The Rich Roll Podcast - Do What You Love — PLUS BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Episode Date: February 25, 2016

We're back with another long-awaited installment of Ask Me Anything — a twist on my normal format where we answer questions submitted by you, the listener. Today we update you on everything happening at our emerging commune before turning to listener questions. Topics include the internal journey required to translate passion into profession, plus the emotional awakening to be expected when you begin the practice of yoga and meditation. BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! www.ourplantpowerworld.com Julie and I are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting our first retreat —Plantpower Tuscany May 21-28, 2016. Imagine an immersive 7-day wellness experience with myself, Julie and a select group of just 40 people communing in a beautiful villa in the hills between Florence and Sienna. This is not a luxury vacation — it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform your life, reset your path, dial up your plate, unlock your creativity, connect with your authentic voice and cultivate your best relationship with yourself, your partner and the world. Together we will dine on incredible plant-based cuisine, practice daily meditation & yoga, and roll up our sleeves and get to work on ourselves through a series of intensive workshops we have specifically designed to optimize your wellness and unlock your best, most authentic self. This is the retreat Julie and I have been dreaming about for years. We are beyond excited to finally offer this unique experience to you. For everything you need to know about the program, itinerary, pricing and accommodations please visit: ourplantpowerworld.com Space is limited to just 40 attendees, so if this opportunity sounds like the fit you've been looking for, please get in touch with us as soon as possible by sending an e-mail via the e-mail portal on ourplantpowerworld.com (not the e-mail portal on this site please). Enjoy the conversation and hope to meet you in Italy! Peace + Plants, Rich

the rich roll podcast greetings world of podcast listeners it's rich roll back at you with another long overdue edition of ask me anything the version of the podcast where Julie and I sit down and we talk about whatever's on our mind and answer listener questions. So it's been a while since we've done one of these. Glad to be back doing it. How are you doing, Julie? Doing well, Rich. Thanks for inviting me on. When was the last time we did this? I don't know. I can't remember. I think it's been like at least a month. At least a month, I think. Yeah. So the deal is that I had made a commitment to go to two podcast episodes a week. And I did that for quite an extended period of time. And it was great. But it also became very much a full time occupation that cramped out any time to do anything else. And I wanted to make videos,

I want to work on this new book. We have a lot of projects that we're going to tell you guys about today that we're working on. And so I needed to free up a little bit of space to do that. So I've trimmed it back a little bit. We're still going to do the AMA episodes like we're doing now, but I've missed you. Not every week. Just want you to know.

And now you're so creatively fulfilled with your podcast that there isn't as much sort of burning desire to pop in every single week. I will always come whenever you invite me. I just want you to know that. How has your podcasting experience been? It's been incredible. Like just so amazingly fulfilling and satisfying. And it's very creative. And I feel connected and I'm really, really, really,

really enjoying being able to dive into my most authentic self and really share from a pure core tone resonance. And you're not really, well, you're a copycat in that you started a podcast, but your podcast is super different. So if someone's new who's listening, maybe just describe it. I'm a copycat. Yeah, you're a copycat in that you started a podcast, but your podcast is super different. So if someone's new who's listening, maybe just describe it. I'm a copycat? Yeah, you're a copycat. Well, I learned everything I know.

You're jumping on the podcast bandwagon. I learned everything I know from Rich Roll, definitely. I mean, I really, really, through guesting on your show and through going out and promoting our book and meeting people out in the community and across the country and the world. It's been really incredible to meet people that are your diehard podcast listeners and fans. And it's just a very, very powerful medium. And it's a really awesome, authentic way. And it's very resonant with me because it's very facile. So it's easy for me to get on a mic and express myself and channel a meditation or, you know,

offer some spiritual guidance. So mine basically is a spiritual podcast. So we talk about God or other words for God quite a lot. And we talk about the energy that is beyond the physical body. So the whole idea that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And that starts with I do two episodes a week. So one is an that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And that starts with I do two episodes a week. So one is an episode where I share music, and also a discussion on a spiritual topic, or maybe a few spiritual topics. And then there is a companion healing

technique that is a second episode that gets uploaded the same day to facilitate you to experience an actual experiential experience of meditation or of connecting or of going beyond the body. It's so interesting that it's easy for you to just flip on the mic and start talking because for me, doing the introductions to the podcast is by far the hardest part of this whole thing for me. Like doing the interviews or having a conversation is easy and I can like tap into that pretty easily. But the idea of being by myself and the mic being on and just starting to talk, that's like a weird thing for

me. Well, it's very different orientation, I think. And, you know, for me, the evolution and what I'm trying to hold space for is the fact that there is this body of information or divine mind that you can tap into at any moment if you're quiet enough if you're still enough and if you're open enough to let it flow so part of my challenge with me with my evolution because it goes two ways like the listeners are learning from me but i'm also learning because they're amazing enough to give me this opportunity to share in this way and to care. So I'm channeling at that moment, not channeling something else, but channeling a message from my highest self that's coming through. Yeah, I think I could use a little bit of enhanced practice in that regard to get quiet and get in

that space where it just flows well it would be fun you know you haven't come on my podcast yet and this is probably a good time for me to extend an invitation for you to come on and do some spiritual practice with me on divine through line it only would you do that what 15 episodes it's actually 19 19 episodes all right well i would be delighted thank delighted to be a guest on your podcast. Thank you, sweetie. Cool. So we have a lot of stuff going on.

