Can you imagine a better way to celebrate our podcast's three-year anniversary than by sharing some of our favorite conversations with incredible guests and experiencing a powerful meditation together? Join us on this special journey as we revisit inspiring discussions with international yoga teacher Sivaroshan Sahathevan, Cancer survivor and mindfulness teacher LorieTesny and more. You won't want to miss this special anniversary episode!
We dive deep into the search for our life's purpose with the wise Sivaroshan exploring self-acceptance and making meaningful changes in our lives. Lori shares her story of overcoming a deadly form of skin cancer and how mindfulness played a crucial role in her healing journey. Lori's experience truly demonstrates the power of mindfulness and its ability to transform our lives, even in the darkest of times.
But that's not all! We also chat with former MTV producer Vinnie Potestivo about his fascinating experiences in the entertainment industry. Plus many more great guests!
Plus, as a special treat, I'll guide you through my favorite meditation that I've recorded. This anniversary episode is packed with wisdom, inspiration, and tools for self-growth – so don't miss out on this celebratory journey with us!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (00:00):
So today is our third birthday and
I thought I want to do somethingspecial for today.
Three years ago, in the middleof lockdown, i decided to do
this podcast and a lot of peoplesaid to me why did you do it or
what made you choose podcasting?
(00:20):
To be honest, at the time Ididn't really know, because I
didn't have any experiencewhatsoever of radio or
podcasting.
I did have a little bit ofexperience of public speaking,
but not public speaking whereyou kind of do big seminars, but
more through kind of liketeaching or other things.
However, for some reason Idecided that I wanted to do a
(00:43):
podcast.
It felt right to kind of likehelp uplift people and kind of
work through mindfulness in away that's more kind of
accessible but equally notdiluting it, because that is
something that we can sometimesdo in the West We kind of take
the bits and pieces of othercultures and kind of dilute it.
That was not my idea either.
(01:03):
More sort of share my journey,as well as other people's
journeys, where they've had somekind of dark night of the soul
and how they've kind of managedto turn their life around.
My best work is when I speak onspontaneously.
I do have a script for my shows, but most of the time I don't
end up using it.
I use the outline because youneed structure, but you also
(01:25):
need flow.
You need both of them.
Too much structure, and thenthere's not enough creativity.
Too much creativity, thenthere's not enough structure.
So it's kind of finding thatbalance.
Let's do a special three-yearedition where I take bits from
some of my previous guests andkind of put them into kind of
like some sort of rhapsody offantastic stuff that's going to
(01:49):
help you on your spiritualjourney and, at the very least,
find some inspiration from that.
That is the goal.
I would just like to say, ifthere's someone that's been on
my show and it's not beingfeatured in this particular
podcast episode, it does notmean that there was not value,
and that's Byron.
There's just so many showsThere's over 150 shows for me to
(02:10):
kind of go through and compilethis all together.
So that is the general gist.
Also for the meditation at theend I'm going to share my
favorite meditation that I'verecorded.
At the end, hopefully, thiswill be a very special
three-year extravaganza and letme know how you feel about it.
(02:33):
For future I'm looking to takein the show in a slightly
different direction.
I'm still trying to decide how.
Is there anything that youparticularly liked or any
particular episode you like?
then please go tothejentineoguaricom and you can
leave a voicemail there.
Anyway, so let's get back totoday's show, thank you.
So now to today's guests,martin Tice.
(02:53):
Martin is a spiritual coach andteacher who focuses on mental
and emotional well-being Throughthe art of shamanic journeys.
His greatest strength can befound in the field of
communication, and what aperfect guest to have on the
(03:13):
show, someone who's got a greatsense of communication, highly
developed emotional intelligence.
His coaching practice LightTrails Calls serves men in
executive positions to assistthem bring a well-being into
their professional and sociallives.
Martin is fluent in English,german and I believe he also
(03:38):
speaks a bit of Norwegian aswell.
Martin Theis (03:41):
I don't know if you know e-learning courses I've
bought so many e-learningcourses and I've almost not
completed any one of those butthe concept of buying gives us
the impression of we're doingsomething but we're not.
You know, it's easier to buysomething than to actually do
the work.
So I think attention isprobably our lack of commitment
(04:03):
and our capacity to really gointo those places that hurt us,
where it's painful, where wewant to go away for the reasons
why we buy those books are thethings that we run away from and
the really, too, capacity todive into that feeling and to
work with that, rather than tofind a way of purchasing this
(04:26):
feeling away or kind of like.
I don't know.
That.
That would probably be myanswer to the attention and
intention.
Intention is, i think it's veryeasy to set an intention.
It's just oftentimes we reallydon't do it, we forget about it.
How important that direction,that intention setting is.
(04:51):
It's kind of like as if we'rejust going around in the circles
and we're just, we're intent.
We don't even intend onanything, we just go wherever we
feel like going.
But the intention, like settinga target in the distance, that
would be for me to set theintention.
(05:13):
This is where I want to go.
This is for the New Year'sresolution to pick up your train
of thought there.
This year I really want to bemore compassionate with myself,
to pick up on that and to bemore loving towards myself.
That intention is somethingcompletely different because it
(05:34):
is something that looks at lifefrom the point of view of adding
something Kind of like bringingsomething valuable and
something beneficial into mylife, but not seeing it as I'm
not good enough, but, like I amalready, compassionate and
loving.
But I know there are situationswhere I just I default back
(06:00):
into old patterns and with theintention to bring that into my
life is to me a model of addedvalue.
And a lot of the New Year'sresolutions are coming from an
inner standpoint of not beinggood enough.
If we look at I am overweight,i need to lose weight, this is
(06:22):
just like coming from the pointof view I'm too dot dot dot or I
need to work out more, i needto eat more healthily.
Oftentimes not all, but verymany times it's looked at from
the point of view of lack and ofnot being good enough and
that's why we struggle with thatand we're set up to fail,
because it is that intrinsickind of like picture of not
(06:46):
being good enough, and so thisis kind of like a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
That would be my two centsworth of.
The Gentle Yoga warri (06:56):
Beautiful ?
Yeah, absolutely, and we cantell ourselves I can't wait for
not doing the.
I'm like I was thinking aboutthis before I came online
actually, and I was looking,because I actually put out a
plan for the year and Of what Iwant to do by kind of set time
times when I realize life has tobe a bit more kind of fluid,
(07:18):
you know, like you can have.
I think it's kind of a balancebetween kind of going for like
the intentions and the goals andBeing a bit kind of, like you
said, compassionate towardsyourself, because you know that
you could have numbers one toseven by a set date And then
something new comes into onesphere, so it's kind of having a
(07:40):
bit of them.
Yield as a word.
I'm looking for a kind of bit ofyield and by all means trying
Achieve things, but Theachievement is to have that kind
of self-love and to kind ofhave that presence and kind of
being in the moment more, which,again, can be a challenge with
all the things that around thatcan distract us.
(08:02):
These days We're kind of quitea quick fix World in many ways
and, yeah, with the self-helpbooks especially, we can kind of
think we need to fix everythingall the time And it's not
necessary the case.
How can someone find Martinpurpose, i mean, if they don't
know how to start or where tolook, which it can be quite a
(08:24):
common thing, i believe?
Martin Theis (08:27):
Absolutely, and and and I think we underestimate
the gravity of what you justsaid because if we're in that
Feeling or if we feel like thatmiss, we don't have any purpose.
And How can I find purpose?
You know that that is just likeI feel.
It's almost like an oxymoron itis.
(08:50):
I think We have to loseourselves at some point in order
to be able to find ourselves,and that is not an easy process.
We have to be to be willing toembrace The confusion and the
chaos and say, well, i cannotchange it, this is the way it is
right now.
I don't know what I, what I'msupposed to do, i don't know
(09:13):
where to go, i don't know what,like, i just don't know.
And To find our peace with that.
I think That the the only, theonly choice that we have is that
and either We fight this and wefight this futile battle and at
some point We're so exhaustedthat we just give up and say,
(09:36):
well, i can't fight it anymore,i'm just burned out.
Whatever happens happens, youknow, i think we can fight, we
can fight it, or we can't.
But in the end it will bring usto that place when, i remember
In in cork I just mentioned thatbefore we came on that I was
(09:58):
really struggling a lot withwith with myself and with a lot
of things, and I felt just likeI can't fight this anymore.
I just I just need to gowherever life wants me to go.
And then I went back to Cologneand And needed some kind of
time for recovery.
I created a, created acontainer in which I knew I was
(10:21):
home.
I knew all the people, i wasfamiliar with the landscape and
with everything, and so I feltlike Going back to a place of
comfort where I can regenerateand recharge Was necessary, and
so I feel like it is.
Sometimes we might not know how, how to proceed, but we know
what we need right now.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (10:43):
Hello there, dear listeners, and thank
you.
We made it to season 12.
Yes, season 12, which is Idon't know what the exact
percentage is, but there's quitea lot of podcasts don't
actually make it this far.
So I'm really honored that Ihave, and I'm also really
honored that you are listeningto this podcast.
So it may be January as Irecall this, or maybe it's not
(11:05):
as you're listening to it, butit is the season that is known
for generally people feelingkind of bit blue and Feeling a
bit of a failure because they'venot managed to stick to their
New Year's resolutions.
But I think it's only aboutnine percent nine to twelve
percent people that actuallymanaged to stick to the New
Year's resolution.
So if you feel like you'vefailed, don't worry.
(11:26):
I also think start New Year'sintentions at the end of January
because, like January is sohard, as it is right You kind of
come up with a holiday seasonand in some parts of the world
It's cold, and even if it's notcold, it's kind of that back to
that kind of working, maybe injobs that we don't all enjoy, or
maybe just feel What is thedeeper meaning in life.
(11:47):
So this season is all gonna beabout helping you kind of find
your way and navigate your way.
It's kind of cement new habits,achievements and kind of go for
our dreams.
Well, what I was?
having kind of a deeper sense ofself-acceptance and we really
want to help change People, notkind of being able to make
changes in their life.
I would like to add that it'sreally important to realize the
(12:11):
humanness of ourselves and thatsometimes we may Not always get
or achieve what we think weshould.
And I think the word shouldyou'll hear a bit more about
than this Podcasting, but Ireally not find the word should.
So I got a special guest tokind of start off the first
(12:31):
interview of the year, and thisnormally goes out on Wednesday,
but the time of releasing thisI'm actually going to release it
on a Sunday, just for thisspecial episode.
So today we are going to talkabout how to find your deepest
purpose in life.
So I've asked back for thesecond time International yoga
teacher, teacher, trainer.
(12:52):
So the kind of yoga is calledKundalini yoga and it's an
amazing, powerful form of yoga.
