Heroes in Business - Alex Petrowski, 5EP Podcast Continued Conversation with Brady Weinrich on Holistic Lifestyle Embodiment

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

Alex Petrowski, 5EP Podcast Continued Conversation with Brady Weinrich on Holistic Lifestyle Embodiment. Alex and Brady dive deep on a whole rance of topics that span holistic life including companies Brady is involved in, advice for young adults starting their personal development journey, and culminating in his own Brady_Breathes practice (Instagram). Be sure to follow and become part of the 5EP community by joining on Instagram or your favorite social media.   

Hey Siri, what's on my calendar for today? Today, you have the 5EP podcast. Would you like to keep it on your calendar? 5EP? Yeah! Welcome to the 5EP podcast. Interview interviews and conversations to guide the genesis of personal development. Mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and social. The five pillars of living a five exclamation point life. On now with your host, Alex Petrowski. What are some of the mental similarities that you got from the meditation retreat that you also received, but in a different fashion with fasting?

So both are going to bring you into deeper connection with yourself. There's less input, there's less information coming in. And so you get to experience the life more in your body it's just easier to tell what is you and what is not when we're constantly consuming consuming music tv shows junk food all of this we consume in very many ways but this distorts our own perception of self and our perception of the reality around us. So if you just want to see things clearly, if you want some clarity, if you want some peace, try either of these things out, try fasting. What it's really going to, what it's really going to teach you is how to detach, how to accept. And it's just going to give you a better understanding of who and what you are

and also what this experience is. And those questions are vital for aligning with your dream, with your purpose. If you do not know what you are, if you do not know what this is, and I mean, we're never going to completely know what either of those things are, but you need to go on the journey to start to decide, hey, I want to do this with my life. I'm this. I feel this way. My heart says this. I want to do this. to tap into the heart, tap into the soul, and be in the moment without all this added input,

all this added information, you're not going to see the way. You're not going to see the path forward to manifesting whatever dreams are coming through. Because here's a little quote, A dream is a glimpse at your future. What that means to me is we're supposed to actualize our dreams. And if we don't get out of the way, if we continue to bog ourselves down with unhealthy food, unhealthy inputs then we will not actualize these dreams these dreams will just be in the ether they'll be in illusion they'll be in our minds and it'll just be like oh yeah like this is my dream but of course I'm not gonna live it I'm just gonna keep doing doing what I'm doing this is what's normal to me this is what's normal to me. This is what's comfortable to me. I do have dreams. No, the purpose of this life is to actualize those dreams, to bring what we feel, what we envision,

what we think, and what we have, you know, by tapping into the heart, tapping into the soul, like what this experience has set out for us following this path is the key. Following this path is the key, I would say. Following the path is the key and being able to make stops along the way to reset and realign with your true being. That I found in my life has been most essential. And I love how you break it down from your meditation retreat to fasting and that it brings things in the most simplistic terms

and it really uncovers what you truly want in life and what you don't from the most simplistic fashion. And I wanna divert a little bit and then bring it back around and tie things together. You have a very intriguing perspective on psychedelics, and you mentioned it previously with going through fasting, meditation, and then also the traditional pharmaceuticals and traditional cognitive behavioral therapy, and then psychedelic experiences as well. and then psychedelic experiences as well. What does the psychedelic experience bring that those other modalities did not bring? I'll start by saying different strokes for

different folks and every body is different ultimately. So there's not going to be one modality, one method that is going to work for everybody. And so there's different ways of accessing this space. There's different ways of getting a higher perspective. And that higher perspective allows us to see the choices that we're making and the patterns that we're involved with and like what the result of this is. And so getting this higher perspective through maybe a psychedelic or plant medicine experience is, is what some of what this can offer for you. And, and so that's why people, you know, are a psychedelic experience is very transformational. Oh, I can't, I can't believe what I saw there. I felt peace. I felt God. I felt love.

