September 27, 2024 • 36 mins
What happens when you trade a promising soccer career for a journey in wellness and creativity? Meet Patrick Sperry, the inspiring founder of Be Flourish, who shares his extraordinary path from Hinsdale, Illinois, to becoming a leading wellness coach, men's work facilitator, and yoga teacher in San Diego. Patrick's story is a testament to the power of following one's true calling, even when it means facing societal and personal challenges. His adventures through China, India, Nepal, and Thailand illuminated the profound concept of flourishing, which he now brings to life through his company, Flourish, orchestrating immersive wellness events that help others achieve this state of being.
In a candid conversation, Patrick opens up about the internal battles he faced while shifting from a high-level soccer player to pursuing his passion for music. The emotional struggle between ego and authenticity, and the societal pressures to conform to a conventional path, are themes many will find relatable. Patrick's journey underscores the importance of living true to one's values, embracing uncertainty, and the courage it takes to make life-changing decisions. This segment offers invaluable insights for anyone standing at a crossroads in life, struggling between societal expectations and personal fulfillment.
Discover how yoga and meditation became transformative tools in Patrick's life, opening his creative channels and leading to the birth of Flourish. Patrick shares how these practices enhanced his music writing and fostered self-acceptance, allowing him to integrate his love for music and travel into wellness retreats and community-building activities. The discussion touches on the principle of Karma Yoga from the Bhagavad Gita, emphasizing the importance of doing the work without attachment to outcomes. As we wrap up, we celebrate the benefits of yoga for physical well-being as we age, leaving you inspired to incorporate these practices into your life. Join us for a heartwarming and enlightening episode with Patrick Sperry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another episode of Playing Injured.
I'm pretty excited for thisepisode.
We have Patrick Sperry, who isthe founder of Be Flourish,
professional wellness coach,men's work facilitator, yoga
teacher.
You do a lot of amazing work,so I appreciate you being on the
(00:21):
show and taking the time topodcast with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's my joy to be here, Josh.
Thank you for including me inyour world of insight and
positivity.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It's a pleasure.
I love it.
So I always love starting ashow.
I like kind of setting thestage of like who is Patrick and
how does he spend his timetoday?
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Josh, I love what Jim Carrey says.
He says Jim Carrey's a reallyinteresting character and then
he says I'm lucky to have gottenthe part.
So in some way I feel the same.
I've been blessed with a uniquejourney through life and I feel
fortunate to be playing thisrole of Pat.
(01:08):
It certainly keeps meentertained and it's always
interesting.
Even boredom has becomeinteresting when you look at it
from the right perspective.
Yeah, long story short.
I grew up in Hinsdale and Iknow that you're in Chicago.
I'm currently in San Diego.
My journey took me to the WestCoast, but I got a lot of love
(01:28):
for that city and we're actuallyheading back, me and my partner
, catalina de Leon, with mycompany Flourish, to host our
first day of wellness in ChicagoSeptember 28th.
It's actually going to be inHinsdale where I had my 13th
birthday party, which is prettyfunny, wow.
And if those walls could talk,I say.
(01:48):
And that's exciting.
So this kind of return fullcircle back to serve our
community of Chicagoans withwellness.
We'll do things like Africandance, sound healing, yoga,
cacao ceremony, laughterpractice, we'll have a
storyteller, live music.
So we create these kind ofimmersive days of festival and
celebration.
(02:09):
And that's where my heart is atthese days is building out,
creating opportunities forindividuals to connect with
themselves and, from that placeof centeredness, to come out and
play, yeah, connect with othersin a way which we're seeing
deeply into ourselves andhopefully into others.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, I love that and it sounds very much of a
healing experience.
Um, and then doing it in acommunity, right?
What I want to understand fromyou is flourish, right.
What about that resonates withyou?
Flourish, the word of it, right?
(02:50):
Why did you name your company?
That?
The tree?
What about flourish?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I didn't know what flourish really was until I read
the book called Flourish.
I enrolled into the College ofExecutive Coaching after four
years of travel and I was likethis bearded long haired Jesus
lookalike who was traveling theworld seeking spiritual masters
(03:21):
on the path of self-discovery.
I lived in central Chinatraining Kung Fu on a
mountaintop.
I was like the Kung Fu Pandajust in over my head, but
ultimately I learned a lot.
I was in India for 18 months,trekking through Nepal, sitting
in silence in Thailand with theBuddhist forest monks, and on
(03:41):
and on, and I got to the pointwhere I was just saturated with
experience and I had been givenso much.
It was clear that it was timefor me to come back and share
the best that I could, thatwhich I had been given.
And I'd been teaching yoga atthat point for over a decade,
which I loved.
But I wanted another angle,like yoga.
And then this coachingmechanism allowed me to work
(04:05):
with people in a different levelof their life, like that
personal accomplishment oriented, like you know, fulfill your
potential as a human, and theyogis like fulfill your
potential as a soul.
So that's a cool, uh way tosupport an individual.
But in that course of studyinghow to be a great coach, I got
(04:27):
the book Flourish by a veryfamous positive psychologist
named Martin Seligman and when Iread the book I felt like, well
, I am, and humbly say, becauseit's not always like this, but
at times like say, because it'snot always like this, but at
times I know what it feels liketo be flourishing.
(04:47):
There's five pillars Positiveemotions that you experience
more often than less.
A sense of engagement, which islike getting lost in what you
love.
Flow state Relationships thatmatter.
Meaning, which means you'repart of something bigger than
yourself.
(05:12):
Being an athlete for aninstitution means that for me,
the University of Michigan wasmore than Pat Sperry as an
individual when I put on thatjersey.
And we get that throughreligion.
We get that through community,through family.
And finally, accomplishment.
When you accomplish in life,you feel a sense of fulfillment,
and all of that togetheramounts to human flourishing.
I said not only do I know whatthat feels like, but through all
of my learnings, I know how tocreate a scenario to bring
(05:36):
people through an experiencethat would hopefully amount to
the experience of flourishing,and that happens at our event,
to the experience of flourishing.
And that happens at our event.
It's amazing to witness peoplego through these intensives,
these immersions, and come outjust fully open, fully available
for all that life has to offerand then to step into that.
It's a fantastic honor towitness.
(05:58):
So I got the download of whatit was to flourish and I got
lucky and we trademarked thatand now we've got our flourish
enterprise happening, which is alot of fun for me and a lot of
work.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, yeah, but it's work that is energizing, right.
It sounds like you know whatfolks don't realize.
When you do download someinformation for yourself, it
helps you kind of break somebarriers and then you give it to
others, right, it's a veryenergizing feeling to give that
(06:33):
download to somebody else, andso the work is work for sure,
but it's energizing.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Right, but it's energizing, right.
You're doing the same thing,you know.
You're creating a container tospread a message of possibility
for people who are ready to hearit.