This person is also a reallyexperienced energy healer and
Kind of delivers it in a waythat takes out of all that kind
of fluffiness that can sometimesbe in that kind of work.
(13:13):
Deeply respected for hisauthenticity and his ability to
kind of see the big picture, i'mreally excited to have on the
show today Siva Roshan Sahavevan, and as we get ready for him to
come on, just Kind of find aplace to kind of sit calmly and
(13:35):
try and listen with the whole ofyour being right, obviously, if
you're doing something and youcan't do that, but maybe it's
some point during your week thistime as you can listen with
your whole being.
See, he's coming on the linenow and Siva Roshan has been on
the show before.
If you check back to season fiveI think it's season five,
episode five But if you look forabsolute authenticity, you will
(13:58):
have an amazing talk there bySiva Roshan.
But first of all, let's welcomeour wonderful guests today.
Who is joining us from summerset?
Hello, siva Roshan, welcome tothe show.
Sivaroshan Sahathevan (14:09):
Hi Jane, and it's wonderful to be back
and to share this year the startof the year in January such a
Right time to be working on thistype of work, so I'm really
glad to be back on the show.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (14:21):
We're so honored to have you that you
had the time to kind of speak tous today.
I know how, how busy life canget.
I think I can feel like peoplefeel quite flat at the moment
And even if you listen to this,dear listeners, and it's not
January at the moment, it'sprecise moment, as we will
coordinate is January andthere's a bit of the January
blues, post Christmas andholiday season time, and It's
(14:45):
quite commonly a time, sivaRoshan, when people set new
years resolutions And then theykind of kind of feel guilty when
they, when they fail or maybethey're not setting the right
resolution.
So I Think today I would reallylike to talk how to find your
one steepest purpose in life,and I thought you were the best
(15:05):
person to speak to us todayabout it.
Can you explain a little bitwhy, what inspired you to speak
about that today, and also a bitabout your journey, please?
Sivaroshan Sahathevan (15:14):
Yeah and thanks.
Yeah, for those who know, someof you might be not be listening
to this podcast in January, butwe are in January and we always
have this.
You know this thing when wecome to January, we're gonna do
something new.
Yeah, we have to find anddiscover Ourself.
So there's obviously a reasonfor that.
You know that, that we havethis somehow, this Arometer,
(15:36):
that we hit January, and there'ssome sort of a meaning of our
purpose in our discovery.
That needs to happen.
So the question, i guess how tofind your purpose?
I think the first thing is theframe is let's stop doing it
just in January.
I think this is a big This is abig thing to realize from
(15:57):
what's coming through right now.
In terms of what I would liketo share.
The first thing We need toreally understand is what is, is
the word purpose, because If wedon't look at what that word
actually means, it can havemajor ramifications in terms of
how we satiate the true callingfor that question, and That's
(16:20):
what a little I want to shareand talk to you a bit about
right now, because the purposeitself, it comes from a really
deep place.
Yeah, that question how do Ifind my purpose.
It comes from a really, reallydeep place and Quite often we
(16:40):
answer it from a more shallowplace.
And that's really human and anatural, because the purpose if
I was to say, if I want to talkabout Yeah I don't use the word
shallow too much because it ismeaningful, but when, in terms
of the depth, is a little bitdifferent the purpose quite
often is related to doing Yeah,that there's something that I
(17:03):
need to do that's gonna make mehappy.
Yeah, and The you could say ourfocus, when it's focused on
doing, we start to work andthink about activity, the things
that I need to do, and then weopen up this whole game plan
Where we engage in terms of ourworld, our interactive world,
and Then purpose can get coloredin a really in a way that isn't
(17:27):
useful because it it mightstart to get colored with the
Lens of recognition, like to bepurposeful.
I need to be recognized forsomething, and this may well be
true, but does it really answerthe deepest longing that's
inside of ourselves?
So one of the things I think isreally interesting with this
(17:47):
question is first to askyourself Why am I asking this
question?
You know, the question is howdo I find my purpose, but why?
and then I think somethingquite magical happens when you
ask that question, because yousuddenly start to become a
little bit more vulnerable,because you know we start to
think, oh what, why am Ibasically asking the question?
(18:08):
why am I not happy?
Yeah, and you might stop tothink, why am I not fulfilled?
and you start to maybe touchthings.
Maybe maybe you're bored, yeah,and maybe you're frustrated,
maybe you're angry.
So all of these emotions startto be released and this is
(18:30):
really beautiful because it'sreally rich and fertile ground
for you to go deeper.
Because if we don't askourselves, if we don't connect
to that vulnerability, into theemotional disposition of that
question, then we'll neverreally reach the depth of the
question.
And this is the first point.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (18:49):
I would stop.
What I'm, if I'm understandthis correctly, is kind of
allowing yourself thevulnerability to kind of really
tap into what one's purpose isabsent really well.
Well, obviously we need thatego to kind of to be in this
world or we would just kind ofbe floating around, but it's
kind of absent of the kind ofdrive, of the kind of ego for
(19:12):
kind of you know, i guess, fame,recognition, all that kind of
thing and really tapping intoone soul's essence and that kind
of that gem of why, why onewants to find one's purpose.
Because I guess in many wayssometimes January can have it
like a spotlight on that, itkind of can make us assess our
(19:35):
lives.
So that was, that was quiteinteresting what you said, and I
know that you've got a lot moreto say upon on this subject and
I would just like to ask howdid you know you were on your
right, you found your purposeand you were on the right path?
Sivaroshan Sahathevan (19:52):
Yes, it's a great thing and I would go to
that question was was throughpain actually, yeah, because you
know you start to you live yourlife in the way that you think
it should be.
And I think this is a littlebit my journey.
You know your choreographed acertain degree, put through the
system of our lesson educationsystem here, and you know you
(20:15):
tick boxes and you and you andyou, you live a certain life
that feels maybe the life thathas been choreographed with you
in terms of all of those, interms of your schooling and your
peer groups and your parenting.
And then you start to go outinto the big wide world and then
you start to realize that thosethat structure is failing you
(20:40):
and that what you thought youwanted to be and do isn't
sustaining you and isn't givingyou joy.
And as soon as you start to payattention to that and we can
for a long time just suppressthat at some point it will come
(21:02):
to the surface.
And the key thing when it cameto the surface I kind of it's
like a grace man, i guess have away you want to put it is that
we either decide at some pointto listen or not.
And thankfully, i listened okayand I started, you could say, to
explore that pain.
And there was in thatexploration of that pain, i
(21:23):
think, but what was the keything for me?
there was real vulnerability andthere was like, also there was
a fire as well, there was adrive, because there was
something underneath that painthat had, there was a fire in in
me that wanted to discover,wanted to stop that, and that
(21:46):
why we call would be that deeperessence of that question was
coming to the surface, thatpower inside that wanted to
direct my life in alignment.
What if you could say your soul,purpose or your truth was
coming to the surface to meetthat vulnerability?
and it was like it was.
It was kind of say, hey, i'mhere for you, right, let's try
(22:06):
something new, let's start toexplore.
And this is a this is why Icalled it this moment where we
start to see in a different way,we start to receive information
in a different way, we couldsay, we start to open our self
up to synchronicities, we startto open ourselves up to a wider
universe of opportunity.
And it's in this moment, thiskind of innocent type place,
(22:30):
that we start to see the waythrough, we start to see the
opportunities that could startbecause I believe he's going to
be able to share with us on howwe can be more effective.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (22:47):
But it goes a lot deeper than that, a
lot deeper.
How deep does the rabbit holego in treat you want to be?
this guest is fantastic.
Today, we are going to welcomeVictor Manzil, also known as Dr
Vic.
Vic.
Dr Vic is a business mindsetquote, certified
(23:12):
peer-gear-actric chiropractor,podcast and speaker.
He is the author of free books,the most recent decoding the
matrix, which came out in May2022.
Dr Vic has helped thousands ofentrepreneurs learn how to
create their dream throughsharing principles of living in
(23:35):
the quantum world what we knowabout in the quantum world is
that there's other things.
Dr.Vic (23:40):
So the quantum world is understanding the invisible
world that creates our physicalworld, and what we understand in
the quantum world is that we'reall just magnets walking around
, and so when, when it comes toattracting or creating the life
that you choose, it's more aboutwhen you set that vision
because I do a lot of visionwork in my book you'll go
through that.
It's one of those things in youset the vision, this while
(24:03):
we're going on my clients on,and then you let that go and
then you focus on your vibe,what your thoughts, your words,
your stories, your beliefs andyour feelings.
This creates a consciousnesslevel when you have that
vibration.
Right now we're working withsomething called the law of
vibration.
Here's some science to backthat up a little bit and that
just means everything that youexist in your reality is only
based upon what you vibrate atnothing above, nothing below,
(24:24):
just there.
And then there's something weall heard before called the law
of attraction, which, whenyou're vibrating in a certain
state, then you're going totrack the things into your life
of whatever that vibration is.
So let's say, for an example,you want to be a millionaire and
you're thinking of all thethousands of ideas.
You're trying to figure allthese things out.
Well, you can do that and youcould probably get to that state
(24:45):
and it'll all work out.
Or you can focus on your vision, set it apart, let it go and
then just focus on yourconsciousness level, where your
thoughts are in.
Your focus is every single day,and what happens is when you
hone in on the vibe.
The people, circumstances,situations and so forth are
going to come, and when theycome, or when it comes to taking
action, you're gonna havesomething called the law of
(25:05):
inspired action, which meansthat when you're at a certain
vibration, when you're at acertain state, all of a sudden
you're gonna be a propelled orinspired to take this action for
some reason, shape or form.
And when you do that, noticeyou didn't have to think, you'd
have to figure it out.
It came to you and you'retaking action and it works for
you because it's an alignment towhere your vision is.
(25:26):
That's the basis in the premiseof creating effortless success.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (25:31):
Wow, i love that idea because we do.
I can see that the struggle andit's like a society, all that.
If you don't work hard andyou're not working hard enough,
that's not why it's you're notsuccessful.
But kind of being the watcher,i thought really resonates with
me because it doesn't take a lotof effort, it's I'm just
(25:52):
thinking, what some listenersmight say oh, how do you, how do
you sit down and kind of bringthat in, instead of like
thinking, oh, if you're lookingat your bank balance, for
example, and it's not zero inthere, how does it work with
that?
Dr.Vic (26:08):
yeah, i mean in the beginning.
Like I always tell people, thisis the real work, because this
is stuff that you're gonna learnhow to master yourself.
And this is, this is not.
I wouldn't say it's not easy,the concept simple, but it's not
easy because you have to be inthe beginning at least.