And it is showing you what you are from a higher perspective. And so as long as you can take what you've learned in these experiences and then integrate them into your life and act them out, then this can be a beneficial experience. But let's also say set and setting in dose are very important when it comes to psychedelic use, having some context, reading some books, being around people that have been in that world already is not something that you want to mess with. Like this is something you need to respect and it is sacred and it can provide in a way healing. I would say 50% of the healing and then the other 50% is you actually taking what you heard, taking the visions that you received and putting them into actual real life. Because just with anything else, you can easily get stuck in, oh, psilocybin mushrooms. I feel so good. I feel

so in touch with myself when I'm on mushrooms. I need to microdose every day. I need to do a ceremony every week. And now this becomes a crutch. And we want to ultimately be able to access this space, this connection, this healing without any input. And so psychedelics have an important role in our society. I just would urge everybody to be very careful and respectful in this realm. And at this point in my own life, personally, I'm not doing any like big experiences with entheogens, which is another name for psychedelics or plant medicines. Entheogens means God releasing chemicals, which is really cool. And yeah, I think timing is big. And for a lot of the things you'll know, like when you're called

to it, so don't force anything. And of course, it's always going to be uncomfortable. You're never going to want to be like 100% commit to it. But you'll know, you'll know, as long as you create that space to allow those messages to come in. And then you'll start seeing different signs like, oh, maybe I need to do a mushroom experience. of course as you get closer and closer to it anxiety might come up but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad and that you shouldn't do it but it does mean that you shouldn't stay in that anxiety and you should prepare for it and you should give respect to it and yeah it's been it's been a really big big factor in my growth in my development and in basically what i've chosen

for my life like it has been i would yeah i would say very vital and i did this i experienced with this when i was younger actually i had my first mushroom journey around 17 years of age and i was on antidepressants at the time so So I didn't really get a full experience, but I started to see things differently. I started to see the clouds differently, the sky. I just started appreciating nature a little bit more at this point, just one journey where they say like, you don't want to take it. If you you're on a medication like SSRI, you can create like a serotonin syndrome or something like that. So we'd not recommend to take any of these psychedelics if you're still on depression medication or anxiety medication. And of course, if you're going to come off something like that, I have no medical advice for you in that realm.

Like you need to see somebody else. Yeah, but and then I had my first LSD experience. I did blast off and I was not taking it in the proper setting. I didn't have the proper mindset. So I had to kind of learn as I went. mindset so i had to kind of learn as i went and luckily i didn't go the route of a lot of my other friends where they continued to party with these drugs they would mix them with alcohol they wouldn't bring that depth into the experience and i got curious i started looking into ramdas like dr richard alper and what they were doing with the acid tests in

the 60s and the yeah the studying that was going on at Harvard in the late 60s and yeah I just started informing myself I I brought as many perspectives in as I possibly could so that I could use these things in the best possible way. And I probably did most of this work from the ages of 18 to 24. Now I've had a few experiences in the last four years, I'm 28, but way more intermittent. And when I've done them, I've felt way more like I didn't need it or why did I do that? Like almost creating a little bit more stress where I'm in a good position now and I have a lot of good daily practices that if it calls again, maybe I go back. But for right now, I'm pretty detached from that ceremonial experience.

Yeah, I've really noticed in my own journey, and then also in meditation practices and other aspects of life that there's this pre, during and post phase. And in the pre, I really have to focus on the intention I want to set. And even if I'm not, even if I don't believe I'm 100% committed, deep down, I am committed and I got to foster that commitment. So intention and commitment in the pre phase are crucial. And then during the process, if you're not surrendering and you're not accepting and just letting yourself be, it's going to be a bad time. And once you just surrendering and you're not accepting and just letting yourself be, it's going to be a bad time. And once you just accept that and you surrender and go through what you need to go through, you're going to have a much better experience, much more

enlightening experience. And then finally the post journey, the post phase, integration and having the courage to actually integrate what you've learned into daily experiences. Because in a way, you feel as though you're a different person and you've reached a new level. But then there's also this anxiety that comes with, do I want to express who I truly am and what I've been suppressing to everybody else? I'm not sure what they're going to say or what they're going to think.

