Well with Arielle Lorre - 146: How to Transform Your Life with Meditation with Janoah van Kekem

Episode Date: December 27, 2021

In this episode I am talking to meditation expert and teacher Janoah van Kekem about how meditation transformed his life, why it’s so beneficial and how to begin. We discuss how he overcame demons including hard partying and aimlessness and found vedic meditation; what meditation is and what it is not; how to find the discipline to do it consistently (which is, of course, the hardest part!) and so much more.   www.Gomacro.com with code BLONDEFILES for 30% off plus free shipping on all orders over $50. www.Keanhealth.com with code BLONDE for 20% off your order. www.Ritual.com/BLONDE for 10% off your first three months. www.Thehydrojug.com with code BLONDE for 10% off your order.   Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Sonderger Go to your Reisadviceor Orsoniccats. The following podcast is A Dear Media Production Hey, welcome to the Blond Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lori, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits.

I know there is so much information out there, so I'm here to help you navigate it all and live your best life. Thanks for listening. Let's get into it. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I have a really good episode for you today. all about meditation. And if you are somebody who glazes over when you hear the word meditation, or you think, like, I know it's something that could be beneficial, but it's not for me. Or you want to do it, but you just don't know how to start. This episode is for you. So I'm talking to Genoa Van Kikam. He is a meditation teacher, Vedic meditation, which is what I do as well. And I really love talking to him because we have kind of similar backgrounds. He was kind of a party guy.

His life was a little bit aimless and empty before he found meditation. And of course, I share that in common with him. And our stories are very different, but the feelings are very much the same in a lot of ways. So he gets into how meditation changed his life and the benefits of it and how to do it. And he's not what you would think of when you think of a meditator. He doesn't, you know, wear a white robe or anything like that. He very much looks like a regular guy. he's very devoted to his meditation practice and to teaching it to other people because of how positively it impacted his life and really changed his life. So two things that I really took away from this episode. One was how to have the discipline to meditate. This is something that I struggle with. I'm pretty good with my morning meditation, but there are periods of time where I kind of fall off a little bit. And I asked him how he stays consistent, how he stayed consistent from the very beginning because I know that that's such a common struggle. The hard part isn't meditating. The hard part is having the discipline to do it every day. And then he also kind of changed my perspective when it comes to

why we meditate. So I know that the purpose of meditation isn't to sit there and clear your mind. I've learned enough through my own practice that that's not what it's about. But sometimes I can get off in the weeds a little bit with it and I can feel kind of overwhelmed and I can judge my practice and all of that. And he said that especially with Vedic meditation in particular, it's a laundering process. And it doesn't matter if you feel like you are transcending while you're meditating or if you even feel calm when you're meditating or clear. It's a laundering process. It's laundering the accumulation of stress out of your mind and your body. And that then helps you be more clear and focused throughout the day. So that was something that really helped me because I feel like I've been in a little bit of a meditation. RET where it's just something that I check off my to-do list every day. And I don't know that I'm really benefiting from it. But when I think of it in those terms, like, oh, I'm doing this to dispose of this residual buildup. I'm laundering my brain. Then it really helps me to, like I said before, have that discipline to sit down and do that because it's ultimately doing a service to

myself and probably those around me because I'm more pleasant to be around. So, So with all of that said, I will stop rambling and get to the episodes that you can learn from Genoa yourself. He's also a meditation teacher. He does things virtually. So if you're interested in learning, you can go to his website and find out more information there. And I hope you enjoy the episode. Okay, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to talk to you.

Great to be, Ariel. Finally, glad we're finding out to make it happen. Yeah, for everybody listening, this is now our third. time attempting to do this. Completely my fault. But, you know, whatever, it was just not meant to be in the past. I guess it's meant to be now. So go with the flow.

I was thinking before this, I'm like, his meditation practice probably helped him, you know, not react so negatively to my meaning to reschedule the past two episodes or the past two attempts. Yeah, a big part of something that I used to always be is very like controlling and attached to things looking a certain way, like, okay, the timing of this and this had to look like this. And so something that has shifted definitely is me being more adaptable and okay with things, not like going to plan as such and then not being like angry at someone or shitty because life happens and just sort of allowing that to be it. It saves so much energy that you waste in

your mind getting grumpy or shitty or frustrated or whatever it is. So yeah. It really does. So I want to rewind and hear all about your story. I've heard you on a couple other podcasts, and I don't know if you know any of my story, but we do relate on certain points. Like I am a former party girl to an extreme, though. I'm now sober. I've been sober almost eight years because it nearly killed me. I mean, I was a hope to die, alcoholic and drug addict.

And now I'm very into meditation. I do transcendental meditation, so similar to you, but you do Vedic, right? Yep. And I think it's so hard for people to see me now and reconcile what I used to be like. I mean, it's such an unusual trajectory, I think, to take. Although, maybe not that unusual because I do know a lot of people in recovery and just people who have kind of turned their lives around. And they did find a more spiritual life.