This is a place of healing thatwe essentially realize we're
not alone in this journey oflife and we all go through
similar stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That's the power of community yeah, yeah, 100%, and
I want to hear a little bit moreabout your journey.
But first, you know you talkabout flourishing being an
inside job.
I was, you know.
Obviously I do my researchinside.
It comes from within, right,for somebody who's new to your
(07:22):
work, right, they come on andthey stumble upon your website
or something like that, and theywere to ask you what do you
mean by that?
It's an inside job?
How does somebody start?
How does somebody understand it?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It's a great question and what I think I have a
talent for is getting people whohave a little bit of experience
to none we can call thembeginners in whatever it is
excited about the subject.
So they say that yoga is like a100% practical subject.
You can't really talk aboutyoga and intellectualize what it
(07:59):
is.
You have to do it and when youdo it, you start to understand
through experience.
So my first ever yoga practicein 2009, my friend brought over
a DVD and at that point I waswriting music and smoking pot
and having all these experiencesand doing what I could to
(08:20):
connect to this expansive stateof being, which felt creative
and inspired.
And after that first practice,I lied down in this ending pose
called shavasana, where you justrest, and I dropped in and I
touched something that wasfamiliar, but I had never known
(08:40):
how to access it and by doingthe postures and doing the
breath, it unlocked itself and Iwas able to experience
firsthand what it felt like tocome through a yoga practice and
I was all in from there.
So I say like flourish is reallycool, because what we do, for
example, in Chicago West Africandance is that your practice,
(09:03):
that practice can lead to greatjoy, great wisdom.
It's a spiritual practice.
Good, Then go and keep doingthat.
Or maybe you love the soundhealing or the walking
meditation or the yoga or theecstatic dance and there's so
many modalities, we say, there'sso many rivers or ways that
lead to the ocean ofself-realization.
(09:24):
It just depends how you'regoing to get there and, based on
what your constitution is whatyou like, then hopefully you can
come to something like Flourish.
Try a bunch of differentpractices out and feel what
resonates for you and then keepgoing with that.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
You got to try.
If you don't try, you don'tknow, yeah, you got to get out
of your comfort zone.
Huh, we stay safe, and I'm avictim of that as well, of
staying safe.
Without recording my firstpodcast, where I felt extremely
nervous, I wouldn't have foundthe that feeling of familiarity
(10:03):
like you talked about, right,where time just seems to just
evaporate.
These are moments where youjust can't put it into words
what it is that you feel, but itusually happens on the other
side of discomfort.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I'm with you on that one, josh.
I think it's a good insight,and along with like getting
uncomfortable comes resistance,all of the reasons why you
shouldn't try something new.
We can make excuses for a longtime, and then I think what your
show and the insight of thispodcast reveals is sometimes
we're pushed through, we don'thave a choice.
(10:49):
Something happens outside ofour control where we're forced
to deal with that discomfort.
There's nowhere to run.
It's a new world all of asudden, on the other side of
potentially a traumatic injuryor an unexpected moment which
forces your growth.
So for me it's like preventativemedicine.
(11:12):
If you do therapy and the firsttherapy session you ever have
is when you're in the middle oflike a life crisis, then it's
just kind of like let's get youout of this.
What can we do to help you comedown?
Compared to if you're intherapy for months and years,
(11:33):
maybe you never reach thatcrisis.
So, like you, just workgradually on yourself so that
when life gets challenging, youhave the support systems, the
tools, the practices to help getyou through it.
We need tools and techniques towork with life, and that's what
most of these spiritualpractices want to share with us.
How do you deal with youranxiety?
(11:54):
In yoga you practice forwardbends.
How do you deal with yourdepression?
You open your chest andbackbends.
There's different poses thathave different stimuli.
If you know how to use them andapply them to the moments of
your life, then you're kind oflike your own metaphysical
physician.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I love that you have a very calming presence about
you, right, and so I can.
I can feel that you practicewhat you preach.
But I want to kind of take itback to that 13 year old Patrick
(12:37):
at the happy at the birthdayparty in Hensdale.
At the birthday party inHensdale, what was that Patrick
like?
And I would love for you tokind of take me to your the
journey of how you got to whereyou are today.
Right, you've done a lot ofinteresting things that a lot of
folks, at least that I've comeacross, haven't done.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I think the kids call it Riz.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
The Rizler, the full Rizler.
You got Riz.
Huh yeah, I got a lot of Riz.
And I remember my third gradeteacher saying you know, being
charming and cute won't get youthrough life.
I think she was wrong.
But you know, I did somethinglike different with my life,
(13:26):
which was that I always followedkind of like the compass of my
heart in these moments of bigdecision making where and
there's no judgment I can seeboth sides of the coin.
A lot of my friends picked uptheir father's work.
They followed their father'sfootsteps to the T.
(13:49):
They had children at the sameage that their father had.
The same amount of children,lived in the same town and I see
those guys and they've got somestability, They've got some
really deep roots with familyand that's beautiful.
But I've always just followedwhat felt like yes in my soul.
So you know, I got recruited toMichigan, which is a great
academic school, and of course Isigned up to be a filmmaker
(14:11):
major and I studied movie makingbecause I love to do it.
Should I have gone to businessschool?
You know, perhaps that wouldhave been the smart thing to do,
but I couldn't do the practicalthing.
I only could kind of serve mypassions and at the tail end of
my soccer career I was poised toat least make a good run for
(14:33):
being a pro.
I had a lot of success and Ileft that to pursue my dream of
being a songwriter in LA.
I had been writing music since Iwas a kid and I'd always put
that on the back because I hadto put soccer first.
And I went to LA and left thesoccer thing and then music was
(14:53):
going in a good direction and Ifell in love with yoga and while
music kind of held on for awhile, I turned my attention
because it just felt like, okay,well, now this is so.
This ability to reinvent mylife and kind of honor, that
deeper calling has led me to anunexpected place, right here and
now, where I'm this kind oflong haired, you know, magician,
(15:15):
and it's a.
It's an unexpected journey.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah.
And so going back, so being asoccer player right, and you
talked about it earlier it'slike having this meaning and
especially being a very greatsoccer player and having the
ability to be a professional.
What was that feeling like?
(15:41):
Of like, okay, this is mymeaning, this is kind of my
identity, how people view me tojust going into music, right,
was that a hard transition?
Was it easy?
What was that transition like?
Did people question you?
Like, hey, yeah, I'm going toLA to be a musician?
(16:01):
Like following, becausefollowing decisions and not
following the crowd, especiallythe folks in your environment.
You can look crazy, you can getmade fun of, you can be
misunderstood.
Making choices for your lifethat you feel like aligns with
(16:23):
the values that you want to liveby, aligns with the values that
you want to live by, right, uh,and so I'm just thinking like,
okay, I am, uh, you know,high-class soccer player.
My, my journey is ending, I cango be a professional, which is
the dream Probably you grew up.
That was the dream versus uh,no, I think I'm going to go in
(16:43):
this direction.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I feel understood.
