At the heart of it, I want people to know why they believe what they believe and to challenge their beliefs so that they can have a better understanding of how beliefs shape their whole life.

I'm just offering one point of view, which is why for this episode, I've invited my daughter Mary, to come on the show and challenge me on a lot of the topics I’ve spoke about. When Would You Want to Know that Pierre is full of it?
Connect Across Differences
Even more, as a parent, if you get the opportunity to have thoughtful conversations with your children, learn from your mistakes and even look back on some things and admit, “I wished I had done this differently.” It’s a chance to reshape some of our thinking, improve how we are parenting and grow.
Opportunity to Do Better
I personally have found that all of my experiences and emotions have been about lessons. What things am I supposed to master? I'm not there, I'm not wise, I'm not really connected to people in the way I really want. There's huge opportunities to do every one of those things better. To be a more loving, compassionate person, friend, partner and father.

Defining, Facing, Overcoming Fear [1:26, 5:50]
Grieving Loved Ones [4:00]
Purpose of Pain, Pain is in Your Head [16:30, 37:24]
Validating Emotions [26:00, 33:58]
Anger [28:26, 49:24]
The Key to Happiness [41:53]

EP.23: Holding Space for Other Opinions Brings Connection

When you understanding anger is a choice and you find strength through connection to choose differently, you experience a life of compassion and love. When would you want to know that the most fundamental human need is not food, clothing and shelter?

Most people in our society think a parent’s job is to provide food, clothing, shelter and a good education. But something is missing from that equation. Something that children want more and need more than any of those things? Love.

The basic human need is to feel understood, loved and significant in the eyes of somebody.

Children need to be held. They need to be feel like no matter what mistake they make, no matter what happens, they're psychologically safe.
What does that look like in an argument?
The trick is to just simply ask, “Did I hear you correctly? Is this what you intended to say? Did I understand you?”

If you want to resolve an argument or a disagreement quickly, the key is to go super slow. Ask the other person multiple questions until they say, “Yes, I feel heard. I feel like you understood me.”
Live with more compassion and love
The most compassionate and loving thing I can do for another human being is to look for the spirit within their eyes, listen to them intently and fill them with positive energy.

I must care 100% about what they are saying and what they're feeling with no need or desire to share what I'm feeling or thinking. It’s amazing what happens, not just to people but to plants and trees, animals too.

Empathy is equal to feeling understood divided by active listening. But compassion adds the art of alleviating pain from the other person. Often times being a compassionate listener takes away a lot of the pain because you can provide that person with their fundamental human needs, understanding and love.

When you actually care about this other being and they know you care about them because you're listening, purely present, focused on them. It changes everything.

PART 3: Anger – Living with More Compassion and Love

When we understand anger is a choice, how do we find the strength to choose differently? When would you want to know that what you thought was weakness is actually the greatest strength.
The Greatest Strength
When I was a young boy and I'd cry, my dad would call me a sissy or worse. Society expects boys to be tough and not to show emotion.

So, when my anger feels justified and my ego is telling me the other person's wrong in any given situation, the real strength is being open to the possibility that I’m wrong. To open my own heart to the possibility that the story is different.
Be Curious, Not Furious
Strength is then to have a conversation with the other person. Actually listen to them curiously, not just doing it to appease them in any way but to actually say, tell me your side of how you saw things happen. What were you thinking? What are you feeling?

What is it you think I did or said that caused you to be so upset. And then really listen and repeat it back to them to make sure that they feel understood on their terms. It's hard to do but it’s a technique that’s successful.
Choosing Connection
The most strong, powerful thing a human being can do is say, “I feel sad that we're apart and I would really like to figure out and make amends” Whether I’m wrong or not doesn't matter. I’d rather be connected, share experiences and be joyful than to be alone, isolated and angry.

If for no other reason than survival, being angry is harmful to our health. So, if I actually want to survive in a healthy way, I should biologically want to resolve and be at peace.
The Catalyst of Resolution
It's taking two to dance, but it only takes one person to initiate the catalyst of resolution. Now if the other person doesn't want to forgive, that's their choice. But they'll be ill, because holding onto that anger is very detrimental to health.

Let go of all the acid, acidity in your system and all the negativity. Forgive yourself, forgive the other person and then seek to understand before being understood.

You can only control your own thoughts and your own actions. You are not and can never be responsible to control the words, actions, thoughts of another person.

Control is an illusion, we do not have the capacity to puppet master anyone else. So, if you and I were fighting and I forgive you, I have taken the steps to free myself of my problem. By being vulnerable and authentic, I become liberated, empowered, and very strong.