And they found fulfillment in that way. But maybe you can just kind of introduce people to who you are, what you do now, and what you were like before as well. Sure. So prior to me, learning to things. meditate and then obviously starting to become a teacher. I was like the anti-spirituality guy. I was really, really not open mind. And I thought, you know, if you said to me, go meditate, I would have told you, you know, it's some weird hippie shit and not doing a fucking cult,

blah, blah, blah. And so that was my mindset around any kind of personal development. At the same time, sort of similar, I was, I never passed the point where I was like stuck in a, in a hardcore addiction, but I was pretty bored. So from age of 18, I went straight to hospitality. And that introduced me into the sort of, you know, quote, unquote, the dark side of alcohol and drugs. And because I was working in the industry, like, you could work on it. So there was no break, I didn't have to go to work and, you know, on a Monday at 9 o'clock

and stop. So you'd recover the next day by getting back on it. And that just created this program of how I operated. And I operated very well on it. And I sort of always became known as the party guys as well. and but it was destructive, you know, the way I treated, you know, the people I loved and family members and friends and became very self-absorbed. It was just all about partying. So it was drugs and alcohol. It's how I operated for years. And I also had pretty severe anxiety and that was,

you know, I also helped with the drinking would numb any of that, you know, the uncomfortable feels that we wanted, didn't want to feel. I was also pretty directionless. Like my, my highlight was getting fucked up. Like that was all, that was all it was for me. And, um, And I always had this knowing. I'm not sure if you, you know, had a similar thing that there was something better or more. You know what I mean? Like I sort of had this thing. I was like, and it's kind of fun and whatever.

But I was like, is this it? You know? Like there was that kind of knowing, but I had no idea what that looked like. What did it mean? Was it make more money? What was it? Like, tried to chase more girls. That was my, I had no idea what I was doing.

And so it was, I sort of, I dabble. all to a few different things. So what I was, you know, in hospitality, I managed a bar for a while. And I ended up studying two degrees in that time. And one of them ended up leading me to, so I grew up in Adelaide and South Australia, which is the bottom part of Australia. And I ended up, I went for this, I finally had this moment where I was like, this environment I'm in was, was unhealthy.

And I had a really good mate of mine, my best mate, actually. He sort of, he was the, I mean, he might even remember the conversation, but it was just, you know, those people in your life that love you enough. to say something to you that could cause you to tell them where to go and then totally, you know, damage that. And he pulled me up and he's like, mate, just the way you're behaving, like, you're hurting people and this and that. And that kind of for me was a little bit of a trigger. And I was like, oh. And that was kind of catalyst for me to shift into, I left the industry and ended up working as a tradie.

So landscaper, just healthy. I was up in the morning, working hard, physical. And it was great. And then I finished my degree. And then I moved to Sydney. And then I went into corporates. And then I was in my suit, you know, on the bus, I read out of work, read my newspaper on the suit, having breakfasts behind the computer, that kind of lifestyle. And I didn't, I'll last for about a year because that wasn't me. I was like, and I still, still quite heavily drinking and partying, still had that in me, but not quite as destructive as it was, but it was still who I was. It was a big part of my identity. And then I moved to, move back into the alcohol industry, but this time working for an alcohol company. I was in them for seven years.

and over that time is actually funny enough when things started to shift. You'd almost look at it and go, oh, you're working for an alcohol company. How did that help you get into meditation? And by pure coincidence, one of my first clients, they were meditators. And it was Vedic meditation that they did. And they were just open about it. They were like, yeah, we meditate.

And they were really creative people. And I was really attracted to them. They were like, they owned a cafe and a restaurant and a power company. I was like, who are these people that are operating this high level? when they still drank wine and, you know, ate meat. And I was like, but they're not these weird hippie, you know, whatever it is kind of people that I had in my mind. And that was the first moment for me where I was like,

is meditation more around performance and being creative as opposed to becoming this woo woo, you know, airy fairy kind of person. And then I went into a podcast spiral of Tim Ferriss in particular. And there was obviously themes there around anyone in high performance tend to have some kind of meditation or mindfulist practice going on. And that were the two catalysts for me to sort of go, oh, okay, is there something more to meditation than the idea that I'd created for myself? And I learned. And as you remember, because you obviously

learned, you know, the similar technique when you rock up to the ceremony, you know, you rock up with your fruits and your flowers. I was like, what am I doing? It's so, it's so interesting. I mean, I can relate to so much of that. But your experience of seeing something and somebody else that you were attracted to rather than hearing it be promoted. Like there's something in recovery that I think of a lot that's attraction rather than promotion. Like for me, when I got sober, I went to all the doctors, all the therapists, all the specialists. They told me all the things that I needed to know. But it wasn't until I saw somebody who had this thing about them that I was like, I want that.

That was when I decided to make the change. And similarly with meditation, I, had heard for years, especially in sobriety. It's a big part of sobriety. How important meditation is. And I was like, yeah, yeah. And it wasn't until I started seeing people around me who I really admired and had that same thing that you can't really put your finger on. And I mean, there are certain things like high performance, you know, creativity that these people kind of shared. But that was when I decided that I was going to do it as well. So it's really interesting. How long ago was that for you? How many years? That was 2018. So I've been 18, 19, 20, 21, like a little over three years. I've been doing it.

