Know Thyself - E29 - Nimai Delgado, Vegan Bodybuilder: Finding Success Through Alignment

Episode Date: January 17, 2023

Vegan Bodybuilder, Nimai Delgado, shares his journey to finding alignment & crafting the life of his dreams. Nimai was raised by immigrant parents in a Hare Krishna Community, where he built a foundation of compassion and spirituality. After accepting a job as an engineer later in life, he decided to pivot and went on to become an IFBB Pro Bodybuilder. Today he shares how to find the courage to live in alignment with your purpose, and his journey of self acceptance & activism.  Nimai dives deep on overcoming toxic masculinity, healing childhood trauma, and going from victim to creator. He shares his secrets to manifestation that have helped him live the life of his dreams.   ___________ Timecodes: 0:00 Intro 2:25 Nimai’s Unique Upbringing  9:53 Vegan bodybuilding 15:31 Activism vs Attractivsm  19:18 Transcending Labels 28:28 Toxic Masculinity  33:58 Unpacking Childhood Trauma  45:46 Crafting the life you want 57:04 From Victim to Creator  1:01:38 How to Manifest 1:22:09 Conclusion ___________   Nimai Delgado:   Nimai Delgado is a vegan professional bodybuilder, lifestyle coach, and motivational speaker. He’s been featured on the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine as well as James Cameron’s upcoming documentary The Game Changers.    Nimai currently hosts the 'Nimai Delgado Podcast', and posts motivational videos for healthy living on his YouTube Channel.   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nimai_delgado/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw-JiCSn29MdBYX5rRxuacQ   ___________   Know Thyself Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knowthyself/ Website: https://www.knowthyself.one Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ4wglCWTJeWQC0exBalgKg   Listen to all episodes on Audio:  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4FSiemtvZrWesGtO2MqTZ4?si=d389c8dee8fa4026 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-thyself/id1633725927     André Duqum Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreduqum/   Meraki Media https://merakimedia.com https://www.instagram.com/merakimedia/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So much freedom, so much happiness, so much prosperity, so much abundance is on the other side of the fear that you've been constrained by. I had spent 10 years of my life dedicating myself to getting my degree, putting myself in debt. But at the end of day, I was working for an oil company and getting paid stupid amounts of money to be in a prison with golden bars. And I had the lock and key the whole time. A week after I quit my job, I got the call from the game changer saying, hey, do you want to be a part of this? A month after that, hey, we're doing a photo shoot for muscle and fitness. and we want you to be a part of that. That's the thing about your life is that it's dictated by what you're doing now.

So if you're constantly calibrating yourself to your highest vibration, it's going to create the circumstances. It's going to bring more opportunity, bring more connection, bring more alignment. Because if you do what you always did, you're going to get what you've always got. It really does take courage to step outside what you're comfortable of. Knowing that on the other side of that, there's so much available for you. Hello, beautiful people.

Welcome back to the Know Thyself Podcast. For every single week, we get the honor and privilege to sit down with a dear friend, an open heart, a bright spirit, somebody that can help us learn more about ourselves in the world. And today I'm really looking forward to this conversation, as I typically say, because I feel so privileged to be able to sit down with oftentimes dear friends of mine that are living a path of alignment and devotion. And I'm really looking forward to the many avenues in which we can dive into this conversation

today. And my guest is the world's first vegan IFBBB Pro Body. bodybuilder. He's been featured in the cover on the cover of muscle and fitness and in films like Game Changers, executive produced by James Cameron. He is somebody that is a coach, a leader, a mentor, somebody that I feel like is living very much so in alignment and the embodiment of what it means to live your dream life, to live in vibrancy. And he's got, he reminds me of Hahnemann. He's got this very bright spirit. He's a big guy, but he's got such a gentle heart. And he's got a lot of wisdom to share with all of us today.

So, Neh, Maidalgato, welcome to the show. What's up, Andre? Thank you so much for having me, man. Really excited to be here. Yeah, man. I've just gotten to really cherish our friendship over the years and seeing the many different iterations of our journeys and the overlap and the themes that are present. And I think it'll be very valuable for our listeners today, which I want to first start

introducing a little bit of your story because you have a very fascinating and different upbringing from most individuals, being raised on a heart. Prishna Farm in Mississippi. And the upbringing that you kind of had, it's very, it's very interesting. If you would like to go and to touch on that upbringing a little bit and how you found it difficult at times to embrace your own uniqueness being different or, you know, at times perhaps resisting being different. And share us, yeah, share us a little bit of your story.

Yeah. So I think in order to get the full context of the story, I have to start before. me before I existed. So I share a little bit about my parents. Both of my parents are from Argentina. They were both born and raised in Buenos Aires, lived a traditional Argentinian upbringing. My mom at about the age of 15 was dating a boyfriend at the time who happened to slaughter a pig, which is very common in, you know, that part of the world. And it traumatized her so much of the fact that even at 15, she decided that she was going to no longer eat meat and be vegetarian. throughout her teenage years, she started getting more and more interested in philosophy. She was

raised Catholic, but a friend told her about this place where they were serving vegetarian food. And it happened to be a Hari Krishna temple where they were giving lectures on different parts of the Bhagavad Gita. So she went there and really resonated with the message that was being taught. And so much so that she decided to basically become a renunciable. and devote herself to her spiritual practice and live in the temple where she met my father, who was also on his spiritual path at that time. And things progressed to where they wanted to make this their entire life's mission. So they went from a temple in Argentina to a temple in Brazil. And then their guru told them about an opportunity to come to America to live in a

Harakrishna farm community. And it's really interesting because you and I are part of the, a friend group where kind of like the ultimate goal is to buy property somewhere off in the middle of nowhere and have your own self-sustaining community that's built around community, around devotion, about sustainability. And looking back, this is really kind of the environment in which I was raised. So I was born in Mississippi in this farm community where we had a temple, we had our own garden that fed the community. Everybody had their own roles, whether it was to tend to the garden, whether it was to tend to the deities, to look after the cows.

There was like a whole cow rescue sanctuary as well. And for me, it was normal. That was the environment that I was raised in. You know, you don't really realize you're different until you venture out of your bubble. And so for me, going to the temple, you know, three times a day, starting at five in the morning with my mom doing the puja, the spiritual practice in the morning was very normal all the way up until I went to kindergarten. And, you know, we, although we are very spiritually rich, we're very materialistically poor. So to immigrants that were just, you know, didn't have very much

transferable skills at the time, didn't speak English that great. So finding work was a bit difficult. And I went to public school in which I was introduced to the, kind of traditional southern community and lifestyle. And it was then when I found out that I was wildly different than the other kids, whether it be the way I dressed or my spiritual beliefs. And at that time being like five years old, you don't really understand how to explain your belief systems. You don't have the language.

You just are what you are at that point. So it was a bit of a challenge growing up in that environment from an early age. Yeah. I mean, and then obviously you venture outside of your own bubble. You see the very different lifestyle that you've grown up with comparatively to your peers and students. And so like growing up in school, how is it actually embracing that? Or I'm sure, obviously I know your story. So I'm like asking. But, you know, growing up in that environment, how how difficult was it to be so different? And how have you been able to kind of zooming out a little bit into your life now really stayed consistent? and embodying a lot of the values that you were raised with.

Because a lot of times I feel like people resent, you know, what beliefs or, you know, things that their parents kind of showed them when they were young. They want to venture out and be something different. But it seems like you've stayed in alignment with a lot of those values, like a HEMSA and so on. Yeah, you know, I asked my parents this question before. Like, what did you tell me? Like, what did you teach me that allowed me to really kind of like just keep that part of my life present? And even with all the challenges, because I know a lot of other kids that.

grew up in that community tended to rebel. A lot of them rejected their spirituality and kind of like went to the other side of the pendulum, started eating meat, started doing all these other things that like really like distanced themselves from that entire part of themselves. But for me, it just felt natural. It felt like this was just part of who I was. I never really questioned, um, you know, deviating from it. And even till this day, I feel like it's just such a part of who I am, especially the part, you know, I wouldn't consider myself to be like a really religious, like, practicing Hindu because there's so many other traditions that I don't follow. But the core belief systems and some of the core practices, one of them being a hymza, is still very much a part of

who I am, which is just trying to lead a life of compassion and nonviolence, whether it's through my thoughts, my words, my actions or my deeds. And let that be the way through which I make decisions. and which is why, like, you know, I never eaten meat. It's people ask me this all the time. How could you have never eaten meat? It just doesn't resonate with the type of person I am at my core. And living that way from an early age has given me the life experience to realize that I don't need to. And if I don't need to, then I'm going to choose not to.