If you watched my most recent video on YouTube, you know that Julie just completed a photo shoot for this new vegan gluten-free cake book, which is one project that you've been working on for quite some time, but there's a lot of stuff going on, right? What else is happening? Actually, well, yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on. We're working on that. We're working on a nut cheese book. And we also have this community that's been born at our house and as an extension of our creative life and our healthy lifestyle and really an extension of homeschooling. So we had this surreal thing happen, which is that the Wall Street Journal came out and actually covered us for a piece

on homeschooling, something that I've been an advocate for for nine years. And just now my girls started going to school at Muse. So they're actually not homeschooling. But they still included us in the article because I've been such a big advocate and done it for so many years. And also, our older children are living here. So they've sort of come home for community. They're not moving out, they're moving into community with us, which is really quite remarkable and quite exciting and amazing. Right. And again, if you watched my most recent YouTube video, which is called Let's Talk About Community, it's really about how our family home is slowly

transitioning into a communal living space. Not in the kind of hippie, you know, semi pejorative sense, but we really have a village here. We've got 10 people living here and we've come up with a system and a flow where everybody's contributing to the greater whole. And it's been great. It's been really cool. Everybody has their sort of discrete, distinct function that they perform. We have Leah, Tyler's girlfriend, and she's an amazing photographer right now on our roof the boys band analema is shooting a music video that leah leah's shooting it right so if you hear footsteps walking around it's because there's people right above us that are doing that

so like i said in the video there's always some kind of crazy creative project that's going on almost every single day here yeah and and just let know. And if you want to see that video, it will be on my podcast uploaded this week and also on my SoundCloud. All right. Well, I'll put up links to all of that. Okay, cool. So yeah, music video happening on the roof today. The other day was the cake shoot. Leah also is sort of in charge of the garden. She's because she has all this experience with permaculture. Um, everybody has their function, which is cool. And it's been a great experience in kind of letting go. I mean, I grew up in a very traditional household as did you. Um, I mean, you're really the, the spearheading, you know, energy force behind this. Cause I know this is something that you've

dreamed and visioned for, for for many many years um for me it's a little bit outside of my comfort zone it's like this is our house and you know when the kids reach a certain age they're supposed to leave and we're doing it quite differently you know and it's funny because it seems very natural because it's evolved very very gradually it's not like overnight suddenly we had a bunch of people here it It's just step by step. We've kind of expanded the boundary of what we're doing and allowed certain people in who seem like a right fit. And it's flowed very organically. So it's unnoticeable on a day-to-day basis. And it wasn't until like I made that video and shared it that I really got in touch with and began to really connect and understand that

actually what we're doing is quite a bit different than the way most people live based on everyone's reactions like oh yeah this is really different like I just see it as this is how we're living our life yeah I mean I think it's I think it's been very natural and very organic in these later years I think early on I was actually trying to hold space to start a community around the education of our children. And I felt like if I found enough families that were like-minded for the way we were supporting our children to express themselves in life, that then they could join and we could find a common ground. And I did that in different variations, different ways. I did it successfully with two families for a year. Then I failed miserably. Then I tried again and I failed less miserably, but still failed. And then like letting it all go,

it sort of just naturally organically happened. And when you say community, it's really, it's really tribal living and it's an extension of our own family. So it's not like we're taking applications and we have like strangers moving in. It's like, right. So please don't email us and sit in and tell us why you need to move in. Like I've gotten a couple of those emails, which is great. And it's beautiful and nice. I thank you for that. But we're not submitting, we're not accepting applications at this point. We will let you know if that changes. But I think the lesson that's built into this that I think is important to really illustrate is the fact that it occurred when you let go of the idea. Because I think there were many years of kind of willfully attempting to make it happen with varying levels and degrees of success and failure, as you just mentioned.

of success and failure, as you just mentioned. But you got to this point of saying, okay, like, I'm just, you know, I'm not going to really try to force my template onto this. And letting go of it is when the vacuum was created that allowed it to come in. Well, I think that's an analogy for many other things in life. Like, I know that when I've let go of certain things, and just been in the process of surrender and allowing, of certain things and just been in the process of surrender and allowing, that's when you have the kind of frequency that allows the thing that's supposed to happen to occur. That's very, very true. And I fully subscribe to that energetic experience. And I think this was a little bit different because I think it was a timing thing. And I think that my earlier attempts were necessary to lay the groundwork. I mean, if you reel it back a few

years and look, you know, Leah was the nanny to my younger girls. And when she left to go to Soka to study permaculture, I was bummed because I wanted her to be the teacher in school. Well, then four years later, when she graduated, I said, please come and teach at my school. So she went and did this spiritual program at Dom and her, the spiritual community in Italy and came here to teach. And we had five families for a minute and then, and then it all exploded and went away. And then little, when I did let go, little did I know that our son was going to then fall in love with her and that that was going to be reciprocated. And so it's, yeah, I, I think so, but I don't, I don't think this didn't come to fruition, because I was willing it too tightly. I think that sometimes the vision, you know, you, you know, certain elements, and you can't see the big vision, you can't see all the elements of the vision.

I was like, okay, Divine Mother, I've tried this and I've held space for this. And I even wrote a book about it for 18 months, which is maybe going to come to fruition at some point, now that the Wall Street Journal is including me in an article as a homeschooling. That article is supposed to be coming out any day now, right? It'll come out Wednesday. Today's Wednesday the 16th. I think they said it was going to come out this week. Isn't it Tuesday today? No, today's Wednesday.

