The Rich Roll Podcast - Eat Concrete, Not Meat

Episode Date: May 19, 2014

People say people don’t change. Bullshit. I have the great honor of seeing and participating in lives that have changed so dramatically the people they are today bear almost no resemblance to who they once were. Weight loss, sure – I see that all the time. I'm talking more about drastic career changes; dramatic spiritual awakenings; and impossible recovery from profound addictions. I'm talking about people who change from that person you’d shuffle across the street to avoid – literal mental insanity – to becoming inspirational leaders among men. Alterations so stunning I'm left awestruck; and with a profound sense that there must be powers at work beyond the mere mortal. If this show is anything, it's an effort to share those stories to inspire that kind of hope, aspiration and possibility in you. That no matter what your circumstance or plight in life, that transcending the obstacles you face is within reach. When I recorded the introduction to this episode and wrote down these thoughts, it was 3:30 am. Jetlagged and wide awake, I just returned from a whirlwind trip across the globe – 3 weeks on the road in Canada, Beirut, Lebanon and all across Saudi Arabia. Riyadh in the heart of the Arabian desert, Al Khobar on the Persian Gulf & Jeddah on the Red Sea. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you might have seem some pictures of me running in all those places. Apologies for all the selfies, but I just wanted to share what I was experiencing with everyone. It was such a fantastic journey and privilege to see parts of the world I never in a million years thought I would ever have the opportunity to see. I gave 6 talks over the course of the trip; all in their own right amazing. Particularly in the Middle East, where the cultural divide can seem so profound and impenetrable that making a true connection seemed almost impossible. And yet to connect with people on a fundamental level over things and concerns we all share no matter what the dictates of our cultural prerogatives – our health, the health of our children, nutrition, prevention of disease, fitness and the ills of our food system ecosystem – was life altering for me. I know it made it impact on them as well. It feels really good. An experience I am immensely grateful for. An experience I won't soon forget. My point is that I have changed. Dramatically and irrevocably. Mostly in ways I didn’t expect. Could never have predicted. And certainly never dreamed, consciously plotted or specifically devised. But definitely in ways I embrace and love. For most of my life, all I wanted was to be someone else. And now I can say that I would not trade my life for anyone. It all started when I made a decision to do the inside work. As I got healthier — physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually — I learned, very slowly and stubbornly I might add, how to lean into, trust and take action on my (once dubious and self-will driven) instincts, no matter how illogical or contrary to my chosen life path they may have seemed at the time. This has made all the difference. It is the reason I enjoy the life I have today. It begins with mining your personal truth. And then embarking on the journey of living it. Something I want everyone to experience — and why I do this show. If today’s guest is anything, he is a guy who is living his truth. Living his own unique brand of passion. Walking a road less traveled, and inspiring people the world over. Timothy Shieff.

Welcome to the Rich Roll Podcast, episode 86, with world champion, free runner, and parkour artist, Timothy Sheaf. The Rich Roll Podcast. Greetings, people, citizens of the globe. My name is Rich Roll. It is not Rick Roll. You are not being Rick Rolled. And this is my show, the Rich Roll podcast. So welcome, truly. And thank you so much for tuning in. the most forward-thinking, paradigm-busting minds in health, fitness, athleticism, creativity, diet, nutrition, art, entrepreneurship, personal growth, spirituality. The goal is to empower you with the tools and the knowledge and the inspiration and the motivation to take your life to the next level, to help you discover, unlock, and unleash your best, most authentic self, pure and simple. People say that people don't change. And frankly, I think that's bullshit.

I've had the great honor of seeing and participating in countless people's lives that have changed so dramatically. The people they are today, they're almost no resemblance to who they once were. And I'm not talking about just dramatic weight loss. That's cool, of course. I see that all the time. I'm talking about people who are getting off their medications. I'm talking about drastic career changes, spiritual awakenings, recovery from profound addictions to drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, relationships. change from that person that you would actually cross the street to avoid people afflicted with complete mental insanity. And I don't mean that in the pejorative sense, but in the true clinical sense to becoming inspirational leaders among men. And that is not an exaggeration. Alteration is so stunning. It leaves you in awe and a sense that there must be powers at work beyond the mere means of man and his flawed

state of nature. You name it, I've seen it. And this show is really, if it's anything, it's an effort to share those stories to inspire that kind of hope and that kind of aspiration and possibility in you, in your life, that no matter what your circumstance, transcending the obstacles you face is always within your reach. So right now, it's about 3.30 a.m. I'm jet lagged. I'm wide awake. I just returned from a whirlwind trip across the globe. I was gone from my house for three weeks on the road. I was in Canada. I was in Beirut, Lebanon, and all across Saudi Arabia. I was in Riyadh in the heart of the Arabian desert. I was in Al-Khabar on the Persian Gulf. And then I was

in Jeddah on the West coast of Saudi Arabia, right along the Red Sea. And if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you might've seen some of the pictures that I posted of me running in all those places, the selfies. I get a little crap for taking so many selfies, but you know, I just wanted to share what I was experiencing with everyone. It was such an incredible, fantastic journey and a privilege to see parts of the world. You know, frankly, I never thought in a million years I would ever have the opportunity to see and not just to visit, but I was there to share my message. I gave six talks over the course of the trip and all in their own right, they were amazing,

particularly in the Middle East where the cultural divide can seem so profound and impenetrable that making a true connection almost seems impossible. And yet I was able to do that. I was able to connect with people on a fundamental level over things and concerns that we all share, no matter what the dictates of our cultural prerogatives, our health, the health of our children, nutrition, the prevention of disease, the ills of our food system, fitness. This was a life-altering experience for me.

And I know I made an impact on the people that I met along the way. And that feels really good. It was a life-altering experience and one that I'm truly grateful for and one I met along the way. And that feels really good. It was a life altering experience and one that I'm truly grateful for and one I soon won't forget, won't soon forget. But anyway, I'm happy to be home. And the point that I'm trying to make, albeit long winded, is that I have changed. I've changed dramatically. I've changed irrevocably from the person I was only a few years ago. And in so many ways, the person that I've changed into is something I would have never expected. You know, changed in ways I would have never dreamed or plotted or could have possibly devised. But in ways that I embrace and I love.

And for most of my life, I can honestly say that all I wanted to do was to be somebody else. And now I can say that I wouldn't trade my life for anyone. And again, that's a really good feeling. It all started when I made a decision to do some inside work. And as I got healthier mentally, emotionally, spiritually, I learned how to lean into and trust and take action on my instincts. And my instincts didn't used to be things that I could rely on. My instincts generally would take me down dark alleyways and get me in trouble. But as a result of this kind of evolution that I've been on this journey that I've been on, now I'm in a place where I can really lean into and trust those

instincts. And they're sort of my higher self, I guess you could call them. And no matter how illogical or contrary to my chosen life path, they seemed sort of trusting in that and walking in faith has really made all the difference in my life. And it's really truly the reason that I enjoy the life that I have today. And again, I'm being long-winded, I realize that, but the point is that I want everybody to have the gift of experiencing your version of this in your own life. And really, that's what the podcast is about. It's about sharing these people that I've had the good fortune of coming across,

allowing them to share their message, and hopefully you get to take away from that some nugget here and there that will be helpful in your path. So today's guest, if today's guest is anything, he is a guy who is certainly living his truth, his version of the truth for him, living his own unique brand of passion and walking a road that is less traveled, very less traveled and inspiring people the world over as a result. His name is Timothy Sheaf, aka, otherwise known as Livewire. Tim is widely considered one of the world's best,

if not the world's best, free runners. What is free running? Well, free running is essentially a version of what we also know as parkour. And parkour are like the guys that you see in the Jason Bourne movies and the James Bond movies who run up walls and jump off roofs and generally defy gravity and the laws of physics with nothing but the mere momentum of their bodies. So this is a way of saying that this English chap, Timothy Sheaf, can do things that you probably can't. Mind-bending,

mind-blowing things that have made him a superstar in the parkour, free-running world, and beyond. You should check out his YouTube channel. It's just youtube.com forward slash livewire, and you'll get my meaning. But be warned, it can suck you in. You might lose a few hours watching him do these crazy things on video. It's quite impressive and amazing. But honestly, that's not what's most striking or impressive about this young man. And it's not why he's on the show. The reason he's on the show and what makes him so inspiring to me is his incredible passion and spirit, his drive to inspire other people, especially young people across the world, towards self-betterment

through the incredible transformative power of body movement. He's passionate about the planet. He's passionate about the environment, the animals, and his discipline, if you will, is almost in certain respects, I think you could qualify it as a form of physical political performance art. It's sort of a demonstration of how we can live more in harmony with nature and our surroundings. It's a reframing of what a building or a rooftop or a curb or a staircase railing actually means by inverting and expanding upon the ways in which a human can interact with it. And also, he's a plant-based athlete too. He's got a lot of opinions about that as well, which I think you'll find intriguing and make you maybe just rethink a few

assumptions about food and athletics and to coin his phrase, eat concrete, not meat. So it's one thing to be an endurance athlete like me, you know, somebody who just goes out and runs long distances. It's not exactly threatening or the most masculine of physical or sport pursuits, but it's another thing altogether to be a guy like Tim where explosiveness, power, speed, and incredible body strength and precise coordination dictate everything. What Tim can do with his body

is honestly nothing short of extraordinary, but it's his mind, it's the mind, it's the spirit that makes the difference. This very particular relationship that he has to develop with fear in order to do what he does. And that's something that we explore in the conversation. It's really fascinating. You know, this relationship that he has to walk through it and sort of defy fear or the feelings of fear that crop up that allow him to place himself in situations that most people certainly wouldn't dare. And the fact that he does all of this and does it as well as he does, if not better than anyone else on the planet, eating nothing but plants, by the way, is, you know, it's profound and it

undermines and inverts and reframes everything we traditionally think about when we think about the relationship between nutrition and extraordinary athletic performance. This is a message that he shares not just through his physical motion, his physicality, and across his various social media platforms, but he's also appeared in the movies. He's been in the Harry Potter movies. He played Death Eater. And he can be found preparing delicious vegan meals and sort of post-workout smoothies, et cetera, on his buddy Jamie Oliver's YouTube channel, which is pretty cool. Links to all this stuff will be up on the show page at richroll.com if you want to check all that out. In any event, I found out that Tim was visiting L.A. from the U.K. when my buddy Mac Danzig, the MMA fighter, UFC fighter, who's been on the show, you should check out that interview if you haven't already. It's a great one,

one of the most popular ones that I've done. Anyway, Mac was texting me. He's like, you got to meet this guy, Tim. He's amazing. He'd be great for the show. And I was sort of thinking, I don't have time. I was really busy at the time. I was juggling a lot of different things and I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to squeeze it in. And then the next day, I ran into my Ninja Warrior parkour buddy, Travis Brewer, who's also been on the show. You might remember him a couple episodes back. And he was telling me that he had just worked out

with Tim that day. And so when I heard that, I thought the universe is making it pretty clear that I really need to meet this guy. So I made the time and I'm glad I did. Travis also sits down with us today. He's the co-host with us and we dug in. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life.

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Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful, and recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. So you had lunch with Mac today?