I'm going to opt out of it. So as far as, you know, keeping that tradition, it was challenging just because I would get questioned. so many times from peers and, you know, being the only vegetarian in my school in a community that was very much centered around hunting and fishing and traditional things to do in the South did bring about its own challenges. But I learned how to connect with people on another level. I started to really not look at how different we were, but look how similar we all are. And we are all more similar than not. So I learn how to coexist with being different, but also not judging or just accepting that other people live a different way than I do. And that's okay. We can still coexist peacefully.

Yeah, for sure. And it's beautiful to be the walking invitation of a pattern interrupt now in being able to carry out those core beliefs and understanding of a hymsa. And earlier on, being raised as somebody who never has eaten meat. And in the United States, that's kind of a very foreign idea, right? Not as crazy in the East. But how have you been able to, now looking back, gaining perspective on that, obviously that's very beautiful. And now it's a part of you and your message. And it's so fascinating that I want to dive into because you're somebody that has professionally competed in the bodybuilding world. And you are a pattern to interrupt in many spaces, but especially that one where it's like way protein and bro shakes and all the you know lots of meat and chicken and rice and

you're you're there winning competitions and being somebody that's an advocate for veganism and that you don't need to kill animals to be able to thrive as an individual. So yeah, how is it like stepping into that arena? What was the impetus to actually get into there and then take us through a little bit of that? Yeah. So I started training in high school. So I was introduced to the gym. I fell in love with it. I was always a smaller guy growing up. So for me, I was short.

So I always wanted to be bigger. And I could never force myself to grow vertically. So I was like, okay, maybe I can grow wider and just put on some more size. So I was always fascinated with the gym. So I started around like 17. And it wasn't until my later years of college that I really started diving into, understanding the body and how it works and nutrition. And that's when I started to really focus more on my then vegetarian diet.

So that led me to consuming more protein-dense foods, which tend to be more dairy products for a vegetarian. I was reliant on like cheese pizza, cheese casadillas, bean and cheese burritos, cottage cheese, weight protein, all these things that are really derived from dairy, not recognizing that I was also lactose intolerance. It was causing me a lot of digestive discomfort in the process. But I thought, hey, that's just the price you have to pay in order to get big. And by that time, I moved to California and I had started working as an

engineer and there was the place where I moved to didn't have much going on. So I was like, okay, I'll just go do the thing that I like the most, which is go train at the gym. And started to grow. Then I was introduced to a video by my mom, of all people, ironically, that showed the inner workings of a dairy farm. And up until that point, I was always under the justification when I was consuming dairy that you don't have to kill cows to extract the milk from them. You just go milk them and that's it. And then it was the first time I really got a behind the scenes look of how those cows were treated. And I just knew in my heart, I said, I don't, I don't want to support an industry or put that type of energy inside of my body. And I just made the conscious decision pretty much right on the

spot to eliminate dairy from my diet, which was at that time the only animal product that I was consuming. Not knowing how it was going to affect me physically or in the gym, but spiritually, I knew that it wasn't aligned with who I wanted to be. So to my surprise, after I went fully plant-based, I found that my body started to respond very positively. I was recovering quicker. I was able to still gain muscle and strength, even when switching to a fully plant-based diet. And that's when somebody had suggested to me. It was somebody at the gym actually said, hey, there's a local bodybuilding showing Bakersville, you should totally go for it. And at first I laughed. I was like, yeah, right. I was like, so like in my ego, I was like, I'm an engineer, I'm a professional. I don't,

I'm not going to stand on stage in my underwear and flex in front of people. And, you know, after a while I thought about it, I was like, I don't really have anything else going on. And I do like a challenge. So I'm going to, I'm going to go for it and see what it takes and see what that's like. And lo and behold, after the first one I did, I won. And people start asking you how you train and what you eat. So it was to my surprise that people were genuinely curious about how I was able to win a bodybuilding contest without ever consuming the traditional bodybuilding diet, which is not like fish, chicken, eggs, beef, turkey, things like that. And before whenever I'd get those questions about what I ate, I would tend to shy away from it because it would dive into the realm of like, well, why don't

you eat animal products? And I would have to go and explain my spiritual beliefs, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable because I felt like I was being interrogated rather than genuinely like there was a genuine curiosity there. So now this is giving me a platform to talk about these things in a way that felt right and there was genuine interest behind it. So I started posting on social media. This was back in like 2015 where there wasn't many people online talking about plant-based diets and especially plant-based diets and fitness. So one thing led to another. I kept posting and then years went by. I became pro. and that's kind of like the really consolidated version of that story.

But in my experience of being in the bodybuilding world, it was very interesting because other bodybuilders, they had their opinions, you know, and I never felt like I was in like contention with them whenever they would ask me things. But there's definitely a level of like suspicion or just disbelief when it comes to somebody that's stepping on stage, kind of dismantling all the processes and tactics that you use to get the same results. Yeah. It's beautiful.

Like I spoke to being that pattern interrupt in those arenas of life. And then also standing on stepping into the social realm where you're sharing more online and you're giving talks at Google and you're getting all these opportunities that start to come your way and be in these films and be on the cover of muscle and fitness. And it's beautiful because I feel like so often when we, When we value something, like, for example, a plant-based lifestyle and what that means for ourselves or for the world, or various different spiritual core beliefs and values, when we first get into it, we can almost want to change others to be, and to go into that space. And you've said before that the best form of activism is attractivism. And I love that because I feel like you really do embody that.

You just invite people by being the energetic pillar of what you want to bring forth in the world, right? You're actually being the change. It's like such a thing that we hear all the time. and is said in cliche, but it's actually how you can affect people to want and be curious and make the decisions for themselves, right? Because we can't actually force people to make decisions. They have to make that for themselves. And so if you just want to speak to, how have you been able to cultivate that attractivism?

How have you seen the opposite not working? And why do you feel like it's just so effective in actually wanting to, you know, raise the consciousness on the planet and share those values with the world? Yeah, for sure. I love this concept of attractivism because in many forms of activism, it's very proactive. You go out there, I mean, the traditional ways of picketing and just like posting about things and telling people that they should live their lives differently than what they currently are. It can end up with a bit of an opposite effect where people get more defensive or feel like you're implying that the way that they're living is wrong

in some way. And I never want people to feel that way. I've been a recipient of that kind of energy and that was never my goal whenever I started talking about this online. It was more so from the fact, hey, whoever's interested in this information, I'm here to talk about it. If it doesn't resonate with you, that's totally fine. I'm not speaking to you. Like in the sense of like, I'm not putting this message out there for people to convince them of doing anything they don't want to do. But if there is a curiosity, I'm happy to talk more about it and educate so that you can, you know, adopt a similar path or get similar results. So that was always, that was always my approach. And I felt, I felt like it was very inviting because people who I never expected to reach out to me started

reaching out to me and asking more questions. And then that is the amount of questions that I would get asked was the really driving force behind me posting more. Because I was like, wow, there's a genuine curiosity here. And how can I just help more people? Because if I can teach people how to live a fully plant-based lifestyle. Ultimately, my goal is not to make people vegan. My goal is to help make the world a more compassionate place. So if you operate through that lens, then not eating meat is a byproduct of trying to be as compassionate as you can, if possible, if the circumstances are available there. So that's what's really allowed, at least for my perspective and my experience, these doors to open up to possibilities of speaking at places where I don't know if I would have

been invited to speak at or to be given a platform to speak like muscle and fitness. That was the first time they ever invited or had a vegan athlete on the cover in that one article had like 10, 11 pages and then it was published in 10, 15 different languages. So it had a very wide impact. Same thing with Google, you know, they invited me to speak. and I wasn't sure how it was going to be received. And, you know, it's, it's really exciting to see the openness to something when you really try to approach it from a place of, of not really telling anybody what to do, but just speaking from your own experience openly and being

there and available to answer questions if they have them. Yeah. Yeah, man. I think it's such a fascinating journey and I've been able to see you kind of go in the arc of anytime we anytime we define ourselves in one area, obviously it's very helpful to brand yourself as the vegan bodybuilder because people start to know you as that. You get hired to speak on stages and your pattern interrupt in that way

and that can be very valuable. And also, you're a multifaceted individual with many different things to offer to the world. And so I'm just curious, has it been confining, defining yourself like that in that way, even though you are a pillar for holding down that value

and sharing about a hymsa and bringing compassion to the world. How have you find the, yeah, I guess the kind of the dichotomy of wanting to really support the planet in that way be the living embodiment, but also like not define yourself as just this one part of yourself. Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah. For, you know, Instagram, for example, this has been the main platform of which I've created content for.