Is it? See, I lost a whole day. Right. Okay, so yeah, it's coming out. It's online Wednesday and Thursday and it's in the physical paper on Friday, unless we got bumped for some other reason. Right. So I'll put a link in the show notes after that, presuming that it will be live. I mean, today is Wednesday the 16th. So I would imagine maybe it's up or I don't know, but we'll figure it out. But just to wrap up that concept is because I do think what you said has great validity and it's really, really powerful. But I think it's this balance when we are visioning or when we are operating in the

world and taking action, it's that thing of like hanging on loosely, like taking detached action. So still taking action, but not being so attached to it that you completely squelch it of any, you know, life force. And then usually, in my experience, if you get out of the way, Divine Mother or the consciousness or the force or creation or whatever you want to call it, probably will deliver it to you much more beautifully than you could ever have imagined it. And I do say in our household right now, we have a very, very beautiful energy. Everyone is in sync. It's all in alignment. It's all amazing. And it's, you know, there's learning, there's different personalities and things we have to work through. in circle, like in council circle once a week in community and express themselves about things that they don't like or, you know, the way certain things are flowing or what their desires are.

And that to me, really makes me feel great. Right, because they have a voice and a point of view that is respected and heard. And we do, I think a cornerstone of this whole thing is the fact that we do have these weekly family, you know, they're family meetings essentially, but they're really so much more than that. do it on Sunday nights and everybody goes around and kind of shares what's going on with them, what they're struggling with, what happened to them this week, what they're trying to work towards and any kind of disagreements or discomfort that someone's having with anything that's going on in the house. And, you know, we do house cleaning, housekeeping to make sure that everyone's kind of in sync on their jobs, but it's, it's more than that. It's really about, okay, what are you working on? How can we as a group help facilitate that

and move it forward? What are the resources that we can pool together so that we can help expedite and actualize everybody's creative vision for what they're trying to express? Yeah, and I love it. It's like we have these group texts that are flying back and forth to all of us,

and it's really- That kind of drives me crazy during the day. It's really fun. No, it's really great. iPhones is pinging all day long, but it's pretty sweet that there's that kind of communication that's going on and people are watching out for people and they're saying, you know, they're just communicating. There's this open line of communication. And of course, a lot of joking, a lot of sharing, a lot of laughing, a lot of teasing, but there's also a really good high level of communication that's happening multiple times during the day and i don't know i mean last night i i had meetings all day and with different people came here and uh you know and it was leia's

night for dinner and you know she made this beautiful plant-based meal. And I was like, this is heaven right now. But I'm not happy to cook. I think that really what it is is getting back to, you know, what our, what our genetic makeup, what our framework, what our ancestral history, uh, is really hardwired for, right? We've gotten away from that. And again, I'm kind of repeating what I said in the video, but, you know, historically it did take a village and it was a village and it was the village that allowed everybody to survive and thrive. And in our modern culture, we've become completely divorced from that concept. And now what we're doing is out of the norm,

but really that was the norm. You know what I mean? Now we're cloistered in our cars and our offices in our homes. It's, it's uncomfortable to like knock on your neighbor's door or the apartment next door to ask somebody for help. But inherently there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's completely natural.

And we're very grateful and blessed to live in the home that we live in and have the resources that we have. But I think that everybody, irrespective of circumstance, whether you're living in a tiny studio apartment or what have you, can cultivate some level of community in their own kind of personal life. Yeah, and I think also just astrologically and in the spiritual communication, this year is simply about that. This year is all about community. So whether you're doing it online, whether you're doing it through podcasts, whether you're doing it viscerally in your own communities, or whether you're doing it in your household everything is about community it's all about what we're going to learn as how to interact with each other how

to resolve conflict how to celebrate somebody how to hold space all of those things and those lessons and those experiences are going to be coming up for us this year right creating your own tribe like the podcast has its own tribe. That's a virtual tribe. And the advocacy that we do cultivates tribalism or community around ideas where geography is not an issue, but there's also cultivating your tribe in a geographical interpersonal up close and, you know, real life way. Yeah. And both are necessary. I mean, you know, both carry different experiences. So, you know, if you're connecting via your tribe on the internet or Instagram, that's great. And you likely could benefit from having an actual physical tribe that you are interacting with in face-to-face.

Right. Well, on the subject of community, I think that's a good launch pad to make our big announcement. Yeah, let's do it. You want to? Yeah, I will. Well, I mean, you know, first of all, I mean, with the plant power way, many of you know us and have, you know, to have our cookbook, and you've experienced how we designed that cookbook and created it really from an authentic place in our heart. And all of those recipes and food came out of our kitchen. And a lot of our lifestyle is covered in these photographs. And the idea and the concept was to invite you into our home and to make you feel as

if we had saved a place for you at our family table and really, really bring you in. And this next announcement is actually the next evolution of that in a way. And Rich and I are going to be doing our first retreat together. It is going to be in Italy at an amazing villa called Aisulana. And Aisulana is extremely dear to us because I produced yoga retreats there over a 10-year period and would go at least once a year and sometimes twice a year. And it is a magical property in the middle of Tuscany between Siena and Florence. And at the time, we were bringing back the influences of Italy to this very home. I mean, the reason that we have a gravel driveway is because of Aesolana. The reason that, you know, I planted sunflowers is because of Aesolana.