Yeah. How do you know Mac? He hit me up actually on Twitter not too long ago. He said, you know, I dig what you're doing. And then I didn't really know about it. I watch UFC. I love UFC. But I wasn't into it from when he was kind of more in that scene. And he's kind of stepped back from that now.

And he hit me up. And I thought, yeah, this guy is cool. When I checked out his background and he's like, next time you come in, let me know. Let me know. And I came and I didn't get a chance to see him before. And this time I've been, I was hustling him. I was like, I'm here. I'm here.

Let's hang out. And, you know, he's got to spend a lot of time with his daughter. He found some time and we went for lunch. We went to Native Foods Cafe. Oh, cool. That's the spot, man. Yeah. there's a lot of uh i call it fast food vegan cuisine it's like that and veggie grill although like native

foods is a little cleaner a little cleaner there's more salad options you know that's how you gauge the health by like how big the salad section is on the menu right um and you know that was great and while i'm here i'm enjoying those foods. Yeah, and Mac's a great guy. And it's funny because he started texting me a couple days ago. I was getting ready to go out of town, like quick out-of-town trip to Colorado. And he's like, hey, I got this guy Tim in town. He'd be great for the podcast. You should definitely check him out.

And I was like really juggling like a lot of stuff. And I was like, I don't know if I can do it. It sounds awesome, but I don't know. And maybe I could do it Thursday afternoon and he kept check he wouldn't let he kept checking in with me you know like let me know it's cool if you can't but like just let me know and then I get back from Colorado yesterday afternoon I had to go straight to this little event at Lewis Howes's apartment for Adam Braun for his book uh uh the promise of a pencil to honor him which was really cool.

And Travis was there. Hey, Travis. Hey, what's up, guys? And he's like, dude, I called you today, went right to voicemail, but I was working out with this guy, Tim, and he said he was going to do your podcast. And I was like, all right, you know, the universe is speaking. We've got to hook it up. So I'm glad that you made it up here. He did the job for me. Yeah. I'm glad I could gently nudge because i knew this needed to happen oh cool no i'm totally pumped and for the listeners out there uh these two guys just put on an impromptu free running parkour clinic climbing all over my house and doing insane stuff i'll post some pictures from it but it was pretty epic man that was a treat that was really cool

oh you're welcome and thanks for giving us the architecture to play on anytime i'm in a new environment i get inspired and travis out here kicked things off and you know got it started it was it's kind of like uh i mean for me for the beautiful house it makes it easy to do beautiful things thanks for making the way up but um i was thinking about it and it's sort of it's not dissimilar from when you started climbing up on the roof and you're kind of looking around like what are our options what can we what can we do like what can we do creatively here it reminded me of surfers who you know park along the side of the road by the beach and they spend a long time like looking at the waves before they ever get in they're trying to like see you know where's the sweet spot like where where you know where can i position myself

and you know it's that kind of performance where where you know where can i position myself and you know it's that kind of performance art aspect of what you do like there's a lot of you know i think when you're in the midst of doing it you're in this no mind state where you have to really turn the brain off but before that i can see the you know the wheels of the mind turning like looking around like trying to figure out it's accessing creativity i think that's what i'd call it is that you use you know the mind to find that that realm of what what can i register here from something i kind of recognize that i've done previously and then you try and build on that and so to see this i'm looking for things i've kind of done in the past and then you when i start to play on it you start to find new things that maybe i've never tried and it's really fun yeah

it's cool i want to get into all of that. But before we do, like, why don't you just, for the uninitiated, explain what free running is, like what parkour is. Free running is kind of that thing everyone did when they were a kid and they balanced on a wall and their mother held their hand. And it's kind of like you're climbing around your environment and exploring. And it kind of evolved. It came out of Paris.

It was called parkour, which means obstacle coursing. But with a C and they spelt it with a K. P-A-R-K-O-U-R. About 20 years ago, a guy called David Bell invented it. It came from his father who trained firefighters how to get around environments efficiently. And then it came to England maybe 10 years ago. And I saw a documentary there called Jump Britain. And it just blew my mind because it was like this evolution of kids in a playground to adults with big muscles,

climbing around buildings, their environment, using it in such a unique way. And I mean, a lot of people see that and they think that's dangerous and they see kind of this negative side of it straight away. think that's dangerous and they see kind of this negative side of it straight away and they're kind of the you know the older generation the more fear they kind of put their own perception of if that was me climbing on that wall that could be dangerous but for me as a kid I just saw you know this beautiful movement and it yeah it's just moving through your environment be it walls or through nature I like to climb trees in a creative way it initially it was about efficiency it was going from a to b as fast as possible um they say be strong to be useful so you know if you if you lock yourself out your house or there's a fire you can get away from it or go save someone it's being able to be in any

environment and know the limits of what your body can achieve a lot of the things we do sometimes people say oh i reckon i could do that but i'm just scared to try it and we're we get to that level where we know what we can do you know there's no gray areas it's black or white I can do this or I can't do this and it's having that confidence in any situation to know your environment yeah and it's it it's this weird merging of incredible physical physicality physical prowess physical acumen with almost this like ballet like performance art aspect to it and what i always notice is the amazing use of like leverage and momentum to create efficiencies you know when you see when i see you you know sort of climb up or down my wall or you know sort of bounce off two

walls to go up you're using your butt it it looks so you make it look so easy because of this mastery that you have over your body to kind of create these momentums that carry yourself. I think because it's such a natural thing that we do, it feels so natural when you get to a decent level. That's why it looks easy to people because it's something that our bodies are designed to be able to do. We used to have to climb trees and things like that. And then, like you say, you've got ballet and these movements look so poetic and it's kind of that that balance of you know calisthenics which travis is a complete master of but then you're using those those strengths you get from that to try to traverse across an environment right and then you kind of add flair and that's where

free running came about from the parkour was it's kind of you move through an environment but then you can add flips and tricks and make it more of art performance right so that's where free running came about from the parkour was it's kind of, you move through an environment, but then you can add flips and tricks and make it more of a art performance. Right. So that's the difference between what would be considered strict parkour and free running. That's what online became, became the difference. I don't really agree with, I use the both terms like,

so I free flow between parkour free running. I don't mean the same thing interchangeably. Um, but, but for some people they need that difference. And parkour is the efficient movement. Free the same thing yeah interchangeably um but but for some people they need that difference and parkour is the efficient movement free running is the poetic movement right right and it's this use of your environment wherever you are like i was watching some of your videos and it's just using the urban landscape or the natural landscape and then

figuring out how to navigate through that in a really beautiful artistic way yeah it's just the outlet of the creativity for me and i was always as a kid i looked up to breakdancers and gymnasts and this movement like that kind of expression movement got like it hit something in my soul and i was i was blessed that i was able to now make a career out of this thing because i believe everyone's here on this earth with a destiny and they've got a gift that they're given that their soul matches up with and then you know you use that gift and then you have to have a positive message with that so i'm in a position now i've got this gift and people look to me because of what i do okay so i'm in a position where people are going to listen to what i say i have to make sure i use that responsibly and that's what i think we're here for we're here to you know have a gift and then use it to promote

something positive right i mean that's that's a big theme of this podcast. And I was, I was actually laughing out loud when I was reading your bio on your website because, you know, I'm thinking, all right, you know, two-time world free running champion, I'll click on his bio and it's going to be this long list of all these sort of accomplishments and things that you've won and et cetera. And instead it was like this beautiful polemic about life, this sort of philosophical, you know, kind of perspective on, on, you know, how you see yourself in the world and what you feel is important and what you do and how you express yourself creatively, athletically, and physically. And in reading it, I was like, you just captured exactly

the, the, basically the primary theme of what I try to use this podcast for, which is to help empower people to find that, that thing inside of them, you know, that maybe they once embraced as a child and kind of got eroded over time and exactly the case to try to find a way to express that more fully and to kind of step into a more authentic, fully actualized, you know, version of, of yourself yourself and every guest that i have on is some form or another of that in in a variety of different ways but you said it so beautifully i loved it yeah thank you that but yeah i sent it to a friend and he went wow like you've gone a bit too far with that because it's like about me section and it should be you know your acumen

or whatever but i thought it was great because you don't like you're like because that's what you're expecting i wanted to be honest man i wanted to be honest, man. I wanted to be honest. And that's how I feel. And people can read that and be like, well, he's this hippie, schmippy dude. Or some people can be like, damn, we want him involved with what we do. And those are the people I want to work with. Right. So it cuts out the...

I think it's powerful. And I think if you were a yoga instructor, people would be like, oh, well, that's what you would expect. Somebody who's a meditation teacher. Like if it was Charlie Knowles or somebody like that, you'd expect something like that. But with somebody who is so into this, you know. It's explosive what we do. Yeah, it's very, it requires an incredible amount of strength and power and agility and skill. And, you know, in certain respects, sort of almost a martial art in its own right.

And it's very different from, you know, the hippie sports or like what I do, endurance running or endurance sports. It's very, very masculine in the same way that what, you know, Mack Danzig does is very masculine. And I think when somebody who is so skilled or has such great proficiency, um, in something like that, like yourself, when you express yourself that way, I think it's much more powerful. Yeah. Timothy, actually, when I were driving up here and we were just kind of talking about kind of the evolution of where like parkour and free running is going, where calisthenic is going and like being able to use, you know, being good at a certain art, you have an ability to, you know, put your own message on it. You know, we, we feel very strongly that, you know, we can direct something with, you know, like I'm so appreciative of Timothy

because that is his bio, you know, and like my bio would be something that's similar. You know, it wasn't, it's like, I'm not here to brag about what I've done. You know, it's really like to display a message of how we can make the world better, you know,

and how you could find your passion and what you want to do. And I think the beauty now is the universe appears to be supporting those people more, like whether it was 2012 or whatever they say, but you know, the people that are authentic under themselves and they've got integrity they seem to be surfacing to the top now and all these companies coming about that care about eco-friendly the environment you know veganism like promoting life and health they're slowly surfacing and surfacing and it's a really exciting time to be involved in this movement and part of me is like

yeah i just know that we're going to win in the end so i'm just on this team like it's kind of like a selfish thing but you know it's win-win like that's that's how it works yeah yeah it's funny um i mean i agree with that too and sometimes people say to me well you know not everybody can be so talented you know like not everybody could do what you do or you know not and i agree like not everybody brother that's well i mean not everybody can be but that's not the, well, I mean, not everybody can be, but that's not the point. The point is, you know, not everybody can be LeBron James, you know, but I think everybody has an innate, um, talent for something or at least a passion for something. And I think that the way our society is, um, contrived, we're especially men, we're not

really encouraged to explore that. It's just, you know, it's something we're supposed to kind of repress and put behind us. Yeah. I'll put on the side. It's like a side hobby, but the thing is you can make it now because of the YouTube and the internet and you can make a living doing what you're passionate about. And it's about finding it and making it work and acknowledging that it may

take a bit of work in the beginning and you may take a year or two till you find your feet and you have to juggle a few things. But when you get there, there's nothing more rewarding than making a living doing what you love. But then at the same time, you know, once money gets involved, it changes things. So there's a constant struggle that you have to kind of find the right balance of what you're doing. And right. Yeah. When you were, so how old were you when you first saw these documentaries or you became interested? I was 15, 16. I was 16, I think. I'm 26 now.