It shows the difference, isn't it, of projection as opposed to almost like being the lighthouse. And a lot of people often ask, like, how do I get someone else to do this? So how do I get a friend to cross with my partner, especially that one? How do I get my partner to do this? It's like, first thing you ought to do is stop trying to force them to do what you want to do. Yeah. Yeah, that was another thing that I wanted to ask you about because I was actually, I tend to get very, like, passionate about things that I am really into and things that have helped me in particular. So, like, I do get a little bit evangelical about meditation. I think I've reeled it in a little bit. But last year, I was talking to a friend of mine and I've had this experience with a few people where I'm like, you should really try. And people always say, oh, I don't know how or, you know, any number of excuses. And I said, well, you know, with TM in particular Vedic, so simple. That's what's so great about it. It's so effortless. And I'm always met with, oh, well, it's a cult. I looked into it and it sounds like a cult. And you had that mindset as well when you were kind of in that spiral, that lifestyle of partying and drugs and addiction. Like it's almost like, I don't know, almost like a defiance. Can you explain

what that mindset was about that you were so resistant to something spiritual or meditating? So there was this idea that I had that, and because, to be fair, there had been lots of representations of this where, you know, gurus or spiritual teachers had taken advantage of people. And then also, you know, the idea of communes and cults were always framed very, very negatively. And don't get me wrong, the idea of a cult I'm still not that into. Can I just interrupt you and say my husband's response to this was, that would be the worst cult in the world because they teach you how to do it and then they send you on your way and you don't hear from them ever again. No, right? It's like, off you go. He's like, that's a worst

model for a cult ever. Yeah, I mean, there are some groups of people who practice who I would operate in that kind of way and their little sex of, you know, their little groups and that's fine. Unfortunately, what I feel that does is it damages it for other people because practice itself is the power. Like it doesn't matter. It doesn't, it doesn't care if you're religious or not, whether you know, whether you pray to a God or you believe in the Buddhist philosophy. There's no, doesn't matter about that. And that was the amazing thing for me. I was like, oh, because I also had this, and this sort of leads into the question as well, was that I had aversion to getting too heavily caught up in a religion. So I went to a religious school and I, you know, got taught

as a Lutheran at college. And for me, like, I was fine with religion. got no problem with it. But for me, it's never really landed. I was like, oh, it just doesn't feel like something that I really want to be part of as such. And I felt there was a level of sort of, in summary, there's a level of dogma. And so I just blindly associated spirituality, religion as the same thing. And so that was my big shut off for it.

And also, the next level below that, actually was my, so my dad was always a very open-minded and spiritual kind of guy. You know, he'd burn incense and go out to the outback and work with Aboriginal. and all that kind of stuff. And he's an amazing man. I mean, he'd be really close down. But also, I remember when I was younger growing up, what I thought it meant to be a man

was that you drank beers at the pub, you played sport, you were tough, all that kind of stuff. And my dad didn't really represent those things to me. Now, he's probably one of the best dads you could have had. Now, looking back, and I'm like, you idiot. But at that time, I was at the footy club, and I was like, I kind of wished my dad's at the pub drinking beer

with the other guys. Isn't that amazing, the skewed mentality I had? And so there was a level of, resistance towards him and what that stood for also with him, a level of anger towards him around that because of people are like, oh, your dad's a bit interesting and strange. There's a level of like shame around that. So there's a few different layers to my initial version to meditation and, you know, spirituality and all the rest. And then, you know, the flick was when I learned. It was like, it's got nothing to do with near that. You don't actually have to believe in anything.

You just have to do it. And I was like, oh, this is a. where the power comes from. Like you can get like as you said, you know, you go there and learn. You don't ever have to speak to a sea and teach you or someone by that ever again. And that was what was the big land for me. I was like, oh, okay, all I have to do is sit and close my eyes for a couple minutes every day and my life's going to change and it does. And obviously you've experienced the same. And that's it. You can get as involved as as you like. And so yeah, that was the resistance and then sort of the shift for me and to be like, oh, yeah, I'm in it.

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I had never experienced before. And for me, that was all it took. I was like, I'm sold. me whatever you tell me to do because it was it was such a problematic thing for me so can you talk about your experience learning and then like the shifts that happened subsequently so when i first when i learned for me i remember i'm still sitting there for the first time meditating i was sitting there like saying my little mantra of mine i'm like i'm doing it right what's going on and then you know it was just really confusing for me and then for the first few weeks i was exhausted i remember asked my teacher. I was like, is it meditation supposed to make me more energized and more focused and more focused and creative? I'm wrecked. It's a laundering process. So often people think the

idea of meditation is to suddenly enter the state of bliss every time we're thoughtless and like, oh, it's magic. And as you know, this style of technique is not. It's a laundering process. So we work through the accumulation of stress and tension and fatigue in the body. And so obviously, you know, having an insight into my life, I use my body like an amusement part. There was a lot of lack of sleep, a lot of stress put on it. And so for the first few weeks, I was laundering and I was really, really tired. Because I was like, my body was finally unlocking Teague that it had just pushed through for so long. So I was really, really tired.