You have to be very aware ofwhat your thoughts are, where
you're putting your attention to, what do you focus on?
(26:30):
what are the words, the storiesthat you're telling yourself
right?
do you believe that that youcan actually do that?
you put the energy in thebelieving that you do that all
the time.
And where's your feelings at?
because the emotions are thebig amplifier for everything,
and so you have to be monitoringthat as much as you possibly
can.
Minute by minute would be ideal, but monitoring where your vibe
(26:51):
is all the time now, does ithave to be like that always?
no, eventually your brain'sgonna rewiring, get used to it.
Eventually you're gonna get usedto feeling what it feels like
to be in alignment or in thatstate of where you want to go,
compared to when you're not.
You'll start to be aware ofthat.
Then it's like you don't haveto think about it as much.
And then there comes a pointwhere you'll automatically be in
a state where it's like yournervous system you've trained it
(27:14):
so well and conditioned yourbrain to wire this way that all
of a sudden it will monitor itfor you and then it'll be like a
knee-jerk reaction when youhave like something that's not
in a corridor in alignment towhere you want to go.
So it's not the.
It's a simple concept but ittakes work.
But if you put the work in andyou rewire the brain, now this
is another level of what,another term, another, you know,
(27:36):
another layer to what I calleffortless success, because now
it's automated into you, becauseyou got it into the
subconscious mind and now itruns automatic for you hello
everybody.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (27:49):
I'm your host, the gentle yoga
warrior, and welcome to thegentle yoga warriors conscious
conversations podcast to helpyou grow and discover who you
are.
And we're now in season 11,which is a fall inspired season,
which is all about shedding andletting go all that which holds
us back in life, and I have gotan absolute gem of a guest on
(28:12):
the show today.
Today, we're going to talkabout letting go of hiding our
brilliance and gettingdiscovered, and I thought who
better to talk to us today thanEmmy, award-winning media
advisor and talent executive,podcast hosts and producer,
vinnie Potter-Steval, and I'm soexcited about today because
(28:38):
we're going to talk aboutletting go of hiding our
brilliance and becoming morediscoverable, so to get
discovered in life.
And I thought, wow, when Imanaged to book this next guest,
vinnie Potter-Steval and Ireally hope I've said your name
right- perfectly, yes, yesfantastic.
So, vinnie, welcome to the show.
(28:59):
You're joining us from Brooklyn, usa, which has always makes me
feel, wow, i really want to gothere.
So, welcome to the show yeah,hello, hello, what yo?
Vinnie Potestivo (29:08):
what's going on from Brooklyn?
how you doing?
The Gentle Yoga warrior (29:13):
So, vinnie, you have got over 25
years experience in the popculture business.
Is that how you describe it?
Vinnie Potestivo (29:23):
I'll take it like that, okay.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (29:26):
And you've worked with really big
names as well, Like I waslistening to your interview
earlier that you did with MandyMoore and Su-Chen Pak and, wow,
like it sounds like you've beenlike a real kind of stable
person for people's growth inlife.
Vinnie Potestivo (29:41):
Oh my gosh, stable.
Only in the world of creativitywould I be seen as stable.
Oh gosh, i love the perspectiveand the permission and the
permission.
It's funny how uncomfortablethat word stable just made me.
I have to think I have to writethat word down actually and
figure out what my relationshipis with that word stable, why I
(30:02):
just, why I just react as ifthat's a bad thing, you know
Stable, as if you know, if I'mnot grounded, i'm going to be
pushed over, and I feel likethat's kind of like what I'm
afraid of the most is not beinga strong sounding board for
people who appreciate beingcreative.
And some of the names you'vebrought up already Su-Chen Pak
(30:23):
and Mandy Moore, like the mostamazing women on this planet and
brilliant communicator,brilliant creative communicators
.
You know Mandy, who wentthrough, you know who does it a
little bit more through actingand through music, where she's
able to explain what people aregoing through by being them.
And Su-Chen Pak, who is thevoice of Cribs and a whole MTV
(30:48):
news generation of millennialsand Gen Xers who got their pop
culture news from MTV and was areally important hire at MTV at
a point where Korean Americansweren't seen on television, and
I'm aware as much.
And I got to be a small part inthat wave.
But a lot of responsibilitycame with that title, even my
(31:10):
casting assistant title, youknow, in the late 90s at MTV.
I kind of always took that withthe weight of the world.
I realized that what I wasn'tdoing was just casting any old
project.
What I was doing is puttingpeople on the network that all
of youth culture and the entireglobe was tuned into, especially
from 3.30 to 4.30 in theafternoon in the early 2000s.
(31:33):
That was the place where popculture happened.
And I'm not saying I made allthe decisions or even got to
make any choices, but I was inthe room, yeah, eating craft
services, finding out how to fitin and just enjoying the access
I had back then.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (31:49):
Wow, what a legacy to leave, like to
give to the world, and Iremember.
Vinnie Potestivo (31:53):
MTV.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (31:54):
Wow, it was just like it changed my
world when I was, when I wasyoung, which is a while ago, But
it kind of really I justremember it was just I don't
know, there was nothing like itbefore.
it kind of came to be amazing.
So what a gift to be part ofthat.
Vinnie Potestivo (32:08):
It was like all the best parts of YouTube
and worst parts of Instagram andbest parts of all the best and
worst of everything.
And then all the socialplatforms came out And you know,
we talked it's funny we saideveryone in the world sort of
watched it because celebrities Imean not just artists, but like
global figures came throughthat network between 3.30 and
(32:30):
4.30, because of how importantit was to have access, live
access to an audience.
That's when you really asked melike, what did I?
what did we have?
that that other networks didn'thave was access to a global
audience, a youth audience.
And we hear how smart some ofthese audience, the kids, the
kids are on TikTok that are ableto, you know, take down big
(32:53):
politicians and big movementsand and the power that youth
culture has always had and, likeI, just there's.
There's not a day that that Ispent at MTV and I was there for
almost 10 years that I wasn'taware of how important it was to
be there, especially to behonest, i say this way,
especially me like a gay whiteman in the 90s, where I had no
(33:18):
legal protections, no corporateprotections Again, i know that
prevented people from makingmoves.
So a lot of what I had to donot to.
I never, i never lied aboutanything, but I had to minimize
certain parts of me, like Ilearned to be a smaller version
of myself in some weird ways,which I can't wait to talk to
you about.
I know that.
(33:39):
I know that my sleeves arerolled up.
I know we're going to do somework today in this, in this chat
.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (33:44):
So I can't wait to talk to you about
it, and so would you mindsharing Vinnie about your
journey, of how you came to bediscovered and and how that felt
.
Vinnie Potestivo (33:55):
It's so funny and no one's ever asked me how
did I get discovered.
I never even thought for asecond that I thought we were
going to talk about how Idiscovered people.
I love this idea of how did Iget discovered Because I knew a
casting director was casting andhe said meet on the corner of
45th and Broadway for this MTVevent.
(34:17):
And I specifically went to aplace where I was told I could
get discovered and I stood thereand waited and I did little
things to stand out.
You know, and I can tell youwhat those are.
Yeah, please.
I was conscious of the peoplearound me.
I wanted to have friendsimmediately around me.
I brought candy So people wouldinstantly like back then,
taking candy from strangers, iguess wasn't so bad, it wasn't
(34:40):
so weird.
I brought candy.
I think I always had like nerd,nerd ropes and things like that
, like what a weirdo.
Different types of candy that Ithought would be unique.
Because it's important to haveinstant friends And I wanted to
not spend the day not knowingpeople.
I wanted to spend the dayknowing the people, the 3040
people that I was in a you knowbeing the crowd with for
(35:02):
whatever shot I was there for.
And then I, and then I realizedduring that time that whenever
the casting director was lookingto pull someone and feature
them, if you were somehow focusof energy I'm not saying focus
of the room, but a focus ofenergy if, if you were the
person who was holding courtwith four or five people, or if
(35:24):
you were the person who didsomething and 10 people saw and
laughed and you were the personwho had these moments with
certain groups of people, thatenergy that those groups of
people are giving you, that's,that's what helped me get
discovered.
And I didn't even realize I wasdoing it, i just thought I was
having fun.
To be honest, when I look backat it, i did all these little
tiny things that made it reallyeasy for this casting director
(35:47):
to say look, well, everyone waslaughing at him over there and
then he was holding court overthere with that group of people
and, like the executives are, sohe obviously has some type of
energy or something it's, youknow, so everyone, if everyone
here likes them, then then it'san easy yes for me, because you
know, no, there's no one in theroom that's not going to be able
to do that.
So the opportunity I'm talkingabout was the chance to be in
(36:10):
the background of a shot thatWhitney Houston was doing an MTV
to talk about a new album thatshe was coming out with.
And I got picked to ask aquestion.
I'm going to ask WhitneyHouston, and so cool, the
producers, they prep you andthey really get you look into
the camera.
And this is the.
I got training.
I got free media training.
(36:31):
I'll never forget the day And Ihad to ask Whitney what was it
like recording Prince of Egyptsoundtrack with Mariah Carey?
What was it like recording withanother recording artist?
And I practiced and I practiceand the Nanda Lewis, the video
host, the video jockey, the VJback then, came and I remember
her, like shoulders down andlike if your hands or to put
(36:55):
your palms on your side, if youcan feel your palms to the side,
to your sides, if you can feelyour toes, the palm of your toes
and your heels is reallyimportant, like all all three of
those pieces on each feet,firmly planted on the ground.
Your knees are a little bitbent, almost like so you could
catch catch a baseball, you know.
So you have some, some torqueand some ability to move around
(37:16):
and you lean, lean into whatevercomes, be open to opportunity.
Anyway, whitney comes out andthe producer tells her that this
is my big moment and she saysI'm not asking, i'm not
answering that question.
She's like what?
she could come up with adifferent question.
I am not answering thatquestion.
And it was live TV and Iremember there was like three or
four of us that were going toask questions and suddenly now
(37:38):
there were only two or three ofus And what I did next is a
thing that cinched my career.
To be honest.
What I did next was I said Ohmy gosh, thank you so much.
This was a blast.
I got.
What a huge learning experiencefor me, so I can't thank you
enough for talking to me and Igot to speak into a microphone,
into a camera.
I'd never done this before.
(37:59):
If you ever need anyone elsedancers, singers, young artists
in New York I'm from here and Ihave.
I have a database of youngtalent that I'd love to share
with you if you ever need morepeople.
And like, the eyes lit up andhe was like Well, we're actually
shooting a very Buster RhymesChristmas special tomorrow.
Perhaps you have 20 friendsthat like to come to that.
(38:21):
And I was like What?