So it was about 10 years ago. And you were like a breakdancer. I was a breakdancer. So you were already kind of into this movement, physicality. Yeah, I loved it. But there was a lot of competition in breakdancing and it was very one-dimensional. The music got really boring to me as well. Like I did really love it at the time.

But that really gave me a unique style when I came over to freerunning. Because a lot of freerunners, either they didn't do a sport or they did skateboarding roller skating some did martial arts but there was no style in those kind of I guess skating and that has a certain style but breakdancing is a very is there's not many free runners that came from a breakdancing background and that gave me a unique perspective on it and I it made me stand out pretty early on and within nine months of starting free running, I was making videos. And I joined a team called Open Free Fly. And I went to Iceland to do a show for Nokia out there.

And within nine months, I'm getting paid to do something I'm just passionate about as a kid. Right, right. And that's when it picked up from there. And, I mean, did you ever imagine you'd be able to make a career out of doing this? Or you were just following your heart? It wasn't a thought. It was following my heart. It really wasn't a thought. I had people ask me that and i'm like now it's obvious yeah

of course you can but at the time i was at school i enjoyed doing maths a lot i got into university to do a maths and physics degree um at 19 and i was doing a bit more at free running i'm lucky i was blessed my parents i mean they they were supportive enough that i mean they don't get the whole vegan thing but at the time they said okay you can defer your university for a year try the free running thing if when it doesn't work out you can go to university they gave me that opportunity not i mean at that age you should have free will anyway but but they supported me enough to let me do it and i pursued it made enough money that they said okay you can do it for another year and it just it's just rolled from there it's been really good and what is it, made enough money that they said, okay, you can do it for another year. And it just rolled from there.

It's been really good. And what is it about, like, the, you know, part of it, part of your journey is tapping into this sort of thing that in many ways is very, like, childlike or natural to you. Incredibly childlike. You know, so a big part of your story is trying to get people to understand or embrace this inner child within. So tell me a little bit about that.

I think parkour gives too much of a label to what I do. People say, oh, there's skateboarding, there's parkour, there's BMXing. It's not like any of them. There's no variable. There's no alter thing that you have to do it with. It's just play. Parkour is too much. Sometimes I say, we're just playing. Let's go out and play. no alter thing that you have to do it with it's just play like parkour is too sometimes i say

we're just playing you know let's go out and play we often call it training and i've started not using that word because it makes it sound like work yeah and it shouldn't be work it should be i don't feel like i've worked a day in my life i play and i've got you know good physique good good muscles good strength and i just play and climb around like i did on your house you know that's 10 minutes on this house imagine what i can do you give me a whole city and you just get stronger and you get better and whatever you practice you get better at and that's that's all we do and right and it is just looking at your environment like a kid looks at a playground like you give a playground some swings and a slide they're not always going to swing and slide down the slide they're going to start

climbing on the frames you know kids don't do that and that's what we have to do as adults is look at the world in this perspective of here's a walkway okay but people just zone out i've got to get to work so i'm going to walk to work this same route but they don't take in anything around them and it makes you observe and it puts you in the moment because wherever i walk i'm always looking for things to do and so i always know my environment wherever i'm at yeah it grounds you in the present and that's the key, right? And that's what everyone tries to teach, but we kind of have that in us.

We just lose it as we become an adult and they say, you know, you need to go grow up, stop doing that, stop being childish. I remember I used to walk on my hands as 10, 11 years old from my kitchen to my living room, get a tape measure out, how far can I walk, try and beat that distance, be that eventually I got in and I walked around the table and I was like yes i went to a high school you call it here when i

was like is that high school 12 years old uh middle school yeah and then we call it secondary school and i did it there and the teachers told me off they said you can't do that what if the kids copy you and hurt themselves so i stopped for a few years and then you know i realized when i was like 15 and i wanted to break that scene why did i stop like what who are they to tell me like what i should do with my own body this is my expression and that was a real like realization that we're really in a society and those people don't mean to be like crushing what we do they're just raised that way you know they they think that it's out of the ordinary don't do that and we just need to change that and we're starting that change now.

Yeah, that's cool. That's like Tyler. That's like, uh, remember when we interviewed, uh, Casey Neistat in New York and he was saying that he used to get in, he's a, he's a amazing filmmaker and YouTuber makes these incredible movies, uh, but very much in a con, an iconoclast and a, and a free thinker. And he, he told this story about how he used to get in trouble in high school all the time for skateboarding around and that and the teacher would say do you think you're going to be able to skateboard when you're at work and when he finally had a studio for himself he built a half pipe in his studio he's like yes i do i can skate at work you know and and being able

to maintain that that like you know that passion that you have as a kid yeah and we you know we brought up in a society that kind of crushes that but it's changing and and there's so many like ted talks from kids that was homeschooled and they're just oh yeah the kid in the beanie what's that guy's name i can't remember that yeah but things like that pop up and it's just so inspiring to see you know what and the the truth can only be hidden for so long and it's school is not the system isn't right at the moment it's got to change because you can't put everyone into this one box almost such different we express ourselves so differently in this well we're in an amazing time where we've never had more access to information and culture and society in in certain ways is forced to be

more transparent than it ever has and people have very finely attuned radar for what's authentic and when they're pitched or sold something. And so I think people are gravitating more towards this search for something more real or authentic. And I think at the same time, the internet isolates us and makes us feel alone. And I think that that drives us even deeper towards this need to try to connect with something real and authentic it does and oh yeah what's his name logan laplante check that yeah yeah he's that ted talk kid yeah school kid yeah yeah i watched um there's a documentary it's a black and white one on uh diplomatic school in england and this head teacher's philosophy was you let the kids play as long as they want eventually they're going to want to come inside and learn something and that was the whole philosophy was you'd let them choose

and there's a school in denmark that does this now they can play for as long as they want but after an hour they want to come in and learn something that they're passionate about you limit it to an hour and they're like oh no it's the end of play it's funny how it works right you create these boundaries and you don't need to kids find it themselves anyway and so they come inside that and the school in denmark they have five-year-olds and 18-year-olds working on the same subject because right they can help each other and they can learn there's a school in russia like that as well there's a documentary about it i think it's called the school but it's amazing where they have yeah the older kids are helping the younger kids and they pick a subject and they all go in deep together on it. And, you know, we homeschool our kids.

And that's been a big you sound like my wife when you're talking right there. The way that we've sort of approached our 10 year old daughter, Mathis's education. And, you know, she's already discovering what her passions are and she's very self-motivated. And it's in large part driven by my wife's conviction that it's important to like sort of leave them alone to breathe and figure out who they are that's exactly it right i'm really i'm really down with that yeah so cool so then how does it it seems like it almost becomes like a conflict of interest or some dissonance when you take this sort of joyous pursuit this art form this performance art and then suddenly there's competitions, right?

How does that work? I agree, I agree. And that's why since I've left competition. Oh, you have? Yeah, yeah. And I kind of knew at the time that they weren't right and there were always pockets within the community that were like fighting the competition

and were, of course, not about competition. And there was always a part of me that was like, yeah, these guys are right, but I'm just going to act, of course not about competition. And, you know, and there's always a part of me that it was like, yeah, these guys are right, but I'm just going to act like I'm not hearing it, you know? And, and it was,

and the thing is the competitions were really a great opportunity for people around because they flew people from all around the world. You people I'd seen on YouTube that made videos from Brazil and Australia, they flew us all together to compete. And these are great opportunities to hang out with people you'd never met before. I mean, it facilitates community it builds community which is awesome and that was awesome so we were like these events are great we get to hang out but then there was

always the underlying theme of at the end of it there's going to be one winner and there's going to be one loser and or a few losers and there's going to be an after party and there's going to be people that are getting praised and there's going to be people sat in the back that aren't as happy because they didn't win and i don't like that's kind of like an energy pull back and forth of like this guy won the energy today off everyone he gets all that and it's and as much as you can say it was no one's really that competitive there it's kind of going that way now where people are more competitive and they're being secretive with the with their runs and which is fine i mean that's tactics that's that's what competition is but i don't agree with competition anymore i think it's

kind of someone called it the modern. I think it's kind of, someone called it the modern war. You know, it's like this, this thing. And I see the parkour community going that way now where people are, the next generation of kids are training just to go to competitions and win competitions. And that's never why I did it.

I didn't do it for those reasons. I did it because I was a kid and I enjoyed playing with my friends on walls and it's the, and you really lose that purity. And so it kind of, it kills the soul for me a little and that's why i'm going to move to la because i need to help as much as possible those people that want to keep it you know authentic and real i want to help them people

and promote that because it's it's real and kids want to do it and it's healthy for kids to do it and i want to make sure these kids grow up with the right attitude and they don't grow an ego attached to competition and being the best and they start saying oh i can jump further than you i can jump higher than you it's not about that everyone's got different skills everyone's better at something than everyone else so why start this you know this competition right right it reminds me a little bit of uh have you ever seen danny mccaskill's videos who kind of does what you do except on a bicycle yeah yeah and he never competed and they're not yeah i don't even know if they have maybe they have competitions around that or whatever but i don't think so but

just you know i've hung out with him a few times beautiful artist oh yeah i mean guys magical and what he can do yeah yeah i was i was put into a competition i was actually you know challenged essentially to be in it and i wasn't really excited to be in it but you know i did it and battled this amazing guy you know always go wide on instagram but uh after you know very grateful that i won but i really made it a point that we were both the winners and like really were able to set a tone you know like if you watch the video like i raised his hand with my hand you know like we hug hug and embrace like one of my favorite photos ever on instagram is like we're hugging as soon as we renounce the winner you

know and like the whole community came and like hugged us together, you know, so like being instilling that community as opposed to like, I'm the king, you know, like it's got to stay that way. And so like, I was just grateful that I had that opportunity and I, you know, I didn't know that that was going to happen, but I'm hopefully that, you know, using that voice to continue if competition is, is, you know around i think it's about intention because it is you know especially if you're if you're motivated to inspire other people or kids you know kids look to that and they go oh this guy's the two-time world free running champion it's giving me a voice it gives you a platform and a voice and then it's about you know your respect for that position that you're placed in and what your intentions and motivations are with what you do with that i think it's different as well with what you do what i do is so subjective that to compare people that you know just expressing their individualism and and what

comes to them naturally to compare them isn't right whereas with yours it's more structured who can train the hardest and you know and i support competition with in terms of speed competition within free running and i think that's what could really take it to the next level, possibly Olympics, is if they built the same course and had eight people run it alongside each other. That would be exciting to watch. And then it's less subjective. It's just, you know, who's trained the hardest for this. And again, it's still a bit of competition, but it's not as much like,

oh, the judges chose this person on this day. It's more set. There's no judge. Just time is the judge. When you like running around london doing this stuff i mean are you like are the cops chasing you or how does that work yes you're climbing up on top of buildings and everything yeah it's funny because you know we always get security guards approach police approach i was training yesterday at usc and this policeman came up i was on the roof of a building and he said this is a second call we've had to complain that you're around I said is what we're doing illegal he said

no I said can't you just explain that to the people if it's not illegal then your job is to explain that you shouldn't just enforce something because someone complained I could complain about the way this woman walks but that doesn't you're not going to go up and stop a walk in that way like it's not fair if it's not illegal don't make it because it's not illegal and I've had I did a video where I had a gopro on my forehead and i ran along some rooftops in my hometown derby and the police got involved it was in the local paper they like said oh this is a really cool guy because some girl that worked for the paper so young girl liked it and the next day they got loads of complaints from the article about promoting this dangerous thing the next

day they ran another article saying about reckless use like that you know they change their tone because of they'd fit in the audience and then the police i had to go on a radio interview and i spoke to a policeman on the other side and he said actually what you're doing wasn't illegal because you're on top of it you're not inside it trespassing is when you're inside the property i was like oh thanks like thanks for that so i know i'm not doing anything wrong and for me the philosophy is that we're not leaving a trace. You know, there's no damage left done. And at the end of the day, even if I did, and I climb trees a lot, if I snapped a branch, which I really try not to, I love trees.