You have to kind of like distill yourself down to a couple hashtags. And vegan bodybuilder happened to be my two. hashtag so where I could really allow people to find the information that I was putting out there. But like you said, I definitely am multifaceted. And being vegan and lifting weights is one aspect of who I am. But it has felt a little confining in some ways where people only tend to identify you or pedestalize you just because the vegan space and plant-based space is very, there's many different reasons why people get into it. So if, you know, you're, you're, you're pleasing this crowd, but not this crowd.

And that can feel a little bit disheartening because you'll start to get unsolicited feedback from people about how I'm living my life. And I'm like, look, I'm not here to be anybody's guru or anything. I'm just here imperfectly living my life to the best way that I can. And now it's like for the last couple of years, I've had a little bit more peace with being misunderstood in ways. And before it would really bug me when people would attack me and share mean messages or make videos about me. And I'd be like, well, I'm just trying to like do this thing. I'm not trying to piss anybody off. But yet here I am just ruffling some feathers, which is a byproduct of being something like a pattern interrupt using your words.

So I've times I've embraced it now. You know, I've embraced it. And I just look at it as like, hey, there's more opportunity to educate people who are willing to learn. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I feel like so much of that value, it's so empowering to embrace things that you truly stand for and to clarify what that is. Oftentimes you have to be given a reflection of a lot of things that you don't value to then see what you do value. Luckily for you, it's been a lot of alignment from things that you kind of were raised with.

And then you get to be that individual who is very attractive in the offering that you're inviting people into, you know, living this lifestyle, you know, plant-based lifestyle, physical health, mental fitness, like all of these things are something that you're really a strong advocate for, and it's very attractive for people to see online and discover. So yeah, man, the whole journey has been really beautiful to see. It's almost like a Trojan horse in a sense to where like come for the good-looking meals and biceps and stay for the spiritual values. It's very much been my approach. Yeah. Because on some level, everybody can relate to wanting to feel better, wanting to be stronger, wanting to be healthier, to find more balance and comfort in their body and live free of dis-ease.

So what I've put into practice is showing that, yeah, you can achieve these really, you know, extreme results by really going head first into it. But that's not really the end goal, right? at the end goal is to feel better in your body, which I feel like most people can relate to. So I'm just trying to show that there's an alternative way that you might not be aware of, that can actually really heal your body in ways that you have not been taught. So my goal is to really just educate people and show this alternative lifestyle that you never know. It might be working.

It might work for you better than what you ever thought of or anything you've ever tried before. So my thing is, you know, just try it. You know, it's like trying on a shirt, you know, just like try it on. Like you don't have to love it, but just like be open to it and try it on, see how it fits, wear it for a little bit. And if you don't like it, take it off. But at least give it a full chance to really experience what it's like. And that's what I feel really is beneficial about living this way is that you can experience

tangible differences within a matter of a couple weeks once you really tighten up what you're putting into your body and putting in these practices of moving your body and really being mindful in different ways and being more conscious of what you consume, whether it's through physical food or the media that you consume. And that's ultimately what I want is just want people to feel as good as I feel. Because I feel great. I wake up every day and I feel like I'm peeking every single day. You know, it's like I feel better than what I did yesterday and better than what I did yesterday. And I want people to have that experience because I've met so many people who are just living in so much discomfort. And when you are living that way that really takes you away from being present,

it takes you away from tapping into this endless supply of creativity and intelligence that's always flowing to us, but we pinch ourselves off from because we're so concerned with the experiences of our vessel, that's the noise that's distracting us. You know, if you, if you have a headache, can you focus on anything? Like, can you really be the best version of yourself, your most creative version of yourself. I mean, you can, but it's really difficult. So my goal is to help people to find that, that piece within their body. Yeah. And you're doing a great job at it, man. I think that you, like I said, are being that kind of living embodiment and walking into invitation of people first can't, they don't know what they don't know. So like awareness is the first step in

sharing information and media and videos and images of the reality of one, on one side of things, of like the food industry and how commercialized it's been and how devastating that is at the large scale of animal agriculture. It's mind boggling and as part of like what sent me down the path of being plant-based. And then you get to meet individuals like yourself to where, I don't know, for some reason people have this perception of individuals that are plant-based or vegan as like these scrawny, you know, like pale, whatever. And I think that myth is definitely dissolved over the years.

But you get to meet individuals that are vibrant, not just like look good on the flip, like in the meat suit. That's great. That you can build muscle and like live your best life and some of the, you know, most incredible athletes in the world live a plant-based lifestyle. But also like that life isn't just about what you look like and that it can, you can value your inner qualities just as much or more than whatever is on the external reality and that it can actually bring so much happiness into your life to live in

alignment with compassion and what you truly value. And so yeah, man, just to kind of round that out, just thank you for being that embodiment of walking that. And I appreciate you for shining the light in the way you do. I appreciate you. Yeah. And one thing I just wanted to add to that is that, you know, on a fundamental level, I believe that most people, if not all, we're deeply compassionate beings. And whenever I speak about being plant-based and talk about, you know, the animal welfare side of it, it's never to make anybody feel bad. I can't make anybody feel bad. But at your core, if you saw an image of an animal or another being, whether it's human or non-human suffering, your heart kind of goes out to them. So on some level, you can understand the

iteration of how I feel. I see that or I think of those things because I have the awareness of what has to happen in order for those products and byproducts to end up in front of you. They don't just magically appear. There's a whole backstory and a lineage of an origin story of each one of those products. And if you were to really see and understand the process of what goes into it, you know, if it doesn't feel good, if just the side of it doesn't feel good in your body, that's your intuition, your core telling you something that doesn't align, right? So most people think that, yeah, but I have to. I have to do this way. It's a way for me to get nutrients. It's a way for me to survive. It's the way things have always been. And all I'm trying to say is that like

maybe on some level you agree with me as far as not wanting to cause more suffering, I've just taken it to as far as I can take it because I've figured out ways and want to help other people figure out the same way of living in alignment and feel good about the food that I'm eating, feel good about the things that I'm buying, feel good about the way I'm waking up and living my life. Yeah. Yeah, man. Like I said, there's a shift right now, especially happening with men in the way they view masculinity. And being able to find strength and softness and vulnerability, which is so foreign to a lot of the kind of,

I don't like to use the word, but toxic masculine way of kind of viewing self. What it means to be a man is to look a certain way. And there are certain elements that are great, you know, in terms of like being a provider and like the things that we want to as, you know, protect and serve the world and ourselves and women. and our communities and families, but there is the kind of toxic wounded side of that,

which views masculinity as needing to have this aggressive energy. And I feel like finding the vulnerable soft side of ourselves and actually being able to embrace that part of ourselves. So what has been your own path? And I've been able to, you know, I've been grateful to see it evolve over the past five years of finding and embracing your true self and being able to vulnerably express. that to others and how that's been a shift. Yeah, yeah. You know, growing up in the environment that I was raised in, made it difficult for me to ever fully express who I felt like I was at my core because I was,

I had taught myself that who I was was so different and maybe it would be unaccepted by the, you know, the community that I was in. So I taught myself how to be very good at kind of like only allowing people into the degree that I would feel accepted. And it wasn't until recently, I mean, a couple of years ago that I really started diving into personal development work. And I was very much an intellectual, so I always been very cerebral in my personal development, you know, journey. But never so much embodied it, you know, I would learn about things.