Yeah, i don't have 20 friends.
That would come to a veryBuster Christmas special.
By the way, it's really coolBuster Rhymes.
Reading Christmas nurseryrhymes is like one of those.
One of those, the one of thoseinternet things that comes
around.
I'm in the audience, it's likethe best moment of like young
early, like I'm touching it, i'min it and and what I continue
(38:43):
to do was was make friends alongthe way.
I never focused on It's weird tosay this I never focus on the
task at hand.
If I focus on asking thatquestion because I wasn't
successful at asking thatquestion, if I'd walked away
from that day a disappointment,i just would be so sad at myself
.
If that's how I allowed myselfto perceive what in reality
(39:06):
actually happened.
And I was energized and I knewthat that suddenly I had access
to casting directors that neededlarge groups of people And I
realized that at MTV, 30, 40, 50people for taping was exactly
the size audience that they werelooking for And I had a
(39:29):
creative that introduced me.
And meanwhile, mtv is new.
Mtv was born in 1981.
So, like you know, i got to seein the 90s CNN get launched.
Fox News, you know, came out.
And when Fox News came out theyhad this bipartisan show called
Hannity and Combs, which backthen both men of equal reverency
, were held to equal esteem onthat network where both sides of
(39:52):
the aisle could be heard, ofcourse.
Of course back then there wereonly two sides of the aisle back
then, but we'll get into thatlater.
And my job was to organize theaudience right.
I'm the database guy so I knowhow to make sure people's names
are in the right things Andwe're going to email them and
we're going to give them calltimes.
So that was a very technicaljob in terms of casting.
And then I developed this sortof like empathetic listening
(40:15):
skill where look politics, moremy favorite subject in school,
to be really honest, not becauseof the subject but mostly
because of the let's call itstudent experience.
We don't have to dive deep intothe bullying, but like the
student experience, specificallyaround around, that class for
(40:36):
me unfortunately, was a toughone.
So I had a disdain for politicsin a lot of ways, even though I
ran for, even though I wasclass president often and I was
the president of choir andpresident of the computer club.
But like these are my strengthschoir, getting a singular voice
, getting many, empoweringmultiple voice, identifying
(40:58):
tenors and tenor ones andworking collaboratively to
create something.
I love that idea And thecomputer club part of me was
like just I would have died forsocial media back then.
But if you would have found meand like talent for you in NYC
and like one of those AOL chatrooms back then, just meeting,
meeting talented people, becauseI knew that, because you know,
(41:20):
because, because what?
because my mom told me growingup, if you hang out with those
kids and they get in trouble atyour fault because you're the
sum total of like five peoplethat you hang out with.
So I was like, cool, then I'lljust look in the hangout with
like super talented people andwe'll see how that goes.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (41:33):
Wow, that was a great piece of advice
.
Vinnie Potestivo (41:36):
It worked.
And she also told me she's alsothe woman who said, vin, we
don't know anyone in media.
how are you going to get in TV?
She's like, literally the onlyway you'll ever get discovered
is if you go, wait on a cornerand a casting director finds you
.
I promise you, my mom and Ihave this conversation and it's
verbatim what she said to me.
So when I saw the castingnotice where the casting
director said I'm TV casting45th and Broadway during these
(41:59):
times, i was like, well, thatsounds like the corner I'm
supposed to be on If that's howI'm going to get discovered.
And sure enough it was.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (42:07):
Let's guess a few times virtually, and
what can I say?
She's a very, very special soul.
Please welcome, in a moment,laurie Tessany, and Laurie is a
certified mindfulness teacher,cancer warrior and sailor, i'm
in my.
Lori Tesny (42:25):
My cancer is melanoma, so it's skin cancer.
It's a deadly form of skincancer.
So you do not want to mess withthis.
You don't want to delayanything.
You want to get on it as soonas possible.
So that's why everything wasalways like this whirlwind with
this diagnosis.
So we were in a rush to figureout what to do next, and so we
made some decisions and I wentthrough another surgery and
(42:48):
another year of treatment, andthe second time was it as good
for me, because I already knewwhat I was facing.
And so there was a lot ofmental games that you had to
play with yourself, a lot ofshifting thoughts and
understanding things in adifferent perspective, and so I
(43:09):
had to take a lot of time toreevaluate my life and then get
through this, this what wasfacing me.
And so, as I got to the end oftreatment was February of 2020,
we had this.
It was going to be like acelebration trip We're going to
go sailing in Greece And thenMarch of 2020 happened in COVID,
(43:32):
and everything just kind ofwent down the tubes.
But you know, for me I was.
I was dealing again daily withpeople when I was at work that
were going through somethingworse than I was going through.
The reality was I was alsoseeing people my age with my
diagnosis that didn't live, andso there was a lot of reality
(43:53):
checks going on in my life And Ikept thinking I'm stronger than
this, i'm not going to be thisperson, even though in the back
of your mind I'm like are you,are you, are you?
You questioned a lot, so it was.
It was definitely aninteresting journey to go on,
and it's something that I've hadto figure out.
(44:13):
What is it that keeps me going?
What is it that keeps pushingme through?
And it's the hope of a bettertomorrow.
Every day you start fresh.
Every day you have a cleanperspective, and I know things
linger.
I know you can't get rid ofyour job.
You know there'sresponsibilities that are always
there, but what is it you cando for yourself to relieve some
(44:35):
of that?
What do you bring on yourself?
that makes it harder, and soweeding through a lot of that
really does help.
And you know, in the spring, asthings come up, you have to
weed through your garden.
You have to get rid of stuffyou don't want.
So it kind of runs in that samevein.
You know you have to payattention to what your life is
(44:56):
and what you want it to be.
That's amazing.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (44:59):
I want to know really admire about you,
lori, is that you have thestrength that you have and how
you've turned this around tokind of help other people, and
it's so optimistic.
And I've seen your times whenyou've been able to kind of on
the Instagram where you've shownyourself to be vulnerable as
well, but it's through that Youkind of give strength to the
world.
And I know that you are a sortof mindfulness teacher.
(45:22):
Did that come before the canceror was that after that?
you trained in that or during?
Lori Tesny (45:28):
No, this was actually just recently, because
I was a little bit nervousbecause I had last year in June
I had a scan that came back withsomething on it, and so I am
still on continual watch, i'mstill under doctor's care, i
still have an oncology team, ido get scans regularly and
(45:49):
something did show up, but itwasn't what we thought it was.
It was actually my appendix Andso I had to have an emergency
appendix surgery and wasn'tthinking about that one And the
recovery from that.
It took me back to all thestuff I went through with, all
the surgeries from the cancer,and so there was a triggering
(46:10):
moment that happened there Andit kind of sucked me into this
black hole.
Like again.
I thought I was past this, ididn't think I'd have to deal
with this anymore And it wasjust a true test of life.
Life happens And you've got tofigure out where are you in life
, what do you have, what skills,what tools, what are you doing
for yourself to make youstronger, to get through these
(46:33):
things a little bit easier?
And in that recovery time ofthat dark place, i thought I
need a boost, i need to getmyself on a good platform, a
good foundation, and I startedthinking about what do I go to
and what can I find to, and so Istarted investigating more
(46:54):
about mindfulness.
I was practicing it but didn'thave the base to it, and so I
went in and started learningmore about it and actually got
certified in it, because to meit seemed like if I was going to
be preaching about this on theshow and talking to people about
it, what did I have under mybelt to have that qualification?
(47:15):
I wanted to be speaking from aplace of knowledge, and my
experience has a big impact, buthaving that knowledge also
seemed to enable me to expressthings better.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (47:28):
Hello everyone, i'm your host, the
Gentle Yoga Warrior, and pleasewelcome today podcast presenter,
curious-willed citizen andchange agent, dey-ree-anne.
So she hosts the popularpodcast Changes Big and Small
and multiple blogs, includingdpresidentnet.
(47:51):
Originally from St Lucia, shemoved to Canada at age 12 and
moved overseas at 23.
She now lives in Prague and hasvisited over 60 countries,
including Sudan, yemen, tanzania, philippines, etc.
Dey-Ree-Anne enjoys researching, working and technology and
(48:16):
solving problems.
She's always been curious andloves teaching and learning.
She helps people, both in herjob as a customer support person
and as a blogger and podcasthost.
Her intention, for herself andothers, is for each of us to be
able to build the life that wewant.
So, without further ado,joining us all the way from
(48:39):
Prague, please welcome todayDey-Ree-Anne.
So I know, dey-ree-anne, thatyou have a daily practice to, i
guess, help you navigate throughlife, and would you like to
share that with our listenersand how that's helped?
Damianne President (48:55):
you, i would say the part of my daily
practice that okay.
So there is my aspirationaldaily practice and then there's
my actual daily practice, and soI would say that I aspire to
meditate every day, but I don'tnecessarily meditate every day,
but I notice the difference, theimprovements when I do get a
chance to meditate.
(49:16):
What I do, and show that I doevery day, is move because,
especially working from home, ifind that it's so important to
move, to go for a walk, to dancea Zumba song, to walk
downstairs and check the mailfor no other reason than I need
to leave my chair.
I think if you can find waysthat help you stay connected
(49:40):
with your body, then that's veryuseful, because so many of us
really get caught up in ourminds, get caught up in our
brains, but not in the intuitionof the body, and so one thing
that I'm trying to do is just bemore aware of my body, and that
can be challenging at timesbecause there are maybe things I
don't like about my body, butthat doesn't negate the fact
(50:04):
that there is a body awarenessthat is helpful to tune into.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (50:10):
Now, i think movement is essential for
mental health as well, becauseit's more easy.
I'm going to go out after thispodcast for a walk, because I
had a long schedule yesterday soI didn't actually get to need
the house yesterday.
So it's kind of so importantjust to get some fresh air and
(50:30):
move.
I think that is an honour inour self, isn't it?
by making that part of ourdaily practice and finding ways.
It's true that we may notalways necessarily get time to
meditate or do a full Zumbaclass, but on the days that we
don't, we can maybe just sit fora few moments and just be a bit
(50:50):
more present and then just gofor a walk around the block or,
like you said, go down and getthe mail, get something to kind
of get us up and move, and thatway we can feel more, we're able
to help ourselves, and I thinkwhen we're able to help
ourselves, we're also then ableto help others more as well.
Damianne President (51:08):
I think the mental health piece is a big one
.
It's kind of like some days Iremind myself to just take a few
breaths, even if I'm not goingto go.
I would like to.
I sometimes fall out of thehabit of going for a daily walk.
I still make sure I move everyday, but I don't always go for a
30 minute walk every day, andthat's actually one thing that I
(51:31):
just recommitted to it thismorning.
