March 22, 2022 • 62 mins
You'll love this conversation with Conscious Performance Coach, Chris Plourde - especially the meditation at the end!
Chris is a Los Angeles based Conscious Performance Coach, Consultant, Speaker and Mind Body Instructor with over 20 years of experience
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Music by Ian Hildebrand
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Arwen Bardsley (00:00):
All right, so welcome, everybody. I'm really
(00:02):
delighted today to have ChrisPlourde on as my guest and Chris
is a conscious performancecoach, which we are going to
find out all about. I knoweverybody will be going, what is
that, and we'll dig into thedepths of that. So you'll
understand. In his own words,Chris's goal is to help
(00:23):
individuals and organizationsgain clarity and work towards
what they want in life, tocreate new habits and get into
massive action by unleashing thegreatness that is already there
and owning their unique stories.
Impressively, Chris has workedwith and coached at well known
companies such as Walt Disney,Xerox, Lululemon and Twitter. So
(00:45):
I'm really excited to have youalong, Chris, I'd love to get
into I guess, what is yourorigin story? You know why? And
how did you get to be where youare? Right now? You know, did
you dream of being a consciousperformance coach, as a boy?!
Yeah, it would just be reallygood to hear the background, if
(01:07):
that's okay with you to sharewhatever you'd like to.
Chris Plourde (01:11):
Yeah. Sure. Thank you for having me. First of all,
yeah, no, definitely did notdream of of becoming a coach.
You know, I feel I grew up inthe East Coast, I'm in Los
Angeles now. And I had a anupbringing of programming coming
from parents, mentors, uncle's,that if you get a great job with
(01:35):
good benefits, you're going tobe happy working for, you know,
a corporation or whatever thecase may be. So my pursuit was
once I found that in college wasI'm going to get a business
degree, I'm going to work fordifferent companies such you
know, that have a goodreputation. And when I get in
(01:55):
there, I'm going to climb my wayup the top, and I'm going to be
happy. Well, working for avariety of companies that that
gave me a lot of understandingof myself. And I say that
because I got into these quoteunquote, great companies, and
they were and they are, but whatwas missing was my sense of, of
(02:19):
self was my fulfillment. Andeven though I was doing what I
thought I needed to do, itwasn't what my soul really
wanted to do. And so it wasbased upon that old programming
that came in of someone else'sidea of success. And so when I
did that, after about a year orso it was like, No, this is what
(02:41):
you want to do. This is what youwant to coach people serve
people. And it was always therebecause I started in the fitness
industry. And it was workingwith individuals helping them
find meet their goals, andeventually I worked for some
companies, being a presenter forvarious fitness companies and
traveling around the world andcertifying 1000s of instructors.
(03:02):
And that was great. And theneventually it was the depth I
wanted to go deeper I wanted tofind out what really made people
tick. And so I started creatingworkshops and and getting into
the mind the mind gym of it allif you would, for lack of a
better word. And so that's whereeverything kind of developed to
and eventually it became thisthis this how do we use
(03:26):
performance like you would inathletics or sport or whatever,
and use that same mentality inour lives in business, in
performing in our personalrelationships in our finances in
our you know, athleticswhatever, it just that have the
same philosophy moving towardswhat you want fall in love with
(03:49):
the journey. Yes, cross thatfinish line, but also love it
along the way. So that's kind ofthe the long and the short of
it, of how it started.
Arwen Bardsley (04:00):
And so did you do other education other than
your business degree once yourealized that you wanted to do
more coaching style work?
Chris Plourde (04:13):
So there was a lot of of course there was a lot
of self development withinwithin the fitness and athletics
and diving into kind of theinformation world so I did a lot
of that on my own and pursueddifferent courses and you know,
year long courses and thingsthat would better myself. I just
(04:36):
recently finished a PositiveIntelligence course after about
a year it was on mental fitnessand the neuroplasticity of
changing from the left to theright brain. So there's always I
think, as coaches we're alwaysdigging into things that excite
us that we can share with ourclients. But this was this is
this is an opportunity to Yeah,work on ourselves, and then pass
(04:59):
that on to our Clients, it's areally unique profession.
Arwen Bardsley (05:03):
Wonderful. And I noticed in the notes that I had
on you that growing up, you didhave an alcoholic father. And
that that did just jump out atme. And I just wondered, apart
from what you've already saidabout, I guess the male role
models in your life, you know,giving you that impression that
(05:27):
getting into a good company, anda good job equals, you know,
life, happiness and success.
What other? You know, was thereany particular impacts that that
influence of your father beinglike that?
Chris Plourde (05:41):
Oh, sure. Yeah.
Um, you know, I think a lot ofus have, whether it's an
alcoholic, parent or uncle orsomeone who isn't showing up in
the way that you think theyshould have shown up. And my
journey with that, and him beingan alcoholic wasn't about was,
was at first kind of recognizingand accepting it, you know, and,
(06:03):
but at the same time, realizingthat he's a good man, like, he's
a great man, like, I love who Iam today. And I wouldn't have
changed anything about that witheither of my parents. But what
I've come to terms with, theydid the best job with the tools
that were taught to them, theydid the best job with the tools
(06:25):
that were taught to them. And sowhen I was able to really, truly
understand that, and grasp thatand go, you know, what, you
chose them, there was a reasonwhy you went on this journey as
them as your parents, and youwere able to, I was able to just
fuse if defuse the, the, thetrigger of when he drank, right,
(06:49):
cuz I, we've tried everything,right. He's gone some time
without drinking. And he's stillhere with us. Great man, awesome
heart, like just the fun guy.
But he had his stuff that hewent through in life, you know,
losing a mother when he was ateenager losing my sister when
(07:12):
we were young, you know? And sohe's had this, these really hard
things that he's had to dealwith. But nobody taught him how
to emotionally deal with thethings that are going on inside
him. Right? And that's onething. I think that a lot of us,
especially coaches andtherapists and people that love
(07:32):
working with people is we knowthat when they're ready to make
that move, when they're ready tostep into it on their own, then
that then that's their decision.
But we can't want it more forthem than they want it for
themselves. And we can be therewhen they're ready to step in
and love them and havecompassion for them the whole
(07:53):
time. And that's what that'swhat I had to that was my lesson
that I needed to learn. Is isbeing able to accept people for
where they are, not judge them.
Arwen Bardsley (08:05):
Yeah, so true.
And yeah, because, yeah, I haveso many people who they know
exactly what they need to do toimprove their health and well
being. And I'm not reallytelling them anything they don't
know. But it's a case of untilthey're ready to do those
things. It's not going to happenuntil it's enough of a priority
(08:26):
for them, then it's not going tohappen. So yeah, really true.
Yeah. So alright, so I know,that you bringing that up about
your dad and you know, facinghis own stuff. I know, I want to
talk to you about this conceptof the modern masculine man. But
(08:50):
before we do that, I think weshould just get it out what is
conscious performance coaching,I guess in a, you know, if you
can give some examples of peoplethat you've helped in the
different ways and you know,like how it kind of works in a
in a, in a session or a program,whatever it is,
Chris Plourde (09:14):
Right. So, you know, performance, I'll start
I'll break it down. Performanceis you know, what we think when
we first think of performance,we think of the athlete, right,
and I mentioned this a littleearlier, and them being the best
physically they can be right butwhat it really comes down to is
(09:34):
that emotional fitness isunderstanding what's coming
through you and in you is youand loving that aspect of it and
not being pushing it down butaccepting it for what it is
taking those different things,the situations that happen for
you in life and extracting thosegifts that that that are there.
(09:57):
We all have them. Do we chooseto look at them. When we went
through those hard times, whatwere those lessons that we've
learned, right, as opposed tobeing victimized by those
situations, those four or fiveor six things, major things that
we went through as kids, or inour 20s, or whatever the case
may be, that we had to form acertain mentality or certain way
(10:22):
to live in life, and we makecertain decisions, because we
don't want to go back to thatfeeling. So what I do as a coach
is, is try to reframe, ordisrupt those old patterns
consciously, by giving differenttools by creating new habits by
allowing ourselves just to kindof embrace where we're at. And
(10:43):
then going forth and and reallymaking a massive action plan to
go Go ahead. And so you ask for,you know, an example of give you
one, you know, I had a lady whoworked for a major, major
company here in the States, adoctor who was working as an
(11:03):
executive, and so on and soforth. And she came to me,
because she was having theseanxiety bouts and eating bouts,
and she wasn't sure she neededto change some habits that that
were going on in her life. Andso, after working for about, you
know, a year or so I generallywork with people for over a year
or two years, sometimes longer.
What we realize is those habitsthat she was moving into what
(11:27):
she was eating, or whatever thecase may be, wasn't about the
food, it was about what the thelack of fulfillment she was
getting in her in her job. Itwas it was seeing that the
people around her were operatingfrom fear based in recognizing
that she didn't have to do that.
(11:49):
Right. It wasn't just aboutsurviving in her job, it was
about thriving and creating apurpose and creating an action
plan for her. Because I think alot of people get into
companies. And they're like,Well, I'm going to just go by
their mission, and I'm going todo what they do. And I'm going
to check the boxes on my job onmy list and then go to the
weekend. And so what we got herto realize is taking ownership
(12:13):
for where she was at, is seeingsome of those things and
reframing those things thathappen with to her in her life
and realize that they were forher. And before you know it
without even shifting it, shegot promoted within the year to
the Chief Medical Officer ofthis of this company. Right. So
when I say performance, that'swhat she was able to come from a
(12:35):
different high vibrationalstate, and then get get promoted
into this really high position,which the company has never had
a female in that positionbefore. So so she's now thriving
and doing amazing. And it wasall because she had an
opportunity to look at all thethings that she wasn't looking
at, instead of operating from aleft brain fear place. She's now
(12:59):
operating from a creative spacewithin the right brain.
Arwen Bardsley (13:03):
Can you go into any more detail about you know,
over that, that years journey,or whatever it is, with that
client or clients in general?