If I snapped a tile on a rooftop, okay, I'm sorry, right? At least I'm trying to explore something. People kill animals on a daily to eat them, which they don't need to do. These are natural beings that exist and we're killing them if i snap a slate on a rooftop build another one or like do well i'll pay for it or whatever but the fact the way our minds work is that it's okay to do this but then this thing is so far from what we should be doing right so when does the vegan thing come into the picture because it wasn't that long ago right yeah about a year and a half two years but it was a shock to me you know i was what happened i saw gary urovsky video yeah rock on that guy i love

gary urovsky man he's a preacher for the people but he i mean he's preaching for vegans he he he has a hard message but you know what i can't ignore truth if someone speaks the truth to me my ego won't get in the way i'll acknowledge that as the truth and that's what he did i always thought i was that one like he has like a one hour lecture. It was that lecture. And there's stuff since then that he said that he's got some great quotes. He's thought a lot about it.

But I think... Explain for the listener who hasn't heard of... Gary Yourofsky. Gary Yourofsky. He's a very big vegan activist. He's been arrested. He once freed a load of mink from some factory and cost 1.2 million worth of damage

and got put in prison for a while and he's banned from several countries because of that for saving the lives of animals it's it's kind of ridiculous but he does a talk on youtube called the greatest speech you'll ever hear and it just resonated with me because i always knew growing up killing animals was wrong i if i i wouldn't kill a spider i'd put it in a glass and take it outside if i trodden a snail by accident i'd feel really bad for that snail for about five minutes and then i'd be inside eating probably eating a chicken sandwich and didn't put the two together that i'm feeling guilty for this and yet this is okay and i remember when i was like five years old i asked my mom is lamb that we're eating

is this the baby sheep and she said yeah and i thought what that's really mean why are we doing this and then but she was the one that loved me that raised me I trusted her opinion I trust her you know I'm five years old what am I gonna know better than my mother no of course I don't but turns out you do when you're a kid often know the truth and more than parents we just get we get conditioned and then we just accept these these social norms once I realized that you know I'm an open-minded guy and I allowed the truth to come into me and it resonated and obviously it's a challenge getting over because i was probably 23 so for 23 years

three meals a day i've been conditioned to eat a certain way now that's a lot of untangling to undo and so i had to work through it and i'm still processing i mean being vegan i mean some people can do it overnight you know they get it I I've got both my sisters are quite obese um I I wasn't fat but because I trained out it turned to muscle so I was quite bulky from eating burgers and I didn't eat that badly but I still ate a lot I love burgers and fries and I definitely came from a heavy meat background but you know I flourished when I became vegan it made me thrive and I think it's still hard because London, there's other things I really want to move towards,

the sun and fresher fruit and vegetables. So I've still got a lot of growth to come. But that first step on the ladder, I was like, wow. So it really was like it was watching that video. Who encouraged you to watch it? Or did somebody say? Or did you just stumble upon it accidentally? What led to that?

I was in Bucharest and I was with a friend and he's vegetarian and he's a really strong guy. And I was like, oh, maybe I'll try this thing. And I can't remember how I came across that video, but I'm so grateful I did. And as a few people I've shared that to since, boom, done. You have to choose your audience because it's, and the thing is, it's not about converting people to veganism. I don't like that word. It's not like a religion. It's reminding them to be vegan. When we we're children we don't want to harm animals and i wouldn't take i wouldn't

know to take a egg from a chicken or things like this it's i knew that as a kid i asked my mom about is this lamb the thing because i don't want that on my on my conscience it's just reminding people you know we've got this empathy we've evolved to feel for animals we feel compassionate for them now why don't we just act in it when's a diet going to catch up to this compassion that we feel well the entire system is set up to prevent us from confronting that truth like we're very we're so distanced and isolated from the process by which our food is manufactured raised you know slaughtered distributed package and all of that kind of thing that you have to make a very conscious effort to consider that because if you, if you don't, it's easy to just be on autopilot and, and it's hard to, you know, denial is very powerful. You know, I've, I've had, you know,

I, I struggle with denial a lot in my life with unhealthy behavior patterns and I've, you know, had my issues over the years. Um, and I know what it's like to kind of sort of relax into, you know, uh, an inaccurate, uh, perspective of reality, you know, and it, it's, it's very difficult to kind of put that aside and say, no, this is the way that really is. And I'm going to act accordingly. So I think it's, no this is the way that really is and i'm gonna act accordingly so i think it's you know i never i have no judgment on how other people live their lives yeah um and i got into it originally for health reasons not for ethical reasons the ethical aspect of it has become much more important to me more important to me than i ever thought that it would but that wasn't the original motivator yeah that for me i was i was

one that was the moral issue of killing animals when we don't need to but there are a lot of people some people do it for environmental reasons people do it for health a lot of people do it for health reasons and then they realize oh what am i doing i need to watch vegetated a few people have told me about that one have you seen that one yeah yeah that's where they take meat eaters that think they'll never ever change and by the end the animal activist it's like that's all you need to know you know like right it keeps you i mean there's so many chapters to it there's the science behind it but for me i like it on a spiritual level you know you eat these dead animals they're fearing and you you take that on board and it keeps you brainwashed that word is going to freak some people out if they're not vegan but eat you realize and i've had so many friends that have been come vegetarian since that they realize

eating meat keeps you at that level of thinking it's okay it's hard to see because you're in this cloud this smog of it's all right to do this and when you come out you realize and now i look at at me you know it's just flesh like any human flesh and it's it's it's scary and when i see in the tv show there's a kid eating a scary and when i see it in the tv show there's a kid eating a burger i mean i accept it i'm not i don't freak out and go i need to stop this because it's the way you know you gotta laugh at this you can't take life too seriously that's what i live in that's the this chapter of whether you believe in reincarnation or what that's this life i'm in this this is the chapter that's the whole you know human race is in right

now that's part of it but it's still kind of sickening that, you know, what's really going on in the reality of things. Right. You know, everything is without sounding like too new agey, but you know, everything is energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed. It's just transferred. And we have a choice about what kind of energy we want to take into our bodies. And that applies to the people we want to surround ourselves with. You know, you always say like, you know, surround yourself with high vibrating people. If you're around people that are, um, positive thinking, you know, sort of highly motivated, well-grounded people, then you feel better. Right. And so why would that not apply to what you're taking into your body? If you're, you're making this choice about whether you're

taking a low vibrating food and that doesn't, that, you know, can apply to Frito chips too. You know, it's sort of, you know, things that are dead and inert versus, you know, a living, you know, sort of, you know, micronutrient dense plant food. That's a different energy that you're taking in. You can feel that difference. So why would that not apply to the animal products that you're taking into your diet? And, you know, it's, I think that's something I never would have considered or believed in until I had the experience for myself. Yeah. People are coming over to that, that whole thing now as well.

People are starting to sense the vibrations and feel that and i know when i eat a raw i aim to eat raw but it's you know in london or when i'm in la for a week it's like exciting to go to all these restaurants but i know how much better i feel and i actually feel my whole vibration is but i went to thailand for a week i was doing yoga quite often in london i went to thailand for a week and i ate really healthy raw clean it's so easy to eat fresh fruit out there and i came back and i remember my first yoga class back i felt so like it was the easiest thing and it just my whole this vibration that was that it's frequency and i was like wow this is it's possible to feel this way and i'm sure it's somewhere people can get to on drugs but there's a natural way to reach that kind of

that feeling and it helps you know when the collective consciousness is rises as we're all rising and we all get better at this it's only we're only going to feel better and better and when i see like a fight or like now or you see you know someone at the slaughterhouse or something i feel this sink in my whole energy just drop and it's and it takes you a while to get back out of that slump but i'm really sensitive now to energy of people around me and vibration and things it's all about positive energy yeah yeah yeah that's pretty interesting have you seen uh damien manders ted talk no he's the guy the big south african yeah the south african amazing that's good for like jock men. Yeah, well, he's like the most alpha male dude of all time, right? Like this guy.

And he was a, was he a South African or a British soldier in Afghanistan? I'm trying to remember. It's been a while since I watched it. He's the one that was on about conserving animals in Africa, right? Right. But originally he was like this major hardcore like sniper. He was SAS or something. Yeah. animals in africa right but originally he was like this major hardcore like sniper he was sas yeah it's like special forces guy who you know was in the in the muck big time and just saw more

than his fair share of you know killing it you know in warfare and uh oh he was australian right yeah have you watched that ted talk it's insane i'll put a warrior was it called something warrior i'll put a link up in the show notes. Incredible. But then he, yeah, like then he, he bought, he bought land in South Africa. Right. And he started to see how the poachers were treating the big game and, and it just, it just enraged him. And he decided he was going to take a stand against this.