I'm like I really want to gofor a walk for 30 days and 30
minutes.
For me, 30 minutes is not along walk.
There's a park nearby.
I do a loop.
It's fairly easy and it's morea matter of getting into
routines.
That's what helps me.
I have a routine.
Then it gets done.
When I start breaking myroutines by staying up too late,
(51:55):
by changing my whatever it isthat I allow to disrupt my
routines, is when those thingsfall by the wayside.
I've decided that walking isimportant to me.
Then I've added it back in inthe mornings.
So today is our third birthday and
I thought I want to do somethingspecial for today.
Three years ago, in the middleof lockdown, i decided to do
this podcast and a lot of peoplesaid to me why did you do it or
what made you choose podcasting?
(00:20):
To be honest, at the time Ididn't really know, because I
didn't have any experiencewhatsoever of radio or
podcasting.
I did have a little bit ofexperience of public speaking,
but not public speaking whereyou kind of do big seminars, but
more through kind of liketeaching or other things.
However, for some reason Idecided that I wanted to do a
(00:43):
podcast.
It felt right to kind of likehelp uplift people and kind of
work through mindfulness in away that's more kind of
accessible but equally notdiluting it, because that is
something that we can sometimesdo in the West We kind of take
the bits and pieces of othercultures and kind of dilute it.
That was not my idea either.
(01:03):
More sort of share my journey,as well as other people's
journeys, where they've had somekind of dark night of the soul
and how they've kind of managedto turn their life around.
My best work is when I speak onspontaneously.
I do have a script for my shows, but most of the time I don't
end up using it.
I use the outline because youneed structure, but you also
(01:25):
need flow.
You need both of them.
Too much structure, and thenthere's not enough creativity.
Too much creativity, thenthere's not enough structure.
So it's kind of finding thatbalance.
Let's do a special three-yearedition where I take bits from
some of my previous guests andkind of put them into kind of
like some sort of rhapsody offantastic stuff that's going to
(01:49):
help you on your spiritualjourney and, at the very least,
find some inspiration from that.
That is the goal.
I would just like to say, ifthere's someone that's been on
my show and it's not beingfeatured in this particular
podcast episode, it does notmean that there was not value,
and that's Byron.
There's just so many showsThere's over 150 shows for me to
(02:10):
kind of go through and compilethis all together.
So that is the general gist.
Also for the meditation at theend I'm going to share my
favorite meditation that I'verecorded.
At the end, hopefully, thiswill be a very special
three-year extravaganza and letme know how you feel about it.
(02:33):
For future I'm looking to takein the show in a slightly
different direction.
I'm still trying to decide how.
Is there anything that youparticularly liked or any
particular episode you like?
then please go tothejentineoguaricom and you can
leave a voicemail there.
Anyway, so let's get back totoday's show, thank you.
So now to today's guests,martin Tice.
(02:53):
Martin is a spiritual coach andteacher who focuses on mental
and emotional well-being Throughthe art of shamanic journeys.
His greatest strength can befound in the field of
communication, and what aperfect guest to have on the
(03:13):
show, someone who's got a greatsense of communication, highly
developed emotional intelligence.
His coaching practice LightTrails Calls serves men in
executive positions to assistthem bring a well-being into
their professional and sociallives.
Martin is fluent in English,german and I believe he also
(03:38):
speaks a bit of Norwegian aswell.
Martin Theis (03:41):
I don't know if you know e-learning courses I've
bought so many e-learningcourses and I've almost not
completed any one of those butthe concept of buying gives us
the impression of we're doingsomething but we're not.
You know, it's easier to buysomething than to actually do
the work.
So I think attention isprobably our lack of commitment
(04:03):
and our capacity to really gointo those places that hurt us,
where it's painful, where wewant to go away for the reasons
why we buy those books are thethings that we run away from and
the really, too, capacity todive into that feeling and to
work with that, rather than tofind a way of purchasing this
(04:26):
feeling away or kind of like.
I don't know.
That.
That would probably be myanswer to the attention and
intention.
Intention is, i think it's veryeasy to set an intention.
It's just oftentimes we reallydon't do it, we forget about it.
How important that direction,that intention setting is.
(04:51):
It's kind of like as if we'rejust going around in the circles
and we're just, we're intent.
We don't even intend onanything, we just go wherever we
feel like going.
But the intention, like settinga target in the distance, that
would be for me to set theintention.
(05:13):
This is where I want to go.
This is for the New Year'sresolution to pick up your train
of thought there.
This year I really want to bemore compassionate with myself,
to pick up on that and to bemore loving towards myself.
That intention is somethingcompletely different because it
(05:34):
is something that looks at lifefrom the point of view of adding
something Kind of like bringingsomething valuable and
something beneficial into mylife, but not seeing it as I'm
not good enough, but, like I amalready, compassionate and
loving.
But I know there are situationswhere I just I default back
(06:00):
into old patterns and with theintention to bring that into my
life is to me a model of addedvalue.
And a lot of the New Year'sresolutions are coming from an
inner standpoint of not beinggood enough.
If we look at I am overweight,i need to lose weight, this is
(06:22):
just like coming from the pointof view I'm too dot dot dot or I
need to work out more, i needto eat more healthily.
Oftentimes not all, but verymany times it's looked at from
the point of view of lack and ofnot being good enough and
that's why we struggle with thatand we're set up to fail,
because it is that intrinsickind of like picture of not
(06:46):
being good enough, and so thisis kind of like a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
That would be my two centsworth of.
The Gentle Yoga warri (06:56):
Beautiful ?
Yeah, absolutely, and we cantell ourselves I can't wait for
not doing the.
I'm like I was thinking aboutthis before I came online
actually, and I was looking,because I actually put out a
plan for the year and Of what Iwant to do by kind of set time
times when I realize life has tobe a bit more kind of fluid,
(07:18):
you know, like you can have.
I think it's kind of a balancebetween kind of going for like
the intentions and the goals andBeing a bit kind of, like you
said, compassionate towardsyourself, because you know that
you could have numbers one toseven by a set date And then
something new comes into onesphere, so it's kind of having a
(07:40):
bit of them.
Yield as a word.
I'm looking for a kind of bit ofyield and by all means trying
Achieve things, but Theachievement is to have that kind
of self-love and to kind ofhave that presence and kind of
being in the moment more, which,again, can be a challenge with
all the things that around thatcan distract us.
(08:02):
These days We're kind of quitea quick fix World in many ways
and, yeah, with the self-helpbooks especially, we can kind of
think we need to fix everythingall the time And it's not
necessary the case.
How can someone find Martinpurpose, i mean, if they don't
know how to start or where tolook, which it can be quite a
(08:24):
common thing, i believe?
Martin Theis (08:27):
Absolutely, and and and I think we underestimate
the gravity of what you justsaid because if we're in that
Feeling or if we feel like thatmiss, we don't have any purpose.
And How can I find purpose?
You know that that is just likeI feel.
It's almost like an oxymoron itis.
(08:50):
I think We have to loseourselves at some point in order
to be able to find ourselves,and that is not an easy process.
We have to be to be willing toembrace The confusion and the
chaos and say, well, i cannotchange it, this is the way it is
right now.
I don't know what I, what I'msupposed to do, i don't know
(09:13):
where to go, i don't know what,like, i just don't know.
And To find our peace with that.
I think That the the only, theonly choice that we have is that
and either We fight this and wefight this futile battle and at
some point We're so exhaustedthat we just give up and say,
(09:36):
well, i can't fight it anymore,i'm just burned out.
Whatever happens happens, youknow, i think we can fight, we
can fight it, or we can't.
But in the end it will bring usto that place when, i remember
In in cork I just mentioned thatbefore we came on that I was
(09:58):
really struggling a lot withwith with myself and with a lot
of things, and I felt just likeI can't fight this anymore.
I just I just need to gowherever life wants me to go.
And then I went back to Cologneand And needed some kind of
time for recovery.
I created a, created acontainer in which I knew I was
(10:21):
home.
I knew all the people, i wasfamiliar with the landscape and
with everything, and so I feltlike Going back to a place of
comfort where I can regenerateand recharge Was necessary, and
so I feel like it is.
Sometimes we might not know how, how to proceed, but we know
what we need right now.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (10:43):
Hello there, dear listeners, and thank
you.
We made it to season 12.
Yes, season 12, which is Idon't know what the exact
percentage is, but there's quitea lot of podcasts don't
actually make it this far.
So I'm really honored that Ihave, and I'm also really
honored that you are listeningto this podcast.
So it may be January as Irecall this, or maybe it's not
(11:05):
as you're listening to it, butit is the season that is known
for generally people feelingkind of bit blue and Feeling a
bit of a failure because they'venot managed to stick to their
New Year's resolutions.
But I think it's only aboutnine percent nine to twelve
percent people that actuallymanaged to stick to the New
Year's resolution.
So if you feel like you'vefailed, don't worry.
(11:26):
I also think start New Year'sintentions at the end of January
because, like January is sohard, as it is right You kind of
come up with a holiday seasonand in some parts of the world
It's cold, and even if it's notcold, it's kind of that back to
that kind of working, maybe injobs that we don't all enjoy, or
maybe just feel What is thedeeper meaning in life.
(11:47):
So this season is all gonna beabout helping you kind of find
your way and navigate your way.
It's kind of cement new habits,achievements and kind of go for
our dreams.
Well, what I was?
having kind of a deeper sense ofself-acceptance and we really
want to help change People, notkind of being able to make
changes in their life.
I would like to add that it'sreally important to realize the
(12:11):
humanness of ourselves and thatsometimes we may Not always get
or achieve what we think weshould.
And I think the word shouldyou'll hear a bit more about
than this Podcasting, but Ireally not find the word should.
So I got a special guest tokind of start off the first
(12:31):
interview of the year, and thisnormally goes out on Wednesday,
but the time of releasing thisI'm actually going to release it
on a Sunday, just for thisspecial episode.
So today we are going to talkabout how to find your deepest
purpose in life.
So I've asked back for thesecond time International yoga
teacher, teacher, trainer.
(12:52):
So the kind of yoga is calledKundalini yoga and it's an
amazing, powerful form of yoga.
This person is also a reallyexperienced energy healer and
Kind of delivers it in a waythat takes out of all that kind
of fluffiness that can sometimesbe in that kind of work.
(13:13):
Deeply respected for hisauthenticity and his ability to
kind of see the big picture, i'mreally excited to have on the
show today Siva Roshan Sahavevan, and as we get ready for him to
come on, just Kind of find aplace to kind of sit calmly and
(13:35):
try and listen with the whole ofyour being right, obviously, if
you're doing something and youcan't do that, but maybe it's
some point during your week thistime as you can listen with
your whole being.