Because, and the other thing is, is that I worked as an interior designer with friends of the owners of the villa in Florence. And so many of the finishes in this home and the furniture came directly from Italy. So I was very, very involved with this home and the furniture came directly from Italy. So I was very, very involved with this energy and this frequency of Tuscany. And we saw it blossom and bloom and just create so much joy in everyone's lives. We would go out to eat in L.A. for years afterwards and see groups of people that had met on our trips and really formed lifelong bonds. There was something about going there and practicing yoga in this magical location and sightseeing a little bit of Italy, eating amazing food that really shifted something. So when Rich and I started to embody this message and express ourselves in these way,

we've been talking about doing a retreat together and we considered a lot of different venues, but our heart kept pulling us back to Aisulana. And we really, really wanted to go there with a select group of people to really, really explore and get deep and intimate and connect on these deeper issues of living your best, most authentic life. Right. So we've been pondering and conceptualizing this event for a very long time. And we've been busy with so many projects that we couldn't find an appropriate timeframe to do it. But now things have calmed down in the wake of the book coming out and all of that, that the time is now. And we're super duper excited. I was privileged enough to go on a couple of those yoga retreats that you produced back in the day. And they really were amazing. And they didn't even involve really

all that much programming at all. We did yoga in the morning and then everyone kind of had fun during the day and we would congregate in the evenings for dinner. And some of us would go on day trips with, you know, smaller groups or whatever. And we really did form incredible bonds with these people. And then, like you said, they formed bonds with each other that really have lasted a lifetime. I mean, I think I remember, well, I don't remember. I know for a fact, like you created some cool swag and some t-shirts and some towels for that, that to this day, you still see people wearing. You still see them in the yoga room. In the yoga room with that same yoga towel or whatever. I mean, these trips were, what was that, 2003 or something like that when we did this?

It was even before that. Before that, 2002. Because the last one that I did was when Mathis was one year old, and that was 2004. So I started these in 1996. That's how many years I've been going to Isolana. Right. So we've taken an extended break. And now we're back and really pumped and excited to open this door again, and do this. It is an extraordinary location. It will be a magical experience, in many ways, a luxury vacation, but so much more than that. Because the idea behind it is, of course, to have an amazing time and for Julie and I to bond with

everybody that comes and allow everybody who attends to bond with each other. But the concept really is that you come for seven days and you leave transformed. Definitely. And the way that we're going to do that is through a variety of programs and workshops that we have crafted and conceptualized for this week. It's going to involve daily meditation practice and yoga practice with Julie instructing and giving tutorials and basically answering everyone's questions about how to approach this aspect of

your morning routine. And then from there, what else are we going to be teaching? We're going to talk about how to access creativity, how to really get in touch with the inner work, like your inner calling, your inner authentic heart. We're going to go into relationships, you and me. We're going to explore that in depth. And we're going to talk about how you put it all together. How do you live an integrated, holistic life and really be your own self-sustainable ecosystem? We're going to get into diet. We're going to get deep into plant-based recipes. And actually, I've designed the entire week of food is all new recipes, plant-based, designed by me and prepared by the

extraordinary chefs at Ayesolana. So I'm super excited about that because the food in Tuscany is quite extraordinary. So that's really cool. And I just think it's a great opportunity for you and me to teach something together. We have very different perspectives in life and approaches, we have very different perspectives in life and approaches. And it's quite magical when they join together and we share and you inspire me and I inspire you. And so we're going to share that with everybody that comes and the purpose is to really connect with you on a really deep level and give you the foundation to take these tools into your life and actually experience true, to take these tools into your life and actually experience true lasting transformation that will transform your life forever. And we're purposely keeping the group pretty small. We've limited, is it 40? 40 people. So that Julie and I have adequate bandwidth to be able to connect with

each and every person on a very deep level so that everybody can make sure that they get out of it everything that they aspire to. That's right. And we've got just some amazing music plans, some amazing hikes, day trips, running with Rich every day. And we are going to go to Siena one day and then we're going to go to Florence one day. And the whole week is planned really beautifully. We're very familiar with the terrain and with the place and how the flow works. And there's a lot of dining outside in the Italian countryside. And it's quite remarkable to go to Siena, spend the day there and have this insane experience and then come back to the country. So you're always coming back to this amazing, just rolling hills and beautiful smells of Tuscany. And it's just, it's completely magical.

And it's a functioning olive farm as well, right? They make their own olive oil and wine. Olive oil, honey, wine. And I mean, Rich and I don't drink and we're not huge advocates of drinking, but we are gonna be in Tuscany. So we will be providing wine from the vineyard in moderation. And, yeah, it's going to be extraordinary.

And are you going to say something? I thought you were going to say something. I was going to, but you were in the middle of trying to finish your thought. Go ahead. No, and I'm also going to be doing a lot of stuff where we actually program our sleep. So there is going to be a lot of journaling. There's going to be some tools and techniques of ritual, of ceremony,

of ways that you can really activate these changes in your life and make them special and plant that seed in your consciousness and then really cultivate it so that you really can live your best, most authentic life. That is in the highest divine alignment. Great. I'm sold. Are you coming? Can I come?