PART 2: Anger – Finding Strength to Choose Differently

Anger - It’s in the news, on the roads, it can often seem unescapable. Many perceive anger as a basic human instinct, a protection mechanism instilled in our reptilian brain. When the majority of the time, anger derives from simple misunderstandings or perceived slights. When would you want to know that anger is a choice?
What is it that the first thing we do when we feel angry?
We have to have a reason for being angry, and we have to justify our anger. Then we have to keep finding more supporting evidence for that anger and that is a story.

Immediately we are going to find a way of keeping ourselves angry. Because there's something inside of us that we want to feel like the other person harmed us or intended to harm us.
Can anybody actually control your emotions?
Someone could do things that potentially could make you respond with anger but I might equally respond without anger. It’s a choice. I get to choose whether I'm angry or I'm not.

It's always a choice and when we choose to be angry we find reasons to justify why our story to ourselves is true. When in almost all cases, it's not true at all. It's a made up lie, it's a deception that we trick ourselves into.

It has to do with ego, has to do with animal ego of survival. We go back to the amygdala, the reptilian brain where it's fight, flight, or freeze. A protection mechanism, to make sure that we're not going to be hurt again but that hurt is just a story.

Almost all cases I've seen, it's a different story. Somebody intended something totally different but we were either tired or something was triggered from a past experience. You see road rage all the time, “They cut me off, they took my place. They just went through, behind all these cars. Who do they think they are?” But that's also saying, who do we think we are?

I've found that the cure for anger is forgiveness. And it starts with forgiving ourselves for the story we told. And then we forgive other people. There are several studies out there that show that holding anger, that negative emotion is really bad for our health.

The stress affects our thyroid or adrenal gland, body temperature, all kinds of things. And it manifests into disease. It creates even more acid in our body and our blood needs to be alkaline.
So why, if it's bad for us, do people cling so hard to anger?
Put simply, the ego needs to be right. Success is a comparison of me versus somebody else. I won the race, I am earning more money, on and on. Success in my definition is a comparison of I'm better than that. That's ego, that's animal, that's scarcity.

Fulfilment is happiness. Fulfilment, I think is really about connection to other people and about growth. Learning lessons, improving ourselves, increasing our knowledge, our capacity to connect other people. Those connecting and loving, that's when I think we're all happiest.

The act of being angry, is the act of standing apart and saying we're different and we’re opposed. Anger is a comparative isol

PART 1: Anger

From gum disease to colon cancer, When Would You Want to Know that problems in your mouth affect your overall health? The Queen of Dental Hygiene, Barbara Tritz, joins today’s episode to go deeper than just brush, floss, drill and fill. Protect yourself by learning more about the connection between your oral health and the rest of your body.
Generally, what is it that people believe about oral health that you know to be wrong?
Barbara [4:16]: "If you're going to use a manual toothbrush, you need to brush much longer. It takes about 15 minutes to get all the plaque off with a manual toothbrush. So, that's where the electric toothbrush comes in because it keeps you on task, but even the electric toothbrush takes two to four minutes to get all the plaque off."

"80% of the population has gum disease in the United States. So those two cleanings a year are not sufficient to reduce the plaque biofilm and the bacteria that's in your system. And so we've got to brush longer, we've got to brush more thoroughly and with better tools."

"Flossing, again, most people floss incorrectly. They don't floss deeply enough and they're using a Teflon coated floss that glides right over the plaque. And then, the bacteria that's in there, number one it’s contagious, so we pass it through the whole family."
Where does plaque come from?  
Barbara [6:25]: "Plaque is, in 20 minutes after you leave there, it starts to build up again. It's a mixture of the minerals and the nutrients in your mouth, the bacteria and the food debris. So plaque is natural. We want plaque, but we want healthy plaque."

"When you have the bad bacteria, then it changes the biofilm and the bacteria then are, it's in an anaerobic environment so no oxygen and it's more acidic. And so those bacteria are now pooping acid in your mouth and that then lowers, again, the pH of the mouth and that's where disease starts."
What's the oral health end-point?
Barbara [9:39]: "The end-point is pink, healthy, tight tissue, no bleeding, stippled texture, like an orange peel and a nice letter U shape; no swelling, no bleeding, no pus, no smell. Those are my end-points. We can do it. It’s not just about brushing and flossing."
Why should people care more about their gums?
Barbara [10:35]: "When the gums are bleeding, I call them leaky gums, then that means your arteries are leaky and that's inflammation in your arteries. And then the bacteria from gum disease can also go into your brain and they have research that directly connects periodontal disease, gum disease, to dementia. So, everything in the mouth is connected to the rest of the body."