You know, what are you actuallydoing with them in the sessions?
You know, what you're workingthrough? How does it actually
work? On a practical day to daylevel? In the session.
Chris Plourde (13:25):
Right. Yeah, well, generally, what we're
doing is we're establishingWhere do you want to be in a
year or two, you know, andsometimes that's just about I am
Here I am creating some concretegoals, but also ethereal goals.
And what I mean by ethereal is,how do you want to feel when you
wake up on Monday morning,right? Yes, we can go after the
(13:48):
the amount of money you want tomake or the house you want to
live in or the area you want tolive, that's fine, or the kids
you want to, you know, birth orwhatever. But I think it all
comes down to an emotion.
Because success is what mostpeople go after. Right? And they
think they have an idea of whatsuccess is until they get to
(14:08):
success, that idea and they haveall the things that they put
down on paper. But then you ask,are you happy? Are you
fulfilled? So I ask all myclients on that on a scale of
one to 10? How fulfilled Are youin your life right now? And when
they're answering five, six,well, I go, how much of that, of
you, is your kids getting? Isyour job getting? Is your spouse
(14:32):
getting? And they're like, oh,wait a minute. So they're
getting less than that five orsix, because you're not able
because you're not operating atthat high, high level. Well,
true abundance is that there isan overflow, right? There's
enough for everybody thatmentality, that belief of it.
And when you can start puttingthose things into play and take
(14:56):
care of yourself and loveyourself for who you are and
what you are and everybody isworthy right now no one's
broken, we just have to reframecertain things that happen, then
we're able to raise that cupthat vibration a little higher.
So we're now we're operating ata 10. Now we're operating it at
on a consistent basis. Andthat's when life really starts
(15:20):
to get get fun, right. But ittakes work to get there. You
know, people don't like changehabits are meet or get new
habits get meet with resistance,which people like, well, that's
too hard. Yes, it's too hard.
But so is getting fit, you know,physically fit, you know, when
(15:40):
we're going to the gym, you needresistance to get fit, when
we're changing our lives,resistance shows up, we need
resistance to, to get to thatnext place, climb that next
mountain in our life. And someeting that and understanding
that is where I think a lot ofpeople can learn to dance as
opposed to really fight thingsthat show up in their lives.
Arwen Bardsley (16:03):
Mmm, love that.
Yeah, I mean, we I think peopleforget that our, our ancient
brain, you know, where we haveevolved from is frightened of
change. And so yes, it is reallyhard work. We've got to work
against 1000s and millions ofyears of, you know, human
(16:24):
evolution to get ourselves tochange things. Yeah. So, so So
are you mainly working withpeople? So it's, you know, like
it sit down, we talk throughthings, you get them to do
certain exercises, or?
Chris Plourde (16:42):
Yep, I'll give them a whole bunch of tools and
different different gamuts thatthey can follow. Some of them
work, some of them don't, youknow, there's meditation,
there's breath work, there'sjournaling, there's a new
exercise routine, there's, youknow, getting into action and
making those phone calls on adaily basis. It's creating a
plan, a strategy, right? Becausewithout that strategy of where
(17:06):
we're going, people start toflail, and then it becomes like,
a therapy session. And I thinkthere's, I think therapy is
important. Absolutely. But myjob as a coach is to get the
acceptance of where they areright now, know that we have a
vision, right? Where we're goingand then create that action
(17:28):
steps to get there. It doesn'tmean we're not going to touch on
the past we are we're going tohit those moments. And we're
going to look at those thingsthat have programmed us and then
go does this programming stillserve us right now? And if it
doesn't, then we need to shiftit. Because it's it's, it's,
it's to the point where I liketo say if you always do what
you've always done, you'realways going to get but you're
(17:50):
always got. Right? So so if wecan look at that and go, all
right, I'm willing to work withthis, but you're going to be a
stronger individual, strongerman, a stronger woman, when you
get out of this, it's going toyou're going to be so much more
powerful. I mean, that's whatlife is is, is growing, is
getting stronger, is isunleashing that purpose that
already exists within you.
Right, and that's what a lot ofpeople have a hard time seeing
(18:13):
on their own. So yes, I workwith individuals, but I also
work with organizations, youknow, companies will have me
come in and, and work with theiremployees or different groups
will have me come in and we needto be more connected, and how
can we do that. And it's abouttaking off the masks and the
layers that we've put on. Andlet's get real, let's talk about
(18:34):
those things that, that, thatreally we're holding in and
we're not sharing, because I'mall about authenticity. And I
think that's one of the the theauthenticity and vulnerability,
I think is what's missing inleadership today. And so when I
get to work with CEOs, and youknow, I just got back from
(18:55):
Mexico, worked with 50 CEOs fromthey all have their own
different companies, and theyneeded to get more connected as
a group. And so we were able topull back those, take off those
masks in those layers and reallyget vulnerable and shed some
tears and talk about the thingsthat that we normally don't talk
about. And hopefully they'reable to give that same
(19:18):
vulnerability, not weakness, bythe way, because it takes
courage to get vulnerable andown your feelings, not be
victimized by them, own them.
And that's where they're goingto get the best I feel out of
their teams out of theiremployees is when they're
leading from a heart space, nota headspace not from a checklist
(19:39):
but from a from a reallypowerful, you know, essence
within them. Yeah. And that's,that's where you're gonna see
true change and you're gonnastart to empower the people
around you, just because you'restepping into something that you
always should have been been in,but for some reason, somebody
told you, it doesn't work likethat. We all know we just have
(20:00):
have to trust it and step intoit.
Arwen Bardsley (20:02):
Yeah. And I also read that you say that you
believe freedom is an insidejob. So that's really, I guess
what you're talking about there?
Yeah. Is there anything elseyou'd say about that?
Chris Plourde (20:19):
It's, it's, it's all about looking at those scary
little monsters that wake us upat three, four in the morning,
right? The ones that come to usand they kind of you're lying
there with your eyes wide awake,whether it's, you know, that
that financial, you knowhinderance or that thing that
(20:40):
you haven't dealt with thatrelationship that was there that
you really never reallyreconciled those things that
you're not talking about thosesecrets. So that shame or that
guilt that you're holding on to.
And it's being able to give thatlight, right, it's being able to
give it a sense of, okay, you'rethere I see you. But in the
middle of that is where I thinkthe joy and the freedom lies.
(21:06):
It's looking at that scarymonster and in and knowing that
there's a perception that you'recreating, and you're making up
in your mind that it is justthis awful thing that's going to
kill you. And it's actually not,it's hard to look at it. But
what you the example, or themetaphor I like to give is, once
you look at it, and you go intoit, that monster actually turns
(21:27):
into a little teddy bear. Itjust wants to be seen. It wants
to be held, it's a part of you.
And I think that's what selflove is, is is looking at all
your pieces, all your parts. Andgoing this is me, this is what I
need to go through. It's owningthe, the light and the shadow.
(21:49):
Right and going this is whatlife is. Is it hard? Yeah. Is it
worth it? No doubt. You know,it's, it's so worth it. But
being able to hold that, beingable to look at that, you know,
and say this happened for me,and I'm gonna, I'm gonna see the
best I can I'm going to extractthose gifts from it.
Arwen Bardsley (22:11):
Yeah, I love that, you know, reframing even
just little things in your everyday. From you know, I have to do
this to I get to do this. Likeyou're saying it's not, you
know, happening to me, it'shappening for me.
Chris Plourde (22:28):
That's right.
Arwen Bardsley (22:29):
Yeah, the language that we use around
challenges is so important,isn't it?
Chris Plourde (22:37):
Right. That's everything, like how we talk to
ourselves. You know, weliterally get to bring that left
brain scarcity survival way ofdoing things, which is how the
judge that shows up, right? Andyou can define that in
controller hyper achievervictim, like all these different
(23:01):
judges saboteurs that, thatscrew with us. And for some,
drive them forward, right, andget them a level of success. But
research shows if we canliterally reprogram that and
catch that and get present withourselves. When that is
happening. We can move into thatsage like place, we can move
(23:25):
into that compassionate place.
That place of you know, like Isaid, with my father, you know,
yes, was early in my teenageteenage years, was I upset? Did
I want to shift? Did I want tochange? Yes. But when I realized
that I could meet him withcompassion, I could see him his
little boy, right? Because I wasable to look at my little boy
(23:47):
and have compassion with withwho I am and who I was, then I
could see him for who he is. AndI think that's where it's
missing is, we got to look atourselves first. So when we talk
about freedom, that's where thefreedom lies, is looking at
ourselves. So for me, being areally sensitive kid, right, and
(24:09):
thinking there was somethingwrong with me because I'd cry
all the time. And then getactually getting therapy because
I needed to fix this because Iwas broken, right? Because I
grew up on the east coast and areally tough town and crying
wasn't an option. And I knowsome of your listeners are like,
yeah, no, you got to be a man.
Well, I think men are missingthe emotion. Some men are
(24:33):
missing the emotional componentof it. Right? It doesn't. It's
not about standing in andburying your feelings because if
you bury those feelings andyou're holding them in, no
matter how strong you are, it'sgoing to disrupt and disease you
in some way, shape or form.
Right? So it's a matter ofallowing yourself in the right
kind of space to feel. And so Idid that I built my manliness up
so to speak and became thishammer and athlete and didn't
(24:56):
get compassion. Any timesomething went wrong, I'd stand
right back up and, you know,beat up the next opponent, so to
speak, that was in front of mewhether that was a job or a
person or a situation. And itwasn't until I felt myself not
being happy and fulfilled in my20s, late 20s 30s, that I was
like, something's got to changehere. And what's missing? And
(25:18):
that's when I found men'sorganizations and teams. And
this wasn't about a new ageytype of thing. It was about No,
let's get real, let's gettruthful. And it was a safe
space to be to, to own whereyou're at in your life to look
at look in the mirror and say,this is this needs to change.