So anyway, if this sounds like a good fit for you, if you're feeling stuck in your current situation or you're looking for a different path or a different way, if this resonates with you, then we would love for you to join us. But the best way to find out more about the trip and how it's all going to work and all the details, et cetera, is to go to ourplantpowerworld.com, which is a brand new website that we just put up. Has all the information and details there. It has a contact form. If you're intrigued, you can send us your contact information. We have

a producer, Mel. She'll get in touch with you. She'll answer all your questions because I'm sure everybody's going to have tons and tons of questions about how it's going to work, etc. And we're just super excited. So that's it. That's our big announcement. Yeah. I hope you guys join us. We didn't even say when we're doing it. Oh, okay's it. That's our big announcement. Yeah. Hope you guys join us. Oh, we didn't even say when we're doing it. Oh, okay. We're doing it May 21st through May 28th. So it's the last week in May in Tuscany.

This is the prime week to go to Italy. It's absolutely amazing. The weather will be amazing. And it's also before all the tourists hit. So it's just divine timing. It's right before. Right. And it's also before all the tourist hits, so it's just divine timing. It's right before. Right, and because we are limiting the number of people who can attend, I'm sure that it will sell out quickly.

So if it does interest you, make a point of trying to check it out sooner rather than later. Yes. Right? That's right. All right, cool. Are they still shooting a music video on the roof? No, I think they're loading out. All right, so we're going to get to a couple listener questions.

The first one that I want to talk about is really a synthesis of a lot of questions that have come in. A lot of the questions that come in are super specific to one person's life, and I can't get too rooted in any particular individual's specific path, but the general theme of this inquiry goes something like this. I'm super inspired by what you guys are doing. I went plant-based or I went vegan or I got healthy or whatever. And my consciousness is starting to change and I'm starting to question my career. And I really want to find something that's more authentic to me.

I want to be an advocate, a wellness advocate in the vein of what you guys are doing, but I don't know how to do it. Like, how do you create a business out of this idea or this passion that you have? Like, how did you guys do it? So how do we start to unpack that? Well, I think the truth of the core of the whole process is that the key is inside. So the key is about fully connecting with your authentic voice, the things that bring you joy, the things that delight you, the things that are natural to you or that are your natural talents, your natural qualities that you express in the world, or finding that one thing that you do differently and specifically that no one else does. So again, it's all going to start

from meditation for me and connecting with that. And I think that the whole point of this whole thing is that it is not a business. It was never envisioned as a business. It was never a brainstorming or mastermind of how we could flip these things and how they would turn into money streams. We actually find that from where we're vibrating right now, the more that we connect with our heart and the more we spend time doing things we love, that creates the frequency around us that is magnetic.

And then the money comes, but it's kind of like a byproduct. It's not, we didn't do anything with that in mind. So we're doing all this free content. We're doing all this stuff, just doing it and just letting it go. And we know that by being this authentic and by connecting at this level, and also by being this authentic and by connecting at this level, and also by clearing out negative ego behavior, lower vibrating behaviors, and personal ambition, and really stepping into being of service.

That doesn't mean you have to be Mother Teresa. Not everybody is Mother Teresa. But if you're truly being yourself, what you were created to do from a divine blueprint, then that is blessing everyone else around you because it can't not. And so it creates this magnetic kind of vortex where suddenly things are just flowing. Yeah, it's not something that I want to sound cavalier about. But it is true that when you begin to tap into your heart's message and you start to find ways to express that, and when that is coming from a place of really trying to be helpful to other people, to try to identify and solve a problem that exists in the world. I think that is the path, um,

to blaze. And if you are blazing that path and you really are doing it, um, from a place of personal truth that the money and the opportunities start to show up. Right. And that doesn't mean that it's easy. It may be the absolute hardest thing that you ever do because

there really is no roadmap. Like I wish I could say, well, here are the five steps that you take, and then you can turn your thing into a business. And I'm sure there's plenty of people on the internet that can provide you with that information. That's not really, that's definitely not at all what we did. I mean, we just started to live our lives more in accordance with what felt important and real and true to us without any consideration whatsoever about business or income streams because what we were doing was antithetical to that. It was not making any money. Like stepping outside of a law practice to go ride my bike all the time makes zero sense whatsoever. The idea that one day these pursuits could translate into something that could support our family.

If you had told me that in 2006, I would have said you're insane. That doesn't make any sense at all. It took many. And it really did take that long. We're in 2016. From the moment that I kind of had the staircase epiphany to now, it's been 10 years. It's been 10 years. And during that 10-year period, the journey has been fraught with a lot of ups and downs, a lot of downs, a lot of questioning moments, a lot of faith being

challenged, and a lot of beautiful opportunities that showed up just at the right time to allow us to continue doing this. Yeah, it's true. I mean, when you when you commit to your spiritual evolution and to really live the life that you that you came here to lead, and that is authentic to your divine blueprint, it is not, you know, all roses. That's not the point. The point is that we're going to learn and evolve and grow. And so there are certain tests and certain levels that you have to pass through in order to alchemize, in order to gain your awareness, in order to expand, to evolve. So by stepping on this path, you're saying it is the right, I believe, and I mean, I'm a living example. We're living examples. This is the highest divine alignment. This is what it's all about.

Because we all know that the other path is leading nowhere. I mean, eventually at some point. So for me, the spiritual development, you'll take it with you when you drop the body. You'll take it with you when this life is over. and you drop the body. You'll take it with you when this life is over. So developing that voice and doing the inner work to clear the negative vibrations, to clear negative ego, and to actually arrive into a place where you've been alchemized and you can actually be of service, that does take some tests. And there's something in spiritual practice, it's like a true healing brings you down. There's something in spiritual practice.