Josh, just explore the idea.
It's healing because again weunderstand each other and we all
go through similar stuff.
I'm sure you had a moment ofreckoning or catharsis when you
kind of hung the boots up forthe last time, so to say, and
this really important part ofyour identity and who you were
(17:07):
up until that point.
But for me it was really alwaysmy father's dream and others
for me to continue in thatdirection and it was not logical
.
Why?
How can you even begin tounderstand that a kid with all
of this potential and a futurethat could be what you had
dreamed of for him, how couldyou give that up?
(17:30):
So it was very, it was almosttraumatic.
I remember giving a speechbecause I was a redshirt
freshman.
I started my redshirt freshmanyear, played then sophomore
junior, had a bunch of recordsat Michigan, and then I had a
fourth year, my fifth year as aredshirt senior, to come back.
And then I had a fourth year,my fifth year as a red shirt
senior, to come back, and I leftbefore that fourth year instead
(17:51):
of icing all the records and,you know, kind of being this
legendary player, because myclass we had a recruiting class
of 12 guys.
They were all leaving.
It was a big rebuilding yearand I was just ready to follow
my dream.
And if you listen to Pat Sperryon YouTube and see the music
videos and the records I made,you would get it.
It's good music, it's hot, it'smeaningful, and I knew that I
(18:15):
had this gift that had to comeout.
But I couldn't get a word out onthat podium when I was
announcing to the staff team andmy whole Michigan family that I
wasn't coming back.
I was just and I had to stepdown.
It was like, and my father wascrying and he was heartbroken
for weeks.
He couldn't really, like youknow, speak about it.
So it was really going againstthe grain.
(18:38):
But had I not done that I meanthe experiences I've had I don't
know what my life would havelooked like and you can never
know If I could live twoparallel lives, I could have
said, well, I regret not doingthat because I would have been
here and now I'm here, butthat's not the way that life
works.
Yeah, glad that I took thatleap of faith, even though it
brought a lot of uncertainty andit was risky.
(19:01):
There's been a pretty amazingreward from that and I did
follow what was true for me.
I don't feel like I wasavoiding, you know, that next
level of greatness.
I wasn't scared to succeed.
I just couldn't deny that innervoice which said, brother, go
and make your life a creativeendeavor, yeah, disappointing
(19:23):
people that you love.
And not knowing if it was goingwas gonna pan out like you know
letting this thing go in orderto try something you know
outlandish and I thinkultimately people respect the
path that I've taken.
Those who have watched my lifeum, I know my father's friends
at one point when I wastraveling the world with a
(19:44):
backpack and a beard, said he'sthe one that figured this out.
It's like man.
Some folks would love to havethat life and at times I would
love to have their life, but forme it's all grist for the mill
of awakening and we use ourlives to hopefully connect with
that deepest sense of who we are.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Connect with that deepest sense of who we are.
Yeah, you know we, before we hitrecord, we talk about how you
do a lot of work with men andthe thing, the word that kept I
didn't say the word, cause Iwanted to wait until we hit
record and started to show isego, right, ego, the and the
(20:27):
reason why I'm bringing this up,especially with your story
right is like the ego of hey, Iam a Division I athlete, I'm at
a Big Ten school, I'm at a greatone of the top universities in
the nation From the outsideright.
A lot of these things can feedmy ego and how I'm perceived to
(20:50):
others, and I think a lot of menstruggle with this.
Am I following a path to makeothers happy to look good, to
(21:14):
seem like I'm living an amazinglife or a stable life, or am I
going to follow myself, myhigher calling that might
disappoint people in my life, um, or, uh, make me look uh, like
I'm taking steps back in theireyes, right, um, I think it's a
(21:35):
it's it's a battle that a lot ofmen face right, and for you to
be able to have the strength toto do that at a young age is
very commendable.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Well, I appreciate that reflection, Josh, and
you're talking to a guy who had,and still has, a huge ego.
I'm not an enlightened soul andat the tail end of my Michigan
(22:09):
career I was fist fighting myteammates and, you know, having
a terrible time with my coachesbecause my personality and my
ego was so out of control.
And I found this way to workwith that which for me was yoga
and meditation where gradually,as I started to like confront
these parts of my personalitywhich were dysfunctional and
(22:30):
causing me a lot of troubleinternally and in my
relationships, to kind of seethose and to slowly decompress
from that level of intensitywhich was me trying to be the
best.
You know, and that metric ofperfectionism and being the best
is a sure way to burn out andunfulfillment, because it's an
(22:51):
impossible thing.
You can be great, but also likea man.
So what's the responsibility ofthe king?
And in men's work we learnabout the Jungian archetypes of
the king, the warrior, themagician and the lover, and they
can all be expressed in apositive way or a destructive
(23:14):
way, and one of theresponsibilities of the positive
king is to bless others andpeople come to the king to be
seen and he bestows titles orlands or riches or opportunities
or whatever onto his people.
And I was a tyrant.
You know, that's like theboyhood psychology the high
(23:37):
chair tyrant.
If you don't feed me exactlywhen I want to, I'm going to
throw the food on the floor andmake a big fuss.
And I wasn't able to celebrateother men because I had to be
better than them.
So even if they were better orgreat, I would have to put them
down.
So I would feel, you know,validated, and that wasn't fun,
(24:01):
it wasn't a good way to gothrough life.
So since then, and with likesome understanding about these
male archetypes, my work is topractice blessing other men, and
I think you do that.
I mean, you've already donethat with me by just recognizing
my life and affirming you knowsome of the decisions that I've
made.
And we say that if you don'tbless other men regularly, then
(24:24):
you probably weren't blessedenough as a young man.
So that's what's playing outLike.
I make that a practice, likewhen I see a man who's doing
something great, especially ayounger man, I praise him.
Yeah, let him know that I seeyou and you're doing well and,
like you know, keep it up.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, it's huge .
Actually, it's when you, whenyou validate other men and you
help build up other men, youcan't help but feel amazing
yourself, as opposed to, likeyou said before, trying to put
down other men and trying tofeel like you're the best versus
(25:03):
you know helping build folks up.
Uh, like you're the best,versus you know helping build
folks up.
Um, you know, I always tellfolks like you know.
You go into a room and if youcould compliment a few people
specifically like men, and youcan validate them and make them
feel good, you'll settle intothat environment a lot faster,
(25:24):
Um, and, and you'll feel a lotmore confident in that space
because you gave it out Rightand now you've developed, you
know, uh, uh, you know smallfriendships around along the way
, where people won't forget thatand they really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Um, you really wonder what my experience at Michigan
would have been like had Ireally embodied like the
potential leader that I wasbecause I was a great leader and
when I was doing well andlifting others up, which I could
, there would be this energy ofit's possible but equally so I
could cut someone down to thepoint where they just didn't
want to be there anymore.
(26:01):
And this whole world offorgiving ourselves and letting
go.