I would read books cover to cover and be like, oh, that's interesting. and never really integrated fully to where I had the embodiment of it. So the last couple of years has really taught me to lean into the feeling side of what I've learned and saying the thing that is vulnerable and scary and whether I know somebody's going to receive it the way that I intend it is, you know, I'm okay with that now. And, you know, that goes all the way back to, I mean, even sharing my life on. online as somebody who's plan-based and talking about things, I knew it was going to be met with a lot of resistance because any time you go against the norm, there's a lot of people that will just flat out say that

it's wrong or that it's dangerous or whatever label they decide to put on it. But I'm just sharing my truth from a place of authenticity and taking it even further to be able to share other parts of my relationship, other parts of my life, other parts of my philosophy has been so liberating for me because I've spent so much of my time hiding, hiding who I am and hiding what I believe in and what I feel like is right and authentic and in alignment. And it's been very refreshing for me to be able to just be open these days. And what I found in my surprise is that when you do that, it really attracts the type of people and the type of environments, the type of circumstances that are in alignment with who you are at your core once you lean fully into who you are.

So it's been, it's been very nice for me. So beautiful. What do you feel like the evolution of like the conscious evolved, awakened man is in the new age that we're living in? What is your definition of what a man can be? Yeah, this conversation seems to be happening a lot online. You know, there's definitely, I think that there's definitely a strong, wounded, masculine movement that seems to be really taking off. and maybe it's always been there, but now it's being highlighted more on social media, or maybe it gets more likes, just, you know, whatever.

I don't really understand. But I think that, you know, as far as masculinity goes, hopefully just more balance. I think that we've been existing in a state of imbalance when it comes to the masculine as far as like, you know, your words were like a protector or a provider. You can be those things and also be soft and gentle. and not be dominating or aggressive, which tends to be the kind of more traditional approach of how a man operated for much of history. So now I think maybe there's a little bit more balance that we can find with teaching men

or showing, maybe not even teaching, but just showing and leading by example that you can be outwardly appearing very strong and masculine by traditional standards, but also we've in this element of vulnerability and talking about things that are really important to all humans, talking about your mental health, sharing about the emotions that you feel, talking about childhood trauma and the inner child of how to really speak to that version of yourself so that you can grow into the type of person that you are at your core, but have been so scared to really show publicly because of whatever you experienced and learned or adapted to as a kid. So hopefully just more balance.

Yeah. For sure. And there's just a level of consciousness and awareness that needs to be installed into an individual on their path, but also collectively. And so for you as an individual, what has been your own personal path? Is there a specific piece within yourself that once you gained awareness of via meditation, a ceremony, a reflection of community and partnership that has most recently over the past few years, like kind of just realized.

made you realize how much you didn't know about a certain aspect of yourself and like where you had to vulnerably express that online. Is there something that comes to mind? Yeah, definitely my childhood. For sure. For sure. You know, I grew up in an environment where I had such loving parents and they're incredibly just incredible humans overall and so loving, so nurturing, so considerate. And also, we grew up in a very difficult circumstance where money was always tight. You know, like I said, two immigrant parents that were just trying to make it in this world and provide a life for their kids in the only ways that they knew how, which was survival, you know, the living in survival mode. So being privy to that experience and seeing my parents dealing with all the things that

really brought issues relationally and also financially and circumstantially with where we lived, it was very much a challenge which led to, like, for example, my mom having some mental health issues where, you know, trigger warning, she tried to harm herself. And me being exposed to that really made me go inward. And it made me not talk about things, not really express the pain that I felt witnessing those things because I didn't want to add to it. And when you're a kid, everything is your fault, whether you realize it or not. We just don't have the awareness to realize that it has nothing to do with me and to not take it personally, but we don't have that awareness. We perceive it as our own We perceive it as this is all happening because of me. They're struggling financially because they're

trying to provide for me. So it's my fault. I'm a burden. Whatever else comes along with that, that narrative. So for me, it was like, okay, well, I don't want to add to being a burden by sharing these emotions and fears and things that I'm scared of and feelings of sadness and anger and all of it, you know, just balled up and I just compartmentalized it and just stuffed it away and survived. I managed. I managed to be able to put on a face where nobody could tell that I was suffering. Nobody you could tell that I was dealing with a lot inside and still get by and keep a smile on where you would never be able to detect it. So I got really good at shrouding and navigating conversations to not ever allow somebody in. But what happens when you don't share is that you store it.

And when you don't speak it, you store it and it becomes really heavy. And you don't realize that you're carrying this weight around you, around with you everywhere you go, because everywhere you go, there you are. And you're carrying these stories that are just living inside your head. Like, up, don't share that because if you share that, then you'll have to unravel this and explain this and go all the way back to the original wound, which if you really look at it, it could deconstruct and crumble the entire world that you've built around for yourself. And that's what happened to me. That's literally what happened to me. I didn't share parts of my childhood with anybody until I was 29. 29. So I lived with that. And it wasn't until I had went through a

breakup with my girlfriend. We had got some relationship coaches. And It's funny, on the intake form of the relationship coaches, they were like, what's, you know, the main things that you want to talk about? It wasn't even the relationship. It was like, boom, this thing that I knew I had been avoiding for so long. And that's what I talked about with them. And that was the biggest opportunity for growth for me. It was a thing I was avoiding for so long and just really not talking about.

And once I started to unpack that and unravel that and understand it, then there was so much growth. that could happen because now I was living on my terms. Now I was consciously and deliberately choosing the type of person that I wanted to be and acting from a place of love and courage rather than from a place of fear and protectiveness and self-preservation, but not realizing that I was preserving this like very wounded little child that was like operating the machinery, you know. Yeah, like operating from the smaller identity that you didn't even realize that you were in. Yeah.

And that's part of it, right? It's like the brighter the light in our external reality, the bigger the shadow it will cast on whatever is happening with inside of us. And so it's like a big breakup. Those tend to really be strong catalysts for revealing the shit that we haven't dealt with. And then we get the opportunity to take responsibility and accountability for the parts of us that we've disowned. And so in that example, starting to work with a therapist and starting to reclaim the parts

of you that you shame, that you had guilt for, that you always, unconsciously repressed. And then what have been some of the strongest modalities in allowing you to find expression for those, to speak through those? So yeah, what have been the tools, modalities that have been supportive on that? Then what has been your experience on the other side? Like what kind of life and alignment has become available to you on the other side of claiming more of who you truly are? Yeah. I mean, I'll talk about the modalities first because I think those are really important. So for me was actually talking, talking about my emotions, talking about the things that brought me pain, talking about the things that were I was scared of.

Because before I didn't have the language about emotions and how to really unpack and articulate what I was experiencing. So even just using the simple I feel statement, even if let this be a tip for anybody out there that really struggles to articulate their emotions, just start with the three-word sentence. I feel blank. And then you can elaborate from that. You can go further and and go deeper from that place. But if you can just really funnel it down by starting with the overarching emotion and then getting more specific about what it is that you're feeling, why you're feeling it, where does this come from,

where it was the first time you felt this way, and see if you can reflect back on this maybe memory that you've suppressed really far down that you don't realize is even there because you've pushed it so far deep that you don't realize that it's like bubbling up to the surface and influencing you in other ways. So starting there, just talking about it. And for me, sharing my truth was the biggest scariest thing for me, because again, I had created this narrative. If I shared who I truly was, if I shared what I had truly felt and who I was in the inside, then would I be accepted? Would,

you know, my partner leave me? Would, these are all irrational fears, but really they were driving, driving the show. So starting there, finding somebody that you can talk to, a therapist is extremely helpful, even if you feel like your life is good, because I had all the evidence around me to support that, like, bro, you've made it this far and you've done pretty well for yourself. Like, you're good. You don't need any help, you know, but realizing that receiving support isn't a form of weakness. It's really empowering to ask for help and to be able to learn about yourself in new ways, even just having somebody as a sounding board that's objective that can help you discover your blind spot. because again, when it comes the blind spots, it's just out of sight.