I was like, oh, she was like, just let yourself be tired. It's okay. And I was like, okay. So I try to allow myself to rest as much as I could and all the rest would stay off the booze and that kind of thing. And then things started to shift. I was like, ooh, think you. that used to really make me anxious or fired up or angry or react to just now like, okay.

And I was like, wow. And just it was like this was quite a subtle shift to me over time. It wasn't like a smack in the face. Some people get that experience where within a few days are like, wow, the first time I slept for the night forever. And some people, it was a lot more subtle. And for me, it was a lot more subtle over a period of time. And things started to shift and land and my creativity and even the level of the extent

to which I could use my mental capacity started changing. and even my boss at work, he was like, I can tell when you're on and when you're off. And I'm like, yeah, man, it's one of the best things I've actually seen you do. And then often when, and I'm sure you've experienced as well, you get to a point where it normalises. So at first is the contrast. There's the old operating system and then you up level it. It's like, oh, wow, this is the new me. And then that becomes the new baseline and it normalizes.

And often there's when people are like, oh, I think it stopped working. And I kind of did this as well. and then I remember someone's like, ask people close to you what they think. And so I asked my parents, I'm like, do you have changed much? I can imagine their response. What did they say? They were like, oh, yeah, like we can actually say things to you that you don't agree with and you're able to receive it and have a conversation about it as opposed to

because I was very like narrow-minded, ego-driven my way, don't agree with it, you know about it. And I was just able to take things on board, take criticism on board, without taking it personally as someone attacking me. It's like, this is something I've noticed. It just shifted how I was able to learn and relate to people as well. And that just continued going. And that became the point where like all my family now have learned.

I have never pushed it on anyone. A lot of my friends have learned. And because I'm like, this is what I do now. And I'm not shy about it. And I just act and am who I am. And people are like, oh, there's something different about you. And I like it. Can I have what you're having?

And that's kind of how it's, that was the process of sort of shift for me. And it just keeps evolving as you go. If you experienced any resistance to maybe like the consistency in the beginning, how did you get over that? Because I think I know when people will send me messages or ask questions. They're like, I can do it for like a few days and then I stop. And I mean, I've gone through that myself too. Like it wasn't like I started that day in 2018. and I've done two a day, every single day since. And I'm like, perfect. Like, I have gone through patches.

And I actually have gone back to my teacher and I've done like a little tune up when I feel like I'm not quite like getting it. So did you deal with that at all? And what tips would you have for somebody who can't be consistent with their practice? So a couple of things are one is to try to create yourself some kind of, the morning is the most powerful time to do it. And also the one time of the day. should get time back.

Like you have the control over when you wake up. I mean, obviously kids are not, maybe not so much. But on the whole, there's probably more chance if you may to get up a little bit earlier and create something that way. And what I would highly recommend everyone does is create like a morning habit loop. So, for example, every morning,

I have a half an hour block that is just set. It's exactly the same. I don't get up and think about it. Like, do I meditate today? Do I have time? Do I not? Why not have to be at a meeting at 7am? And my routine is, you know, exercise and all the rest.

I get up at 5. And I always make sure that just like you, without question, or for most people would hopefully make time for a shower and have breakfast or whatever you, you know, the important things for you are that you value in the morning coffee. And so I've created this morning loop where I get up, my alarm goes off, I get up, I wash my face, I scrape my tongue, I go to the toilet, like, I don't even think about it.

It's just like boom, boom, boom, boom. I come back, I get comfy, I meditate. Then my reward is after that. I open my phone, like I can't get my phone off airplane mode until I've meditated. I don't have a coffee. I love coffee until I've meditated. And so it's like this little habit work where it's just become this default

where I've, the night before, I know exactly what I'm doing for the first half an hour of my day and just lock that in regardless. Another key, key thing to do is also to really get clear on your why. Like, if you're meditating because you know you should, there's not enough motivation there because you don't always feel motivated. And I'll still wake up some days.

I'm like, I can't be bothered. But I tap into like, I'm a meditator as well, like your identity. You're always going to look to support your identity. And I'm a meditator and I'm a meditation teacher. It's what I do. You know, if you're a sports person, you play sport, you get up and train. You know, whatever it is.

If you're a smoker, you smoke. You make time for a smoker break, right? And to get really clear on like, I'm not to somebody who's trying to meditate. I'm a meditator. And so you're going to behave and look for evidence and opportunities to support that belief, but also then tap into why, like, what is it that you're trying to gain from, you know, investing your time? in meditating? Is it more creativity? Is it less anxiety? Is it better connection with your partner?