I don't hold that againstmyself.
I had to go through that phasein order to I mean, that's
playing injured my friend.
Yeah, that's what I wasthinking about before coming to
this podcast, because I did getinjured pretty seriously in yoga
(26:23):
, because I was competing withmyself in yoga.
Because I was competing withmyself and there was a guy who
was my age across the room whowas also pretty talented, and I
was doing, I wanted to be betterthan him, and this was after
years of yoga.
So the yoga master which Istudy under he's no longer in
his body, but he said don'tcompare yourself to others and
(26:44):
don't compete with yourself.
And I didn't really embody thatteaching even five years ago
when this injury happened.
And still, you know, I'mlearning how to really be
responsible with my life andlisten to my body, which at that
time was giving me feedback.
It said don't go any further,your knees not limber enough to
(27:06):
fit into that shape.
But I forced it and tore myknee in three places and since
then my yoga practice hastransformed a lot.
Maybe I've taken some stepsback in what I'm capable of, but
I can tell you for sure mycharacter has been sculpted by
that in ways which it it needed.
I needed to slow down and dealwith this once and for all, this
(27:29):
forcing, this pushing, thisstriving energy, which didn't
serve my body at that point andhasn't served my life, as I've
been always, you know, pushingfor better, more, missing the
moment where you can justappreciate what you do have and
be content with the many giftsthat have already been given.
So that's, that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I think I went on like a no, we went through a lot
.
I hope folks can follow, butit's a lot of amazing stuff in
there, and so you followed amusic journey, right.
And how do you get into yoga,you, you, I I think you kind of
mentioned it a little bit Rightwhen you kind of got introduced
(28:11):
to yoga by a friend and fromthere is where you found that
energy, that familiar energy,kind of like your purpose per se
, right, and you went throughall these pivots in life.
How did that kind of shape theperson you are today?
(28:32):
Right, the yoga, the pivotsthat you made in life.
What do you feel like whenthese downloads that you are
feel like you're giving to, um,the folks that you come in
contact with now, right, whatexactly if you had to?
(28:54):
You know, I know that's aloaded question because it could
be a lot, but what do you feellike?
That is that God's gift to youare your talents.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Your gift back to God is using them.
So for me and it's interestingthere was this intersection
right in the middle here, whereI was in Hollywood writing music
, doing that whole dance, andwhen I came upon yoga, like
immediately I started writingthe best music of my life.
(29:35):
Like my creative channel openedand yoga helps you to access
your inner energies and it kindof keeps your mind quiet, so
like what wants to come throughcomes through unimpeded and I
was like great Yoga is helpingme, you know, in music.
So I'll just keep doing yoga.
But if you keep practicingsomething like yoga or
meditation, it starts to changeyour perspective and the way
(29:58):
that you see the world.
Like that's the evolution.
It's not just that you becomemore flexible in your body but
in your mind.
You become more flexible inyour body but in your mind and
the same thing all of a suddenis experienced in a new way.
And for me, yoga has allowed meto basically do what I said I
(30:22):
couldn't do before.
Gradually, not to comparemyself to others or to compete
against myself.
Up against this standard ofneeding to be the best, I can
start to accept who I am, yeahand uh.
Let go some of that resistance,because when you're trying to
be the best, it's really hard topersevere or to even want to
(30:45):
start because it's hard toachieve that outcome.
Okay, this is who I am.
I honor my gifts.
I'm worthy of love and of beingseen and sharing and seeing
others.
So I've created a businesswhere I get to share my gifts.
We're making feature-lengthdocumentary films at Flourish
(31:09):
through some of our retreatswhich have been amazing, and
there's my film degree cominginto play.
I write theme songs for all ofour events which we sing
together as a group across thedays on this journey.
So music is still a big part ofmy life, but now it's just not
with the intention to be afamous rock star, but just to
(31:30):
share my voice and to bringother people into that exalted
moment of making music together.
And I love traveling.
And my business now brings meback to India, but with 22 folks
who I can show all of theamazing places that I was able
to experience.
I can show all of the amazingplaces that I was able to
experience.
So it's come kind of like intothis complete thing and that's
(31:54):
quite fulfilling for me.
I'm very happy and again, it'swork at times and I'm trying to
scale and grow, flourish andreach more people, because I
think what we have to offer is areally valuable commodity which
is community and self-care, butit's purposeful, so again, it
doesn't feel so much like work.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, 100 percent.
And what you talked about thereis, you know, acceptance, right
, acceptance of who you are, ofwhere you are, uh, of who you
are of where you are, um, andnot looking to have you know
that striving energy, like yousaid, of you know, if I get
there, then I'll feel good, if Ihave this, then I'll feel good.
(32:37):
Um, you know, everything youwant you already have Right and
it's all about, like you said,um, accepting it right and not
josh, I want to just plant thisone seed.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
There's a perspective from uh, the bhagavad gita,
it's the song of god, it'scalled karma yoga and the main
teaching is that do your worklike, be in action, show up and
surrender your attachment to theoutcome.
Yeah, control that.
So for me that's the big shift,is like doing the thing in
(33:19):
order to get you know theaccolade, the fame, the success,
the girls, the money, and thenjust doing the thing and letting
go because you can't controlthe outcome, but do it well.
Yeah, and keep doing it, keepshowing up, and that just
relieves you of the burden ofhaving heavy expectations laid
on all of the things that you doin the world.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, Detach, detachment, detachment.
Baby yeah, it's amazing.
Well, patrick, I appreciate youbeing on the show and I want to
thank you again.
You show so much grace.
Uh, with the technical issuesthat we had before the show, um
and uh, it was just a lot ofpatience and and one thing I'm
(34:08):
learning from you just in ourconversation is to slow down to,
to appreciate to be present andyou know, I appreciate you
being on the show and andsharing with us today.
Where can folks find you?
Where can folks learn moreabout your journey, your
projects, everything that youhave going on, yeah, where can
(34:31):
folks see more of Patrick?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah, thanks, josh.
Well, I hope to see you and I'dlove to offer you a free ticket
to our Flourish coming up inChicago and we can follow up
with that afterwards and I'mhappy to send you an all access
pass.
But as far as on socials and onthe web, we got two avenues.
One is peaceloveflourishcom,and that's a place where you can
(34:58):
see what Flourish is up to,where we're hosting our future
retreats.
We have free Zoom calls withcommunity where we can get
together, no barrier of entry,just show up and have a nice
workshop twice a month.
So Flourish is popping off atBeFlourish on Instagram.
And then there's thepatsperrylovecom.
(35:20):
Patsperrylove on Instagram,which is my coaching, men's
mentorship and yoga teachingportal.
So those two things are prettymuch the same but a little bit
different.
And if you're interested, dm me.
I'm happy to have a chat withanybody who's seeking support,
whether how to progress in theirprofession, their relationships
(35:43):
within themselves and if you'relooking for an adventure, we do
that really well.