I think he actually was off like hunting these guys, you know, like yeah and uh and he gives this incredibly eloquent ted talk about his position on animal welfare especially big game animals it's it's beautiful and it's it's very potent because he is such a force of masculinity he is but and then that shows his transformation was his mind realized why are these elephants more important than the cows like he'd be saving these elephants and then going back and making barbecues and he posted a question there he says does a cow value its life what do i value this barbecue more than a cow values its life and no one can ever there's only one answer for that right obviously the cow values its life more and um and now you're getting

people on facebook i see so many people these, a lot of girls, I guess, posting about these animal problems, like these dolphins slaughter, or they fed a giraffe to some lions in a zoo, and about dogs in China. There are all these things, and I ask them, I say, are you a vegetarian? You care about these dolphins here,

or you care about this giraffe, but yet you're making a choice that causes death to other animals. And it's not as humans, it's not our choice to say what animal is more important than another. How about we just don't fuck with any of them. Can I swear on this podcast? You can say whatever you want. A lot of passion. Yeah. I respect that. I like the passion. As an athlete, what were the differences that you saw when you started to eat this way because you're you're a big guy i mean for a parkour guy i think you know that a lot of the guys are like

they look like rock climbers right yeah skinny little dudes but you're like a big dude yeah um so i trimmed up more than i did and i want to trim up a bit more because it feels fun to be agile you know for me it's not about look. I've never cared about how I look as a body wise. That's just a, it comes with, with what I train. It's like secondary. I,

so I trimmed up a bit. I had Achilles tendonitis. I had, um, I've never broke a bone. Touch wood. I've never broken a bone. Which is,

I see like the outtakes in your videos where you're like wiping out and everything like that. Like I would assume you getting injured all the time time it's very calculated that's the thing is yeah we're quite it's only you and the environment that you're working with and so long as you check the environment and you trust your body and there's a certain faith that we do things with that's what this movement really taught me faith you know because everyone says fear is isn't real you know danger is real fear isn't real and so when you go at something second guessing it the problems come up when and so i've learned to have faith in what i'm doing and go at it calm there's i don't like doing things when there's adrenaline pumping through my body because then you're not you're not quite as clear as you should be when i'm when i'm calm and i'm like

yes this feels right you know that's when i'm doing some of my best stuff because it's a meditate is a moving meditation. And so how did the dietary shift kind of, you know, change that or what was the impact of that on that? So I tore my meniscus a few years ago, probably six or seven years ago, and I had surgery on them and that took a while to heal. And so every winter I'd feel kind of aches in my knees and I had Achilles tendonitis. And since being vegan, the aches in my knees and I had Achilles tendonitis and since being vegan the aches in my knees went away in the winter Achilles tendonitis went away not come back at all and these little changes because you know your digestive system gets a chance to rest when you're eating heavy meats that's a lot of energy gone to there and as soon as you're eating lighter foods frees up all the energy and your body's like right let's take the chance to go heal this bit that we've been waiting so long for to go heal. And so all these things,

these little things cleared up and it's right. It's been amazing. And how did the, the sort of parkour community where you live, uh, what was their reaction? I mean, I would assume that sort of the paleo diet is probably the predominant diet in

the, in the parkour community. Well, in the American parkour community is a bit, but I've, since I've spoke out openly on it, cause I am in a position where some of the community listen to me of course some of them make jokes about you know the younger kids i don't quite understand it yet they just want to remain in

the in their ignorance and i would have done the same thing i remember saying to vegetarians years ago how about if for every animal you don't eat i eat three would you eat animals then absolute ignorant what an idiot like but there's a lot of them have taken to it i've spoke out openly and the kids have gone yep you know that's right well all we what we do is about not leaving a trace behind and if you're leaving a trail of animal carcasses every meal that you eat that's you're leaving a trace you know being strong strength should build up you know it shouldn't take from anyone it shouldn't take a life especially shouldn't take a life so and when you can be just as strong if not healthier fitter you can thrive on a vegan diet that's the ethos of parkour it's about we flight over fight

you know it's already about not damaging your environment and the animals environment goes as far as animals because that's really the big environmental issue that's pretty interesting yeah i like that flight over flight over fight. Yeah. Yeah. And the parkour really is a very spiritual practice. The way it was came across initially, it could be the first, you know, full vegan discipline. Like I don't see anytime soon, but people are ready to hear it. They're starting to listen and there's so many people get it. And it's really nice for me to, the amount of kids I get messages every single day from parkour kids said, thanks for helping me. I'm vegetarian now and i feel a lot better and it's you know there's kids

like me some people have fast metabolisms and they're all the skinny ones i'd maybe have a slower one that's why i build more bulk or whatever and there's kids like me that are able to do parkour at a better level because they would have been a you know chubbier kid or something right well i think the most powerful thing is for you to just continue to improve and get better and do what you do and that speaks louder than anything that comes out you're right you're very right there yeah so how does this uh how does this then how does it work as a vocation like how do you make a career out of this like you're able to travel you're making these videos and you know um youtube gave me a bunch of funding last year to produce content because YouTube is smart. They realize, you know,

people can watch YouTube at any time, anywhere in the world. Whereas TV shows, you know, they're limited to a country at a certain time. So they're starting to put money towards it. And they realized free running is a big online YouTube community. Let's fund a few YouTube channel,

which is YouTube at com forward slash flow. Real. We got, we got a good name on that one. Um, and they gave me funding to produce 50% of the content. And it was like good fun, like six figure funding. I've got a production team on that one um and they gave me funding to produce 50 of the content and it was like good fun like six figure funding i've got a production team that worked with me and we traveled i could do whatever i well i pitched eight strands of series i wanted to do

and they chose seven of them and that's what i got the funding for i got to travel the world i went to hong kong that was one of my favorite episodes we did was um in hong kong I went to YouTube.com slash flow, right? Yeah, check it out. The Hong Kong documentary we made. Really excited when we put that out

and it got really good feedback. It went all over the Hong Kong media. They loved it out there as well because we were on rooftops in the nature and it was beautiful. Went to Cairo, climbed a pyramid there

illegally three in the morning. Oh, wow. Yeah, it's daunting but that video's coming out in the next few weeks on there. And so, yeah, I got a pyramid there illegally three in the morning. Oh, wow. Yeah, it's daunting. But that video's coming out in the next few weeks on there. And so, yeah, I got a bunch of fun. I just got back from Sydney. I flew direct from Sydney to LA.

Jamie Oliver's double. I do some, I double him. Initially, it was for stunt work. I was like, we became friends through, he made an epic veg time. Right. Which is like epic meal time. And I met his manager and he knew i was vegan he was like i'll come down for this and i met him that day and we

got on really well and i've met him a few times since then he got a contract with sobeys which is america canadian supermarket and he said oh let's write tim into the script because he's running around delivering um healthy food to houses he said let's write tim so i'm jumping in between we've got similar hair so so you i I see. So you body double for a moment. So I bottled all of it for that. And then I went to Canada, Toronto, did an advert there. And then he shot one for Woolworths in London, which is a Australian supermarket.

And what he's doing with them is, and with Sobeys as well, is when they sign a contract to be associated with Jamie Oliver and they have his face all over the shop and on the products, they have to sort the animal welfare out. He's got animal welfare guys that are really on point with this I've met a few of them and they go to all the farms that these people buy from and they check the standards and the quality and they make them raise it in Europe Jamie Oliver did the tv show about six

years ago that got rid of battery farm chickens one 45 minute tv show done England completely banned it Europe's banned it now since six years it's been gone. Australia still has battery farm chickens all over the supermarket. So for Woolworths, which is the biggest supermarket in Australia, to sign the name with him within the next six years, they have to completely get rid of all battery farm chickens. Free range. The animals have to be all free range for their meats and everything like that. So he's making a difference. And if I can do anything to support him to help this cause, then, you know, I'm all in.

Yeah, that guy's amazing and you know even not being you know somebody who is a vegan he's had possibly a larger impact on on animal welfare than any single human being just because of the amazing healthy example than pretty much any company yeah yeah he's amazing and now you're making nutrition videos on his youtube channel right i saw a couple. I saw your date smoothie one. What did you call it? Data Raid. Data Raid.

I kind of ripped that from a durian rider. From durian, yeah. But he's all about promoting the message. I know he doesn't care about that. There are other vegans that if I stole a name, they might be a bit. When you were in Thailand, did you go to see durian rider? No, I didn't. But I met him at Woodstock Fruit Festival.

Oh, you did? Oh, you went to that last year. If you ever get a chance, any of you vegans that I know about that, I'm going there again this year. Oh, you're going this year? I'm going to be a special guest there. I'm going to do a talk and I'm going to teach parkour. I had Michael Arnstein invited me to come this year. I don't know where I'm going to be able to go.

I listened to that podcast. Oh, you did? Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a cool guy. I mean, he runs that and he's cool. Yeah, he's great. If you get a chance, man, it's good vibes out in nature.

It's really nice. It's good. How are you with great. If you get a chance, man, it's good vibes out in nature. It's very nice. It's good. How are you with the raw vegan? Do you try it often? 80-10-10? Yeah, I mean, I don't. Oh, the 80-10-10? I've never gone full bore into that.

And it's interesting because I've talked to a lot of people that are having great success with that. Obviously, Michael Arnstein, Durian Ryder. I don't know if he's like there was all that success with that obviously michael arnstein um durian rider i don't know if he's he's like there was all that controversy with that i don't know what's going on there but even mac danzig yeah is he still doing it uh because he was super into it he had just started it when i had him on the podcast he was like he said he was feeling great yeah he said he drifts out of it but he does it for like months at a time and he feels so much better just on so much fruit just mangoes and oranges right and yeah i know i feel better when i do that it is it is key and i think we'll get there as you know the whole world is slowly drifting and the more people there are in that

community the more it makes it easier for vegans to step over to raw vegan and the thing is there's a lot of raw vegan cuisine that's really fancy coming out and i think that's kind of missing the point you know right i do this to try and simplify my life and i'm going to enjoy like i said it's a process i'm still enjoying being vegan and going to these fancy restaurants but i know where i'm aiming for and i know i'm gradually getting there and it is raw veganism it is whole foods is a simple lifestyle even though you're eating a lot of the time but you don't have to cook anything you don't have to prepare these fancy raw cuisines you know you can just get by and then i think we use food the way we use alcohol this is the way we use drugs you know the way we use burgers and things it's kind of a numbing thing you know and right that's why fasting is important i've not done much

fasting i want to do more of that meditation well it's, it's all a process of really getting in touch with how much we use food to manage our emotions or to repress our emotions. And in order to really sort of get an objective viewpoint on that, you have to try a fast or change your diet sufficiently enough where you can feel those trigger points like, Oh, why am I craving this right now? What's going on with me emotionally? That's, that's making me feel this way. And, you know, journaling over that or exploring that and getting in touch with that. That's, that's the way that you can really sort of use it to grow. You can see yourself from the other side. Then when you try, when you make a change and you look back or you slowly get back into the old habit and you start to yeah you realize the trigger points because it's really i mean it's so much more than the food it's about um you know the food is a step in your growth evolution process and i think there are a lot of people get so caught up in the food part of it and it just kind of stops there

but i look at it like you clean up your diet and you start doing this so that you can then develop a greater relationship with yourself. Sort of cultivate this, you know, increase in your vitality and energy so that you can then channel it in a healthy way with a healthy relationship with yourself. And I think if you don't sort of step into that aspect of it, you're stunting your own personal growth. Yeah. And I mean, it's OK to have spiritual plateaus every once in a while, but we are spiritual beings, and we are here for spiritual progression. We come to the earth as a school for us to learn, and you have to really pick up on these things and make sure that you are growing.

I look back to a year ago, and I see a few things I did then, and I go, right, no, I am growing. Because sometimes you beat yourself up. You think, I've not changed that much. These things I want to work on, I've not worked on them recently them recently but it's a juggling act and you've just got to make sure that every time you get better like you're gradually getting getting somewhere and it's open you've got to accept the up and down the up and down but as long as you know the average line is going upwards it's all right right when you were at the woodstock fruit festival did you meet

evan rock i did meet evan right did you i. I know. So he's a good friend of ours. He used to date the young lady who babysat our little girls. Cool. And so he would come over to our house, and Julie would teach yoga to him, and we got to know him quite well. And he lived nearby here. Cool. And he would ride his bike by on the weekends, and he's probably listening.

So hey, Evan. Yes, hey, Evan. I know. He's an organic athlete kid, and he's just a friend of our family, right? Cool. And I didn't know that he—we had spent three years living on the north shore of Hawaii last year on an organic farm, and he would call me and say, I'm looking for the next thing I want to do with my life. I'm not sure yet.