Is it more focus at work? You know, is it, you know, feel younger or even more energy, whatever it is. And then also even look at like, what is the life I don't want to live by not doing it? So what could life look like if I just allow this anxiety to continue and just push through it or this temper that I have or my lack of sleep? What does that look like for me in a year's time when I don't act on it? And so you want to have like a motivator behind you of like, a level of like, well, I don't want to experience that, as well as the vision of like, this is why I'm doing it to get towards here. So you've got the both, the identity and then the habit loop and accountability, tell people

and you have more chance of sticking to it as well. So there are a few ways that I've helped myself to stick to it and help others to stick to it as well. I like that last piece that you said, because I think that for so many people and for myself included before I started with this modality of meditation, I was trying different apps and like this and that. but I was so uncomfortable being with myself and with my thoughts. And so I just didn't do it.

And I think it's like you can be uncomfortable either way. You can be uncomfortable staying the way you are or you can be uncomfortable trying something new and like working through that discomfort. Now I always say like I feel like it's my superpower. I feel like in this day and age being able to sit with yourself in silence like and really know yourself. that is a superpower because we're so distracted now and it's so uncomfortable even for me sometimes to to not distract ourselves, you know? And I think that it's just such a cool thing to be able to do.

I never thought like we would be at that point where I'd be like, wow, like being alone in silence, like crazy to be able to do that. If you've actually now to really, really important piece of it there is that we are so disconnected to self and so used to being busy and numbing and distracting ourselves. The body feels like the mind thinks. However, we spend most of our time trying to solve through the thinking and not allowing ourselves to feel, you know, the discomfort of the anger or the sadness or whatever it is. We're like, no, I don't want that.

We just want to stay up here and keep ourselves busy and all the rest. And I think that's also why a lot of people will maybe do it a few times. And they'll sit there and they're like, this isn't some beautiful, blissful, thoughtless state. I feel uncomfortable. Like I feel like I was going to get out of here. I feel uncomfortable my own skin. I'm thinking about these thoughts that are really negative and blah, blah, blah. That is your body like feeling and being aware of itself.

And the way our body's process is by feeling. So it's a really, really, like it is a superpower to be able to sit there and allow yourself to feel and know that that's actually allowing your body to work through and allow these things to move through and out of your body. and even in that look of the sort of the two levels of discomfort as animal nature is also to favour behaviours that we know and have survived in the past and so we will often go back to as you know you and I both know well all destructive patterns and behaviours because they're familiar and comfortable even though they are doing us damage or can cause us pain we'll choose that

over the unknown, which is this new weird meditation thing that you kind of sit there and it feels uncomfortable. You know what's going, you don't quite understand what's going on and blah, blah. So we tend to, due to our nature, go back to the old known as opposed to the unknown, which is innate and all of us to do. But it's like, where do you want to sit? You will step in or not. So when you made this lifestyle shift, I'm sure that some of the things that you were maybe burying when you were like drinking and partying started to bubble up. So what were some of those things that you uncovered and how did you then process them?

So a few things were around like a true lack of self-worth for who I was. So, you know, a lot of the and lack of confidence in that. So the booze, for example, and, you know, the booze and the bags would numb any of that fear or lack of confidence in who I was and showing up is how I wanted to show up. And so a really big process for me

was to do a lot of work on being okay with me for who I am and knowing that the right people will respond and love that and the wrong ones won't. Because the mistake I would make then is I'd have put this front on to try to show up in a certain way and people would be attracted to that front. And then finally when the real me started to see through

and they weren't attracted to that, I had this idea that like, I see that is I'm just not good enough. People aren't attracted me or they don't like me, whatever it is. And all that was was false advertising. It's like putting an ad up for one thing and you go there for that and you walk into the door and you get a totally different experience. Like that's not what I saw on the billboard there.

And that's what I was doing, right? Putting the billboard up of what I thought I wanted people to see. So I was getting people into my world who attracted to that not too truly me. And so when I was able to realize that a big part of that was around that conference piece and to step into, okay, if I can show up as me, know that the people that aren't for me won't be attracted to me and the people, and this is not in relationship necessarily, it's in any way, opportunities, friends, partners, whatever it is.

And showing up as me will attract the people that are right for me. And that's actually been a really big evolution shift over the last few years was also my friend groups. I was really attached to, you know, not losing friends and hanging on to old groups that they weren't serving me anymore out of the fear of like, oh, what does that mean that I'm not good enough if I lose them? And I finally was able to sort of let go and just allow the evolved, I suppose,

and continuous growing version of me to be seen. And at first, like, the friend group got a lot smaller. Then the people started dropping in, who are my people more? And I was like, ah, like, other people are still, like, friends and we're still fine. We're not like we were, but now, people that have dropped in, they love me, not the front that I had to put on.