Their relationships withinthemselves.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
If you're looking for an adventure, we do that really
well, 100%.
I love it.
Well, pat, I'll make sure I putthose in the footnotes, all of
those links for folks to geteasy access to all that stuff.
But no, I definitely appreciateyou being on the show.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's my pleasure and I'm witnessing a great man in
front of me, so I celebrate you,josh, keep it up, and I love
you.
You haven't practiced yoga yet.
Don't wait too long.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
I need to.
Definitely, it's something thatI definitely want to get into,
want to practice.
Obviously, I've done it, andI've done it for short periods
of time, but I know it'ssomething that has served me
well, especially as I get alittle bit older.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, it'll keep us feeling good in our body as we
get to old age.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah, 100%, I love it .
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Thank you, brother, beautiful to meet you.
Thank you.
Welcome to another episode of Playing Injured.
I'm pretty excited for thisepisode.
We have Patrick Sperry, who isthe founder of Be Flourish,
professional wellness coach,men's work facilitator, yoga
teacher.
You do a lot of amazing work,so I appreciate you being on the
(00:21):
show and taking the time topodcast with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's my joy to be here, Josh.
Thank you for including me inyour world of insight and
positivity.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It's a pleasure.
I love it.
So I always love starting ashow.
I like kind of setting thestage of like who is Patrick and
how does he spend his timetoday?
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Josh, I love what Jim Carrey says.
He says Jim Carrey's a reallyinteresting character and then
he says I'm lucky to have gottenthe part.
So in some way I feel the same.
I've been blessed with a uniquejourney through life and I feel
fortunate to be playing thisrole of Pat.
(01:08):
It certainly keeps meentertained and it's always
interesting.
Even boredom has becomeinteresting when you look at it
from the right perspective.
Yeah, long story short.
I grew up in Hinsdale and Iknow that you're in Chicago.
I'm currently in San Diego.
My journey took me to the WestCoast, but I got a lot of love
(01:28):
for that city and we're actuallyheading back, me and my partner
, catalina de Leon, with mycompany Flourish, to host our
first day of wellness in ChicagoSeptember 28th.
It's actually going to be inHinsdale where I had my 13th
birthday party, which is prettyfunny, wow.
And if those walls could talk,I say.
(01:48):
And that's exciting.
So this kind of return fullcircle back to serve our
community of Chicagoans withwellness.
We'll do things like Africandance, sound healing, yoga,
cacao ceremony, laughterpractice, we'll have a
storyteller, live music.
So we create these kind ofimmersive days of festival and
celebration.
(02:09):
And that's where my heart is atthese days is building out,
creating opportunities forindividuals to connect with
themselves and, from that placeof centeredness, to come out and
play, yeah, connect with othersin a way which we're seeing
deeply into ourselves andhopefully into others.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, I love that and it sounds very much of a
healing experience.
Um, and then doing it in acommunity, right?
What I want to understand fromyou is flourish, right.
What about that resonates withyou?
Flourish, the word of it, right?
(02:50):
Why did you name your company?
That?
The tree?
What about flourish?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I didn't know what flourish really was until I read
the book called Flourish.
I enrolled into the College ofExecutive Coaching after four
years of travel and I was likethis bearded long haired Jesus
lookalike who was traveling theworld seeking spiritual masters
(03:21):
on the path of self-discovery.
I lived in central Chinatraining Kung Fu on a
mountaintop.
I was like the Kung Fu Pandajust in over my head, but
ultimately I learned a lot.
I was in India for 18 months,trekking through Nepal, sitting
in silence in Thailand with theBuddhist forest monks, and on
(03:41):
and on, and I got to the pointwhere I was just saturated with
experience and I had been givenso much.
It was clear that it was timefor me to come back and share
the best that I could, thatwhich I had been given.
And I'd been teaching yoga atthat point for over a decade,
which I loved.
But I wanted another angle,like yoga.
And then this coachingmechanism allowed me to work
(04:05):
with people in a different levelof their life, like that
personal accomplishment oriented, like you know, fulfill your
potential as a human, and theyogis like fulfill your
potential as a soul.
So that's a cool, uh way tosupport an individual.
But in that course of studyinghow to be a great coach, I got
(04:27):
the book Flourish by a veryfamous positive psychologist
named Martin Seligman and when Iread the book I felt like, well
, I am, and humbly say, becauseit's not always like this, but
at times like say, because it'snot always like this, but at
times I know what it feels liketo be flourishing.
(04:47):
There's five pillars Positiveemotions that you experience
more often than less.
A sense of engagement, which islike getting lost in what you
love.
Flow state Relationships thatmatter.
Meaning, which means you'repart of something bigger than
yourself.
(05:12):
Being an athlete for aninstitution means that for me,
the University of Michigan wasmore than Pat Sperry as an
individual when I put on thatjersey.
And we get that throughreligion.
We get that through community,through family.
And finally, accomplishment.
When you accomplish in life,you feel a sense of fulfillment,
and all of that togetheramounts to human flourishing.
I said not only do I know whatthat feels like, but through all
of my learnings, I know how tocreate a scenario to bring
(05:36):
people through an experiencethat would hopefully amount to
the experience of flourishing,and that happens at our event,
to the experience of flourishing.
And that happens at our event.
It's amazing to witness peoplego through these intensives,
these immersions, and come outjust fully open, fully available
for all that life has to offerand then to step into that.
It's a fantastic honor towitness.
(05:58):
So I got the download of whatit was to flourish and I got
lucky and we trademarked thatand now we've got our flourish
enterprise happening, which is alot of fun for me and a lot of
work.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, yeah, but it's work that is energizing, right.
It sounds like you know whatfolks don't realize.
When you do download someinformation for yourself, it
helps you kind of break somebarriers and then you give it to
others, right, it's a veryenergizing feeling to give that
(06:33):
download to somebody else, andso the work is work for sure,
but it's energizing.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Right, but it's energizing, right.
You're doing the same thing,you know.
You're creating a container tospread a message of possibility
for people who are ready to hearit.
This is a place of healing thatwe essentially realize we're
not alone in this journey oflife and we all go through
similar stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That's the power of community yeah, yeah, 100%, and
I want to hear a little bit moreabout your journey.
But first, you know you talkabout flourishing being an
inside job.
I was, you know.
Obviously I do my researchinside.
It comes from within, right,for somebody who's new to your
(07:22):
work, right, they come on andthey stumble upon your website
or something like that, and theywere to ask you what do you
mean by that?
It's an inside job?
How does somebody start?
How does somebody understand it?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It's a great question and what I think I have a
talent for is getting people whohave a little bit of experience
to none we can call thembeginners in whatever it is
excited about the subject.
So they say that yoga is like a100% practical subject.
You can't really talk aboutyoga and intellectualize what it
(07:59):
is.
You have to do it and when youdo it, you start to understand
through experience.