I'm really interested in what you guys are doing. And we ended up not staying, we came back, but he was, I could tell he was already starting to think about how he wanted to change his life. And fast forward to, I guess, about four or five months ago, he quit his, he had a really, you know, good career as a, he worked in commercial real estate. He did very well financially and all of that. And he just, you know, I would run into him at Whole Foods at lunchtime. And he would be in his suit and tie, but he'd have an entire watermelon out. I've never seen him in a suit and tie.

Yeah, I know. So that's the way he was working in his suit and tie, right? Which is hard to imagine knowing probably the context in which you know him. And he would joke like all the people at Whole Foods know him. They see him, oh, here's the guy who comes and eats a whole watermelon for lunch. Lovely. I love that and now he uh he bought a really sizable parcel of land on the big island of hawaii and he just moved there and he's like building his like he he's been putting up youtube's videos every week he's like clearing the land he already built like a little

house there he's got some people living there with him and he just wants to create this like conscious community there he invited me out oh did he that's why I want to be to LA and then I'm close to Hawaii I do think that's the next step at some point in my life yeah so it's almost like careful what you asked for you like go 80 10 10 you start going like off the off the grid yeah ironically enough I actually used to work in commercial real estate yeah yeah but the point the reason i brought that up is because i love evan and i love seeing how he's evolved you know and it's because he made a conscious

decision about you know the sort of the foods that he was eating and that changed his perspective and his consciousness about how he wanted to live his life and what was important to him yeah and he's made a radical change in how he's living he's pulling like a henry david thoreau you know by going out and like you know sort of living off the land i really respect that but my only qualms for me is i can't disappear too i feel i've got a responsibility to remain relevant and remain about and remain a voice and maybe i shouldn't feel that but that's how i feel right now leaving london to come here you know i'm there's starting to be a community there they're starting to grow a scene i'm you know should i stay there and like be that positive energy out

in there and help infiltrate and grow that that there or you know or do i just leave it and be like you know what i need to charge my batteries i'm going to come here for a bit. I think my, my destiny is pointing me in this direction. Listen to your heart. Yeah. The answer is there. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think you can live in the world. You don't have to exempt yourself from modern society. And I think that you're in a rare and fortunate position where you have the ability to, you know, influence young people and that carries a responsibility with it. But that's also a gift. That's a beautiful thing. And to see you out there putting a positive message out

is awesome, you know, and I think we need more young people like yourself. I think I can get more of a voice from LA as well, to be honest. Yeah, for sure. And more backing from the right, like-minded people. Like, thank you for this, you know. For sure.

So Venice. And you just, why don't you just stay or you're yeah summer always gets busy for me and i get a lot of work traveling around the world and my base isn't it'd be too hard to open shift base right now from where i am but i'm gonna wait till the summer's over and then october i'm probably gonna move out somewhere like studio city or something i don't not quite venice but around there so i can train with travis you can leave some stuff in my garage there we go you can start start the move now i'm ready for you yeah just missed that flight the gym set up and the whole thing that's great we're gonna train hard it's gonna be beautiful we got a positive message we're gonna send to the world so yeah i like it so travis we were at this party last night and uh and julie handler came up to you and she,

she wanted to talk to you about how she could perfect her handstand. And you guys had a really interesting conversation where you were basically saying handstands are really about fear. Like if you could do a handstand against the wall and kind of balance yourself for a couple seconds and you can probably do it. And what screws people up is that fear of falling or what's going to happen. And, and I think that's really relevant to, you know, Tim, what you do and, and how you kind of approach these sort of extraordinary athletic feats and do it with a self-confidence and, and sort of grounding in the present. And, and that, so what interests me about that is your relationship to fear, like how you confront it, how you deal with it,

how you walk through it or how you put it out of your mind yeah it's not putting it out of your mind because it's definitely there for a reason it what i say to people with handstands is practice on a soft ground like grass falling over your fear is of falling over so go fall over somewhere that you're comfortable falling over and you realize that it's not really that big a problem often what you don't see with freerunning is we've we've fallen off a lot on uh maybe four foot off the ground three foot off the ground we've tried to make a jump and we've fallen back from it and we've worked out how to save ourselves how to catch ourselves so when we're high up if the same thing happens

we kind of have that faith that if it's not going to work out there's this backup option or there's and and that's what it looks like just some reckless guy hurling himself across but it's very calculated there's you know there's backup options there's other things involved in it and i think it's very much it's quite like it it's like heart intelligence you know it's that confidence that comes comes with the training that gives you the ability to apply it and have the fear there, but then go, no, you know what? I'm all right because of this. I think also what people probably don't realize, or at least consciously realize, is that when you go out and do these things, that is the evolution of many, many, many hours of practicing over the years.

practicing over the years and, and these tiny incremental sort of increases in the distances or the heights that are almost probably imperceptible to you. But, you know, if you're doing some, you know, jump or whatever it is, you know, and you're 30 feet off the ground, you've probably done a million at, you know, 28 feet and then a million before that at 26 feet. So, so, but by the time you're at that 30 feet it doesn't feel any different than it did eight years ago when you were three feet off the ground well that's that's exactly right you know it becomes the same thing another thing is when you are higher and you still i mean there's a innate human thing about you looked at we're scared of heights and loud noises right they're two inbuilt fears so when you stood in a high bone you look down and it is scary but

then when you back up to do the jump you're not actually on the edge you're not looking at the drop you're just focused on the landing area and you know just making it across but when you are there and the thoughts come to you you could die right you have that thought i like there is a scenario right now because if you're if you're just walking outside or something you don't have that thought in your head i could die now because that would be quite mad but when you're up there you think yeah this is a scenario which could cause the death or a really severe injury that makes you appreciate life so much more you know because you've been closer to it and so then for me to feel how that feels or the possibilities there and then cast that onto an animal from knowing how it feels we live in a culture that's so scared of death we're so terrified of

death every day the news all this propaganda fear terrorists we really put it into our brains deeply be afraid of death you might die these things might come it might happen to you and yet we cause that to make a decision three times a day that has an animal why how can you constantly act so afraid of death and then be so hypocritical and be like oh but it's okay because it's food you know we think it's a bypass because it's food but we know now with people like you and you don't need that we don't need it yeah the truth is there now it's coming yeah so uh you left me speechless i'm sorry i'm always quick with it with a response to that but um i mean where is this where is this going for you like where do

you see yourself five ten years down the line with this i don't know i enjoy promoting this message and i can get caught up with it but i i think the vegan thing is really fun for me because i've never felt i've got a wristband i never wear wristbands of like nike or anything this is animal liberation on it like i'm not passionate about any like i've got my own free running team i don't wear a wristband with my team on it animal liberation is important man because it's it's a decision that wasn't about me it's the first decision i made that was like this isn't about me but it benefits me as well what a bonus you know it's about i shouldn't make any decisions in life that take from something else i want to live a simple life

i want to live as gently as possible on this earth if if the bees die out humans will die out within two three years you know you hear that whether it's true or not within so many years we'll go if ants die out we'll die out within five or six years if humans die out what do you think happens to the planet it has a part it'll be fine it'll be fine right better than fine it'd be better than fine better than ever right we are to a degree a virus like this may sound extreme, but on the planet, you know, we cause all these problems. I've got to live a life that leaves as little trace as possible, just as much gratitude.

And I say that as a guy, that I have a leather belt that I still have from before I was vegan. I drive a car which puts fumes into the air. You know, it's a gradual process. My role is to be a free runner and use that gift to promote this message i feel that i've kind of found that that's my current position it may change in 10 years i may want to do be a dj and i'll go be a dj if that's what i'm passionate

about i just follow my passion but for now as the world grows and you've got cars like tesla's coming out and even prius was it was a big start even though people will hate on that as well there's always a reason to dislike something we We're slowly headed in the right direction. And my role is just to be a freerunner and do that. As long as someone else works on the car, making that more ethical, and someone works on this, as a race, a species, we'll get there. And we'll start to live in harmony with the planet. And all diseases will end up disappearing.

So you're optimistic about the future. Oh, man. It's not a matter of hope. It's a matter of time. It's only a matter of time. I was listening to an interview with Shane Smithith who's the guy at vice.com and he's been doing a lot of like pretty incredible investigative work with that organization um uh concerning environmental change and they weren't they like went to greenland and the message that he's coming back with is so like dire almost like it's too late and all of that it's very you know it's very

uh grim and so i always change it overnight if if we wanted if we let the right people take take the charge it's true you know so i struggle with how i you know like i i'm i just got back from i spoke at colorado college last night and uh or the night before and it was amazing to go to a university and go to their cafeteria where they have all this organic produce and locally sourced food from nearby farms some of which they grow on campus and a community of young people that are interested in permaculture and sustainability and environmental change and all of these kinds of things. And then a ton of people showed up for the talk and I ended up hanging out afterwards, talking to all kinds of people, young people. And when I was in college, you know, I'm like twice your age, right? Nobody, there was nobody, I didn't know anybody who was studying permaculture or interested in these

kinds of things. So when I see that and I hear what you have to say, that gives me great hope, you know, it's very encouraging and it makes me feel optimistic about the future. But then I sort of contrast that with what I know about, you know, sort of the typical North American and kind of the way that, you know, how powerful these systems are that are in place that want us to perpetuate, you know, our reliance on fossil fuels, et cetera. And like yourself, I'm not immune from it. I drive a car and on some level, if you,

if you pay taxes, you're complicit in this system because that money goes towards farm subsidies and all these sorts of things that you may not personally, uh, support. So changes come in that you can only do your role is, you know, to be the athlete and promote this message.

And you do your podcast and you have your books and you promote completely the right message. That's your role in this planet as long as you die knowing that you did what you were here to do that's fine someone else is working on the oil issue someone else is working on infinite energy and all those things and they'll be suppressed for a bit and i'm sure they have been but it's going to come to light eventually there'll be a there'll be like radical change needs to happen who the right you say the people at college you know working on these projects and it's only it's going to happen and i can only do my part that i'm here to do right now and and if if it

does fuck up in the future so like that's you know don't take life too seriously i've done i've done what i'm here to do you know i could worry about all these things but i don't have any knowledge on that i have no passion to learn about that i know they exist i know problems are happening it's not my calling i'm afraid and i love hearing inspirational stories of people changing it i will support them and you can you vote with your pounds so try and give money to you know vegan restaurants i do big tips so if you have one invite me down i'll give you a big tip because i'm supporting those things you vote with your money and so long as you do as much as you can at the moment and you're spiritually progressing

we'll be okay otherwise animals will have a fun world without us it's easy to get overwhelmed because there are too many problems and I think what you said was very astute which is find that one thing that you can kind of contribute

and you can't do everything and if you start to think that way you just become paralyzed it goes back to the self realization followingization of, you know, following your, your passion and what you're supposed to be here on the world floor and look internally to find that. And I think that's, that's the key. And I also think that's something that most people really struggle with. I think if you ask the average person, you know, what are you passionate about or what is it that you think you're here to do? You know, I, I i just know because personally i

was in this position before like i don't i didn't know how to answer that question i didn't i didn't have a healthy enough relationship with myself to to know what it was that made me feel passionate that's why you're an inspiration though because what age did you turn it around you were like right but i mean you you're somebody who's fully you know in your passion and you're you're you know you know you're very clear on on what you believe in and what your message is and so to somebody who's listening out there who may be struggling with these things i mean what how can you kind of give somebody some inspiration to you know find what that thing is for themselves i think you said it earlier when you said