And having the courage to truly integrate and then keeping in contact with that support system that you can go back to and ask questions and tell them about your experiences and really lift them up has been pivotal in my life. to talk about the importance of intention in not only ice baths, but in sauna sessions, in journeys, in whatever in life. I want to touch on, because you had a beautiful point, I just want to touch quickly on what we just said. And to finish up that is look at these things as teachers or guides. Don't look at them as it. They're not the answer. They're just guiding you along on the journey. And that might just be helpful to not get trapped in sort of this needing or clinging to this experience, right? Like it's bringing us to a space, but that space is within ourself. And so we can access that all the time. But sometimes we do need to be guided into the land at first is what I would say. And so then Alex brought up intention and how I use it daily, correct?

Correct. So intention is very important to me. Vision, mindset, and intention. One of the main things that I would suggest getting more involved with in your life if you do want to live a happy, healthy, and strong life. So the way that I go about this existence is intentionally, I think very deeply about how I'm impacting the people around me and how I'm showing up for the people around me. I look to treat everybody as if they are either my mother or God, and I see them where they're at. Because many people here are in what we would call a victim mindset. And from this space, they might be hurtful. They might be mean to people around you. You might see them damaging people around you. But we need to also know that they've had experiences in their life that have programmed them to operate this way. And what they don't

need is our judgment. What they don't need is our hate. They need more love in this scenario. And so my intention here is to love everybody around me, is to embody that love. And so I can bring people up to my frequency instead of giving into a lower frequency. And yeah, that touches on intention for you. You want me to go in any other direction here? Well, I'd love for you to talk about based off of low frequency, your stance on alcohol use, because we both share a very similar stance on that. And most people who aren't as aligned with their higher self are stuck in this loop of going and partying on the weekends and alcohol either daily or every week. And what they don't realize is how low vibration that is and how it brings you down and suppresses things. So I'd love for you to talk about your experience on that.

Yeah, so I was one of the lucky ones in a lot of ways. Like I talked about all the things that I dealt with early on mentally and physically. I was lucky because these things were making me move. Like I didn't really have a choice. It wasn't that comfortable. You know what I'm saying? And so stomach issues and alcohol, that was sort of what like pushed me over the edge. I was getting severe stomach pain, lower left abdominal pain every time that I drink. And I tried initially just like, oh, I'll take three weekends off and then I'll party

super hard on the weekend. And then it would continue to come back. It might fade away, dissipate for a little bit, but it would always come back the same pain. And eventually, you know, I just, I gave in, I listened to my body. I listened to what my body was telling me. And it was telling me like, this is not for your vessel. You are here for bigger things, better things, and we cannot bog down the system with this poison. Essentially, it's a poison, right? It's a neurotoxin. And so the act of drinking alcohol, on occasion, maybe there's space for it on occasion, But doing this habitually is a form of self-harm. And continuing these self-harming patterns is not going to bring us closer to our dream. We need patterns formed in self-love. We need to love ourself. Ultimately, that is what we're all lacking,

is this self-love. And that starts with, hey, what am I putting into my body? love. And that starts with, hey, what am I putting into my body? Here's a little quote as well is, thy body is the temple of God. And if you want source, if you want true connection to come into the body, you have to clean it up. You have to purify it. You need to make it a place where, you know, spirit will visit where God will visit. And so, yeah, I stopped drinking alcohol at like 23 years old, like right around there. I did two years completely off, like strict. I was just done with it. And since then I've had it like very, very occasionally in the last four years very occasionally like one to two times a year in very small dosages because usually I just start feeling what it's doing to my body and I'm like like this doesn't feel good like I'm gonna have a headache I feel my heart

rate increasing I feel my breathing getting worse like I just feel all these things and I can't like I can't ignore that stuff anymore. And so it's really not a part of my life. I try not to be as strict about it. Like, oh, you can never have this because there's an element of taking There's no longing for that. So alcohol and myself have separated on this journey, I would say. And yeah, if you're still drinking, I would encourage to just start lowering the frequency level of this, maybe bringing more intention into each experience with it and just asking yourself, asking your body, like, how, how does this make me feel? Is this moving the needle forward? Dude. And another, another issue that I would have with this is because, you know, I love, I love to work out. I love to wrestle. I love to do martial arts and yeah. And I would drink on a Saturday night and then I'd have a Sunday to do nothing. Right. And I would