"Gut health, we reseed the gut with our oral microbiome and then that contributes to leaky gut, which then causes a whole series of chronic inflammation, chronic diseases, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and the list is endless. Oral health is the crux of everything…it all starts with the mouth."
What is a biological dentist?
Barbara [15:11]: "We're going dee

EP.22: Oral Health is the Crux of Overall Health

In life, adversity often forces us to face an ultimatum: find some way to overcome and becoming a better, stronger, and more capable individual or accept defeat and become swallowed whole. On today’s episode, Jason Hunter and John Bergen join When Would You Want to Know, to share how they have coped and persevered through unimaginable obstacles.
Jason's Story
In October of 2001, Jason was shot six times at point blank range. For the rest of his life he would be confined to a wheelchair but instead of becoming isolated and detached from the outside world, as so many would expect from such a tragic experience, Jason developed and evolved into one of the most extraordinary humans I've ever met.


John's Story
As an elite athlete competing in iron mans, ultra marathons and now The Race Across America, John is no stranger to pain.  He has spent years challenging and pushing himself past his threshold only to sacrifice, adapted and overcome.

To hear Jason and John's complete sorry and how they are both, in their own ways, the epitome of finding purpose in pain, listen to the full episode above or on iTunes here.

EP.21: Finding Purpose in Pain

Pain is, for the most part, unavoidable but when would you want to know that we get to choose how we respond to it. When we conceptualize our pain, we mold how well we tolerate it. The more you’re able to navigate painful experiences, the more you live beyond your boundaries. By moving beyond your pain threshold, we uncover greater possibility.
Where does pain come from?
Pain is an electrical signal in our bodies telling us that something's going wrong. Once you think of it that way, then you can decide, am I really doing harm to my body or am I not? What is this thing, pain? And it is, of course, really all just in our head and we get to choose how we respond to it, what we focus on.
Whatever Fires Together Wires Together
If a person focuses on the pain, then our brain, through neuro plasticity, starts forming these neuro networks. That pain will stay in your mind even after the physical ailment has gone. It’s been proven in multiple studies, that if a person felt the pain for enough time and focused on it then even after their entire pain is cured they continue to feel it. That is the phantom limb, the brain had wired it together, felt the pain and continues to make it real.
Why Not Me?
I have a couple of little sayings that get me through just about everything. One of them is that if I know somebody else can do it, anything, then why not me? Essentially, we are all born equal, we have equal abilities. So, if I know someone's got extreme pain, but they manage it or they get through it, then I can too.
The Animal And The Spirit
Then there is this theory I have, that human beings are made up of essentially two parts. One part of us is the animal, mammals. Inside of that animal and mammal, we compete for scarce resources on earth. We are competing for a mate, we want to have sex, we want food and there is this element of scarcity going back hundreds of thousands of years. “I have to move quickly and get it because somebody else might and then I might go days without food, or I might even starve.” So, we have this animalistic part of us that is competitive.

Then we have the spirit part of us, something that makes humans a little bit different than other animals. We can take ourselves outside of our body and see ourselves objectively. We can imagine that anything we're going through is for a higher purpose and that we are here for some reason. There's this continual growth that is cognitive but not just brain cognitive, it's part of the heart and the soul.
Pain is all in your head
The animal part of ourselves, our body, feels pain but the spirit part of ourselves can say, “it's here to teach me a lesson.” I can turn the signals on or off. For example, certain Hindu Yogi's, can put themselves into an unbelievable meditative trance and withstand lots of pain. They can get themselves close to death with their control over their animal part of their body by getting control of their brain. If they can do it and they learn the techniques, the

EP.20: Pain Is All in Your Head

How does culture influence a person’s perspective on life? Simply put, everything we do and believe is culturally constructed. So, what does that mean for a high school student with roots in two entirely different countries? Indian-American, Paavnee Chauhan, joins When Would You Want to Know to share how a fusion of cultures affects her answers to life’s deepest philosophical questions.
What's it like being second generation American?
[Paavnee 3:09] For me, I notice a lot of differences between Indian and American culture. But I know my parents, they consider me only American really because their definition of Indian is really different from mine. It was just really beneficial for me having two cultures and visiting India every year to really get the best of both countries. 

But I do remember a few experiences where I tried to hide my Indian culture…I would never want to bring Indian food to school because I thought it would make me different. Now I feel like having a really good Indian community and being in a more diverse area, especially in Seattle. It’s really helped me embraced that and be more proud of it rather than when I was younger.
What activities do you enjoy?
[Paavnee 7:47] I'm Vice President for the Indian Association of Western Washington Youth Board and I've been part of the program since freshman year. We basically organize a camp in the summer for hundreds of Indian Americans. That's one important activity for me, especially because it helps me really connect to my roots and connect with other Indian Americans like me. And then I also volunteer for the Indian American Education Foundation, which also connects me to my roots and also allows me to travel back to India and kind of have a purpose when I'm there.
Tell us a little bit about that purpose. What do you typically do when you return to India?
[Paavnee 8:44] When I go there [to India], it's really different from my experience in America, because in America I'm a minority where I kind of feel this need to fit in. But there, I’m definitely really privileged and I'm in the majority. So, I feel that being part of that foundation…really helps me use my privilege in India to make a difference.
What does giving back mean to you?
[Paavnee 9:37] I think that really means us, acknowledging our privilege that we have and by giving back we want to provide opportunities for people who don't have that privilege. That privilege was given to us because of our parents and their education and the education we have. So, having those years where we felt so empowered by our community of girls has helped us specify where we want to give back.
In what areas do you think most girls, in India specifically, need help in?
[Paavnee 10:33] Education because that can lead to just so many opportunities for them. So, that would be access to a really good school that's not necessarily government run because there can be a lot of politics involved with government schools in India. So, having a