So my first ever yoga practicein 2009, my friend brought over
a DVD and at that point I waswriting music and smoking pot
and having all these experiencesand doing what I could to
(08:20):
connect to this expansive stateof being, which felt creative
and inspired.
And after that first practice,I lied down in this ending pose
called shavasana, where you justrest, and I dropped in and I
touched something that wasfamiliar, but I had never known
(08:40):
how to access it and by doingthe postures and doing the
breath, it unlocked itself and Iwas able to experience
firsthand what it felt like tocome through a yoga practice and
I was all in from there.
So I say like flourish is reallycool, because what we do, for
example, in Chicago West Africandance is that your practice,
(09:03):
that practice can lead to greatjoy, great wisdom.
It's a spiritual practice.
Good, Then go and keep doingthat.
Or maybe you love the soundhealing or the walking
meditation or the yoga or theecstatic dance and there's so
many modalities, we say, there'sso many rivers or ways that
lead to the ocean ofself-realization.
(09:24):
It just depends how you'regoing to get there and, based on
what your constitution is whatyou like, then hopefully you can
come to something like Flourish.
Try a bunch of differentpractices out and feel what
resonates for you and then keepgoing with that.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
You got to try.
If you don't try, you don'tknow, yeah, you got to get out
of your comfort zone.
Huh, we stay safe, and I'm avictim of that as well, of
staying safe.
Without recording my firstpodcast, where I felt extremely
nervous, I wouldn't have foundthe that feeling of familiarity
(10:03):
like you talked about, right,where time just seems to just
evaporate.
These are moments where youjust can't put it into words
what it is that you feel, but itusually happens on the other
side of discomfort.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I'm with you on that one, josh.
I think it's a good insight,and along with like getting
uncomfortable comes resistance,all of the reasons why you
shouldn't try something new.
We can make excuses for a longtime, and then I think what your
show and the insight of thispodcast reveals is sometimes
we're pushed through, we don'thave a choice.
(10:49):
Something happens outside ofour control where we're forced
to deal with that discomfort.
There's nowhere to run.
It's a new world all of asudden, on the other side of
potentially a traumatic injuryor an unexpected moment which
forces your growth.
So for me it's like preventativemedicine.
(11:12):
If you do therapy and the firsttherapy session you ever have
is when you're in the middle oflike a life crisis, then it's
just kind of like let's get youout of this.
What can we do to help you comedown?
Compared to if you're intherapy for months and years,
(11:33):
maybe you never reach thatcrisis.
So, like you, just workgradually on yourself so that
when life gets challenging, youhave the support systems, the
tools, the practices to help getyou through it.
We need tools and techniques towork with life, and that's what
most of these spiritualpractices want to share with us.
How do you deal with youranxiety?
(11:54):
In yoga you practice forwardbends.
How do you deal with yourdepression?
You open your chest andbackbends.
There's different poses thathave different stimuli.
If you know how to use them andapply them to the moments of
your life, then you're kind oflike your own metaphysical
physician.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I love that you have a very calming presence about
you, right, and so I can.
I can feel that you practicewhat you preach.
But I want to kind of take itback to that 13 year old Patrick
(12:37):
at the happy at the birthdayparty in Hensdale.
At the birthday party inHensdale, what was that Patrick
like?
And I would love for you tokind of take me to your the
journey of how you got to whereyou are today.
Right, you've done a lot ofinteresting things that a lot of
folks, at least that I've comeacross, haven't done.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I think the kids call it Riz.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
The Rizler, the full Rizler.
You got Riz.
Huh yeah, I got a lot of Riz.
And I remember my third gradeteacher saying you know, being
charming and cute won't get youthrough life.
I think she was wrong.
But you know, I did somethinglike different with my life,
(13:26):
which was that I always followedkind of like the compass of my
heart in these moments of bigdecision making where and
there's no judgment I can seeboth sides of the coin.
A lot of my friends picked uptheir father's work.
They followed their father'sfootsteps to the T.
(13:49):
They had children at the sameage that their father had.
The same amount of children,lived in the same town and I see
those guys and they've got somestability, They've got some
really deep roots with familyand that's beautiful.
But I've always just followedwhat felt like yes in my soul.
So you know, I got recruited toMichigan, which is a great
academic school, and of course Isigned up to be a filmmaker
(14:11):
major and I studied movie makingbecause I love to do it.
Should I have gone to businessschool?
You know, perhaps that wouldhave been the smart thing to do,
but I couldn't do the practicalthing.
I only could kind of serve mypassions and at the tail end of
my soccer career I was poised toat least make a good run for
(14:33):
being a pro.
I had a lot of success and Ileft that to pursue my dream of
being a songwriter in LA.
I had been writing music since Iwas a kid and I'd always put
that on the back because I hadto put soccer first.
And I went to LA and left thesoccer thing and then music was
(14:53):
going in a good direction and Ifell in love with yoga and while
music kind of held on for awhile, I turned my attention
because it just felt like, okay,well, now this is so.
This ability to reinvent mylife and kind of honor, that
deeper calling has led me to anunexpected place, right here and
now, where I'm this kind oflong haired, you know, magician,
(15:15):
and it's a.
It's an unexpected journey.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah.
And so going back, so being asoccer player right, and you
talked about it earlier it'slike having this meaning and
especially being a very greatsoccer player and having the
ability to be a professional.
What was that feeling like?
(15:41):
Of like, okay, this is mymeaning, this is kind of my
identity, how people view me tojust going into music, right,
was that a hard transition?
Was it easy?
What was that transition like?
Did people question you?
Like, hey, yeah, I'm going toLA to be a musician?
(16:01):
Like following, becausefollowing decisions and not
following the crowd, especiallythe folks in your environment.
You can look crazy, you can getmade fun of, you can be
misunderstood.
Making choices for your lifethat you feel like aligns with
(16:23):
the values that you want to liveby, aligns with the values that
you want to live by, right, uh,and so I'm just thinking like,
okay, I am, uh, you know,high-class soccer player.
My, my journey is ending, I cango be a professional, which is
the dream Probably you grew up.
That was the dream versus uh,no, I think I'm going to go in
(16:43):
this direction.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I feel understood.
Josh, just explore the idea.
It's healing because again weunderstand each other and we all
go through similar stuff.
I'm sure you had a moment ofreckoning or catharsis when you
kind of hung the boots up forthe last time, so to say, and
this really important part ofyour identity and who you were
(17:07):
up until that point.
But for me it was really alwaysmy father's dream and others
for me to continue in thatdirection and it was not logical
.
Why?
How can you even begin tounderstand that a kid with all
of this potential and a futurethat could be what you had
dreamed of for him, how couldyou give that up?
(17:30):
So it was very, it was almosttraumatic.
I remember giving a speechbecause I was a redshirt
freshman.
I started my redshirt freshmanyear, played then sophomore
junior, had a bunch of recordsat Michigan, and then I had a
fourth year, my fifth year as aredshirt senior, to come back.