It's like a true healing brings you down because when we, when we begin where we're in such a false state that if, you know, if you want it just to be reinforced in your falseness, then there's no difficulty. But if you really want to get real, it, you, you got to lay it down.

Like, you know, life is going to challenge you and it's going to be in different ways. Everybody's life looks differently, but if you can walk that with perseverance and commitment and love and, and faith, extreme faith, you will, uh, exit, you will come out the other side, you will rise from the ashes and you will be reborn into a greater level of power, a greater, greater level of expression than you ever thought possible. And we're all crafted completely uniquely. of following what other people are doing and noticing what they're doing that's working or not working and whatever career path they are and they're in and surrounding yourself with you know

people that are living the kind of life that you aspire to lead at the end of the day what is going to make the difference between you blazing a path or not is is going to be directly related to the extent to which you're tapped into what makes you unique. Right. So it's not about like, well, I'm going to do this exactly like this other person because look what they did. It's about, it's about that. It really is that, that inside job and really cultivating and getting in touch with what it is that you really want to express and doing it in your own personal unique way,

because that is what going is going to distinguish you from everybody else out there in whatever path it is you ultimately choose to pursue. That's very true. And I mean, sometimes in the interim set steps, you know, we need a mentor, we need a model, we need somebody to go, well, you know, well, you know, she's doing that. So I can see she's doing it. So I'm going to hold that as like a leg of possibility or a leg of foundation, you know, under your platform. And that can be very, very helpful. And it's great. So you know, it's good to model people that are successful. It's good to understand that the company you keep affects your experience. You know, you have to understand the energy you have around you is creating an environment so you know especially now especially right now in the field you are creating your life as you go

so that's why I say do what you love I mean if you were a person, let's say you loved gardening, and you spent a good amount of time gardening and didn't even try to figure anything out, chances are you might be given some job or opportunity or experience that was really magnificent. And it's because you put yourself in the energy of joy, in the energy of love. Right. And as you proceed to make that investment in yourself and really connect deeply and begin to act upon that in your external life, it's important to begin to start really paying attention to the world around you. And I think that will be a natural byproduct of that work because the more you do that, the more you are kind of aware and in the moment of what's happening. And if you really are paying attention and tapped in and dialed in and really following your heart's message, you'll start to notice synchronicities occur and the universe showing up, you know, with that opportunity. And it might not be the opportunity you wanted, or it's not going to come in the package that you thought it's going to come in,

or it's not going to be what you thought you deserved. But, you know, maybe there'll be a little crumb there that wasn't there before. And then it's about having the awareness to say, okay, I'm going to take that crumb. And now I'm going to see where that goes, without being attached to the result, but just showing up for it. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that, you know, an extension of that is basically saying yes to the universe. When the universe comes and it's in alignment with the things that you love or the things that you're doing, even if the paycheck isn't there or even if it's not like the high ideal, to say yes to the universe, that's a huge message. That's like, oh ideal to say yes to the universe. That's a huge message. That's like, Oh,

she said yes. Then you're cult. That's like another movement, another movement in that direction. Right. And then a little anecdote from my own personal experience is that, you know, maybe eight or nine or 10 months after I'd made this dietary switch and started exercising again and slowly beginning to lose the weight and get fit.

We had a friend, Heidi Volpe, who said, hey, you know, I'm doing this piece for LA Magazine about athletes at different ages. We're doing somebody at 20, 30, 40, and 50. Would you like to be the guy who's the 40-year-old? And I was just beginning to get fit again. I hadn't even lost all the weight yet. old. And it was, I was just beginning to get fit again. I hadn't even lost all the weight yet, but it was a little thing of like, Hey, the universe is recognizing what I'm doing on some level. So I got my picture in like the, uh, the Sunday LA times magazine, you know, as a swimmer,

who's at age 40. And it was really, I mean, look, I'd been a lawyer for many, many years. Nobody, I'd never been in a magazine or in the newspaper for anything I'd ever done in my whole life. So it was kind of a big deal. And I hadn't even accomplished anything athletically yet. But I think on a symbolic level and on a universal level, it was the energy showing up saying, keep going and doing what you're doing. And there was no money attached to it. And it didn't necessarily lead to anything that followed up right on the heels of that. But it was just evidence. It was like a little thing that said,

Hey, this is kind of a cool journey that you're on. I think you should keep going. You're being recognized for this. There's something going on here. Definitely moving forward. Yeah, definitely. And we followed those, those little signs. And, you know, some of them came, many of them came in the form of emails from you guys, you know, from those of you that have been with us from day one. But it's so amazing how we're all connected and how the whole flow works. Because I've had that experience so many times where we were just down in the dumps and we were like, oh, this is not going well.

And, you know, really questioning everything. Like, what are we doing this is insane right and then we would get just some beautiful email from one of you guys and it would literally we would just weep as we were reading it and go okay like this is a sign so if you're looking for the signs you're going to find the signs you know they're going to be there so again it's like connecting with yourself understanding that you are supported understanding that you have an ability to connect directly to source, directly to source. It also works the other way around, right? If you're not quite in alignment and you're sort of pushing yourself through self-will to like make something happen and you think this is what you're supposed to be doing, but you really haven't been doing that inside work in a truly

honest way. And the universe is going to produce resistance, right? And suddenly it's going to be like, why am I banging my head against the wall? This is not working. This is not working. This is not working. Well, that's evidence too. Absolutely. And maybe perseverance is in order. If truly that is what you're meant to do, you have to keep at it and weather through it. But perhaps it's evidence that maybe this isn't the right thing. Let's go back to the meditation. Let's go back to the journaling. Let's really uncover whether this is truly what I'm supposed to be doing.