This isn't working for meanymore. And I got to feel these
(25:40):
feelings and move to the nextlevel. And so I when I realized
that, that that was me, and Iwas a hammer, I wanted to look
at that little piece of me thatwasn't seen, that wasn't held.
And when I could see that littleboy, that that that wasn't
there, that that that decided tobecome something, an idea of
(26:03):
something that that he didn'tnecessarily know, he just
thought by looking around him,I'm going to be that. And that's
what I created. Again, otherpeople's perceptions, other
people's ideas put on to me, Iwent in that direction. And then
it's about taking thatprogramming when you finally
find it, and then taking off thelayers and taking off the masks
(26:25):
and saying no, this is who I am.
This is the authentic personthat I want to be and live. And
that's what I want to pass on tomy children as well.
Arwen Bardsley (26:34):
Yeah. Do you have boys or girls or both?
Chris Plourde (26:37):
I have a boy and a girl. 15 year old boy, nine
year old girl.
Arwen Bardsley (26:42):
Yeah. Yeah, well, okay. So nice point to go
into this question of what isthe modern masculine man? I
mean, I'm sure he's those thingsthat you've talked about, that
he need to be looking at, at thelittle boy within the man. But
(27:02):
yeah, how can you tell us moreabout that, and sort of the work
that you do with men's groups?
And and, you know, I guess I'mreally, you know, you saying,
Well, like, how you were at thatwasn't working for you. And I
think the whole thing is, it'snot working for society, it's
not working for the world, thatthat, you know, we have this
(27:22):
culture of really toxicmasculinity as as the main way
of being as a man. So yeah, youknow, how can we get more men
interested in doing this kind ofwork? And realizing as well,
that's something else that I'mreally curious to get your
thoughts on?
Chris Plourde (27:43):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So first, I think
the men have to get really,really real. And some women, by
the way, you know that they haveto get really real with where
they're at right now. And behonest with themselves, like,
look in the mirror and go, areyou happy with the man that you
are today? Are you satisfied?
Are you living from a fearfulplace and just covering it up?
(28:04):
So the rest of the world can notsee who you are? Or are you? Are
you truly happy? Are youfulfilled? What is your cup,
like right now? And then say, ifit's not being okay with that,
like accepting it first,acceptance is the hardest part
in order to change. So once youaccept that, and you say, All
(28:26):
right, do I want to go on forthe next 20,30,40,50 plus years,
like this? Or do I want to makea shift? And then and then you
get to not do it yourself?
Right? Because that's what mostof us could get in trouble with.
I know I was a that's was me. Idid it. I wanted to do it all on
(28:47):
my own and not ask for help. Butask for help. Right? When I
finally said, I want to be abetter father, a better husband.
And I saw some of the the men inmy life that were going to these
circles, and these men'scircles. And I finally went
along. And I was just like, Whatis this these men are really
screwed up? Like they're talkingabout all the problems they have
(29:08):
in their life? Do I want to bein this? And it wasn't about in
my naive young self was like,not understanding compassion at
the time was like, no, they'renot talking about the problems
they have. They're talking aboutthe challenges they have. And
they're getting it out in aplace in a safe place. So
they're not bottling it up andisn't coming out in this passive
(29:30):
aggressive way that's hurtingand impacting other people that
they love. Because that's whathappens. We hold on to these
things that that come out inways that we don't want them to,
again, passive aggressive anger.
Anger is the cover up forsadness, right? So what comes
out that way comes out if we getsick, it comes out in diseases
(29:53):
that might occur right in whenyou wake up at four in the
morning and Say, why am I wideawake? What is this that I'm
thinking about? So it's a matterof reaching out and saying, Who
are the people that I trust thatI can get vulnerable with? Who
can hold that space for me?
Right? And if you don't havethose direct people in your life
right now, then do someresearch. There's there's
(30:16):
hundreds 1000s of differentmen's organizations and groups.
And yeah, some of them might beright for you. And some of them
may not. But it's a matter ofgetting into action and saying,
This can't go on, I don't wantthis to go on anymore like this,
it's time for a change, it'stime for a shift and that
getting into action takescourage. And, and, and it's
(30:37):
about taking care of you. Firstand foremost, put the oxygen
mask on, take care of yourself,take care of it, because it like
you said, this leadership thatwe have around this world right
now. It's falling fast, right?
It's not working people are justfighting every step of the way
to keep this old way of being.
(30:59):
And like I mentioned earlier, Ithink there's, I know, there's a
new type of leadership in store,right, especially with this new
world that we have. And it'scoming from a place of truth,
honesty, compassion, right? Andthat's where you're going to get
the best out of your people.
Because when you can really diveinto that. And I think that's
modern masculinity, you know, isreally getting that really
(31:21):
understanding.
Arwen Bardsley (31:25):
And do you think, you know, is there a real
challenge in getting thatmessage out? More broadly? Or do
you think it is happeninggradually? Now, slowly, but
steadily?
Chris Plourde (31:40):
I think it's it's definitely happening. But
there's some that are just arethey're gonna always fight it,
but you just have to decide whatside you want to be on? Do you
want to be in this place of justlying to yourself and, and not
being the man or woman you weremeant to be? And living your
true self? Or, you know, do youdo want to step into that power?
(32:03):
You know, and it's just a matterof, again, getting real? And
saying, Do I want to make thischange, instead of waiting for
everybody else to do it? Gettinginto that action? And making it
making it happen? For sure.
Arwen Bardsley (32:18):
Yeah, Amen to that. Let's talk psychedelic
journey work. That's somethingthat absolutely fascinates me,
it's actually something thatI've got fairly high up on my to
do list. So you know, I'd loveyou, I mean, then there might
(32:40):
may well be people out there whoare listening or watching this,
who don't even know what we'retalking about when we say that.
So can you I guess give us a bitof a 101? And, you know, like,
what happens, what the benefitsare? And also I think it's
really important for people tobe aware of how to access doing
(33:05):
this kind of work in a safe way.
Chris Plourde (33:09):
100%. Yes. So I'll just give you a bit of my
backstory with this work. And mywife as well. You know, when I
first got into this work, it wasit was shown to me and provided
by some trusted people that weredoing a lot of this work and
creating these, these journeygroups that were all about
(33:34):
growth and work. It wasn't aboutgetting high or a party was all
about growth, and creating asacred space to do this work in.
Right. And when I first did my,when I first really got it, I
remember I was lying there and Iwas like I was connected to all
like I understood what spiritspirituality truly was. It
(33:56):
wasn't just about me, it wasthere is this expansiveness.
There were these downloads ofinformation that were coming
through me, right from themedicine because the medicine
which was psilocybin at thetime, has this intelligence to
that to it, that was just justspeaking and allowing this
information to come through. Sopsilocybin - mushrooms - are
(34:23):
derived the fruits of myceliumMycelium is what runs and
connects all through the earth.
So just to put a visual to it ifyou ever saw avatar, they would
connect to the to the rootswithin the earth within their
planet, so to speak. Myceliumruns like that and connects all
plants and creatures to plantsin this entire earth. It's the
(34:43):
oldest living organism in onearth. What comes from that is
mushrooms, or in this case,psilocybin, which is said to
have these these thisintelligence to it. And so what
it really helps us do is breakdown this, this idea of ego,
right? And and get to the heartand the soul of who we are, and
(35:06):
see that we are part ofsomething much, much bigger. And
so when I was layin' there, andmy wife and I, for the first
time, we were like, oh my god,this is this is something that
is extraordinary, that that wewere able to go back into our
lives and talk about it forweeks after about all the
information, all the things thatwould come to us, that we were
(35:29):
able to work on ourselves. Andwe were able to see the healing
that would come through that wasone of the things where I was
able to see my father, for whohe was, for the first time,
where she was able to forgiveher mother. On another time, you
know, I mean, there's hundredsof different things. And so I
embarked on this journey that wewould go to every, you know,
(35:50):
three or four months in these,again, in these sacred places,
spaces that were created, sothat we could all grow and
connect and be the souls that weare today. And it's a continuous
journey. And so, but like yousaid, you know, a lot of people
will get this, the hold ofthese, and take it and be around
(36:10):
energy that isn't necessarilythe best energy for them. And it
could lead them down this pathof not such a good experience.
So if I can recommend it, makesure that you have that safe,
sacred space set for you. It'scalled set and setting. And, and
that's how you want topotentially do this. And again,
(36:33):
checking with your doctors orwhatever. Because here in the
States, there's there's thisorganization called MAPS, that
to doing all this research, JohnHopkins and all these others,
it's talking about how it'shelping with depression, it's
helping with PTSD. There's a lotof benefits to to this
particular plant, or theseparticular plants that allows
(36:58):
people to really work throughcertain things that that they
might have been burying, becauseit's not necessarily we're going
to just go out and get high,it's about let's get in to
ourselves and look at thosescary things. So that we are
able to ultimately be freewithin ourselves. And this is
just information. It's not theend all be all. It's the
(37:21):
information that we get and nowwe get to take that and
integrate it and I say integrateit into our lives, because
that's the missing piece. Ifyou're not integrating it, then
it's just going to become thishigh that you get every so
often. So how do you take thatand then move in? And I love
working with people on theintegration process of it as
(37:41):
well.
Arwen Bardsley (37:43):
Yeah, yeah.
Right. And that's where you comein as a coach. And so is it
something that you continue todo every few months? Or a couple
of times a year or so?
Chris Plourde (37:53):
Yes, for sure.
Arwen Bardsley (37:54):
Yeah. Okay.
Chris Plourde (37:55):
I think it's every every quarter or twice a
year. Yeah. Just to kind of getthat refresh, you know, just
the, the, the amazing sense ofconnection and love that comes
out of it. Like every journeyyou do. Some of them are, are
very challenging, and some ofthem are extremely loving. And
some of them are a mix of both.
So it's, it's accepting that itis happening for you that these
(38:19):
are gifts that are comingthrough you. And no matter what
happens, there's, I've alwaysfelt that it was worth it.