And then I had a fourth year,my fifth year as a red shirt
senior, to come back, and I leftbefore that fourth year instead
(17:51):
of icing all the records and,you know, kind of being this
legendary player, because myclass we had a recruiting class
of 12 guys.
They were all leaving.
It was a big rebuilding yearand I was just ready to follow
my dream.
And if you listen to Pat Sperryon YouTube and see the music
videos and the records I made,you would get it.
It's good music, it's hot, it'smeaningful, and I knew that I
(18:15):
had this gift that had to comeout.
But I couldn't get a word out onthat podium when I was
announcing to the staff team andmy whole Michigan family that I
wasn't coming back.
I was just and I had to stepdown.
It was like, and my father wascrying and he was heartbroken
for weeks.
He couldn't really, like youknow, speak about it.
So it was really going againstthe grain.
(18:38):
But had I not done that I meanthe experiences I've had I don't
know what my life would havelooked like and you can never
know If I could live twoparallel lives, I could have
said, well, I regret not doingthat because I would have been
here and now I'm here, butthat's not the way that life
works.
Yeah, glad that I took thatleap of faith, even though it
brought a lot of uncertainty andit was risky.
(19:01):
There's been a pretty amazingreward from that and I did
follow what was true for me.
I don't feel like I wasavoiding, you know, that next
level of greatness.
I wasn't scared to succeed.
I just couldn't deny that innervoice which said, brother, go
and make your life a creativeendeavor, yeah, disappointing
(19:23):
people that you love.
And not knowing if it was goingwas gonna pan out like you know
letting this thing go in orderto try something you know
outlandish and I thinkultimately people respect the
path that I've taken.
Those who have watched my lifeum, I know my father's friends
at one point when I wastraveling the world with a
(19:44):
backpack and a beard, said he'sthe one that figured this out.
It's like man.
Some folks would love to havethat life and at times I would
love to have their life, but forme it's all grist for the mill
of awakening and we use ourlives to hopefully connect with
that deepest sense of who we are.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Connect with that deepest sense of who we are.
Yeah, you know we, before we hitrecord, we talk about how you
do a lot of work with men andthe thing, the word that kept I
didn't say the word, cause Iwanted to wait until we hit
record and started to show isego, right, ego, the and the
(20:27):
reason why I'm bringing this up,especially with your story
right is like the ego of hey, Iam a Division I athlete, I'm at
a Big Ten school, I'm at a greatone of the top universities in
the nation From the outsideright.
A lot of these things can feedmy ego and how I'm perceived to
(20:50):
others, and I think a lot of menstruggle with this.
Am I following a path to makeothers happy to look good, to
(21:14):
seem like I'm living an amazinglife or a stable life, or am I
going to follow myself, myhigher calling that might
disappoint people in my life, um, or, uh, make me look uh, like
I'm taking steps back in theireyes, right, um, I think it's a
(21:35):
it's it's a battle that a lot ofmen face right, and for you to
be able to have the strength toto do that at a young age is
very commendable.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Well, I appreciate that reflection, Josh, and
you're talking to a guy who had,and still has, a huge ego.
I'm not an enlightened soul andat the tail end of my Michigan
(22:09):
career I was fist fighting myteammates and, you know, having
a terrible time with my coachesbecause my personality and my
ego was so out of control.
And I found this way to workwith that which for me was yoga
and meditation where gradually,as I started to like confront
these parts of my personalitywhich were dysfunctional and
(22:30):
causing me a lot of troubleinternally and in my
relationships, to kind of seethose and to slowly decompress
from that level of intensitywhich was me trying to be the
best.
You know, and that metric ofperfectionism and being the best
is a sure way to burn out andunfulfillment, because it's an
(22:51):
impossible thing.
You can be great, but also likea man.
So what's the responsibility ofthe king?
And in men's work we learnabout the Jungian archetypes of
the king, the warrior, themagician and the lover, and they
can all be expressed in apositive way or a destructive
(23:14):
way, and one of theresponsibilities of the positive
king is to bless others andpeople come to the king to be
seen and he bestows titles orlands or riches or opportunities
or whatever onto his people.
And I was a tyrant.
You know, that's like theboyhood psychology the high
(23:37):
chair tyrant.
If you don't feed me exactlywhen I want to, I'm going to
throw the food on the floor andmake a big fuss.
And I wasn't able to celebrateother men because I had to be
better than them.
So even if they were better orgreat, I would have to put them
down.
So I would feel, you know,validated, and that wasn't fun,
(24:01):
it wasn't a good way to gothrough life.
So since then, and with likesome understanding about these
male archetypes, my work is topractice blessing other men, and
I think you do that.
I mean, you've already donethat with me by just recognizing
my life and affirming you knowsome of the decisions that I've
made.
And we say that if you don'tbless other men regularly, then
(24:24):
you probably weren't blessedenough as a young man.
So that's what's playing outLike.
I make that a practice, likewhen I see a man who's doing
something great, especially ayounger man, I praise him.
Yeah, let him know that I seeyou and you're doing well and,
like you know, keep it up.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, it's huge .
Actually, it's when you, whenyou validate other men and you
help build up other men, youcan't help but feel amazing
yourself, as opposed to, likeyou said before, trying to put
down other men and trying tofeel like you're the best versus
(25:03):
you know helping build folks up.
Uh, like you're the best,versus you know helping build
folks up.
Um, you know, I always tellfolks like you know.
You go into a room and if youcould compliment a few people
specifically like men, and youcan validate them and make them
feel good, you'll settle intothat environment a lot faster,
(25:24):
Um, and, and you'll feel a lotmore confident in that space
because you gave it out Rightand now you've developed, you
know, uh, uh, you know smallfriendships around along the way
, where people won't forget thatand they really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Um, you really wonder what my experience at Michigan
would have been like had Ireally embodied like the
potential leader that I wasbecause I was a great leader and
when I was doing well andlifting others up, which I could
, there would be this energy ofit's possible but equally so I
could cut someone down to thepoint where they just didn't
want to be there anymore.
(26:01):
And this whole world offorgiving ourselves and letting
go.
I don't hold that againstmyself.
I had to go through that phasein order to I mean, that's
playing injured my friend.
Yeah, that's what I wasthinking about before coming to
this podcast, because I did getinjured pretty seriously in yoga
(26:23):
, because I was competing withmyself in yoga.
Because I was competing withmyself and there was a guy who
was my age across the room whowas also pretty talented, and I
was doing, I wanted to be betterthan him, and this was after
years of yoga.
So the yoga master which Istudy under he's no longer in
his body, but he said don'tcompare yourself to others and
(26:44):
don't compete with yourself.
And I didn't really embody thatteaching even five years ago
when this injury happened.
And still, you know, I'mlearning how to really be
responsible with my life andlisten to my body, which at that
time was giving me feedback.
It said don't go any further,your knees not limber enough to
(27:06):
fit into that shape.