It's just beyond the awareness that we have. When we turn our head, it's behind us again. And sometimes even when we shine the light of awareness on those blind spots, they just get more advanced and just creep into the shadows, even in new ways and manifests in new ways. So having somebody that is objective, like a therapist or a coach, I really love investing in coaching as well because they can help give you actionable tools and resources

to be able to make progress. But I would say starting with a therapist for sure. Amazing. And then so now coming on the other side of it, right, like as you're starting to embrace those qualities and really creating a safe space for you to feel what's been repressed, you know, in many levels, now coming back, and I've been able to see firsthand

a lot of the things that have come back with you and Bianca coming back together stronger than ever and getting married soon. And a lot of the things thriving, your personal mind-body spirit, but then also in the businesses and all the multifaceted creations that you have out there in the world. After doing some of that work, in the many forms and modalities that you've experienced and sat with, what has life been like on the other side of it? What do you feel like becomes available to you? So much, so much freedom, so much happiness, so much prosperity,

so much abundance is on the other side of the fear that you've been constrained by. You know, we, hold this image of ourselves of who we need to be not realizing that who we've been is really inhibiting us and stifling us from the life that we truly want and learning how to have courage. And I say courage because it really does take courage to step outside what you're comfortable of or what you're used to and the way that you speak to people or the way that you relate to people or what you share about your story. That's scary for a lot of people. So learning how to have the courage to really lean.

in to living authentically and saying the difficult things, even if it feels icky and uncomfortable, knowing that on the other side of that, there's so much available for you. There's so much available for you. And for me, it was having to, like, deconstruct my whole business. You know, I had to like literally start from zero again, had to work on myself every single day after we split up. Me and Bianca split up for like nine months. Every single day, I would go to my rooftop. I would meditate, I would do breath work, I would journal, I would really try to unpack and understand, like, who am I? Like, what kind of life do I want for myself and who do I want to be and how do I want to operate and what brings me, like, true joy and fulfillment and excitement rather than

feeling like I have to do things I don't want to do because I've been doing them for this way for so long. We get so stuck in our habits and routine. So, I mean, on the other side of that, I've deepened my connections with everybody, all of my friends, my family. I've connected with them on so many deeper levels because I was able to remove these these walls that I had built up and kept people at arm's distance. And people, even friends that I grew up with that have known me for decades didn't know the real me. So getting to relate to them and share things with them.

And just being more open about how I feel has been life changing. It's been absolutely life-changing. And even online, ever since I started talking more openly and vulnerably about these things that are important to me, it's attracted people who can relate. Because on some level, we all want to live more in alignment with who we are. But we have some fears that are holding us back from actualizing life that we want. Yeah, totally. I mean, the more that we embody an inauthentic version of ourselves, the more we're going to get that reflection in the relationships and career and everything in our external reality. And then you starting to find more of who I authentically am.

When I sit and I do breathwork and I journal and I meditate, there is this part of me, this presence, this essence that comes online that is actually who I am. And the more that we realize who that is, the more that we know thyself, we can then, we can then, you then become a match to other people who are authentically themselves. And that's when life gets really fun, is because it gets very rich and real and present. because you can only be present to the degree that you're actually who you are. And so that's been such an amazing journey for you to see and reclaim and own what you actually

want. And that's been a byproduct of figuring out who you are and who you are informs what you want. And so like I spoke to earlier, there is a multifaceted nature to who you are and what you do. As you're stepping more into, you know, most people know you as the fitness guy, the, you know, the previous vegan bodybuilder, not a whole lot of people as much. know that you run multiple epic businesses. Obviously, people are familiar with your partnership, but your coaching work that you're stepping into. A lot of this form of self-expression that has been as a byproduct of you reclaiming more of who you truly are. So what has it been like stepping into that and starting to craft the life of your dreams? Because yes, as you discover more

of who you are, you attract the opportunities and the peoples and the places that are matched to that. And we also are manifesters and we are creators. So part of it is allowing what wants to come in. And then part of it is creating actively what you want to see. And so for you on the past six, 12 months, a couple of years, what has it been like for you to create the life that you truly want to that is in alignment with this new version of you that's come online? I love the language that you're using too because it's like what I love talking about. You know, finding alignment. That's like the biggest goal for me. It's like constantly recalibrating to the, highest version of myself, the part of myself that has my most authentic desires and wants and

and how to really constantly just recalibrate. You know, if I'm leading astray from that, you can always sense it. You can always sense like there's, there's two versions of yourself. There's like the perceiving version of yourself where that's looking at the thing that you're doing and thinking about the thing that you're thinking about. And then there's like this higher version of yourself who's also seeing the same things and thinking about the same things. And when those two things are in alignment, it feels good. That's when those two things are resonating at the same, same vibration. When those are out of alignment, it doesn't feel good.

It's like there's a guidance system that exists within all of us called our intuition that is constantly nudging you and be like, oh, that doesn't feel like you. Like maybe don't do that. But then we convince ourselves our perceiving self to say, hey, but I have to. But this is what everybody else is doing. And if I don't do this, then I won't have this, you know? So for me, it's constantly tapping into. to what feels good. And you do that through practices of meditation, of journaling, of having these

thought exercises and really envisioning the type of dream life that you want and letting that be your North Star and operating from a place of like, okay, is this going to get me closer to that or not? And if not, what do I have to do in order to recalibrate myself to that trajectory or that path? So we find alignment through contrast. I really believe this. So whenever you do go through something challenging that doesn't feel good, you're the beneficiary of that. Like you get to understand like, hey, okay, this thing over here that I was trying and doing wasn't, it's not for me anymore. And that's great because the more you know what you don't want, the clearer you get on the things that you do want, whether it's a relationship, whether it's your career path, whether it's what you're eating, whether it's how you're treating your body, whether it's how you're, you know, spending your time and energy throughout the day, which is our most precious resource. for me, it's recalibrating myself to that and then having the courage to follow that because for much

of my life, I didn't. I denied myself of that. I knew what I wanted, but I denied myself of it. Whenever I quit my engineering job, this was a big moment for me because I had spent 10 years of my life dedicating myself to getting my degree, putting myself in debt, getting a career that I thought was going to bring me title ship and in financial stability and security and all the things that my ego wanted, but on a soul level, it wasn't fulfilling at all.

So like my ego wanted like this comfort, but my soul really craved growth. And it wasn't until I found the courage to be like, you know what? I'm just going to go for it. I really feel like this is my calling. I feel so called to help people in this way and talk about these things.

It feels so good for me to show up and create. and just educate. And that's the complete opposite of being an engineer. I would go to a cubicle all day and spend 10 hours in a cubicle talking about corroding pipelines and compliance and API codes and things that I just didn't give a shit about, to be honest. And I was like, what am I doing? I can't even imagine you doing that right now.

If I told you what I really did, I would put you to sleep. Like, it was, yeah, it's an important job. It mitigates risk for the environment and people, which is really important. And that's how I justified it. But at the end of the day, I was working for an oil company, a company that didn't align with, and then getting paid stupid amounts of money to be in a prison with golden bars. That's what it felt like, you know? And I had the lock and key the whole time. And here I was opening the door, locking myself in there for 10 hours a day, just hating my life

and then going out and then doing the things that I really love to do. And that's the thing about your life is that it's dictated by what you're doing now. It's not dictated by what you're doing on the weekend or what you're doing next week or next year or when you retire. It's dictated by how you feel right now. So how can you tap into feeling good about where you are right now and expand upon the things that make you feel good? And that will give you more things to feel better about and feel good about. So that's what I did whenever I quit my job. I was like, hey, I don't know where this is going to go, but it feels like this is the most aligned thing that I can do. And the universe rewards that. The universe conspires with you. It's this benevolent vibrational universe that reflects

who you are in the vibration that you're offering out. So if you're constantly calibrating yourself to your highest vibration, it's going to create the circumstances. It's going to bring into the people into your reality that are going to bring more opportunity, bring more connection, bring more alignment. And that's exactly what happened to me. A week after I quit my job, I got the call from the game changer saying, hey, you know, something just fell through and we can film you. Do you want to be a part of this? Absolutely. A month after that, hey, we're filming or we're doing a photo shoot for muscle and fitness. And, you know, we want you to be a part of that. like, cool, can I talk about veganism maybe? And they were just like, oh, yeah, totally, let's do that.