Right, because of the experiencethat you had. It's I never
walked away from a journey. Notonce and said, I wish that
didn't happen. There's alwayslessons that happened in the
middle of it that night afterthe next week, the next month,
(38:44):
because the the intelligence ofthat medicine stays within your
body as well. Right? So.
Arwen Bardsley (38:51):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's not about getting
high. It's really about gettingdeep isn't it.
Chris Plourde (38:56):
That's well put very well put.
Arwen Bardsley (38:58):
Yeah. So I did want to talk about breathwork
and meditation as well, becausethere's something else. And it's
something that is huge in mypractice as well. And something
that I'm always alwaysrecommending to people that they
(39:18):
do. So I guess I mean, itdoesn't surprise me at all that
that's something that you'vegotten into given everything
else you've spoken about. But Isuppose I'm interested to hear
how you did come into it andwhat style of meditation you are
coaching people in.
Chris Plourde (39:39):
So it was very good lead in, by the way,
because I was teachingmeditation at a studio in Santa
Monica, California, and theyhappen to offer breathwork and
so I was like, oh, okay, I'mgonna take this class and see
what this is all about. In myvery first class, I took the I
(39:59):
went Oh my god, this issomething I have to teach,
because it was the closest thingthat came to what a plant
medicine journey was, was allabout. For me, it brought me to
that same sense of self, justusing the breath without any
ingesting anything. And so thisis such a big part of me
(40:23):
coaching right now, because itallows those barriers to be
broken down. Right, it's allabout the disruption of the old
habits. And again, yes,resistance might come up in
breath work. But the flooding ofthe oxygen and co2 into the body
allows the, the, the stuckemotions to come to the surface,
(40:47):
and they say the issues are inthe tissues. Well, this is a big
piece of how we get to movethat, and how we get to work
with it. And again, take thelayers and the mask off, this is
just one more tool. And I lovebringing it to two different
workshops or retreats that I getto do you know, we have some
really heartfelt conversationsand get real and then we
(41:09):
integrate the breath work intoit. And the the talking after
and what people have got is justbeen story after story of
mystical things, or physicalthings or pain that's got
released, or, you know, so many,you know, and sometimes it's
just been, Oh, that felt nice,and I just feel great, you know,
(41:30):
every single breathwork sessionis different an experience as as
a journey is to for plantmedicine as well. So and then
moving in, I was gonna saymeditation, too, is this way of,
of being calm and just alignedwith yourself. So this is
(41:53):
something you know, most of myclients do I do a couple times a
day. But just catching thethoughts that come through. And
being able to recenter yourselfinto that moment into those
sensations and get very presentallows you to get stronger every
single time. And I think a lotof people say to themselves,
(42:14):
they don't necessarily I can'tmeditate, I have too many
thoughts. Well, everybody hasthoughts, we have 70,000
thoughts a day, right? And foryou to go into a meditation, to
say it's going to be perfect,right? Is is is obscure, right?
It's not, you're going to havethese things that come through.
But again, catching them. Everytime you catch a thought, and
(42:36):
you bring yourself back tocentre, give yourself a little
mini high five, because you justgot stronger when you caught
that thought. And the more wepractice, the better the deeper
we can go. And the deeper we getto kind of connect to the soul.
And we get to ask thosequestions. And those little
downloads start to come in andthose answers, we get to dip
(42:57):
into our deep well of wisdomthat's always there. And so you
talked earlier about innerfreedom. inner freedom is about
trusting what is already insideof you that you have the answers
internally. And we just have togo in and find those or let
those be unleashed. So
Arwen Bardsley (43:18):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I always say to people that
the practice of meditation isabout the refocus. It's not
about having an empty mind. Asyou said, we can't, we can't we
are not designed to have anempty mind. But practice is the
refocusing the self on whateverit is on the breath or, you
(43:42):
know, the the body or whateverit is that your style of
meditation you're doing. Iwondered, I know you've got a
free meditation on your website,which is fabulous, but I
wondered if you could do alittle mini tiny thing for us
now. With the breath orsomething? Is that okay?
Chris Plourde (44:03):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I was one of my
favorite meditations. Would youlike, there's a free breathwork
session that you can take it's ahalf an hour breath work on my
website. ChrisPlourde.com, youall are welcome to that. But
with meditation, I don't know ifyou want to just do a quick
(44:24):
breathing exercise. We can do abox breathing or if you want to
do a visual of where are wewhere we are where we want to
be. So it's completely up toyou.
Arwen Bardsley (44:34):
Yeah, well, if you've got the free breathwork
maybe the breath meditationwould be a good one to know if
that's okay, but what you know,whatever works,
Chris Plourde (44:43):
Yeah, let's, let's let's do it. That would be
great. So, okay, this willprobably be about a five minute
or so six minute littlemeditation for us to kind of
fall into. So you can start byjust shutting Your eyes maybe
(45:05):
just taking a deep breath inthrough the nose and exhale
through your mouth. Maybeanother one a little bit deeper.
Feel that breath go all the wayinto the belly and exhale
through your mouth again. Andmaybe just one more as we go
(45:32):
even deeper into the bottom ofthe belly, the legs.
And exhale again. And then as weclose our lips and let the
breath just gently come throughthe nose, in and out, maybe it's
(45:54):
something you can feel orvisualize whatever makes sense
to you. Or even hear. Know thatany point you want to go back to
that breathing that is yourcompass that is your center
(46:19):
point. It's bringing you backto present bringing you back to
the awareness of the breath. Soas we bring our attention to the
space between the eyebrows wejust feel our forehead relax and
(46:42):
get supple. Our cheekbones, ourjaw relaxes our neck, our
shoulders drop. We feel thisenergy moving down our arms into
our fingers as the fingers openup to the sky and we feel a
(47:04):
little energy coming through.
Back up through the arms, theupper back up and down the spine
is as we call these areas out wejust feel this release happen
(47:24):
around the belly button up tothe heart space. And just notice
if there's any armor around theheart that we want to release
and let go.
If there is just allow it tofall away and open up maybe
there's a little energy that wefeel in the heart space swirling
(47:51):
around. Just allow that to getbigger and move through the
torso and then back down intothe hips, the legs, the knees,
calves, feet and toes we justcompletely surrender and now
(48:20):
allow our body to relax as we goin so as we move we feel
(48:40):
ourselves just kind of getlighter. Maybe we even start to
float above our physical body aswe look down we feel ourselves
rising up to the sky a littlemore. floating up a little
(49:04):
higher seeing the place where wewere sitting or are sitting
maybe as we get higher and thetown that we live in the city so
we move higher our region ourcommunities, our country as we
float up through the clouds intothe sky, space where we get
(49:31):
weightless. We just pictureourselves and then a snap
happens. We are one year fromtoday. We're gonna fast forward
into our future one year fromtoday so as We come back down
(50:01):
notice where you're coming backdown through the clouds are you
still in that same town? In thatsame home and if not where have
you moved to allow yourself togo there whether it's a
(50:24):
different country a differenthome and wherever that is allow
yourself to just land softly onthat front lawn or street and
you see a door you walk up knockon that door The door opens and
(50:54):
you see you see you. A versionof you one year from today. Look
into her eyes, his eyes whathave they learned?
(51:16):
What do they look like? Are theyhappier. Does their light shine
brighter? What lessons have theylearned what things have they
gone through? What perspectiveshifts? How have they shifted
(51:49):
their lives? As you get ready toleave your self hands you a
gift. And that gift can come inany way shape or form. A gift
your future self is just handedyou thank him or her. You
(52:17):
embrace. You walk take one lookback. You start to float back up
into the sky, into the cloudsgently into space. And just like
(52:37):
that, we're back to present day.
Come back down. Again floatinggently. where we're sitting
right now into our bodies, intoour hearts into our souls. As we
come in we look at the giftthat's on our desk and our chair
(53:04):
on our laps. We open it up, weask 'What is that'? Why? What
did he or she give me? What wasthe purpose? What was the
reason? What am I taking withme? And how am I going to get
into massive action to get tothat future self. When you're
(53:32):
ready just start to rub yourfingers, move your toes. Breathe
a little deeper. And in no rush,you can open your eyes there we
(53:52):
are.
Arwen Bardsley (54:02):
I'm back, thank you so much.
Chris Plourde (54:04):
Thank you I was a little longer than five minutes.
Arwen Bardsley (54:07):
Not at all.
Wonderful, thank you. So you'reSorry about that.
so you did say your website,didn't you? chrisplourde.com.
Chris Plourde (54:19):
Chrisplourde.com?
Mm hm.
Arwen Bardsley (54:21):
Okay. And I'll obviously put links in the notes
is do you have any particularprograms or services or
offerings you want to tellpeople about
Chris Plourde (54:32):
Yeah, I'm currently working on a a
workshop series that should becoming out pretty soon. So
amplify your life, about owningyour story, releasing shame and
guilt putting up boundaries foryou know, ultimate success and
happiness. So all of thesethings are which allow us to
(54:53):
kind of work on ourselves to getto where we should be or are
going to be. So just tools thatwe'll be able to get into that.
You can always book a discoverycall if coaching is something
you want to explore. I'll havedifferent groups that will be,
you know, forming over the nextyear that you can just touch
back on my website. So lots ofdifferent ways to evolve and,
(55:17):
you know, even different mens -we talked about men's
organizations, but I know thereare some variety of them in any
given in Australia that I cangive access to if that's
something you're looking for. So
Arwen Bardsley (55:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Great. That would be wonderful.
And with the workshops youmentioned, they are do they take
place online?
Chris Plourde (55:41):
Well, I I'm going to I'm working with a company
right now that I might be doingthem in live, but I will be
recording them too. So they'llbe able to have access virtually
as well.
Arwen Bardsley (55:51):
Yeah. Wonderful.
All right. Well, thank you somuch, Chris. That's been a
really fascinating conversation.