But I forced it and tore myknee in three places and since
then my yoga practice hastransformed a lot.
Maybe I've taken some stepsback in what I'm capable of, but
I can tell you for sure mycharacter has been sculpted by
that in ways which it it needed.
I needed to slow down and dealwith this once and for all, this
(27:29):
forcing, this pushing, thisstriving energy, which didn't
serve my body at that point andhasn't served my life, as I've
been always, you know, pushingfor better, more, missing the
moment where you can justappreciate what you do have and
be content with the many giftsthat have already been given.
So that's, that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I think I went on like a no, we went through a lot
.
I hope folks can follow, butit's a lot of amazing stuff in
there, and so you followed amusic journey, right.
And how do you get into yoga,you, you, I I think you kind of
mentioned it a little bit Rightwhen you kind of got introduced
(28:11):
to yoga by a friend and fromthere is where you found that
energy, that familiar energy,kind of like your purpose per se
, right, and you went throughall these pivots in life.
How did that kind of shape theperson you are today?
(28:32):
Right, the yoga, the pivotsthat you made in life.
What do you feel like whenthese downloads that you are
feel like you're giving to, um,the folks that you come in
contact with now, right, whatexactly if you had to?
(28:54):
You know, I know that's aloaded question because it could
be a lot, but what do you feellike?
That is that God's gift to youare your talents.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Your gift back to God is using them.
So for me and it's interestingthere was this intersection
right in the middle here, whereI was in Hollywood writing music
, doing that whole dance, andwhen I came upon yoga, like
immediately I started writingthe best music of my life.
(29:35):
Like my creative channel openedand yoga helps you to access
your inner energies and it kindof keeps your mind quiet, so
like what wants to come throughcomes through unimpeded and I
was like great Yoga is helpingme, you know, in music.
So I'll just keep doing yoga.
But if you keep practicingsomething like yoga or
meditation, it starts to changeyour perspective and the way
(29:58):
that you see the world.
Like that's the evolution.
It's not just that you becomemore flexible in your body but
in your mind.
You become more flexible inyour body but in your mind and
the same thing all of a suddenis experienced in a new way.
And for me, yoga has allowed meto basically do what I said I
(30:22):
couldn't do before.
Gradually, not to comparemyself to others or to compete
against myself.
Up against this standard ofneeding to be the best, I can
start to accept who I am, yeahand uh.
Let go some of that resistance,because when you're trying to
be the best, it's really hard topersevere or to even want to
(30:45):
start because it's hard toachieve that outcome.
Okay, this is who I am.
I honor my gifts.
I'm worthy of love and of beingseen and sharing and seeing
others.
So I've created a businesswhere I get to share my gifts.
We're making feature-lengthdocumentary films at Flourish
(31:09):
through some of our retreatswhich have been amazing, and
there's my film degree cominginto play.
I write theme songs for all ofour events which we sing
together as a group across thedays on this journey.
So music is still a big part ofmy life, but now it's just not
with the intention to be afamous rock star, but just to
(31:30):
share my voice and to bringother people into that exalted
moment of making music together.
And I love traveling.
And my business now brings meback to India, but with 22 folks
who I can show all of theamazing places that I was able
to experience.
I can show all of the amazingplaces that I was able to
experience.
So it's come kind of like intothis complete thing and that's
(31:54):
quite fulfilling for me.
I'm very happy and again, it'swork at times and I'm trying to
scale and grow, flourish andreach more people, because I
think what we have to offer is areally valuable commodity which
is community and self-care, butit's purposeful, so again, it
doesn't feel so much like work.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, 100 percent.
And what you talked about thereis, you know, acceptance, right
, acceptance of who you are, ofwhere you are, uh, of who you
are of where you are, um, andnot looking to have you know
that striving energy, like yousaid, of you know, if I get
there, then I'll feel good, if Ihave this, then I'll feel good.
(32:37):
Um, you know, everything youwant you already have Right and
it's all about, like you said,um, accepting it right and not
josh, I want to just plant thisone seed.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
There's a perspective from uh, the bhagavad gita,
it's the song of god, it'scalled karma yoga and the main
teaching is that do your worklike, be in action, show up and
surrender your attachment to theoutcome.
Yeah, control that.
So for me that's the big shift,is like doing the thing in
(33:19):
order to get you know theaccolade, the fame, the success,
the girls, the money, and thenjust doing the thing and letting
go because you can't controlthe outcome, but do it well.
Yeah, and keep doing it, keepshowing up, and that just
relieves you of the burden ofhaving heavy expectations laid
on all of the things that you doin the world.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, Detach, detachment, detachment.
Baby yeah, it's amazing.
Well, patrick, I appreciate youbeing on the show and I want to
thank you again.
You show so much grace.
Uh, with the technical issuesthat we had before the show, um
and uh, it was just a lot ofpatience and and one thing I'm
(34:08):
learning from you just in ourconversation is to slow down to,
to appreciate to be present andyou know, I appreciate you
being on the show and andsharing with us today.
Where can folks find you?
Where can folks learn moreabout your journey, your
projects, everything that youhave going on, yeah, where can
(34:31):
folks see more of Patrick?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah, thanks, josh.
Well, I hope to see you and I'dlove to offer you a free ticket
to our Flourish coming up inChicago and we can follow up
with that afterwards and I'mhappy to send you an all access
pass.
But as far as on socials and onthe web, we got two avenues.
One is peaceloveflourishcom,and that's a place where you can
(34:58):
see what Flourish is up to,where we're hosting our future
retreats.
We have free Zoom calls withcommunity where we can get
together, no barrier of entry,just show up and have a nice
workshop twice a month.
So Flourish is popping off atBeFlourish on Instagram.
And then there's thepatsperrylovecom.
(35:20):
Patsperrylove on Instagram,which is my coaching, men's
mentorship and yoga teachingportal.
So those two things are prettymuch the same but a little bit
different.
And if you're interested, dm me.
I'm happy to have a chat withanybody who's seeking support,
whether how to progress in theirprofession, their relationships
(35:43):
within themselves and if you'relooking for an adventure, we do
that really well.
Their relationships withinthemselves.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
If you're looking for an adventure, we do that really
well, 100%.
I love it.
Well, pat, I'll make sure I putthose in the footnotes, all of
those links for folks to geteasy access to all that stuff.
But no, I definitely appreciateyou being on the show.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's my pleasure and I'm witnessing a great man in
front of me, so I celebrate you,josh, keep it up, and I love
you.
You haven't practiced yoga yet.
Don't wait too long.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
I need to.
Definitely, it's something thatI definitely want to get into,
want to practice.
Obviously, I've done it, andI've done it for short periods
of time, but I know it'ssomething that has served me
well, especially as I get alittle bit older.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, it'll keep us feeling good in our body as we
get to old age.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah, 100%, I love it .
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Thank you, brother, beautiful to meet you.
Thank you.
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