See, he's coming on the linenow and Siva Roshan has been on
the show before.
If you check back to season fiveI think it's season five,
episode five But if you look forabsolute authenticity, you will
(13:58):
have an amazing talk there bySiva Roshan.
But first of all, let's welcomeour wonderful guests today.
Who is joining us from summerset?
Hello, siva Roshan, welcome tothe show.
Sivaroshan Sahathevan (14:09):
Hi Jane, and it's wonderful to be back
and to share this year the startof the year in January such a
Right time to be working on thistype of work, so I'm really
glad to be back on the show.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (14:21):
We're so honored to have you that you
had the time to kind of speak tous today.
I know how, how busy life canget.
I think I can feel like peoplefeel quite flat at the moment
And even if you listen to this,dear listeners, and it's not
January at the moment, it'sprecise moment, as we will
coordinate is January andthere's a bit of the January
blues, post Christmas andholiday season time, and It's
(14:45):
quite commonly a time, sivaRoshan, when people set new
years resolutions And then theykind of kind of feel guilty when
they, when they fail or maybethey're not setting the right
resolution.
So I Think today I would reallylike to talk how to find your
one steepest purpose in life,and I thought you were the best
(15:05):
person to speak to us todayabout it.
Can you explain a little bitwhy, what inspired you to speak
about that today, and also a bitabout your journey, please?
Sivaroshan Sahathevan (15:14):
Yeah and thanks.
Yeah, for those who know, someof you might be not be listening
to this podcast in January, butwe are in January and we always
have this.
You know this thing when wecome to January, we're gonna do
something new.
Yeah, we have to find anddiscover Ourself.
So there's obviously a reasonfor that.
You know that, that we havethis somehow, this Arometer,
(15:36):
that we hit January, and there'ssome sort of a meaning of our
purpose in our discovery.
That needs to happen.
So the question, i guess how tofind your purpose?
I think the first thing is theframe is let's stop doing it
just in January.
I think this is a big This is abig thing to realize from
(15:57):
what's coming through right now.
In terms of what I would liketo share.
The first thing We need toreally understand is what is, is
the word purpose, because If wedon't look at what that word
actually means, it can havemajor ramifications in terms of
how we satiate the true callingfor that question, and That's
(16:20):
what a little I want to shareand talk to you a bit about
right now, because the purposeitself, it comes from a really
deep place.
Yeah, that question how do Ifind my purpose.
It comes from a really, reallydeep place and Quite often we
(16:40):
answer it from a more shallowplace.
And that's really human and anatural, because the purpose if
I was to say, if I want to talkabout Yeah I don't use the word
shallow too much because it ismeaningful, but when, in terms
of the depth, is a little bitdifferent the purpose quite
often is related to doing Yeah,that there's something that I
(17:03):
need to do that's gonna make mehappy.
Yeah, and The you could say ourfocus, when it's focused on
doing, we start to work andthink about activity, the things
that I need to do, and then weopen up this whole game plan
Where we engage in terms of ourworld, our interactive world,
and Then purpose can get coloredin a really in a way that isn't
(17:27):
useful because it it mightstart to get colored with the
Lens of recognition, like to bepurposeful.
I need to be recognized forsomething, and this may well be
true, but does it really answerthe deepest longing that's
inside of ourselves?
So one of the things I think isreally interesting with this
(17:47):
question is first to askyourself Why am I asking this
question?
You know, the question is howdo I find my purpose, but why?
and then I think somethingquite magical happens when you
ask that question, because yousuddenly start to become a
little bit more vulnerable,because you know we start to
think, oh what, why am Ibasically asking the question?
(18:08):
why am I not happy?
Yeah, and you might stop tothink, why am I not fulfilled?
and you start to maybe touchthings.
Maybe maybe you're bored, yeah,and maybe you're frustrated,
maybe you're angry.
So all of these emotions startto be released and this is
(18:30):
really beautiful because it'sreally rich and fertile ground
for you to go deeper.
Because if we don't askourselves, if we don't connect
to that vulnerability, into theemotional disposition of that
question, then we'll neverreally reach the depth of the
question.
And this is the first point.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (18:49):
I would stop.
What I'm, if I'm understandthis correctly, is kind of
allowing yourself thevulnerability to kind of really
tap into what one's purpose isabsent really well.
Well, obviously we need thatego to kind of to be in this
world or we would just kind ofbe floating around, but it's
kind of absent of the kind ofdrive, of the kind of ego for
(19:12):
kind of you know, i guess, fame,recognition, all that kind of
thing and really tapping intoone soul's essence and that kind
of that gem of why, why onewants to find one's purpose.
Because I guess in many wayssometimes January can have it
like a spotlight on that, itkind of can make us assess our
(19:35):
lives.
So that was, that was quiteinteresting what you said, and I
know that you've got a lot moreto say upon on this subject and
I would just like to ask howdid you know you were on your
right, you found your purposeand you were on the right path?
Sivaroshan Sahathevan (19:52):
Yes, it's a great thing and I would go to
that question was was throughpain actually, yeah, because you
know you start to you live yourlife in the way that you think
it should be.
And I think this is a littlebit my journey.
You know your choreographed acertain degree, put through the
system of our lesson educationsystem here, and you know you
(20:15):
tick boxes and you and you andyou, you live a certain life
that feels maybe the life thathas been choreographed with you
in terms of all of those, interms of your schooling and your
peer groups and your parenting.
And then you start to go outinto the big wide world and then
you start to realize that thosethat structure is failing you
(20:40):
and that what you thought youwanted to be and do isn't
sustaining you and isn't givingyou joy.
And as soon as you start to payattention to that and we can
for a long time just suppressthat at some point it will come
(21:02):
to the surface.
And the key thing when it cameto the surface I kind of it's
like a grace man, i guess have away you want to put it is that
we either decide at some pointto listen or not.
And thankfully, i listened okayand I started, you could say, to
explore that pain.
And there was in thatexploration of that pain, i
(21:23):
think, but what was the keything for me?
there was real vulnerability andthere was like, also there was
a fire as well, there was adrive, because there was
something underneath that painthat had, there was a fire in in
me that wanted to discover,wanted to stop that, and that
(21:46):
why we call would be that deeperessence of that question was
coming to the surface, thatpower inside that wanted to
direct my life in alignment.
What if you could say your soul,purpose or your truth was
coming to the surface to meetthat vulnerability?
and it was like it was.
It was kind of say, hey, i'mhere for you, right, let's try
(22:06):
something new, let's start toexplore.
And this is a this is why Icalled it this moment where we
start to see in a different way,we start to receive information
in a different way, we couldsay, we start to open our self
up to synchronicities, we startto open ourselves up to a wider
universe of opportunity.
And it's in this moment, thiskind of innocent type place,
(22:30):
that we start to see the waythrough, we start to see the
opportunities that could startbecause I believe he's going to
be able to share with us on howwe can be more effective.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (22:47):
But it goes a lot deeper than that, a
lot deeper.
How deep does the rabbit holego in treat you want to be?
this guest is fantastic.
Today, we are going to welcomeVictor Manzil, also known as Dr
Vic.
Vic.
Dr Vic is a business mindsetquote, certified
(23:12):
peer-gear-actric chiropractor,podcast and speaker.
He is the author of free books,the most recent decoding the
matrix, which came out in May2022.
Dr Vic has helped thousands ofentrepreneurs learn how to
create their dream throughsharing principles of living in
(23:35):
the quantum world what we knowabout in the quantum world is
that there's other things.
Dr.Vic (23:40):
So the quantum world is understanding the invisible
world that creates our physicalworld, and what we understand in
the quantum world is that we'reall just magnets walking around
, and so when, when it comes toattracting or creating the life
that you choose, it's more aboutwhen you set that vision
because I do a lot of visionwork in my book you'll go
through that.
It's one of those things in youset the vision, this while
(24:03):
we're going on my clients on,and then you let that go and
then you focus on your vibe,what your thoughts, your words,
your stories, your beliefs andyour feelings.
This creates a consciousnesslevel when you have that
vibration.
Right now we're working withsomething called the law of
vibration.
Here's some science to backthat up a little bit and that
just means everything that youexist in your reality is only
based upon what you vibrate atnothing above, nothing below,
(24:24):
just there.
And then there's something weall heard before called the law
of attraction, which, whenyou're vibrating in a certain
state, then you're going totrack the things into your life
of whatever that vibration is.
So let's say, for an example,you want to be a millionaire and
you're thinking of all thethousands of ideas.
You're trying to figure allthese things out.
Well, you can do that and youcould probably get to that state
(24:45):
and it'll all work out.
Or you can focus on your vision, set it apart, let it go and
then just focus on yourconsciousness level, where your
thoughts are in.
Your focus is every single day,and what happens is when you
hone in on the vibe.
The people, circumstances,situations and so forth are
going to come, and when theycome, or when it comes to taking
action, you're gonna havesomething called the law of
(25:05):
inspired action, which meansthat when you're at a certain
vibration, when you're at acertain state, all of a sudden
you're gonna be a propelled orinspired to take this action for
some reason, shape or form.
And when you do that, noticeyou didn't have to think, you'd
have to figure it out.
It came to you and you'retaking action and it works for
you because it's an alignment towhere your vision is.
(25:26):
That's the basis in the premiseof creating effortless success.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (25:31):
Wow, i love that idea because we do.
I can see that the struggle andit's like a society, all that.
If you don't work hard andyou're not working hard enough,
that's not why it's you're notsuccessful.
But kind of being the watcher,i thought really resonates with
me because it doesn't take a lotof effort, it's I'm just
(25:52):
thinking, what some listenersmight say oh, how do you, how do
you sit down and kind of bringthat in, instead of like
thinking, oh, if you're lookingat your bank balance, for
example, and it's not zero inthere, how does it work with
that?
Dr.Vic (26:08):
yeah, i mean in the beginning.
Like I always tell people, thisis the real work, because this
is stuff that you're gonna learnhow to master yourself.
And this is, this is not.
I wouldn't say it's not easy,the concept simple, but it's not
easy because you have to be inthe beginning at least.
You have to be very aware ofwhat your thoughts are, where
you're putting your attention to, what do you focus on?
(26:30):
what are the words, the storiesthat you're telling yourself
right?
do you believe that that youcan actually do that?
you put the energy in thebelieving that you do that all
the time.
And where's your feelings at?
because the emotions are thebig amplifier for everything,
and so you have to be monitoringthat as much as you possibly
can.
Minute by minute would be ideal, but monitoring where your vibe
(26:51):
is all the time now, does ithave to be like that always?
no, eventually your brain'sgonna rewiring, get used to it.