kids kind of know what it was they wanted to do. And you kind of have to reconnect with that in a child because there is somewhere that knows what you wanted. Ask your parent. Ask one of your parents, what did you really like to be involved with? And maybe slowly drift back towards that. The most important thing you can do is,

everyone has a gift they have to give, is to find that gift. And it takes a bit bit of searching you have to stop doing what you're doing for a while go find that gift and then when you find it you know contribute to the world in your way and if it's small and it's in a small community and it's your friends around you and your family or whoever you're contributing to that's fine that's your part you know you're spreading pay it forward whatever and and if if you do get a position and voice, you know, people listen to you, you become successful. Like you became successful and now people listen to you

with the running that I am in. And I did it with free running. I wasn't vegan at the time, which is kind of a shame because I would love to use that platform. But like I said, I don't agree with competition anymore. So I'm just using, you know, what I've got at the moment from that you know you don't have to be a world champion for people to listen to you can just be but you're still making influence that's what i mean i remember

i was watching the uh the last red bull art of motion and you were one of the judges and every time they would cue the video to the judges you had a piece of broccoli or some piece of fruit just a fruit or vegetable that he was eating and i was like that that's awesome you know like it's kind of like how people people you know see that yeah it changes people's thoughts it's like uh do you follow steve-o's instagram yes so steve-o yeah he's well he's always like lying on a giant bed of produce you know or he he like puts himself inside the refrigerator with all this like produce what a guy right it takes some time to go that far to the other side to come back and realize you know this is life is made by helping others you know you're kind to

others that's where the happiness comes from and that's what i want to do is and every time you know a kid messages me saying i've helped them i always make sure i reply and say that's great that like not for me i'm not there's no ego boost to me saying, oh yeah, I'm helping people. It's like you helped yourself. Something within you recognized what I said was truth and you went and did it yourself. So that's not, it's nothing I've done.

You've done it yourself. You just let the connection be made. But you can accept thanks for being, you know, on some level a catalyst for that. Of course, but that isn't what drives me, but it's just nice. It keeps you going. Of course. Oh, it's incredibly motivating to get those kinds of emails. And I think, you know, really what I always try to say is, um, you know, if you're not happy with how your life is going or you're feeling stuck or you're not sure,

you know, what it is that you're supposed to do, you have to shake things up and start doing things differently. Cause if you keep just doing things the way that you've always been doing them, you're going to get the same results. Things to change. You have to, you have to shake things up and start doing things differently. Because if you keep just doing things the way that you've always been doing them, you're going to get the same results. For things to change, you have to change. You have to change. And that could just mean changing one thing initially and seeing where that leads you, you know, and trying to stay out of judgment about whatever path that's on and being open to new ideas and new ways.

And that doesn't mean that it's easy because actually it's kind of hard. It might be the hardest thing you ever do, but it's really kind of why we're here. The rewards are so worth it. That's the thing. At the end of the day, veganism can be hard for some people, but the rewards are so worth it. And you have to remember that the only truth you really know is your own experience. You can read science facts. You can read blog posts on for and against every single thing that you want in your life people are going to write good things about your bad

bad habits because they want to sell books and people are going to want to flame and say bad things about you know the things you don't like as well so that it reaffirms things with you but the only truth you know is experience and if you're if you've never tried these other things you never tried yoga you never tried meditation or veganism or or parkour i mean maybe it's not for you but try things experience them and then you realize oh no this is there's a reason people go on about this you know there's a reason this is popular and growing and and it's it's up and coming do you take uh some heat online like do you have like some haters not not too much someone posted a video the other day and it was a short clip on facebook and it was like me starting to say

why i stopped eating meat and then then they cut to a clip of someone going nobody cares and um yeah and that's funny and that's kids and i get it because i was a kid once and i was quick to hate on someone because there's a lot of kids around the world that that get it and so they make a change then other kids in their community flame them because they think they're copying the trend or the following the following what someone popular says and you know that's on them that they can be haters that's all right they'll all realize eventually i think it's i think the world will be from vegetarian in the next hundred years like the injustice can only last for so long and and there And the speed, this is exponentially,

speedballing right now is so much growth. Well, certainly our current system is unsustainable. So something's going to change. Environmental issues is probably the number one reason it will change. Yeah, we're headed, you know, the train is already pulled out of the station in terms of environmental disaster. And we just simply can't continue to produce food

for the billions and increasing billions of people on the planet the way that we always have. environmental disaster and we just simply can't continue to produce food uh for you know the billions and increasing billions of people on the planet we always have no i haven't seen that do you know what that is yes i do yeah i watched the documentary on the other day a 20 minute piece and the guy's quite deadpan in this but he says you know it's a solution he just drinks it every day right and it's every bit of nutrition you need i mean there's no free rides and i think you're missing a lot there's a reason we're supposed to eat plants that are colorful and chew our food and some bad things may come along the way with that but at the same time you know i respect that if they sent this to some countries that need starving countries you could it could

make a difference and people are looking so long as people are looking for a solution or looking in the direction the truth will be like i'm over here and it will come about how do you feel the question which i'm sure you get all the time which is you know what's wrong with paleo like why don't you eat the paleo yeah yeah because Because strength shouldn't take, it should build up, not build down. And as long as you're killing animals, there's no, that's not strength. That's not a real warrior.

I don't think warriors, you know, they're considerate, they're compassionate and they, they respect animals are so innocent. Like we laugh at the innocence of a child, but when the innocence of an animal, we manipulate it,

we take advantage of the innocence of animals because they can't speak our language you know we we think they're here for us to eat and they're not they have their own purpose for living and just because our human brain and our ego can't comprehend why a cow sits in a field over there that doesn't mean that it's there for us to go and eat and you know paleo they want to be strong but it's very selfish it's very i want to be strong because i want to be bigger because i want to be better you know it's like how about you can do that but you can live in a compassionate way in kind way well i think it brings up issues of of of what the definition of masculinity is and i think that there's this sort of cultural perception of masculinity as being you know sort of super, super, you know, strong and aggressive. And any kind of demonstration of compassion is considered weakness.

When I think if you look back through history at the greatest leaders of all time, they were all actually very compassionate people. They were firm and very masculine, but they understood when compassion was in order. And that's what distinguished them from average to being great completely they and that's what people don't get and that's what people are starting to realize now you know and as more you know whether this is the first time people hear veganism is from me or i'm the second or the third it adds up you know if someone hears it and they're like no that's you know complete bullshit

i'm not gonna listen and then maybe someone in the family becomes or the friend and they're like whoa okay but still don't agree and then you know they'll hear it from a few sources and they'll start to because i've thought about this so much i've thought about every argument for and against and i've been in every discussion for and against and like you yourself you get it right it's the it's the truth that's why we're here that's why we do this and you know life is it we're here to serve others and if you're here in the service of death and negativity then you know that's not the right thing i'm here to serve life and the light and positive and truth and you can't eat meat and serve life like that's fundamental i know 200 years ago we didn't make that connection now what people did you know

einstein was vegetarian and he talked about the evolution of human consciousness will come when we all adapt to vegetarian diet and he was he's a very smart guy and i think we're all starting to realize yeah you can't really be compassionate and spiritual and know yourself that much if you still want to take lives of others for you you we're not we don't have more importance than other animals that's what i'm trying to represent i like that also a big influence on you is russell brand right you nailed it thanks for bringing him up yeah i love that guy i can't wait to read whatever he writes in his videos i am endlessly entertained and enlightened the compilation i made of his i

watched part of the one where he's reading the news truths yeah yeah i watch that every day i made a compilation of russell brand because he does a lot of interviews that go unnoticed all the main commercial msnbc when they get noticed he does a lot of underground ones that on like conscious tv guy tv that go unnoticed where he speaks a lot of spirituality a lot of truth speaks about vegetarianism he's a he's a vegetarian himself mostly vegan he has honey and eggs sometimes he says but um i made a compilation it got nearly 700 000 views now he's tweeted it like three different times and it was about him talking about you know love is all that matters and you know you feel happier when you're being kind to others and it's a compilation of all these nice

quotes from him i think what people don't realize is that he's exceedingly intelligent he's an incredible writer and he's extraordinarily articulate and when he's in a debate with somebody on television or when he's speaking his truth in his mind it's captivating to watch but people want to spin it and they think it's just fancy words and he's not carrying it out it's not his role to be like i'm saying that's not his role is to draw attention to it his role is to call to arms people like me and you who can listen to him and understand him and be like i'm inspired by this guy let's keep doing what i'm doing his role isn't to be like oh here's the solution let's do this that's no he's only one man he's just there to he's pulling covers you know to get people to think about things I think the last thing

that I tweeted out that he wrote was a piece on addiction that he wrote shortly after Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away that I thought was just so beautifully written he has a facility to extract the truth out of some of these situations

in a way that most people can't. Yeah. I love reading his stuff. He's great. He sent me a message. Oh yeah. He's seen some of my free running stuff.

Oh really? I'm looking forward to meeting him. What did he say? It was like an Instagram videos with one of my friends and he was like, Tim, you're free running. I'm going to free run, come free run up and down my legs and went down my mind.

He's like, he's quite a funny guy. Um, but yeah, that's going to be, he's a very big inspiration. I'm bad. People think he's like he's quite a funny guy um but yeah that's going to be he's a very big inspiration and people think he's all this material sex driven guy but he's he's you know he's really finding his true self now and he's been completely sober from drugs and alcohol for 11 years and like we said with steve-o and that he's he was a heroin addict and he's gone that far down and it makes you see the depth of which you can go and it's the pendulums the other way he's come so far in the other direction yeah i mean it's easy to take

a swing at a guy like that but it's i have a tendency to invest more faith in people that have lived on you know the dark side and have come out the other side and i respect his transparency about that and his willingness to talk about it because he knows that if he's open about it that he has the opportunity and the chance to help somebody else and he's found that's kind of his thing now he's he's he doesn't want to be like the the mayor of england or i don't even know what the prime minister prime minister yeah that's the word you really you've been in la too long and you're already getting soft president yeah um but his role isn't that his role isn't to speak on environmental issues he just knows there's a problem with the environment his role is now he's finding it now it's in the addiction thing it's to show that addiction isn't it shouldn't

be illegal it shouldn't be a legal issue at all it's a medical issue these people just need a bit of love and a bit of care and not to be treated like they're doing something wrong because then that pushes them away and it makes them think it's a taboo and they hide themselves in a dark corner and it just gets worse and spirals out of control he's saying it's a medical issue give them some love speak to them like a human what's the problem let's try and help you find a solution and he's realized yeah that's just where he can speak on it because he's come from that place right yeah it's cool for people that are listening that are kind of interested in this idea of of eating a plant-based diet but they're not quite there yet i mean what are what are the kind of things that you usually say to somebody to try to help them

take that first step yeah it's a process i mean often one is pescatarian i did that for like a week or two weeks and then there was within the first six months there was the odd time i'd have a bit of fish every now and then when i was with someone and i had a girlfriend at the time who was didn't she was still eating fish and i'd eat a bit of her plate and and accept the process you know it's a lot of work the society's brought us up one way to undo that overnight it's hard some people are strong-minded and if i wasn't so accept the process you know it's okay go pescetarian just cut certain meats out of your diet gradually go down just add fruits and vegetables don't feel guilty eating 20 bananas in a day it's okay to do that like that way you'll really start to see the difference

eat nuts instead of crisps you know slowly there's transition foods hummus was a good one for me hummus and bread if you normally have sandwiches with cheese and stuff. Use hummus and bread is delicious. Like find a few vegetables in there as well. It's okay to like eat unhealthy, but vegan get particular peanut butter, have loads of peanut butter sandwiches, peanut butter, jelly. Just to act,

to acclimate to sort of as a bridge, as a bridge to step over, to begin, go vegan for breakfast, then go vegan for breakfast. And for lunch, there's one called V till six or something. Yeah.