And so that was one of the big ones for me. It was around that worth piece. That was where a lot of the anxiety came from, right, as well. It was about, like, I used to when I was younger, like, I used to almost vomit from anxiety. That's how bad it would get for me. And it was around the fear of, you know,

being seen, not being good enough for who I was. And so that was, and that's an ongoing, like, I haven't totally. I always say we're not a problem to be fixed, we're just a constant process evolution. And like I'm not fixed. I must evolving, but I'm so much better than what I was before,

which feels so much better as it was well. So that was probably one of the biggest ones for me and also tapping into judgment and control piece around, you know, if someone thought something different to me, I wasn't very receptive to it either because that challenged my. believe system and who I was. And if I was wrong, then what does that say about me? So also the big

things around being a lot more open to other ways of thinking and other approaches to things, which is really shifted the game as well in how I work with people and in relationships. So there are a couple of the key things that shifted when I started to really become so much more aware of me and what's going on. I can relate to that a lot. I always say that like now that I have hindsight and some perspective, obviously, like I can see that a lot of my drinking and drug using was to maintain that facade because I was presenting what I wanted other people to see, not who I authentically was. But in order to do that, I needed the drugs and the alcohol to be able to put that up and be able to maintain that. And when you were saying what you were just saying about that, I had a little bit

of an epiphany. I was like, oh yeah, that's like exactly what I was doing as well. Like I was putting up this facade and then, you know, it was false advertising. And when people would like bounce, because they were like, this is not what I signed up for, I was like, oh, well, it's because me as a person. And it wasn't me as a person. It was just like this discrepancy between what I was presenting and who I actually was. If you are feeling less than 100%, and you can't really figure out what is off. Of course, go talk to a professional first. But then, you might want to check what is going on in your gut. As you guys know, because you listen to the show, your gut health can affect so many different things from your hormones to your mood, to your energy,

sleep, sex drive, so much more. So oftentimes if there's dysbiosis in your gut, it could be affecting these things without you even realizing it. So something that I learned when I was dealing with some issues with gut health many years ago was that if I'm not testing, I am guessing. And so much can be revealed by doing a simple test. So I want to tell you about this new brand that just launched called Keen Health. Although they're a new brand, their parent company has over 17 years of experience in the healthcare industry. And the Keen Health, gut plus test is the perfect tool to take the guesswork out of gut health. So you just do the simple test at home and the result of the test will give you a snapshot of what's going on inside your gut

and give you personalized recommendations to improve your overall health and wellness. So knowledge is power, and by investing in a keen health test, you are investing in knowing yourself better. You can get so much insight into your health with this test. So if you want to try it, you can go to keenhealth.com and you can use the code blonde to get 20% off. So that's KeeneHealth, K-E-A-N-Halth.com, and the code is blonde, B-L-O-N-D-E, for 20% off. There are so many supplements out there nowadays. It can be really difficult to navigate what is right for you and your body. I definitely went through this myself where I was taking so many different supplement pills and just feeling kind of gross from them all the time and really don't think

I was getting any benefits. So a couple years ago, I switched over to ritual and I cannot recommend them enough. I love that ritual's ethos is to fill in the gaps in a diet. So I'm sure everybody listening to this has a pretty good diet, but most of us do have gaps. In fact, over 97% of women age 19 to 50 are not getting enough vitamin D from their diet, and 95% are not getting their recommended daily intake of key omega-3s. So rituals essential for women 18 plus multivitamin was formulated by exhaustive research to help fill nutrient gaps in the diets of women 18 plus. It's formulated with nutrients to help support bone health, brain health, blood health, and provide antioxidant support. But ritual didn't stop there. They invested in a gold standard university-led clinical trial to prove

the impact of essential for women 18 plus multivitamin. And the results were that it was shown to increase vitamin D levels by 43% and omega-3DHA levels by 41% in 12 weeks. And the clinical study was published in the leading scientific journal, Frontiers in Nutrition. And this is a big deal. A published clinical study is huge and a serious commitment to a first of its kind standard in the industry. And I could go on about the science behind it all, which they take very seriously, clearly. But you guys probably just want to know why they're good. Okay. So when I was taking all those other supplements, I felt really sick all the time and something that I love about ritual, which was like such a game changer for me, is that it has a time release so I don't get that like upset stomach feeling after I take them.

And they're also minty. This is a game changer. I don't know if you have had a minty supplement before, but you don't get that funky aftertaste, which is such a deterrent when it comes to taking supplements. So right now, ritual is offering my listeners 10% off your first three months. all you have to do is visit ritual.com slash blonde and you can turn healthy habits into a ritual. Again, that's 10% off at ritual.com slash blonde. What are some ways that meditation benefited your lifestyle like in some unexpected ways? So I think people probably think like, oh, it'll help with anxiety and maybe it'll help with my sleep, maybe creativity.

But are there any ways where you were like, wow, I did not expect it to keep. carry over into this aspect of my life? What meditation has done for me is it's almost been, it's been like the gateway drug for me to opening my mind up to almost everything. Like when I went to meditate, my intention was to be had at the first. I was like, I want to get to sleep less, you know, and work more. That kind of, that kind of thing. It was all about performance.