EP.19: Growing up Indian and American

When we are in a fearful moment, when we've been hit with something we were not expecting, how do we overcome fear? In the final episode of this 3-part series on fear, I dive into several different philosophies from Tony Robbins to Jeanne Segal and my own understanding of overcoming fear. 
When would you want to know?
Overcoming fear starts with calling out the fear and recognizing it. Working on faith and understanding what am I fearful of? What's the worst that can happen? If I'm in the hands of God and if I'm energy then what do I have to fear? 

The fear is only real if you make it real. If you're having fear or any other what I call negative emotions, such as anger, you've got a choice. Those emotions seem real to us but they're all just chemicals. So, we can change them through motion, such as getting up and exercising.
Connect from the Heart, not the Brain
The fundamental reason that humans are on this earth, is to be happy and the way we get happy is by connecting. The only way to truly connect with other people is through the heart. What would keep us from connecting with people from the heart is when we're too much in the brain. 

I had spent a lot of my life in my brain, trying to solve problems, being a strategist and avoiding some of the pain. All of that grief was compounding but I was stuffing it under. I had been in my head to avoid dealing with compounding levels of emotions. 
Eliminate Stress
Then there is stress. We feel like we've got to be in the rat race, we've got to make more money. There is all this stress in our lives that's self-induced and it is the way we look at it. The events aren't actually stressful in and of themselves, it's purely our interpretation of it, how we're telling ourselves a story. 

So, we feel stress or we're sitting inside of our head. Either one of those or both will preclude or eliminate the possibility of being in the heart. The way to get out of those two things is through meditation and yoga.
One way to Overcome fear
Through yoga and meditative practices, you get present, and when we do that we can get into our heart. That exact same technique can get us out of fear. If we feel fear, we stop, we recognize it, we call it out and then we just meditate. In the meditation, we find our connection back to the divine source that's within us and you find the faith. Faith is the antidote to fear.

Fear is the single biggest emotion that holds us back from living virtuously and therefore, one of the hardest emotions to control. In this 3-part series, I’ll take you through defining, managing and ultimately overcoming fear. Listen to part 3 above or on iTunes, PART 2: Facing Fear and PART 1: Defining Fear.

PART 3: Overcoming Fear

We may believe that fear is protecting us but when would you want to know, by not facing our fears we are not being our authentic selves? It is through facing our fears that we learn who we truly are at our core.  In Part 2 of this 3-part series on fear, I walk through the process of managing fear and becoming our most authentic selves.
Come clean
First of all come clean. Write a diary and lay out every lie, mistruth, omission..then own them. 
Make things right
Hold yourself accountable and making things right. Not for other people's sake but for your own relationship with God. When you authentically apologize, when you are authentically vulnerable, when you're just yourself in your most human nature, you take back the power that fear stole. We all have that power. All of us can do it.
Leave the ego at the door
I am of the belief that we can only connect with God when we are at our base level of humility. When we strip away all of our ego and our pride and our projection of who we think we should be for other people. When we let all that go, only then can we have a relationship with God. That's truth.


Connect to the Divine
A person cannot have a relationship with God in any form, in any world, on any plane, without there being a fundamental truth. So we have to get so pure in our truth if we want to have a relationship with the divine, and to be able to then connect to the divinity within other people.

Related Post: How to Connect to the Divine.
Turn Outward, with no expectations
Everybody wants to be happier but they're looking for it in the wrong places because they're going to their animal instincts. Real happiness and joy come from going the opposite direction.  I can't have a really great relationship with people to form a truly joyful life unless it's based in truth. It has to be based on vulnerability and faith that when I expose my true self and talk openly about my failings, I will be accepted. In order to start loving other people we have to put ourselves out there with nothing, no expectation in return.

Referenced: The Seven Elements of Trust by Brené Brown

We are all seeking joy and we're all seeking connection to some higher cause, that's what virtue is. Everybody has the answers within them and we can all find our own answer, we just have to be open to it and face our fears. Trust yourselves enough to find that answer.