Eventually you're gonna get usedto feeling what it feels like
to be in alignment or in thatstate of where you want to go,
compared to when you're not.
You'll start to be aware ofthat.
Then it's like you don't haveto think about it as much.
And then there comes a pointwhere you'll automatically be in
a state where it's like yournervous system you've trained it
(27:14):
so well and conditioned yourbrain to wire this way that all
of a sudden it will monitor itfor you and then it'll be like a
knee-jerk reaction when youhave like something that's not
in a corridor in alignment towhere you want to go.
So it's not the.
It's a simple concept but ittakes work.
But if you put the work in andyou rewire the brain, now this
is another level of what,another term, another, you know,
(27:36):
another layer to what I calleffortless success, because now
it's automated into you, becauseyou got it into the
subconscious mind and now itruns automatic for you hello
everybody.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (27:49):
I'm your host, the gentle yoga
warrior, and welcome to thegentle yoga warriors conscious
conversations podcast to helpyou grow and discover who you
are.
And we're now in season 11,which is a fall inspired season,
which is all about shedding andletting go all that which holds
us back in life, and I have gotan absolute gem of a guest on
(28:12):
the show today.
Today, we're going to talkabout letting go of hiding our
brilliance and gettingdiscovered, and I thought who
better to talk to us today thanEmmy, award-winning media
advisor and talent executive,podcast hosts and producer,
vinnie Potter-Steval, and I'm soexcited about today because
(28:38):
we're going to talk aboutletting go of hiding our
brilliance and becoming morediscoverable, so to get
discovered in life.
And I thought, wow, when Imanaged to book this next guest,
vinnie Potter-Steval and Ireally hope I've said your name
right- perfectly, yes, yesfantastic.
So, vinnie, welcome to the show.
(28:59):
You're joining us from Brooklyn, usa, which has always makes me
feel, wow, i really want to gothere.
So, welcome to the show yeah,hello, hello, what yo?
Vinnie Potestivo (29:08):
what's going on from Brooklyn?
how you doing?
The Gentle Yoga warrior (29:13):
So, vinnie, you have got over 25
years experience in the popculture business.
Is that how you describe it?
Vinnie Potestivo (29:23):
I'll take it like that, okay.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (29:26):
And you've worked with really big
names as well, Like I waslistening to your interview
earlier that you did with MandyMoore and Su-Chen Pak and, wow,
like it sounds like you've beenlike a real kind of stable
person for people's growth inlife.
Vinnie Potestivo (29:41):
Oh my gosh, stable.
Only in the world of creativitywould I be seen as stable.
Oh gosh, i love the perspectiveand the permission and the
permission.
It's funny how uncomfortablethat word stable just made me.
I have to think I have to writethat word down actually and
figure out what my relationshipis with that word stable, why I
(30:02):
just, why I just react as ifthat's a bad thing, you know
Stable, as if you know, if I'mnot grounded, i'm going to be
pushed over, and I feel likethat's kind of like what I'm
afraid of the most is not beinga strong sounding board for
people who appreciate beingcreative.
And some of the names you'vebrought up already Su-Chen Pak
(30:23):
and Mandy Moore, like the mostamazing women on this planet and
brilliant communicator,brilliant creative communicators
.
You know Mandy, who wentthrough, you know who does it a
little bit more through actingand through music, where she's
able to explain what people aregoing through by being them.
And Su-Chen Pak, who is thevoice of Cribs and a whole MTV
(30:48):
news generation of millennialsand Gen Xers who got their pop
culture news from MTV and was areally important hire at MTV at
a point where Korean Americansweren't seen on television, and
I'm aware as much.
And I got to be a small part inthat wave.
But a lot of responsibilitycame with that title, even my
(31:10):
casting assistant title, youknow, in the late 90s at MTV.
I kind of always took that withthe weight of the world.
I realized that what I wasn'tdoing was just casting any old
project.
What I was doing is puttingpeople on the network that all
of youth culture and the entireglobe was tuned into, especially
from 3.30 to 4.30 in theafternoon in the early 2000s.
(31:33):
That was the place where popculture happened.
And I'm not saying I made allthe decisions or even got to
make any choices, but I was inthe room, yeah, eating craft
services, finding out how to fitin and just enjoying the access
I had back then.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (31:49):
Wow, what a legacy to leave, like to
give to the world, and Iremember.
Vinnie Potestivo (31:53):
MTV.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (31:54):
Wow, it was just like it changed my
world when I was, when I wasyoung, which is a while ago, But
it kind of really I justremember it was just I don't
know, there was nothing like itbefore.
it kind of came to be amazing.
So what a gift to be part ofthat.
Vinnie Potestivo (32:08):
It was like all the best parts of YouTube
and worst parts of Instagram andbest parts of all the best and
worst of everything.
And then all the socialplatforms came out And you know,
we talked it's funny we saideveryone in the world sort of
watched it because celebrities Imean not just artists, but like
global figures came throughthat network between 3.30 and
(32:30):
4.30, because of how importantit was to have access, live
access to an audience.
That's when you really asked melike, what did I?
what did we have?
that that other networks didn'thave was access to a global
audience, a youth audience.
And we hear how smart some ofthese audience, the kids, the
kids are on TikTok that are ableto, you know, take down big
(32:53):
politicians and big movementsand and the power that youth
culture has always had and, likeI, just there's.
There's not a day that that Ispent at MTV and I was there for
almost 10 years that I wasn'taware of how important it was to
be there, especially to behonest, i say this way,
especially me like a gay whiteman in the 90s, where I had no
(33:18):
legal protections, no corporateprotections Again, i know that
prevented people from makingmoves.
So a lot of what I had to donot to.
I never, i never lied aboutanything, but I had to minimize
certain parts of me, like Ilearned to be a smaller version
of myself in some weird ways,which I can't wait to talk to
you about.
I know that.
(33:39):
I know that my sleeves arerolled up.
I know we're going to do somework today in this, in this chat
.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (33:44):
So I can't wait to talk to you about
it, and so would you mindsharing Vinnie about your
journey, of how you came to bediscovered and and how that felt
.
Vinnie Potestivo (33:55):
It's so funny and no one's ever asked me how
did I get discovered.
I never even thought for asecond that I thought we were
going to talk about how Idiscovered people.
I love this idea of how did Iget discovered Because I knew a
casting director was casting andhe said meet on the corner of
45th and Broadway for this MTVevent.
(34:17):
And I specifically went to aplace where I was told I could
get discovered and I stood thereand waited and I did little
things to stand out.
You know, and I can tell youwhat those are.
Yeah, please.
I was conscious of the peoplearound me.
I wanted to have friendsimmediately around me.
I brought candy So people wouldinstantly like back then,
taking candy from strangers, iguess wasn't so bad, it wasn't
(34:40):
so weird.
I brought candy.
I think I always had like nerd,nerd ropes and things like that
, like what a weirdo.
Different types of candy that Ithought would be unique.
Because it's important to haveinstant friends And I wanted to
not spend the day not knowingpeople.
I wanted to spend the dayknowing the people, the 3040
people that I was in a you knowbeing the crowd with for
(35:02):
whatever shot I was there for.
And then I, and then I realizedduring that time that whenever
the casting director was lookingto pull someone and feature
them, if you were somehow focusof energy I'm not saying focus
of the room, but a focus ofenergy if, if you were the
person who was holding courtwith four or five people, or if
(35:24):
you were the person who didsomething and 10 people saw and
laughed and you were the personwho had these moments with
certain groups of people, thatenergy that those groups of
people are giving you, that's,that's what helped me get
discovered.
And I didn't even realize I wasdoing it, i just thought I was
having fun.
To be honest, when I look backat it, i did all these little
tiny things that made it reallyeasy for this casting director
(35:47):
to say look, well, everyone waslaughing at him over there and
then he was holding court overthere with that group of people
and, like the executives are, sohe obviously has some type of
energy or something it's, youknow, so everyone, if everyone
here likes them, then then it'san easy yes for me, because you
know, no, there's no one in theroom that's not going to be able
to do that.
So the opportunity I'm talkingabout was the chance to be in
(36:10):
the background of a shot thatWhitney Houston was doing an MTV
to talk about a new album thatshe was coming out with.
And I got picked to ask aquestion.
I'm going to ask WhitneyHouston, and so cool, the
producers, they prep you andthey really get you look into
the camera.
And this is the.
I got training.
I got free media training.
(36:31):
I'll never forget the day And Ihad to ask Whitney what was it
like recording Prince of Egyptsoundtrack with Mariah Carey?
What was it like recording withanother recording artist?
And I practiced and I practiceand the Nanda Lewis, the video
host, the video jockey, the VJback then, came and I remember
her, like shoulders down andlike if your hands or to put
(36:55):
your palms on your side, if youcan feel your palms to the side,
to your sides, if you can feelyour toes, the palm of your toes
and your heels is reallyimportant, like all all three of
those pieces on each feet,firmly planted on the ground.
Your knees are a little bitbent, almost like so you could
catch catch a baseball, you know.
So you have some, some torqueand some ability to move around
(37:16):
and you lean, lean into whatevercomes, be open to opportunity.
Anyway, whitney comes out andthe producer tells her that this
is my big moment and she saysI'm not asking, i'm not
answering that question.
She's like what?
she could come up with adifferent question.
I am not answering thatquestion.
And it was live TV and Iremember there was like three or
four of us that were going toask questions and suddenly now
(37:38):
there were only two or three ofus And what I did next is a
thing that cinched my career.
To be honest.
What I did next was I said Ohmy gosh, thank you so much.
This was a blast.
I got.
What a huge learning experiencefor me, so I can't thank you
enough for talking to me and Igot to speak into a microphone,
into a camera.
I'd never done this before.
(37:59):
If you ever need anyone elsedancers, singers, young artists
in New York I'm from here and Ihave.
I have a database of youngtalent that I'd love to share
with you if you ever need morepeople.
And like, the eyes lit up andhe was like Well, we're actually
shooting a very Buster RhymesChristmas special tomorrow.
Perhaps you have 20 friendsthat like to come to that.
(38:21):
And I was like What?
Yeah, i don't have 20 friends.
That would come to a veryBuster Christmas special.
By the way, it's really coolBuster Rhymes.
Reading Christmas nurseryrhymes is like one of those.
One of those, the one of thoseinternet things that comes
around.
I'm in the audience, it's likethe best moment of like young
early, like I'm touching it, i'min it and and what I continue
(38:43):
to do was was make friends alongthe way.
I never focused on It's weird tosay this I never focus on the
task at hand.
If I focus on asking thatquestion because I wasn't
successful at asking thatquestion, if I'd walked away
from that day a disappointment,i just would be so sad at myself
.