And what I didn't realize was that it would start shifting. all the decisions I was making in and out of alignment to who I was, if that makes sense. So decisions of whether to say yes to this or no to that or to do this course and like, you know, you talk about like expansion of consciousness. It sounds a bit esoteric and a bit, you know, out there, but it's around awareness. And so what I noticed was that I was able to ensure, make decisions without realizing that were more in alignment to my growth at expansion. And so I look back now, I'm like, wow, all these, you know, and energetically call in people

and experiences that were more in support of where I was, where I was going, right? Because like, when you're in stress and anxiety and you're tired and you're boozed up, you're calling in what matches that. And so it wasn't like I was actively aware of it at the time. I just looked back in the last few years. I'm like, oh, wow. Like, look at all these decisions I've made and coming from a difference. You're literally rewiring your brain, right?

And over 95% of our thoughts, and this is autopilot from the day before. And the nature of those thoughts and my behaviours has just started shifting to become those that are more in alignment with where I, you know, where I want to go for my own growth, but without actually being aware of it. So it's kind of a, it's a weird one. And, you know, you touched on the hindsight piece before is, it's only in hindsight that I can see it now.

It's not just that I, meditation makes me less anxious, more creative, more focused and happy. It's like, every decision I make now is slightly different. And the people I call in is different. I was like, oh, you know, it's multi-layered and the impact you have on others as well. So, like, energy, people are like, oh, there's an energy, babe, which is different. And I'm like, ah, but yeah, that feels good. I think that's an argument for being consistent because there are so many times, at least for me,

where I feel like I reach that kind of plateau. And I feel like, well, is this really doing anything? But then when you see it in retrospect and you get that hindsight perspective, you can see how it was affecting your whole life and how you're in alignment and making decisions, clear decisions and all of that. So that's really helpful. How do you recommend people start? Obviously, you're a meditation coach.

You can help people with this. If people are really struggling and they're just like, I cannot do it, do you have any tips. What I tend to see one of the more common struggles people have is that they, like, they're dabbling with apps. Like, yeah, I do this every now and then. I do that every now and then. And like apps are great. Apps are like, they're like dip your toe in the water and get kind of a taste. but to be like and to be honest like anything like if you want to learn like to surf imagine

you know like or train properly at the gym or you know get your diet properly sorted the best thing to do at the beginning is to be taught by someone who knows what they're doing and that would be my if you're generally serious like something like yeah you know I try to meditate I'm like why you firstly you get clear on are you serious like do you want to really do this or or not and then invest the time and the money into learning how to do it properly. That's actually the biggest thing for me. Like, take that time because as you know, it's a gift that it's not like the teachers, like come back next week and I'll guide you again like a therapist or whatever.

It's like you get taught properly and you don't ever have to see them again. To be honest, that's my biggest thing. It's like take the time to get taught properly. But also know that there are different types that work for. different people. It's almost like exercise, right? Everyone knows that's an exercise, but you might go and start, you know, running long distance and be like, that's not for me. It'd be like someone does that and goes, I'm exercising again. What do you go try a spin class? Maybe try yoga, go for a walk, do some weights in a gym. There are lots of different types of exercise you can do that will work and feel better for you,

similar to meditation. There are lots of different types that you can try that will work better for you. So also, you know, you might have tried one and it didn't work for you, I either get taught properly or try something else until something sort of lands for you because the power is there and it's worth investing the time in it. Just figuring out what works what works for you. I think that money piece is another thing that gets people. Like whenever I've talked about doing meditation, doing TM, going to do the course, people are like they bristle at the fact that they would have to pay any amount of money to learn how to meditate. So can you talk about that a little bit?

Yeah. Remember when I, like, there's always a lot of awkwardness, especially like spiritual, like should be paying, should this thing be, you know, we'll invest like thousands for someone to manipulate our money for us. You know, like CEOs of banks can pay millions of dollars to, you know, to do whatever they're doing with money. and that's a whole different conversation,

but you'll always look at like with money, are you spending it or investing it? And for a lot of us, there's a lot of spending going on. Netflix is a spend, you know, even time, like on social media, it's a spend. You know, buying yourself a fancy handbag,

arguably spend investment that we can go away on that one there. You know, but really look at like, you know, what do you value? do you value your health, do you value your mind, you know, do you value your spirituality, do you value your relationships and what it's worth to you? And then look at like, well, what am I, like, I'm always like a scale, like where am I investing and spending my money and to shift the mindset to this is an investment in your life, in your mind, in your health and shift it that way.

And you can even do the numbers of like, you know, how much money do you, you spend a year on buying coffee. I know how much I spend on coffee, you know, going out and it just becomes a priority, like to say I'm too busy or I can't afford it within reason, granted that, you know, some people might be a stretch, but there are payment plans if you're on it. You could, with a lot of teachers, they'll offer you almost. You could pay a coffee a day to pay it off.

Like I offer that. Like if someone's like, what I can afford what you can afford, there's no barrier anymore, right? But to really be honest with yourself and go, it's not that I can't afford it. I'm too busy, it's not a priority for me right now. And that's taking ownership of it. It's like if it's an actual priority, I'll make it work.