Fear is the single biggest emotion that holds us back from living virtuously and therefore, one of the hardest emotions to control. In this 3-part series, I’ll take you through defining, managing and ultimately overcoming fear. Listen to part 2 above or on iTunes, and part 1 here.

PART 2: Facing Fear

When would you want to know that there is no benefit to fear?
Thousands of years ago the homo sapiens and the Neanderthals and all the homo erectus species of evolution were pure mammals, animals. At some point, humans got infused with something called spirituality; there's a soul, a consciousness of the benefit of virtue. Whereas animals don't have that, they are going to prominently look to procreate and they're going to live with their own version of fight, flight or freeze. So, in any given moment, we as people have the complete choice of being our animal self or being our higher of all, spiritual self.
Fear is the animal instinct
Fear is the animal instinct. Fear leads to frustration, anger and as Yoda said in Star Wars to the dark side. There are two core fears in every human. The first is that we're not good enough. The second is that we won't be loved when people find out we're not good enough, will be excommunicated from the tribe. Everyone wants to belong, to connect, to feel like they're lovable and good but deep down each of us has this [debilitating] fear. 
Faith is the antidote to fear
When we go the opposite way and we find our spirituality, we find the divinity within us. When you walk in 100%  faith that we are all energy and our energy is going to continue on, you don't fear death. When you have faith that you’re being looked after and get comfortable with the notion that nothing can really hurt you, there is little fear. It takes practice and an extraordinary level of confidence. 


Finding the divinity within us
Myself, at my core, is divinity. We all have it within us. It's kindness, it's compassion, it’s connectedness, it's forgiveness, it's all the good virtues that are all there within us. Ego is the enemy. Whenever we get greedy, whenever we think we need more, whenever we do anything that's a vice, it's because our ego wants to believe that it needs to be better than its baseline divinity. And out of that we end up running into all kinds of problems in our life.
Letting go
The pain one has to go through to let all that stuff go and get back to baseline humility, living without ego is extraordinarily excruciating. It is the most painful thing I personally have ever experienced in my life and yet it was through that trial by fire, my own living hell, that I ended up having a dialogue with the divine part of myself and understand why I am here.

Fear is the single biggest emotion that holds us back from living virtuously and therefore, one of the hardest emotions to control. In this 3-part series, I’ll take you through defining, managing and ultimately overcoming fear. Listen to part 1 above or on iTunes.

PART 1: Defining Fear

To be enlightened is to experience deep peace, presence and wholeness. According to the teachings of yoga, in a sense we are already enlightened and the goal of all meditation and yogic practices, whether physical, mental or spiritual, is to reveal what is already there. Today, Liz Doyle joins When Would You Want to Know to introduce the practice that can lead to a potentially happier, more fulfilling existence on earth. Your happiness, your contentment, your fulfillment comes from your true self.
The Physical Practice
Doyle [4:45]: “The Asana, the physical practice of Yoga, the exercises, it could be stretching, it could be stuff that really would, from the outside, look more like gymnastics or contortion to some people. Asana is really a very small part of the practice of yoga.”

“The Asanas, the yoga exercises, those aren't really the focus. What we're doing in the practice room is a breathing practice and the physical exercises are really just things we do to up the ante in terms of challenging ourselves to maintain smooth, evenly metered breathing. So for me, breathing is not just centric to the practice. It is the practice. If you aren't breathing intentionally and with awareness, then you're not doing yoga... In my opinion.”
The Mental Practice
Doyle [10:34]: “In wellness, I think we talk a lot about a mind-body connection, but we don't really talk about, what is that and how does that happen? So the breathing is so critically important because it's the way you get that mind-body connection. And when your mind and body are connected, you feel, I think more unified in a way. So there's less either nervous energy on a physical level. There's also less mental/emotional activity that might be a distraction. When you can concentrate on one thing, on purpose, for an extended period of time, with fewer or no distractions, then the rest of your mind is much quieter and it's much more peaceful.”

Related Article: How to Meditate - The Calming Influence of Breath
The Emotional Practice 
Doyle [17:46]: “There are basically three tenets, and one is that there is this sort of eternal, unchanging reality that underlies the world of change. The second tenet is that reality is at the heart of every human personality. And the third is that it is our job in this life to connect to that inner reality experientially. I would say that sort of sums up yoga in it in a nutshell, in a way.”