I really appreciate your timeand we'll put all the links to
you in the notes and hope youenjoy the rest of your
afternoon.
Chris Plourde (56:10):
So nice to meet you. And thank you for having me
on. Right
All right, so welcome, everybody. I'm really
(00:02):
delighted today to have ChrisPlourde on as my guest and Chris
is a conscious performancecoach, which we are going to
find out all about. I knoweverybody will be going, what is
that, and we'll dig into thedepths of that. So you'll
understand. In his own words,Chris's goal is to help
(00:23):
individuals and organizationsgain clarity and work towards
what they want in life, tocreate new habits and get into
massive action by unleashing thegreatness that is already there
and owning their unique stories.
Impressively, Chris has workedwith and coached at well known
companies such as Walt Disney,Xerox, Lululemon and Twitter. So
(00:45):
I'm really excited to have youalong, Chris, I'd love to get
into I guess, what is yourorigin story? You know why? And
how did you get to be where youare? Right now? You know, did
you dream of being a consciousperformance coach, as a boy?!
Yeah, it would just be reallygood to hear the background, if
(01:07):
that's okay with you to sharewhatever you'd like to.
Chris Plourde (01:11):
Yeah. Sure. Thank you for having me. First of all,
yeah, no, definitely did notdream of of becoming a coach.
You know, I feel I grew up inthe East Coast, I'm in Los
Angeles now. And I had a anupbringing of programming coming
from parents, mentors, uncle's,that if you get a great job with
(01:35):
good benefits, you're going tobe happy working for, you know,
a corporation or whatever thecase may be. So my pursuit was
once I found that in college wasI'm going to get a business
degree, I'm going to work fordifferent companies such you
know, that have a goodreputation. And when I get in
(01:55):
there, I'm going to climb my wayup the top, and I'm going to be
happy. Well, working for avariety of companies that that
gave me a lot of understandingof myself. And I say that
because I got into these quoteunquote, great companies, and
they were and they are, but whatwas missing was my sense of, of
(02:19):
self was my fulfillment. Andeven though I was doing what I
thought I needed to do, itwasn't what my soul really
wanted to do. And so it wasbased upon that old programming
that came in of someone else'sidea of success. And so when I
did that, after about a year orso it was like, No, this is what
(02:41):
you want to do. This is what youwant to coach people serve
people. And it was always therebecause I started in the fitness
industry. And it was workingwith individuals helping them
find meet their goals, andeventually I worked for some
companies, being a presenter forvarious fitness companies and
traveling around the world andcertifying 1000s of instructors.
(03:02):
And that was great. And theneventually it was the depth I
wanted to go deeper I wanted tofind out what really made people
tick. And so I started creatingworkshops and and getting into
the mind the mind gym of it allif you would, for lack of a
better word. And so that's whereeverything kind of developed to
and eventually it became thisthis this how do we use
(03:26):
performance like you would inathletics or sport or whatever,
and use that same mentality inour lives in business, in
performing in our personalrelationships in our finances in
our you know, athleticswhatever, it just that have the
same philosophy moving towardswhat you want fall in love with
(03:49):
the journey. Yes, cross thatfinish line, but also love it
along the way. So that's kind ofthe the long and the short of
it, of how it started.
Arwen Bardsley (04:00):
And so did you do other education other than
your business degree once yourealized that you wanted to do
more coaching style work?
Chris Plourde (04:13):
So there was a lot of of course there was a lot
of self development withinwithin the fitness and athletics
and diving into kind of theinformation world so I did a lot
of that on my own and pursueddifferent courses and you know,
year long courses and thingsthat would better myself. I just
(04:36):
recently finished a PositiveIntelligence course after about
a year it was on mental fitnessand the neuroplasticity of
changing from the left to theright brain. So there's always I
think, as coaches we're alwaysdigging into things that excite
us that we can share with ourclients. But this was this is
this is an opportunity to Yeah,work on ourselves, and then pass
(04:59):
that on to our Clients, it's areally unique profession.
Arwen Bardsley (05:03):
Wonderful. And I noticed in the notes that I had
on you that growing up, you didhave an alcoholic father. And
that that did just jump out atme. And I just wondered, apart
from what you've already saidabout, I guess the male role
models in your life, you know,giving you that impression that
(05:27):
getting into a good company, anda good job equals, you know,
life, happiness and success.
What other? You know, was thereany particular impacts that that
influence of your father beinglike that?
Chris Plourde (05:41):
Oh, sure. Yeah.
Um, you know, I think a lot ofus have, whether it's an
alcoholic, parent or uncle orsomeone who isn't showing up in
the way that you think theyshould have shown up. And my
journey with that, and him beingan alcoholic wasn't about was,
was at first kind of recognizingand accepting it, you know, and,
(06:03):
but at the same time, realizingthat he's a good man, like, he's
a great man, like, I love who Iam today. And I wouldn't have
changed anything about that witheither of my parents. But what
I've come to terms with, theydid the best job with the tools
that were taught to them, theydid the best job with the tools
(06:25):
that were taught to them. And sowhen I was able to really, truly
understand that, and grasp thatand go, you know, what, you
chose them, there was a reasonwhy you went on this journey as
them as your parents, and youwere able to, I was able to just
fuse if defuse the, the, thetrigger of when he drank, right,
(06:49):
cuz I, we've tried everything,right. He's gone some time
without drinking. And he's stillhere with us. Great man, awesome
heart, like just the fun guy.
But he had his stuff that hewent through in life, you know,
losing a mother when he was ateenager losing my sister when
(07:12):
we were young, you know? And sohe's had this, these really hard
things that he's had to dealwith. But nobody taught him how
to emotionally deal with thethings that are going on inside
him. Right? And that's onething. I think that a lot of us,
especially coaches andtherapists and people that love
(07:32):
working with people is we knowthat when they're ready to make
that move, when they're ready tostep into it on their own, then
that then that's their decision.
But we can't want it more forthem than they want it for
themselves. And we can be therewhen they're ready to step in
and love them and havecompassion for them the whole
(07:53):
time. And that's what that'swhat I had to that was my lesson
that I needed to learn. Is isbeing able to accept people for
where they are, not judge them.
Arwen Bardsley (08:05):
Yeah, so true.
And yeah, because, yeah, I haveso many people who they know
exactly what they need to do toimprove their health and well
being. And I'm not reallytelling them anything they don't
know. But it's a case of untilthey're ready to do those
things. It's not going to happenuntil it's enough of a priority
(08:26):
for them, then it's not going tohappen. So yeah, really true.
Yeah. So alright, so I know,that you bringing that up about
your dad and you know, facinghis own stuff. I know, I want to
talk to you about this conceptof the modern masculine man. But
(08:50):
before we do that, I think weshould just get it out what is
conscious performance coaching,I guess in a, you know, if you
can give some examples of peoplethat you've helped in the
different ways and you know,like how it kind of works in a
in a, in a session or a program,whatever it is,
Chris Plourde (09:14):
Right. So, you know, performance, I'll start
I'll break it down. Performanceis you know, what we think when
we first think of performance,we think of the athlete, right,
and I mentioned this a littleearlier, and them being the best
physically they can be right butwhat it really comes down to is
(09:34):
that emotional fitness isunderstanding what's coming
through you and in you is youand loving that aspect of it and
not being pushing it down butaccepting it for what it is
taking those different things,the situations that happen for
you in life and extracting thosegifts that that that are there.
(09:57):
We all have them. Do we chooseto look at them. When we went
through those hard times, whatwere those lessons that we've
learned, right, as opposed tobeing victimized by those
situations, those four or fiveor six things, major things that
we went through as kids, or inour 20s, or whatever the case
may be, that we had to form acertain mentality or certain way
(10:22):
to live in life, and we makecertain decisions, because we
don't want to go back to thatfeeling. So what I do as a coach
is, is try to reframe, ordisrupt those old patterns
consciously, by giving differenttools by creating new habits by
allowing ourselves just to kindof embrace where we're at. And
(10:43):
then going forth and and reallymaking a massive action plan to
go Go ahead. And so you ask for,you know, an example of give you
one, you know, I had a lady whoworked for a major, major
company here in the States, adoctor who was working as an
(11:03):
executive, and so on and soforth. And she came to me,
because she was having theseanxiety bouts and eating bouts,
and she wasn't sure she neededto change some habits that that
were going on in her life. Andso, after working for about, you
know, a year or so I generallywork with people for over a year
or two years, sometimes longer.
What we realize is those habitsthat she was moving into what
(11:27):
she was eating, or whatever thecase may be, wasn't about the
food, it was about what the thelack of fulfillment she was
getting in her in her job. Itwas it was seeing that the
people around her were operatingfrom fear based in recognizing
that she didn't have to do that.
(11:49):
Right. It wasn't just aboutsurviving in her job, it was
about thriving and creating apurpose and creating an action
plan for her. Because I think alot of people get into
companies. And they're like,Well, I'm going to just go by
their mission, and I'm going todo what they do. And I'm going
to check the boxes on my job onmy list and then go to the
weekend. And so what we got herto realize is taking ownership
(12:13):
for where she was at, is seeingsome of those things and
reframing those things thathappen with to her in her life
and realize that they were forher. And before you know it
without even shifting it, shegot promoted within the year to
the Chief Medical Officer ofthis of this company. Right. So
when I say performance, that'swhat she was able to come from a
(12:35):
different high vibrationalstate, and then get get promoted
into this really high position,which the company has never had
a female in that positionbefore. So so she's now thriving
and doing amazing. And it wasall because she had an
opportunity to look at all thethings that she wasn't looking
at, instead of operating from aleft brain fear place. She's now
(12:59):
operating from a creative spacewithin the right brain.
Arwen Bardsley (13:03):
Can you go into any more detail about you know,
over that, that years journey,or whatever it is, with that
client or clients in general?
You know, what are you actuallydoing with them in the sessions?
You know, what you're workingthrough? How does it actually
work? On a practical day to daylevel? In the session.