Mark Pittman's book. Yeah. And so just, it it's not that hard like if you take it one day at a time and you do do vegan breakfast lunch and then at dinner you eat whatever you normally eat slowly from those breakfasts and lunches you realize what foods in the vegan category you like and then you can start applying that to dinner and you really i've never enjoyed food i used to love i used to come to la and eat in and out every single time i used to love lasagna and carbonara and i've never enjoyed food as much as i do now since i've been vegan because it's you know it's it's a whole you're like wow you can that's the thing that people have a hard time like wrapping their brains around or believing yeah i remember how like during the headlights i was at first but yeah now it's so

rewarding we talked about this at cafe gratitude late uh yesterday like you know now it's great that there's a bunch of you know great tasting vegan restaurants but before that you know it was the comparison of like oh this you know meat or this other type of food tastes so much better but my always argument was yeah it tastes good for like the two bites that you have and swallow it but like you feel like you know like like ish the whole rest of the day versus like now the vegan food tastes just as good in my mind going down. And then like the whole rest of my day, I feel incredible, you know, and that even that argument, even if it doesn't taste, you know, just as good, I would rest of the hour, the rest of the hour of

the day is totally completely worth it. As opposed to you having to go take a nap because you had like too much steak in like a beer you know like i've never left cafe gratitude with somebody because i bring people there all the time where they went i'm not going back there like every yeah every person was like that was an incredible meal and people from all different kinds of walks of life and diet one of my favorite things to do is bring an out-of-town straight to cafe gratitude these pioneers that were doing it before cafe gratitude exists man rock on to them because they had a tough time i'm i feel blessed that i'm in a time where i can speak on veganism and people get it and people will listen to me people that saw it this way 20 years

ago man they must have had a tough time and i have so much respect for them carrying on with it i mean once you're there you don't have much choice but they carried on with it and um and here we are today with restaurants like Cafe Gratitude, which is great to bring people in, transition them in, you know. Try something new. Go find a vegan restaurant. There's an app called Happy Cow.

Really good app. Any country I go to, any city, put in Happy Cow and you can choose vegetarian, vegan, or just vegetarian friendly. And then it comes up with anything. It comes up with a distance away. It gives you a map.

You can ring the place. You can open the hours. They're all all there and just try something new go to these places you know and they're very welcoming places vegan restaurants are so welcoming this is a good vibe yeah one of the things i always say to people too is is you know don't judge yourself because you're gonna you're gonna screw up you're gonna make mistakes and if you're too hard on yourself you'll just say well that was too hard too hard. I'm not going to do that. Like, forget it. And just understand that you're a human being and you're fallible. And, you know, and, and to kind of change habits you've had your entire life is a very difficult thing. And it takes time and to be gentle on yourself and to also look at it. You referenced this before, but

to focus on, on all the new things that you're going to be adding to your diet, as opposed to perceiving it from a deprivation point of view and focusing on the things that you're going to be adding to your diet, as opposed to perceiving it from a deprivation point of view and focusing on the things that you're not eating. You know what I mean? Like, look at it as an adventure. Like you're going to go to the farmer's market and you get all these crazy vegetables that you really haven't experienced before. Or you're, you know, if you don't have a farmer's market, your local supermarket or whatever, and make it into something fun, an adventure yeah sweet potato and dates are pretty like two staples that you can just have bags of dates and just big sweet potatoes

and they'll you're guaranteed to get filled up and they're so delicious especially with the skin on like those are two of my main points i tell people you know fruit vegetables nuts and seeds but sweet potatoes and dates ten bananas you don't have to be a chef either. Oh, I'm from a chef, but you can mess up a vegan meal and you're not going to give yourself food poison. You know, it's cool. All right,

man. Well, we got to wrap it up here, I think, but, uh, that was inspiring, man.

Thank you for taking the time. I have a lot of respect for your point of view and, and your advocacy and all that you're doing to kind of raise the vibration for young people and raise a profile for parkour. It's such an exciting time right now and I'm really encouraged and looking forward to see what you do next. Thank you.

Thanks for this opportunity to speak on it and thanks for this beautiful view we get to do this podcast. Yeah, it's nice, man. Any final thoughts you want to leave for people that are listening who like i said you know maybe you're stuck or they're struggling with diet or their life or maybe just a little more so you're a beautiful person we're all beautiful i'm no different from anyone else i'm just from a small

town in england and i just you know had a bit of compassion and it drove me in life like find that part of you that's compassionate that cares about something and we've all got it in us and just go with the flow you know let life the the best most important people i've ever met in my life sometimes when i just let life flow and i didn't try to control life too much often we try to control life too much but you know if you know what's right and you just sit back a bit life will give you everything you need and i guess in some ways parkour is like a parable of that right like it's a physical power it's a it's a practice in which i mean in some ways parkour is like a parable of that right like it's a physical power it's a it's a practice in which i mean it really has to be you really have to be a master of your mind in order to excel at that and i'm sure that you're forced to you know if not practice

like a strict meditation practice at least to have a sort of you know mind body soul connection that is well developed and and that an understanding of how to kind of be fully in the presence of what you're doing and and i think that there are we serve ripples that that creates waves out ripples out into the rest of your life and how you perceive the world yeah it does it's holistic that everything the diet the training that i do yoga as as well, sleeping, staying hydrated. It all works as one. It's just living in a positive, healthy manner. Cool.

Well, if you ever want to come here and make some crazy video, our house is your house. Thank you, man. Did you guys make it? Did you make a video while you were here? No, I've not had time. And so I'm just trying to meet loads of people. But I realize how many friends I have here that I'll be back.

You guys should make a video together. We talked about it. We're going to do it. Yeah, we're going to do it. We're talking about it. Very excited. We'll get Frank Medrano. Frank Medrano.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Frank, I know you're listening. I'm going to get you on this podcast. I know. Come on, man. Where's Frank? I'll get him. That guy is ridiculous.

Yeah. He does. Yeah, we're on the same team i know cool all right man well thanks so if people want to hook up with you um the best way to do that is uh twitter at timothy sheaf um instagram at timothy sheaf um my website now spirit of tim dot com made that the other day right is that is that the tumblr one because you have two you have one tumblr that chief sheaf right is my tumblr but that's more like of a board to keep nice quotes and things on there you can check that one out as well but yeah twitter i check that every night i deleted it

from i actually deleted twitter and facebook from my phone oh you did yeah i've got instagram on there still that's kind of nice it's not too hectic but the others i just wanted a bit a bit more freedom i still check out my computer but but it's actually really nice you know you realize that's a whole nother subject we could talk yeah well you come back when you move here next year yeah we'll sit down and talk about that um and then on the youtube you have well you have the live wire youtube.com live wire i'm doing more vegan stuff on that and the russell brand edit which i really recommend you check out that um is on there then youtube.com

slash flow is all my parkour content and then there's youtube.com slash stormfreerun which is my freerunning team which is more of my own freerunning

better content I'm putting out and I'm putting out a yoga video on there as well cool sweet alright man well keep me posted

on what you're up to man thank you and I hope you'll come by next time you're in town for sure alright cool alright man thanks much love peace much love plants me posted on what you're up to, man. Thank you. And I hope you'll come by next time you're in town. For sure. All right, cool. All right, man. Thanks. Much love. Peace. Much love. Plants. Namaste. All right, people, that's our show. How'd it go? How about those apples? Let me know in the comments section at richroll.com on the show page and throw a review up on iTunes.

We love that. Thank you very much. If you're inspired by Timothy's message of following his heart, living in faith and being an inspiring example of what a young person can do in this world. And maybe you're thinking you're stuck in your own life or frustrated or not sure how to get off the dime. Well, maybe you might want to check out my new course at mindbodygreen.com. It's called The Art of Living with Purpose, How to Set and Achieve Goals, Transform Your Life, and Become Your Best, Most Authentic Self. So from the path that I've walked the last few years, kind of what I shared in the intro to this episode and the incredible

experiences I've had traveling the world and doing this podcast, I've learned a few things. I've learned some ideas, some tools, some strategies on the subject of how to embrace a new and more fulfilling, personally meaningful approach to life, how to uncover and embrace latent passion, how to transform your life. And again, to tout the theme of this podcast, become your best, most authentic self. And so in this course, I took the best of these principles and distilled them down into an online program, which culminates in a little over two hours of streaming video divided into six modules and 14 sessions. And in addition to that, we have an array of downloadable tools and resources on the fundamentals of transformation, how to properly set a goal, how to erect a roadmap,

how to create effective structures, momentum, community, and accountability, and why people traditionally fail or fall short in their goals or their pursuits and the essential foundational principles and practices behind every successful sustained life transformation. All in all, I think it's a really valuable toolbox that contains the assets required that you need to make changes in your life necessary to become the person you always wanted to and deserve to be. And we all want that, right? So if this feels like something that you might benefit from, then have a look. All right, cool. So that's it with that. The iOS app, we're in the final stages coming soon. I keep thinking it's almost going to be ready. We got a couple of hurdles we got to jump through with the sort of Apple development program. The app is essentially done, but we just have to do a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense before

it gets uploaded into the app store. And again, I will keep you posted on that. So if you want to support the show, you've been enjoying the content, just tell a friend. That's all we ask. Spread the word. Okay. We're building this global audience, the plant power warriors, the plant power revolution. So just mention it. That's cool. If you want to take it to the next level, please, for your next Amazon purchase, use the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com. Buy whatever you're going to buy on Amazon. Won't cost you a penny extra. Amazon gives us a little bit of commission change, and we love that.

And that is helping us keep this thing going. And it's helping me pay Tyler, my son, to produce the show. So in the spirit of entrepreneurialism, another theme of this show, that is good for Tyler and you can feel good about supporting him. So thanks for that. Go to richroll.com for all your plant power provisions. Throw an image up on Instagram of you listening to the podcast. We love that. Tag it RRP or Rich Roll or Rich Roll Podcast. And that's it. We got a bunch of great shows lined up already in the queue for the upcoming weeks. And I'm excited to share all of that with you. So have a great week, you guys. And let's see how you can expand. Send me a Twitter message or a Facebook message and let me know something that you did this week that you never did before, something that scared you, something that expanded your own personal horizons. So I'll look forward to hearing from you guys on that note, and I'll be back again with you guys next week. Until then, peace, plants. Thank you.