“Yoga is so valuable and when I say yoga, I don't mean just the physical exercises. I mean taking on as some people would call it, “lifestyle.” There's this oscillation between happiness and unhappiness and the only way to get out of that is to start focusing on the inside. Get your happiness, your contentment, your fulfillment from that which is within you that never changes. Because the world of change, is never going to give you the happiness or peace of mind that you want. It has to come from the inside.”
Start your practice
Doyle [27:03]: “Yog

EP.18: Yoga is a Lifestyle to Enlightenment

From beer drinker to business owner, Elysian Brewing Co-founder, Joe Bisacca, is back with the lessons he has learned from 24 years in the trenches of entrepreneurship. When would you want to know 8 tips for building a successful business.
1. Find your white space
Bisacca [1:55]: "Make sure that there’s enough white space in whatever you want to do. Trying something different or try a different version of what’s already out there.  You have to do that assessment first. It’s not just what you’re personally passionate in, but it’s what actually can get some traction and make some sense."
2. Study the competition and find your critical mass
Bisacca [2:45]: "Check out every competition that you may have out there and try to figure out how you can be better at that version of the thing. Are there customers in your area? Is this something economically viable? You have all these different layers, make sure that it’s profitable at the end of the day and you can actually make money at it. Nobody likes everything, you just have to have a critical mass."
3. Understand the online environment and changing buying habits 
Bisacca [9:00]: "It’s that dissociative society that we’ve become where you interact with people on your phone, you interact with people on your computer, you’re not doing the face-to-face thing anymore.  You buy things online.  You don’t go to the stores.  Retail stores were an experience. People aren’t willing to pay for that experience as much.  They want the immediate gratification of buying it online.  They want to just press a button and have it show up to their house."
4. Position yourself accordingly
Bisacca [13:15]: "I look at it as it’s kind of like playing the brand like an instrument.  It’s never the same thing twice.  It’s never the same set of answers. It is that piece of really watching your customers’ behaviors, observing how your thing is placed in relation to the competition out there. Then you process that and you organically make the decision about how you position your brand for the next step.  What I did in this last round is not what I’m going to do in the next round because the situation’s going to subtly change."

Related Episode 11: Marketing is one epic house party with Joe Bisacca. How do you best engage your audience in 2019?
5. Define your brand
Bisacca [13:57]: "Brand is not the product, brand is the personal relationship that my product has with my customer.  It’s the conduit that my customer interacts with my product. We’ve produced what’s called a brand book, which has the imagery, what the look and feel of the brand is, everything down to the fonts that we use and colors that we use, and that kind of stuff. It’s also what do we believe in, what do we stand for, how do we talk, what does the brand sound like. Define all those things so you have some ideal that everything is referential to."

Related Episode 15: Building a brand that performs in a digital w

EP.17: 8 Lessons from the Trenches of Entrepreneurship

Bryce James was forever changed when a paragliding accident left him paralyzed. Doctors told him he would be confined to a wheelchair the rest of his life but rather than accepting that fate, he turned to alternative healing methods. Bryce joins When Would You Want To Know as living proof that we have more control over our health and life than we believe.
You did not accept that you were going to be paralyzed for the rest of your life, how did you do that?
Bryce [4:28]: I didn’t want to do that. I think at one point afterwards, I started building these constructs of how I could change things. I was big into visualization for my sports, so I could picture things happening. I could imagine my neurotransmitters, my dendrites, my whole neural network reforming, reshaping and working. Then I sat there and just researched. I started to learn about sound waves and all of these alternative ways of healing that resonated with me.

Pierre: Everything is a wave, so whether it’s light and what we see or a table that we think is solid, all energy, all things, are waves.
Sound waves and frequencies, is that what healed you the most?
Bryce [6:33]: I tried lots of different modalities and still do. But I came across this woman Donna Carey, who used tuning forks to retune the body. Every piece of my body has a difference frequency and you can actually work on those areas by finding that right frequency that matches. So, when I have a thought, awareness or an experience my electrons are shooting off these waves. And they collide or they basically entangle with other waves which create these nodes. My belief is, that they then signal my cells and receptors that pick that up and that creates that whole epigenetic shift where things start changing.

This is the concept of the placebo effect, the concept of the law of attraction, the power of manifestation. All those are the same thing. Where, I think if I believe it enough times, I’ll shoot enough waves out there to effect this change through my body.

Then you go through a series of protocols, spiritual, physical, emotional and replace that limiting belief, that belief that I’m paralyzed, that belief that I’m injured or that I’m sick. Who would I be without that thought, as Byron Katie says? I’ve seen what you would call miracles happen in that regard.
What is a chakra? How does that affect the healing process?
Bryce [11:55]: Whether it’s Hindu or Chinese, everybody believes in this idea that we have energy that flows through us, usually from the top of our head, crown chakra and down in the seven chakras. But If I have a blocked area, let’s say at my heart level, maybe I have a broken heart, it’s really hard to heal below that area because the energy’s not flowing through my body. There’s lots of ways to  clear that and open it up but you want to have the energy flowing. You want to get into a state of being receptive to healing and open to healing and not closed down to it. 
You’ve got