Chris Plourde (13:25):
Right. Yeah, well, generally, what we're
doing is we're establishingWhere do you want to be in a
year or two, you know, andsometimes that's just about I am
Here I am creating some concretegoals, but also ethereal goals.
And what I mean by ethereal is,how do you want to feel when you
wake up on Monday morning,right? Yes, we can go after the
(13:48):
the amount of money you want tomake or the house you want to
live in or the area you want tolive, that's fine, or the kids
you want to, you know, birth orwhatever. But I think it all
comes down to an emotion.
Because success is what mostpeople go after. Right? And they
think they have an idea of whatsuccess is until they get to
(14:08):
success, that idea and they haveall the things that they put
down on paper. But then you ask,are you happy? Are you
fulfilled? So I ask all myclients on that on a scale of
one to 10? How fulfilled Are youin your life right now? And when
they're answering five, six,well, I go, how much of that, of
you, is your kids getting? Isyour job getting? Is your spouse
(14:32):
getting? And they're like, oh,wait a minute. So they're
getting less than that five orsix, because you're not able
because you're not operating atthat high, high level. Well,
true abundance is that there isan overflow, right? There's
enough for everybody thatmentality, that belief of it.
And when you can start puttingthose things into play and take
(14:56):
care of yourself and loveyourself for who you are and
what you are and everybody isworthy right now no one's
broken, we just have to reframecertain things that happen, then
we're able to raise that cupthat vibration a little higher.
So we're now we're operating ata 10. Now we're operating it at
on a consistent basis. Andthat's when life really starts
(15:20):
to get get fun, right. But ittakes work to get there. You
know, people don't like changehabits are meet or get new
habits get meet with resistance,which people like, well, that's
too hard. Yes, it's too hard.
But so is getting fit, you know,physically fit, you know, when
(15:40):
we're going to the gym, you needresistance to get fit, when
we're changing our lives,resistance shows up, we need
resistance to, to get to thatnext place, climb that next
mountain in our life. And someeting that and understanding
that is where I think a lot ofpeople can learn to dance as
opposed to really fight thingsthat show up in their lives.
Arwen Bardsley (16:03):
Mmm, love that.
Yeah, I mean, we I think peopleforget that our, our ancient
brain, you know, where we haveevolved from is frightened of
change. And so yes, it is reallyhard work. We've got to work
against 1000s and millions ofyears of, you know, human
(16:24):
evolution to get ourselves tochange things. Yeah. So, so So
are you mainly working withpeople? So it's, you know, like
it sit down, we talk throughthings, you get them to do
certain exercises, or?
Chris Plourde (16:42):
Yep, I'll give them a whole bunch of tools and
different different gamuts thatthey can follow. Some of them
work, some of them don't, youknow, there's meditation,
there's breath work, there'sjournaling, there's a new
exercise routine, there's, youknow, getting into action and
making those phone calls on adaily basis. It's creating a
plan, a strategy, right? Becausewithout that strategy of where
(17:06):
we're going, people start toflail, and then it becomes like,
a therapy session. And I thinkthere's, I think therapy is
important. Absolutely. But myjob as a coach is to get the
acceptance of where they areright now, know that we have a
vision, right? Where we're goingand then create that action
(17:28):
steps to get there. It doesn'tmean we're not going to touch on
the past we are we're going tohit those moments. And we're
going to look at those thingsthat have programmed us and then
go does this programming stillserve us right now? And if it
doesn't, then we need to shiftit. Because it's it's, it's,
it's to the point where I liketo say if you always do what
you've always done, you'realways going to get but you're
(17:50):
always got. Right? So so if wecan look at that and go, all
right, I'm willing to work withthis, but you're going to be a
stronger individual, strongerman, a stronger woman, when you
get out of this, it's going toyou're going to be so much more
powerful. I mean, that's whatlife is is, is growing, is
getting stronger, is isunleashing that purpose that
already exists within you.
Right, and that's what a lot ofpeople have a hard time seeing
(18:13):
on their own. So yes, I workwith individuals, but I also
work with organizations, youknow, companies will have me
come in and, and work with theiremployees or different groups
will have me come in and we needto be more connected, and how
can we do that. And it's abouttaking off the masks and the
layers that we've put on. Andlet's get real, let's talk about
(18:34):
those things that, that, thatreally we're holding in and
we're not sharing, because I'mall about authenticity. And I
think that's one of the the theauthenticity and vulnerability,
I think is what's missing inleadership today. And so when I
get to work with CEOs, and youknow, I just got back from
(18:55):
Mexico, worked with 50 CEOs fromthey all have their own
different companies, and theyneeded to get more connected as
a group. And so we were able topull back those, take off those
masks in those layers and reallyget vulnerable and shed some
tears and talk about the thingsthat that we normally don't talk
about. And hopefully they'reable to give that same
(19:18):
vulnerability, not weakness, bythe way, because it takes
courage to get vulnerable andown your feelings, not be
victimized by them, own them.
And that's where they're goingto get the best I feel out of
their teams out of theiremployees is when they're
leading from a heart space, nota headspace not from a checklist
(19:39):
but from a from a reallypowerful, you know, essence
within them. Yeah. And that's,that's where you're gonna see
true change and you're gonnastart to empower the people
around you, just because you'restepping into something that you
always should have been been in,but for some reason, somebody
told you, it doesn't work likethat. We all know we just have
(20:00):
have to trust it and step intoit.
Arwen Bardsley (20:02):
Yeah. And I also read that you say that you
believe freedom is an insidejob. So that's really, I guess
what you're talking about there?
Yeah. Is there anything elseyou'd say about that?
Chris Plourde (20:19):
It's, it's, it's all about looking at those scary
little monsters that wake us upat three, four in the morning,
right? The ones that come to usand they kind of you're lying
there with your eyes wide awake,whether it's, you know, that
that financial, you knowhinderance or that thing that
(20:40):
you haven't dealt with thatrelationship that was there that
you really never reallyreconciled those things that
you're not talking about thosesecrets. So that shame or that
guilt that you're holding on to.
And it's being able to give thatlight, right, it's being able to
give it a sense of, okay, you'rethere I see you. But in the
middle of that is where I thinkthe joy and the freedom lies.
(21:06):
It's looking at that scarymonster and in and knowing that
there's a perception that you'recreating, and you're making up
in your mind that it is justthis awful thing that's going to
kill you. And it's actually not,it's hard to look at it. But
what you the example, or themetaphor I like to give is, once
you look at it, and you go intoit, that monster actually turns
(21:27):
into a little teddy bear. Itjust wants to be seen. It wants
to be held, it's a part of you.
And I think that's what selflove is, is is looking at all
your pieces, all your parts. Andgoing this is me, this is what I
need to go through. It's owningthe, the light and the shadow.
(21:49):
Right and going this is whatlife is. Is it hard? Yeah. Is it
worth it? No doubt. You know,it's, it's so worth it. But
being able to hold that, beingable to look at that, you know,
and say this happened for me,and I'm gonna, I'm gonna see the
best I can I'm going to extractthose gifts from it.
Arwen Bardsley (22:11):
Yeah, I love that, you know, reframing even
just little things in your everyday. From you know, I have to do
this to I get to do this. Likeyou're saying it's not, you
know, happening to me, it'shappening for me.
Chris Plourde (22:28):
That's right.
Arwen Bardsley (22:29):
Yeah, the language that we use around
challenges is so important,isn't it?
Chris Plourde (22:37):
Right. That's everything, like how we talk to
ourselves. You know, weliterally get to bring that left
brain scarcity survival way ofdoing things, which is how the
judge that shows up, right? Andyou can define that in
controller hyper achievervictim, like all these different
(23:01):
judges saboteurs that, thatscrew with us. And for some,
drive them forward, right, andget them a level of success. But
research shows if we canliterally reprogram that and
catch that and get present withourselves. When that is
happening. We can move into thatsage like place, we can move
(23:25):
into that compassionate place.
That place of you know, like Isaid, with my father, you know,
yes, was early in my teenageteenage years, was I upset? Did
I want to shift? Did I want tochange? Yes. But when I realized
that I could meet him withcompassion, I could see him his
little boy, right? Because I wasable to look at my little boy
(23:47):
and have compassion with withwho I am and who I was, then I
could see him for who he is. AndI think that's where it's
missing is, we got to look atourselves first. So when we talk
about freedom, that's where thefreedom lies, is looking at
ourselves. So for me, being areally sensitive kid, right, and
(24:09):
thinking there was somethingwrong with me because I'd cry
all the time. And then getactually getting therapy because
I needed to fix this because Iwas broken, right? Because I
grew up on the east coast and areally tough town and crying
wasn't an option. And I knowsome of your listeners are like,
yeah, no, you got to be a man.
Well, I think men are missingthe emotion. Some men are
(24:33):
missing the emotional componentof it. Right? It doesn't. It's
not about standing in andburying your feelings because if
you bury those feelings andyou're holding them in, no
matter how strong you are, it'sgoing to disrupt and disease you
in some way, shape or form.
Right? So it's a matter ofallowing yourself in the right
kind of space to feel. And so Idid that I built my manliness up
so to speak and became thishammer and athlete and didn't
(24:56):
get compassion. Any timesomething went wrong, I'd stand
right back up and, you know,beat up the next opponent, so to
speak, that was in front of mewhether that was a job or a
person or a situation. And itwasn't until I felt myself not
being happy and fulfilled in my20s, late 20s 30s, that I was
like, something's got to changehere. And what's missing? And
(25:18):
that's when I found men'sorganizations and teams. And
this wasn't about a new ageytype of thing. It was about No,
let's get real, let's gettruthful. And it was a safe
space to be to, to own whereyou're at in your life to look
at look in the mirror and say,this is this needs to change.
This isn't working for meanymore. And I got to feel these
(25:40):
feelings and move to the nextlevel. And so I when I realized
that, that that was me, and Iwas a hammer, I wanted to look
at that little piece of me thatwasn't seen, that wasn't held.