Let's shoot for a cover and see what happens. And I was like, totally. And then like my business partner, this is when I wasn't even working. I was just like, you know, still creating online. I didn't have like my coaching company. I attracted my business partner. And just like everything started coming together so effortlessly. And that's what happens when you continue to to find alignment. So good, man. There's so many nuggets of wisdom and what you just shared. Having the courage to choose the dis sometimes often uncomfortable path of moving in a different direction that is in more alignment, right? Because then you are leaving the proverbial golden jail cell that you've created for yourself and the comfort that that provides. You don't know what's outside of the jail cell.

You know the certainty and security of what is in the jail cell. It's a paycheck. It's your coworkers. It's that consistent kind of flow of income and security. And stepping out of that sometimes takes a big risk, especially when people have more on the line if they're providing for family or they're a little bit further down their path. So there's compassion for that. And like you spoke to, contrast is necessary to reveal what you don't want to see what you do want. And once you get on the other side of it and the more that you go through the death of who you're not and can walk towards that fire of self transformation, you realize what's on the other side of it. And it's just more of you. It's more of yourself and what gets to come through you. And the more that you're in alignment with your

Dharma like you spoke to, the universe is going to reflect back to you and give you more of who you are in the form of opportunities, the people, the circumstances. And that is when life starts to build momentum in a way where you kind of spoke to your higher self and like the slower self, the form and the essence, you know, the body and the soul kind of moving and weaving together in this beautiful tapestry and harmony and mandala of life. And then it, then you're going to wake up and fully be enthused and excited for the life that you get to live. You get to wake up and actually cherish the work that you do because you see how fulfilling it is. That is kind of like oftentimes that's the path of integration is like taking the parts of ourselves that we've

disowned, realizing who we truly are, this and integrating the private self, the public self and the deep down desires of what really lights us up and like finding attunement with. that. And then you, the best parts of you come online, only you can do what you're here to do. And you can't discover that unless you actually start making a decision to move in that direction. Because unless you said no to the job, you can't say yes to the opportunities that come in because they're not going to come in. Exactly. And so it's just so important to be able to say no and have the Hutzfah, the balls, the ovaries. Yeah. And coming back to like you asked like what are some of the the, you know, modalities of finding this type of integration and alignment.

One of them for me was shifting from a victimhood mentality. That was a huge one for me. I was like, oh, this happened to me whenever I was a kid and my parents were this way. I mean, these are the beautiful qualities about my parents, but they had shortcomings as well. And it's because of them that I'm like this or because of my childhood that I'm like this. No. Now, shifting back into a place of like, no, my soul before. I ever entered this physical vessel, it looked at my two parents and was like, you two. Yes,

you two are going to be the perfect teachers for me and the perfect environment for me to learn the lessons that I need to use as a platform to learn all the other lessons in my lifetime. So I look back at it as I've always been in control. You've always been in control. We're always calling in the experience that is for our soul's highest evolution. So when you think of it that way, me, you know, growing up in a Harrah Krishna environment, like that primed me for what I'm doing now. Like, I'm so grateful even as challenging as it was. I see it now is just like pure golden material for me to transmute into what I'm doing now, all the skills, all the perspectives that I've gained from that. And then also the challenging moments that happened in my life, I see now that

it's, you know, my parents were the two perfect teachers for me. The things that they, the wonderful qualities that they embodied, I absorbed those. And the things. things, their shortcomings, I taught, I was, I learned through experience how to give those things to myself. And now some of those qualities has made me a better coach to be able to really sit down and hold space and listen to what somebody's going through so that I can relate on a level and help them shift out of that, that perspective of what they're having of maybe even something like, you know, like a victim, more victimhood mentality. And then realizing that we're always creating constantly our reality. So whether we know it or not, we're always offering a vibration,

you know, we have this momentum, like you said, of all these thoughts that we're constantly thinking about that is then creating the reality. So once we become more deliberate with the way that we're thinking and become more empowered with the way and accountable and responsible for everything that is happening around us, our health, our relationships, the quality of our relationships, our career path, our bank account, what that shows. Like, take extreme accountability from it. Because if you absolve yourself of accountability and responsibility, then you just give your power away.

And you no longer am in a place of being able to do something about it. Because we might not all have the same resources. This is facts. We might not all start at the same place. And that's okay. But we all have the ability to be resourceful, right? And tap into the things that we have access to, the people that we have access to, the relationships that we have access to and leverage those

to be able to get just one step ahead of where we currently are. Because that's how you get from being an engineer or like being wherever you are in your journey to the future that you want. It's one step at a time. It's one small micro decision at a time, one moment at a time, one step at a time. Yeah, totally, man. That consistency is what really builds to a different reality. And it's one of those things where you can't, like, say to somebody who is in a victimhood mindset, like, yo, you're being a victim. That's the last thing they want to hear. And, like, no matter what our circumstances are, if we can take responsibility and accountability for our path. And even if somebody was orphaned at a young age or had a very difficult upbringing where they didn't have parents, it's like, how could I choose that, right?

but that upbringing, no matter how difficult or how there's individuals that were spoon-fed from a very young age and given everything that they ever wanted, and they're very kind of inept individuals and what they can create. So I've seen a lot of people come from much worse and create much more than individuals that have come from privileged backgrounds and what they're doing now. And so it's not to compare our story with somebody else's, but just to full. fully own whatever our own story is and to like you're speaking to, to take accountability and develop our capacity for the resourcefulness to do what we can with what we have.

And then more will be revealed to us as we evolve down our own journey and our own path. But it is an important thing to acknowledge that the more that you can have that shift of life is happening to me versus life is happening for me, then you become available to life showing you in the universe orchestrating more of life is happening for me. Life is happening for me. Whatever beliefs we hold unconsciously or thoughts we think consciously, we start to see that in the match and not necessarily in the same way, but the feeling that's underneath it. And so you then become a creator of your reality.

And like that's the path of what we're here as creative beings to raise our consciousness, become conscious of what has been unconscious. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's the unfolding of it too. that's the the enjoyable part you know because once you have once you have a goal and you have these aspirations and you get it it's satisfying for a moment and then we have new desires and new goals

so it's like it's the unfolding it's the creation of it that is the most satisfying part about being human because if you if you really look back at some of the most challenging moments of your life and say like wow that was so difficult and then you look at you look back at it from through the lens of gratitude and be like, wow, I'm so grateful on some level that that happened because that gave me the strength, that gave me the perspective, that gave me the experience that I'm taking with me and transmuting that into wisdom, into some type of useful skill or tool or something that's benefiting me now. So anytime I'm going through something really difficult, that's what I lean back on. And that's what I reflect on is like, okay, I called this

experience in, some part of me needed to experience this so that I can learn from this in some way that is going to be beneficial to me in the future. So how can I tap into that right now? What's one thing that I can control? How can I change my perspective about this reality? Because fundamentally, I'm disagreeing with the way things are. Things are what they are. It's my feeling about them that is causing me this discomfort and decease. So how can I tap into my highest self and say, okay, things are the way they are, but my higher self, because there's disagreement there, I can feel the disparity within me and it feels like pain, it feels like sadness, it feels like frustration, it feels like all these lower level vibrations. How can I tap into what's available to me,

which is this high level vibration of like appreciation and gratitude and bring that right now into the present moment and then keep expanding on that? So good, man. So good. Now, as you've been like allowing, like you first kind of allowed the experience to be whatever it is within your reality, right? And then you can start to accept and eventually embrace and bring forth what wants to come through you and what's in your reality right now. The more that you take accountability, responsibility, develop resourcefulness, and you start to build momentum in creating the life that you want. Then you realize how we are actively and the ability we have to consciously create our reality very firsthand viscerally.