If that's how I allowed myselfto perceive what in reality
(39:06):
actually happened.
And I was energized and I knewthat that suddenly I had access
to casting directors that neededlarge groups of people And I
realized that at MTV, 30, 40, 50people for taping was exactly
the size audience that they werelooking for And I had a
(39:29):
creative that introduced me.
And meanwhile, mtv is new.
Mtv was born in 1981.
So, like you know, i got to seein the 90s CNN get launched.
Fox News, you know, came out.
And when Fox News came out theyhad this bipartisan show called
Hannity and Combs, which backthen both men of equal reverency
, were held to equal esteem onthat network where both sides of
(39:52):
the aisle could be heard, ofcourse.
Of course back then there wereonly two sides of the aisle back
then, but we'll get into thatlater.
And my job was to organize theaudience right.
I'm the database guy so I knowhow to make sure people's names
are in the right things Andwe're going to email them and
we're going to give them calltimes.
So that was a very technicaljob in terms of casting.
And then I developed this sortof like empathetic listening
(40:15):
skill where look politics, moremy favorite subject in school,
to be really honest, not becauseof the subject but mostly
because of the let's call itstudent experience.
We don't have to dive deep intothe bullying, but like the
student experience, specificallyaround around, that class for
(40:36):
me unfortunately, was a toughone.
So I had a disdain for politicsin a lot of ways, even though I
ran for, even though I wasclass president often and I was
the president of choir andpresident of the computer club.
But like these are my strengthschoir, getting a singular voice
, getting many, empoweringmultiple voice, identifying
(40:58):
tenors and tenor ones andworking collaboratively to
create something.
I love that idea And thecomputer club part of me was
like just I would have died forsocial media back then.
But if you would have found meand like talent for you in NYC
and like one of those AOL chatrooms back then, just meeting,
meeting talented people, becauseI knew that, because you know,
(41:20):
because, because what?
because my mom told me growingup, if you hang out with those
kids and they get in trouble atyour fault because you're the
sum total of like five peoplethat you hang out with.
So I was like, cool, then I'lljust look in the hangout with
like super talented people andwe'll see how that goes.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (41:33):
Wow, that was a great piece of advice
.
Vinnie Potestivo (41:36):
It worked.
And she also told me she's alsothe woman who said, vin, we
don't know anyone in media.
how are you going to get in TV?
She's like, literally the onlyway you'll ever get discovered
is if you go, wait on a cornerand a casting director finds you
.
I promise you, my mom and Ihave this conversation and it's
verbatim what she said to me.
So when I saw the castingnotice where the casting
director said I'm TV casting45th and Broadway during these
(41:59):
times, i was like, well, thatsounds like the corner I'm
supposed to be on If that's howI'm going to get discovered.
And sure enough it was.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (42:07):
Let's guess a few times virtually, and
what can I say?
She's a very, very special soul.
Please welcome, in a moment,laurie Tessany, and Laurie is a
certified mindfulness teacher,cancer warrior and sailor, i'm
in my.
Lori Tesny (42:25):
My cancer is melanoma, so it's skin cancer.
It's a deadly form of skincancer.
So you do not want to mess withthis.
You don't want to delayanything.
You want to get on it as soonas possible.
So that's why everything wasalways like this whirlwind with
this diagnosis.
So we were in a rush to figureout what to do next, and so we
made some decisions and I wentthrough another surgery and
(42:48):
another year of treatment, andthe second time was it as good
for me, because I already knewwhat I was facing.
And so there was a lot ofmental games that you had to
play with yourself, a lot ofshifting thoughts and
understanding things in adifferent perspective, and so I
(43:09):
had to take a lot of time toreevaluate my life and then get
through this, this what wasfacing me.
And so, as I got to the end oftreatment was February of 2020,
we had this.
It was going to be like acelebration trip We're going to
go sailing in Greece And thenMarch of 2020 happened in COVID,
(43:32):
and everything just kind ofwent down the tubes.
But you know, for me I was.
I was dealing again daily withpeople when I was at work that
were going through somethingworse than I was going through.
The reality was I was alsoseeing people my age with my
diagnosis that didn't live, andso there was a lot of reality
(43:53):
checks going on in my life And Ikept thinking I'm stronger than
this, i'm not going to be thisperson, even though in the back
of your mind I'm like are you,are you, are you?
You questioned a lot, so it was.
It was definitely aninteresting journey to go on,
and it's something that I've hadto figure out.
(44:13):
What is it that keeps me going?
What is it that keeps pushingme through?
And it's the hope of a bettertomorrow.
Every day you start fresh.
Every day you have a cleanperspective, and I know things
linger.
I know you can't get rid ofyour job.
You know there'sresponsibilities that are always
there, but what is it you cando for yourself to relieve some
(44:35):
of that?
What do you bring on yourself?
that makes it harder, and soweeding through a lot of that
really does help.
And you know, in the spring, asthings come up, you have to
weed through your garden.
You have to get rid of stuffyou don't want.
So it kind of runs in that samevein.
You know you have to payattention to what your life is
(44:56):
and what you want it to be.
That's amazing.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (44:59):
I want to know really admire about you,
lori, is that you have thestrength that you have and how
you've turned this around tokind of help other people, and
it's so optimistic.
And I've seen your times whenyou've been able to kind of on
the Instagram where you've shownyourself to be vulnerable as
well, but it's through that Youkind of give strength to the
world.
And I know that you are a sortof mindfulness teacher.
(45:22):
Did that come before the canceror was that after that?
you trained in that or during?
Lori Tesny (45:28):
No, this was actually just recently, because
I was a little bit nervousbecause I had last year in June
I had a scan that came back withsomething on it, and so I am
still on continual watch, i'mstill under doctor's care, i
still have an oncology team, ido get scans regularly and
(45:49):
something did show up, but itwasn't what we thought it was.
It was actually my appendix Andso I had to have an emergency
appendix surgery and wasn'tthinking about that one And the
recovery from that.
It took me back to all thestuff I went through with, all
the surgeries from the cancer,and so there was a triggering
(46:10):
moment that happened there Andit kind of sucked me into this
black hole.
Like again.
I thought I was past this, ididn't think I'd have to deal
with this anymore And it wasjust a true test of life.
Life happens And you've got tofigure out where are you in life
, what do you have, what skills,what tools, what are you doing
for yourself to make youstronger, to get through these
(46:33):
things a little bit easier?
And in that recovery time ofthat dark place, i thought I
need a boost, i need to getmyself on a good platform, a
good foundation, and I startedthinking about what do I go to
and what can I find to, and so Istarted investigating more
(46:54):
about mindfulness.
I was practicing it but didn'thave the base to it, and so I
went in and started learningmore about it and actually got
certified in it, because to meit seemed like if I was going to
be preaching about this on theshow and talking to people about
it, what did I have under mybelt to have that qualification?
(47:15):
I wanted to be speaking from aplace of knowledge, and my
experience has a big impact, buthaving that knowledge also
seemed to enable me to expressthings better.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (47:28):
Hello everyone, i'm your host, the
Gentle Yoga Warrior, and pleasewelcome today podcast presenter,
curious-willed citizen andchange agent, dey-ree-anne.
So she hosts the popularpodcast Changes Big and Small
and multiple blogs, includingdpresidentnet.
(47:51):
Originally from St Lucia, shemoved to Canada at age 12 and
moved overseas at 23.
She now lives in Prague and hasvisited over 60 countries,
including Sudan, yemen, tanzania, philippines, etc.
Dey-Ree-Anne enjoys researching, working and technology and
(48:16):
solving problems.
She's always been curious andloves teaching and learning.
She helps people, both in herjob as a customer support person
and as a blogger and podcasthost.
Her intention, for herself andothers, is for each of us to be
able to build the life that wewant.
So, without further ado,joining us all the way from
(48:39):
Prague, please welcome todayDey-Ree-Anne.
So I know, dey-ree-anne, thatyou have a daily practice to, i
guess, help you navigate throughlife, and would you like to
share that with our listenersand how that's helped?
Damianne President (48:55):
you, i would say the part of my daily
practice that okay.
So there is my aspirationaldaily practice and then there's
my actual daily practice, and soI would say that I aspire to
meditate every day, but I don'tnecessarily meditate every day,
but I notice the difference, theimprovements when I do get a
chance to meditate.
(49:16):
What I do, and show that I doevery day, is move because,
especially working from home, ifind that it's so important to
move, to go for a walk, to dancea Zumba song, to walk
downstairs and check the mailfor no other reason than I need
to leave my chair.
I think if you can find waysthat help you stay connected
(49:40):
with your body, then that's veryuseful, because so many of us
really get caught up in ourminds, get caught up in our
brains, but not in the intuitionof the body, and so one thing
that I'm trying to do is just bemore aware of my body, and that
can be challenging at timesbecause there are maybe things I
don't like about my body, butthat doesn't negate the fact
(50:04):
that there is a body awarenessthat is helpful to tune into.
The Gentle Yoga warrior (50:10):
Now, i think movement is essential for
mental health as well, becauseit's more easy.
I'm going to go out after thispodcast for a walk, because I
had a long schedule yesterday soI didn't actually get to need
the house yesterday.
So it's kind of so importantjust to get some fresh air and
(50:30):
move.
I think that is an honour inour self, isn't it?
by making that part of ourdaily practice and finding ways.
It's true that we may notalways necessarily get time to
meditate or do a full Zumbaclass, but on the days that we
don't, we can maybe just sit fora few moments and just be a bit
(50:50):
more present and then just gofor a walk around the block or,
like you said, go down and getthe mail, get something to kind
of get us up and move, and thatway we can feel more, we're able
to help ourselves, and I thinkwhen we're able to help
ourselves, we're also then ableto help others more as well.
Damianne President (51:08):
I think the mental health piece is a big one
.
It's kind of like some days Iremind myself to just take a few
breaths, even if I'm not goingto go.
I would like to.
I sometimes fall out of thehabit of going for a daily walk.
I still make sure I move everyday, but I don't always go for a
30 minute walk every day, andthat's actually one thing that I
(51:31):
just recommitted to it thismorning.
I'm like I really want to gofor a walk for 30 days and 30
minutes.
For me, 30 minutes is not along walk.
There's a park nearby.
I do a loop.
It's fairly easy and it's morea matter of getting into
routines.
That's what helps me.
I have a routine.
Then it gets done.
When I start breaking myroutines by staying up too late,
(51:55):
by changing my whatever it isthat I allow to disrupt my
routines, is when those thingsfall by the wayside.
I've decided that walking isimportant to me.
Then I've added it back in inthe mornings.
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