EP.16: Our Beliefs Control Our Health

With constant technological developments and changing customer expectations, many companies struggle to stay relevant. Today, I talked with DDW's executive creative director, Ross Patrick, about brand building in the ever-changing digital world.
What is a Brand?
Ross [6:15]: We’ve seen this whole 360-degree marketing come around now where it is your name, your brand, your logo, your website, your Instagram and all your touch points, but if they are not connected by a really strong, strategic DNA, then none of it matters. We are getting further along now in this digital world where brand is becoming the envelop or umbrella over everything. What you say, what you do, and even the look and feel of how you put out a message, those are all your brand.
What was the old agency model and what’s changed?
Ross [10:23]: Millennials, who are a different animal than the past generation, are perfectly comfortable being freelancers. I don't have to be committed to having a 200 or 400 person office. We flex and we move and about half of that population is freelance and they come and they go, and that way I can pick and choose the right tool for the right job.

The agency world as it was built, is sort of like that big huge mega mansion with 10 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms and parking for 10 cars. It's not necessary anymore. I'd rather live in Airbnbs all around the world than commit myself to that giant mega mansion. That’s the new world we live in. I can click the button right now on Amazon and I can have something delivered to my house tonight or tomorrow.

We’ve just got to change our thinking. I have to admit I thought there was some division between a branding agency and an ad agency and a digital agency. And now that I've worked at all those places, it's taken some time for me and my team here to homogenize that and understand that we're all of that. It's just ideas manifesting themselves into different ways.
Why hire DDW: Brand Story + Brand Design?
Ross [16:25]: Let’s say you're a start-up brand or a legacy brand but you don't feel like you're relevant anymore. That's the phone call that we get a lot. It's not that they don't have a good quality product or service offering. It's just that they've lost their flow.

I think the When Would You Want to Know could be happening to a lot of people who might have a small business or a medium business and realize that their story is faded. Their brand is faded, their logo is outdated and nobody really gives a crap about them. People need to take a good hard look in the mirror and say, "is my brand relevant?"

We [DDW] love the long-term relationship where we can be embedded and collaborative. Even if you have an in-house designer or an in-house marketing team, we love to have that relationship where we work with you over all of your touch points. The money that you invest is relative to who you are but it's also relative to your survival. 
Staying Relevant with the Whole Package
Ross [17:15]: The truth i

EP.15: Building a Brand That Performs in a Digital World

It took a traumatic event for Nicole Tsong to realize she wasn’t fulfilled in her corporate career. Ultimately leading her to search for what she truly wanted out of life and business. Since leaving the ladder of journalism to create her own business, Maple Path, the power of the pivot has become a life practice. And today, she joins when would you want to know to discuss how you can make your life what you truly want it to be.
Set Intentional and Specific Goals
Nicole [7:50]: “Goals are orders to the universe. If you're going to the new Shake Shack, you're specific. I want bacon, I don’t want cheese, I want a lettuce wrap. And that’s what you're going to get. The specificity actually pulls in what it is you're looking for and you don’t even know.”
Determine What You Want. Not What Others Want
Nicole [8:36 | 10:01]: “I draw a circle and put everything inside I want and everything I don’t want outside. You can do it for your life. You can also do it specific. I'm really clear that it's what I want. It's not what my mom wants or what my dad wants or what my friends want or what the culture wants from me. It's really clear that Nicole is the one guiding those choices. And my circle, I often do it and I put it aside. Then I find it a couple months later, whatever I've put in there has happened, because that's the magic of it.”
Go All-In
Nicole [11:03]: “I update my goals every three to six months. Every time, it just kept pointing me down that way, ‘it's time for you to start this as a business, it’s time for you to go all-in,’ which by the way, is terrifying because I had to let go of yoga as my main income. Let go of the idea of yoga, taking all of my energy and time and put it fully into this business where I had no idea where it would go. I knew nothing about entrepreneurship. I just started listening to podcasts and I found my business coach, and I've been really challenging myself to the next step. This is the time.” 
Take a Pause and Feel Your Way Through Problems
Nicole [17:32]: “For me, that practice of yoga gave me that connection to, what do I really want? What's my connection to my body? How do I understand my intuition and my gut and follow that? Versus thinking my way through problems. Because a lot of times, when I think my way through my problems, I get totally overwhelmed. It's too many things. My list is too long. I have too many things to resolve. But if I actually take a pause and I listen for what my gut is telling me, then the answers are always super clear."
Put Your Oxygen Mask on First
Nicole [20:12]: “It starts with you, it has to start with you taking care of yourself. I think women have a real tendency to try to over-give to others. Keep doing those things that are going to give you that energy and that source for yourself, so that you can fully be out there in the way you want to be for others. Put your oxygen mask on first.”
Acknowledge Your Accomplishments, However Small
Nicole [22:48]