And so what has been your process firsthand deciding what life you want to live? First, you have to discover what you actually want, right? And then you can do certain things and really embody the frequency of what you want to bring forth. So what has been your process of becoming a manifester and your reality and then how you support others in that process? Yeah. So the first step is getting clear, having clarity, you know, whether it's through contrasting experience of like, hey, this doesn't feel good. I don't like this. What do you like? Well, how would you, how do you want it to be? And in that moment, you can make a little mental note and be like, okay, I don't like this. I'd rather be like this is what I want. And then start to envision that

life for yourself. And then that's more in the moment. But intentionally, I will, you know, take time in my day to write out my future. Like every day I'll wake up, I'll write my gratitude list because that puts me into a state of allowing and receiving from this endless supply of well-being and creativity and life force that's always flowing to me. And when it's not, I'm just pinching myself off from it. So gratitude really puts you into that frequency. And I will list out all the things that I'm really grateful for. The number one thing I always put is my health. I'm so incredibly grateful for this vessel.

Like the fact that I can wake up and have the ability to even use my feet to walk, to grab things, to see, to hear, to have all my senses. Like, I'm so grateful for that. And there's been so many times in my life where I just ignored that, you know? Like, I was like, oh, but I don't have this and I don't have that. I want this. I don't have it. I'm like, well, first of all, I'm doing a lot better than most people. So I can first appreciate that. Secondly, I'll give thanks for all of the things that I currently have. You know, my relationships, my luxuries, my cats, my access to the basic human needs, all of these things.

And then I'll move into the place of things are amazing. How can I imagine this even better? Like what would make this life even more incredible? And write those out. You know, I want to be helping, you know, 10,000 people by the end of the year. You know, I want to be able to, you know, be more of a community leader and create a community that is centered around these core pillars of, of, like, wanting to be of service and compassionate living and health and all the things that I really love. So I just, like, write all those things down and I think big. Like, whatever you're thinking, like, think bigger.

Like, why not? You get to be the creator of your own reality. So why not think as big as you can and see where you land in that? And if you keep reinforcing it and you keep putting it down on paper, then and you keep finding alignment, then you will inevitably find yourself in a position where you're living the thing that you once wrote down. And this is the trick, though, because most people, they dismiss manifestation as like some spiritual bullshit where they're just like, oh, I'm just going to sit here and manifest a million dollars. Like, where's it at?

You know, I thought about it and it's not here yet. We have a momentum of all the different manifestations that we've created subconsciously and consciously that we're experiencing right now. So everything we're experiencing is a byproduct of a previous manifestation. So it may take some time, but you're much more effective when you work with the power of the universe and you have the, like the universe conspiring with you to help you reach those. goals. So finding alignment first and then taking inspired action is a way for you to manifest things much more quickly. So it's tapping into that highest vibration and then operating from

that place before you take action rather than trying to take action and then find alignment later because then you're working against the universe, right? Or just making it harder. It's like trying to swim upstream rather than just swimming downstream with the flow of the current. Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. And to have that clarity and awareness of like which stream is actually which direction is the stream going in in your life. Like it takes awareness and finding, I feel like you spoke to having gratitude for what you currently do have.

Then ironically, you become a match to life giving you more to be grateful for. It's funny how that works. You know, and it really does provide that match in that way. And so it's this very subtle process that you can become more aware of. And it can, instead of having those subtle intuitive voices, they can start to speak louder and louder

to you, the more you listen to them and refine your ability to listen to it. And then you get clear on aligning what you want with what life wants. There's this cosmic intention of consciousness, you know, desiring to learn more about itself. And ultimately, if we can align ourselves with that and the many ways that we can do that as creative beings and mind, body, spirit, and relationships, and finances, and career, in our emotions, then we can align ourselves kind of with life's intention. And then like we spoke to earlier, you become a vessel for life to give you an exponential

reflection of yourself and give you opportunities that leapfrog you into a new way of, of, you know, acting and behaving in the world. And I think we've both seen that. The more we've aligned ourselves with what we're truly here to do, then opportunities. out of the blue seem to present themselves that are at a much higher capacity than previous. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because this is the truth. I grew up, like I said, very intellectual, very science and math base. So I'm like, oh, if I can't calculate it, then it doesn't exist. If it's not proven by a study, then it doesn't exist. Like, there's plenty of evidence to support

quantum physics and the interconnectedness of everything in the universe as being this interconnected consciousness. Right. So one of my favorite, favorite quotes is that you wouldn't have the desire for something if you didn't have the ability to achieve it or the ability to create it. So the fact that you simply have a desire for something means that there is a timeline. There is a path that you can actualize that and you can manifest that into your reality. The difference is how are you really committing yourself to that? It's one thing to say, hey, I want this. But it's another thing to really embody the kind of person that would be able to achieve those

things or be able to acquire those things or be able to do those things. So whenever you find yourself kind of reflecting and be like, damn, I've been, you know, wanting these things for a long time and they haven't come true. Maybe I've getting close before. Like, who do I need to be? Like, what part of myself can I let go of? What fear can I let go of what part of myself has been playing small that's been preventing me from accessing the life that I truly want? And it's scary to give, to give those parts of yourself up. But what you're gaining in return is everything that you're want. And if you can trust in that, if you can have faith in that, you can do it with smaller, maybe less risky things first to just kind of build the trust of showing how much of a powerful

manifester you are. There was a book that I read called E squared and they had these, I think Pam Grout was the author. She had these exercises in the book that was talking about the the law of attraction, the quantum field and how it works, like from a science kind of perspective, and it said, give the universe 48 hours just to show you that you are a powerful manifester. Think big, think as big as you want, but just give the universe a 48 hour timeline and see if you can really, with every cell of your body, believe that the thing that you want to manifest is going to happen. Because on some level, whenever we think of things, we're like, oh, yeah, it'd be nice.

But let's do a reality check. Realistically, yeah, practically. You know, and that's just a contradiction in your vibration because you're wanting something. You're taking a step forward towards it, but then you take step back. So it's like you're contradicting the vibration that you're putting out there. You're like walking forward with your hand out. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So instead of just being like, look, okay, for 48 hours,

I am going to relieve myself of any kind of doubt that I'm not a powerful creator in the universe doesn't work out for me. It's always working for me and manifest this thing. And I'm going to believe it with every single cell of my body and just see, just see. So for me, when I heard this exercise, because I had a bit of, I had listened to, you know, law of attraction, Abraham Hicks, I had read the secret, I've watched the movies, and I'm just like, I get it. You know, It makes sense to me, but there's a part of me that doesn't still believe it fully. So this exercise really allowed me to be like, okay, fuck it, why not? I'm going to try it.

Every sale in my body, 100% believes it to be true. I'm going to give the universe a tough one. I want a new car. I want a new car. And at this point, I was in Colorado. I was training a client, and I was listening to this book on the way to his house. And I was like, okay, universe, 48 hours. I want a new car.

And the next day, literally. the next day, I get a call from somebody that I knew in Bakersfield that happened to own a Porsche dealership or he was like a GM at a Porsche dealership. He hit me up, haven't talked to this guy in four years. Hit me up. He's like, hey, Nimai, you know, it's been a while since we chatted, but I know that, you know, we haven't spoken in a while and I was wondering, like, would you be interested in like just driving around this Porsche Tycan for like a month in exchange for just like, you know, talking about it or posting about it every now and then on your social media? Like, no real contractual agreement, but just like, we'll ship it over to your house.

and you can drive it around for like a month or so. I had this $160,000 Porsche for six weeks completely free, waiting for me when I got back from Colorado. And I was like, all right, I believe now. It wasn't exactly the way that I thought it was going to be. But that's not my responsibility. Your responsibility is to get extremely clear on the what. Let the universe figure out the how.