Or it's not a priority and then just own that and be like, you know, right now, you know, learning to meditate for my health, whatever, isn't a priority right now. My priority is, you know, going out at the weekend and spending a grand on booze and dinners and drugs and taxis and then the food and then, you know, the decision you make is, you know, that kind of stuff. Like, gauge it out. So I have quite straight conversations with people around that.

And it's like, well, we've created a society where certain things you're happy to pay people thousands of dollars for. But then there's a question around learning a technique that impacts your brain and nervous system in a way that we then question. So, yeah, that's sort of how I'm kind of cat about that. And I have a mostly female audience and I'm sure most of us would be happy to go drop hundreds, if not more, thousands of dollars on Botox, which lasts a few months. There you go.

Okay, so can you tell everyone about your business and about what you do and how they can get in touch with you and learn with you if they want to? Yeah, so my business is called Mind Maverick. And that all comes from the idea of the sort of the Maverick being like free and thinking in its own creative, powerful way as opposed to, you know, the old conditioning of the masses, which is, you know, the anxiety and the fear and some validation. and I teach to meditations like my lead and I also offer like mentoring and coaching which goes beyond that, you know, around like values and purpose and confidence, things like that.

But for me, like meditations like that lead. Like if you're not open to meditating, we're not going to work together because that's like the nervous system. That's like building a house off a soggy foundation. If you want to build an amazing house with a positive mindset and the confidence, you have a solid nervous system, which is that base. So I really just work on either I teach people meditation. Now, the last two years, it's really had to evolve to mainly being online and then also do some

mentoring as well, which is more of a long-term sort of six to six to 12 weeks. We dive a bit deeper. And so that's what I love to do and work with people. And potentially next year, I might even end. I'm probably going to end up in the States. Amazing. Well, I was going to ask you if, as terrible as the pandemic has been, if it's helped your business at all now that everybody is so used to doing everything on Zoom and, you know,

podcasting with people in Australia and you can have clients all over the world. Have you seen a change after that shift in the landscape? And with respect to people who have had a tough time, the last 18 months or two years have probably been till the best for me in my life. And a lot of people like, yeah, you're lucky. I'm like, no, no, I created this. Like, I left my full-time job and into an industry I had no idea about it. I wasn't in. health and wellness and I created it like it was just the catalyst for me to stop. I had these ideas like I was teaching initially meditation as you know I was always in person. I taught you know I taught in a three day course.

So I teach a little bit. I'm kind of a bit of an outcast of the Vedic community. Like I don't really call myself a Vedic teacher. That's the technique that I teach. But I teach the mind maverick way, which is kind of my way. I'm a bit rough around the edges. You know, you know, I still swear. Like it's sort of, I wouldn't call myself a purist as such.

I have respect for, you know, the lineage and all the rest. but I was teaching in my way. And so I was, you know, teaching the traditional way at the beginning. And I'd have thought about, like, I need to be able to reach more people. I need to do something online and what does it look like. And I literally been thinking about this for like six months, 12 months, never took action on it. Then the pandemic hit. Within two weeks, I turned around and created a whole new course for online and launched it

and had like students in. And one of my highest values is freedom. And it helped me. create a life of freedom. So from there, I literally sold all my furniture and I lived in Bondi and Sydney and I sold everything I owned and everything I had was in the back of my car and I left to move, I was going to move to Melbourne to start a new business with something with another two business partners, which I also have, which is another separate business I have, which is a men's wellness performance business. So the whole idea was to leave and then things changed and the Melbourne

shut down to a lockdown. So I turned around and went up to Byron Bay. So now I live in Byron Bay. And so it just caused like you burn the boat like I had to make things happen and so it was the catalyst for me to be like let's step into making some stuff happen and so I created this on my program I've literally been evolving it for the last 18 months so I teach people around the world you know I teach people here you can do it anytime anywhere you know I am looking to potentially move to California but I feel some of my best mates I want a business partners in at the moment so but that doesn't matter because I can still teach people here and so it's been more. of the better things that's happened for me and my business because it's just given just put a crack

up my ass to like make things happen that I've always wanted to but I'm still just in my comfort of like yeah I just teach on the weekends and make some money here and still work for my job and blah blah blah so it's been great for me to be honest and it's open people's eyes up to be okay with be more remote like even workplaces and out like there's more of a work well the balance is kind of skew because you don't leave work anymore, but that is pretty more flexible. Yeah, I think a lot of things are going to be hybrid moving forward. I don't think everyone's just going to say, okay, we're done with Zoom and remote, and now we're going to go back.

I think it's going to completely change everything from work to education and everything in between. So, well, if you ever come to California, let me know. They do have really good group meditations here, even though it's not a cult, but they do the group ones. And it's really cool. So where can everybody find you? So I'm mainly active on just Instagram or website on my website.

So my name's Janua Vankeek. Easy one to spell or mine Maverick is where you find me. They're the places that are mostly active. Thank you so much for coming on. No worries. Great chatting. I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you liked it and if you like the show in general,

please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way, and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blonde Files podcast on Instagram. I'm always posting about each episode there, or over on my personal page at Ariel Laurie.