And when I could see that littleboy, that that that wasn't
there, that that that decided tobecome something, an idea of
(26:03):
something that that he didn'tnecessarily know, he just
thought by looking around him,I'm going to be that. And that's
what I created. Again, otherpeople's perceptions, other
people's ideas put on to me, Iwent in that direction. And then
it's about taking thatprogramming when you finally
find it, and then taking off thelayers and taking off the masks
(26:25):
and saying no, this is who I am.
This is the authentic personthat I want to be and live. And
that's what I want to pass on tomy children as well.
Arwen Bardsley (26:34):
Yeah. Do you have boys or girls or both?
Chris Plourde (26:37):
I have a boy and a girl. 15 year old boy, nine
year old girl.
Arwen Bardsley (26:42):
Yeah. Yeah, well, okay. So nice point to go
into this question of what isthe modern masculine man? I
mean, I'm sure he's those thingsthat you've talked about, that
he need to be looking at, at thelittle boy within the man. But
(27:02):
yeah, how can you tell us moreabout that, and sort of the work
that you do with men's groups?
And and, you know, I guess I'mreally, you know, you saying,
Well, like, how you were at thatwasn't working for you. And I
think the whole thing is, it'snot working for society, it's
not working for the world, thatthat, you know, we have this
(27:22):
culture of really toxicmasculinity as as the main way
of being as a man. So yeah, youknow, how can we get more men
interested in doing this kind ofwork? And realizing as well,
that's something else that I'mreally curious to get your
thoughts on?
Chris Plourde (27:43):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So first, I think
the men have to get really,really real. And some women, by
the way, you know that they haveto get really real with where
they're at right now. And behonest with themselves, like,
look in the mirror and go, areyou happy with the man that you
are today? Are you satisfied?
Are you living from a fearfulplace and just covering it up?
(28:04):
So the rest of the world can notsee who you are? Or are you? Are
you truly happy? Are youfulfilled? What is your cup,
like right now? And then say, ifit's not being okay with that,
like accepting it first,acceptance is the hardest part
in order to change. So once youaccept that, and you say, All
(28:26):
right, do I want to go on forthe next 20,30,40,50 plus years,
like this? Or do I want to makea shift? And then and then you
get to not do it yourself?
Right? Because that's what mostof us could get in trouble with.
I know I was a that's was me. Idid it. I wanted to do it all on
(28:47):
my own and not ask for help. Butask for help. Right? When I
finally said, I want to be abetter father, a better husband.
And I saw some of the the men inmy life that were going to these
circles, and these men'scircles. And I finally went
along. And I was just like, Whatis this these men are really
screwed up? Like they're talkingabout all the problems they have
(29:08):
in their life? Do I want to bein this? And it wasn't about in
my naive young self was like,not understanding compassion at
the time was like, no, they'renot talking about the problems
they have. They're talking aboutthe challenges they have. And
they're getting it out in aplace in a safe place. So
they're not bottling it up andisn't coming out in this passive
(29:30):
aggressive way that's hurtingand impacting other people that
they love. Because that's whathappens. We hold on to these
things that that come out inways that we don't want them to,
again, passive aggressive anger.
Anger is the cover up forsadness, right? So what comes
out that way comes out if we getsick, it comes out in diseases
(29:53):
that might occur right in whenyou wake up at four in the
morning and Say, why am I wideawake? What is this that I'm
thinking about? So it's a matterof reaching out and saying, Who
are the people that I trust thatI can get vulnerable with? Who
can hold that space for me?
Right? And if you don't havethose direct people in your life
right now, then do someresearch. There's there's
(30:16):
hundreds 1000s of differentmen's organizations and groups.
And yeah, some of them might beright for you. And some of them
may not. But it's a matter ofgetting into action and saying,
This can't go on, I don't wantthis to go on anymore like this,
it's time for a change, it'stime for a shift and that
getting into action takescourage. And, and, and it's
(30:37):
about taking care of you. Firstand foremost, put the oxygen
mask on, take care of yourself,take care of it, because it like
you said, this leadership thatwe have around this world right
now. It's falling fast, right?
It's not working people are justfighting every step of the way
to keep this old way of being.
(30:59):
And like I mentioned earlier, Ithink there's, I know, there's a
new type of leadership in store,right, especially with this new
world that we have. And it'scoming from a place of truth,
honesty, compassion, right? Andthat's where you're going to get
the best out of your people.
Because when you can really diveinto that. And I think that's
modern masculinity, you know, isreally getting that really
(31:21):
understanding.
Arwen Bardsley (31:25):
And do you think, you know, is there a real
challenge in getting thatmessage out? More broadly? Or do
you think it is happeninggradually? Now, slowly, but
steadily?
Chris Plourde (31:40):
I think it's it's definitely happening. But
there's some that are just arethey're gonna always fight it,
but you just have to decide whatside you want to be on? Do you
want to be in this place of justlying to yourself and, and not
being the man or woman you weremeant to be? And living your
true self? Or, you know, do youdo want to step into that power?
(32:03):
You know, and it's just a matterof, again, getting real? And
saying, Do I want to make thischange, instead of waiting for
everybody else to do it? Gettinginto that action? And making it
making it happen? For sure.
Arwen Bardsley (32:18):
Yeah, Amen to that. Let's talk psychedelic
journey work. That's somethingthat absolutely fascinates me,
it's actually something thatI've got fairly high up on my to
do list. So you know, I'd loveyou, I mean, then there might
(32:40):
may well be people out there whoare listening or watching this,
who don't even know what we'retalking about when we say that.
So can you I guess give us a bitof a 101? And, you know, like,
what happens, what the benefitsare? And also I think it's
really important for people tobe aware of how to access doing
(33:05):
this kind of work in a safe way.
Chris Plourde (33:09):
100%. Yes. So I'll just give you a bit of my
backstory with this work. And mywife as well. You know, when I
first got into this work, it wasit was shown to me and provided
by some trusted people that weredoing a lot of this work and
creating these, these journeygroups that were all about
(33:34):
growth and work. It wasn't aboutgetting high or a party was all
about growth, and creating asacred space to do this work in.
Right. And when I first did my,when I first really got it, I
remember I was lying there and Iwas like I was connected to all
like I understood what spiritspirituality truly was. It
(33:56):
wasn't just about me, it wasthere is this expansiveness.
There were these downloads ofinformation that were coming
through me, right from themedicine because the medicine
which was psilocybin at thetime, has this intelligence to
that to it, that was just justspeaking and allowing this
information to come through. Sopsilocybin - mushrooms - are
(34:23):
derived the fruits of myceliumMycelium is what runs and
connects all through the earth.
So just to put a visual to it ifyou ever saw avatar, they would
connect to the to the rootswithin the earth within their
planet, so to speak. Myceliumruns like that and connects all
plants and creatures to plantsin this entire earth. It's the
(34:43):
oldest living organism in onearth. What comes from that is
mushrooms, or in this case,psilocybin, which is said to
have these these thisintelligence to it. And so what
it really helps us do is breakdown this, this idea of ego,
right? And and get to the heartand the soul of who we are, and
(35:06):
see that we are part ofsomething much, much bigger. And
so when I was layin' there, andmy wife and I, for the first
time, we were like, oh my god,this is this is something that
is extraordinary, that that wewere able to go back into our
lives and talk about it forweeks after about all the
information, all the things thatwould come to us, that we were
(35:29):
able to work on ourselves. Andwe were able to see the healing
that would come through that wasone of the things where I was
able to see my father, for whohe was, for the first time,
where she was able to forgiveher mother. On another time, you
know, I mean, there's hundredsof different things. And so I
embarked on this journey that wewould go to every, you know,
(35:50):
three or four months in these,again, in these sacred places,
spaces that were created, sothat we could all grow and
connect and be the souls that weare today. And it's a continuous
journey. And so, but like yousaid, you know, a lot of people
will get this, the hold ofthese, and take it and be around
(36:10):
energy that isn't necessarilythe best energy for them. And it
could lead them down this pathof not such a good experience.
So if I can recommend it, makesure that you have that safe,
sacred space set for you. It'scalled set and setting. And, and
that's how you want topotentially do this. And again,
(36:33):
checking with your doctors orwhatever. Because here in the
States, there's there's thisorganization called MAPS, that
to doing all this research, JohnHopkins and all these others,
it's talking about how it'shelping with depression, it's
helping with PTSD. There's a lotof benefits to to this
particular plant, or theseparticular plants that allows
(36:58):
people to really work throughcertain things that that they
might have been burying, becauseit's not necessarily we're going
to just go out and get high,it's about let's get in to
ourselves and look at thosescary things. So that we are
able to ultimately be freewithin ourselves. And this is
just information. It's not theend all be all. It's the
(37:21):
information that we get and nowwe get to take that and
integrate it and I say integrateit into our lives, because
that's the missing piece. Ifyou're not integrating it, then
it's just going to become thishigh that you get every so
often. So how do you take thatand then move in? And I love
working with people on theintegration process of it as
(37:41):
well.
Arwen Bardsley (37:43):
Yeah, yeah.
Right. And that's where you comein as a coach. And so is it
something that you continue todo every few months? Or a couple
of times a year or so?
Chris Plourde (37:53):
Yes, for sure.
Arwen Bardsley (37:54):
Yeah. Okay.
Chris Plourde (37:55):
I think it's every every quarter or twice a
year. Yeah. Just to kind of getthat refresh, you know, just
the, the, the amazing sense ofconnection and love that comes
out of it. Like every journeyyou do. Some of them are, are
very challenging, and some ofthem are extremely loving. And
some of them are a mix of both.
So it's, it's accepting that itis happening for you that these
(38:19):
are gifts that are comingthrough you. And no matter what
happens, there's, I've alwaysfelt that it was worth it.