Is this coming from a place of ego? Is it coming from service? Is this really my passion or is this being influenced by externalities like social pressure, family pressure and the like? Yeah, definitely. You know, I agree with that. All right. So did we answer that question? I think we did it. All right. All right. Next question. This is from Kelly. Thank you, Kelly. Hey, Rich, you and Julie and your whole family are such an inspiration to me truly altering my life in a beautiful organic way i'm so grateful for you guys helping me along this ever-evolving path i recently started practicing yoga and meditation

on most days of the week i consider myself to be quite active but recently took a three-month break from regular workouts uh over the past couple weeks, I've had very intense dreams, including lucid dreams where I feel exhausted when I wake up. Also, I have a lot of feelings and emotions coming up. I read somewhere that when you start a regular yoga practice, spiritual, quote, junk, unquote, gets stirred up because you are opening chakras, et cetera, which is how I am feeling. I'm usually a very level-headed, grounded person,

and now I'm sometimes having a hard time with social interactions and losing grip on my emotions. I'm quite confused. My question is, is this spiritual junk getting stirred up a true thing? And if so, how do I process this? You want me to take that one? Yeah, go for it. Okay. So is it Kelly? Is that her name? Yes. Oh, Hi, Kelly. Thanks so much for your question. So, okay, yeah. So you are starting to connect with energies, spiritual energies through your practice of yoga and just through your awareness and your desire to connect

and shift your life and the fact that you took some time off. So there is, I don't know what kind of yoga you're practicing. So I don't know exactly what the asanas are, what you're doing. But there is a danger of opening with some people, it depends on how sensitive you are, of course, and what your makeup is. But sometimes when you start practicing yoga, you can open yourself up too quickly, which could give you some experiences that might be disturbing or different or imbalancing or just a little bit too intense. It's sort of like you fry your circuits before you're really ready for that kind of opening. So I would say that while you're having this experience to find a gentle practice, I don't know, you said you're an athlete, I believe in there. So if you are

burning it, like you're going into a hot yoga, and you're just, you know, dumping a bucket of sweat, which, you know, I've done that and loved it for many years, but your body is overheating and there's too much going on. So you need to balance it, balance it out. So I would calm that down. I wouldn't stop practicing yoga, but I would find a yin yoga or something that is very gentle, maybe a level one, two, and understand that you're doing it for energy cultivation and for accessing prana or life force. So shift your awareness to it being, you know, this workout that you got to go pound it and you're going to just, you know, kill it.

Like, don't go in with that frequency. The second thing that I would offer you is my meditation called Jai Release. She's already, she has it. Oh, you have it. She said she's doing the humming meditation. Oh, right. Yeah, she has a humming meditation. She's trying to carve out time to incorporate.

Okay, so she hasn't done that yet. So you have it. So I'm guessing it's Jai Release and not just the humming meditation that I offered on my podcast, Divine ThruLine. So if you have my Jai Release, there is the third step of that meditation. It's a 30 minute meditation.

And the reason I included this third step is that it is a visualization and sealing technique, which seals you in your own energetic container and connects you to your highest divine purpose. connects you to your highest divine purpose. This will help you to balance your emotions and to process the energy that you're cultivating. So I would suggest doing that meditation. Also, the humming will transmute a lot of your emotional disturbance. So the humming is incredible. Like sometimes when you hum, you can actually smell an odor, a toxic odor. So it really is cleaning. It's cleaning energy.

It's great for depression. It's great for weight loss. It's great for any kind of anxiety. So definitely start practicing the meditation. And then the third thing that I would offer you is the practice of pranayama is incredibly, incredibly healing and balancing to the body. There are some very basic techniques, which are alternate nostril breathing, where you're, you basically are inhaling through the left nostril, let's say for six counts, and then you're exhaling through the right nostril for six counts.

Then you inhale the right nostril six counts, and then exhale the left nostril six counts. By alternating your fingers. Yeah, well, it's too hard for me to explain that, so I'm just letting her know the psychic channel. But I would imagine somebody listening is wondering, how do you inhale through one nostril and not the other? Well, there's a— Pressing on the one that's closed. Yeah, but closed yeah but there's okay so let me give you the

technique then so you're going to take the first no now you want it quick no but i'm just saying like if you well maybe there's a place where somebody can go and learn you know this so we don't have to because it's right it's a visual thing okay so let me just explain okay let me just explain so you're what you're doing is you're inhaling breath through the left and right channels. And what this is doing is it's balancing the left and right channels of your system. So this is one very basic pranayama technique. If you want a book that's very, very simple, that has synthesized a lot of the Indian techniques, you can check out my friend Deborah Garland's book on Amazon.