EP.14: The Power of the Pivot: Living the Life You Want

Passive cash flow is a huge component to wealth management and one of the best ways to generate ongoing income is through real estate investments. However, in this ever-changing world of information, estate decisions can be confusing and stressful.  As a seasoned broker, Nate Short is not only one of my go-to confidants but a trusted advisor. Whether you’re looking to buy a home, become a real estate agent, or even offer real estate related employee benefits, Nate is here to help on this episode of When Would You Want to Know.
For the Home Owners:
Nate: Right now there is an incredible opportunity, because the interest rates just went down. For sure, your primary residence is going to be an amazing investment, but it’s also dependent upon how long you’re going to hold it. If you’re going to own for more than six or seven years, you need to buy regardless of where the market is. That’s true with any kind of investment that you have, you have to be able to last through those cycles, you just don’t want to have to sell at that bottom.
There’s also a lot to know on the financing side. There are brokers, there’s direct banks that will lend you money, there’s hard money lenders and depending on what type of property you’re buying, you may need to pull in a different type of lender. So, the real estate agent needs to know about all those different instances. 
Pierre: A lot of people think that because the information is on the internet, it’s just about price. But as Nate identified, it’s a lot more. Why should I pay a real estate agent 3% on each side of the transaction? Why is that fair? Because there’s a lot of value that’s provided, it’s insurance. It gives you comfort to sleep at night.
To speak to Nate about buying or selling your home visit NateShort.com
For the Real Estate Agents:
Nate: Run Your Business Like a Business, RYBLAB, was really inspired out of the great recession. Seeing a lot of my friends file bankruptcy, lose their homes, and real estate agents having that problem. It was only just my sheer will and my grinding attitude, that figured out ways to pull myself out of it. So, I wanted to take those experiences and help other people. 
I have about 1,200 real estate agents that have taken my course. They go on my website, RYBLAB.com and it’s all video based. I really enjoy teaching and for me to be able to see these new technologies deliver information and to see them making progress financially, it’s an amazing thing.
For the Businesses Offering Employee Benefits:
Nate: Pierre actually gave me a great book called Blue Ocean Strategy. It’s a book that talks about creating totally new businesses, where you don’t have competition. So, whenever I look at new businesses, I think to myself, are they creating a blue ocean or are they all operating in the same space. I don’t want to go out and be another brokerage or another online lead generation company. 
I formed a new company that is called Home B

EP.13: Everything Real Estate

The pain of losing a loved one can feel insufferable and coping with that loss is one of life’s biggest challenges. Grief can disrupt every state of your well-being, from mental to emotional and even physical health. In the last year, my nephew, Michael McGuire, experienced an extraordinarily rare tragedy when he lost both his son and wife during child birth. Despite unbearable heartbreak, I had never seen someone respond so heroically. In today’s profound conversation, I ask him to share his story in hopes that people can find inspiration in his strength.



I've never seen someone be so heroically strong for all the other people in their lives. How did you find that strength amongst tragedy?



Michael: I remember calling out my family motto, justice and fortitude is invincible, and realizing that strength in the face of this is really what I needed to do for myself, for her family, and for her.



It was a leap of faith. A lot of it came from love, a lot of it came from the strength that she had taught me throughout her life. She was an amazingly kind and giving person. I wanted to do her proud and I want to make sure that I lived in her memory. I want her actions to carry on through me.



Travis: I’d never seen a tragedy like this and not really knowing how to react, you kind of follow Michael as an example. You see him giving people hugs, embracing the sadness and how much inspiration he gets from hearing stories from other people. All of a sudden, people are grieving in this really healthy way. You're still celebrating Mary Anne and it was completely different then what I thought tragedy would be like. It showed me that you can make a choice.



Do you need to understand why this happened?



Michael: Having a reason why is definitely a natural instinct, but for me it doesn't change anything. Mary Anne lived an incredible life, we lived an incredible life, however short. Now she's gone and finding out why and how, aside from a learning experience for medical professionals, isn't going to change anything for me. It doesn't change the fact that I now have to move on and start a new life and continue living the way I want to.



Do you believe in God? Can you imagine some people would be angry at God?



Michael: I do. Mary Anne and Oliver are with God right now. The priest at the Catholic funeral on the night of the prayers said a very powerful thing that I remember. He said sometimes the hardest prayer is thy will be done, the acceptance that this is outside of our control and to let God do His will. It’s an incredibly large burden to carry but that's a choice. It's a choice to make it feel like a burden or it's a choice to make it feel like a privilege to be able to honor her memory in every way, shape or form you can.



What have you learned about grief?



Michael: Everyone grieves differently. The other incredibly important thing to know is that grieving never ends. I will always grieve for Mary Anne for the rest of my life. Th

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