Right, because of the experiencethat you had. It's I never
walked away from a journey. Notonce and said, I wish that
didn't happen. There's alwayslessons that happened in the
middle of it that night afterthe next week, the next month,
(38:44):
because the the intelligence ofthat medicine stays within your
body as well. Right? So.
Arwen Bardsley (38:51):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's not about getting
high. It's really about gettingdeep isn't it.
Chris Plourde (38:56):
That's well put very well put.
Arwen Bardsley (38:58):
Yeah. So I did want to talk about breathwork
and meditation as well, becausethere's something else. And it's
something that is huge in mypractice as well. And something
that I'm always alwaysrecommending to people that they
(39:18):
do. So I guess I mean, itdoesn't surprise me at all that
that's something that you'vegotten into given everything
else you've spoken about. But Isuppose I'm interested to hear
how you did come into it andwhat style of meditation you are
coaching people in.
Chris Plourde (39:39):
So it was very good lead in, by the way,
because I was teachingmeditation at a studio in Santa
Monica, California, and theyhappen to offer breathwork and
so I was like, oh, okay, I'mgonna take this class and see
what this is all about. In myvery first class, I took the I
(39:59):
went Oh my god, this issomething I have to teach,
because it was the closest thingthat came to what a plant
medicine journey was, was allabout. For me, it brought me to
that same sense of self, justusing the breath without any
ingesting anything. And so thisis such a big part of me
(40:23):
coaching right now, because itallows those barriers to be
broken down. Right, it's allabout the disruption of the old
habits. And again, yes,resistance might come up in
breath work. But the flooding ofthe oxygen and co2 into the body
allows the, the, the stuckemotions to come to the surface,
(40:47):
and they say the issues are inthe tissues. Well, this is a big
piece of how we get to movethat, and how we get to work
with it. And again, take thelayers and the mask off, this is
just one more tool. And I lovebringing it to two different
workshops or retreats that I getto do you know, we have some
really heartfelt conversationsand get real and then we
(41:09):
integrate the breath work intoit. And the the talking after
and what people have got is justbeen story after story of
mystical things, or physicalthings or pain that's got
released, or, you know, so many,you know, and sometimes it's
just been, Oh, that felt nice,and I just feel great, you know,
(41:30):
every single breathwork sessionis different an experience as as
a journey is to for plantmedicine as well. So and then
moving in, I was gonna saymeditation, too, is this way of,
of being calm and just alignedwith yourself. So this is
(41:53):
something you know, most of myclients do I do a couple times a
day. But just catching thethoughts that come through. And
being able to recenter yourselfinto that moment into those
sensations and get very presentallows you to get stronger every
single time. And I think a lotof people say to themselves,
(42:14):
they don't necessarily I can'tmeditate, I have too many
thoughts. Well, everybody hasthoughts, we have 70,000
thoughts a day, right? And foryou to go into a meditation, to
say it's going to be perfect,right? Is is is obscure, right?
It's not, you're going to havethese things that come through.
But again, catching them. Everytime you catch a thought, and
(42:36):
you bring yourself back tocentre, give yourself a little
mini high five, because you justgot stronger when you caught
that thought. And the more wepractice, the better the deeper
we can go. And the deeper we getto kind of connect to the soul.
And we get to ask thosequestions. And those little
downloads start to come in andthose answers, we get to dip
(42:57):
into our deep well of wisdomthat's always there. And so you
talked earlier about innerfreedom. inner freedom is about
trusting what is already insideof you that you have the answers
internally. And we just have togo in and find those or let
those be unleashed. So
Arwen Bardsley (43:18):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I always say to people that
the practice of meditation isabout the refocus. It's not
about having an empty mind. Asyou said, we can't, we can't we
are not designed to have anempty mind. But practice is the
refocusing the self on whateverit is on the breath or, you
(43:42):
know, the the body or whateverit is that your style of
meditation you're doing. Iwondered, I know you've got a
free meditation on your website,which is fabulous, but I
wondered if you could do alittle mini tiny thing for us
now. With the breath orsomething? Is that okay?
Chris Plourde (44:03):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I was one of my
favorite meditations. Would youlike, there's a free breathwork
session that you can take it's ahalf an hour breath work on my
website. ChrisPlourde.com, youall are welcome to that. But
with meditation, I don't know ifyou want to just do a quick
(44:24):
breathing exercise. We can do abox breathing or if you want to
do a visual of where are wewhere we are where we want to
be. So it's completely up toyou.
Arwen Bardsley (44:34):
Yeah, well, if you've got the free breathwork
maybe the breath meditationwould be a good one to know if
that's okay, but what you know,whatever works,
Chris Plourde (44:43):
Yeah, let's, let's let's do it. That would be
great. So, okay, this willprobably be about a five minute
or so six minute littlemeditation for us to kind of
fall into. So you can start byjust shutting Your eyes maybe
(45:05):
just taking a deep breath inthrough the nose and exhale
through your mouth. Maybeanother one a little bit deeper.
Feel that breath go all the wayinto the belly and exhale
through your mouth again. Andmaybe just one more as we go
(45:32):
even deeper into the bottom ofthe belly, the legs.
And exhale again. And then as weclose our lips and let the
breath just gently come throughthe nose, in and out, maybe it's
(45:54):
something you can feel orvisualize whatever makes sense
to you. Or even hear. Know thatany point you want to go back to
that breathing that is yourcompass that is your center
(46:19):
point. It's bringing you backto present bringing you back to
the awareness of the breath. Soas we bring our attention to the
space between the eyebrows wejust feel our forehead relax and
(46:42):
get supple. Our cheekbones, ourjaw relaxes our neck, our
shoulders drop. We feel thisenergy moving down our arms into
our fingers as the fingers openup to the sky and we feel a
(47:04):
little energy coming through.
Back up through the arms, theupper back up and down the spine
is as we call these areas out wejust feel this release happen
(47:24):
around the belly button up tothe heart space. And just notice
if there's any armor around theheart that we want to release
and let go.
If there is just allow it tofall away and open up maybe
there's a little energy that wefeel in the heart space swirling
(47:51):
around. Just allow that to getbigger and move through the
torso and then back down intothe hips, the legs, the knees,
calves, feet and toes we justcompletely surrender and now
(48:20):
allow our body to relax as we goin so as we move we feel
(48:40):
ourselves just kind of getlighter. Maybe we even start to
float above our physical body aswe look down we feel ourselves
rising up to the sky a littlemore. floating up a little
(49:04):
higher seeing the place where wewere sitting or are sitting
maybe as we get higher and thetown that we live in the city so
we move higher our region ourcommunities, our country as we
float up through the clouds intothe sky, space where we get
(49:31):
weightless. We just pictureourselves and then a snap
happens. We are one year fromtoday. We're gonna fast forward
into our future one year fromtoday so as We come back down
(50:01):
notice where you're coming backdown through the clouds are you
still in that same town? In thatsame home and if not where have
you moved to allow yourself togo there whether it's a
(50:24):
different country a differenthome and wherever that is allow
yourself to just land softly onthat front lawn or street and
you see a door you walk up knockon that door The door opens and
(50:54):
you see you see you. A versionof you one year from today. Look
into her eyes, his eyes whathave they learned?
(51:16):
What do they look like? Are theyhappier. Does their light shine
brighter? What lessons have theylearned what things have they
gone through? What perspectiveshifts? How have they shifted
(51:49):
their lives? As you get ready toleave your self hands you a
gift. And that gift can come inany way shape or form. A gift
your future self is just handedyou thank him or her. You
(52:17):
embrace. You walk take one lookback. You start to float back up
into the sky, into the cloudsgently into space. And just like
(52:37):
that, we're back to present day.
Come back down. Again floatinggently. where we're sitting
right now into our bodies, intoour hearts into our souls. As we
come in we look at the giftthat's on our desk and our chair
(53:04):
on our laps. We open it up, weask 'What is that'? Why? What
did he or she give me? What wasthe purpose? What was the
reason? What am I taking withme? And how am I going to get
into massive action to get tothat future self. When you're
(53:32):
ready just start to rub yourfingers, move your toes. Breathe
a little deeper. And in no rush,you can open your eyes there we
(53:52):
are.
Arwen Bardsley (54:02):
I'm back, thank you so much.
Chris Plourde (54:04):
Thank you I was a little longer than five minutes.
Arwen Bardsley (54:07):
Not at all.
Wonderful, thank you. So you'reSorry about that.
so you did say your website,didn't you? chrisplourde.com.
Chris Plourde (54:19):
Chrisplourde.com?
Mm hm.
Arwen Bardsley (54:21):
Okay. And I'll obviously put links in the notes
is do you have any particularprograms or services or
offerings you want to tellpeople about
Chris Plourde (54:32):
Yeah, I'm currently working on a a
workshop series that should becoming out pretty soon. So
amplify your life, about owningyour story, releasing shame and
guilt putting up boundaries foryou know, ultimate success and
happiness. So all of thesethings are which allow us to
(54:53):
kind of work on ourselves to getto where we should be or are
going to be. So just tools thatwe'll be able to get into that.
You can always book a discoverycall if coaching is something
you want to explore. I'll havedifferent groups that will be,
you know, forming over the nextyear that you can just touch
back on my website. So lots ofdifferent ways to evolve and,
(55:17):
you know, even different mens -we talked about men's
organizations, but I know thereare some variety of them in any
given in Australia that I cangive access to if that's
something you're looking for. So
Arwen Bardsley (55:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Great. That would be wonderful.
And with the workshops youmentioned, they are do they take
place online?
Chris Plourde (55:41):
Well, I I'm going to I'm working with a company
right now that I might be doingthem in live, but I will be
recording them too. So they'llbe able to have access virtually
as well.
Arwen Bardsley (55:51):
Yeah. Wonderful.
All right. Well, thank you somuch, Chris. That's been a
really fascinating conversation.
I really appreciate your timeand we'll put all the links to
you in the notes and hope youenjoy the rest of your
afternoon.
Chris Plourde (56:10):
So nice to meet you. And thank you for having me
on. Right
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