It's called Supreme Breath, and it's quite good and basic. And this practice of pranayama, I mean, I use pranayama to balance my hormones, so I don't take any synthetic hormones or anything like that. And it is so powerful. The pranayama practices are completely healing and rejuvenating to the body. So I hope that helps. Right. And I think just to put things into perspective, it's important for Kelly to know that her experience is not at all unusual. I've seen people break down in yoga classes all the time. Usually people that come into yoga that are new, oftentimes it's because they're

going through something, they're having some kind of an emotional thing that they're trying to work through and when you begin to uh go through the process of the asanas there is a you know it's called kundalini right the kundalini rising like the energy shift that occurs um can trigger an emotional like a very very powerful emotional release like you see people crying in yoga all the time and that's why right so i think it's just an indication that on some level um you know there's something happening with your yoga practice right and there's something there that needs to get looked at and resolved do you agree you're looking at me like i'm wrong no i just gave no no, I'm not,

not at all. No, I agree. Definitely. I just want her, well, cause she's thinking like, you know, is this like, no, it's natural. I mean, you know, listen, if you're, if you're hiding anything from yourself and you embark on a yoga practice, it's going to be brought up. So a lot of people go through a lot of changes when they start practicing yoga yoga because it's, it's really clearing any, any walls or any veils or any illusion that you have around you. That being said, there's a lot of people teaching yoga, you know,

in very kind of wild ways. And it is, it is a practice and it is energy. And you do want to be conscious with your energy, which is why I gave her the pranayama and why I gave her the ceiling technique. So she has to take it upon herself to find a way to balance herself. Right.

I got it. Cool. Beautiful. Did we answer that? I think we did. All right, Kelly. Thanks for your question. Cool.

Well, I think that's a good place to wind it down for today. Yeah. I love all the spiritual questions. I feel like I'm on my own show. Well, I came up with these especially for you today. Thank you, honey. Right? Thank you so much.

All right, you guys. So thank you so much for listening. Again, if the retreat idea intrigues you, go to ourplantpowerworld.com. And again, plenty of information there. I go to New York City tomorrow. I'm speaking at Vassar College later in the week we have a bunch of stuff coming up Cleveland VegFest, Austin Health Hoopala

I'm forgetting one, there's another one I'm not sure, I made it in the announcement last week there's another New York trip too NYU, there's a vegan athletes panel all the dates and links and information about all those you can find on my website, richroll.com. Click appearances. What else?

All your Rich Roll plant power, RRP podcast, swag and goodies. You can find that at richroll.com. We've got cool t-shirts. We've got some nutritional products. We have Julie's guided meditation program, Jai Release, that we talked about today. guided meditation program, Jai Release, that we talked about today. And for more on Julie, check out her podcast, Divine Throughline, on iTunes. All of her music and her musings can be found at Srimati.com, S-R-I-M-A-T-I.com.

She's at Srimati on Instagram and Twitter. And what else? And I don't know. I think that's it. Keep sending in your questions for future episodes of the AMA to info at richroll.com and if by chance you do not have our cookbook the plant power way

pick up a copy we have signed copies of the plant power way and finding ultra at richroll.com we will personally inscribe it with whatever message you would like us to say within reason. Don't get too crazy. Right.

And that's it. All right, you guys. Thanks so much for tuning in today. Love all you guys. I've been just overwhelmed with gratitude for this journey and to be able to warrant your attention on a weekly basis. It means so much to me. If you are intrigued by the visual medium as opposed to the audio podcast medium, I really am focused on building out the YouTube page and putting a bunch of fun

infotainment up there. I've been putting up a video a week. I'm pondering, uh, increasing the frequency of those videos. If I can find a sustainable way to do it, I just learned how to use final cut pro. It took me like eight hours to edit the last video. So that's not going to work, but if I can find a way to do it in a more facile way, I would be, uh, I would be interested in doing more. So let me know, you would like to see from me on the YouTube channel. You can just leave a comment under any of the videos there. And that's it. I'm excited about that expression and its evolution. And I think it's amazing what you've done so far. Right. So yesterday, I kind of just shot a bunch of stuff to do like an experiment

in vlogging just a day in the life or whatever. And I know intellectually, like, Oh, I should always make sure that I have my camera with me in case something interesting is going on. Uh, and I came from my office home to do the podcast and I did not bring my camera because I was charging a battery on it. I pull in the driveway and there's a band. The boy's band is on the roof shooting a video and I didn't have a camera. And I was like, what is that? I need to always have a camera because there's all kinds of zany insanity that's always going on here. So anyway, check the schedule. Yeah.

Check the commune schedule. I don't, you know, like I haven't gotten to the point yet where the camera is like a constant appendage, but pretty much live and learn. And yeah, I don't purport to be a master filmmaker or anything like that. I'm just learning. I'm brand new to YouTube. I don't really even understand the rules around it or anything, but I am having fun there. And it's been really cool to,

you know, connect with, um, some new people over there because I think the YouTube audience is a little bit different than the podcast audience. And it in fact is a demonstration of what we just advocated on the show. And that is doing what you love. And you love it.

I do love it. Doing the podcast is very, very gratifying. And doing the videos is incredibly creatively gratifying because doing the edit is really an extension and an expression of your personality in a pretty profound way. And as I learn and get better at it, it's just super cool to be able to put these things together and share them with you guys. So thanks for watching. That's awesome. And subscribe to my YouTube channel. Subscribe to Rich's YouTube.

If you're a YouTuber, that's what you're supposed to say. Subscribe to my channel. But I have a channel down too. You do. That's right. I have Ananda Srimati. And I will have my third video up tomorrow or in two days. I'll put a link up in the show notes so people can check that out too.

Awesome. Fun. All right, you guys. Peace. Namaste. Boom. Thank you.