And next time I'll just be more specific. Oh, God. That's so good, man. I just think that there's so much value in that. First, aligning your energy as to what you want and allowing the universe to just figure out the how. And to take aligned action, right? Because action is in the word attraction. And oftentimes we can say we want certain things. But yet, we're not taking the devotional or commitment action that's required for it to actually come forth.

because you're not showing life that you actually want it. You're just like a fancy idea. You can keep it in La La Land or your imagination. But if you're not actually taking steps to show the universe and yourself, that's what you actually want, then I don't believe that you believe it, that you actually want it. Yeah. And then if you're not taking that action,

there's always just, it's not going to be a match to coming to your reality. Yeah. It's about finding the vibrational alignment first. and then taking the action, right? For example, many people want this really fulfilling relationship, right? This is something that many people like really like, this is their number one want. I just want a partner. I want a partner that loves me, that sees me, that listens to me, that I can spend the

rest of my life with. But on some level, vibrationally, you don't even love you. So how are you going to attract a partner that loves you and sees you for the magnificence and the beauty and all of your like amazing qualities if you can't even recognize that about yourself. I want this partner, but who's going to love me? I'm so weird. And I've had these like baggage that I've been holding on to. Like, nobody would want to love that. Like immediately you're, blocking yourself from meeting that person. Whenever I broke up with Bianca, I recognized that. I was like, man, my entire life I've been attracting these qualities that are reflective of the

image and the view that I have of myself. So the partners that, you know, on some levels, they were really beautiful, but on other levels, the relationships were reflective of how much I didn't like myself or how much I was ashamed of myself or how much I didn't recognize my own greatness. And whenever we broke up, my number one goal was to really learn how to love myself, to really give myself the things that I needed and things that felt like it was fully in alignment and to recognize just my, my beauty and the, you know, in the absence of everything that was resistance to love, which is who I am at my core, how do I let go of those things so that I can attract a partner that recognizes me for who I am and also recognizes themselves for who they are

in that way as well. So without free of any, or as much as insecurities as I have, you know, but like free of insecurities. And through that work, it was really challenging because it was, it was new to me to be able to speak to myself and say like, I love you, Nehai. Like, you've got this. You know, like, you're powerful. Like, you know, you're not, there's nothing to be ashamed of. You know, you made mistakes. Like, you're learning. Like, all these things that I was really like holding myself hostage for and to let go of those and release those and find somebody that ended up being Bianca again. And through the work that she did, we met each other on a new, like a completely new plane of vibration and relationship to where we're matching each other now of the work that

we did internally to be able to have the kind of quality of the relationship that we have now that's leading us to marriage and I'm so excited about it but it was through that work of like recognizing how am I seeing myself like do I really believe in myself? Do I really find myself worthy of love? For sure. And then tapping into that. Yeah. I think part of the path is like yes we can reconcile these things within us to develop the own capacity for our own awareness. And sometimes we also need life to slap us around a little bit and give us the experience of like those breakups and those moments that then, okay, that taps you back into real like self-love and realizing that you, that yourself is love and that you can then go back into partnership. And from that place,

a lot of people desire or want a healthy partnership, the money, the career, the health, right? but it's not enough because there's something they want more, which is often the security of who they have been in the comfort zone of actually, and they wouldn't consciously admit it, but they might want love, but they also might want to feel unlovable more. And they just haven't realized that yet. But like getting to that place where life slaps you around

and can actually give you sometimes more of a brash reflection that there's these parts of you that are unconsciously disowned, then you can, you know, like gives you that reflection, you can start to reown those parts of you. Yeah. Yeah. And taking it back to accountability,

you call it in, you know, whether you had a great relationship and didn't feel deserving of it or didn't feel like anybody would actually fully love you at your core. So you seek out validation and love in other forms and distractions and other ways. And then unconsciously,

sabotage the relationship to reflect the fact that you think you're unlovable. You know, you behave in a way that you see yourself. So then tapping back into being like, okay, like, how can I really learn to love all of myself, all the parts that I once denied and dismissed or avoided, and really learn how to integrate those parts of myself and talk about them and work through them and like, you know, and inspect them. One of my favorite quotes is, is in order to let go of something, you have to hold it first. You know, you have to like really look at it and be like, oh, yeah, this thorn has been in me for a long time. And I understand it very well now because I took the time to unpack it and learn about it. I could finally pull it out. And yeah, there's some

oozing messiness that comes with healing. But ultimately, those scars or whatever you want to call them are a reminder of like what you went through that was part of your story. It's part of your life experience that can add to the uniqueness of who you are and what makes you so so beautiful in your own unique way. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like it can feel initially like a large task to I feel like I have to love the unlevel parts of myself. But I had Richard run on the podcast or you know like 20 episodes ago or whatever now. And I really love his framework of first just allowing your experience to be whatever it is, first and foremost, just to create some spaciousness with it, right? And then you can accept it eventually. You can accept that there's a part of you.

And then you can go on to embrace it eventually. And that's where it kind of collapses in times and it integrates. And then you can actually that be an authentic reality within yourself. But without the awareness, it's not going to come, you're not going to be able to go through that process. And without living life and having the reflections, then you're not going to have the awareness. So it's like, We got to go out there and live life, figure out via reflection, who we are, who we are not, and the constant unfoldment of life's mystery. And then we get to integrate these parts of us. And that's, I think, the path that we both on, that humanity's on on a micro, macro level.

And then you come back into a place of aligned action. And when you feel like you're moving with life from a sense of wholeness that you don't need, quote, unquote, anything from life, but your life is an expression of your joy and your enthusiasm, then you get to really play in life and allow life to feel like it's not happening to you, but you get to be an expression with it and find that dance with life. And it's been awesome to see you and your path reclaim more of yourself and see that reflection in your community, in your work and in everything, man. So I think that we just dove pretty deep. Yeah, I'd say so. I'd say so. There's a lot of amazing nuggets in there, man. Yeah.

So beautiful, man. Is there, is there anything else that you want to speak to that's on your heart that you haven't shared yet? No, not really. I mean, if I were to leave everybody with some thoughts, it's just like, you know, like you said earlier, you don't know what you don't know. And the only way you do get to find out is by trying new ways of thinking, trying new ways of being and operating so that you can quite literally have a different reflection from life. if you do what you always did, you're going to get what you've always got. So learning how to step into that place where it's like, okay, this is scary and, not but, but this is scary and I'm going to do

it anyway because the type of life that I envisioned for myself is worth the moment of fear that I might have to overcome. But everything's going to be okay because everything's always working out for me anyway. And if I really trust and believe that, then I'm always going to be supported. I'm always going to be taken care of. There's always going to be people or circumstances or things that will catch me if I begin to fall. So that's my little piece of advice. That's beautiful. I love that, man. I just feel like so much of what you spoke to and like the fear that people feel is it really boils down to like feeling something fully for like 90 seconds. Yeah. We like projected to me this big crazy thing, but it's like the sphere of like not being secure, safe, or being unlovable and like

just actually feeling it for a second. And then like it just moves through in such a profound way. So I think it's a powerful reminder for the audience. Dude, thank you so much. This podcast went deeper and deeper exponentially as we continue to go through it. And I think that this audience is going to resonate with a lot of what you were sharing in this conversation was super nourishing for me, as I hope it was for you. So first off, Nimai, do you have anything else that you want to share with the audience in terms of where they can find you. Everything will be linked down in the description, but Instagram, YouTube, podcast, all of it. Just Nimai Delgado, pretty easy to find. Let's go. So you can find me there. Amazing. Let's go. Are we to see you back in the podcast soon?

Yeah, bro, I'd love to. Okay. My podcast? Both. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm getting back into recording podcast. I took a little break for me, like we were talking out before we recorded. Just tapping back into the intention of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it and getting back to that place of service and really trying to put a message out there that can help people. Yeah. It's ultimately my goal. I love it. Amazing.

You guys can find Neemai on Instagram, YouTube, all the things down. Link below. I appreciate you so much for tuning into this episode of the Know That Self podcast. If you haven't already, please, if you're listening on audio, leave a five-star rating. It helps. It goes a long way and hit the subscribe button if you haven't. And share the clips that we post on social. If you guys resonated with something from this episode, let us know.

Drop it down in the comment section below. And until next time, send you so much love and be well.