feel nauseated. I'd have a migraine. I couldn't work out. So I was just wasting days. And that did not feel good when you're, when you're working Monday through Friday, you know, I want to take advantage of these weekends. I don't want to, you know, self-harm, self-poison and just lay around. So those were some of the key factors in, you know, me leaving that behind. And yeah. Beautifully said. I want to touch on the physical aspect of 5EP before we leave. So with us both being athletes, what recovery modality has helped you the most in your life recover better? So I'm going to keep it simple with this, but I'm also going to give you two answers. And one is going to be nature as a recovery modality.

And then the other is going to be meditation. And you might not think that those would be my answers because I do work at Optimize. And we have many different modalities, many different therapies offered there that you can kind of do a few of these things within like we have infrared sauna, cold water therapy, which are great places to meditate. But I would say the best way to connect back the best way to recover even physically is to get that grounding and to get out into nature, get into the sunshine, and to just connect deeply with self. Now, if you are performing like us, if you're as active as us with martial arts, then I would recommend you go a step further and find a place with a sauna, find a place with a cold tub, do some muscle compression therapy,

move that lymph around, which is what movement does. So there's different ways of finding this also out in the world. You don't necessarily need to go into a facility like this, but a facility like this will offer a lot of support, both physically, mentally, and spiritually, I would say. And so I'm a huge fan also of the sauna because I can breathe in the sauna. I can do meditation in the sauna, do meditation. Meditation is more of a state of being. So it's hard to do it because when you're in it, you're not a person anymore. You know, you're just the experience. And so I had to correct myself there. And yeah, those, those are, I mean, my main ways of staying healthy, get into nature, get the sunlight in my eyes at sunrise and sunset,

inform my body with good inputs, good nutrition, good hydration, proper hydration, and, you know, balance out the physical aspects of my life with recovery, with rest, with sauna, with cold tub, with red light therapy, all of it. I use all of this all the time and I am very grateful for it. I love how you blended in mental and physical recovery because not only are you mentally aligning yourself during meditation, but you're tapping into your parasympathetic nervous system, which is going to help you rest and digest as well. And then with nature, most people don't understand is that there's subtle energies in nature that is going to help you rest and digest as well. And then with nature, most people don't understand is that there's subtle energies in nature that are going to help your cells have

more vitality and you're going to feel much more alive in nature. So you have the mental and you have the physical side of things with both meditation and nature. So I love your answer. And then one final question for you. I know that we're both youngins right now. What advice would you give yourself 18 to 25 years of age? To keep going, to live my life, to not follow the crowd, to find space and tap in to what I truly want to be led by the heart and not the mind, not what other people are doing around me. I would say just, you know, take those signals, take those omens, take those opportunities and really explore. If you're in a space where you might not know what your purpose is or your meaning is, create space for yourself. Get out

of the do, do, do, do. If you can, go travel, learn meditation, learn breath work, and what is needed to be known by you to live your optimal life will come in in this space. So prioritize yourself, prioritize your dream, and lead life out of the heart as much as you possibly can. That's the advice that I would give. A younger me would mainly be keep going, like keep following that direction. You're going to make it. You are going to make it have faith, trust yourself and live for yourself because ultimately that's going to be what is best for everybody around you. You experiencing healing and living

your passion, your dream is what helps others. You cannot help others from the same level that they are at. So a lot of people will get also stuck in helping others around them, right? Like, this person needs help. This person needs help. Now I'm neglecting, I'm disregarding what I need. So let's fill up our own cup before we fill up the cups of others because we don't want the blind leading the blind out here. A hundred percent. It's better to help others from a full cup than a half cup.

That is for sure. Yeah, Yes. And with that, that concludes this episode of the 5VP podcast. I'm your host, Alex Petrowski, tuning off. Have a great week. I love 5VP. You've been listening to the 5VP podcast with Alex Petrowski. Interviews and conversations to guide the genesis of personal development. If you enjoyed the show, share it with friends and family and on your social media.

And feel free to send us your feedback. Until next time, thank you for listening and live your 5 exclamation point life every day.